Dear Users... (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people)

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More and more admin functions can be done through a browser now, but the real work is automated via the API. If the software offers an API and you're still pointing and clicking, it's time to up your game.
 
arthwollipot said:
I completely agree. Those with the chops can do amazing things with a command line. For most functions, the GUI serves the rest of us extremely well.

More and more admin functions are being done through a browser now, actually. I do pretty much everything in a browser except those few functions I still need to use AD for.
Click to expand...
Yep, I agree too. The browser-based stuff, PROPERLY DESIGNED, covers a lot more ground far more easily than hacking and testing a bunch of scripts together.

But I still like sometimes to throw a quick bit of code together to do the odd bit of stuff...heh heh heh! :p
 
theprestige said:
More and more admin functions can be done through a browser now, but the real work is automated via the API. If the software offers an API and you're still pointing and clicking, it's time to up your game.
Click to expand...

A GUI is great for one-off work or things that don't need to be done often. Add one user to a system? Do it in the GUI. Add 2500? If you can't write a script to do that, some poor drone's going to spend a day or three with a spreadsheet, copying and pasting data. It will be error prone and a poor use of that person's time.

Command-line stuff is also great for things that happen in off hours when no-one's around to initiate and babysit the process. At home I have a job that runs hourly on my server to back up some files from my laptop, and another job that runs at 4:00 AM daily to copy the server's primary disc to a backup disc.
 
Blue Mountain said:
A GUI is great for one-off work or things that don't need to be done often. Add one user to a system? Do it in the GUI. Add 2500? If you can't write a script to do that, some poor drone's going to spend a day or three with a spreadsheet, copying and pasting data. It will be error prone and a poor use of that person's time.

Command-line stuff is also great for things that happen in off hours when no-one's around to initiate and babysit the process. At home I have a job that runs hourly on my server to back up some files from my laptop, and another job that runs at 4:00 AM daily to copy the server's primary disc to a backup disc.
Click to expand...

I use Veeam, works like an absolute champ. It's free too, depending on what you want. You can also create agents to put on machines, and restore individual files pretty easily. I use ESXi and the two play together perfectly, or at least have for me. I back everything up to a RAID 5 Synology NAS, and then Veeam sends it up to my cloud space. It really is a slick program.
 
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Here's one that gets me. We always ask for the Workstation Name, which is the same as the asset tracking number. It always has two letters, then some numbers, which vary according to the actual agency that owns the asset. Here's how it often goes.

Me: Okay, can I get you to read out your workstation name?
Them: Where do I find that?
Me: It's on a sticker on your computer, it starts with two letters followed by some numbers.
Them: Oh, does it start with TJ?
Me: That will be it.
Them: Okay. T J.
Me: ...
Me: ... ...
Me: ... ... ...
Me: ... ... ... ... go on.
Them: 123456.
 
arthwollipot said:
Here's one that gets me. We always ask for the Workstation Name, which is the same as the asset tracking number. It always has two letters, then some numbers, which vary according to the actual agency that owns the asset. Here's how it often goes.

Me: Okay, can I get you to read out your workstation name?
Them: Where do I find that?
Me: It's on a sticker on your computer, it starts with two letters followed by some numbers.
Them: Oh, does it start with TJ?
Me: That will be it.
Them: Okay. T J.
Me: ...
Me: ... ...
Me: ... ... ...
Me: ... ... ... ... go on.
Them: 123456.
Click to expand...

That reminds me of all the fun we have at work with the phonetic alphabet. We work with a TON of counties\state\federal locations, including police. We have a few counties that we dink with the officers. "X as in xylophone", "p as in pterodactyl".

We have stickers like yours too that we stick in the most obvious places. People with laptops looking on the bottom and it's right next to the keyboard.
 
I just wanted all of you to know that, as a lurker, I have enjoyed this thread immensely. I spent most of my career as a programmer and occasional server admin (now retired) but never an actual sysadmin. Listening to your tales of user cluelessness beings back a lot of not-so-fond memories.

Thanks to all of you.
 
arthwollipot said:
Can't remember. Hey, it was a long time ago. I'm going to say "probably".
Click to expand...

I'm going say, definitely not, in my case.

I'd been using all kinds of computers (too many to list) before I had to use a Mac for Statistics at uni.

When I couldn't find a button to eject the disc, I asked other students for help.

When they told me I had to drag it to the Trash can, I was utterly certain that they were trying to get me to delete all my files for a joke.

Eventually a Tutor came over and showed me the alternative methods for ejecting the disc. (Cloverleaf+E, or selecting something from a menu IIRC)
 
Heheheh

In the GUI verses WIMP interface (windows icons mice pointers) wars...

I'm heavily associated with a single application at the moment.

I can update the back end database via SQL or via the application layer with a subset of SQL...

Often if someone needs to know something from the database like "how many, or counts by categories" I can generate the answer through an on-the-fly script against the back end, before they can navigate to the search screen and key the search parameters in the application.

:)
 
One of the PC magazines used to have a regular column that recited funny tech support stories. Such as, the lady who brought her computer back to the store because the floppy drive wasn't working. It turns out, there were two floppies jammed into it. The software instructions said "insert disk 2" but failed to say "remove disk 1".
 
novaphile said:
I'm going say, definitely not, in my case.

I'd been using all kinds of computers (too many to list) before I had to use a Mac for Statistics at uni.

When I couldn't find a button to eject the disc, I asked other students for help.

When they told me I had to drag it to the Trash can, I was utterly certain that they were trying to get me to delete all my files for a joke.

Eventually a Tutor came over and showed me the alternative methods for ejecting the disc. (Cloverleaf+E, or selecting something from a menu IIRC)
Click to expand...

I've always wondered about the coder who first thoughy that dragging an external disk icon to trash to eject it was a great idea. It is not intuitive and encourages bad ways of thinking in an inexperienced or insecure user. although I use that method all the time it makes me wince each time and I would never suggest it to a new computer user if I were teaching them.

At least some OPs change the trash desk icon to an eject symbol when one first clicks and begins to drag the external disk.
 
You've reminded me of a story from ICL (I worked there back in the day).

The were testing the install instructions for a piece of software that was designed to run on a PC.

The package was given to a non-computer user to see how they'd go...

First instruction was: Remove the floppy disk from the paper sleeve, and insert it into the disc drive.

Problem was, there was no sleeve on the floppy disc, so the user peeled open the floppy disc's case, and inserted the now naked disc into the drive.

Not a great start.
 
Just took a call about whether/how we can receive faxes. :confused:

We can, by the way. But it's been a very long time I've been asked about that.
 
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