so a long time client, who has been acting weird since I built my new home avoids us doing work or maintaining the network.
one reason is to save money, the other is jealousy, like they think the little amount of money they spend is paying for my home.
so one anal retentive cfo there is a pain, always wants an answer for why something fails or doean't work.
so mondays backup failed, the first in 6 months. he emails me the backup failed, why and how to fix it.
I replied as I stated before backups will fail from time to time for many reasons, since you want to reduce your cost and manage things yourself how can you ask me why something happen and demand an answer.
so I remote in, look at the backup exec job and see it stopped after 4gb when it should've been 110gb. so my immediate response was either backup exec or windows crashed due to low resources or there was some type of power failure or glitch that shutdown the server. or the disk is full and mentioned that the way the backups are done should be changed to a different configuration, I addressed this 8 months ago to the owner.
the owner emails me back with he don't remember but get it done. I replied with the exact email I sent back then to refresh his memory.
so the cfo emails me this.
Tuesday backup was successful.
You have presented two possible scenarios for Monday’s failure –
1. The power went off during the backup or
2. There’s not enough available space on the cartridge.
We both received Andrew’s email yesterday in which he authorized you to do what is necessary. And I have brought all of the cartridges in our rotation to the office with me today as you requested. But of course I don’t know whether our problem is #1 or #2. So I leave it to you to determine our course of action.
I responded with this.
with backups, there will be failures from time to time, that's a fact of life with computers, when it's consistant failures then time should be taken to investigate the cause. but with computers there can be numerouse reasons why a backup failed, other possible causes can be.
1. server hasn't been rebooted in awhile.
2. backup software crashed.
3. the operating system had some kind of glitch or other software caused the backup to fail.
4. that one particular disk is going bad.
I cannot give you a solid cause of the failure, only possible causes and choose a solution that I think best fixes the problem, if that doesn't work then it's the next solution.
looking at the disk that was put in the next day showed only 1gb free, I'm going to assume the disk that failed was also at the same capacity, thus my solution to change the way the backups are created.
should there be another failure, the cause can be different that the first cause, at that point I look to see what caused it, and resolve the issue or issues.
we just had a client in philly who had a software update from a vendor that caused their backups to fail repeatedly.
it took several different solutions which all failed before my tech overheard an employee complain about their recent software update having clitches, at that point when I called the vendor regarding what the update consist of that's when I knew what caused the problem.
in some situations we'll never know what caused the problem, and some cannot be prevented. it's just part of having a network, what's critical is that the server itself doesn't fail and is 90% reliable meaning that it's always up and running and resources are available like file access and printing.
even though we make it look easy, it's far from easy where there may be 50 possible solutions but only one will actually fix it and half of the others won't and the existing half will cause more harm than good.
I'll have a tech over as soon as he gets back, you can leave the tapes in the server room and I'll instruct him to put the disk on your desk.
nothing will change on your part, you will continue to do what you normally do.
talk to you later.
when my tech got there that cartridge was bad so my tech started to do the rma, well they stopped him and told him they would take care of it. I told my tech to also notify me if anyone wants him to do something else and not to do it unless I get approval from the owner and my tech gets it from me. I'm not going to get into a "I didn't authorize this or that bullshit". they asked about creating two accounts in their software application which is still dos based with a windows interface, I told my tech to have them call the vendor and learn how since they have a problem with us doing shit. besides I don't remember, it was a long drawn out process cause they configured it wrong from the start and had some weird way of creating profiles for users with certain menu's removed.
so after my tech leaves, the cfo calls me, why did it go bad.
I respond sarcastically it's mechanical, do you expect it to last forever, lets not play dumb, then he ask why would I suggest something that will fail. now I'm getting pissed, I responded I do not make the shit, I do not guarantee it will last fporever, ask the manufacturer why it failed. and to end this topic everything will fail, it could've failed from you carrying them home at night or leaving it in the car in the heat.
then he ask how do they do the rma?
I respond I don't know, call the manufacturer, my tech was trying to do it before you chased him out saying you'll do it yourself. you have the bix the rdx drives came in, the paperwork is in the box along with instructions to do a rma or where on the web to go to submit an rma.
then I say I'm not sure what's going on there but if there's an issue with us doing work there then you need to find someone else and hung up.
the owner emailed me earlier this week he needs a new pc, the dell he brought (8 months old) ain't shit. now we sold 4 of our workstations with dual displays to them which smokes the newer dells they purchased avoiding spending money with me and they are crap. so I told him I will email him a quote, so in my quote I required payment in full due to the last bill taking 3.5months to pay, I told him if I can't be paid in full then I can't do it, I'm not financing anyone's upgrades or repairs. they can go buy dell's and pay up front or net 30 days which they pay on time but string me out for 3.5 months, go buy a dell and have them set them up.
what good is your business if you can't pay me on time. I have to steal from peter to pay paul, or come out of my pocket to cover the balance or borrow from my other company to meet payroll or pay my distributors.
so I havn't heard from them yet and I really don't give a fuck.
their weird attitude didn't start until they saw my new home.
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