[WinMac] Server vs Workststion uptime [WAS:Re: Chooser Troubles]

Daniel L. Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Wed, 31 Mar 1999 12:52:57 -0500

        John raises a good point... Except when YOU are the support person!
Sometimes when I go to a customer's site, I'll arrive at about 2PM after a
big lunch. I'll line up everything I need, check for any last-minute
updates & FAQ's... Then I take a nap for a few hours. I then start
(enterprise server) work after everyone leaves, so that there is no
disruption in service.

        When working on a mail server (especially Exchange), I take along my
Intellistation (see description below in my .SIG) so I can "take over" the
mail server for nonstop SMTP connectivity.

        I prefer either Friday afternoons (so I can start earlier as everyone
heads for the door), or evenings so that I can work without interfering
with operations.

        Obviously, for workstation repairs, I do that in the daytime so I can get
parts if I don't already have them in stock. The difference is that with a
workstation, only one person is affected... With a server, the whole
enterprise can grind to a halt... Especially if one accidently initiates a
shutdown accidently. :)

        Just my philosophy with service & support...
        Cheers!
        Dan

At 12:28 PM 3/31/99 -0500, you wrote:
>I find myself in the position of bending my opinion of the current topic
>to match Mr. Shinozaki's Obviously, there are sever operational
>consequences to placing one's computer servers, and one, in the
>undesirable position of needing extensive technical support services on
>the penultimate day of the week, (using Sunday as the week's beginning),
>thereby having to face paying weekend support charges if one's support
>contract disallows technical assistance during the weekend. I find that
>by beginning an upgrade or overhaul process at the dawn of the week, I
>am afforded the maximum potential availability of technical assistance
>from various vendors.
>
>
>Yuji's got a good point. Starting on friday can leave you screwed for
>tech support. Monday is more inconvenient, but logistically more wise
>
>john
>
>Yuji Shinozaki wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, 31 Mar 1999, Daniel L. Schwartz wrote:
>>
>> > Not so fast there, John! SP4 can cause troubles if applied
willy-nilly on
>> > a production server... I usually deploy it on a Friday afternoon, in case
>> > there is trouble.
>>
>> Interesting philosophy. I usually deploy new things during the
>> afternoon/evening early in the week, so that:
>>
>> 1) I know I will be there the next morning if/when problems occur.
>> 2) that I can verify everything is running well BEFORE the
>> weekend.
>>
>> Then again, I am in an academic department where people are tolerant of
>> brief downtimes during the week, but tend to work over the evenings and
>> weekends and are not tolerant of problems that need to wait over the
>> weekend. In an 8-to-5 weekday environment, the rules are different...
>>
>> [ off topic I know... maybe I should have thrown in a few obscenities. ]
>>
>> yuji
>> ----
>> Yuji Shinozaki Systems Administrator
>> yuji@physics.unc.edu Dept of Physics and Astronomy
>> http://www.physics.unc.edu Univ. of North Carolina - CH
>> (919)962-7214 (voice) CB 3255 Philips Hall
>> (919)962-0480 (fax) Chapel Hill, NC 27599

 -----------------------------------------------------------------

        ***SYSTEM CONFIGURATION***

    HARDWARE:

 IBM Intellistation ZPro;
 Dual Pentium Pro 180 mHz Stepping Level 7 CPU's,
        with 256 kilobyte L2 caches;
 512 MB of unbuffered EDO DIMM RAM in 4 banks;
 Matrox Millenium 4MB PCI video card;
 Intel 82557 10/100 PCI ethernet adapter;
 BusLogic BT-950 Ultra-Wide SCSI controller:
 IBM DGVS 9.1 gigabyte 10,000 RPM Ultra-Wide HDD;
 V.90 ISA modem;
 Integrated IDE controller:
        Primary: 24X CD-ROM as Master;
                        ATAPI ZIP drive as Slave;
        Secondary: Disabled in BIOS;
 Integrated Serial Port A:
        Connected to APC Back-UPS 900;
 Integrated IR & Parallel ports:
        Disabled in BIOS;
 Integrated USB port:
        Disabled in BIOS;
 Integrated sound:
        Enabled in BIOS;

    SOFTWARE:

 Windows NT/Server 4.0, SP4
        500 MB FAT C: partition,
        7.6 GB NTFS D: main partition;
        384 MB FAT Y: Photoshop scratch partition;

 Services for Macintosh enabled;
 IE 4.01 SP1

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