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Most of the events described here take place at my work, a fairly new company called iTOOL.com. We are a rather specialized web-hosting company; iTOOL is the first hosting company that allows you to create, edit, and maintain your web page, email, and server status from your browser, without using any of the more usual HTML editors or the need for FTPing updates to the site.
Anyway, I hope you have as much fun reading the site as I do making it.
Jump to newest update at 10:30 AM Sunday, MST
Required Daynotes Element #11
Read the story that started it all - The Daynotes Initiation Saga
Was - The Brian Saga
The list of things on this week's agenda is not too long:
- Move a complex database/ColdFusion/ASP server from a Dell PowerEdge single-processor, single-drive server to a PowerEdge 2300 dual-PIII 500 machine with RAID. Simple? Ah, now the rest of the story; this is a production server, so downtime has to be at a minimum. Should be, er, fun.
- Upgrade and re-structure our backup server from a single tape-backup server to multiple servers in three domains. Again, downtime is bad.
- Roll out our comprehensive Anti-Virus solution. We're using Norton Anti-Virus 5.02, with one product (Norton Anti-Virus Solution) including AV for NT Workstation, NT Server, Firewalls, DOS, Windows 95/98, Netware, and a bunch of Networks Administration tools. We'll be using the network tools to deploy across NT servers and workstations, plus a few Windows 98 boxes.
For this place, that's not too long. <g> Should be an interesting week.
* * * * *
Several weeks ago we purchased about 10 21" Samsung monitors. (Got them cheap at a clearance center.) Nine of them are fine. The tenth has been at the service center more than here at the office, and it just died again this morning. The problem is a short, apparently somewhere in the vertical hold system, where every so often it will simply collapse down to a single bright line across the screen. Tap the side (no slapping) and it might, or might not, come back and work for another little while. Piffle.
The service center has had the monitor in for repair several times already, and the situation still has not improved. Samsung does not seem to be interested aside from directing us back to the service center. So much for my boss's decision to go on the cheap...
* * * * *
* * * * *
And now the day is nearly gone (3:30 PM, Phoenix time) and I haven't even started my "critical" stuff for the week. I hate Mondays.
* * * * *
Wrong.
Curse at the splash screen. Wait. My, it's taking a long time to load that file... Ah, here it is. Um, no, that's not it. It looks like it, but it's different. Close Front Page. No warnings, no asking to save, nothing, just closes. Open the file again, this time in Notepad like I originally intended.
Curse again, louder.
Front Page has reformatted the file, added a bunch of Meta tags and headers, changed the header to indicate the file was created in Front Page, and in general made a real pain of itself. It would have been more so if it had happened on my work machine, where the original is stored, but still. It's the principle of the thing. This sucks.
Brian Bilbrey has some comments about GNU/Linux advocacy, and I have to agree. I like Linux enough to use it frequently; seeing as how I'm an NT administrator, that's probably saying a lot. But, I probably shouldn't talk about Linux too much whilst fuming at the latest Microsoft faux pas. And besides - I can hear Keri muttering about how I've finally come home at a reasonable hour, and where am I? In the computer room...
* * * * *
In any event, there's another daily news list that I use, and have for the most part been happy with; the Andover Update from Andover.Net. The reporting is good, with excellent news selection, and there's very little crap in the way. One of Brian's complaints about the AnchorDesk was the contests getting in the way of the content; well, Andover doesn't usually run contests, so that's not a problem.
I only have two complaints; one, the columns are pretty uneven; some are good, the others are crap, particularly from a professional point of view. The columnists can't seem to decide if they're pop culture columnists, or computer reporters. Two, the updates don't always go out on time; I've frequently not gotten the update until late afternoon - and I'm on the West Coast.
* * * * *
Of course, the disk drives are still in the other room. <g>
I can share my floppy and cd-rom drives on my NT box, and access them from the machine in question, but that doesn't help during installs. So I guess I'm getting my exercise today, as well.
* * * * *
Normally, our machines run on our 100 Mbps CAT5 switched network. But today is special. Our marketing assistant has been using a Windows 98 machine, and today, I'm rebuilding it as an NT box. This is the only available day to do this, and due to some other things in the works, it's highly desirable that our network be 100% NT. At the same time, she still needs a machine, for email and printing capability, if nothing else. The only spare machine I have available today, thanks to all our training machines being shipped to New York for Internet World, is one HP OmniBook laptop. A nice machine, with one problem - no network card. This is a travel laptop, for letting one of our executives get his email on the road; it doesn't need a network card.
So, we need a way for the modem to communicate with our RAS server. This is where the wiring comes in.
Like most corporate networks, we use a set of patch panels to organize our network. This lets us put multiple ports in each office without purchasing the switches it would take to keep them all hot. But the cubicles only have two ports, both RJ-45; one for the network, one for the phone. The phone port is not connected to a patch panel like the network is; it runs to a patch panel. The cubicle next to our lucky victim - I mean user - is currently empty.
So. Punch the analog phone line (which is used by the fax machine) so that it's cross-patched between the fax machine and the empty cubicle. Make two 6-inch network cables, and cross connect the phone and network ports in the empty cubicle, then cross-connect the two network ports. Plug the RJ-11 phone line into the network port (hint - punch the phone line to the blue pair, that's the center pair on the jack - RJ-11 will still lock into place) and "presto-pocus," the modem works.
Now to rebuild that machine.
* * * * *
And on top of all that, this system simply will not load NT properly. It recognizes all the controllers, all the hardware - except the network card. It's a perfectly ordinary 3Com 3C905B, same as all the others in this office, but for some reason NT won't find it. Windows 98 had no problem. This is getting old.
* * * * *
I hate computers. <g>
And now it's time for lunch.
* * * * *
Tom put up a couple of links to interesting articles, one on the Visor hendheld PC, and another on the relative merits of Windows 2000 and Linux. The more I read on Tom's site and on the others, the less intrigued I get. I took a look at Windows 2K Server, and hated it with an intensity I usually reserve for caffiene-free drinks. My main complaint is that someone in Redmond apparently had the bright idea of taking a server - i.e., a machine that will only rarely have someone actually sitting at the computer using it directly - and attempt to pretty it up with fancy "fade-in/fade-out" toolbars, Active Desktop, and other truly stupid "enhancements." Why anyone would want to waste a server's resources on such things is beyond me. On the Professional - Fine! Put in all the fancy things you want, although I certainly hope they make it possible to turn it off. Hopefully, among the other changes the inevitable Service Packs provide, will be to turn that crap off, at least by default.
Speaking of the Visor, I think I want one. I wish I could try one out before spending the money, but I certainly need something like it. Has anybody actually used one, or do I wait until Tom reviews it on his site? I've used the Palm Pilot Professional, and the Palm III, and I liked them both, but I really want a look at the Visor.
Some evil little urchin popped up yesterday and snapped a picture with a digital camera. Apparently the company is putting up a "Rogues Gallery" of some of the people that work here. The image is here if anyone is interested. Although this was only taken a day ago, my office now looks completely different. The computer to my left is now under my desk, churning away on the last bits of a new NT install. The drawer has been moved (put back where it belongs) and a third monitor and keyboard have sprung up where they one were. Everything else has been moved, thrown out, replaced with more junk, and in general migrated different places. I guess I'm ahead of the game, though; I can still see the desktop (at least in places.) I almost wish I couldn't; the green speckle is a touch off-putting. Oh, and I'm reaching for a stress-ball thingie, hidden in the shot by my body, with the intention of throwing at the cameraman. Knowing my dislike of cameras, he managed to sneak this one by asking "Hey Matt, where should I put this thing?", knowing I would turn around to answer. I did answer his question, although I don't think he liked my suggestion. Some people's kids, sheesh. <g>
* * * * *
Dr. Keyboard has put up a link to my site on his diary pages, so I guess that means I'm officially open for business. Damn that light is hot... <g>
Welcome to everybody linking in from there. Look around, get confortable, but please, don't spill the drinks on the dog. The carpet's fine, but don't get the dog...
Tom Syroid is working on a Daynotes Webring, at www.daynotes.com, (don't bother - it's not active yet) so it won't be long before we've got a central site. He's hosting the site here, at iTOOL, so if I don't like my bio I can change it. <lol>
I wonder if anybody else watched Law & Order last night; they did a plot based on gun control. The premise was that a man who hated women (what was he thinking?!?!) legally bought a "Rolf 9" semi-automatic weapon, and then a kit to convert it to full auto, and sprayed a crowd of female med students, killing 15. Because of some rather shady actions by one of the detectives to illicit a confession, the killer was able to plead down to 25 to life for the crime. Which, of course, was not good enough for the lawyer; he went after the maker of the gun, claiming that he refused to change his design to something harder to modify, because that would reduce his sales.
After a lot of emotional arguments, and some testimony regarding the cost of the changes and company sales figures, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. However, the judge immediately overturned the conviction, making a speech from the bench (a pretty good speech) to the effect that the solution was not to target the maker of the guns, nor to pass new laws, but rather to find a way to "heal mens' souls."
I think we all know what Bob's response would be, and I'm inclined to agree. But there's something that makes me curious; How do you define "healing man's soul?" What can we change? And if we could, should we? Seriously, homo sapiens sapiens is an advanced primate, a social animal, but a violent one as well. If we remove that segment of our common heritage, what do we lose in return?
Hmm. Deep thinking. Definitely time for more caffeine.
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Bruce Thompson [mailto:thompson@ttgnet.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 1999 9:52 AM
To: matt@rearviewmirror.org
Subject: Disgustingly neat offices
You'd better start trashing your office. Anyone with an office that neat is
very likely to be drummed out of the corps. And what if our *wives* see that
picture? Didn't think of that, huh?
Bob
Actually, the only reason it was that neat was because I'd just moved in. Give me a week, you won't be able to FIND the floor, much less see it. For that matter, the issue is in some doubt now. Two days after the picture.
And you'll be happy to know that my method of building machines is the same as yours; I take what I need, the rest goes over my shoulder. But the cleaning crew tends to take care of that.
The rest of the morning has been wasted trying to find NT drivers for an old NE2000-compatable NIC. I tracked it down by using this search engine (at the bottom of the page) to search the FCC for the license number. D-Link Corporation, out of Taiwan. Little spelunking located the drivers I needed - I think - but the card still refuses to communicate with the rest of the network. I blame the media and violence on TV.
* * * * *
Now that I seem to have joined the Gang, I thought it only appropriate that I add to the story, so that I could show I'm willing to laugh at myself, as well. Anway, here it is:
Regarding dragging Brian into the Gang:
I have a mental image of JerryPournelle sitting at one end of a dimly lit table wearing a green eyeshade. BobThompson, BoLeuf, ShawnWallbridge, SjonSvenson, and the others straggling down each side, cigar and pipe smoke swirling up in the dim light. Under the lone bright light in the room we see Brian, sweating nervously as Tom paces around behind him, juggling balls in his scar-knuckled hands. “Do you really know what you’re getting yourself into? Do you? Eh?” Tom says, leaning heavily over him. Jerry has Royal Armadillo open in front of him, muttering about his Earthlink connection, nodding sagely as he eyes the page layout. Bob is cleaning a large-caliber handgun, muttering “Microsoft Delenda Est” under his breath, and playing with a Windows 98 cd that already has more than the regulation number of holes in it. Bo is picking his guitar, looking over Jerry’s shoulder at the laptop, and nodding; he likes what he sees. Shawn is buried in papers, looked decidedly rumpled, frantically coding new additions to his ASP scripts, muttering “yeah, sure, let him in, fine, just let me get this DONE!” The others are fixing Brian with piercing stares. In the background, there’s a gigantic precision balance, balancing a heart against a feather.
“Well,” Jerry says with a sigh, “we could use a Linux guy. So, if you can modify your site to the weekly format, combined or separate news and mail pages at your discretion, presto pocus, you’re in.”
Everybody else is nodding sagely, the scales disappear, Brian looks relieved as Tom offers him a beer (Canadian, of course) and a gigantic gold plaque (made from melted-down CD-Rs) drops into his lap, with the words “We do these things so you don’t have to…” engraved on it.
Or I could be way, way off. I dunno. <seg>
I wasn't.
I just knew I should've kept my mouth shut, but there I was, sweating under the lights, squinting and trying to make out the shadowed forms around me. I'm ALMOST sure that's Brian, giggling with glee (that he's not in my chair, probably) and tossing a stuffed penguin from hand to hand.
I clutch my cable crimper tightly in one hand and try to see who's behind me. Suddenly Tom looms out of the cigar (and pipe) smoke, waving a baseball bat and leering. "So, can I register a second domain, Mr. SysAdmin?" he asks. "Eh? Why isn't Saskatchewan on the list? Are you READY for the spotlight?"
I nervously look back towards the table. There's a lot of chuckling going on, and I see Bob peering at my page. Slowly he turns and fixes me with a glare. "You call this an OFFICE?" he scoffs. "I can still see the floor!" The scales in the background tip, the feather flies across the room, and I feel a sickening lurch as the trap door opens...
Only to land a few inches lower, still in the chair, with Chris Ward-Johnson grinning down at me. "Sorry for the joke, old bean," he says. "But we had to test the trapdoor somehow."
* * * * *
All kidding aside, it's been quite a day. I'm here late - again - today because, of all things, one of my users' machines decided that it didn't like life anymore, so it coated the interior of the hard drive casing with bits of oxidized disk material. Not a very productive thing to do, you'll agree, but a drive's gonna do what a drive's gonna do.
So, we made an emergency trip down to Fry's Electronics, picked up a replacement drive (8.4 GB Western Digital for $119) and I am now watching the ever-so-familiar screens of yet another YANTI (<-- Trademarked to Tom, BTW) and explaining to my wife that no, I'm sorry dear, I'm going to be working late again tonight. By now she'd probably be thinking I was having an affair, if it wasn't for the website updates. That's one thing I'm sure Tom and the others don't have to deal with; they may have to work late, but the commute is just down the hall, third door on the right... <g>
* * * * *
No, this site hasn't suddenly become the hottest site on the Internet; the mail server was sending me 5 emails over... and over... and over... all night long, apparently, without end.
This, as they say, is a problem. So, let's see what we've got. It's a new mailserver, let's see if there's a problem; nope, the mail server itself is fine. My boss and I start digging, me at the console, him dialed in with PCAnywhere, and he starts digging through the database looking for clues. We think we've about got it figured out - transaction log was having problems, and therefore the email server was not updating the "mark for delete" or "message read" flags on the emails - when the server decides it's had quite enough of this nonsense, thank you, and we are treated to the lovely Blue Screen of Death. Well, I'm treated to the Blue Screen of Death; my boss gets to see his PCAnywhere client hang, rather than exiting cleanly from the dropped connection.
Which solved the problem, anyway, as the server reboots cleanly and starts up without a problem, and things are back to their normal, disheveled state.
Which, of course, means it's time for more caffeine. <g>
"You kick ass. You have a knack for greatness. For the record, you are: 83% Un-telligent! which is significantly higher than the current average of 60%."
"The subject shows a very high level of intelligence, and his sense of observation is one of his best qualities. Considering this, he shows a lot of potential, but that's only part of the equation.
"Also, as much as we hate violence, an occasional mauling is one way to solve day-to-day problems like unpleasant coworkers or pesky door-to-door salesmen; he just isn't tough enough, sir, and he avoids any solution that involves violence.
"Finally, the subject displayed a insane and twisted (rather brilliant) sense of humor, a fair and productive sense of morality, and a hot shot self-confidence. The balance of these three traits is important; high levels of confidence, medium levels of morality, and a good level of humor make for the strongest individuals."
Final Score: 83% Un-telligent
I suspect they don't have too many canned responses; I noticed that mine is exactly the same as Dr. Keyboard's, save the final paragraph.
Well, back to dealing with more brush fires. For the record, out of the three things I listed on my task list for the week, I have completed... drum roll please...
NONE OF THEM!!!!!
One of those weeks. Maybe next week will be better. I guarantee this; I am NOT working tomorrow or Sunday. I may not even update this page; I've spent the last three weekends in this office, and quite frankly, I don't like this chair that much.
Time to go finish up a few things and then go find some beer.
Of course, the first thing I asked about was the computer situation, which is good; I can choose between Cox@Home cable internet, and USWest DSL service. Pricing's about the same, and although the cable connection is technically faster, I wonder at how fast it will be in this case; the complex is served as one "neighborhood" on the cable router, and although not a huge complex I'm told that a lot of the people in the complex use service; since cable is a shared-bandwidth system, there might not be all that much bandwidth available per system. Especially for someone like me, who'll most likely have several systems networked to the cable modem.
For an excellent article on the differences between DSL and cable, take a look at this article from Salon magazine.
* * * * *
Tom mentions some glowing praise of his new web host, my employer, iTOOL. I appreciate the praise of course, in the name of continued employment, but lest anyone smell a rat, let me say that I didn't have anything to do with the smooth implementation of his domains. The system does that automatically, with (shudder) ASP scripts and some ColdFusion programming. Yes, even the updates to our DNS server. So his experience is in no way unique.
I'm being told it's time to go look at paint colors for the new apartment; since I rarely look at anything but a book or a computer screen, I don't see why I should offer an opinion. Especially since I have little or no influence on the decision, anyway. <g>
No real update today. Vikings are playing. <g>
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