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fluppet posted:I've never had a good results when working with teksystems either as interviewer or candidate
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Feb 23, 2016 08:30
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Feb 23, 2016 08:37
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frogbert posted:Does anyone have a link to any guides or best practices when cabling racks? I've always tried to use common sense and cable things up neatly but it never ends up as perfect as I want it to. Structured cabling should go on ladders over the racks, not under the floor. Underfloor is for cooling and plumbing. Use 800mm wide racks, alternatively vertical runs between racks. You can't properly fit a loaded rack worth of vertical cabling in a 600mm rack, and PDUs will always block rear access. No patch cables between racks. Each rack should either have its own switches or patch panels going to a network rack. I prefer panels, because some times you have serial connections or other non-ethernet stuff that you want to run between racks. I prefer putting them in the center of the rack, that way you get two trunks of cables rather than a single big one. You can never have too many horizontal cable guides. Use cable management arms for servers if available. Use full height vertical PDUs along the side of the rack and use short power cables to the nearest PDU outlet. Obviously, use different colored cables to make the function obvious at a glance. I use white for regular server connections, red for management (like serial or ILO), green for iSCSI and yellow for other stuff like E1 or SHDSL. I can't take pictures of our own DC, but I found someone following a similar principle, although this guy has made some errors.  He's used a 600mm rack, so you can see how cramped it gets around the PDUs and he can't have power and network on the same side, forcing him to make a very ugly run from where the cables exit the cable management arm on the left to the vertical run on the right. He also doesn't have any horizontal cable management around the switch.
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Feb 23, 2016 11:09
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Goddammit, don't make me worry about this  They won't have to do much to be better than most I have dealed with so far, though. Most of the recruiters have been godawful, at least half of them have been the general recruiting agencies where they provide staffing for everything from assembly line to accounting. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Feb 23, 2016 |
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Feb 23, 2016 11:23
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Ew, zipties?
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Feb 23, 2016 14:45
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Oh yeah, zip ties are a big no-no. Use velcro ties.
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Feb 23, 2016 14:53
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First thing I heard walking into the office today: "We normally get asked to make them bigger, not smaller. But okay."
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Feb 23, 2016 14:59
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Colonial Air Force posted:Ew, zipties? Gotta keep zip ties around for when you use a 25 foot cable to make a 6 foot run to the top of the cabinet and need to keep the giant coil neat. Also make sure you run a series of 6 foot cables under the floor using couplers to join them and wrap them around as much poo poo as possible in the process
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Feb 23, 2016 15:05
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anthonypants posted:I've worked with their US counterparts a lot, and they're poo poo. 
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Feb 23, 2016 15:24
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nielsm posted:Only accepting the old, binary OLE compound document formats, and not the newer at-least-kinda-open ones, that's a good sign? I was thinking more 'ASCII', actually.
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Feb 23, 2016 16:05
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frogbert posted:Does anyone have a link to any guides or best practices when cabling racks? I've always tried to use common sense and cable things up neatly but it never ends up as perfect as I want it to. The most important thing about cabling a rack is it takes time the first time. Get your hands on one of each size cable ever made up to ~14'/3m (monoprice.com) and a spreadsheet. Layout how many servers you have, and then sit there by hand measuring the cable length for each and every rack unit. Ziptie/Velcro each RU's cables together, include this in length meaurements. Note it down in your spreadsheet. Now you have a template! Make sure there is enough slack for if you will be using cable management arms. I personally don't care if it's zip ties because we do not use CMA's. Next, wire up one server. Now service that server. Do all of your common tasks on it. See how much time you spend futzing with cables. Take notes, adapt from there. The velcroing each RU's cables together means you can always find them when you inevitably unhook a server, or if you completely cable the bare rack to your template. As part of your template, note which switch ports they go to (server1 RU1 switchport1 PDU port 1, gently caress port 0 nobody loves it anyways.) PDU ports may not be as easy due to power balancing and bank numbering, but write it all down. Cable every rack identically. This way you know that server 5 is in port5 and PDU port B1 on every single rack you make. I can take pictures in my datacenter:   Step N is hire someone else to do it, which is why these look as good as they do.
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Feb 23, 2016 17:05
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The job I took last spring has not quite panned out how I thought it would. (Insert rant about false promises/inept or nonexistant leadership/ people jumping ship left and right, etc etc.) I'm not quite ready to jump ship, but I am starting to re evaluate my career path and start refreshing my skills in preparation. After this job, I definitly feel like I could benefit from professional training. I have experience in many areas, but lack a deep knowledge of any specific area. I've also realized how important working for a solid, well structured company is, combined with the benefits of having a good boss. It's deifnitly something I plan to watch out for in my job hunt. One up side to all of this is I'm sitting in a hot market for tech jobs (Portland) and I've started to reach out to my network. I have a rather mixed background and I'm looking for input on the best way to move forwards. Work history is: 5 years part-time User/Helpdesk/Desktop support, 8 years SMB consultant/5 of those as a Contract Sys/Net Admin, 3 years IT Manager, 1 year- current Infrastructure Engineer. The downside is I never finished my degree and I have no certs. I am definitely interested in continuing in infrastructure, focusing on Networking/Storage/VM and HPC/HPS if possible. While my previous title was IT Manager, the majority of my job was focused on those areas. In total, I have 8 years experience with several different forms of VM/Storage/Network and 4 years of designing/ building HPC and HPS. I see it this way, I have two options: 1) Cert up- VMware/CCNA/ect. 2) Online school like WGU (most degrees include certs). My main issue is that I'm terrible at the testing methods used for most of these exams/certs. I don't learn quite the same way most people do, which makes things rather difficult. On the plus side, I pick things up very quickly and utilize the resources provided to best get tasks done. The second biggest issue is time. My free time outside of work is, well, nonexistent. I am currently in a situation where I could do some training at work, but I would have to make some major changes to my personal schedule. I do want to make a change, so I will have to figure that out. Eventually I would like to make the jump to management, but I'm no where near ready. With all this in mind, what would you do?
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Feb 23, 2016 20:46
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the spyder posted:words If you've got the experience and know what you are doing your biggest hurdle is going to be getting past HR so that you can demonstrate your value and knowledge to other IT people. With that said I'd lean heavily on past contacts and coworkers who may be able to get you introduced somewhere and skip past the initial HR gatekeeper straight to a technical interview. You've said you are a terrible test taker but you have the experience in the area. If thats true you shouldnt need to study up that much aside from the couple of gotchas these test occasionally have. I'd take a look at the test outlines for the CCNA and VCP and see if there is anything you are unfamiliar with to brush up on. You are in a good spot because you already have hands on real world experience with Cisco and VMWare. If you think you know enough it might still be worth just trying to take the test even if you are uncomfortable with it. Having those two certs would put you in an especially good place and you should be able to crank them both out within 6 months which would also give you enough time to start hitting up any old work colleagues.
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Feb 23, 2016 20:57
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the spyder posted:stuff  get a good recruiter too
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Feb 23, 2016 21:14
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CLAM DOWN posted:I involuntarily twitch when someone pronounces SQL as "S-Q-L" rather than "sequel". Anyone else itt? I call it 'Squirrel' and ask our DBAs to write and run 'Squirrel Questions' because I enjoy making them twitchy.
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Feb 23, 2016 21:42
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frogbert posted:Does anyone have a link to any guides or best practices when cabling racks? I've always tried to use common sense and cable things up neatly but it never ends up as perfect as I want it to. This is one of our tidier racks from our branch offices:  We separate blue as data and orange as VoIP. Patch panels always go on top. Those cable management panels between the patch panels are a godsend, if this site had them above and below the patch panels we would want to cable the upper row upwards and the lower row downwards so that you could see the drop numbers. I assume this would all go to hell if we had to rack servers or other equipment. e: oh and leave space between the patch panels and switches for when the cabling guy inevitably has to add another patch panel down the road mewse fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Feb 23, 2016 |
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Feb 23, 2016 22:09
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H110Hawk posted:Step N is hire someone else to do it, which is why these look as good as they do. I'm never cabling a rack again if I can help it.
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Feb 23, 2016 22:12
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luminalflux posted:I'm never cabling a rack again if I can help it. I haven't cabled a rack in over 7 years. It's amazing. Though I did install the patch cords previously shown for our office wiring because the contractor bailed on us leaving boxes of cables. It was so easy even I couldn't gently caress it up.
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Feb 23, 2016 22:33
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That tells me you hosed it up and didn't notice. 
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Feb 23, 2016 22:47
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KillHour posted:That tells me you hosed it up and didn't notice. It's only illegal if you get caught.
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Feb 23, 2016 22:54
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 http://i.imgur.com/omTiAni.jpg
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Feb 23, 2016 23:41
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You are a monster.
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Feb 23, 2016 23:53
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luminalflux posted:I'm never cabling a rack again if I can help it. I went on a service call one time and they had 20 plus racks nothing labeled. This was one of those condo building in downtown and all the internet was provided by the building and they had Several Ethernet jacks in each room . All they told me was that several jacks on the 10th floor's wasn't working, and one camera wasn't working. I kid you not whoever wired that place did not use a single zip tie or label. Whoever wired it must not have realized that Ethernet cords came in any other length than 25' and that 1' Ethernet cables to go from a switch to a block was "The fruit of the Devil" it took me hours, I almost quit a few times and the person that called us in bitched it was taking so long. I wish I had pictures... Secondly I have never in my life seen a building wired that way. Why in the world would they provide internet for everyone the way they did? the whole thing was all together so its not like anyone had segregated anything all I could think of is this building is an identity theft persons dream building. The person that hired me didn't want to hear any of it, wanted nothing labeled or re-wired. Needless to say they have called multiple times to have us come back out but we have always told them that it would be weeks out before we had any availability. The last time they called they said they had several other places out here and they couldn't figure it out. I told them short of a massive overhaul they would just keep having problems. Thank fully they have not called again. This is the second worst service call I have ever been on. The worst was this ladies house and she had literally no windows just chicken wire over the holes, her bathroom was in the "mudroom" ie the room when you first come in the house, the front door that was directly across from the toilet was just chicken wire. she said she had over 30 cats, she had goats, a horse and who knows what else living in the house with her. It was so hot in there and the smell............................................................................................... I about puked 20x. There was piles of poo poo in almost every corner. I was astounded she had a working electricity never mind a computer. The whole time I was there I felt like she was going to axe murder me and feed me to her cats as she went on and on how she hated men..... Brrr I almost puked thinking about it.....
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Feb 24, 2016 00:30
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Foe Hammer posted:Secondly I have never in my life seen a building wired that way. Why in the world would they provide internet for everyone the way they did? the whole thing was all together so its not like anyone had segregated anything all I could think of is this building is an identity theft persons dream building. The person that hired me didn't want to hear any of it, wanted nothing labeled or re-wired. Because if it were done correctly it's amazing for the tenants? Just because it's done horribly doesn't mean it shouldn't have been done.
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Feb 24, 2016 00:40
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If you set the switch to use a private vlan, none of the computers can see each other. It's great for a lot of scenarios.
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Feb 24, 2016 00:45
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Dr. Arbitrary posted:If you set the switch to use a private vlan, none of the computers can see each other. It's great for a lot of scenarios. But then how will you have sweet building-wide LAN parties?
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Feb 24, 2016 00:48
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That's what mine look like. No one else cares so it takes like a week to get hosed up.
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Feb 24, 2016 00:50
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Call me a monster but gently caress cabling. It starts off neat but always turns to poo poo so I stopped caring.
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Feb 24, 2016 00:56
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That reminds me of the work I did in a "historic" building. My job was to replace an aging server (I think it was a PE 1850) with something like a 2850. I only remember that they were swapping out a 2U for a 1U. When I got there I asked where the rack was, and they looked at me like I had three heads. "It's all down in the rootcellar," they said. So I have the server in hand with the power cords and the ready rails; the place I worked for was too cheap for a hand truck or dolly, so I put that "can lift 50 pounds" proviso in my contract to good use fairly often. This stuff isn't lightweight, but it's manageable as long as all you're doing is walking. When I get down to the cellar I notice that it isn't concrete or anything solid, it's just straight up soil. Dirt. I'm looking around for ANYTHING that looks like computer equipment in this place and I see nothing. There's no light down there beyond the ambient light from the stairwell, and I'm confused. No choice remaining but to ask the question. "Uh, I don't see anything down here. Are you SURE this is where the equipment is?" "No, the ROOTcellar. It's in the rootcellar. Like, the basement's basement." I go back down after getting a flashlight from my truck and look around. After a while I find a trail of cables pushed against the edge of the room, just laying there in the dirt in the small groove between the floor and the wall. It takes a few minutes to trace but when I do... I find this loving rootcellar. Think of Joe Dante's The Hole and you'll have a rough approximation of what I was looking at. A wooden ladder descended into the darkness for a distance, but I could at least see the bottom. Again, this is nothing but dirt we're talking about. It's practically a mineshaft. The cables snaked down into the hole and angled up toward the ceiling underground. I see this and I'm like, "gently caress it, I'm not going down there. This is bullshit." I have a 2U server and rails, how the hell could I manage this? I call my boss and tell him about the bizarre circumstances, and all he does is laugh. "Stop bullshitting and get it done, man. Making up stories isn't going to get you out of there any faster. This is for the state, so don't gently caress up." *click* After I finish cursing I take another look into the hole, particularly curious about the ladder. This thing is ancient. Everything down there is ancient. There's what looks like an oil lamp hanging on a peg just hammered into the dirt, even. This was a long time ago and back then I needed the money, so down I went one careful step at a time. I'm not a small guy by any means and I don't think I've ever been so tense. Small spaces aren't my thing really, and neither is getting dirty. This had the best of both worlds. I get down there and my goddamn boots just sink into the floor; it's wet and muddy, and this is where they keep their archive server. The wires and cabling went even further back to a rickety bookshelf with a bunch of assorted knick-knacks on it, with the 1850 just sort of laid on it's side on the shelf. I called the receptionist at the building and asked if they had anybody handy available that could pass me the equipment. I hated the idea of someone else touching the stuff, but I hated the idea of having the ladder shatter with me carrying a sheetmetal tombstone even more. It takes almost an hour but some grumbly old dude shows up and passes it down. I get it in place without much issue, power things on. An enormous Trinitron monitor was sort of pushed into the dirt wall near the shelf, with the keyboard sitting on top of it. My only regret from the experience was not taking any pictures, because no one ever believes me when I tell them about this. I really have no idea why I'm in IT with the dumb poo poo I've endured over the years.
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Feb 24, 2016 00:58
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How, and why did they have power at the bottom of a dirt hole?
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Feb 24, 2016 02:35
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Judge Schnoopy posted:How, and why did they have power at the bottom of a dirt hole? How are you supposed to enjoy your torture/murder dungeon to its fullest in the dark?
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Feb 24, 2016 02:44
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And pass up free cooling and fire suppression and ground faults? I think not.
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Feb 24, 2016 02:46
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Wrath of the Bitch King posted:"It's all down in the rootcellar," they said. Welp, there goes my entry for 'worst location for a network closet'  E: poo poo, I've actually got a better one, it's in "the rainroom". I'll try to get a picture tomorrow
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Feb 24, 2016 03:18
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Judge Schnoopy posted:How, and why did they have power at the bottom of a dirt hole? It was a large cable bundle that ran along the wall in the cellar above and was dropped into the hole. Someone halfheartedly tried to string it along the ceiling in the rootcellar, which made it look like an extra thick telephone line. As to the why? No idea. I can tell you that I sunk at least 3 inches into the muck, and the server was coated in grime and filth when we pulled it out. Miraculously it still functioned normally after spending a few years down there. Not even a drive failure. The best location I've seen for server equipment? In a chicken coop inside the sunroom of a small company's CEO's house. With actual chickens. He used it to keep them warmer in the colder months. And no, I'm not kidding.
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Feb 24, 2016 03:24
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Well gently caress at least he's attempting to apply logic there. "Servers require clean, dry, non-humid environments, better go out of our way to wire up the 'ol muddy Murderin' Hole and put it down there" actively defies logical thinking. There is no benefit to the situation and requires more work to put it in the worst possible location they could find.
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Feb 24, 2016 04:07
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Why haven't I used AutoIt before? Good lord. Easy and awesome.
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Feb 24, 2016 04:10
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goobernoodles posted:Why haven't I used AutoIt before? Good lord. Easy and awesome. Please Use PowerShell
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Feb 24, 2016 04:16
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Maybe a silly question, but what should my one stop industry news source be as a sys admin? I ask because I am just completely overwhelmed by having a few VMware RSS feeds, a few storage, a few SQL, a few Devops, a few Powershell... I go 3 days without checking articles and I'm 400 in the hole and at that point, mark as read, hope I didn't miss anything. Sites like ArsTechnica and Wired seem too pop culture - is there something that a sys admin should be reading as their one stop? e: This is a silly question, because in this very thread probably 2 years ago, I asked for the overwhelming sources I named above. It's just too much though, too much! MC Fruit Stripe fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 24, 2016 06:54
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:Maybe a silly question, but what should my one stop industry news source be as a sys admin? I ask because I am just completely overwhelmed by having a few VMware RSS feeds, a few storage, a few SQL, a few Devops, a few Powershell... I go 3 days without checking articles and I'm 400 in the hole and at that point, mark as read, hope I didn't miss anything. Sites like ArsTechnica and Wired seem too pop culture - is there something that a sys admin should be reading as their one stop? I just use these threads
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Feb 24, 2016 07:20
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Come hang in #bofh (no dicks allowed).
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