petergwilson · Monitoring Specialist · ✭✭✭✭✭

I remember years ago when I was a mainframe engineer I was on site where I looked after one mainframe and someone from another company looked after the other one. Overnight an error was reported on one of the tape to tape reel devices (you know the big ones you always see in old movies) during a backup. The client wanted…

Done

Ahhh Minneapolis. I spent a couple of weeks in Plymouth in 1994 on a training course. Hit many bars and, of course, the Mall of America.

Don't tell them, they'll just make it harder.

The Book is sooooo much better.

That's always the problem with regulatory fines. Big companies get off lightly and small companies get crucified because people don't really understand big numbers. $35M sounds like a lot until you really understand what $4.5Bn really means.

@"superfly" Yep, going from two large monitors and the laptop screen to just the laptop screen really sucks but I guess the reason is somewhat justified. Pity I now have to pay for my own coffee.

Relaxing degree requirements. Oh dear. This has gone full circle so many times. When I was recruited from University the company had decided that any degree would do, not just a computer science degree, for their technical roles. There were several two day interview / testing sessions with about 12 people on each.…

We don't have a choice. We have to get out of two data centres by next Feb. Only about 500 servers to migrate. To do that we need to completely refurb the other two data centres one at a time and keep everything working.

Just an FYI for the powers that be. Correctly answer all 10 questions by April 28, 2019 and get entered to win the Grand Prize!

But that's not in the hint. To answer the question correctly you would have to look up the ACT AND bypass the table showing the retention periods AND eventually find something that contradicts the table. This seems to me to be unreasonable and is a major diversion from what has been required in all the questions I have…

Yes but that is utterly meaningless. I learned loads but very little about the products.

Seems to be fixed now but the answer is on page 16. Thanks for sorting this out.

I don't believe it. Apple bring out something that no one really needs and isn't fit for purpose.

Good article but it is really just common sense (something that is sadly lacking these days). Management pay me to be the technical expert because they aren't. I therefore need to look at the technical stuff then convert all that jargon and technobabble into something they will understand. That's what they expect and I…

The only problem with your approach is if you work in an environment where everyone else looks to blame someone for any issues. As soon as you take responsibility you are castigated and every other issue is blamed on you as well. In an ideal world we should all take responsibility and always strive to do better.…

You should drive in the UK. Plenty of drivers driving cars that actually need to be driven and they are texting etc. whilst driving. Almost every day there is a story on the news about a crash involving an HGV on the motorway with the driver far too busy on his mobile (or watching TV) to actually drive.

The biggest problem I face is that I'm the SysAdmin for a company that has evolved and grown rapidly over the years. There's about 130 companies in the group. I have a mixture of old, not quite so old, middle aged, youngish, young and new systems. They are all required. I'm trying to create a new infrastructure which will…

How come we didn't have bacon at the London SWUGs. I'm upset now.

The internet isn't for newbies. They rushed out Video Recorders and the public had no idea how to set them up to record. They rushed PCs out and the public had no idea how to set them up or use them. They gave internet access to the public and look how well that worked. No lessons have been learned. The public can't be…

Passwords are a very contentious issue. I've always been against long complex passwords as they are so difficult to remember that most people just write them down. I have to remember hundreds of them for work and even more for personal stuff. Pass phrases or combinations of short unrelated words are much better. 

Agreed again. The problem wasn't the alarm clock. It was the idiot using it. When in an hotel where I really need to get up on time I contact reception and ask for a wake up call. That usually gets around any idiocy on my part. Most hotel staff can tell whether it is day or night. I can also set my phone to alarm mode. As…

Yes, Monitoring and automation should be high priority but management just see it as an expense. Things are getting better here as management are starting to see the benefits of this. Quicker response to outages, shorter downtime, proactive support and more time for senior engineers to get on with project work. All leads…

Very nice tribute. Always enjoyed his cameo roles.

Yes, I guessed that's what they meant. It's called a Rosette.

You would also have to force the people renting out their property to pay the appropriate taxes.

Not particularly happy about Q18. If you have used an incorrect work in the question then how is the question supposed to be answered correctly. There were two answers that wer correct according to the hint but only one answer was permitted. I believe people guessed at it but I don't work that way. Very disappointed.

I think the hackers have bitten off more than they can chew. I'm sure the Feds are involved and with the amounts of money being quoted I guess someone will end up doing quite a lot of shower dodging behind bars.

Funny but that how I've been feeling for the last several months. Really being ignored by management then being blamed when their stupid ideas that I said were stupid (not in so many words) failed. Far too much workload including having to take on extra when colleagues left and then having to waste time trying to train…

We have 50,000 accounts in O365 (all students). In the process of moving the 5000 staff accounts from on prem exchange to O365. They won't be happy with the loss of functionality, slower performance and IT's newfound inability to provide the same level of service. Management are happy so that's OK then. Ho hum.