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January 30, 2004
novARGHHH!!!
MessageLabs bills it as the fastest spreading virus ever. Couldn't agree more. We've heard alot of situations derived from a client's perspective, so we'll just put that to rest. I'm going share what happens in the background.
It is just as bad, to begin. Take this situation for example. For every infected email encountered, notifications are sent, not only to administrators, but to senders and recepients too! So do the math: undeliverable mails get queued, notifications get sent... all by the hundreds, and we're talking milliseconds! And at this rate, logs would fill servers in gigs by the minute! Gnarly!
The hindsight? Notifications are good, at least until there's an ass-biting outbreak!
And oh, go easy on your local ISP aye? At least until the 12th of February! :)
Posted by kahjin at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
January 14, 2004
I want my new year back!
2 weeks for a new entry this year... tsk! TSK!
Ushering the new year proved to be not much of a holiday. Within the first half of the month I already had been to Penang, Kulim, Kangar, and finally here I am in Kota Bahru.
But not that I'm complaining :)
4 sites in 7 1/2 days. Now that's a scary schedule especially when Murphy's Law linger around every project. Of course it had to happen, in Penang!
So I boot up the rack up as I normally would to begin deployment. But eh what's this, a yellow exclamationed triangle tells me I should check out the event viewer.
"Mmm, not good",
So I have a look anyway, and woah, bad blocks galore! But what's there to panic? Winblow's got scandisk... it fixes... stuff! So I schedule it for the next reboot, restarted, and never saw the login screen ever again :-\
But wait, W2KS does have recovery mode! Right after booting from the cd, I enter the setup, and chose to perform the recovery automatically. Just about then, Murphy struck, again.
"Oh well, time for a reinstallation then",
Alas, that didn't work either after the format stalled at 0% for ages. So without any other solutions to ascertain, there was only one conclusion to draw that I had long dreaded:
"The harddisk's a goner, and I don't have a spare, aiiiieeeeeee!!!",
After much discussion and debate about the situation with my project manager, I finally had the green light to purchase a replacement from the distributor, which fortunately had a local branch. It was all smooth sailing from then on.
"Pheeeyeeewww...",
So, about the things I've learned over the course of this project:
1. Rural districts yield unique cuisines, so it's good to be an all rounder
2. Get plenty of rest, doze early, lest your chances of screwing up is inevitable!
3. Goverment servants are a puntual bunch, both clocking in and out
4. Always carry a spare!
5. Clear and concise briefings are always a plus. Some humour would shed uneasiness and even doubt. Aaah I love giving taklimats :)
6. Server rooms are bitching cold, so bring a jacket!
7. If you're stumped and not even a local bomoh could help, don't hesitate to "phone home"
Kota Bahru looks good at the moment, should be signing the project off soon. Can't wait to be back.
Posted by kahjin at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)