Typing with guantlets

There's a reason touch typing is called as such. You press the keys through touch, much like a guitarist positions his fingers for chords out of practice and muscle memory.

I like to think that it also refers to the mechanism you use in typing. Touching the keys to depress them. It's amazing to hear people typing from the far side of the room, even worse when you happen to be sitting next to them.

I call them Keyboard Barbarians they seem to require bashing away at the keyboard to get the letters upon screen.

"RAWR I'M TYPING, CAN YOU SEE ME TYPE RAWR"

Not only is it annoying, it's also breaking the keyboard. If you think you are a Keyboard Barbarian, please stop.

Monit - Every admin's little gem

I recently have taken over from a past admin, that set up a number of systems then moved on, leaving the CTO in charge of the systems (woe is me).

So there is a small clustered system, and it appears one of the services is a touch unstable, and the cluster isn't detecting the failure, the solution put in place, make the cluster failover once in a while to restart the services.

Now I just can't figure this out. First, the admin in question had set it to restart the heartbeat (seriously bad idea) on the running active server. So the non-active server starts up the service.
Where did he get that bright idea from. Also the fact of this bludgeoning method. So I start looking round for the method to monitor and manage the cluster. It appears there isn't, the config runs, the heartbeat watches for the server to fail but no actual management. Poor D- for you.

So I look to an old friend, Monit. A simple daemon on the server that can monitor services, files, free space and either alert or restart the service or other things. Simples.

So on it pops and off we go, most Linux distributions have a copy, alternatively the likes of RPMFusion will provide binaries.

Things you need to make sure you setup,

Set an email server
set mailserver <yourhostmailserver or localhost>

Set alert emails
set alert <youremailhere>

Rather than putting your entire config in one file (because it's just plain confusing, or perhaps that's what you like)

Set config file directory
include /etc/monit.d/*

I would recommend this location, because it's a sensible name and we all like being sensible, don't we children.

So in /etc/monit.d/myborkedservice I have the following

check process with pidfile /location/of/pidfile
start program = "/etc/init.d/borkedservice start"
stop program = "/etc/init.d/borkedservice stop"

The system will automatically alert (via the email) on either a failure or a changed pid (i.e the process has restarted)

On the none active server I have the additional line

mode passive

This alerts but does not actually restart the service. When I figure out how to get this to work with HA I'll post again. however, I am going to presume there is a better method (like getting the borkservice(tm) to work and/or HA properly working)

Wasting Time

I have recently joined a new company, and I know there has been a few issues with trust and time wasting. But just as much of my time is wasted.by being locked off certain things. As the systems administrator, I need access to about everything. I wasted a shed load today by not being able to get hold of certain downloads because torrents are evil.
No torrents are not evil, illegal file sharing is.

Working with colleagues

Life can be stressful. Work can induce a lot of stress for people, especially when you asked to take on problems you have little control over. So regaining control is important to reducing your stress.
Communicate with your colleagues, use simple clear instructions and sentencing. Waffle and indeterminate expression may save some feelings, but it does not help. This is business get things fixed, make the time for socialization over coffee at other times.
Use sensible limestone of communications. Email is not suited to discussion. If you are giving multiple people information or instructions, but require for everyone to know what is going on, make sure each person knows the bits they are responsible for.
Never email some who sits next to you for a rant, if you have some issues. Either talk or if you are unble to talk instant message.
If you are under strain, ask for help, sensible help, make clear what you need, and thank them afterwards. Keep and amend those instructions for next time.
As an admin your job is a bunch of procedures, that hopefully you can put onto a junior. Find those procedures, get someone else to do them, then find a quiet corner to drink your coffee or play with something fun.

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Making things complex

System complexity has little to do with the nuts and bolts of an application.
Take for instance the use of the modern car. You can literally have a start/stop button, the steering wheel and the gas and brake pedals and no other control is necessary to rum the car. Gear changing, lights, wipers are all automatic in higher end cars.
So the fact there maybe 10th individual software apps underneath mean nothing to most administrators of a system. If it has a simple operation and a sensible setup then the system is not complex.
Which brings me to my second point. The last thing you need to care about with a system is wondering if you are on the right one.  A half broken system is worse than a broken one. Trying to work around "features" is so annoying I would rather not use it at all. Even worse is working around self induced issues.
Maintain what you have more than work on new systems you have, and stand on your principles if those that be tell you to do otherwise.
And thus ends today's lesson

New job again

I must be an ill contented person. I have changed jobs many many times. Is it so hard to expect to find a decent workplace these days. It is not as if I am looking for am increasing wage, I have often moved for less.
Some respect, a comfortable working environment (I.e somewhere they can keep toilet roll in stock), and a job that you actually get to do and some acknowledgment of a good job.
Now I am not talking constant reminders of what good little engineers we are, but when we pull it out the bag at the last minute, a "thank you" would be nice.
The previous place I was at, we were finally offered to be taken out as a thank-you for a real big ask of our skills. Two months later I left. No meal. Apparently still no meal talking to those left behind.

So the lesson is think of your minions, they give what you put in.

More updates to come, I commute on public transport so more time to blog.

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Planning ahead

Communication systems underlay our entire society and economy. Businesses rely on them to function, the loss of email can be more catastrophic than the loss of the telephone system or even a shop.

So as providers of communications, things need to work. They need to be understood, and provide rock solid services.

As such changes, new products, and management requires planning and time. It is not the sort of thing you hash in at the last minute. I believe most customers would prefer a stable working, well supported and understood product.

How frustrating is it when you buy a service and it either doesn't do what it says (or actually not quite in yet but in the pipeline) or stops doing what it did, and then you have to wait for a seemingly uncaring support team to fix the issue.

In defence of the support team, there is probably nothing they can do, it has possibly been passed onto an overworked engineering team, or another third party.

So think again when you design a solution. Is it ready for release, do you understand what is actually wanted. Do not release something before it is ready. Ensure it is supportable.