Upgrade Update

Well, for those who seem to want to know, I give you an update on our upgrade. I may get a little repetitive because I can't remember what happened this week and what happened last week and I don't feel like going to my notes. The days just kinda run together...so, forgive me.

Anyway, last Friday ended with one of our folks in Clarksburg turning in their two week notice...which really has the potential to put us in a pinch considering we feel short-handed already. So I figured I better come in on Saturday and at least begin trying to get things organized and "cleaned" before others start coming in. So, I spent about 5 hours on Saturday cleaning our server room...not working on wiring...just cleaning:

Our wiring is still pretty messy but nothing compared to what it was a few years back. As we replace switches this coming week, we're hoping that we can get a good cable management solution in place. Or at least rid ourselves of the 20-foot NIC cables that need to run 3 feet. Every little bit helps.

Luckily I cleaned up because Tuesday had a few people in and out of our server rooms throughout the day. First, electricians came to run power for the new servers. And then, due to weight concerns, we had to have two additional pieces of plywood added to our flooring in Server Room 1 to help distribute the weight. We didn't figure the folks on the floors below would appreciate a giant rack of servers coming throught the floor. But I think we could have made the news...

We started preparing our new rack on Thursday, adding server rails and cable management devices but we haven't put any servers in yet. But we did start unloading them...and now we can at least walk through the room we were storing them in. We unloaded 13, left 14 in boxes and still may need to order a few more before the end of the August.

So, that was last week...there was a lot of stuff going on. The integrators will be on-site beginning Monday with the first goal being the upgrade of switches on all the floors. That should be very interesting. There will be network downtime in the evenings while they make the changes. At this point, I don't plan on staying in the evenings unless it becomes absolutely necessary.

Oh, lastly, because of all the stupid conference calls and whatnot, I broke down and bought a bluetooth, wireless headset for my phone. I feel like an idiot with it on...but it works well. And, who knows...I might be a telemarketer when this is all done and this is great practice.

That's about it from the big upgrade. I'm trying my best not to go to work today...and I'm being successful so far!