Problem solved

It's the old story: This small company's servers are mysteriously rebooting at night, and sysadmin pilot fish can't figure out what's wrong.

He checks with the power company, which checks the lines -- no significant spikes. He swaps out the power strips for a more expensive variety. He confirms that no one else in the office is even touching the machines.

"I decided to camp out, all night if need be, to try to figure out what was happening," says fish. "A friend in accounting was going to join me. He brought some cards, and we were going to keep an eye on the servers and play the night away."

Around 8 p.m., the cleaning crew arrives, so fish and his cohort decide to take a break and make some coffee. But just as they're leaving, they spot a cleaning woman plugging her 12-amp vacuum cleaner in the same outlet the servers are plugged into.

She turns the vacuum cleaner on. The screens of the server monitors begin to wiggle from the interference.

And shortly after that, the servers reboot.

Says fish, "Next morning, I went to the store and bought some plastic baby-protection plugs to go into the outlets, and printed a sticker that said 'Do not use.'

"It cost the company $1.25, and we never had a problem after that."

Sharky likes elegant solutions, but I'd like to see your true tale of IT life even more. Send it to me at sharky@computerworld.com. You'll get a stylish Shark shirt if I use it. Add your comments below, and read some great old tales in the Sharkives.

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