ramblings of a {sys,net}admin…

So I’m looking through one of the e-mails that Microsoft spams me with since I’m an MCP and I just happen to click a link for the MCP eStore. Looks like somebody forgot to renew their domain…

I’m trying out the web browser on this new Blackberry to see how much of a PITA it is to post to my web site. Of course, it’d be a heckuva lot easier if there was a cool little client for it that supported XML-RPC!

I had a fun time getting the Adaptec Embedded SATA RAID card on a new HP Proliant DL320 server recently. Well, with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, that is.

Supposedly, RHEL4 Update 2 has built-in support for the “adpahci” driver, which is needed for the above-mentioned embedded SATA RAID card to work. This appeared not to be the case. It also not to be the case for RHEL4 Update 3. Indeed, I had to “fall back” to RHEL4 Update 1 and use a driver disk that I obtained from HP’s web site in order to get RHEL4 to see the card.

Without the driver, RHEL4 sees each of the two 80GB SATA disks individually and I could’ve done software RAID1, but I really want to avoid doing software RAID when I can do hardware RAID… and if the card’s already then, what’s the point?

Finally, using the driver disk alongside RHEL4 Update 1, the Adaptec card is detected, Red Hat sees the RAID1 logical volume that I set up and I can continue on. Got the base system installed right before I left today and am actually updating it now from home.

This box, along with another just like it (configured in failover using heartbeat) will replace an HP ML370 G2 currently running IIS5 on Windows 2000. The current server is running a total of five websites and doing an okay job, but I managed to convince the “powers that be” and that can run them just as well, if not better (of course) on Linux, and do more with them than what we are now. I actually got the “ok” to go ahead with that. After some initial testing with RHEL4, heartbeat, and rsync, I had a good PoC and was ready to move on it. This DL320 is the first part of the transition. I’m aiming for mid-July for moving four of the five websites over and mid-August for the last one (the most complicated). There are a few apps that are Windows-specific that we won’t be able to run on Linux, but those can stick around on the current server.

Anyways, long story short, the Adaptec embedded SATA RAID shit is a pain in the ass. Well, it was, anyways.

So a few weeks ago I wrote SBC Business Class DSL, Here I Come!. Last Monday, I got an automated call from SBC saying something like “…we’ve scheduled an install for you tomorrow between 8am-5pm, if you’re not going to be home please call…”. WTF? No one was supposed to come here to do anything — that’s how I was going to avoid the $250 installation fee.

To make it short… I called up SBC, and after speaking to 11 people who couldn’t “get rid of” the technician visit, I was pissed. I called back Team Data (the guys who deal with the business class stuff) and finally told ‘em to just cancel the whole damn order for the upgrade. I had to speak to two people to get that taken care of, bringing the total number of SBC employees I spoke with to a total of 13. I was not happy.

So to sum it up, I’m still on my dynamic IP address package, with 3.0Mbps/512kbps max. for $24.95/month. That’s not a bad price, but I was willing to pay $74.95/month for the same thing but with my own routed /29. I can’t believe that SBC are such idjits that they’d want to lose out on $600 per year just to try to get the $250 installation fee.

I’m waiting for the next time that Kevin (previously mentioned) calls and asks me about it. If he can set things straight then, I’ll go ahead with the upgrade. Otherwise, SBC can kiss my ass.

On a side note, they did get the second line working (for the FAX).

A while back, I complained about SBC’s $250 installation fee to have “business class” DSL hooked up at my residence. There’s no difference in bandwidth (I currently have 3.0Mbps/512kbps), but you do a /29. SBC actually advertises it as “5 IP addresses”, which is what you end up with after you subtract one each for the router, the network address, and the broadcast address. When you work in I.T., however, and a lot of it is working remotely, it’s really worth it to have a static IP address. For me, I can have holes punched in the corporate firewalls so that I can VPN in a helluva lot easier. When the guy at “Team Data” at SBC informed me there was no way to get the upgrade without paying the $250 fee, I told him in no uncertain terms where he could stick the $250.

Today, I stepped outside for a smoke and got a phone call. It was Kevin, a sales rep. at SBC that I’ve been dealing with for some quotes for a DS-1. After telling Kevin that I’d gotten a quote that was $150/mo. less than his, he came down $125 (after waiving installation and throwing in a router) and so we began to converse again. :-)

After we were done, I asked him if he knew anything about the $250 fee and if it were possible to get an upgrade to business-class without paying that installation fee. “Give me about five minutes”, he said. In five minutes, he had the order placed to get me upgraded to the business-class package (at $74.95/mo. versus the $24.95/mo. I’m paying now), and had a router being shipped out to me. Oh, did I mention there was no $250 fee to get it set up? I’m not sure what SBC’s problem is in this area, but if there are many more people like me out there, SBC is losing a load of money because of that $250 installation fee ($75/mo. times 12 months is about $900, if my math isn’t failing me). I can’t see why they’d want to lose $900 in revenue instead of just $250, but hey, I guess that’s why I’m not in that business…

I’ve read on some of the forums on DSL Reports about others trying to get the fee waived, to no avail. It could be that Kevin done it just so he land a $10K+ deal, but I don’t really care, to be honest. If you’ve been wanting to upgrade without paying the $250, get in touch and I’ll give you Kevin’s direct line. Maybe he can take care of you too.

In addition to quotes for a DS-1, I’m also looking for quotes for 15 device CALs for Microsoft Small Business Server 2003. This is to enroll a company in Microsoft’s Open License Value Volume Licensing Program. I’ve gotten two pretty good quotes already and a purchase may well be made before anyone even reads this. If you want to provide a quote, get in touch.

I’m looking for ISPs who want to provide a quote for a full DS-1 line in Bloomington, Indiana. I already have quotes from SBC and Kiva Networking. If you work for an ISP here in town (or the surrounding area) that can provide a DS-1 to a location on the west side of Bloomington (commercial, not a residence), please get in touch with me and I’ll give you the details.

Well, things are a whole helluva lot better now than they were two weeks ago, I guess. I’ve had a couple people ask about my truck and stuff, so here’s an update.

Fortunately, my insurance company, Progressive is… how do I say it? Fuckin’ good will suffice. Before I was an hour away from Indy on my way home the day my truck got broken into, I was on the phone with a claims rep. named Carrie in Bloomington (the town where I work). She got shit taken care of. By the end of the next day, Friday, I had a check for a repair shop and a new stereo system/CD player. I had to wait until Saturday for the folks at Best Buy to install it, but that’s not Carrie’s fault. I still had to pay the $500 deductible, which majorly sucks ass, but shit happens, I suppose.

Let’s see… what else? The IOS upgrade went fine, fortunately (which is always a plus when the guy doing the upgrading is an hour and 15 minutes away). Ashley just got into town tonight, I called to see where she was and she said they had just gotten back into town. There’s a “wedding rehearsal” tomorrow at 6.30pm that I have to be at, then her wedding is Saturday at… 4.00pm, I think? Should probably double-check that. I had to pick up my tux tonight — lots of fun, that.

Beth and Rick should be in town Saturday too, I think. Lindsey and I are taking them to dinner Sunday evening. That should be fun — I haven’t seen her for… almost three years.

My old friend Jon got out of prison two days ago, after doing two and a half years (selling drugs — tsk tsk). Hopefully he’s over that and will keep his ass clean.

Oh, and I booked a hotel for Spring Break tonight. We’re not going to Cancun like we wanted (I didn’t realize how expensive that fuckin’ place was!). We are heading south, just not that far. Destination: St. Petersburg, Florida. The Sirata Beach Resort at 5300 Gulf Blvd. in St. Pete. Beach, to be exact. I have some family in St. Petersburg and the Largo area, so hopefully I can see them for a bit while I’m there, too.

Anyways, that’s all, folks! It’s almost 1.00am and I have to be up E-A-R-L-Y tomorrow (I hate that word!).