cpjackson.co.uk

So my girlfriend decided the other week, after watching several eco/green telly programs back-to-back from bit-torrent, that it would be a good idea to stop sending shedloads of waste to landfill and ‘go green’. Black is out this year – Green is in the in-colour.

So in my usual techie way, I’ve been looking for ways to reduce our huge electric-bill (AKA carbon footprint). We’re fairly heavy users of electric — what with four servers, three wifi points, several switches, nas drives etc, so it makes sense from a money point of view as well as an eco-freak point of view to turn some off.

After rigging all my TV’s, coffee makers, amplifiers etc. up to X10 gear – and making them turn on/off  depending on whenever my bluetooth phone is within range, I realised I should probably look at turning off one or two of my servers.

After a bit of thinking – I decided the easiest way was to port the info from the old-boxes across to a new, clean, AMD64 box. Unfortunately, as is always the case – you get a new server running and then decide that it needs a bit of bedding-in before you can definately turn off the old servers. So — we’ve now got 5 servers running concurrently.

Now to figure out everything that is running on these two/three year old linux boxes – and migrate! That’ll be fun.

I’ve just been reading this article on the BBC and I’ve got to say that it’s absolutely hilarious. I’ve got to say I’m getting a little tired of people who pass themselves off as having IT knowledge, but this guy is a scream!! This guy is commenting on the Northern Rock crisis — where horror!! their website went down for a bit.

The article reads like a techie has sat him down with a cup of coco and explained what the buzzing beige boxes are…

heavyweight computers, called “servers”,

Woohoo – never in my years have I heard the term “”server”"…. And with ..”several hundred expert IT staff to look after them”..

Haven’t Northern Rock ever heard of outsourcing – because if they’ve got several hundred IT staff I’d be worried what with their stock price and all…

He even goes on to imagine a james-bondesque room where the IT director of Northern Rock sits:

There were probably big screens showing exactly what was happening, second by second, like a mission control centre. That’s where the IT director would have been, pacing up and down, watching developments. The alarm bells would have started ringing long before the website crashed.

I don’t know about you – but when I’m rushing to fix a server those fucking alarm bells are a real pain!! And those sirens?? Don’t get me started.

New computer servers would have been built and installed as quickly as the guys could do it.

… Because thats what always happens with new servers isn’t it?? Got a run on your website because of some dodgy Divx’s posted? Just nip out to dixons or PCWorld, pick up some parts off the shelf (maybe a USB drive or two), wander back to the office, throw the server together and get it all online ready for the next deluge in fifteen…

By the end of the article I expected him to be imagining some sort of time-device that needed to be de-activated or something?? Maybe rescuing a helpless young blonde?

Don’t get me wrong – I like the BBC … But I reckon Tom Ilube sounds like the type of guy who should keep his spiel to just managers – they’ll lap it up.