The Comms Room

Chris S

16:00

Hennes

So true:
Kronus at [SU] I just realized... with the new closing system allowing custom messages, we really can close as "Why the #$@% would you ever want to do that"
Journeyman at [SU] SF is going to have a field day

Journeyman Geek

lol

totally true!

WesleyDavid

@dawud Good for concurrency. Bad for readability. But that's just a neophyte speaking.

Jenny D

@dawud At my previous job I was sysadmin for mailservers, which were built on a combination of Erlang frontents and qmail backends. It sounds horrible but it was extremely stable.

ewwhite

@JennyD You're a woman. I could use your opinion.

Jenny D

16:02

@WesleyDavid It's a matter of habit. But I found that I got better at procedural languages after having worked a bit with functional ones; I started seeing things from a new angle.

@ewwhite Um, OK...

dawud

@JennyD the LYSE is quite fun for a gentle introduction, and also explains advanced topics, but I'm definitely going to check Armstrong's.

WesleyDavid

@JennyD We're Ed's tech bench, in case you haven't perceived that yet. =P

ewwhite

Wife just called.. she drives her car daily to her job 40km away... The car has been making groaning sounds for a couple of years... Yesterday, the "check engine" light came on. She took it in for repair, and the mechanic says the engine is ruined... She hadn't taken the car in for regular oil changes.

dawud

@JennyD also, setting up a multinode riak database so easily is amazing. Anyways, most of this is just for fun right now, I haven't found an use case for this at $work

ewwhite

Am I bad for thinking that was preventable? And in the dynamic of a relationship, I probably can't be all sysadmin-like, and say, "what did you expect to happen?"

(trying to approach the situation delicately)

Jenny D

16:06

@ewwhite This isn't a "woman" question. This is a "people" question. But yeah, in a relationship, that's probably not a good way to talk to your partner, unless you're on the same wavelength in the discussion.

ewwhite

@JennyD It will be costly, and I wonder if she senses my disapproval about the situation (even though I haven't said anything)

Basil

hey guys, if I have 100 zones to delete from a brocade switch, what's the best way to do it? The only thing I can think of is to write up the commands and paste them into a command line window... but those break if you put too many lines into them

I'm talking about 300 commands total

MDMarra

Factory reset

Basil

I suppose my question is what's the best way to send 300 commands to a linux box

ewwhite

@Basil hmm

Jenny D

16:09

@ewwhite I'd guess that she knows it, and she's feeling in the wrong. And since she likes you and cares what you think, feeling that she's let you down makes her unhappy and feel like a bad person. When one doesn't want to feel like a bad person, it's easy to get defensive. So if you talk to her about this in the wrong way you risk a fight where she knows she's in the wrong and that makes her feel even worse and get more angry.

Basil

@MDMarra there's a little hole in the back of our directors- stick a pen in there for 30 seconds and our environment goes down

Jenny D

Again, not because she's a woman but because she's a person.

ewwhite

@JennyD Well, I won't say anything. It is what it is.

Iain

@Basil paste them into a script

Basil

@Iain on my management box?

ewwhite

16:10

this is coming off of the question with the guy who put laptop drives in his HP server and lost his data :)

Sysadmin life != Real life :(

Basil

part of what I need to do is interactive- like "are you sure you want to save this", "yes"

Iain

@Basil does the linux box in question have an editor ?

ewwhite

@Basil possibly an expect script

Iain

@Basil ah - crucial information

Basil

@Iain nope, it's a brocade switch. It's linux deep down, but I can't use any real linux commands (except grep and stuff)

Jenny D

16:13

@ewwhite It's your relationship, I don't know how the two of you communicate. But if you are feeling upset, as a general rule I'd think it'd be better to say honestly that you're unhappy about the incident but not angry at her. But that's a very generic advice and may or may not match your actual relationship.

ewwhite

@JennyD I'm just trying not to make it worse. We all eff-up sometimes.

Chopper3

@ewwhite wife? why did I think you were gay?

ewwhite

@Chopper3 Cuz I'm so sweet...

Chopper3

@ewwhite I got confused, you're a chinaman thought right?

2

Jenny D

@ewwhite so maybe the right thing to do is not to talk about it at all but show some extra love? because when you've effed up, and you know it you're usually feeling like crap and some extra affection will go a long way

Basil

16:16

@ewwhite I thought you were Canadian.

ewwhite

@JennyD One extra hug!

Michael Hampton

@ewwhite I thought you were a sysadmin!

Jenny D

@ewwhite :-)

ewwhite

@MichaelHampton I'm none of these things. Just the guy who needs to solve this...

Michael Hampton

@ewwhite That's kind of pushing the limits, is it not?

ewwhite

16:19

@MichaelHampton look at the third host...

Something be wrong with this cluster

Chopper3

@ewwhite we're about there on one of our cluster at the moment, bunch of G7's so we're ripping out the memory and doubling them

WesleyDavid

@ewwhite Someone actually did that?

ewwhite

client has decided to upgrade all 17 hosts from 96GB to 192GB... Westmere X5660 systems

Basil

brb, rebooting

ewwhite

@WesleyDavid Yes, someone did.

@Chopper3 DRS isn't balancing

but this one is a little better

but we are constrained.

freiheit

16:32

@WesleyDavid MAKE IT STOP!!!

Travis

Think I'm gonna have to flag that image...it's annoying now

Stupid cats

2

Zypher

bad kitty, and Jersey shore ... whyyyyyyyyyyy

Jacob

:)

WesleyDavid

You all suck.

ewwhite

@ChrisS I may need your help doing something like what you posted here

Travis

16:40

I need to lay off the drugs

WesleyDavid

@Zypher Don't you love me anymore? =(

Weee! Mail appliance is borked on arrival. Thanks vendor!

Zypher

@WesleyDavid i always love you ... you just have an addiction, and i'm trying to help you the best i can

Jacob

@Zypher You dropped a "c"

Jenny D

Have you guys ever noticed that stuff works a lot better if you actually do the right thing instead of the wrong thing?

Cause I just did.

Tanner

^ All lies. Continue doing wrong thing and ask SF why it doesn't work.

Zypher

16:47

@JennyD but but doing the wrong thing is soooooooo much more fun

freiheit

@JennyD The tricky part is telling right and wrong apart...

Jenny D

@Zypher It's really irritating how stuff doesn't get done just because it's in the wrong if-statement

Zypher

haha, yea... also fun you are using the wrong variable in the if test, but don't notice it

freiheit

@JennyD I'd suggest that you need computers to read your mind and do what you meant, not what you said, but I'm afraid that mind-reading computers would just go more horribly wrong than any computer can go now...

Jenny D

@Zypher BTDTGTTS... I just really need to get this script finished today because tomorrow IS MY LAST DAY HERE WOOHOO!!!!

Zypher

16:50

@JennyD ohh nice ... orrrr it's your last day ... what are they gonna do fire you?

Jenny D

@Zypher nah, they'll give me cake. I'm leaving for greener pastures, or something.

2

freiheit

@JennyD Just cake? no booze?

Jenny D

@freiheit Ifr there is booze I won't be able to drink any because I'm driving...

freiheit

@JennyD But we're sysadmins. The proper way to celebrate and/or recover from anything sysadmin-related is consuming alcohol.

Jenny D

@freiheit I used to do that when I was younger... Nowadays I have these funny painkillers that don't go well with alcohol

freiheit

16:53

@JennyD I suppose drug interactions is a really good reason. Seems a lot of sysadmins need SSRIs, which don't interact well with alcohol.

Jenny D

@freiheit Yeah, almost as if this job made us depressed...

WesleyDavid

I started work at 7:30. It's now almost 10AM and I'm still chugging through emails. I need a hug. =(

I don't normally have this much, but I'll be damned if June isn't "Email Wesley about stupid stuff and keep the conversation dribbling" month.

freiheit

@WesleyDavid I'm too afraid of the velcro thing... Perhaps instead of hugs you need an intense bicycle ride. On the bike you're buying on your lunch break.

3

WesleyDavid

@freiheit It's 110 today. Maybe a stationary bike instead?

freiheit

@WesleyDavid no. no stationary bikes. they don't go anywhere. If it's 110, I recommend two water bottles with appropriate electrolyte stuff mixed in, which you then freeze. And a camelbak full of ice water.

Cole

16:59

@WesleyDavid /hug

Jenny D

@WesleyDavid *hug*

ewwhite

@freiheit camelback!

WesleyDavid

@Cole I love you man. :'|

@JennyD And you too.

Cole

Weee I'm getting interviewed by Solarwinds for the Customer Spotlight.

WesleyDavid

And even you, @ewwhite.

@Cole Spifftastic!

Cole

17:01

@WesleyDavid indeed.

WesleyDavid

@Cole Who's interviewing you? Are you working with Jodi?

Or Kelly

freiheit

@ewwhite You like those?

ewwhite

never used one, but people do like them

WesleyDavid

@freiheit Great for hiking! Although I prefer Platypus brand.

Cole

@WesleyDavid Jennifer

WesleyDavid

17:02

@Cole Don't know her, as far as I can remember.

Velcro man hugs, @freiheit.

freiheit

@WesleyDavid Camelbak's US headquarters is about 10 miles south of my current location, so they have a bit of a local advantage... Don't see the other brands of water-holding bags around much, unless it's things like a framed-backpack with a spot for a bladder

Chris S

@ewwhite I really need to write that into an article... It's not complicated, mostly just stuff people don't know about.

freiheit

@WesleyDavid patpat ... scrrrrcchhhhh

(darned velcro)

WesleyDavid

@freiheit The reason I like Platypus is because they make a water bladder that is completely openable on top which makes cleaning the insides very easy. HAven't found a Camelbak that does the same.

voretaq7

. . . OK, I'm having a WTF moment

freiheit

17:11

@WesleyDavid ??? I think I need a picture...

WesleyDavid

@freiheit amazon.com/Platypus-Big-ZipTM-SL-3-0L/dp/B0015ZJLJK/…

ewwhite

@ChrisS I need help with it

WesleyDavid

Called the "Big Zip"

ewwhite

for the Produce sites.

freiheit

@voretaq7 Yes, you've chosen system administration as a career. Sorry, but it's probably too late, you'll just have to learn to accept this.

@WesleyDavid The blue bit on top comes off entirely, so it's just a straight cylinder at the top? Yeah, I can see how that would be easier to clean...

WesleyDavid

17:12

@freiheit Yep.

voretaq7

Panasonic Toughbooks
The ethernet port works when they're plugged in to AC power.
The ethernet port works if you connect it while the machine is plugged in to AC power, then unplug the AC.

The ethernet port does NOT work if the machine is on battery power and you plug a cable in

WTF?

WesleyDavid

@voretaq7 Wow, that's unexpected behavior.

@voretaq7 Oh and points and laughs at the man doing end user hardware support

voretaq7

@WesleyDavid 's not my fucking problem - there's a workaround

but why the fuck does it behave this way?

I blame Ubuntu.

2

Hennes

Oh, expected behaviour on some systems (e.g. pre-installed Dells)

(windows)

voretaq7

@Hennes eh?

really?

Hennes

17:14

You are on battery? Ohh, uncabled. So not cabled network either. POWER OWN NIC

Aye.

Dell lattitude D series (D620 and 630, win XP, dell 'helpful' software)

voretaq7

@Hennes if I plug an ethernet cable in while on battery the NIC doesn't work (ethtool claims it doesn't even exist even though ifconfig says its there)

WesleyDavid

@voretaq7 Okay, just to be sure, this isn't a power profile issue with the OS that doesn't load the PHY drivers?

voretaq7

is there a BIOS setting for this crap? <looks>

WesleyDavid

But even if it's on battery, the NIC won't recognize in POST / BIOS / Netboot?

Jenny D

There, script all done. Home time!

voretaq7

17:16

@WesleyDavid only if it's on battery - the NIC is recognized (shows up in ifconfig and network manager) but won't answer ethtool and won't recognize link/cable

Hennes

Beer time.
/me heads to the shop.

Michael Hampton

Damn. I never thought I'd be posting about my vacation on the main site.

0

A: 802.1x automatically validate certificate in windows clients

I just deployed a setup very similar to this last week, to provide Internet access to a week-long campground event. This is the approach I used and some lessons learned: First, I used multiple SSIDs to provide the primary network on WPA2-Enterprise, and an open network for user enrollment. The o...

voretaq7

AHA!

Fucking ~~Ubuntu~~ Linux kernel

(and the kernel that fixes it was released 10 days after our last release went RTM)

actually I should be fair...

feel free to withdraw stars.

Dennis Kaarsemaker

@voretaq7 no you should not. You're a sysadmin, you're not supposed to be fair.

3

voretaq7

@DennisKaarsemaker grumble fucking software release rassum frassum son of a drag a stupid WHALE CARCASS grumble

Dennis Kaarsemaker

17:26

Remember, the B in BOFH does not mean Beauty.

freiheit

@DennisKaarsemaker maybe not for you... ;)

Dennis Kaarsemaker

@freiheit I'm a pretty princess!

4

ewwhite

0

Q: Automating Server build Process for physical/virtual servers

I am on a coop internship and my previous internship experience was as a C# developer. In this internship I am working on servers and storage. I have been trained by a fellow coworker on building physical and virtual servers. We have a long checklist of things to follow when doing server builds. ...

freiheit

I'm too sexy for my server too sexy for my servers. So sexy it hurts. And I'm too sexy for your infrastructure.

WesleyDavid

@freiheit Bare your hair bear chest, manly man.

freiheit

17:31

> Is there code I can write or freeware I can use to automate part of the physical/virtual server builds?
Yes, yes there is.

Nathan C

Puppet~

Cole

HAIRY CHESTS!

voretaq7

@freiheit No. You must do it by hand as your ancestors did

here's a couple of rocks and a stick.

freiheit

@voretaq7 I actually covered that in a talk to the local LUG about puppet a few years ago... Except I used somebody throwing a pot as my example photo

uhm. holy shit. I did that talk in 2008.

Cole

2008 doesn't seem that long ago...but it kinda is

I graduated high school in 2005...so there's that.

Nathan C

17:37

So my company actually wants an intranet of some sort ...because we don't have anything atm. Anyone familiar with software that would help (that's not ...sharepoint...)?

Cole

@NathanC what are their needs, though?

Twiki dat shit

Nathan C

Mostly to organize the clusterf*k that is our file structure. We have tons of shared documents that are used fairly often (but changed less often). Plus the usual employee news, etc

Cole

Will users be managing their docs/files?

Nathan C

Yeah. Currently people have their own copies of shared files and it becomes a headache.

Cole

Because you're going to want something easy for them to use

Nathan C

17:40

Especially when a shared file in a user's folder

Matt Bear

heya

WesleyDavid

@Cole Shuttup.

freiheit

@Cole You're a baby!

Jacob

@MichaelHampton Got a question for you

WesleyDavid

Okay, two breakfasts later and I'm down to three emails to read and one to write. I feel good.

Now to go get my third breakfast...

Cole

17:45

BABY COLE

Michael Hampton

@Jacob You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Matt Bear

If a server crashes, and no one monitors it or uses it, did it really crash?

Tanner

Nagios alert or is never happen.

Tweeted by DEVOPS_BORAT on September 4, 2012 at 3:37 PM

Jacob

Whew, I almost made a huge screw up

Matt Bear

@Jacob used your real name in craigslist personals?

Jacob

17:50

@MattBear No editing the fstab on the wrong server

Matt Bear

@Jacob yeah, thats almost as bad lol

@Jacob set the colors different for the different servers

Jacob

@MattBear It's being in the works

Matt Bear

@Jacob I made a similar mistake once before I learned :p

Hennes

@MattBear Is the server in a forest ?

Michael Hampton

@Jacob You almost asked me a question? :)

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