Working in IT 3.0: xp_cmdshell

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Working in IT 3.0: xp_cmdshell

beepsandboops: Jan 28, 2014

Bad server locations: an auditor once told me that the worst he'd ever seen was a rack, surrounded by chicken wire and topped with an umbrella, on a guy's porch.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 07:52

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# ? May 26, 2024 10:15

evobatman: Jul 30, 2006; it means nothing, but says everything!; Pillbug

beepsandboops posted:

Bad server locations: an auditor once told me that the worst he'd ever seen was a rack, surrounded by chicken wire and topped with an umbrella, on a guy's porch.

I think it was Intel that did an experiment comparing environmental hardware failures on servers in a climate controlled data center to a bunch of servers just standing outside in a parking lot. There wasn't much difference.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 09:52

Swink: Apr 18, 2006; Left Side <--- Many Whelps

How many servers in the DC got chicken poo poo on them?

# ? Feb 24, 2016 13:40

H110Hawk: Dec 28, 2006

stubblyhead posted:

Come hang in #bofh (no dicks allowed).

This channel is awful.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 16:24

Sickening: Jul 16, 2007; Black summer was the best summer.

H110Hawk posted:

This channel is awful.

Just seemed kind of dead.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 16:34

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

Maybe a silly question, but what should my one stop industry news source be as a sys admin? I ask because I am just completely overwhelmed by having a few VMware RSS feeds, a few storage, a few SQL, a few Devops, a few Powershell... I go 3 days without checking articles and I'm 400 in the hole and at that point, mark as read, hope I didn't miss anything. Sites like ArsTechnica and Wired seem too pop culture - is there something that a sys admin should be reading as their one stop?

e: This is a silly question, because in this very thread probably 2 years ago, I asked for the overwhelming sources I named above. It's just too much though, too much!

There's a pervasive pathos in systems administration/engineering that you have to be constantly caught up and can't miss anything. But any technology worth anything will take years to even get to the adoption point where someone might care that you know about it, and anything truly useful will get posted about and talked about over and over if you surround yourself with people who care at all about the industry. Most tech news is PR trash and always will be PR trash.

In short: don't worry about it. But The New Stack is an interesting read.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 16:37

Sickening: Jul 16, 2007; Black summer was the best summer.

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

Maybe a silly question, but what should my one stop industry news source be as a sys admin? I ask because I am just completely overwhelmed by having a few VMware RSS feeds, a few storage, a few SQL, a few Devops, a few Powershell... I go 3 days without checking articles and I'm 400 in the hole and at that point, mark as read, hope I didn't miss anything. Sites like ArsTechnica and Wired seem too pop culture - is there something that a sys admin should be reading as their one stop?

e: This is a silly question, because in this very thread probably 2 years ago, I asked for the overwhelming sources I named above. It's just too much though, too much!

Honestly the only tech news place I go to on any regular amount is reddit.com/r/sysadmin and reddit.com/r/pwned . The only thing that makes either one even readable is a liberal use of the "hide" button. If a news worthy sysadmin or security thing comes up it will be in one of those subs most likely.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 16:50

BaseballPCHiker: Jan 16, 2006

I've posted something similar elsewhere on here but it really is amazing, the more you grow in your career the more you find out you dont know poo poo. I'm a way better network and sysadmin guy then I was 5 years ago but the amount of stuff I realized I don't know has vastly increased. It can be discouraging to realize how much I'll never fully understand. I just tell myself that no one knows everything and that the best I can do is never stop learning and just keep picking up stuff along the way. Admitting that and being honest with people and employers that I dont know something actually goes a long way in staying sane. If I dont know something go hire a consultant who does and let me learn from them and keep everything else running.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 17:10

Proud Christian Mom: Dec 20, 2006; READING COMPREHENSION IS HARD

these threads keep me in the loop on neat things and the occasional 'dont install this latest MS update that completely borks X'

# ? Feb 24, 2016 17:46

CloFan: Nov 6, 2004

Speaking of, don't install KB3114717 update for Office 2013. Causes Word to crash and be generally slow

# ? Feb 24, 2016 17:55

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

CloFan posted:

Speaking of, don't install KB3114717 update for Office 2013. Causes Word to crash and be generally slow

We found this one out the hard way

# ? Feb 24, 2016 18:08

stubblyhead: Sep 13, 2007; That is treason, Johnny!; Fun Shoe

evobatman posted:

I think it was Intel that did an experiment comparing environmental hardware failures on servers in a climate controlled data center to a bunch of servers just standing outside in a parking lot. There wasn't much difference.

I remember that too. I believe they used a shipping container to house them, so at the very least they weren't getting rained on.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 18:15

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

BaseballPCHiker posted:

I've posted something similar elsewhere on here but it really is amazing, the more you grow in your career the more you find out you dont know poo poo. I'm a way better network and sysadmin guy then I was 5 years ago but the amount of stuff I realized I don't know has vastly increased. It can be discouraging to realize how much I'll never fully understand. I just tell myself that no one knows everything and that the best I can do is never stop learning and just keep picking up stuff along the way. Admitting that and being honest with people and employers that I dont know something actually goes a long way in staying sane. If I dont know something go hire a consultant who does and let me learn from them and keep everything else running.

What I've learned in this last role -- maybe from finally working with people who know much more than I ever could in their chosen domains -- is how little I care about keeping up with the technology treadmill. I hope I'm never going to be that guy who refuses to learn any new technologies because the NT4 domain is working fine and Solaris 8 is the best OS that ever was. But when I land on something like Docker or Terraform in production, it's because I had a problem and I decided to research how other people are solving it, rather than obsessively keeping up on things 24/7 so I don't fall behind. It's so easy to lose focus in a systems job as it is without inventing more work to hopefully make some hypothetical problem easier someday.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 18:16

stubblyhead: Sep 13, 2007; That is treason, Johnny!; Fun Shoe

Sickening posted:

Just seemed kind of dead.

On synirc. Peak activity is during US business hours, but there are enough folks from elsewhere to keep some level of chatter up at most hours.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 18:24

H110Hawk: Dec 28, 2006

Vulture Culture posted:

What I've learned in this last role -- maybe from finally working with people who know much more than I ever could in their chosen domains -- is how little I care about keeping up with the technology treadmill. I hope I'm never going to be that guy who refuses to learn any new technologies because the NT4 domain is working fine and Solaris 8 is the best OS that ever was. But when I land on something like Docker or Terraform in production, it's because I had a problem and I decided to research how other people are solving it, rather than obsessively keeping up on things 24/7 so I don't fall behind. It's so easy to lose focus in a systems job as it is without inventing more work to hopefully make some hypothetical problem easier someday.

A new system is not the same as a innovative system or a good system. There are maybe 1-2 critically important new things which happen a year. Most everything else is same poo poo different day. It's easy to become quickly dismissive of a project. Some of it is "Everything old is new again" but leverages the 20 years of other incremental innovation which has happened since it was originally deployed. The best developers and system administrators learn how to extremely rapidly distinguish the two.

LXC (Docker, whatever) is one example of something which is very cool in an everything old is new again sort of way, but utilizes modern Linux kernel frameworks which is going to blow VM's out of the water as it matures. One of the first questions I tend to ask with things like this is "Is it Linux (kernel) mainline or at least actively working with Linus (et al.) to get it imported?"

Never be the smartest person in the room.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 18:32

Docjowles: Apr 9, 2009

Sickening posted:

Honestly the only tech news place I go to on any regular amount is reddit.com/r/sysadmin and reddit.com/r/pwned . The only thing that makes either one even readable is a liberal use of the "hide" button. If a news worthy sysadmin or security thing comes up it will be in one of those subs most likely.

I tried /r/sysadmin for a while but found 99% of posters to be insufferable assholes that drowned out anything worthwhile (reddit.txt). It was a cesspool of 1990's-style sysadmin negativity, the kind of person who unironically calls people "lusers" and talks about their sweet production environment of white-box poo poo with no warranties they cobbled together from eBay to save $60. It's useful I guess as a what-not-to-do resource for recent trends and best practices.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 18:49

Super Slash: Feb 20, 2006; You rang ?

Wrath of the Bitch King posted:

"It's all down in the rootcellar," they said.

Nope, nope nope nope, noooooooooooooope.

You can keep your sludgy rape cave and deal with it, proper building support or bust.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 21:07

DigitalMocking: Jun 8, 2010; Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.
Benjamin Franklin

Docjowles posted:

I tried /r/sysadmin for a while but found 99% of posters to be insufferable assholes that drowned out anything worthwhile (reddit.txt). It was a cesspool of 1990's-style sysadmin negativity, the kind of person who unironically calls people "lusers" and talks about their sweet production environment of white-box poo poo with no warranties they cobbled together from eBay to save $60. It's useful I guess as a what-not-to-do resource for recent trends and best practices.

ditto.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 22:47

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Docjowles posted:

I tried /r/sysadmin for a while but found 99% of posters to be insufferable assholes that drowned out anything worthwhile (reddit.txt). It was a cesspool of 1990's-style sysadmin negativity, the kind of person who unironically calls people "lusers" and talks about their sweet production environment of white-box poo poo with no warranties they cobbled together from eBay to save $60. It's useful I guess as a what-not-to-do resource for recent trends and best practices.

Same here,

This forum is great but overall I'd agree with earlier statements you ought to keep your feet in the trenches as opposed to trying to keep with up with the latest and greatest <$Whatever_New_Tech_3.0>.

Otherwise, I've stuck to SomethingAwful, HackerNews, The Verge, MacRumors, Official Company Blogs and various tech people on Twitter.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 22:49

hihifellow: Jun 17, 2005; seriously where the fuck did this genre come from

Docjowles posted:

I tried /r/sysadmin for a while but found 99% of posters to be insufferable assholes that drowned out anything worthwhile (reddit.txt). It was a cesspool of 1990's-style sysadmin negativity, the kind of person who unironically calls people "lusers" and talks about their sweet production environment of white-box poo poo with no warranties they cobbled together from eBay to save $60. It's useful I guess as a what-not-to-do resource for recent trends and best practices.

I read it a lot at work since it's not blocked while the SA forums are (Jeff I know it was you! :argh:

) and yeah, their most celebrated poster is a self styled "cranky sysadmin" while the average poster is busy debating the benefits of naming their production servers after hobbits from LOTR. It's good for news though.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 23:21

Wrath of the Bitch King: May 11, 2005; Research confirms that black is a color like silver is a color, and that beyond black is clarity.

The tech specific subreddits are good. /r/sccm has helped me in the past, and they're definitely lacking in the negativity that pervades /r/sysadmin.

# ? Feb 24, 2016 23:27

SeaborneClink: Aug 27, 2010; MAWP... MAWP!

The Verge for quality tech news? :vince:

Their reporting in like the first year or so after they launched was pretty quality, but now? :cripes:

# ? Feb 24, 2016 23:37

anthonypants: May 6, 2007; by Nyc_Tattoo; Dinosaur Gum

SeaborneClink posted:

The Verge for quality tech news?

Their reporting in like the first year or so after they launched was pretty quality, but now?

What do you expect from a bunch of redditors?

# ? Feb 25, 2016 00:31

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Tab8715 posted:

This forum is great but overall I'd agree with earlier statements you ought to keep your feet in the trenches as opposed to trying to keep with up with the latest and greatest <$Whatever_New_Tech_3.0>.

I don't know why the assumption has been, by people making this point, that people are incapable of keeping up with the latest as well as the most relevant. Finding out about a new thing isn't going to somehow confuse me.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 01:48

Sickening: Jul 16, 2007; Black summer was the best summer.

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

I don't know why the assumption has been, by people making this point, that people are incapable of keeping up with the latest as well as the most relevant. Finding out about a new thing isn't going to somehow confuse me.

I also feel like I am also out of touch with opinions this thread is producing. Seems so weird and backwards.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 01:59

MF_James: May 8, 2008; I CANNOT HANDLE BEING CALLED OUT ON MY DUMBASS OPINIONS ABOUT ANTI-VIRUS AND SECURITY. I REALLY LIKE TO THINK THAT I KNOW THINGS HERE

INSTEAD I AM GOING TO WHINE ABOUT IT IN OTHER THREADS SO MY OPINION CAN FEEL VALIDATED IN AN ECHO CHAMBER I LIKE

hihifellow posted:

I read it a lot at work since it's not blocked while the SA forums are (Jeff I know it was you! ) and yeah, their most celebrated poster is a self styled "cranky sysadmin" while the average poster is busy debating the benefits of naming their production servers after hobbits from LOTR. It's good for news though.

Haha for a second I thought you were my co-worker, but then I realized you can't be, because SA isn't blocked... Unless I'm somehow immune to it

# ? Feb 25, 2016 02:12

H110Hawk: Dec 28, 2006

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

I don't know why the assumption has been, by people making this point, that people are incapable of keeping up with the latest as well as the most relevant. Finding out about a new thing isn't going to somehow confuse me.

All things in moderation. Some people take it WAY too far to the extreme. This is how you wind up with people trying to have github.com as a valid source for their production servers build routines. And then you find out the project has 1 contributor who hasn't made a patch in 3 months because they went back to school.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 02:17

Dr. Arbitrary: Mar 15, 2006; Bleak Gremlin

hihifellow posted:

I read it a lot at work since it's not blocked while the SA forums are (Jeff I know it was you! ) and yeah, their most celebrated poster is a self styled "cranky sysadmin" while the average poster is busy debating the benefits of naming their production servers after hobbits from LOTR. It's good for news though.

It's totally cool to give lab servers fun names. Beyond that... not so much.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 02:23

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

I don't know why the assumption has been, by people making this point, that people are incapable of keeping up with the latest as well as the most relevant. Finding out about a new thing isn't going to somehow confuse me.

The point really was less that, and more that every mainstream tech pub has been taken over by journalists who just continuously repost things seeded to them by their PR contacts. Aside from a small handful of smaller sites, you can spend all day hearing about new things and come out with absolutely no real information or wisdom to help you in any way. Trying to keep up with stuff like The Register is about as productive as reading a Facebook feed full of baby pictures.

What I've been finding more helpful, in general, is taking some time every couple of months to look at the converence discussions from SCALE, Strange Loop, LISA, Velocity, and other big conferences, because the stuff around how people are handling process is way more interesting and insightful than any of the bullshit companies are feeding about their next incremental improvement storage revolution.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 03:32

3 Action Economist: May 22, 2002; Educate. Agitate. Liberate.

Dr. Arbitrary posted:

It's totally cool to give lab servers fun names. Beyond that... not so much.

My servers at work are named things like SERVER-AD-01 and SERVER-EMAIL

# ? Feb 25, 2016 13:34

FlapYoJacks: Feb 12, 2009

Colonial Air Force posted:

My servers at work are named things like SERVER-AD-01 and SERVER-EMAIL

COMPANTYNAME-RACK#-RACKPOSITION-SERVERROLL

# ? Feb 25, 2016 14:57

Collateral Damage: Jun 13, 2009

Ours just have country code and an index number.

Cattle.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 15:05

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

"Don't name the servers after what they do - it makes it easier for hackers!!"

- A previous boss

# ? Feb 25, 2016 15:38

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

I name my lab servers boring names because I'm a boring person.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 15:40

3 Action Economist: May 22, 2002; Educate. Agitate. Liberate.

Thanks Ants posted:

"Don't name the servers after what they do - it makes it easier for hackers!!"

- A previous boss

If the hackers can get to the servers anyway....

# ? Feb 25, 2016 16:02

BaseballPCHiker: Jan 16, 2006

I hated coming into this current gig and trying to figure out what was what. I dont know if lord of the rings names are for a different location or a printer or what the gently caress. Just pick a logical self explanatory naming convention and go with that. The last guy has been leaving his trail of poo poo work everywhere I look. Mostly annoying little things like zip tying cables so tight you cant even cut them off easily.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 16:05

FlapYoJacks: Feb 12, 2009

BaseballPCHiker posted:

I hated coming into this current gig and trying to figure out what was what. I dont know if lord of the rings names are for a different location or a printer or what the gently caress. Just pick a logical self explanatory naming convention and go with that. The last guy has been leaving his trail of poo poo work everywhere I look. Mostly annoying little things like zip tying cables so tight you cant even cut them off easily.

The guy before me named every single server after a character from Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Arthur was the domain server.
Eddie was a test box.
Another server was Slartibartfast.

It was one of the first things I changed.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 16:08

Internet Explorer: Jun 1, 2005

BaseballPCHiker posted:

I hated coming into this current gig and trying to figure out what was what. I dont know if lord of the rings names are for a different location or a printer or what the gently caress. Just pick a logical self explanatory naming convention and go with that. The last guy has been leaving his trail of poo poo work everywhere I look. Mostly annoying little things like zip tying cables so tight you cant even cut them off easily.

Use needle nose pliers and twist.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 16:19

Judge Schnoopy: Nov 2, 2005; dont even TRY it, pal

Ahhh a million pinched cables just cried out in pain

# ? Feb 25, 2016 16:21

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# ? May 26, 2024 10:15

Internet Explorer: Jun 1, 2005

Judge Schnoopy posted:

Ahhh a million pinched cables just cried out in pain

Please no trolling, thanks.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 16:23

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