Okay, this happened way back in the early 90's. Alot may have changed about computers, but some stuff never does.
I was working for a company that produced word processing software (let's call them DumbBunnies, Inc.). I would arrive at o-dark-o'clock to open the phones to support east coast customers with their various troubles. For the first hour, it was just li'l old me.
Get a call one morning from an IT "Manager" who says her FlexLM license manager stopped working. [It hadn't. One of the three licenses wasn't up, but they were the clip-art-style draw program, and the painting program.
Of course, we have a step-by-step that ALWAYS fixes what ever the person could have POSSIBLY done to it. One question (1st or 2nd on the list) is: Have you made any changes to the system? Her answer was "No. I came in this morning, and we couldn't access the s/w."
Hrmmm. Go through all the required steps, including remaking the license file with a new password. Restart the LM. Now, the writing and drawing programs are running, but the painting is down. I tell her I'll create a new LM file and Fed-Ex via floppy, in the meantime she has to be sure the server doesn't shut down so they keep access to the writing program.
Next day:
SC: Okay, I've got the floppy in the server's drive.
Me: Let's go ahead & kill the LM
SC: Done.
Me: cp a:/license.dat /root/software/licencedir/license.dat
SC: Done.
Me: Do a hard start of the LM [gives specific command]
SC: Done.
But we ran the processes, and again one of the 3 programs was down.
Me: And nothing's been changed on the system? The hostid is still 123xyza4?
SC: [PROFANITY!!!] I think I know when a server's been modified. Obviously you don't know what you're talking about [more PROFANITY!]. I want to speak to your manager.
Me: Of course, it will just be a moment.
[Show the boss the steps that've been taken & get to listen in while SC and HER Boss ream my manager a new one!]
DumbBunnies, Inc. agrees to send the QA Mgr out to their site. Will be there by 0800 next morning.
3rd day:
QA Mgr on phone: So you sent a new license file? Using the same hostid?
Me: Yup.
QA: That's odd [talking to SC] What's this OLD.kernel file?
SC: We reconfigured the kernel to make the server boot a little faster.
QA: [to me] You told me that nothing had changed on this system!
Me: That's what she said!
SC: [in the background] But the kernel isn't part of the system!!
Jeez-louise. The final result was de-install, re-install the entire s/w package. Re-build a new file, and POOF! Works great.
She never did apologise for calling me a stupid beeotch tho...........
I was working for a company that produced word processing software (let's call them DumbBunnies, Inc.). I would arrive at o-dark-o'clock to open the phones to support east coast customers with their various troubles. For the first hour, it was just li'l old me.
Get a call one morning from an IT "Manager" who says her FlexLM license manager stopped working. [It hadn't. One of the three licenses wasn't up, but they were the clip-art-style draw program, and the painting program.
Of course, we have a step-by-step that ALWAYS fixes what ever the person could have POSSIBLY done to it. One question (1st or 2nd on the list) is: Have you made any changes to the system? Her answer was "No. I came in this morning, and we couldn't access the s/w."
Hrmmm. Go through all the required steps, including remaking the license file with a new password. Restart the LM. Now, the writing and drawing programs are running, but the painting is down. I tell her I'll create a new LM file and Fed-Ex via floppy, in the meantime she has to be sure the server doesn't shut down so they keep access to the writing program.
Next day:
SC: Okay, I've got the floppy in the server's drive.
Me: Let's go ahead & kill the LM
SC: Done.
Me: cp a:/license.dat /root/software/licencedir/license.dat
SC: Done.
Me: Do a hard start of the LM [gives specific command]
SC: Done.
But we ran the processes, and again one of the 3 programs was down.
Me: And nothing's been changed on the system? The hostid is still 123xyza4?
SC: [PROFANITY!!!] I think I know when a server's been modified. Obviously you don't know what you're talking about [more PROFANITY!]. I want to speak to your manager.
Me: Of course, it will just be a moment.
[Show the boss the steps that've been taken & get to listen in while SC and HER Boss ream my manager a new one!]
DumbBunnies, Inc. agrees to send the QA Mgr out to their site. Will be there by 0800 next morning.
3rd day:
QA Mgr on phone: So you sent a new license file? Using the same hostid?
Me: Yup.
QA: That's odd [talking to SC] What's this OLD.kernel file?
SC: We reconfigured the kernel to make the server boot a little faster.
QA: [to me] You told me that nothing had changed on this system!
Me: That's what she said!
SC: [in the background] But the kernel isn't part of the system!!
Jeez-louise. The final result was de-install, re-install the entire s/w package. Re-build a new file, and POOF! Works great.
She never did apologise for calling me a stupid beeotch tho...........
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