View From the Bushes

I was having this problem at work where the webserver would crash about once a week and need to be restarted. So I got another server and installed a clean version of everything from scratch and upgraded to the very latest versions of everything. I moved this server into production and the net result was that it crashed every six hours rather than every six days. I spent most of last night trying to 'save' the new server (which is why I didn't post), but this morning I was forced to move back to the old server, and that's when I really screwed up...

When I switched servers yesterday I just unplugged the network cable from the one which had been in production and then changed the IP address of the new server to match the old server. To switch them back this morning I figured I would pull the network cable out of the new server, re-plug the network cable into the old one (clear the arp table on all the switches) and I'd be done. I expected the whole operation to take less than 30 seconds. Unfortunately, helpful labels which identify which server is which are on the front and the network plug is on the back, so rather than unplugging the new server I unplugged the intranet server...

In addition to unintentionally shutting down one server I had made it so that two of the servers had the same IP address, and to top it all off I was using the server I had unplugged to browse to the other servers to see if what I'd done had worked. Helped in significant measure by all the people yelling at me to fix the intranet, I finally figured out what I had done and managed to eventually undo all of the damage I had caused. Of course, I still have fo figure out a solution to the original problem, and this mess hasn't helped at all in terms of catching up, but you have to play the hand you're dealt. Additionally, for some reason all of this reminded me of a question I saw on Slashdot asking wether there is any correlation between technology and stress (the post up top about the MS Paper Clip is classic).

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero
Ross