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  • I'm scared.

    I just started a new job and the client company's network, quite frankly, scares me. The only person who cares is the IT Director. The bean counters keep turning off the AC in one of the server rooms. Cables are strung willy nilly, and one of the switches even requires a cherry picker to get up to. The cables really should be rerun to get them up to fire/OSHA codes. The problem is that the network is so cobbled together that noone wants to fix what needs to be fixed because the rest of it will probably fall apart, but it really should be completely redone from scratch (which is not in our contract, thankfully). Hell the only reason they have server cabinets is because the IT director campaigned for months to get one built so that they weren't out in the open in the copy room .

    When I asked about documentation, the IT director sort of laughed, and when I made the comment that it seemed like it had been cobbled together, she said it was a compliment. My first project is going to be network documentation, where everything is, how it's connected, and to what port. Should be interesting, and I know I won't be lacking for something to do.

    Bonus: She showed me the telephone closet, and there's a bunch of cable without a jacket that I'm not actually sure if it's connected to anything, and neither is she. She cares and wants everything in working order, but is getting blocked by management/accounting, nevermind the fact that 70 legitimate help desk tickets is a good day.
    Pretend there's something here that sounds insightful, but is really just some pseudo-intellectual bull.

  • #2
    That sounds like where I work now. Our server room...doesn't even have A/C! The only reason the server hasn't blown itself up, is because there are about a dozen or so fans in the case. We also have cables running everywhere. Most are actually inside raceways along the walls. But some, like the ones down the center of the room...are simply dropped on the floor. Right now, we simply don't have the capacity to install additional computers. If that happens, I have to "temporarily" use an old network hub until it can be done "properly."

    In short, my boss wants a network, but doesn't want to spend the cash to do it properly.
    Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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    • #3
      "Server room" at a certain client was a small cupboard that barely had the space for the HP ML350 in their reception room (I'm surprised it took 6 years for a hard drive to fail there - every time I opened the cabinet I had to move away for the hot air to clear); the second server was sitting atop of a wall-mounted cabinet in the same room.
      When that server finally failed (2 disks died in the RAID5 over the weekend), I refused to let the new server be installed in there, so instead they put it in a cupboard in director's room (at least this cupboard had doors and walls made of wooden mesh, so it was airy; the other server still lived on the comms cabinet). Predictably, the noise annoyed the director, so they finally allocated a "real" server room - an ex toilet room with the watery bits removed, and with a massive cabinet to hold both servers, and even an AC unit (at the same time some other renovation was being done, so the wall-mounted comms cabinet was replaced with a standing 48U 1m×1m cabinet, but due to expansion elsewhere, there wasn't any space to put both servers inside).

      The scary thing is that two other clients have server rooms that are accessible through the toilets. Don't ask me why.

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      • #4
        Quoth ender View Post
        "Server room" at a certain client was a small cupboard that barely had the space for the HP ML350 in their reception room (I'm surprised it took 6 years for a hard drive to fail there - every time I opened the cabinet I had to move away for the hot air to clear); the second server was sitting atop of a wall-mounted cabinet in the same room.
        When that server finally failed (2 disks died in the RAID5 over the weekend), I refused to let the new server be installed in there, so instead they put it in a cupboard in director's room (at least this cupboard had doors and walls made of wooden mesh, so it was airy; the other server still lived on the comms cabinet). Predictably, the noise annoyed the director, so they finally allocated a "real" server room - an ex toilet room with the watery bits removed, and with a massive cabinet to hold both servers, and even an AC unit (at the same time some other renovation was being done, so the wall-mounted comms cabinet was replaced with a standing 48U 1m×1m cabinet, but due to expansion elsewhere, there wasn't any space to put both servers inside).

        The scary thing is that two other clients have server rooms that are accessible through the toilets. Don't ask me why.


        One of the petrol stations (near Syndney) that I once did an install in had their wiring and comms behind a locked door inside the employee toilet. Somewhere there's a picture of me sitting on the toilet with my laptop, trying to get something to work.
        Life: Reality TV for deities. - dalesys

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