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johnpalmerWell, who said the life of a computer administrator wouldn't be adventurous?
Not me...
Here I am, just three days away from flying to Philadelphia, when I find out that our production SQL Server is just seven days away from having its license expire.
You see, the server was set up before I joined the company, and there was a perfectly natural mistake that was made. An evaluation copy of Windows 2003 server was installed, because it was the only platform that would support the equipment that we were using. An actual, retail version was purchased shortly thereafter, and here is where the mistake was made. It was assumed that once the product was activated, since we had a retail license, it wouldn't expire. However, once you install an evaluation copy of software, there is no way to disable the expiration... or, at least no way that Microsoft will tell you. (Can you blame them?)
So you see, seven days from now, the server is going to stop working. Well, that's not a problem... I'll just come in late tonight, and reinstall the software. I mean, it's the same software, even the same build, so I shouldn't have a problem, right?
Well, my boss didn't like that, and, really, I can't blame him. After all, this is our database production server, and it took several days for it to be built. There is absolutely nothing that should go wrong, but you don't count on "shoulds" when you're dealing with something like this, where a catastrophe puts you out of business for several days.
His first thought was to replace the database server with a backup server, while we did a complete rebuild of the database server back at the office. Eventually, though, we came up with the proper idea. We're going to build the backup server, but we're only going to use it in case of catastrophic failure. I'm going to back up the production database, attempt to do the upgrade (well, it's not much of an upgrade... just a reinstall the exact same operating system), and if the upgrade fails, I'll restore from backup. If the upgrade fails, and I can't restore from backup, then I'll use the backup server.
So, today, at about four o'clock, I drove to our off-site location, and picked up the server machinery that we're going to use for this. I drove straight back here (OK, I stopped at the store to pick up some food... I knew that it was going to be a long night), and got ready to open up the case, put in the new hard drives, and then start the difficult part.
I'm sure that you've just guessed that opening up the case was not as easy as I imagined...
An interesting fact... screwdrivers can be much harder than screws. So much so, that if you have a power screwdriver, you can completely strip a screw much, much faster than you might have believed possible.
Thankfully, it couldn't strip a screw much much faster than *I* would have believed possible. I don't trust mechanical machinery, you see.
(Yes, I know, some of the people reading this are much better with tools that I am, and probably would have caught the problem even more quickly than I did... I did say "faster than you *might* have believed possible")
The problem was, the screw had been put on with a power screwdriver, and it was driven in very tightly. If I had known that it had been driven in that tightly, I would have known to press against the screw very hard with the power screwdriver, so that it wouldn't have a chance to get stripped. Either the screw would have come out, or the screwdriver would have made that horrible noise, and probably strained my wrist, when it couldn't pull the screw out.
We tried using a manual screwdriver, and that didn't work, and I tried using a flathead screwdriver (just about all computer screws are Phillips head) that I knew was of high-quality metal, but you know, that screw was in there to stay. Finally, even though we were being careful, it was clear that the screw was stripped to the point at which it was time for drastic measures. Sadly, my Dremel tool is about 240 miles away... I was pretty sure that I could get an "easy out" from a local hardware store, and I even knew that there was a chance that I would figure out how to use one... however, the only thing I know about them is the name.
(What they are, is a tool that's intended to drill into things like this screw, until they lock in tightly, and then you can reverse the drill you're using, and it pulls out the recalcitrant nut or bolt.)
Those of you who know what the exterior of the server case looks like are either feeling smug, or about to feel impressed... after a little bit of fiddling, I realized that I could simply take the faceplate off, and once they did that, I would be able to rotate the top, which would loosen the screw. (There were four screws securing the top to the case, you see, and I had already removed three)
As I remarked to Charlie, the only thing missing from my triumph was a blast furnace to throw that stinking little screw into.
I suppose that I had the new hard drives in by 7:30... the last 2 1/2 hours I've been installing Windows 2003, and trying to install SQL Server... the installation of SQL Server is currently at 9%, and holding steady. I guess I'll give it another 10 minutes to get up to 10%, before trying to abort.
I'm glad that I'm not the one who has to pay for my ticket to fly to Philadelphia on Friday... if I end up having to cancel, I'd be in a much worse mood that I would normally be, after being at work more than 12 hours.
Not me...
Here I am, just three days away from flying to Philadelphia, when I find out that our production SQL Server is just seven days away from having its license expire.
You see, the server was set up before I joined the company, and there was a perfectly natural mistake that was made. An evaluation copy of Windows 2003 server was installed, because it was the only platform that would support the equipment that we were using. An actual, retail version was purchased shortly thereafter, and here is where the mistake was made. It was assumed that once the product was activated, since we had a retail license, it wouldn't expire. However, once you install an evaluation copy of software, there is no way to disable the expiration... or, at least no way that Microsoft will tell you. (Can you blame them?)
So you see, seven days from now, the server is going to stop working. Well, that's not a problem... I'll just come in late tonight, and reinstall the software. I mean, it's the same software, even the same build, so I shouldn't have a problem, right?
Well, my boss didn't like that, and, really, I can't blame him. After all, this is our database production server, and it took several days for it to be built. There is absolutely nothing that should go wrong, but you don't count on "shoulds" when you're dealing with something like this, where a catastrophe puts you out of business for several days.
His first thought was to replace the database server with a backup server, while we did a complete rebuild of the database server back at the office. Eventually, though, we came up with the proper idea. We're going to build the backup server, but we're only going to use it in case of catastrophic failure. I'm going to back up the production database, attempt to do the upgrade (well, it's not much of an upgrade... just a reinstall the exact same operating system), and if the upgrade fails, I'll restore from backup. If the upgrade fails, and I can't restore from backup, then I'll use the backup server.
So, today, at about four o'clock, I drove to our off-site location, and picked up the server machinery that we're going to use for this. I drove straight back here (OK, I stopped at the store to pick up some food... I knew that it was going to be a long night), and got ready to open up the case, put in the new hard drives, and then start the difficult part.
I'm sure that you've just guessed that opening up the case was not as easy as I imagined...
An interesting fact... screwdrivers can be much harder than screws. So much so, that if you have a power screwdriver, you can completely strip a screw much, much faster than you might have believed possible.
Thankfully, it couldn't strip a screw much much faster than *I* would have believed possible. I don't trust mechanical machinery, you see.
(Yes, I know, some of the people reading this are much better with tools that I am, and probably would have caught the problem even more quickly than I did... I did say "faster than you *might* have believed possible")
The problem was, the screw had been put on with a power screwdriver, and it was driven in very tightly. If I had known that it had been driven in that tightly, I would have known to press against the screw very hard with the power screwdriver, so that it wouldn't have a chance to get stripped. Either the screw would have come out, or the screwdriver would have made that horrible noise, and probably strained my wrist, when it couldn't pull the screw out.
We tried using a manual screwdriver, and that didn't work, and I tried using a flathead screwdriver (just about all computer screws are Phillips head) that I knew was of high-quality metal, but you know, that screw was in there to stay. Finally, even though we were being careful, it was clear that the screw was stripped to the point at which it was time for drastic measures. Sadly, my Dremel tool is about 240 miles away... I was pretty sure that I could get an "easy out" from a local hardware store, and I even knew that there was a chance that I would figure out how to use one... however, the only thing I know about them is the name.
(What they are, is a tool that's intended to drill into things like this screw, until they lock in tightly, and then you can reverse the drill you're using, and it pulls out the recalcitrant nut or bolt.)
Those of you who know what the exterior of the server case looks like are either feeling smug, or about to feel impressed... after a little bit of fiddling, I realized that I could simply take the faceplate off, and once they did that, I would be able to rotate the top, which would loosen the screw. (There were four screws securing the top to the case, you see, and I had already removed three)
As I remarked to Charlie, the only thing missing from my triumph was a blast furnace to throw that stinking little screw into.
I suppose that I had the new hard drives in by 7:30... the last 2 1/2 hours I've been installing Windows 2003, and trying to install SQL Server... the installation of SQL Server is currently at 9%, and holding steady. I guess I'll give it another 10 minutes to get up to 10%, before trying to abort.
I'm glad that I'm not the one who has to pay for my ticket to fly to Philadelphia on Friday... if I end up having to cancel, I'd be in a much worse mood that I would normally be, after being at work more than 12 hours.
