Outsourcer didn't press ON switch, so Reg reader flew 15 hours to do the job

Re: Let me guess

I had that one as well on a couple of occasions.

It is not just Dell. Nearly all servers which have WOL and/or a management controller of some sort on board are like that - they will indicate that the power is connected, but not power on unless you tell them to.

Re: Let me guess

Easy to solve - ask the guy to use his phone to take a short video of the server front and back (or even a photo), and email it to you. All the information you need to say the words "Press that button there".

Plus - if the servers aren't built or working at all, you don't even need this evidence to say "Press the button...." without any cost or risk at all

Exactly. This is incompetence from both sides.

The people trying to login are so incompetent they can't do basic troubleshooting, so they pass it on to the techie. But unfortunately the techie although knowledgeable enough to fix the issue, is socially incompetent, so doesn't call the company to "clarify" the situation beforehand and save a trip.

Re: what colour are the lights?

... of course, if you are red/green colourblind, working out whether that more-or-less greeny coloured light is a "green" or an "amber" one can be tricky.

Knowledge vs complexity gap

knowing how to rack a server is one thing

troubleshooting why it won't power up once power cable(s) is/are plugged in and the lights are on is another.

http://blog.ipspace.net/2012/03/knowledge-and-complexity.html

http://blog.ipspace.net/2015/11/can-you-afford-to-reformat-your-data.html

loads of out source companies relying on unskilled and inexperienced staff to provide services that on paper are cheaper but in the long run are poor value, like in this case requiring an engineer to cross a continent to power on kit.

It's been a couple of years since I last played with a Dell server, but I'm pretty sure that the light behind the power button flashes orange when the server is off, and lights up bright blue when you turn it on.

So even if you were colour blind the flashing should have been a give away.

and if color blindness is involved, ** get a Janitor *** or **guy from the street** to tell you what color it is!!!!!!

Depending on the generation of Dell server it can be more problematic - they have an ID light that can be toggled blue/amber (iirc) by a button.

Re: External IP KVM or DRAC?

Because DRAC/ILO/IPMI look very expensive, so the bean counters dislike them.

When you're building any infrastructure that has quite a few servers, the additional cost of DRAC/ILO/IPMI soon adds up to a hefty bill.

Everybody here knows that when you factor in the potential costs - longer outages, and time saved when called out - they're actually pretty good value for money. Not wasting time having to go to the data centre to deploy the Mk I Finger O' Doom is pretty handy. An IP KVM was a useful alternative, but the lack of the power feature made it very much an inferior solution - which was reflected in the pricing of the two technologies.

But try telling that to the guy who doesn't understand, and is wondering why every server is more expensive by a three figure sum...

The drive to virtualisation has often been justified solely just on the basis of shaving that cost off each server (and having standardised drivers/devices on your servers). As you scale up, it becomes a significant saving.

Ẁhy does nobody use skype ?

Because, since Microsoft acquired it, it is not very good any more.

I had cornflakes for breakfast.

I had a fishy serving of microwaved mackerel rolled in some sort of pepper and tasted of bones and hot burned fish. Then I had to make some soup to wash out the bloody taste of damned breakfast shit.

Sometimes before coffee sets in I make poor life choices.