Compaq makes the Remote Insight Board / Lights Out Edition which serves a similar purpose in thier servers. Works below the OS level to get you console anywhere you can connect via port 80. Basically an SBC with an embedded os/app that hooks into the compaq mgm't features.
Ponder this: You can boot your server *off of the floppy in your laptop* via the RIB. Magical. Really - I have no idea how they implement this, and therefore it is indistinguishable from magic in my eyes.
I say let it burn. Take your vacation, and leave the pager at the office.
It is NOT your responsibility to make the staffing decisions, nor is it your responsibility to kill yourself with overwork so that the Management can A) Get richer off of your sacrifice and B) Continue in ignorance of thier staffing needs.
Moreover, if you are gone (quit, fired, leave, whatever) they will need to train a replacement, who *will* cost more than you, both in training time and salary. Plus even after they've paid for your replacement, they still have to spend for a reserve sysadmin. So it's in thier best interest to keep you around. It's in your best interest to use that leverage in negotiating with them.
So take a vacation! You may be surprised to find that everything is still standing when you get back. If so, great. If it burned to the ground in your absence, well, that's Management's problem. They pay you for 40 hours of your life every week. Don't give them more than what they pay for! Maybe you've heard the of the Technique of the Thousand Marbles? Depending on your age, you statistically have about 2000 weekends left to enjoy. Go buy 2000 marbles (BBs, whatever) and store them in a big jar. Every Saturday, take one marble out of the jar and discard it. Watch as the level diminishes over time. You never get your life back - and nobody ever said as thier dying words "I wish I had spent more time at the office."
I presume that you are in a salaried or hourly position, and that you don't have any significant equity/investment in the corporation. If they won't "cash you out" and you can't take time away, for god's sake, negotiate for a percentage ownership in the corporation! Not stock options, but actual stock. You need to own a piece of it. That way all your sacrifice to the benefit of the corporation comes back to benefit you in the long run. Any time that you put in above and beyond your contractual obligation is an investment in the company, same as cash. You ought to stand to benefit from that investment - in fact, you should benefit *more* from an investment of time, because money comes and goes, but like I said, you only get one life. Your life is more valuable than your money.
I know it may sound a bit crazy to march into the boss' office and demand a piece of the company - but look at it from thier perspective: It's free money. Giving you equity doesn't interfere with the cash flow. It's just a piece of paper that says you own n percent of the assets of Foo, inc. It doesn't come out of any budget, and it doesn't cost them anything in lost time or productivity. Why do you think the dot-com startups throw stock options around? It's CHEAP! There's no cash outlay in giving away bits of the company. And cash flow is what companies care most about managing.
So help them manage thier cash flow. Save them the expense of finding and training your replacement. Take some time off, and don't check in. If you absolutly can't or won't get your reward in the most valuable form (free time) then arrange to take it in the form of equity.
My $0.02, after having been the lone sysadmin for 4 years...
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Compaq makes the Remote Insight Board / Lights Out Edition which serves a similar purpose in thier servers. Works below the OS level to get you console anywhere you can connect via port 80. Basically an SBC with an embedded os/app that hooks into the compaq mgm't features.
Ponder this: You can boot your server *off of the floppy in your laptop* via the RIB. Magical. Really - I have no idea how they implement this, and therefore it is indistinguishable from magic in my eyes.
Good stuff.
I say let it burn. Take your vacation, and leave the pager at the office.
It is NOT your responsibility to make the staffing decisions, nor is it your responsibility to kill yourself with overwork so that the Management can A) Get richer off of your sacrifice and B) Continue in ignorance of thier staffing needs.
Moreover, if you are gone (quit, fired, leave, whatever) they will need to train a replacement, who *will* cost more than you, both in training time and salary. Plus even after they've paid for your replacement, they still have to spend for a reserve sysadmin. So it's in thier best interest to keep you around. It's in your best interest to use that leverage in negotiating with them.
So take a vacation! You may be surprised to find that everything is still standing when you get back. If so, great. If it burned to the ground in your absence, well, that's Management's problem. They pay you for 40 hours of your life every week. Don't give them more than what they pay for! Maybe you've heard the of the Technique of the Thousand Marbles? Depending on your age, you statistically have about 2000 weekends left to enjoy. Go buy 2000 marbles (BBs, whatever) and store them in a big jar. Every Saturday, take one marble out of the jar and discard it. Watch as the level diminishes over time. You never get your life back - and nobody ever said as thier dying words "I wish I had spent more time at the office."
I presume that you are in a salaried or hourly position, and that you don't have any significant equity/investment in the corporation. If they won't "cash you out" and you can't take time away, for god's sake, negotiate for a percentage ownership in the corporation! Not stock options, but actual stock. You need to own a piece of it. That way all your sacrifice to the benefit of the corporation comes back to benefit you in the long run. Any time that you put in above and beyond your contractual obligation is an investment in the company, same as cash. You ought to stand to benefit from that investment - in fact, you should benefit *more* from an investment of time, because money comes and goes, but like I said, you only get one life. Your life is more valuable than your money.
I know it may sound a bit crazy to march into the boss' office and demand a piece of the company - but look at it from thier perspective: It's free money. Giving you equity doesn't interfere with the cash flow. It's just a piece of paper that says you own n percent of the assets of Foo, inc. It doesn't come out of any budget, and it doesn't cost them anything in lost time or productivity. Why do you think the dot-com startups throw stock options around? It's CHEAP! There's no cash outlay in giving away bits of the company. And cash flow is what companies care most about managing.
So help them manage thier cash flow. Save them the expense of finding and training your replacement. Take some time off, and don't check in. If you absolutly can't or won't get your reward in the most valuable form (free time) then arrange to take it in the form of equity.
My $0.02, after having been the lone sysadmin for 4 years...