Work Life Home Life
An interesting week
This past week I spent mostly doing stuff at my day job while trying not to imagine that the “light at the end of the tunnel” is actually an oncoming train.
My bright idea was to try to improve the infrastructure at work so that it will be very robust while I’m away. I say bright idea because it means making some big changes. Last weekend we shut the system down to install a much larger UPS with several hours of potential uptime at current usage. On Tuesday we installed a 3 TeraByte NetApp disk array, preparatory to moving all our direct attached data on to it.
Unfortunately the power distribution in the rack couldn’t handle the increased load and blew a breaker. Anybody who has worked in data centres knows that awful feeling that goes with sudden silence!
Luckily everything came back up without a problem once we added another circuit to the rack.
Then we spent three very long days configuring the storage device and copying all the data and testing applications and data access. We completed the job last night relatively early so I have an unexpectedly “free weekend”.
Much thanks for the great work by Paul and Jens from NetApp whose vast experience working on systems many times our size kept everything moving along. They also made sure to keep me in on the process so that I understand what was being done and why. Not that I will remember much of it 6 months from now.
Needless to say with all that going on the preparations for my passage and maintenance of the DTI were on hold.
With three weeks to go before actually getting on a plane it’s make a list and check it twice time.
If that light I see is actually a train I hope it’s the one from Hogwarts at least 
Thanks for reading
KJ
P.S. The photo of the Picton Castle in the Header was taken by my friend John Gareri a couple of weeks ago. He has been onboard since May.
Check out his blog at http://atlanticrounds.blogspot.com/
October 18th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Take deep breaths!
And enjoy this day, because next week it’s MY turn to get life organized!!!
October 18th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
2nd test post
October 19th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Um, the first date on your header would seem to indicate that you’re getting a little ahead of yourself . . . perfectly understandable under the circumstances.
A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that follows fast,
And fills the white and rustling sail,
And bends the gallant mast.
- Allan Cunningham, A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea
October 20th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Oops.
Fixed it.
KJ
October 21st, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for the kudo regarding the data migration and yes, it was 3 very long days. I was very happy to get home and get some much needed rest. Got a question though, how do I add you to the distribution list of my own upcoming travel, which btw, was confirmed yesterday. Wahoo, I am going to Nepal. I did not get your personal email address and would like to add you to my list for my own trip updates.
Have fun my friend.
Paul.