Friday 29 June 2007

Web Server Down!

We were changing switches on the network this past week due to our old switches having a status of fatal. No wonder people keep getting kicked off the network and the AS400 shutting down overnight. At first we thought that it was due to the server room overheating and the poor air conditioning, but no we needed to buy new switches to replace or help out the old ones.

So the boss orders us some new "managed gigabit" switches (boy, that would be sweet for files sharing) to be installed into the network. When the switches arrive me and my co-workers start to rewire the network so that the servers all will go through a dedicated "server switch". What I didn't know was that the DMZ connection for a number of the servers didn't go into the new server switch but should stay as it was already configured.

DMZ stands for de-militarised zone and is used for people connecting via VPN's , allowing them much more access to such thing as the files server and mail server. This area still goes through the firewall like any other external traffic but isn't subjected to as many rules and checks, allowing registered users access to servers whilst keeping the network secure.

But anyway I corrected my mistake and carried on putting all the servers through the new switch, checking as I went along that they were showing as being connected on each screen. When my boss arrives at work, the web server starts giving out warning beeps, displaying a message that the RAID 5 was in error on one of the drives or something.

So he decided to pull out the problematic drive and then all hell breaks loose. Another 2 of these drives go into error and he can't seem to recover them, so he decided to reformat the server and in doing so looses the whole web site for the company. By this time we had people ringing in telling us they couldn't connect to the website. So a holding page is hastily sets up to tell users that we are having problems and check back soon.

It turns out that the web server hasn't been being backed up properly and we have lost all of the data for the site. So in hope of help we contact our web host and see if they have a backup of the site from when they last did work on it, luckily they did and would get the site up and running again. After much stress and worry the site was returned to its original state and our problem with the server was fixed by replacing the faulty drive.

Moral of the story is remember to back everything up properly and if a disc is in error don't just wipe the discs.

Thursday 28 June 2007

Word not fully supported?

So as you can see my last post, all of 3 minutes ago didn't go quite as planned. The image and underlining of the text didn't go as planned.

There are suppose to be red squiggles underneath the words "blog" and "blogging" which have just appeared as normal underlines and also my lovely circuit board image didn't get uploaded. I will have to further look into these things, but I suspect only the html that would normally be used in a post are supported.

Still its not bad overall me thinks.

Microsoft Word 2007 Post

This is the first post I have created utilising the features of Microsoft Word 2007 and its new blog template. Having recently installed Office 2007 onto my pc I decided that I needed to have a look around and check out the new functions, well obviously the first thing that strikes you as you load any of the applications is the new total overhaul of the interface and looks.

I feel that this interface will be a brilliant addition for all us young pups using the applications; however I feel that for all the people who are still trying to get to grips with previous packages such as Office 2000 etc which many offices and workplaces are currently using it will be a source of much heartache. I know for sure my own dad would instantly be lost, and be shouting at me to come fix his pc (as if it was broken). As far as I can tell at the minute with my 30 minute exploration of Word there is no option to revert the interface to that of the previous editions. This would be a much welcomed patch, and would no doubt be a quick fix for all IT departments thinking of taking the plunge into 2007.

The blogging option is really nice meaning that you can edit and play around with your content in a much easier way also meaning no time outs on the server if you get distracted and go make a cup of coffee. One of the first things that I notice though is Word's dictionary does not consider blog or blogging (how cool, I can add squiggly red underlines) words, which strikes me as odd seen as though they are used within the application and are now considered to be mainstream words with every man, woman and fury animal having there own blog, which reminds me to get my dog a blog.

When loading in and being asked to select a blog provider and inserting your password etc the service seems to run really slow, I don't know whether this is just as its the first time using the blog feature and will run more efficiently in the future, my torrents are slowing the show down (keep seeding) or that I will just have to put up with the slow login section if I want to blog via Word.

I haven't used clip art in such a long time I forgot how fun they could be the search facility has improved so much since then, back using Publisher 97 and it took at least 5mis to get a picture. Also after clicking on the image, we are presented with a new option tab at the top where we can do some cool alterations to the image and ive gone with the 3D effect as can be seen above.]

I would also like to see a preview section added where you would be able to view your post in a browser before you released it onto the web, much like you can do in Expression Web.

Overall a great new section for Word and I will be using it again in the future, however I don't think that it is yet up to fully replacing me logging onto www.ctrl-alt-die.blogspot.com and posting via the site.

Much love!!

Monday 25 June 2007

ctrl-alt-die

ctl-alt-die

Hi Everyone,

Ok so where do I start with this stuff, this is my first every blog (shock horror a blog virgin) and its a blog about general tech related stuff such as what I do either at work or just general cool stuff that I've either created or found on the net.

At the minute the biggest tech related stuff in my life are as follows:

  1. University
  2. MSP
  3. Work
So, the best place to start is probably at the top of the list:

3. Work

I'm currently working at a company in the midlands and am involved in an IT Support role, I am doing this to gain experience in the field of IT as I don't really have much hands on experience in the field all I have is what I have been taught through my education. Which as you can guess tends to change a lot when your in the workplace. No doubt i will cover all the trials and tribulations in later posts.

2. MSP

I am one of the lucky few in the UK to be selected to be part of the MSP program, which stands for Microsoft Student Partnership, this not only gives me great opportunities to view new products and experience many new tech related stuff, but also allows me to pass on my new found experiences to other students at my University. I'm soo stoked about the whole thing and can't wait to get into the full flow of the program.

1. University

Ok, so i lied and started from the bottom of the list (what a rouge). University is the thing which is dominating my life at the minute, I study Computing at Manchester Met Uni, and focus mainly on programming and web dev. I am really enjoying my time at uni (all be it after a rock start) and love doing the work especially the projects which i have to admit I'm kicking ass!! Along with uni will be stories about the guys I live with, I wouldn't say we are geeks cos we party like no body's business but we are really into all tech related stuff and even have old parts of motherboards and stuff to go on the walls of our flat (gotta love it), I can't wait to put it up.

Sweeeet, so i think i sorta lost my blog virginity, and will be posting all about my intrests in the future.

Until then, keep on truckin'