Network Migration Update - Tangles

Spending a day reorganizing what we call a server room was quite entertaining. There were the multitude of cables, the dust, the heat, the garbage, and the careful balance between the acts of untangling and disconnecting. I've done this many times before and I always discover things. Today I found that one of the battery backup units was so buried under wire that no one had ever plugged anything into it. I wondered why it showed no load. Ha!

I didn't get rid of all the wire yet. I'm going to do that when I disconnect the network and replace all the existing ethernet cable between the switches, servers, and the patch panel. Currently it is a respectable collection of withered and damaged cables.

The new servers found their homes on a table, stacked one of top of the other, with the LTO backup drive on top. Once the office moves a rack will be setup to house them. Unfortunately the move keeps getting pushed back and there is no space for a rack now.

The new KVM switch (shop) works nicely. Response, though sluggish as usual for KVMs, is much improved over the last piece of ... um ... junk.

Tomorrow I write my masterpiece email explaining the server migration endeavor to the staff, why they should cooperate (which they have: 3 GB dumped, go staff!), and how their lives will change ever so slightly.

The boss told me he's against complex passwords. ¿Que? He wants them simple. ¿Que? He said I have to convince him. ¿Wtf? By complex I mean changing "rabbits" to "r@Bbit5". I swear that isn't so hard. They'll be typing the same thing for a year and will get used to it. Why is security such a taboo here?