tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post8601491194221986658..comments2024-03-28T20:53:49.167-04:00Comments on The Adventures of Roberta X: "Hi, There's This Problem Out At The Works...."Roberta Xhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-58688689338117298202015-10-13T20:03:15.335-04:002015-10-13T20:03:15.335-04:00Got an e-mail one day just before leaving for the ...Got an e-mail one day just before leaving for the weekend from one of my mission critical communications servers that it was not happy with the temperature where it and 2 other servers lived. Apparently 115F was slightly out of spec.<br /><br />The building's new automated climate control system had 1. Determined that since no one was working in that section of the building that day it required no cooling. And 2, for some reason, it was a dandy day to turn the heating units into full blast and fans on high, dumping into the server room.<br /><br />If nothing else, rousting the facilities folks back in just having got home while I shut down the servers and made notifications seemed to focus them on coming up with a solution in re-programming the system to keep the AC on in that room regardless of what else the building was doing. <br /><br />Since the bean counters in question worked for my boss's boss, and she was impressed with the cost ration of replacing all the servers in that room vs putting in an auxiliary A/C unit that was NOT tied into the building controller(something like 93:1), and losing a critical emergency communications system while new servers were ordered, installed, and configured... Let's say it's nice 62F in there with all servers running in the middle of summer. Sometimes you get lucky. RandyGChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758726126424011542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-85300746151077408872015-10-12T23:15:23.381-04:002015-10-12T23:15:23.381-04:00Too bad you couldn't open a few windows and do...Too bad you couldn't open a few windows and doors, but that would probably violate some set of security protocols...<br /><br />The accounting/bean counter types never change. We lost most of a weekend at a phone center because they wouldn't spring for a couple of thousand dollars for a replacement part that the self-diagnostics were calling out as failing. It failed at a time to cause the longest possible outage. <br /><br />The bean-counter didn't even get a reprimand. (Cost the company a LOT, both money and in reputation.) <br /><br />I always thought that anytime something like this happened they should have to work graveyard shift for a week. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-41979119039236181152015-10-12T21:32:35.661-04:002015-10-12T21:32:35.661-04:00Good luck dealing with financial people using logi...Good luck dealing with financial people using logic. I have tried in the past doing so, and have often run into a brick wall. It isn't enough to say that by spending the money to fix X you can keep Y from breaking down. They want to see payback within a certain timeframe, usually 12 months, or they can't justify the expense to the stakeholders.<br /><br /> Of course, they are not the ones who have to shlup down in the middle of the night, usually on a weekend, to fix something that should have been taken care of properly in the first place. <br /><br /> Just like the old Fram oil filter commercial. You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.pigpen51https://www.blogger.com/profile/07447842175184001919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-74239677032014770372015-10-12T09:55:30.167-04:002015-10-12T09:55:30.167-04:00If that changeover to digital equipment is at all ...If that changeover to digital equipment is at all like the equipment I've changed over to digital, then the room in standard config as it stands should be well over 3 times redundant in terms of heating load.<br />In a few cases I've managed to grease the skids on the process for obtaining new toys by explaining what the upgrades would do for our "carbon footprint".Douglas2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-9497139791893147742015-10-12T09:00:43.021-04:002015-10-12T09:00:43.021-04:00There is an extensive remote-control system and th...There is an extensive remote-control system and the one temperature sensor already in that room is enough for my purposes -- I may need to change the alarm setpoint for it.Roberta Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-65351991577825871962015-10-12T08:58:35.558-04:002015-10-12T08:58:35.558-04:00I'm assuming the North Campus has network acce...I'm assuming the North Campus has network access, as in Al Gore's Intertubes or at least an internal network to which you have access. What would be involved in installing 8-10 thermometers in strategic locations - such as adjacent to the primary equipment and in front of the cooling system outlets - to provide that info?<br /><br />Some years back we encountered budgetary recalcitrance toward a similar objective (fortunately, only temporarily) and rendered a cheap quick fix with some wiring, a few LEDs and a vendor-supplied Molelecular Collision Frequency Display (a thermometer from Walmart) and a web cam. Light #1 on, main power OK; light #2 on, UPS output OK; light #3 on, the night operator had been in the room in the last 30 minutes (motion sensing switch); thermometer reported temperature in real time. It became written that whomever had remote supervisory responsibilities (e.g., "working from home") stay logged in and maintain at all times an open window displaying the Production Control Facilities Monitoring System status. Never mind that the web cam was supported by a $40,000 4-processor server.....Aliennoreply@blogger.com