Re: time sink 42

[Michael Sinatra <michael () rancid berkeley edu>]

On 02/16/12 14:21, Chris Adams wrote:
> Once upon a time, Bryan Irvine<sparctacus () gmail com>  said:
> > And watch for the removable faceplates.  We've been bitten before
> > after a server move by rebooting a server that had the correct label
> > but the wrong faceplate.  Now we label the faceplate as well as
> > underneath of it too.  :-)
>
> Not just faceplates; we got a couple of racks of used Dell servers and
> were rolling through testing them when we discovered a couple where the
> Dell tag on the lid didn't match the firmware.  The tag on the back did;
> at some point, somebody had switched lids on the cases!

There's where labelers can come in really handy.  A "friend" once told 
me this story:

He and a colleague were working at the PAIX late one night re-routing a 
bunch of fiber jumpers from a switch to new interfaces on some optical 
gear.  The labels on all of the cables were supposed to have the 
switch's model number and interface number and then the optical gear's 
model number and interface.  The colleague went about generating all of 
the labels while my friend cleaned, ran, and installed the jumpers. 
Then they both set about affixing labels to both ends of the jumpers. 
The colleague suddenly stopped and said "we're going to have to re-do 
all of these labels!  Look--I got the model number of the switch wrong."

Indeed, the colleague had added 100 to the model number of the switch, 
and had done so on all of the 2-3 dozen labels.  Not catastrophic, but 
it was late (about 3am) and my friend and the colleague still had a lot 
of work to do.  It was cramped, noisy, and cold where they were working.

"Nonsense," said my friend.  "Give me the labeler."

"What are you going to do?"

"I am going to upgrade the switch."

He set about relabeling the switch's faceplates so that all of the model 
numbers matched the (incorrect) model number on the cable labels. 
Problem solved and only 2-3 labels used, not 2-3 dozen.

Ever hear of a Cisco 6600?  Now you have.

Strangely, my friend and that colleague have never been invited back to 
perform similar "upgrades" for that customer.

michael