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Roguetadhg
Member Posts: 2,489 ■■■■■■■■□□
in Off-Topic
So here's a fun story. Hopefully someone will get a kick out of this:
Last week was a helluva week. Failed my exam, Fiance failed her driving test, she gets a nail in the back-driverside tire and I spend 500 something to get it all fixed... That's not to mention this little gem at work!
So I work at a company, whom I actually do love. Im the only IT person at the branch, covering 300 nodes. Things happen, i'm there. Any time. I love it.
Last week we upgraded a server that records video (per clients, we keep track of all phone calls, and upload them during the night). Well, Because of a upgrade, we've been forced to upgrade this server to 18TB of data. 3TB for an array of 6.
The upgrade happened at another branch first, the IT guy there felt comfortable with the upgrading. I told my bosses, I didn't know how. I don't have much face time with server equipment. So I had the usual "Unknown" excitement crawling down my spine. It's a mixture of stomach-churning sickness, and anxiety. All the more reason I like the feeling. It's new, and learning something awesome!
I got a call from my boss on my tracfone. "There's a gift for you in the mail. 13 TB of harddrives". Me being.. well.. Me. I yelped a yell of joy. "13TB!" I still have my old IDEs in hopes I'll find a home for them in a new computer. So Harddrives is my language. They'll be good to store documents, and windows wallpapers - sometime.
So, my goal: Replace the controller card, wiring, and SATA raid array. Within an hour. Thanks to some type of foresight, I placed a permanent phone and user computer inside the server room (Troubleshooting, officially. But it's my way of escaping the office for a half-hour at times).
I had My boss on the phone. He told me not to open the box until I got into the MDF. I stilled my waiting heart as this was a late christmas. I walked rather quickly across the building, past the managers saying something. I quickly looked away, as I work on tickets and people tend not to put tickets in if they see me. Rather, they hope to get me and drag me into a situation. Nope. Not this time. This IT guy had mission-critical duties!
My boss was joined by the "linux guy" as well as my other boss was down the hall. Yes, I have two bosses.
The servers are power-edge 2950s. Steel cases, and heavy. Deep and wide. (That's what she said).
After installing the controller card, wiring and replaced the harddrives in they're giving slots. We turned it on. The lights blinked. That's a key point.
What happened afterwards? Nothing. Controller was found, but beyond on that - not a darned thing.
30 hours later...
The old setup with old drives and the Old Controller with wiring also did not work. Yep. What worked previously now does not work.
I ruled out static, as I worked on each circuitry on a cardbox keyboard box and made sure to touch the steel case - just in case.
2 hours later...
Around this time I wanted to make sure that the drives were attached. But I couldn't think of a way to see if the drives were actually hitting. The harddrives holder clicked, and The lights were still blinking, on power-on. Then nothing.
Now my second boss joined in the fun.
Googling documentation (Which there isn't much), it was suggested to clear the bios. I went out and grabbed my needle nose pliers from my office. All the while cursing, outloud ("Comon you stupid...") Just to swap the jumper in a cramped spot. After dropping it a couple times, I got the right angle, and popped it in. Powered on. And Powered it off. Swapped the jumpers.
At this time, We decided to let luck play a part. Let the new parts in, and if it worked, great! I wouldn't touch it afterwards.
2 hours Later...
We've all but given up.
In a last ditch effort prior to calling Dell - we went to attach each harddrive, individually to the backplane. At the last drive, I went to the office, and noticed that there's a spot - just between before the backplane - where I can look inside at the SATA connectors. I noticed that the last harddrive did not attach. ...But the power turned on for the Harddrive.
I said on the phone. "I know this isn't going to work". Everyone said "Yeah". But then I said: "I know why".
Dead Silence.
My first boss spoke up first. Confounded: "Wait. What do you mean?"
See the harddrive never attached. The harddrives never connected to the SATA connectors.
Apparently for 4 hours of swapping harddrives in and out, I've never once swapped the harddrive in correctly. Yep. 4 hours. and It's because the locking mechanism prevented it from being locked.
I told my boss that the drives never hit the connectors. Everyone didn't know what I was talking out. I went to take a picture, using my LED headlamp to light up the connector in the small crack.
No one could figure out how I was doing this incorrectly for all this time.
After a while, and my boss doing the same thing on his end filled me in:
My boss told me that there was a procedure to put the drives in. I did not know about the locking mechanism. I didn't know to leave the handle all the way down before placing inside.
I saved the day? I don't know. Either way, 3 people had a good laugh. Not this IT guy, until this week.
30 minutes later of careful swapping the drives in, and locking.
"The ladies man didn't know how to put his drives in."
The Harddrive lights? Yeah, apparently the lights will seem like they come on - even if they're not directly attached to the SMD LEDs. Go figure.
Last week was a helluva week. Failed my exam, Fiance failed her driving test, she gets a nail in the back-driverside tire and I spend 500 something to get it all fixed... That's not to mention this little gem at work!
So I work at a company, whom I actually do love. Im the only IT person at the branch, covering 300 nodes. Things happen, i'm there. Any time. I love it.
Last week we upgraded a server that records video (per clients, we keep track of all phone calls, and upload them during the night). Well, Because of a upgrade, we've been forced to upgrade this server to 18TB of data. 3TB for an array of 6.
The upgrade happened at another branch first, the IT guy there felt comfortable with the upgrading. I told my bosses, I didn't know how. I don't have much face time with server equipment. So I had the usual "Unknown" excitement crawling down my spine. It's a mixture of stomach-churning sickness, and anxiety. All the more reason I like the feeling. It's new, and learning something awesome!
I got a call from my boss on my tracfone. "There's a gift for you in the mail. 13 TB of harddrives". Me being.. well.. Me. I yelped a yell of joy. "13TB!" I still have my old IDEs in hopes I'll find a home for them in a new computer. So Harddrives is my language. They'll be good to store documents, and windows wallpapers - sometime.
So, my goal: Replace the controller card, wiring, and SATA raid array. Within an hour. Thanks to some type of foresight, I placed a permanent phone and user computer inside the server room (Troubleshooting, officially. But it's my way of escaping the office for a half-hour at times).
I had My boss on the phone. He told me not to open the box until I got into the MDF. I stilled my waiting heart as this was a late christmas. I walked rather quickly across the building, past the managers saying something. I quickly looked away, as I work on tickets and people tend not to put tickets in if they see me. Rather, they hope to get me and drag me into a situation. Nope. Not this time. This IT guy had mission-critical duties!
My boss was joined by the "linux guy" as well as my other boss was down the hall. Yes, I have two bosses.
The servers are power-edge 2950s. Steel cases, and heavy. Deep and wide. (That's what she said).
After installing the controller card, wiring and replaced the harddrives in they're giving slots. We turned it on. The lights blinked. That's a key point.
What happened afterwards? Nothing. Controller was found, but beyond on that - not a darned thing.
30 hours later...
The old setup with old drives and the Old Controller with wiring also did not work. Yep. What worked previously now does not work.
I ruled out static, as I worked on each circuitry on a cardbox keyboard box and made sure to touch the steel case - just in case.
2 hours later...
Around this time I wanted to make sure that the drives were attached. But I couldn't think of a way to see if the drives were actually hitting. The harddrives holder clicked, and The lights were still blinking, on power-on. Then nothing.
Now my second boss joined in the fun.
Googling documentation (Which there isn't much), it was suggested to clear the bios. I went out and grabbed my needle nose pliers from my office. All the while cursing, outloud ("Comon you stupid...") Just to swap the jumper in a cramped spot. After dropping it a couple times, I got the right angle, and popped it in. Powered on. And Powered it off. Swapped the jumpers.
At this time, We decided to let luck play a part. Let the new parts in, and if it worked, great! I wouldn't touch it afterwards.
2 hours Later...
We've all but given up.
In a last ditch effort prior to calling Dell - we went to attach each harddrive, individually to the backplane. At the last drive, I went to the office, and noticed that there's a spot - just between before the backplane - where I can look inside at the SATA connectors. I noticed that the last harddrive did not attach. ...But the power turned on for the Harddrive.
I said on the phone. "I know this isn't going to work". Everyone said "Yeah". But then I said: "I know why".
Dead Silence.
My first boss spoke up first. Confounded: "Wait. What do you mean?"
See the harddrive never attached. The harddrives never connected to the SATA connectors.
Apparently for 4 hours of swapping harddrives in and out, I've never once swapped the harddrive in correctly. Yep. 4 hours. and It's because the locking mechanism prevented it from being locked.
I told my boss that the drives never hit the connectors. Everyone didn't know what I was talking out. I went to take a picture, using my LED headlamp to light up the connector in the small crack.
No one could figure out how I was doing this incorrectly for all this time.
After a while, and my boss doing the same thing on his end filled me in:
My boss told me that there was a procedure to put the drives in. I did not know about the locking mechanism. I didn't know to leave the handle all the way down before placing inside.
I saved the day? I don't know. Either way, 3 people had a good laugh. Not this IT guy, until this week.
30 minutes later of careful swapping the drives in, and locking.
"The ladies man didn't know how to put his drives in."
The Harddrive lights? Yeah, apparently the lights will seem like they come on - even if they're not directly attached to the SMD LEDs. Go figure.
In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
TE Threads: How to study for the CCENT/CCNA, Introduction to Cisco Exams
TE Threads: How to study for the CCENT/CCNA, Introduction to Cisco Exams
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joshmadakor
Member Posts: 495 ■■■■□□□□□□
Ain't that a b*! Good job, kinda
WGU B.S. Information Technology (Completed January 2013) -
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VAHokie56
Member Posts: 783
Whomp ...Whomp...
.ιlι..ιlι.
CISCO
"A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a Danish" - Ty Webb
Reading:NX-OS and Cisco Nexus Switching: Next-Generation Data Center Architectures -
OptionsBloogen
Member Posts: 180 ■■■□□□□□□□
haha thats good. I know exactly what your talking about as we have 5 Dell 2950's and a few MD1000's and new people never manage to put the hard drives in right the first time. We also have a new MD1000 where the lights come for a brief second when the drives are first installed but are not detected. I wish it wish just a matter of the drives just not going in but there may some other problem going on.
Love your atitude through both the good and not as good times in your life and work. Good luck on your next exam attempt!