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ConfusedUs posted:Is there something in particular you want from a backup product that nothing has today? It's not a particular thing, rather a set of features that some have that others do or don't work well. My wishlist would be: quote:
There's probably a million things more and there'll never be a product that does it all and at a fair price but hey I can dream.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:15
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In the continuing saga of network issues: our internet is going up and down and has been for almost two hours. Does it with both my internal DNS server and Google DNS Called Cogent, they verified that everything was green on their end. They cleared the ARP table while it was down on my end and it all came back up and was pingable. Now I get to wait for our remote network engineer (remote as in New Jersey) to get to an area with good cell reception (he's driving) so he can remote in. Yes, he's going to remote in when our internet is going up and down and didn't even ask if I had a hotspot I could use. Good thing I already thought ahead and got one set up. This is going to be fun because all I can do is sit here and twiddle my thumbs and wait. pr0digal fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Aug 20, 2014 |
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Aug 20, 2014 20:26
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so I have ten boxes in an environment that were cabled backwards: one of the frontside cables was in the backup port, and vice versa. It was super easy to prove: I could see the switchports via CDP broadcasts. Can you tell the DC to switch cables 2 and 3 on each of these boxes? They were all cabled backwards. Sure. I'll set up a call for tomorrow to discuss it. Uh, we don't need a call. Just have them do it, it'll fix it. well, we will have a call so we can verify that everything works. we don't need a call. just open the work order to him and have him phone me directly whenever he gets around to fixing it, and I can test it. Right. We'll schedule a call tomorrow to do that. We don't need to waste a whole day, and not even start until tomorrow. Just send the work order. We don't need to spend 45 mins arguing about this, both the DC and the [engineer] need to be on the call, so I have scheduled a meeting tomorrow at 3pm. I look forward to working together to solve this.And people wonder why it takes so long to get anything done.
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Aug 20, 2014 20:31
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I have only been doing IT stuff for about 3 years but I hope things like this never cease to amuse me.
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Aug 20, 2014 20:43
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And just like that everything is back to normal. With no good explanation as of yet. He asked me if anybody was downloading/uploading "heavy" files. How the gently caress am I supposed to know that if I don't have a monitoring system and I'm locked out of the switches and content filter? The COO and I are going to have a long conversation about this I can already tell.
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Aug 20, 2014 20:49
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Gealar posted:I have only been doing IT stuff for about 3 years but I hope things like this never cease to amuse me. http://thedailywtf.com/Series/Error_0x27_d.aspx Me too 
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Aug 20, 2014 21:01
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This extension is a godsend, but my phone got a bit warm from "blooping" 4 billion times for each of the ticket closure helpdesk emails.  Yeah, I haven't looked at Spiceworks in a while. between now and 30 days ago exactly 9 new tickets have been created. and 6 of those were made by me, on behalf of users who email and CC lots of people instead of just emailing helpdesk@company. (I also love the "email helpdesk@company but also cc Lamar Smith R-TX and Boss.") Very lazy summer. But also, users walk all over my boss and I and rarely (if ever) bother to use the helpdesk system. Lamar Smith R-TX fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Aug 21, 2014 |
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Aug 21, 2014 00:02
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I spent far too long today trying to work around this unholy mess. I hope their IT staff gets their act together. Oh and yes, that is fiber.     At least the structured cabling contractor cared... 
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Aug 21, 2014 00:17
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Inspector_666 posted:Does he just expect you all to memorize every detail of your cases? No. Why would I ever need to remember anything? I should be looking forward, not backwards! I am not new at all. I've been maintains my own documentation but we're getting another guy in and I don't want him to suffer the same environment. I suspect boss is worried that it will expose how little work he has/does, but I don't care about him and don't need or expect him to use it. And yes, if he doesn't change his mind I'm just going to spin something up anyway. Best to start the new guy off on the right foot.
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Aug 21, 2014 02:18
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That doesn't look too bad. But then, I'm used to working in this mess: Main Core Switches:  You might not see it, but this currently has a couple of bad blades that have yet to be swapped because these guys were too cheap to keep up the maintenance contract. Fake edit: Actually, I just looked at the full sized picture and you can easily tell the top and bottom blades on the top chassis have been pulled out. Apologies for the crappy pics. Back of a couple of racks:  In both cases, I've tried to keep things as clean as possible, but co-workers tend to plug/unplug poo poo without even trying to be neat about it. Also, yes, that is a power strip with multiple wall warts dangling in that mess. Believe it or not, this is much neater than it used to be. This is after I spent 12+ hours removing cables that were no longer used and attempting to try to re-route cables somewhat neatly without bringing down production servers. That was sometime last year, so things have been added/removed since then. This is just one of our server rooms. I'm not even going to bother taking a pic of the old Lab wiring closet. It's a huge mess and we've just about decommissioned it (and yet, no one has removed cables that are no longer in use!).
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Aug 21, 2014 02:19
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m.hache posted:When I was new at this gig I opted for NovaSTOR. To be honest after a year I'm sick of it. The management interface randomly crashes entirely and has to be re-installed. I haven't used NovaSTOR in almost five years, but back then the company I worked for used it as a backup solution for SMEs with like one or two servers and tapedrives. Does it still crash randomly during backups or recovery too? And do they still use one of the progress bars as a throbber? The interface did this thing where the top progress bar showed actual progress, and the bottom progress bar just filled up at a set pace and reset again for certain operations(such as importing a backup or recovering specific files) During backup it was used to show the current file's progress, but outside of that it was a glorified throbber. I also remember filing some bugs with NovaSTOR and having a decent turnaround on fixes though. And lots of issues with tasks randomly deciding to not work or not e-mail results, only being able to solve it by recreating the task itself.
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Aug 21, 2014 08:40
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Well my ticketing suggestion was shot down with fervor. His argument: Nobody will enter data Nobody will read the data The data will be useless anyway, who cares about old errors? I like the way it is now, which is an informal discussion of anything that happens to be going on (We all sit in the same room). He trotted out the "nothing you do is that hard" line again. Which I feel like I should be offended by. It is definitely not something you should say to your staff. My desire to give a gently caress is hanging by a thread as it is. Other staff have told me he has a habit of shutting good ideas down when they're not his, then rolling them out a few months later as his own. He IS stubborn but I don't think he's that much of a knob. I think he just sees our department differently to how I see it. Also his managerial style encourages everyone to seek out the minimum level for performance they can get away with. Anyway I wont get too E/N about this, but the only option left is to roll my own install of something. With any luck the new guy who is starting will be on board with the idea and we can just run with it. At worst, I'll be the only person who uses the thing. Edit - The one thing I thought he'd love - the fact that he can see at a glance everything that's on my plate - he hated that most of all! "We're in the same room, we shouldn't need a system when we can just talk to each other." Question: I've asked this previously, but for some reason I'm really drawn to JIRA Servicedesk  . Any real reason I should favour it over Spiceworks? (I dont mind the $10 for jira ).
Swink fucked around with this message at 10:49 on Aug 21, 2014 |
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Aug 21, 2014 10:42
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Yeah, the only thing you can do now is just use it on your own workstation. I would be careful about bringing team members into it, because your boss might see that as you undermining his authority, unless the new guy is under your direct command. I mean, if your co-workers ask, you can tell them what you're doing and that it's just a little supplementary thing so you can keep track of your own stuff. But don't make suggestions that they do the same. Maybe down the road, there will be a huge disaster that could have been avoided or mitigated with a ticketing system. Then if the manager holds a "what can we do to prevent this next time?" meeting, you can suggest it again. But probably not until then.
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Aug 21, 2014 11:02
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That is good advice.
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Aug 21, 2014 11:15
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Any reason you can't go over his head? No doubt he'll yell at you later on but hell, not like you give a gently caress.
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Aug 21, 2014 11:23
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Migishu posted:Any reason you can't go over his head? Nobody there. Plus I don't want to go down that route. I'll just do my own thing like I always do. That's the ironic thing - I'm pretty much left to my own devices here but I crave management and direction. Even just a little bit. I used to not worry about it. "I can develop myself professionally". but lately I'm starting to realise I don't have that much to show for the time I've been here. edit - except for my masters degree in corp. politics and bullshit.
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Aug 21, 2014 12:23
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I don't know how long you've been there but I'd bet you got more out of it than you think you did. Underestimating your competence and development is a pretty common trait of our kind.
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Aug 21, 2014 13:03
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GreenNight posted:What are those? Seriously, it's basically my email box. We tried a ticketing system for one month for 100 people. They complained, we are back to emailing, or just walking up to the desk for help. (management felt it made the support desk "feel unapproachable" read: the ones asking for password resets/help opening word/how do i use this program i have been using for 10 years now had proof against them of the fact they cant do the basic requirements of their job). I’m not even part of the support desk and it irritates me that there’s no tracking and no accountability on the heads of the people asking for help on the same issues over and over. I feel for you. I feel for my friends on the support desk. I’m so glad I got out of IT. TyrsHTML fucked around with this message at 13:17 on Aug 21, 2014 |
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Aug 21, 2014 13:14
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Migishu posted:Any reason you can't go over his head? Going over your boss's head for something like this is kind of a stupid hill to die on. Just keep applying for new jobs until you find something that isn't so shortsighted and that gives you proper tools to do your job. You've already tried a couple times, your boss has explicitly said no, and it absolutely doesn't sound like the kind of place where you will be thanked for ignoring him.
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Aug 21, 2014 13:23
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Speaking of backups, how pricey is veeam?
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Aug 21, 2014 14:28
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For what it's worth, we got people to adopt the help desk by telling them "all you have to do is change the email address you email your request to, and the system will automatically generate a ticket for you." As far as I know, no one actually uses the self-service portal for anything. It's a lost cause for you right now, Swink, but at least you can say you tried, unlike some shops I've seen.
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Aug 21, 2014 15:22
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Smoke posted:I haven't used NovaSTOR in almost five years, but back then the company I worked for used it as a backup solution for SMEs with like one or two servers and tapedrives. Does it still crash randomly during backups or recovery too? And do they still use one of the progress bars as a throbber? The interface did this thing where the top progress bar showed actual progress, and the bottom progress bar just filled up at a set pace and reset again for certain operations(such as importing a backup or recovering specific files) During backup it was used to show the current file's progress, but outside of that it was a glorified throbber. Yeah, I randomly get a failed job on full back ups for my exchange server and I have to re-run it manually. I also can't get support anymore because they want me to renew yearly for the software. It's not worth it for me to do that.
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Aug 21, 2014 16:01
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nitrogen posted:so I have ten boxes in an environment that were cabled backwards: one of the frontside cables was in the backup port, and vice versa. It was super easy to prove: I could see the switchports via CDP broadcasts. Sounds like my last job. RAID HDD on the SAN goes down with a red light and "Hey, replace this disk" alert? Open a ticket requesting Engineering check the CMC (which I can do) to verify the disk is down and order a replacement, then replace after hours because God forbid there potentially be a possible minor lag in iops that users might see  Engineering announces a change to vShield taking place at X o'clock. At X o'clock, application Y stops talking. It's on a VM covered by vShield. Ask engineer to open port Z? Nope, call the application support and troubleshoot the problem, having them document all steps to conclude that application Y requires port Z open.
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Aug 21, 2014 16:25
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Where do things in the Deleted Items folder go if they've been deleted? That's where I store emails I don't want anymore but also don't really want to delete! Also a bunch of my deleted emails disappeared, plz halp!Luckily there's a "Restore deleted items" feature in Outlook 2013, but jesus gently caress why would you do this.
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Aug 21, 2014 17:57
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nimper posted:
My very first post in this (or one of this threads predecessors) was about this exact phenomenon. I think that was 6-7 years ago. The answer as to why they do that? Users are loving stupid.
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Aug 21, 2014 18:04
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nimper posted:
Answer the user with another riddle, "Where does the contents of your trash can go when the cleaning lady visits?" I've had users with stuff on the Desktop when their machine was up for wipe (XP -> 7) lose poo poo since we don't back those things up. I've had users with the only copy of important work on a USB stick which happened to die. But luckily still haven't experienced the "trash can is a great place for long-term archival" user. In fact, almost everyone I talk to is sensible. Except when it comes to printers. No, we don't have an SLA of one or even two hours on those, yeah sucks, you'll have to walk for a bit.
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Aug 21, 2014 18:08
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nimper posted:
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Aug 21, 2014 18:11
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nielsm posted:Answer the user with another riddle, "Where does the contents of your trash can go when the cleaning lady visits?" This is basically what I said. We agreed that a new long term storage solution was necessary, though!
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Aug 21, 2014 18:22
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if one of my clients had a user ask me that i'd probably tell the owner that they had hired a turnip and should find a replacement
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Aug 21, 2014 19:22
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TyrsHTML posted:We tried a ticketing system for one month for 100 people. They complained, we are back to emailing, or just walking up to the desk for help. (management felt it made the support desk "feel unapproachable" read: the ones asking for password resets/help opening word/how do i use this program i have been using for 10 years now had proof against them of the fact they cant do the basic requirements of their job). I’m not even part of the support desk and it irritates me that there’s no tracking and no accountability on the heads of the people asking for help on the same issues over and over. I feel for you. I feel for my friends on the support desk. Even without a ticketing system, you can still track that stuff and CYA. Sure it'll be some extra time, but I'd rather keep a copy of all the stupid, repetitive emails from the same people archived somewhere, and if they complain, pull out a handful and forward them to the boss. Stupid users will either learn and stop loving up, or they'll get canned for being stupid. teethgrinder posted:When I bitched about this 3-4 years ago, someone told me to go to the offending user's desk, grab a stack of papers, and throw them in the recycling bin while yelling at him that that's where we store things now. Do this, but do it calmly - works best if your office has a custodial crew that comes in after hours to empty trash and clean up. "Here, let me make things easy for you to understand." *puts important files and folders into trash can* "Now, since you have a cleaning crew that works after hours, do you expect this can to be full tomorrow morning?" Simple, effective, gets the point across without being a dick, also reinforces that IT gives no fucks if you put something in the wrong place and it goes bye-bye. BOOTY-ADE fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Aug 21, 2014 |
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Aug 21, 2014 19:37
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TyrsHTML posted:We tried a ticketing system for one month for 100 people. They complained, we are back to emailing, or just walking up to the desk for help. (management felt it made the support desk "feel unapproachable" read: the ones asking for password resets/help opening word/how do i use this program i have been using for 10 years now had proof against them of the fact they cant do the basic requirements of their job). I’m not even part of the support desk and it irritates me that there’s no tracking and no accountability on the heads of the people asking for help on the same issues over and over. I feel for you. I feel for my friends on the support desk. If there's one thing I've found is that proving yourself to be a capable employee has it's downsides; despite the fact we've always and still do have an easily contactable outsourced IT company to provide telephone/remote support, people still E-mail/shout from their desk/walk up to me and ask to fix or look at their poo poo (Of course ranging from a nervous creep to full blown panic and rage). Like, yeah it was pretty cool for awhile to be the to-go guy for fixing things. But now it fucks me off to no end when I'm in the middle of working on things which require a lot of thought and concentration, even worse that we don't have a break room so people will still come up to me when I'm on lunch. Swink posted:He trotted out the "nothing you do is that hard" line again. Which I feel like I should be offended by. It is definitely not something you should say to your staff. My desire to give a gently caress is hanging by a thread as it is. Ohh... I got told this one when being grilled about the phone system and its configuration (Legitimate mistake from me, it needed more rigorous testing to operate after hours) during a meeting about something completely different. I think she said something along of the lines of "All you have to do is understand it, it cannot be that difficult if someone like me can understand it!". Lady, you don't even understand what a file directory is so lay off. This is the one time my composure cracked a bit since I replied with "Well, I'm not a VOIP Engineer so I don't see how you can expect me to know the entirety of the system". Afterwards the other manager with me sympathised that it's not right to get grilled like that with a bunch of other stuff on my plate.
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Aug 21, 2014 19:46
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Why to use a ticketing system. Hmm. Only about 100 reasons. Track your time. Ability to concretely measure how much work time is spent on specific clients to compare to how much they pay you to determine level of profitability. Very helpful when you want to fire a client and can look and see Oh hey we are only making 3% profit on them anyway. Sever. Also invaluable when trying to determine the problem areas of work that keep reoccurring, indicating some systemic problem or issue that may not be readily apparent. (Hmmmm, we have spent 7 hours in the last 2 months showing the same user how to access their VPN: User is a vegetable recommend to HR they remove problem at source) CYA: This is what I did, and when I did it. This is the tracking number for the shipment/case number with ISP/ dispatch number for the 3rd party tech. And now you have access to it too even if I'm out sick or not available on the phone cause its in the ticketing system. Oh Bill is working on the same problem on the same hardware i resolved it on 8 months ago and I cant remember what I did? Look in my time sheets for the ticket, the solution is there. Legal Protection: Here is a record of our discussion 1 year and 6 months ago where I told you sticking your finger in a socket was a bad idea, even though you are now telling me and my boss I never told you that. And on and on and on. Our company could not function without a ticketing system. we have 8 techs managing 300 Small business clients, and doing it very very well. Many aspects of what my company does on every level (tech assistance, consulting, billing, HR, legal, research, training) rely on the ticketing system. I couldn't imaging working without one. I would go mad.
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Aug 21, 2014 20:10
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Yeah, makes sense for what you do. I support 250 users and have had only 1 call today. No open work for me to do or projects because the boss is on vacation.
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Aug 21, 2014 20:26
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My current job didn't have any kind of ticketing system until my third month. It was awful. We also didn't have password protected WiFi, anything resembling an inventory, or access to any server, firewall, filter, or vendor. My now-former boss literally hoarded every bit of access to himself and left me and the junior sysadmin to install printers and troubleshoot windows for three months. But that's another story.
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Aug 21, 2014 20:31
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Billy the Mountain posted:Ticketing stuff Never fear the ticketing system. It may seem like its a leash, but its going to be a lifeline when you need it.
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Aug 21, 2014 20:45
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A ticket came in from a director.... To an email group not attached to the ticket system. Subject: [app] ACCOUNT UNLocked. please unlokc Body: It.
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Aug 21, 2014 20:46
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I'm not clear on why you poor schlubs without ticketing systems are even posting in this thread 
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Aug 21, 2014 20:52
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teethgrinder posted:When I bitched about this 3-4 years ago, someone told me to go to the offending user's desk, grab a stack of papers, and throw them in the recycling bin while yelling at him that that's where we store things now. That was me. Actual content: Moved into a (temporary) place a couple of months back, a previous tennant had removed the master socket from the wall and then wallpapered over it, so when the 
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Aug 21, 2014 20:54
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Danith posted:A ticket came in from a director.... VIP calls are always so special 
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Aug 21, 2014 20:54
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We've had that deleted email thing happen to a client of ours. Regarding important contract information. That was being used in a court case. We  ed at them and luckily discovered an old newsletter we sent to their CEO regarding Outlook rules for "completed" emails, meaning they move the mail to a storage box instead. The CEO praised it in response, so it should have become policy (and thus wasn't our problem) Nothing quite like sending a forwarded email like that (from our "completed" folder) to cover your rear end 
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