Hey guys, this is a list of my own disaster lessons, prompted by 9/11. Follow them, and you will be a better SA.
In the wake of the tragedy of 9/11, what lessons can a System Administrator learn? This article highlights the bitter lessons of 9/11, and helps you prepare for such disasters.
1) Have a good, tested backup plan.
There are companies that were housed in the WTC that went out of business on 9/11, and there were companies that were housed in the WTC that were open for business in a day or two. A safe, tested backup policy can make all the difference. Be sure to have adequately sized tape drives for backup. Come in on a weekend or two and recreate a server from backup tapes, so you know how long it takes. Document everything, and prepare for growth. If you find that you've outgrown your backup capacity, upgrade now while the horror of 9/11 is still fresh on those controlling the pursestrings.
1a) Have offsite backup.
Keeping backup tapes in the storage closet is no longer good enough. You need backup tapes stored offsite. The ideal offsite storage is an abandoned coal mine or limestone mine in Apalachia (the locals work cheap, the state governments are willing, and the locals aren't sophisticated to know what to do with 4mm dat tapes). If your company doesn't have the cash for that, offer to move into a bigger house or apartment, with one room being locked and fireproofed to store backup tapes. Of course, you will need a modest stipend to pay for your larger quarters.
1b) Offsite backup machines
While many of the WTC affected companies were donated PC's by the PC manufactuers, you may not have that luxury, especially if your disaster is not photogenic enough, or terrorist related. It makes sense to have a few high end workstations and a server in your house, for immediate use in case of disaster (until then, can you say LAN party?).
2) Have a disaster plan
Think of the worst things that can happen to your company, and work out a response. Powe loss, flooding, plain crash, riots, anything that will disrupt your company.
If your company doesn't have a disaster preparedness officer, get one. And who else has experience with sudden failures and crashed, but you? Once you've assumed the mantle of Disaster co-ordinator, brainstorm every possible disaster (Tom Clancy noel's become a business expense), and work out a response. Have monthly drills, so the peons get used to your authority.
Along with this added responsibility, you should lobby for a larger salary, and a better sounding title. May I suggest Vice-President for Disaster Planning.
3) Be aware of who you hire
Your biggest danger is from a terrorist on the inside, be careful of whom you hire. It would be nice to only hire Americans, but in the land where Wrestling biographies are on the top ten bestsellers list, Americans who can handle a computer are becoming rarer and rarer. The few that are compentent with computers tend to have attitudes, if not allowed to waste 4 hours a day surfing the web for pornography and weblogs, they get whiny and cantankerous. So, I give you a rundown of various foriegners; who to hire, who to avoid.
Europeans: Western Europeans have been spoiled by their socialist nanny-state, and will be loathe to work more than 35 hours a week. Eastern Europeans are very smart, and work cheap, but usually come with organized crime ties. What you make up on cheap salaries you lose on disappearing laptops. If you have a good source of old laptops, a Russian may be your best choice.
Arabs: Have the lessons of 9/11 taught you nothing? Al Qeada sleeper agents have been in the US for years, do you want to take the chance that the cheap camel jockey you hire is possibly a terrorist? Point any Arabic applicants down the road to the Yemenese-owned mini-mart, and save a copy of their resume for the FBI.
Asians: You're getting better. They work cheap, they have a good, tireless antlike work ethic, they're smart, and they're
You chose Boddies over Guinness?
on
PeltierBeer
·
· Score: 1
Gah, here in the states I rank Boddingtons just a step above Budweiser, it's nearly as tasteless.
On behalf of all the Yanks, I apologize for all the isolationists in the 1930's who decided you Europeans could govern themselves and live in peace. Had we known Neville would have told the Czechs to lie down and spread their legs to that madman, we would have intervened sooner.
While most Americans consider blimps only suitable for promotional purposes and overhead golf shots, the merry olde English are trying to find some use for the obsolete gasbags.
It's really no surprise, the country loves it's eccentrics, from Sinclair's little electric scooter to the Osborne luggable to the Robin Reliant to their steam powered subway trains.
Their standard of living would improve if they ever upgrade their technology to at least 1970's level, but then their little country wouldn't have the Disneyesque appeal.
organization. You would be betting the financials of your company on a networking hack (Samba) that will soon be illegal under the DMCA. Once the Microsoft financed SCO lawsuit takes care of Linux, you can bet MS will have some little company suit the Samba group.
Once again, the anti-nuke kooks in the liberal
on
New Trailer for The Hulk
·
· Score: -1, Flamebait
media strike.
Those pathetic directors and producers who don't have the scientific knowledge of a 3rd grader in Germany are afraid of what they don't understand. They don't understand the best, cleanest form of energy in the short term is nuclear. They don't understand the only thing that kept us safe from being overrrun by Godless Commies was thousands of nuclear bombs.
They lost all their political clout once Slick Willy left the White House, so now they're attemping to sway the masses with yet another movie about how bad nuclear things are, in this case, radiation.
I got news, Ms. Sarandon and company, if it wasn't for radiation, we'd be single cell critters.
I for one am proud of my technical knowledge, proud of my scientific knowledge, and know nuclear energy is the future of mankind. These kooks won't see one thin dime of my hard earned money, I won't reward them for pushing an anti-nuclear agenda while they drive around in their gas sucking SUVs. If you're a true geek, you won't either.
Alex should have just waited
on
Half Mast
·
· Score: 5, Funny
he could have gotten even years later, like I do. When I see those jocks that used to oppress and torture me years ago in high school, I undertip them, and call the pizza shop to tell them it was cold.
how to balance open access to constituents without being overwhelmed.
Perhaps Parliament could consider some of the steps that the American Congress has taken. The American Congress has a de facto filter built in to prevent Joe Random crazy from flooding their representatives with spurious requests. Most Congressional requests, letters, phone calls, faxes and emails are tossed out unless they come from certain designated people known as lobbyists. These lobbyists have worked hard to cultivate contacts in the Congress, and can get better results from one office visit than 1,000 letters from voters. In a way, they're professional access voters.
So, maybe the UK could restrict access to just professional lobbyists, it works very well in the US.
to protect them against an incipient class action lawsuit by inexperienced geeks who were tramautized by picking up "girls" in Las Vegas with large Adam's Apples during the last Comdex.
A shame Xerox didn't get into cheap computers
on
Dealers of Lightning
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· Score: 4, Funny
for the masses, they could have joined such mega corporations like Packard-Bell, Digital, Monorail, Acer, Commodore and Amiga!
Instead, they focused on high margin expensive high speed copiers and duplicators and printers.
Though, it would have been nice to squeeze a few million out of Jobs and Gates.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe Thinkgeek should buy an ad or something.
you know, a friendly greeting that sounded like a wolf whistle when she walked by, and I got dismissed for sexual harassment. Thanks a lot.
Han shoots first. I think it's different in the retail version.
When I was kid, growing up 20 miles south of Buffalo, a deputy got shot.
Every cop between my little town and the hospital on Buffalo was out blocking intersection so the ambulance could make record time.
To no avail, a 12 gauge in the gut doesn't leave much.
Jeepers, I see 10 builds a day fail here for missing components, is that really the paradigm Carmack wants to port to spaceflight?
se.
They like to keep everything in human form, the Asimo and now these exoskeletons.
While, in the US, we put our infirm, fat and aged on scooters and wheel chairs, like rascals and hover-rounds.
Then again, if this works, maybe we can start seeing late night infomercials about getting medicaid to pay for your exo-skeleton.
This is a great movie, you really don't know Bruce Willis' character dies in the first five minutes and is a ghost until the very end.
so you can come up with great ideas, and have the owner's idiot laid off nephew implement them and get all the credit and raises.
Office politics and networking aren't dirty, they're just ways of keeping your face and name in people's minds as a positive, can-do sort of person.
or is that in the next revision?
And how do they use their X10 stuff?
This has worked so well with laptops, which are much bigger and more expensive than cell phones, so there's obviously more of a demand for it.
I can take any laptop, and swap hard drives. And I can swap, well, PCMCIA cards.
I work with lots of fat, pasty software devs, I'd rather not see them pantless.
If we could take pot-breaks to combat blindness, well, now you're talking.
so that rutsy kid can fix that weblog, instead of playing games or riding his Vespa.
They should try the medication route in Thailand, hmm, nice Thai stick, a bandanna wearing dog, and some flying discs.
In the wake of the tragedy of 9/11, what lessons can a System Administrator learn? This article highlights the bitter lessons of 9/11, and helps you prepare for such disasters.
1) Have a good, tested backup plan.
There are companies that were housed in the WTC that went out of business on 9/11, and there were companies that were housed in the WTC that were open for business in a day or two. A safe, tested backup policy can make all the difference. Be sure to have adequately sized tape drives for backup. Come in on a weekend or two and recreate a server from backup tapes, so you know how long it takes. Document everything, and prepare for growth. If you find that you've outgrown your backup capacity, upgrade now while the horror of 9/11 is still fresh on those controlling the pursestrings.
1a) Have offsite backup.
Keeping backup tapes in the storage closet is no longer good enough. You need backup tapes stored offsite. The ideal offsite storage is an abandoned coal mine or limestone mine in Apalachia (the locals work cheap, the state governments are willing, and the locals aren't sophisticated to know what to do with 4mm dat tapes). If your company doesn't have the cash for that, offer to move into a bigger house or apartment, with one room being locked and fireproofed to store backup tapes. Of course, you will need a modest stipend to pay for your larger quarters.
1b) Offsite backup machines
While many of the WTC affected companies were donated PC's by the PC manufactuers, you may not have that luxury, especially if your disaster is not photogenic enough, or terrorist related. It makes sense to have a few high end workstations and a server in your house, for immediate use in case of disaster (until then, can you say LAN party?).
2) Have a disaster plan
Think of the worst things that can happen to your company, and work out a response. Powe loss, flooding, plain crash, riots, anything that will disrupt your company.
If your company doesn't have a disaster preparedness officer, get one. And who else has experience with sudden failures and crashed, but you? Once you've assumed the mantle of Disaster co-ordinator, brainstorm every possible disaster (Tom Clancy noel's become a business expense), and work out a response. Have monthly drills, so the peons get used to your authority.
Along with this added responsibility, you should lobby for a larger salary, and a better sounding title. May I suggest Vice-President for Disaster Planning.
3) Be aware of who you hire
Your biggest danger is from a terrorist on the inside, be careful of whom you hire. It would be nice to only hire Americans, but in the land where Wrestling biographies are on the top ten bestsellers list, Americans who can handle a computer are becoming rarer and rarer. The few that are compentent with computers tend to have attitudes, if not allowed to waste 4 hours a day surfing the web for pornography and weblogs, they get whiny and cantankerous. So, I give you a rundown of various foriegners; who to hire, who to avoid.
Europeans: Western Europeans have been spoiled by their socialist nanny-state, and will be loathe to work more than 35 hours a week. Eastern Europeans are very smart, and work cheap, but usually come with organized crime ties. What you make up on cheap salaries you lose on disappearing laptops. If you have a good source of old laptops, a Russian may be your best choice.
Arabs: Have the lessons of 9/11 taught you nothing? Al Qeada sleeper agents have been in the US for years, do you want to take the chance that the cheap camel jockey you hire is possibly a terrorist? Point any Arabic applicants down the road to the Yemenese-owned mini-mart, and save a copy of their resume for the FBI.
Asians: You're getting better. They work cheap, they have a good, tireless antlike work ethic, they're smart, and they're
Gah, here in the states I rank Boddingtons just a step above Budweiser, it's nearly as tasteless.
A Ruddles on the other hand is a fine ale.
On behalf of all the Yanks, I apologize for all the isolationists in the 1930's who decided you Europeans could govern themselves and live in peace. Had we known Neville would have told the Czechs to lie down and spread their legs to that madman, we would have intervened sooner.
While most Americans consider blimps only suitable for promotional purposes and overhead golf shots, the merry olde English are trying to find some use for the obsolete gasbags.
It's really no surprise, the country loves it's eccentrics, from Sinclair's little electric scooter to the Osborne luggable to the Robin Reliant to their steam powered subway trains.
Their standard of living would improve if they ever upgrade their technology to at least 1970's level, but then their little country wouldn't have the Disneyesque appeal.
organization. You would be betting the financials of your company on a networking hack (Samba) that will soon be illegal under the DMCA. Once the Microsoft financed SCO lawsuit takes care of Linux, you can bet MS will have some little company suit the Samba group.
media strike.
Those pathetic directors and producers who don't have the scientific knowledge of a 3rd grader in Germany are afraid of what they don't understand. They don't understand the best, cleanest form of energy in the short term is nuclear. They don't understand the only thing that kept us safe from being overrrun by Godless Commies was thousands of nuclear bombs.
They lost all their political clout once Slick Willy left the White House, so now they're attemping to sway the masses with yet another movie about how bad nuclear things are, in this case, radiation.
I got news, Ms. Sarandon and company, if it wasn't for radiation, we'd be single cell critters.
I for one am proud of my technical knowledge, proud of my scientific knowledge, and know nuclear energy is the future of mankind. These kooks won't see one thin dime of my hard earned money, I won't reward them for pushing an anti-nuclear agenda while they drive around in their gas sucking SUVs. If you're a true geek, you won't either.
he could have gotten even years later, like I do. When I see those jocks that used to oppress and torture me years ago in high school, I undertip them, and call the pizza shop to tell them it was cold.
Unless it got really, really, really good after the first 50 pages.
I just could not get into it, and figured my time was better spend rereading Vinge.
how to balance open access to constituents without being overwhelmed.
Perhaps Parliament could consider some of the steps that the American Congress has taken. The American Congress has a de facto filter built in to prevent Joe Random crazy from flooding their representatives with spurious requests. Most Congressional requests, letters, phone calls, faxes and emails are tossed out unless they come from certain designated people known as lobbyists. These lobbyists have worked hard to cultivate contacts in the Congress, and can get better results from one office visit than 1,000 letters from voters. In a way, they're professional access voters.
So, maybe the UK could restrict access to just professional lobbyists, it works very well in the US.
to protect them against an incipient class action lawsuit by inexperienced geeks who were tramautized by picking up "girls" in Las Vegas with large Adam's Apples during the last Comdex.
for the masses, they could have joined such mega corporations like Packard-Bell, Digital, Monorail, Acer, Commodore and Amiga!
Instead, they focused on high margin expensive high speed copiers and duplicators and printers.
Though, it would have been nice to squeeze a few million out of Jobs and Gates.