YAFH

(yet another freaking hurricane)

Hell is an empty Directory tree

So the Novell Directory Services just flat-out died. No, not the hard drives, not the motherboard, not the power supply. The whole tree just decided to corrupt and eat itself.

So Jim and I stayed throughout Wednesday night and Thursday morning to restore the server. Of course the worst case scenario decided to pay a visit. We had essentially rebuild the user accounts.

As for the files, they're mostly there but restoring the rest is dragging on.

Static vs. DHCP

Recently the DHCP server filled up with leases and stopped handing out new ones. (The server dynamically assigns computers on the network with an IP address. No address, no worky).

The good thing about DHCP is that it manages the assignment and ensures each computer gets a unique number. However, it's still a hassle to manage.

I moved a lot of the PCs to static numbers. This is also a hassle to manage since you have to keep a list of who has what number. Still, if there ever was to be a PC hacked or infected or just gone bad, it'll be much easier to locate that PC and fix it.

The laptops will stay on DHCP. Going off to Seattle and not having admin rights to change your static IP would be a bad thing.

Meanwhile, the core router at Criser had a coronary. Having complete Internet outage for 90 minutes really showed us how much we need Internet access, even for a puny little driver.

Zero Zip

Trying to revive a possibly dead Zip disk. Ergh! Almost as futile as recovering a floppy disk. Magnetic removable storage is dead people.* Move along, nothing to see here...

*Well except for tape backups, of course, until they can invent optical tape as seen in the movie Brainstorm.

Things to Do While Waiting for Backups to Restore

Backups how you fail me so
SCSI voodoo hurts
Arcserve, Veritas, bite me!

One o'clock, so late
Forgot to reset TiVo
Will it eat my shows?

The Worm Cometh... and the Worm Goeth Away...

Well that was a week I won't get back...
The only good thing that came of it really was the discovery of HFNetChk. Cool software for patching a thunderously unsecured operating system.

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Curious backup voodoo ...Solved!

I've spent a good part of the week trying to get a teeny, tiny file restored from a tape. The problem wasn't the server or the application on the server but the Windows management application (go figure).

When 'o' when will IPX/SPX stop being needed?

Okay, two more PCs out the door and the new Ghost server is coming along swimmingly ...with a mouthful of water here and there...



Is it Friday yet??

Ergh! Chose a new template to fix (read: kill) the archive path bugs.

Hey! Blogger upgraded and Archives are back and sane. Neat!

So here's the agenda:
* More PCs to roll out
* Create Tasks for Ghost 7.5
* Recreate the trial of MeetingMaker (Server got hacked. Grrr.)
* Find a server for Bindview
* Find a server for Terminal Services
* Figure of Dell's IT Assistant works and if it's worth my time
* Oh and solve World Hunger...

Hm, funny. Archive seems to be broken... Trying to restore (and display the works).

Erg. SCSI connections. There's a reason why it's referred to as "SCSI Voodoo".

This could get worse, of course. It might a driver issue which would essentially kill this project.

Nothing like a refreshing reboot to cleanse the soul... unless you're a server! :(

Edit: "clense" typo.

Fire drill!! (Or International Studies downstairs got a bomb threat...)