RE: 1 minutes: best downtime story
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:42:35 -0500
Message-ID: <F077F09A0E11504D9E720358BEE994D10C418D92_at_APSW0553EVS.ms.ds.uhc.com>
Why must they always push the button labeled "Don't Touch"....
I worked in at a Cyclotron when I was in college. My boss told me of a PHD who let curiosity get the better of him. He always wondered what the button marked "Press ONLY in EMERGENCY" did so one day, he pressed it.
I was told you could hear the the sound of the 720kv power supplies to the Cyclotron shorting to ground all the way across the street. Its amazing the kind of damage that can cause to electronic systems. But, its supposed to be an emergency, after all so, whatever it takes to shut the beast down.
Took them multiple weeks to find all the shorted components and get running again..... minus one PHD that is.
-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Gerald Cunningham
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 2:04 PM
To: BRIECKR1_at_nationwide.com
Cc: oracle-l; oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
Subject: RE: 1 minutes: best downtime story
That's what our was! A 2000.
They moved the button from the outside of the cabinet, to the inside
(behind the hopefully locked door), then they did away with it
altogether.
Good times...
From: BRIECKR1_at_nationwide.com [BRIECKR1_at_nationwide.com] Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 1:27 PM
To: Gerald Cunningham
Cc: oracle-l; oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org Subject: RE: 1 minutes: best downtime story
Same thing happened to me in 1994 with Sun's SparcCenter 2000. Maybe the blue buttons were gone, but this was an unlabeled white button on the inside of the sever door. One evening an operator was chatting with a Unix Admin as he was in the cabinet and almost verbatim asked 'What does this do?' Of course he couldn't wait for answer. Going down!
From: Gerald Cunningham <gcunningham_at_proteuseng.com> To: oracle-l <oracle-l_at_freelists.org> Date: 03/15/2013 12:40 PM Subject: RE: 1 minutes: best downtime story Sent by: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org ________________________________
Years ago... early 90's maybe?... Sun servers had a big blue button at the top of the cabinet. A goup was going through the computer room on a tour. One of the guys at the back of the line, pushed the button and asked the tour guide "hey what does button this do?". It reboots the server. Sun got rid of the blue buttons shortly after that...
:)
p.s. why are the cut-ups always at the back of the line?
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Herring Dave - dherri [Dave.Herring_at_acxiom.com] Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 11:05 AM
To: oracle-l
Subject: RE: 1 minutes: best downtime story
Man, these stories are AWESOME! Definitely made my day!
In college I was an operator for the campus system, a Univac 90/80. The console was an all-in-one unit, meaning stand, keyboard, screen were all built as a unit. Over time the keyboard got loose and if you accidently leaned on it, the connection would short out and you lost all connectivity, which I believe required a restart of the system.
Of course this was 1984 so rebooting each night was the norm. The startup microcode was all on a cassette tape, which we always wanted to replace with a Van Halen tape (now THAT would have been a good outage story!).
Dave Herring
DBA
Acxiom Corporation
EML dave.herring_at_acxiom.com
TEL +1 630.944.4762
3333 Finley, Downers Grove, IL 60515, U.S.A
www.acxiom.com<https://mail.proteus-technologies.com/owa/UrlBlockedError
.aspx>
-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of bill thater
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 9:28 AM
To: Dustin Hayden; jeremy.schneider_at_ardentperf.com; oracle-l
Subject: RE: 1 minutes: best downtime story
I was working at a teaching hospital and every night one of the vax systems and it's database whent down. I would get a call and be able to login with no problem. Staying one night I found the cleaning lady unplugging the vax to plugin her vacuum. Problem solved:-)
sent from my Windows Phone
Bill"shrek" thater Oracle DBA
Shrekdba_at_Gmail.com
"Oh boother said Pooh 'lock phasers on the hefalump. Mr.Piglet meet me
in transporter room three"
From: Dustin Hayden
Sent: 3/15/2013 9:03 AM
To: jeremy.schneider_at_ardentperf.com; oracle-l
Subject: RE: 1 minutes: best downtime story US military email hub in
Heidelberg Germany out for most of a day.
Reason for outage was operator it the read only button on the disk drive
cabinet with his knee when he leaned up against it.
This one is my favorite but did not happen to me personally.
Over 3 million dollars worth of destroyed equipment in Communications Center in Korea when someone asked "what does this lever by the door do?" as the pulled it. The lever pulls the pins of 24 thermite grenades positioned over the equipment in case the position is being overrun by N. Korean forces.
-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Jeremy Schneider
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 5:07 PM
To: oracle-l
Subject: 1 minutes: best downtime story
Hey all -
I'm writing a paper about top causes of downtime. As one component of research, I'd like to get some input from you!
One minute, two sentences. First sentence: describe what went down. Second sentence: describe why. (I have to categorize all of these.) Everyone should have at least one downtime story so I'm hoping for a lot of feedback!
Answer about any technology - database, operating system, etc.
Thanks!
-Jeremy
-- Jeremy Schneider Pythian Consulting Group Chicago +1 312-725-9249 http://www.pythian.com<http://www.pythian.com/> -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l ************************************************************************ *** The information contained in this communication is confidential, is intended only for the use of the recipient named above, and may be legally privileged. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please resend this communication to the sender and delete the original message or any copy of it from your computer system. Thank You. ************************************************************************ **** -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately. -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Fri Mar 15 2013 - 21:42:35 CET