Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 09:08:21 -0400 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@iowna.com> To: Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com> Cc: rootman <rootman@xmission.com>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Justification for using FreeBSD Message-ID: <3B2A08C5.6CC77FD7@iowna.com> References: <002b01c0f579$221010a0$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>
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Hey! Aren't you the author of "The how to use politics to get what you want Corporate Networker's guide"? ;) Excuse the cynicism ... I just found the reply funny ... (since it had nothing to do with FreeBSD) I'm amazed at this sort of thing. I wonder if it ever occurred to anyone (besides me) to just do what you need to get things done? The amount of this kind of thing that goes on amazes me. Just reading your email turned my stomach. This is why I'll never be wealthy, or even financially stable. I've walked out of multiple (good) jobs because this kind of thing was going on too much and (honestly) I simply can't deal with it on a daily basis. And it's just about the only reason that I'm not very successful as an independent consultant. There ... I'm done whining now. The only thing I have to say is that, while Ted might be 100% correct, his insistence that he IS correct is unfounded. Make your own decision on this point, but be sure to consider Ted's points. I used to work in a tech department of a VERY large company. My manager and his manager were EXCELLENT! They were both smart enough to know when they were out of their league, and they would come and ask me what was going on (from a technical standpoint). They both worked very hard to make their department successful. They both also understood my inability to deal with politics and did their best to shield me from it. Unfortunately, they were unable to shield me from all the politics and eventually I simply couldn't put up with it anymore. My only point being ... not EVERYONE lives/dies by politics. Some people really do try to do what's best. -Bill Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: > > > > >So, she also wants to know what the advantages/disadvantages would > >be of having > >two web servers instead of one. > > > >I've already obtained some information from the FAQ at Apache.org and from > >FreeBSD.org but I was wondering if anyone could provide any additional > >examples, info or web sites I could check out. > > > >I need to be able to justify FreeBSD/Apache and the use of two web servers > >or I'm afraid it will be "Bye Bye" for FreeBSD where I work. > > > > You know, being a manager myself I really get pissed off when I see these > stories. For starters, I can assure you that what's going on here is your > manager is attempting to micromange you. She's probably doing it because > she is new and has no confidence in herself as a manger and so to cover this > up she is going to look for ways to tell you what to do. People like her > are why so many companies today are laying off all their middle managers - > your talking about people that don't do any work and just get in the way > of the people that do. > > With PC prices as cheap as they are all of the old arguments about cost > savings by combining servers are now voided. Indeed, multiple servers > vastly increases redundancy. Nobody has also proven that combining servers > ever saved anyone any administrative costs either. > > Let me give you some advice - your not fighting a technical battle, even > though > it seems this way. Your fighting a political battle and I can tell you > exactly > how to win it, I've won these before. > > The Intranet that you and the Network Admin set up was done so 5 months ago. > > So, by now the excitement of a new toy has worn off, and it's turned into > work - work to maintain and update the content on the webservers. > > Now, if I know most network administrators, yours is probably fairly busy. > > So, what you need to do is sit down with your network admin and tell him > that > if your manager makes you shut down your FreeBSD system, that from that > point on > your going to be very uninterested in web maintainence in the company. This > means that the most likely thing that will happen is that any work that > needs > to be done on maintaining content on the Intranet will end up on your > network > admin's list of work to do, not on your list. Emphasize that it's not that > your wanting to screw him, it's just that you really and truly don't care > that > much for Windows NT and aren't interested in working with it. If he is all > fired up about getting the content all on the NT server then that's fine - > but > he's going to have to do the work and also do the further work of keeping > things > up and running and maintained. > > You see, most likely what has happened here already that you don't > understand is > that your manager has already gone behind your back to the network admin, > and > he has pissed in her ear about the nuisance of running the FreeBSD server. > Of course, > when he was doing that he was assuming that if he could get her to kill your > FreeBSD > server, that what would end up happening is that he would be in charge of > the > fun part - fielding the server that he wants - and you would be in charge of > the > drudgery - handing user complaints and requests for content modification. > The > thought that his own workload would increase as a result of doing this has > undoubtedly not occurred to him. > > If this doesen't work then as a last ditch effort you can tell your network > admin that if your manager kills your FreeBSD server then the next thing > that > will happen is that she is going to start telling your network admin how to > run his Windows IIS server. Since most network admins jealously guard their > autonomy, he may conclude that it's better working with you and tolerating a > FreeBSD server if he can count on your support to tell your manager to blow > off when she starts interfering with the Intranet. > > Most likely once your network admin starts thinking about what you say and > realizing that > getting you out of the Intranet serving part will also exit you from doing > all > the un-fun drudgery part of running the Intranet, then he will realize that > he > has made a major tactical error. > > So, what you then suggest is that instead of getting into a pissing match > with him arguing in front of your manager about which webserver is better, > that both of you join forces, go to your manager, and tell her to butt the > hell > out. United, you both can probably block her from interference in the > Intranet, unless she is willing to actually do the work herself, and she > seems > to me to be the type of manager that just wants to sit around and analyze > how > to do work better than to actually do work. > > When she realizes that the network admin will actively campaign against her > if she attempts to create work for him by disrupting operations of the > Intranet, > she will back off and go find someone else to make miserable. And, if she > realizes you made an end run around her and merely orders both of you to > kill one server, well then you both just say "yes'm" and go away and do > nothing. Then 2 weeks > later when she wants to know why nothing has happened, you blame the network > admin > for not having the time and if she runs to the network admin then he blames > you > for not having the time and both of you can keep her bouncing around > forever. > > The only way this will blow up is if your network admin really and truly has > a burning desire to not only host the server but manage and service the > content too. However, if this is the case then your FreeBSD server is > already planned for the chopping block and what is going on here is the > dance they do before they kill it to make you feel that they actually are > paying attention to your feelings. Your best chance then is to give > the network admin his head, and most likely once he gets bored with the > project he > will turn it back over to you eventually and then you can do what you want. > > Ted Mittelstaedt tedm@toybox.placo.com > Author of: The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide > Book website: http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message -- If a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, then what can I get for two hands in the bush? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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