Fiddlesticks
…and raspberries. Fiddlesticks and raspberries. I arrived at work this morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Tommy and I had planned on installing my new Wireless Services Module, or WiSM, into the campus network this morning. This module would allow me to begin converting wireless access points to the new Lightweight Mode in preparation for WCS, the Wireless Control System. This is the system that will allow me to better manage all of the APs on campus. “Better manage” really isn’t the right descriptor though. Comparing the new management system to the old is like comparing Her Majesty’s Royal Guard to a bunch of drunken redneck deer hunters. Yes, they both have guns. And the comparison ends there. The new system will show real-time signal strength and building penetration. It will physically locate individual users and rogue access points. It will even automatically disable rogues without me so much as lifting a finger.
So when Tommy and I went to General Services this morning to install the module and along the way I was informed my new server, the same one which will run WCS, had just arrived, my day couldn’t have looked better. We quickly unpacked the new blade, removed the slot cover from the chassis, inserted the WiSM, and… nothing. No little blinky lights, no quiet whirring of tiny fans. Just dark quiet.
It turns out that even though I pre-checked the power consumption, available slots, system configuration, and model number, I hadn’t checked the existing operating system on the chassis in which the WiSM was to be installed. I assumed, wrongly, that with all of our recent network upgrades the operating system would be relatively new. As it turns out, there isn’t a network chassis on campus with an OS version new enough to support the WiSM. It’s not a terribly big deal, really. All I have to do is download the new OS, copy it to the chassis’ supervisor, and reboot. It’s that simple. Oh… reboot.
Let’s just say there’s a reason this chassis hasn’t been rebooted in 46 weeks, 6 days, 11 hours, and 19 minutes. It manages a fourth of the networks on campus, as well as all the off-campus telephone connections and every single remote campus. So no rebooting today. Gotta plan ahead for those bumps. I’ve planned a reboot for 10 o’clock Sunday night. After that I’ll be able to config the WiSM blade.
No big loss though. I can spend the time until configuring the new IBM server and installing WCS. Except, as it turns out, that wasn’t my new server that was delivered. It was a large disk array for some project Brian’s been working on. Yay. Big ups for him. And look, oh good. Since I don’t have anything better to do, it looks as though I’ve been nominated for inventory. Wheee!
Raspberries!
Leave a Reply