Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 17:16:51 -0500 From: "Andrew C. Hornback" <achornback@worldnet.att.net> To: "Michael Lucas" <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org> Cc: <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Life working at an ISP (was: RE: Lockdown of FreeBSD machine directly on Net) Message-ID: <004e01c1696c$3b6bf5c0$6600000a@ach.domain> In-Reply-To: <20011109074441.A12854@blackhelicopters.org>
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> -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Michael Lucas > Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 7:45 AM > To: Ted Mittelstaedt > Cc: Mike Meyer; questions@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: Re: Lockdown of FreeBSD machine directly on Net > > On Fri, Nov 09, 2001 at 03:14:07AM -0800, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: > > Yearly salaries > > for the one knowledgeable network admin holding the bandaid and ductape > > servers together are in the 20-30K range. RAID is nonexistent, > IDE drives > > abound, downtime > > is frequent. > > Ted, Ted, you're giving me flashbacks here! All that therapy, shot to > heck... *grins* This is beginning to sound like a support group meeting... "Hi, I'm Andy, and I worked for a cheap-ass ISP..." > The plus side to that environment is, there's nothing like trying to > figure out how to make something work with inadequate equipment, Example (and yes, these are true stories) - Your primary server, the Dual Celeron 500 MHz has begun to exhibit overheating problems. You find out that this comes from a combination of being overclocked (d0h!) by the previous administrator, and the fact that the fans on the heatsinks are not turning to keep the extremely dinky heatsink cool. You clock the machine down to where it's supposed to be, and go ask management for funding to purchase proper heat reduction solution hardware. Management tells you to go get bent, that they're having cashflow issues. My solution, bring in a power drill, drill a number of holes in the bottom of the case, and park the machine over an A/C vent, thus preventing it from overheating again. > insufficient time Example - being hired to work "part time" hours while accomplishing everything under the sun. Turning in a time card with 105 hours in the past week when you're only supposed to be paid for 20, and then getting a check for 20 hours of work. Needless to say, I raised hell over that. > and screaming people Example - a supervisor who has to look over your shoulder and keep tabs on everything you do, even when you have to prepare a report every morning about your activities of the previous day, with down to the minute accuracy to account for your entire day. If the report wasn't there in the morning by the time management got there, there was hell to pay. Additionally, being that you're not just the "server guy" but you're also the third line of technical support, you also get it from illiterate users who claim "I know computers better than you". > to make you very good at > solving complex problems very quickly. *grins* Used to have a witty saying on the door to my office (aka the server room) "I can only satisfy one person each day... today isn't your day, tomorrow isn't looking good either, try next week." > Of course, those solutions > were often worse than the original problem. I can't say that. I mean, after all, I made Windows NT do things that Microsoft and the developers of the application in question said were impossible. > Sad to say, I think I had more fun back then than I'm having now. True... but, then again, how's the ulcer doing? *Grins* --- Andy To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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