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Well, here's another in my small series on how to do things an admin needs to know how to do.
This one relates to IIS (Internet Information Services) which is the service, or rather series of services, that hosts connections to your server. This is also what holds up OWA and your web portal if you are self hosting.
Sample from a blog article I wrote:

One thing alot of admins don't know, is that you should never EVER restart the actual IIS service from the Services console. It's not because this sort of restart can cause harm, it's really because when you stop the IIS service several other services are stopped at the same time.

These services are dependent on IIS to run correctly. When IIS is restarted incorrectly, it doesn't usually come up with a list of services that were stopped during that time. Unless you have all these services memorized, it's best to not do an IIS restart this way.

Instead, it would be preferable to restart IIS with the methods I've outlined for you below. These will restart most of the services that IIS pulls down and will allow your system to resume regular operation the soonest.




Ok, so that's it. I have a MS article linked below for you to look at too, if you need it. :) Enjoy!!

Here's a Microsoft TechNet article with more detailed information about IIS.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/003ed2fe-6339-4919-b577-6aa965994a9b.mspx?mfr=true

Labels: how to, iis, instructions, management console, method, microsoft, MS, phone support, support, system, tech, technical, technical support, windows

I got feedback today, for a customer I'd talked to that took issue with my answer to her question.

She originally called, saying that she'd recently installed some new MS patches, and since then she'd been having trouble with her system. Things were flowing slowly.

She had stopped our services, and suddenly the problem went away - but let's get this straight - she recently installed a ton of new patches.

I had asked her what patches she installed, but mentioned that this was most likely something she'd have to ask MS about. She didn't know what patches she'd gotten. There were too many of them. I told her that I would be happy to see if there were any issues with our software and her patches, but I needed to know what they were. She just didn't know.

I said, ok, well maybe something we're dependent on was changed while we were installed. A big no-no with our software. I offered up a couple things that would have made my program go haywire and do weird stuff.

She pin pointed one and said that she had indeed done an update to it. So I suggested that she reinstall our product so that we could reassociate with the latest changes.

I offered some other things we could do to troubleshoot, but she said that she couldn't do them right now, as she needed permission to do them.

So, uh, no troubleshooting? You're saying you called and expected me to press the magic button?? Lady, I can't pull an answer out of my butt with the information you gave me. You gave me nothing!

So I have her go off and do the uninstall/reinstall and suggested that if that doesn't work, she can get back in touch with me via email.

...

A few days pass and she calls back in, and gets the next guy in line. She lets him troubleshoot. They go back and forth a bit till he figures out what's wrong.

...

She then emailed a supervisor here, and said that she'd called MS and they charged her $500 bucks and it's all my fault because I was not listening to her.

...

No lady, I don't have the magic button. It's not my fault that I gave you that answer, seeing as you gave me the information I used to give you that answer. You don't want to troubleshoot? Then don't complain when I give you a lame answer and your issue is not resolved.

Labels: microsoft, MS, phone, phone support, question, questions, stupid, support, technical, technical support, vague, windows

I started this blog as a place to vent my frustration with my customers. People who should know how to do everything I do and then some and often do not. I think I'm going to add a series of "How to's" because, well, maybe they don't know these things because they couldn't find them. I've already done one - how to find your Windows Management console and the Services console.

Today I'm going to add another one. This is less of a "How to" and more of a why.

(Get to the point...skip the story)

In the world of software, there has come to be a misunderstanding when products are labeled. If you look on the side/bottom/back of a box for a game or other software you'll see the system requirements. It will advise you that you need x amount of RAM.
As an example: I have the game Guild Wars, and it's system requirement is 512 MB RAM. What this means is that the game requires 512 MB of RAM free. Not total.

When I'm running this game, pretty much everything else is out of the question, because it uses so much of my RAM. I have 512 MB. (I'm getting more SOON) Luckily for me, Windows is usually pretty smart, and keeps enough for itself so that it doesn't crash, and I have a swap file that covers alot too. (I may explain swap files later, who knows...lol ) So overall, the game runs pretty well, but often lags and takes a long long time to load.

As I mentioned before, I do technical support for some mail scanning software, and this mail scanning software requires 1 gig of RAM. If your system doesn't have enough RAM, this mail scanning software will take it. Unfortunately for all other software on the system, except Windows, that means that it could potentially crash your system.

Seeing as most of these systems (well, lets be real here... ALL these systems) are mail servers, the system crashing would be a bad thing.

What these admins need to know is... if you have Program A that requires 1 gig, and Program B that requires 512 mb and Program C that requires 512 - 1 gig (depending on the usage) you should have 1 gig + 512 mb + 1 gig = 2.5 gigs just for the software + 512 (at least) for the Operating system -- All in all this comes to 3 gigs.

If you didn't have 3 gigs in this situation, and these programs are all running at the same time, your system will flop. End of story.

For a normal consumer this isn't a big deal, because they don't tend to run multiple programs at once all the time. On a server, however... well, I think you can see what I'm getting at here.

The moral of the story is:
The amount of RAM required on the outside of the box is the MINIMUM required just to run that program and no other.
The amount of RAM required on the outside of the box is the amount that you must have FREE in order to use it.

Labels: 1 gig, 512 mb, admin, advice, help, how to, mail software, microsoft, ram, requirements, system

In case I forget to post before then, I just had to get that out... Now on to today's story:

Frequently I get called because someone isn't able to use their proxy. (We have a proxy that a lot of people use.) Most commonly, the reason it doesn't work is because when they were installing it, the program threw up a wonderful DNS error, and rather than fixing it... they ignore it and continue to install the program.

Three weeks later....

They finish setting it up, only to discover that they can't add LDAP users, or get out to the internet.... Or the program is really really slow.

So I tell them, "Mr. Customer, you need to fix your DNS. Now, understand that DNS is not my area of expertise. I deal purely with the program itself. The issue you are having is clearly a DNS issue, and we know this because <insert lengthy troubleshooting steps here> and your symptoms clearly show that YOU ARE HAVING A DNS ISSUE!. "

"But my DNS is perfect." They always say.

"WHAT!?!? There's no fricken way your DNS is perfect. During our troubleshooting you asked me how to find out what OS you have - you dummy." Oh... sorry... That was the dialog in my head. Not what I said to the customer. hee hee.

Now remember, like I've said before, these people make 2 to 3 times my salary. They are A-D-M-I-N-S and most went to school to get all those useless neat certificates to say how much more superior they are to me.

So then, then I have to go to DNSStuff.com (a neat place to check DNS) and prove to them that they are missing a PTR record, or an A record... or whatever is the case at that point.

Then they understand, and I suggest they call an actual expert, like Microsoft or something. Then they get all hot and bothered because no one wants to PAY for support. That's why they call us first. We're free.

Know what else? We don't troubleshoot DNS!

Labels: admin, call centers, dns, microsoft, question, questions, stupid, tech, technical, technical support

A friend of mine pointed this out from Craigslist, Best of, and it fit so well with my theme here I had to post it. This is awesome funny. Kudos to whoever wrote it.
((Note: this is an exact copy, it includes the links back to craigslist.com and the posting number))


best of craigslist > pittsburgh > Things to consider when calling Tech Support...

Originally Posted: Fri, 27 Apr 23:38 EDT

Things to consider when calling Tech Support...
Date: 2007-04-27, 11:38PM EDT


Hi! I'm your Technical Support Rep. I have a considerable amount of control over one or more important aspects of your daily life: television, telephone, and internet. Sometimes one, sometimes all three. Before we interact, I'd like to share some thoughts with you:



* I am here, simply put, to fix your shit. My job is not complete until said shit is fixed. Please just help me fix this shit.

* With that out of the way, know that I hate you exactly as much as you hate me. No more, no less. If you are at least relatively pleasant, I'm happy to help you- even to make small talk as I attend to the issue at hand. Conversely, if you are a total and complete jackass, I will make this the worst 10 minutes of your week.

* Neither I, nor any of my coworkers, are out to fuck you. We are not idiots. We are college graduates in technical disciplines, the vast majority of whom are here to work their way up the IT ladder to more fulfilling positions. Sometimes we have off days, sure, but we know EXACTLY what we are doing. Note that this does not apply to anyone outside of our department. They are, in all reality, idiots who are out to fuck you.

* So you've already unplugged the "internet box" and plugged it back in? Brace yourself, you're going to do it again. Most of the time I do this for a reason...unless you're a dick. Then I do it to see how mad it makes you.

* Don't lie to me- I can tell you have a router. It isn't illegal.

* To those who think they are "computer illiterate": The vast majority of the time, you are lovely customers: Patient, willing to learn, and most importantly, willing to listen. Thank you!

* To those who think they are CompSci PHD's: The vast majority of the time, you are retarded: If you already cycled your equipment and it didn't work, why did it work when I made you do it again? If you are so well educated, stay the hell out of the queue so that people who need help can get it.

* Supervisors don't have a magic wand that they can wave to make everything better. They are governed by the same protocol and use the same utilities as I do. In fact, supervisors are more likely to tell you to fuck off- believe it or not, they have other pressing issues to attend to. If a node goes down, they WILL put those 200 subscribers before you in Priorityland.

* Threatening to cancel does not intimidate us. We have an entire department that is paid to care about that, which means that I don't have to. Harsh? Sure, but I have more than enough work to do fixing shit, yelling at field techs, following up on cases, and explaining the concept of email to your grandmother that it won't cause me to lose any sleep.

* It worked fine yesterday? Oh, then I must be wrong. Let me reconsider the 40 minutes I spent troubleshooting your Win98 box. Check it out: Shit breaks (see point 1); If shit did not break, I would be mowing your lawn instead of sitting in this office.

* Speakerphone? Turn it the fuck off.

* Don't call back and have another rep troubleshoot the same problem. He will read the notes I left about how you spilled coke into your cable box. Even if he didn't, he would come to the same conclusion, and more people with undiagnosed problems would be stuck listening to that god-awful hold music.

* I am not blowing smoke when I say that I understand how frustrating it is to wait on hold, get transferred, and deal with bad agents. I too have called Dell's tech support line. The difference is that I actually DO care about your problem, so please just calm down before I kill your family.

* My company has over 20 million subscribers. I handle a region of about 2 million. To this day, none of them have ever called in to say "I just wanted you to know that my shit is working correctly." Maybe someday?



So what can I help you with today?

* Location: Internet
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests


PostingID: 320304562

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Labels: call centers, calling, calling back, e-mail, guilt, instructions, listen, listening, method, microsoft, phone, phone support, question, questions, support, technical, technical support

Hi Welcome to tech support. Can I take your order?

Ok, so I work with mail security software, and yesterday a gentleman called me to ask for help setting it up to send the filtered spam to the end-users. Now that in-and-of itself is fine. I walked him through this process and also explained how it works. The end of which is that the email goes to the end-users' JunkMail folder which is natively created with Exchange 2003/Outlook 2003.

The problem came in when he asked me why he didn't have a JunkMail folder. I explained to him very carefully that I support the mail software, not his Outlook or Exchange. That goes through Microsoft. I recommended that he give them a call to get that information.

He subsequently asked to speak to my supervisor because I couldn't help him with this 3rd party issue. He stated that Microsoft charges for support, and because our software interacts with his Email system, we should know how to do this simple thing.


This whole situation is akin to someone going through the drive-through at TacoHell and asking for a Whopper because their local BK doesn't have a drive-through.


I understand that it may be more difficult to go through that other restaurant to get your burger, because you have to get out of your car and all that, but I don't serve Whoppers here. Just because I make fast food doesn't mean I can make you a Whopper. Comprende Muchacho?

Labels: 3rd party, burger, e-mail, email, microsoft, MS, phone support, spam, spam protection, support, tacohell, technical, technical support, whopper