Network pics thread

I get ya, I HATE corporate apps because of this. At my main client it's all a windows shop too, and we're running XP for workstations and 2003 for servers, and we cannot go 7 because most of the apps won't even run on it. Even new apps are designed for XP / Windows 2003. It's sad, really. Like every time we need to deploy a new server we want to go 2008, yet whatever app needs to run on it is either not supported or wont run. Medical apps are some of the worse coded apps out there.
 
Nice 5508's, Ive got them in my new corporate build.. my 4402-25's aint cutting it anymore.

Its a shame I work for such a smaller company now, I can't even sneak pics... some have been lucky enough to see the datacenter pics though.... 220 or so racks in our US DC, another 60 or so in the UK.

Berg, nice stuff dude. I just finished up a new floor build.. buncha 3750'x, 1142n's, and as stated above(unfortunately) my 4402's which will be migrated out soon.

rofl

All i have to say is, FCoE Switches (MDS) are a massive PITA to configure. (We did our DR build out this week. Loads and Loads of gear. Nexus 7k/5k/2k/1k, ASR-1k's, 3750x, 3560x, MDS9500's, UCS 5100's and 6100 FEX's)

@comp, dude 3750's? Please tell me those are just distribution switches lol.
 
I get ya, I HATE corporate apps because of this. At my main client it's all a windows shop too, and we're running XP for workstations and 2003 for servers, and we cannot go 7 because most of the apps won't even run on it. Even new apps are designed for XP / Windows 2003. It's sad, really. Like every time we need to deploy a new server we want to go 2008, yet whatever app needs to run on it is either not supported or wont run. Medical apps are some of the worse coded apps out there.

On the up side we can use Windows 7 32-bit for most of our apps, the service laptops that hook up to the big trucks are the only exception and it's about 75% supported by those apps. So it also depends on the department, since each department uses different apps.

Luckily our core apps are fine with 08 R2 and 7 32-bit. We've been deploying more and more of that. :)

Edit: There's also an upside, they are converting most of the legacy apps over to web based apps. But with that upside there is also a downside. They have the worst f***ing habit of using PROPRIATERY and UNHEARD OF plugins and crap as much as possible. They can't just stick with Java, Flash, etc. They have to use SVG, Active X (I f'n hate them for this one). They also don't conform to other general web standards, so only IE is supported (6,7 and 8 only, phasing out 6 finally). But to use IE7/8 you have to configure a bunch of rules, trusted sites, cookie handling overrides security tweaked just PERFECT or the apps fail to work.

Which saddens me because I can go to any modern website with a bunch of advanced apps and features that far surpass what we're utilizing as far as features and complication... and it just f***ing loads if I have java and/or flash installed. End of story... Did I mention that I hate them? :(
 
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You can often tell a lot about the personality of the programmers and decision makers who write those super-proprietary pieces of software. Most are hard-nosed and don't like change one bit - often two or three generations behind others because they like to stick with what they know. They don't like to go outside of their bubble or spend any more for innovation.

I have a couple of accounting firms that are stuck on Server 2003/XP because of companies who don't update their apps. I call in to them from time to time to check on the status of Windows 7 and 64-bit support. The answers are always the same from most companies. It's either "it's coming in the next version" or "sometime next year". I've actually had one programmer tell me that 64-bit will never be supported because Windows 7 64-bit has no driver support and nobody uses it. I guess he has a bad aftertaste of XP x64..

Sometimes though, it's all about support. A good number of times a program will run on Windows 7/Server 2008/R2, etc. just fine but the company won't provide any support for it and that's what most corporations want - and pay for. So, it doesn't matter if it works just fine if the company won't give support for it.

A good example is Citrix and Terminal Server. Saying either of those two terms to a support representative are about the quickest way to get your support call ended.

Riley
 
A good example is Citrix and Terminal Server. Saying either of those two terms to a support representative are about the quickest way to get your support call ended.

That's exactly what this Hyper-V box is for, to replace an aging 2003 Terminal Server. We can't use 64-bit anything for users, so we can't just get a beefier box and throw 08R2 64bit.

However I have considered doing an 08 32bit TS with PAE on this box, even an 03 32bit TS with PAE. But that just seems like a step backwards... Especially since I'd like to stick with 08 R2. However 08 would still be much more current than 03. But again some of those damn plugins wont work on 08 Server but will work on Win7 32bit. Furthermore, going VDI means we can grant additional rights to users who need Administrative rights. Yes, some of their apps even REQUIRE users to be local administrators. For the sole purpose of allowing them to f*** up the PC... err I mean sole purpose of whatever the hell, I have no idea actually, they just demand it; or plugins wont run even if already installed by an admin. They just crash on load under normal user or power user accounts. I sure as hell don't want to grant admin rights to a user on a TS. :(

It's a clusterf**k :(
 
Well while I'm here sitting on my thumbs waiting for stuff to p2v I snapped some before and after photos.

Before:

IMAG0416.jpg


IMAG0414.jpg


After:
Not 100% finished yet but close enough

IMAG0417.jpg


IMAG0418.jpg
 
are the 805 AMD?




love both the 1950 and 2950s


we use a few in one of our racks at work.

The one I had to fix needed new fans in point a and d, then when I went to power it back up the front panel wouldn't work, it had salt water damage and the power switch was corroded fml....

Thank god it had remote tool configured I called their help desk and he remotely turned the server on..
 
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lol reminds me of where I work. There was a flood and lot of computers and other equipment was actually submerged while on. They still wanted us to try fixing it so it can go back to production.
 
anyone who has a boss who thinks that only execs should be around the top floors and no stinkin' computers

Anyone who can't convince their management of an obvious flaw in their plan, you mean?
 
Anyone who can't convince their management of an obvious flaw in their plan, you mean?

is this one of those, if you can't convince them, you take note of date time and when it fails you go back to your notes and say SEEE TOLD YOU SO FOOL!!!

lol
 
Who builds a data center below flood level?

Not a data center, was just a bunch of workstations, and it was a water pipe that broke not an actual natural flood, but there was like 3 inches of water on the ground. For a hospital, they have quite a lot of infrastructure issues.

One time someone on the 3rd floor forgot a bath tub and it overflowed and it went to a conduit somewhere. There is a power room near our office (1st floor) and there was water at the door, we opened it and there was this waterfall splashing on top of a huge electrical panel. For it's size I'm pretty sure it was a 3 phase panel, probably like 500amps if more. 2 inch thick cables going into that. There are other panels in that room which probably branch off that one. Our server room is not that far off so we quickly went to it and opened up the ceiling tiles to ensure there was no conduits there that may also be affected. The IT manager said we should put umbrellas over the racks. No joke, he actually said that LOL. I think the possibility of water impeding in the server room is a problem on it's own.

You'd think the bathtub would have an overflow drain or something. I still find that situation funny. You see that in movies and stuff, where an overflowing bath tub causes a huge flood and water is trickling down the stairs, well, it's not just in the movies. :D

Oh, it gets better. The UPS room has a sprinkler system in it. We were not aware of it till the maintenance guy came by one day "We're here to disable the sprinkler system in the UPS room". Our jaws just dropped. We have a FM200 system in there now.

Oh, the PBX room, that's a funny one too. There is an active sprinkler system in there. They actually have these plexy glass shields over the PBX and the power backup system. Why bother, when you have like 200 PSI of water spraying out of a nozzle, it WILL end up hitting the electronics.

All the wiring closets have sprinkler systems too. Those rooms also tend to have electrical panels, fire panels, and other equipment. Did I mention this is a hospital? lol
 
is this one of those, if you can't convince them, you take note of date time and when it fails you go back to your notes and say SEEE TOLD YOU SO FOOL!!!
I'd never be able to work at such a place, and pity people who have to. :(

One time someone on the 3rd floor forgot a bath tub and it overflowed and it went to a conduit somewhere. There is a power room near our office (1st floor) and there was water at the door, we opened it and there was this waterfall splashing on top of a huge electrical panel. For it's size I'm pretty sure it was a 3 phase panel, probably like 500amps if more. 2 inch thick cables going into that.
That's really interesting; I've never heard of such thick cables. The thickest I've worked with are 4/0, which are about half an inch thick (over the copper, the insulation is more, but not that much more). I'd love to learn more about the wiring you have.

Oh, it gets better. The UPS room has a sprinkler system in it. We were not aware of it till the maintenance guy came by one day "We're here to disable the sprinkler system in the UPS room". Our jaws just dropped. We have a FM200 system in there now.
Why wasn't a site inspection done before the UPS was installed?
 
Sprinklers are almost always installed in data center spaces along with some type of suppression agent. In cases where there isn't a suppression agent usually pre-action systems are used.

In the end the ultimate goal is to save the structure.
 
Sprinklers are almost always installed in data center spaces along with some type of suppression agent. In cases where there isn't a suppression agent usually pre-action systems are used.

In the end the ultimate goal is to save the structure.

can't they use other things other than water ?

I could see EVERY THING going to shit if a small fire broke out :( guess thats why data centers are redundant to each other i guess.

Pretty rare that a server catches fire tho..
 
We use an INERGEN system at my office and then our colocation is dry action pipe in one DC and the other DC is an early detection system that has little pin hole sensors on every other tile in on the data center floor. pretty cool system.
 
I'd never be able to work at such a place, and pity people who have to. :(

That's really interesting; I've never heard of such thick cables. The thickest I've worked with are 4/0, which are about half an inch thick (over the copper, the insulation is more, but not that much more). I'd love to learn more about the wiring you have.

Why wasn't a site inspection done before the UPS was installed?


Oh I'm guessing lot of it was insulation/protection, but it just gives a decent idea of what kind of power is probably going in there. Not sure what the individual wires were.

And site inspection? Nah, they'll have all these crazy meetings and other crap, but leave out the important stuff. The biggest inspection was probably "yeah, it should fit". They also covered the light switch for that room, you can't turn off the light in there. Inaccessible junction box code violation right there. Changing a neon tube in that room really puts the hot in hot swap. :D

I'm only thinking of this stuff on the fly, you'd think the high end managers being paid 100k+ per year would have thought about all this stuff way before it was even in place.
 
Oh I'm guessing lot of it was insulation/protection, but it just gives a decent idea of what kind of power is probably going in there. Not sure what the individual wires were.

And site inspection? Nah, they'll have all these crazy meetings and other crap, but leave out the important stuff. The biggest inspection was probably "yeah, it should fit". They also covered the light switch for that room, you can't turn off the light in there. Inaccessible junction box code violation right there. Changing a neon tube in that room really puts the hot in hot swap. :D

I'm only thinking of this stuff on the fly, you'd think the high end managers being paid 100k+ per year would have thought about all this stuff way before it was even in place.

They don think about work or safety, they think about all the 1's& zeros on their pay cheques, n how much they can pass the buck or sluff off.
 
I have never seen a water system in a datacenter before. Always HVAC with lots of big red lights! :D
 
RAID6 Capacity Expansion


Make sure you do your RAID config the way you want it before hand. I did RAID6 w/6 drives + 2 hot spares. Then went WTF, RAID6 can lose 2 drives, why not use the extra spindle? So rather than blast away all the config I did, I figured a RAID expansion in the background would work. :)
 
Cool, what program is that? I know mdraid can do live expansion and even transformations, but that's all command line.
 
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