More shit that pisses you off: What does that say about the quality of your emails?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > More shit that pisses you off: What does that say about the quality of your emails?

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dennyk: Jan 2, 2005; Cheese-Buyer's Remorse

Powdered Toast Man posted:

AAAGH. gently caress you for reminding me of my horrific tenure in shitbox shared web hosting support in 2003!!!

Trust me, there are much worse things in the world of mail servers than iMail. I used to work with a system that one of the many companies my place merged with built entirely in-house (with no documentation, of course); the POP3 and SMTP daemons were both Java applets running on a Solaris 8 box, all mail messages (including attachments) were stored in an Oracle database, and the webmail front end was a ColdFusion page running on a Windows 2000 server. :psyduck:

As far as I know, that monstrosity is still in service today and serving paying customers.

# ? Dec 1, 2013 05:34

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 14:48

Volmarias: Dec 31, 2002; EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

dennyk posted:

Trust me, there are much worse things in the world of mail servers than iMail. I used to work with a system that one of the many companies my place merged with built entirely in-house (with no documentation, of course); the POP3 and SMTP daemons were both Java applets running on a Solaris 8 box, all mail messages (including attachments) were stored in an Oracle database, and the webmail front end was a ColdFusion page running on a Windows 2000 server. As far as I know, that monstrosity is still in service today and serving paying customers.

I'm sorry, am I reading that right? As in the mail daemons were applets that required a webpage on that machine to be open?

:psyboom:

# ? Dec 1, 2013 06:36

nitrogen: May 21, 2004; Oh, what's a 217°C difference between friends?

Volmarias posted:

I'm sorry, am I reading that right? As in the mail daemons were applets that required a webpage on that machine to be open?

web browesers are not the only way you can run java applets. :eng101:

you can run 'em command line, even webstart applets.

Why anyone would write their own is insane though. (unless it was actually iplanet)

# ? Dec 1, 2013 08:10

Smoke: Mar 12, 2005; I am NOT a red Bumblebee for god's sake!; Gun Saliva

More on mail: A coworker sent a 17MB BMP as attachment in a mail directed at the entire project this weekend, overloading most people's inboxes(We get a tiny amount of storage space for e-mails. There's not a lot that needs to be retained but a lot of people only start cleaning up once they get their mailbox size limit warning)

Reason the mail was sent? He found an USB stick and sent a photo of it to everyone to find out who might have lost it...

This after we've worked hard to teach people to not send screenshots in BMP format.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 09:14

Crowley: Mar 13, 2003

Smoke posted:

This after we've worked hard to teach people to not send screenshots in BMP format.

Are you using XP? Even MSPaint doesn't save as BMP as standard nowadays.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 09:38

Smoke: Mar 12, 2005; I am NOT a red Bumblebee for god's sake!; Gun Saliva

Crowley posted:

Are you using XP? Even MSPaint doesn't save as BMP as standard nowadays.

Yep, XP on local machines, and apparently Exchange 2003 for mails. I'm not in a sysadmin position here though so just going by what I can see.

Windows 7 migrations are planned for "somewhere in the near future" and a few machines have already been migrated as a test.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 09:45

EAT THE EGGS RICOLA: May 29, 2008

This email I just got from BlackBerry is incredible.

quote:

An Open Letter to Customers

To our valued enterprise customers and partners,

You�re hearing a lot of noise in the market about BlackBerry�. MDM vendors are undoubtedly inviting you to webinars and enticing you to switch off your BES.

We want to set the story straight about BlackBerry in the Enterprise, both for our existing customers and for those about to implement BYOD and MDM.

We are very much alive, thank you
Our �for sale� sign has been taken down and we are here to stay. BlackBerry recently announced it has entered into an agreement to receive a strategic investment from Fairfax Financial and other institutional investors, which represents a vote of confidence in the future of BlackBerry.

The investments you've made in BlackBerry infrastructure and solutions are secure.
I will keep the lines of communication open as we navigate through this transition.

We're going back to our heritage and roots � delivering enterprise-grade, end-to-end mobile solutions. As we refocus back to our roots, BlackBerry will target four areas: handsets, EMM solutions, cross-platform messaging, and embedded systems. And, just as important, we will continue to invest in enterprise and security related R&D during our restructuring period.

In short, reports of our death are greatly exaggerated.

Setting the record straight: We will manage all devices
We�re serious about multi-platform MDM and even more serious about multi-platform EMM. We deliberately moved to a new platform with BES10 last year. Making this change enables us to manage all devices, turbo-charge BYOD initiatives, and provide the very best management experience.

Our competitors want you to think that BES only manages BlackBerry devices, and that we are somehow more expensive than other MDMs. This is false.

We understand the realities of the enterprise mobility market better than anyone, and we�re in the game for the long term. We�ve been investing in enterprise mobility management � for any device � and thanks to customers like you, we�re doing very well. Here�s the proof:
� Our EMM customer base is much larger than any of the other vendors in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Mobile Device Management � and is growing.
� We manage more mobile devices than any other vendor. Period.
� We move more secure mobile data than anyone else.
� We have substantial cash and are not a small VC-backed �pure play� MDM player seeking additional funds every year.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 16:43

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

None of those are reasons to pick their product over another.

I get very suspicious when companies start talking in terms of "we're still here guys, we used to be awesome!". Just show us what the product does.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 16:46

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

Caged posted:

None of those are reasons to pick their product over another.

Not even the Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM? :haw:

# ? Dec 2, 2013 17:36

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

Experience has told me that anyone who references their position in the Gartner Quadrant has a terrible product.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 17:38

Ynglaur: Oct 9, 2013; The Malta Conference, anyone?

Caged posted:

Experience has told me that anyone who references their position in the Gartner Quadrant has a terrible product.

Not always true, but I think it's safe to say that one's position in the magic quadrant is not necessarily indicative of a given product's fit or capability.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 17:54

ookiimarukochan: Apr 4, 2011

Misogynist posted:

Not even the Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM?

I can't imagine they have the cash to keep on paying for that!

# ? Dec 2, 2013 19:19

crashdome: Jun 28, 2011

They should partner with AOL.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 19:20

EoRaptor: Sep 13, 2003; by Fluffdaddy

EAT THE EGGS RICOLA posted:

This email I just got from BlackBerry is incredible.

I got the same one. I'd be a lot more sympathetic if every dealing I'd had with them recently had either been no response to repeated requests, or outright lies.

So, sorry to see them go, but I can't support company that thinks either of those two are acceptable.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 19:46

Paladine_PSoT: Jan 2, 2010; If you have a problem Yo, I'll solve it

Layoff notices just in time for the Christmas and my daughter's first birthday. :stonk:

# ? Dec 2, 2013 20:39

Khisanth Magus: Mar 31, 2011; Vae Victus

Paladine_PSoT posted:

Layoff notices just in time for the Christmas and my daughter's first birthday.

Holy poo poo that sucks. Gotta love companies that do this, pretty much shows they are scum of the earth.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 20:40

Sickening: Jul 16, 2007; Black summer was the best summer.

Paladine_PSoT posted:

Layoff notices just in time for the Christmas and my daughter's first birthday.

Layoffs in Dec can loving suck it. Not only do the holidays bring expenses that are a little larger than normal, but getting a job during all the holidays and vacation time for this month has to be brutal.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 20:42

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

Paladine_PSoT posted:

Layoff notices just in time for the Christmas and my daughter's first birthday.

Got to separate the wheat from the chaff so there's budget money for executive bonuses at the end of the month.

# ? Dec 2, 2013 21:40

Lord Dudeguy: Sep 17, 2006; [Insert good English here]

Was going through one of our sites today, and saw this:

Oh no! My logic locked up! :ohdear:

:edit: It's worth noting that the power cable was frayed to hell.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 00:21

skooma512: Feb 8, 2012; You couldn't grok my race car, but you dug the roadside blur.

Speaking of Java. I hate how applications are so drat picky with it. It gets even worse when there are two applications and both their own specific version of java and no other ever made could possibly do.

Does it really change that much from version to version?

# ? Dec 3, 2013 01:05

QuiteEasilyDone: Jul 2, 2010; Won't you play with me?

Lord Dudeguy posted:

Was going through one of our sites today, and saw this:

Oh no! My logic locked up!

:edit: It's worth noting that the power cable was frayed to hell.

You may laugh, but we wound up having to replace everything at a clients server room because of dirty power... That we had built out a week prior. Everything

# ? Dec 3, 2013 01:35

mewse: May 2, 2006

# ? Dec 3, 2013 01:39

Inspector_666: Oct 7, 2003; _{benny with the good hair}

QuiteEasilyDone posted:

You may laugh, but we wound up having to replace everything at a clients server room because of dirty power... That we had built out a week prior. Everything

Shouldn't any UPS worth using in a server room clean up the incoming power?

# ? Dec 3, 2013 01:40

QuiteEasilyDone: Jul 2, 2010; Won't you play with me?

Inspector_666 posted:

Shouldn't any UPS worth using in a server room clean up the incoming power?

You're presuming that both UPS devices on both racks are functioning out of the box. Current fried them both crispy.

Edit Both devices were on brand, brand new devices. Both had been tested before deployment for functionality in our lab and both died within a week :flame:

QuiteEasilyDone fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Dec 3, 2013

# ? Dec 3, 2013 01:44

stubblyhead: Sep 13, 2007; That is treason, Johnny!; Fun Shoe

Paladine_PSoT posted:

Layoff notices just in time for the Christmas and my daughter's first birthday.

So did you lose your job, or just others or you don't know yet just that it's coming?

# ? Dec 3, 2013 02:09

Paladine_PSoT: Jan 2, 2010; If you have a problem Yo, I'll solve it

stubblyhead posted:

So did you lose your job, or just others or you don't know yet just that it's coming?

My last day will be December 31st. I really like my team, and the feeling is mutual, but they were directed from a very high level to eliminate all contractors. The other contractor that I work with was able to transition into an area that did not have that mandate to provide support for the tool we worked on, but only 1 position was available there (which is okay with me, I really want to get out of support entirely and move further into technical program management or project management).

# ? Dec 3, 2013 02:12

Sirotan: Oct 17, 2006; Sirotan is a seal.

drat, I'm sorry to hear that Paladine_PSoT. Good luck in the job search.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 02:43

Swink: Apr 18, 2006; Left Side <--- Many Whelps

Are there services out there for testing the upload speed of a link? I need to verify the capacity of our newly installed internet link. Everything Google turns up like speedtest.net is a tiny upload file which is usually finished in 5 seconds.

I need to have a sustained upload over an hour or more so I can point to a graph and say "Yes this link is maxed at 20mbit"

# ? Dec 3, 2013 05:31

Inspector_666: Oct 7, 2003; _{benny with the good hair}

QuiteEasilyDone posted:

You're presuming that both UPS devices on both racks are functioning out of the box. Current fried them both crispy.

Edit Both devices were on brand, brand new devices. Both had been tested before deployment for functionality in our lab and both died within a week

drat, that's some hosed up power.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 05:32

Galler: Jan 28, 2008

Swink posted:

Are there services out there for testing the upload speed of a link? I need to verify the capacity of our newly installed internet link. Everything Google turns up like speedtest.net is a tiny upload file which is usually finished in 5 seconds.

I need to have a sustained upload over an hour or more so I can point to a graph and say "Yes this link is maxed at 20mbit"

You could always seed a bunch of linux isos or something.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 05:54

dennyk: Jan 2, 2005; Cheese-Buyer's Remorse

skooma512 posted:

Speaking of Java. I hate how applications are so drat picky with it. It gets even worse when there are two applications and both their own specific version of java and no other ever made could possibly do.

Does it really change that much from version to version?

If your app is requiring a specific point release or something, it's probably just lovely (and it is also creating a major security risk if you can't install patches, since Java is mostly made of giant gaping security flaws held together with a little duct tape). The major releases are pretty different, but apps written for the previous Java version (and often even older versions as well) will usually work in the new one, barring certain specific incompatibilities. (Apps written for the new version generally won't run under the old one, of course.) That said, most vendors will only certify a particular major version (usually whichever one was around at the time they started writing their current codebase), so if you need vendor support, you're stuck with whatever they wrote it for. Luckily it's not too painful to run multiple versions of Java on most systems.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 06:06

Ynglaur: Oct 9, 2013; The Malta Conference, anyone?

dennyk posted:

If your app is requiring a specific point release or something, it's probably just lovely (and it is also creating a major security risk if you can't install patches, since Java is mostly made of giant gaping security flaws held together with a little duct tape). The major releases are pretty different, but apps written for the previous Java version (and often even older versions as well) will usually work in the new one, barring certain specific incompatibilities. (Apps written for the new version generally won't run under the old one, of course.) That said, most vendors will only certify a particular major version (usually whichever one was around at the time they started writing their current codebase), so if you need vendor support, you're stuck with whatever they wrote it for. Luckily it's not too painful to run multiple versions of Java on most systems.

Can I quote you on this? Please? I've been annoyed by this by a particular vendor for the last 8 years. Their app literally examines the JRE version at launch, and if it doesn't match exactly, just immediately fails. (Actually, it's worse: it directs you to Java.com, which of course...only has the latest JRE version.)

# ? Dec 3, 2013 07:09

Bokito: Jul 25, 2007; Going Ape

My employer wants to purchase PRTG to monitor our ~500 servers and related networking equipment... is it any good? Or am I in for a world of hurt?

# ? Dec 3, 2013 13:55

guppy: Sep 21, 2004; sting like a byob

mewse posted:

I have mellowed on this front regarding friends and family, since my friends and family aren't dicks who waste my time or abuse it. I am still very irritated with people at work who think nothing of asking me for free home support. (I don't do it, as a rule.) I don't even like some of these people, we aren't friends.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 13:56

Crowley: Mar 13, 2003

guppy posted:

I have mellowed on this front regarding friends and family, since my friends and family aren't dicks who waste my time or abuse it. I am still very irritated with people at work who think nothing of asking me for free home support. (I don't do it, as a rule.) I don't even like some of these people, we aren't friends.

I've been getting messages about helping people with their computers on the "parents' intranet" for the school our kids attend. As if that wasn't enough the person who wrote me stopped my wife in the local supermarket and asked her to remind me to reply. I tried to politely ignore you, you twat.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 14:29

feld: Feb 11, 2008; Out of nowhere its.....

Feldman

Inspector_666 posted:

Shouldn't any UPS worth using in a server room clean up the incoming power?

No. There are three types of UPSes.

* Offline/standby -- cheapo UPSes that only activate when the power goes out
* Line-interactive -- better, probably says SINE WAVE! on the box and promises to handle under and over volt scenarios. Basically an Offline UPS with a voltage regulator slapped in there for good measure. I see lots of these in server rooms / racks.
* Online/double-conversion -- power is always coming from the batteries, is always clean, is always sine wave, is always the right voltage. These are expensive. They do make smaller ones which you can find at a reasonable price, but usually they're the big boys providing UPS power for whole datacenters, etc. They do make the batteries last longer though, which can lower the cost in the long run. APC makes some suitable for server rooms, but I don't know which models are true Online UPSes off the top of my head.

feld fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Dec 3, 2013

# ? Dec 3, 2013 15:29

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

The Eaton 9130 range is very well priced, and as far as I know it's a true double conversion unit.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 15:55

Roargasm: Oct 21, 2010; Hate to sound sleazy
But tease me
I don't want it if it's that easy

skooma512 posted:

Speaking of Java. I hate how applications are so drat picky with it. It gets even worse when there are two applications and both their own specific version of java and no other ever made could possibly do.

Does it really change that much from version to version?

There is a tacit agreement with OEMs to make each version of Java progressively more demanding on system resources.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 16:09

Bob Morales: Aug 18, 2006; ~~Just wear the fucking mask, Bob~~

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Swink posted:

Are there services out there for testing the upload speed of a link? I need to verify the capacity of our newly installed internet link. Everything Google turns up like speedtest.net is a tiny upload file which is usually finished in 5 seconds.

I need to have a sustained upload over an hour or more so I can point to a graph and say "Yes this link is maxed at 20mbit"

Some CDN's like CacheFly have 100mb files you can try (which won't take long at all on 20mb)

http://www.cachefly.com/

Here's a 1GB test:

http://test.gorillaservers.com/

Really what you could do is get a box with 100mb of bandwidth (whould be very cheap, think Linode or Digital Ocean) and just blast away at it.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 16:18

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 14:48

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

Bob Morales posted:

Some CDN's like CacheFly have 100mb files you can try (which won't take long at all on 20mb)

http://www.cachefly.com/

Here's a 1GB test:

http://test.gorillaservers.com/

Really what you could do is get a box with 100mb of bandwidth (whould be very cheap, think Linode or Digital Ocean) and just blast away at it.

Here's some 10GB+ reference genomes from NCBI:

ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1000genomes/ftp/data/

Should have no problem maxing out a 20 Mb connection for an hour.

# ? Dec 3, 2013 16:29

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > More shit that pisses you off: What does that say about the quality of your emails?

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