Re: Alternative Lesson: "Never turn anything off if..."
... if a power failure needs serious effort or hardware fixes to get it going, its a shit system.
Exactly my thought when I was reading the article.
And if it isn't in the manual it ought not to happen.
Well ...
Reality/fate/chance or serendipity do not look at manuals to get their cues as how to proceed.
Shit just happens.
20+ years ago I was involved in the set up of all the hardware at a local election vote-tally data entry centre.
It was a 300 PC, 2X heavyweight mirrored Compaq servers, industrial size UPS + automatic start generator gig.
The very short deadline and the usual opposition rabble with daily accusations of vote tampering did not make things easier as the team were in the papers every day.
Not a nice scenario and as it was my first job after a very long dry spell, I was not going to let anything pass.
When everything was set up and all the individual parts of the system were duly tested and approved, a dry run was scheduled.
It was with the 300+ staff working on mock/simulation vote tallies and in the midst of it all, just to see their faces, I asked them all just what would happen if power went out at any moment.
A flurry of explanations were given, all very correct pointing out what should (according to manuals) happen in such an event.
I replied that the proof was in the pudding, that it had to be tested without notice to anyone.
Protests ensued but I refused to budge from there, clearly stating I would not sign off on anything if not tested as I required.
Not at all happy, all parties involved finally accepted and all went as expected.
That's the only way to know if things work properly.
O.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
