As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

[Sysadmin] Nightmare fuel

19394959799

Posts

  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited June 2018
    What do you do for your eighth server and forward? Just number them?

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    *looks at his 200-server environment*

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • XaviarXaviar Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    Clearly you name them "FridayJune22nd"

    [edit]
    Spelling is hard.

    Xaviar on
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    BTW, obscure server names aren't merely useless for security, they make your security worse by slowing down incident response times.

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from HQ-MAIL14."
    Oh, right, the email guys are rolling out a new Exchange server. No big deal.

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from NYC-FILE03."
    *gets on IM* Hey, New York, we're gonna isolate one of your file servers to investigate some weird traffic. You're cool with your people failing back to a different server, right?

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from BOROMIR"
    Ahhhhh what the fuck does BOROMIR do!? Where the fuck is it?

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • XaviarXaviar Registered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    BTW, obscure server names aren't merely useless for security, they make your security worse by slowing down incident response times.

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from HQ-MAIL14."
    Oh, right, the email guys are rolling out a new Exchange server. No big deal.

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from NYC-FILE03."
    *gets on IM* Hey, New York, we're gonna isolate one of your file servers to investigate some weird traffic. You're cool with your people failing back to a different server, right?

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from BOROMIR"
    Ahhhhh what the fuck does BOROMIR do!? Where the fuck is it?

    Which is my real answer to your previous question.

    In an environment with 5-10 servers, absolutely be whimsical and give your servers personality. You can hold all that shit in your head no problem, and as much as some people may argue, whimsy and personality are assets when used appropriately.

    In an environment with more than that, don't be an idiot. Use descriptive names.

  • chamberlainchamberlain Registered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    BTW, obscure server names aren't merely useless for security, they make your security worse by slowing down incident response times.

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from HQ-MAIL14."
    Oh, right, the email guys are rolling out a new Exchange server. No big deal.

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from NYC-FILE03."
    *gets on IM* Hey, New York, we're gonna isolate one of your file servers to investigate some weird traffic. You're cool with your people failing back to a different server, right?

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from BOROMIR"
    Ahhhhh what the fuck does BOROMIR do!? Where the fuck is it?

    He always dies.

  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    BTW, obscure server names aren't merely useless for security, they make your security worse by slowing down incident response times.

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from HQ-MAIL14."
    Oh, right, the email guys are rolling out a new Exchange server. No big deal.

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from NYC-FILE03."
    *gets on IM* Hey, New York, we're gonna isolate one of your file servers to investigate some weird traffic. You're cool with your people failing back to a different server, right?

    "Alert: Unusual SMTP traffic from BOROMIR"
    Ahhhhh what the fuck does BOROMIR do!? Where the fuck is it?

    He always dies.

    That's why I only use EDDARD for headless servers.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • SeidkonaSeidkona Had an upgrade Registered User regular
    Is my laptop named marionette and my little test box string?


    Maybe. . .

    Mostly just huntin' monsters.
    XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    we have 34 servers at current and the only unique name they have is some bullshit aws instance id

  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    My home computers all get cute names.

    I used to do Mass Effect names.

    These days it's mostly Prey.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    yeah I think giving cute names to your servers is a holdover from the bad old days
    when the server was a thing down in the IT basement, and you only had two or three of them
    you loved them like your children, you had to fight for the budget to buy them and have kept them alive far longer than they should have lived

    nowadays a server gets spun up in 20 seconds and trashed 5 minutes later

    and my first non-desktop job everything was named like [room][row][rack][uposition]
    which was excellent for what I did, which was fixing the busted shit cause if it could call home at all at least it told you where it was
    probably caused a lot of headaches for anyone without my job tho
    oh and for me too if they got moved and the fuckwit who moved 'em didn't rename them


    galaxy brain server naming scheme: hostname is asset tag/serial number, if anyone has questions you just enter the serial into the accurate, fast, and detailed asset tracking database you totally have

    life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
    fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
    that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
    bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
  • ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    My home computers all get cute names.

    I used to do Mass Effect names.

    These days it's mostly Prey.

    My home computers are all named for what sort of detriment they ultimately render upon my life.

    "TimeRuiner" - My desktop gaming PC
    "StudyRuiner" - My school laptop
    "SanityRuiner" - My wife's PC
    "SleepRuiner" - A little laptop on my nightstand

    Twitch: Thawmus83
  • That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guy Registered User regular
    My home computer has been named PartyVan for a decade or more.

  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    Aioua wrote: »
    galaxy brain server naming scheme: hostname is asset tag/serial number, if anyone has questions you just enter the serial into the accurate, fast, and detailed asset tracking database you totally have

    That sounds like it'd get annoying quickly.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    Room-Row-Rack-U sounds nice for a big datacenter with lots of virtualization.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    Aioua wrote: »
    galaxy brain server naming scheme: hostname is asset tag/serial number, if anyone has questions you just enter the serial into the accurate, fast, and detailed asset tracking database you totally have

    That sounds like it'd get annoying quickly.

    IF your asset database is accurate it's a dream

    if

    life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
    fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
    that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
    bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
  • CogCog What'd you expect? Registered User regular
    LD50 wrote: »
    an 'emergency basis' which really means 'forever-ever'

    One of my very favorite multi-use phrases is "this is only temporary unless it works".

  • override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    I had to spend over 20 minutes today explaining how our field engineers cannot do anything about a comcast outage to a CEO who wasn't listening and bitching that the contract says "complete IT care" and his internet didn't work so fix it

    I need a raise

    override367 on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    Weirdest server name we have is "prometheus".

    It runs Prometheus.

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    Aioua wrote: »
    galaxy brain server naming scheme: hostname is asset tag/serial number, if anyone has questions you just enter the serial into the accurate, fast, and detailed asset tracking database you totally have

    That sounds like it'd get annoying quickly.

    Would be great and work perfectly if you had an amazing configuration management system with all data kept super up to date.

    Which literally no one has ever or will ever have.

    What is this I don't even.
  • CogCog What'd you expect? Registered User regular
    Echo wrote: »
    Weirdest server name we have is "prometheus".

    It runs Prometheus.

    Working as intended.

  • CogCog What'd you expect? Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    Feral wrote: »
    Aioua wrote: »
    galaxy brain server naming scheme: hostname is asset tag/serial number, if anyone has questions you just enter the serial into the accurate, fast, and detailed asset tracking database you totally have

    That sounds like it'd get annoying quickly.

    Would be great and work perfectly if you had an amazing configuration management system with all data kept super up to date.

    Which literally no one has ever or will ever have.

    We use Kaseya to constantly update ConnectWise configurations, and a link to a password vault with a password sync tool. The configs always have accurate info on device name, drive sizes, memory, cpu, IP address, last user to log on, a link you can click to show the current passwords for any local accounts, associated device configs (an esx host has a bundled config associating it with the vcenter server, etc) and all the past service tickets that involved that device.

    Sometimes it breaks and doesn't work right, but generally it's pretty up to date and accurate. Assuming whoever set up a given device did all the right configuration for the reporting.

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    My home computers all get cute names.

    I used to do Mass Effect names.

    These days it's mostly Prey.

    My PC is named Nikolai because I felt like it. Also Tesla was a BAWSS.

    I'd have named it Laika but that's what I'm calling my dog when I get it.

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    Cog wrote: »
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    Feral wrote: »
    Aioua wrote: »
    galaxy brain server naming scheme: hostname is asset tag/serial number, if anyone has questions you just enter the serial into the accurate, fast, and detailed asset tracking database you totally have

    That sounds like it'd get annoying quickly.

    Would be great and work perfectly if you had an amazing configuration management system with all data kept super up to date.

    Which literally no one has ever or will ever have.

    We use Kaseya to constantly update ConnectWise configurations, and a link to a password vault with a password sync tool. The configs always have accurate info on device name, drive sizes, memory, cpu, IP address, last user to log on, a link you can click to show the current passwords for any local accounts, associated device configs (an esx host has a bundled config associating it with the vcenter server, etc) and all the past service tickets that involved that device.

    Sometimes it breaks and doesn't work right, but generally it's pretty up to date and accurate. Assuming whoever set up a given device did all the right configuration for the reporting.

    I mean, yeah, my environment is automated to shit and back too.

    And yet something is always just fucked enough that I can trust nothing.

    What is this I don't even.
  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    Feral wrote: »
    Aioua wrote: »
    galaxy brain server naming scheme: hostname is asset tag/serial number, if anyone has questions you just enter the serial into the accurate, fast, and detailed asset tracking database you totally have

    That sounds like it'd get annoying quickly.

    Would be great and work perfectly if you had an amazing configuration management system with all data kept super up to date.

    Which literally no one has ever or will ever have.

    Even if you do, I can still see it being annoying in conversations.

    "Hey, is one of our VMware hosts down?"

    "Yeah, FWH9012W0Q is down. All of its VMs were redistributed onto FWH9012W1L and FWH9013C3R."

    If you have a perfect, responsive, high-availability asset database, then it becomes trivial for you to correlate a human memorable name (NYC-VM-04) to a serial number. So there's no advantage I can see to naming the physical host with a serial number.

    Also: if you're using Cisco UCS blades, that really doesn't work, because USC configuration profiles can be freely pushed between blades. You upgrade NYC-VM-04 by slotting in a new blade, copying over the configuration profiles, and pulling out the old blade.

    Also also: it doesn't work at all for VMs.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    Feral wrote: »
    Aioua wrote: »
    galaxy brain server naming scheme: hostname is asset tag/serial number, if anyone has questions you just enter the serial into the accurate, fast, and detailed asset tracking database you totally have

    That sounds like it'd get annoying quickly.

    Would be great and work perfectly if you had an amazing configuration management system with all data kept super up to date.

    Which literally no one has ever or will ever have.

    Even if you do, I can still see it being annoying in conversations.

    "Hey, is one of our VMware hosts down?"

    "Yeah, FWH9012W0Q is down. All of its VMs were redistributed onto FWH9012W1L and FWH9013C3R."

    If you have a perfect, responsive, high-availability asset database, then it becomes trivial for you to correlate a human memorable name (NYC-VM-04) to a serial number. So there's no advantage I can see to naming the physical host with a serial number.

    Also: if you're using Cisco UCS blades, that really doesn't work, because USC configuration profiles can be freely pushed between blades. You upgrade NYC-VM-04 by slotting in a new blade, copying over the configuration profiles, and pulling out the old blade.

    Also also: it doesn't work at all for VMs.

    Ooh I have opinions here!

    We have a master list of names which contains >1000 words servers can be, which are only used once. So you get "able" and "fitch" and "subsidy" and things like that. It works great - they're instantly memorable and communicable.

    Literally every other attempt at this - where people try to get clever and encode information in - has had two things happens - (1) no one can pronounce anything (so bwromswn14 in unusable and immemorable) and (2) someone swears up and down that "blah information never changes" and then proceeds to relocate server racks between floors or something 6 months later, but that doesn't justify changing server names at all,

    What I do have is a pretty damn good CLI tool for handling SSH on servers - I can type `tool ssh bwr*` and it'll connect me to any machine which broadly matches that name that we have a record of somewhere. It also works for looking up servers.

    So basically: use mnemonic names, and if you're trying to use your hostnames as an asset database then stop doing that and go install this: https://github.com/digitalocean/netbox/ (don't do what we did where I had to prove we should actually use a database because a giant fucking JSON file in Git is unmanageable).

  • CogCog What'd you expect? Registered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    Feral wrote: »
    Aioua wrote: »
    galaxy brain server naming scheme: hostname is asset tag/serial number, if anyone has questions you just enter the serial into the accurate, fast, and detailed asset tracking database you totally have

    That sounds like it'd get annoying quickly.

    Would be great and work perfectly if you had an amazing configuration management system with all data kept super up to date.

    Which literally no one has ever or will ever have.

    Even if you do, I can still see it being annoying in conversations.

    "Hey, is one of our VMware hosts down?"

    "Yeah, FWH9012W0Q is down. All of its VMs were redistributed onto FWH9012W1L and FWH9013C3R."

    If you have a perfect, responsive, high-availability asset database, then it becomes trivial for you to correlate a human memorable name (NYC-VM-04) to a serial number. So there's no advantage I can see to naming the physical host with a serial number.

    Also: if you're using Cisco UCS blades, that really doesn't work, because USC configuration profiles can be freely pushed between blades. You upgrade NYC-VM-04 by slotting in a new blade, copying over the configuration profiles, and pulling out the old blade.

    Also also: it doesn't work at all for VMs.

    Ooh I have opinions here!

    We have a master list of names which contains >1000 words servers can be, which are only used once. So you get "able" and "fitch" and "subsidy" and things like that. It works great - they're instantly memorable and communicable.

    Literally every other attempt at this - where people try to get clever and encode information in - has had two things happens - (1) no one can pronounce anything (so bwromswn14 in unusable and immemorable) and (2) someone swears up and down that "blah information never changes" and then proceeds to relocate server racks between floors or something 6 months later, but that doesn't justify changing server names at all,

    What I do have is a pretty damn good CLI tool for handling SSH on servers - I can type `tool ssh bwr*` and it'll connect me to any machine which broadly matches that name that we have a record of somewhere. It also works for looking up servers.

    So basically: use mnemonic names, and if you're trying to use your hostnames as an asset database then stop doing that and go install this: https://github.com/digitalocean/netbox/ (don't do what we did where I had to prove we should actually use a database because a giant fucking JSON file in Git is unmanageable).

    I can get behind all of this.

  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    ELM, I hate your naming scheme but netbox looks fantastic.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    I'm thinking about getting a UBNT nanoHD to handle the wireless in my home, but my only available mounting point with ethernet is on a wall in the middle of the house. How directional does their stuff tend to be?

  • twmjrtwmjr Registered User regular
    a5ehren wrote: »
    I'm thinking about getting a UBNT nanoHD to handle the wireless in my home, but my only available mounting point with ethernet is on a wall in the middle of the house. How directional does their stuff tend to be?

    they don't seem to publish radiation patterns for these, but given that they can be wall/ceiling mounted -- I would assume the signal propagation is primarily "down and out." So if you're mounting vertically on a wall, you'll probably get good coverage in the space in front of the AP. If there's a lot of space behind it (i.e. on the other side of the wall), I wouldn't expect to get much in the way of signal there. You're likely to get some, but it isn't primarily radiating that way and it's also going straight into a wall.

  • BlazeFireBlazeFire Registered User regular
    Antenna gain is listed at 2.8dBi / 3 dBi (2.4Ghz/5Ghz) so that is pretty omni directional isn't it?

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    That makes sense, given the shape.

    With the way my house is laid out I might actually be better off laying it on its "back" on the table where my fiber drop comes in...

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    Ah, found the UBNT page for everything else, but they haven't published data for the nanoHD yet: https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005212927

    There's a definite dead zone directly behind the antenna on all of the other models with a similar shape, so I expect the nanoHD to be like those. My table-mount idea may not be as terrible as I imagined, which is good.

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    the mesh wifi looks neat, that might be "better" for your house's layout.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    I'm trying to get away from a mesh/extender solution because in my experience the stuff my wife and I own does a terrible job of handing off between APs.

    I'd much rather spend $200 on one really good AP (don't need a router) and deal with issues at the fringes than $300+ on a mesh that annoys my wife when she walks upstairs.

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    I haven't had a problem with the unifi stuff. Seems to handle handing off pretty well, at least for their larger APs.

    You can also just crank down the power of the stuff at the fringes so that it doesn't reach much past the area it's in.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    a5ehren wrote: »
    I'm trying to get away from a mesh/extender solution because in my experience the stuff my wife and I own does a terrible job of handing off between APs.

    I'd much rather spend $200 on one really good AP (don't need a router) and deal with issues at the fringes than $300+ on a mesh that annoys my wife when she walks upstairs.

    The old style "wifi extenders" are way different than the modern mesh systems you get from Eero, Google Wifi, etc. The technology is way different/better.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • twmjrtwmjr Registered User regular
    yeah, I can vouch for google wifi. I have 3 APs across two floors and can't tell at all when I'm being handed off...

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    The good mesh solutions all cost more than I want to spend on this.

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    In the eternal "internet advice cycle", I think I'm just going to order a nanoHD and see how it works for me. I'll report back :)

This discussion has been closed.