by I don’t know about how it works in YOUR organization, but where I work, as the Unix Systems Admin (job title, “IS Project Manager”, go figure) – I do everything to manage the server from birth to death. Ordering, receiving, unpacking, installation, management, performance, uptime, retirement. And all the bits in-between.
Today I was moving a rack of servers– from one rack to another. (Rack in the way of an incoming AC unit, that’s a different story for later). As I sat on the floor, unscrewing screws, removing little square nuts. removing cable arms, unrouting (and re-routing) cables, (and doing the reverse on the other end) – I realized that many many people don’t necessarily equate rack management with being a “hardware guy”. While I cannot confirm it, I think when most people hear “hardware guy” for computers, they thing things like, replacing disk drives, installing PCI cards, etc. You know, the dude at Best Buy who charges $195 to replace a disk drive for you.
But as many of us know, it’s much more than that – and there’s a lot to be learned, stuff they just don’t teach you. Case in point: older racks had holes, with threads. You lined up the rails, inserted the screw, and tightened it up. Today’s rails are of course much more modular – but still, many of them require screws. But the rails all have big SQUARE holes, with special snap-in square nuts. (I’m ignoring the cool snap-in rails for now..). Sometimes the little square nuts snap in by hand, but often you have to use this funky little tool that helps pull the edge of the square nut into place. It’s a flat piece of metal, that partially loops around your finger. The end of it has a slight tick on the edge to help pull the square nuts’ tab through. For starters, I have no idea what that little tool is called, and second- not once have I seen instructions on how to use one. (A long while ago, I soon figured it out on my own, but only after a few cut/nicked fingers and a broken fingernail or two)
That’s my point– as hardware guys – we end up learning and using a vast array of knowledge and skills that’s often NOT documented, recognized, or that we’ve been trained to do. It’s just assumed you know.
Like most good sysadmins, I’m very technical and am very good at ANYTHING mechanical. Last week, my ancient garage door (16 feet wide, mostly solid wood) gave up- snapped another spring, and it was time to just replace the door. I ordered a new door from a local big-box store, and installed it myself. As I opened up the box, arranged all the parts and screws and hinges on the floor, I realized that this was the ultimate erector set.
A lot of my garage-door skills came to play today as I re-racked a dozen servers. Screws, rails, alignment, proper power feed – the same, just different. All uninstalled and re-installed quickly, efficiently, and properly.
Wanna be a good sysadmin? Go buy a crappy house. You’ll have those extra skills in no time, trust me.