Subject: he's trying to kill me..
Tue Aug 04 14:10:26 1998



okay gang, here's a snapshot from the trenches.

i'm responsible for a network that serves ~170 domains (the
number grows each week) holding roughly a quarter million files
of i don't know what.   the thing is a walpurgisnacht of legacy
data and layers of quick fixes done by people who don't work
here any more.   my job is to make it all go.

i'm learning a lot about networking in a corporate environment..
things like the fact that:

    "i've just killed your server.   i'll bring it back up in 24
    hours, and if you piss me off again i'll take it down for
    another 24."

is called a 'bargaining position'.   i swear, i'm dealing with
people who'd haggle bullet calibre with a firing squad.


anyhoo, one of the positions where i've held firm is that
running the network means knowing what's on it.. at least in
general terms.   to that end, i've assigned a couple of interns
to do an inventory of the servers, to see what kind of gunk has
accumulated over the years.

they're young, and still don't quite get the point.. they keep
asking me things like "are these files being used?"   i've
recently managed to convince them that no, i do not in fact know
which files are being used by the various domains, and that the
reason i've assigned them to find out is so that the *next* time
someone asks, i can say "why, yes they are".   the general idea
has been to get them to try asking whoever owns the domain
itself.

today marked a victory of sorts.. one of them finally sent a
message to a group of domain owners, asking for information
about the files they use:



> To whomever this may concern:
> 
> My name is P__________.   Currently, I am documenting system
> resources and web pages.
> 
> [ snip ]
> 
> We are attempting to free unused resources so that we can get the
> optimum potential from our systems. Thank you for your time!
> 
> Gratuitously yours,
> 
> P__________



now we just need some work on composition..