• (cs)

    terminate that frist

  • LazerFX (unregistered)

    Anyone get the feeling that this is like something out of Finding Nemo - only instead of 'mine', the birds are all saying 'time'?

    No? Just me?

    Oh well.

    Captcha: suscipere - that's a very suscipere cron job.

  • (cs) in reply to LazerFX

    Thanks to your comment, I also get that feeling.. haha.

  • ntpdate (unregistered)

    Someone in Paul's familiy should have taught him about the difference of ntpd and ntpdate.

  • (cs)

    Executive summary: Idiot doesn't know how to configure ntpd, gets snarky email from the owner of the upstream time server.

    Alternative interpretation: Writer doesn't know that ntpd can cope quite nicely with the advertised problem without being multi-launched, libels the submitter.

    Seriously, nptd knows how to cope with drifty local clocks, and even has an automatic mode for recovering from the initial unknown driftiness. No multilaunch is needed.

    Sigh.

  • TopTension (unregistered)

    passive-aggressive tone

    Huh? Bob's email sounded rather polite to me, especially given the circumstances.

  • nobulate (unregistered)

    An honest mistake. If you did not test the ntp update and isolate the correct parameters needed for the cron job.

  • (cs)

    tl;dr

    paul cron-bombed a ntpd process that should have been added to the boot sequence and let continue to run normally instead of trying to roll his own time keeper service

    or he should have fixed the clock of the server...

  • nobulate (unregistered) in reply to nobulate
    nobulate:
    An honest mistake. If you did not test the ntp update and isolate the correct parameters needed for the cron job.

    Correction. TRWTF is using cron to kick off a daemon.

    captcha: wisi - Your new nickname after your cron-crime is discovered.

  • foo AKA fooo (unregistered) in reply to TopTension
    TopTension:
    > passive-aggressive tone

    Huh? Bob's email sounded rather polite to me, especially given the circumstances.

    I wonder too. "Passive-aggressive" seems to be a new fad in some circles. When you can't call someone aggressive, because he isn't, you call him passive-aggressive instead. Bob accurately described the problem, provided log files and politely asked them to stop. Seems like the ideal bug report to me.

    Is it because he mentioned Kamp? Well, if that's enough to set Paul's teeth on edge, maybe he should find another job with (even) less contact to the outside world. (Paul, please forgive me for being passive-aggressive now too.)

    Actually, Kamp or alternatively UW–Madison was what came to my mind while reading the first few paragraphs and I had already started wondering if this was an anonymized version of those stories.

  • Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo (unregistered)

    Yeah the "passive-aggressive" bit makes whoever wrote it sound like an insufferable little bitch.

    Oh, sorry, bitcho.

  • (cs) in reply to LazerFX
    LazerFX:
    Anyone get the feeling that this is like something out of Finding Nemo - only instead of 'mine', the birds are all saying 'time'?

    No? Just me?

    Oh well.

    Captcha: suscipere - that's a very suscipere cron job.

    If this comment doesn't get blued then I am leaving forever.

  • foo AKA fooo (unregistered) in reply to Zacrath
    Zacrath:
    LazerFX:
    Anyone get the feeling that this is like something out of Finding Nemo - only instead of 'mine', the birds are all saying 'time'?

    No? Just me?

    Oh well.

    Captcha: suscipere - that's a very suscipere cron job.

    If this comment doesn't get blued then I am leaving forever.
    Now that's why I'd call passive-aggressive: Being aggressive by threatening to be passive (i.e. leaving).

    And of course, if my comment doesn't get blued, someone will be leaving forever!

  • Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo (unregistered) in reply to foo AKA fooo
    foo AKA fooo:
    Being aggressive by threatening to be passive (i.e. leaving).

    How exactly is the act of leaving passive?

    (I like you're nick by the way.)

  • Ratis (unregistered)

    What a boring story. Doesn't Bob Redacted have a firewall?

  • foo AKA fooo (unregistered) in reply to Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo
    Fritz:
    foo AKA fooo:
    Being aggressive by threatening to be passive (i.e. leaving).

    How exactly is the act of leaving passive?

    Well, what does it take to leave a web site? Nothing, right. Just don't visit it again tomorrow.
    (I like you're nick by the way.)
    I also like your nick AKA nicko.

  • (cs)

    So, we've had the set-up for an interesting story... but the interesting story part seems to be missing.

  • (cs)

    If that's front page material, what's next?

    A dark and stormy night lay ahead of Paul. He had just received an angry email from an irate client whose temper had run high after an irritating incident on one of Paul's servers, and he received it only 7 hours before the end of his working day.

    "Dear admin,"

    the letter began ominously.

    "By accident I deleted a file from exp39/data. I meant to deleted spss.tab.12a.dat, but I mistyped and deleted spss.tab.12q.dat."

    OMG, thought Ron. Will they never learn? But the email continued.

    "I understood that you make a backup every night. The file was created two days ago. Could you restore it please?"

    Paul's head was spinning. Did this user really believe that he had the desire to restore a file? The user knew clearly less about system administrators than about computers.

    "The file was the result of a lot of work, so I would really appreciate it. Kind regards".

    Sigh. Paul grabbed his keyboard, typed the restore command, and continued with his work.

  • Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo (unregistered) in reply to foo AKA fooo
    foo AKA fooo:
    Fritz:
    foo AKA fooo:
    Being aggressive by threatening to be passive (i.e. leaving).

    How exactly is the act of leaving passive?

    Well, what does it take to leave a web site? Nothing, right. Just don't visit it again tomorrow.

    I'd slap my forehead but I'm too lazy.

  • foo AKA fooo (unregistered) in reply to Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo
    Fritz:
    foo AKA fooo:
    Fritz:
    foo AKA fooo:
    Being aggressive by threatening to be passive (i.e. leaving).

    How exactly is the act of leaving passive?

    Well, what does it take to leave a web site? Nothing, right. Just don't visit it again tomorrow.

    I'd slap my forehead but I'm too lazy.

    Doctor, we have a serious case of passive self-aggression here.

  • Erik Gern AKA Erro' (unregistered) in reply to TGV
    TGV:
    If that's front page material, what's next?

    A dark and stormy night lay ahead of Paul. He had just received an angry email from an irate client whose temper had run high after an irritating incident on one of Paul's servers, and he received it only 7 hours before the end of his working day.

    "Dear admin,"

    the letter began ominously.

    "By accident I deleted a file from exp39/data. I meant to deleted spss.tab.12a.dat, but I mistyped and deleted spss.tab.12q.dat."

    OMG, thought Ron. Will they never learn? But the email continued.

    "I understood that you make a backup every night. The file was created two days ago. Could you restore it please?"

    Paul's head was spinning. Did this user really believe that he had the desire to restore a file? The user knew clearly less about system administrators than about computers.

    "The file was the result of a lot of work, so I would really appreciate it. Kind regards".

    Sigh. Paul grabbed his keyboard, typed the restore command, and continued with his work.

    Not bad, but for real front-page material you must add several redundant characters, obscure literature references, lots of adverbs and metaphors, pointless side-stories and, most importantly, subheadings! And expand the overall size by a factor of 3-4. Like here.

  • Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo (unregistered) in reply to TGV
    TGV:
    A dark and stormy night in Norrland's Helsingfors University lay ahead of Paulo. He had just received an angry email from an irate professor whose temper had run high as a falcon flying very high after an irritating incident on one of Paulo's servers, and he received it only 7 hours before the end of his working day.

    "Dear admin,"

    the letter began ominously. "What a baka gaijin," thought Paulo, for he had explicitly told everyone to call him by his true name Paulo-San.

    "By accident I deleted a file from exp39/data. I meant to deleted spss.tab.12a.dat, but I mistyped and deleted spss.tab.12q.dat."

    Kuso, thought Rono, Paulo's headmate winged baby dragon kitsune (kitsune means fox). Will they never learn to write e-mails in kanji? But the email continued.

    "I understood that you make a backup every night. The file was created two days ago. Could you restore it please?"

    Paulo's head was spinning. Not literally but figuratively. Did this white devil really believe that he had the desire to restore a file? The user knew clearly less about system administrators than about computers.

    "The file was the result of a lot of work, so I would really appreciate it. Kind regards".

    Sigh. Paulo grabbed his keyboard, typed the restore command, and continued with his Naruto slash fiction. "If only my kokoro wish came true, all these e-mails would cease and I would be free to pursue my true passion of making bonzai fedoras."

  • Qazwsx (unregistered) in reply to Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo
    Fritz:
    TGV:
    A dark and stormy night in Norrland's Helsingfors University lay ahead of Paulo. He had just received an angry email from an irate professor whose temper had run high as a falcon flying very high after an irritating incident on one of Paulo's servers, and he received it only 7 hours before the end of his working day.

    "Dear admin,"

    the letter began ominously. "What a baka gaijin," thought Paulo, for he had explicitly told everyone to call him by his true name Paulo-San.

    "By accident I deleted a file from exp39/data. I meant to deleted spss.tab.12a.dat, but I mistyped and deleted spss.tab.12q.dat."

    Kuso, thought Rono, Paulo's headmate winged baby dragon kitsune (kitsune means fox). Will they never learn to write e-mails in kanji? But the email continued.

    "I understood that you make a backup every night. The file was created two days ago. Could you restore it please?"

    Paulo's head was spinning. Not literally but figuratively. Did this white devil really believe that he had the desire to restore a file? The user knew clearly less about system administrators than about computers.

    "The file was the result of a lot of work, so I would really appreciate it. Kind regards".

    Sigh. Paulo grabbed his keyboard, typed the restore command, and continued with his Naruto slash fiction. "If only my kokoro wish came true, all these e-mails would cease and I would be free to pursue my true passion of making bonzai fedoras."

    I was about to post a single word response "Beautiful" but the captcha reads "saluto". I saluto you for this post.

  • belzebub (unregistered)

    Looks to me like if Paul had no idea what unix daemon is, why we do not start daemons by cron and/or what is the difference between ntpdate and ntpd. From his lack of expertise and from a university workplace, I suspect Paul is actually Hanzo and Saul would be his guilt ridden consciousness.

  • (cs) in reply to Erik Gern AKA Erro'
    Erik Gern AKA Erro':
    Not bad, but for real front-page material you must add several redundant characters, obscure literature references, lots of adverbs and metaphors, pointless side-stories and, most importantly, subheadings! And expand the overall size by a factor of 3-4.
    1. Obscure literature reference. Check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_was_a_dark_and_stormy_night 2. Adverbs and metaphors, mmm. I did add a few redundant adjectives. 3. Sub-headings. I separated the email in meaningful paragraphs, but I agree that a sub-heading would have been a large improvement. 4. And I forgot to cornify it and add snarky incrowd HTML comments. I have miserably failed TDWTF standards.
  • (cs) in reply to Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo
    Fritz:
    "If only my kokoro wish came true, all these e-mails would cease and I would be free to pursue my true passion of making bonzai fedoras."
    I give you five rings!
  • Chris P. Peterson (unregistered)

    I have only 1 comment, but it is very good. Here it is. [REDACTED]

  • foo AKA fooo (unregistered) in reply to Chris P. Peterson
    Chris P. Peterson:
    I have only 1 comment, but it is very good. Here it is. FRIST
    [LEAKED]
  • TRWTF: KOD (unregistered)

    Who authors TDWTF? Why does the KOD (Kiss of Death) link go to "Knife of Dreams"? Good god, the quality of the content is falling faster than a lead-loaded Dodge Ram that just drove off the Grand Canyon. PATHETIC.

  • dr memals (unregistered)

    I know RTC is Real Time Clock, but does everyone else?

  • belzebub (unregistered) in reply to TRWTF: KOD
    TRWTF:
    Good god, the quality of the content is falling faster than a lead-loaded Dodge Ram that just drove off the Grand Canyon. PATHETIC.
    Actually, writers of TheDailyWTF are playing a drinking game. They have to take a vodka shot for every "first/frist" post. So as it turns out, we are the sole reason for the downfall of TDWTF. Shame on us.
  • foo AKA fooo (unregistered) in reply to TRWTF: KOD
    TRWTF: KOD:
    Who authors TDWTF? Why does the KOD (Kiss of Death) link go to "Knife of Dreams"? Good god, the quality of the content is falling faster than a lead-loaded Dodge Ram that just drove off the Grand Canyon. PATHETIC.
    As Galileo showed, everything falls at the same speed (which would be slightly faster than your lead-loaded Dodge Ram) in a vacuum. I leave it up to you to draw your conclusions ...
  • everyone else (unregistered) in reply to dr memals
    dr memals:
    I know RTC is Real Time Clock, but does everyone else?
    Yes, I do. Thanks for asking.
  • Todd Lewis (unregistered) in reply to TRWTF: KOD
    TRWTF: KOD:
    Who authors TDWTF?... PATHETIC.
    That would be you. And me. And the rest of us. Want to raise the bar? Help yourself.

    Mind you, the anonymizing process usually makes the heros look like boobs, but just take that as part of the challenge.

  • I'm surrounded by idiots (unregistered) in reply to TRWTF: KOD
    TRWTF: KOD:
    Who authors TDWTF? Why does the KOD (Kiss of Death) link go to "Knife of Dreams"? Good god, the quality of the content is falling faster than a lead-loaded Dodge Ram that just drove off the Grand Canyon. PATHETIC.
    IT'S A FREAKING JOKE!!!!!! Which might be a novel concept for a humorless prick like you. for you. If you paid attention, you would have noticed that the links for all the acronyms go to completely different articles.
  • (cs) in reply to Steve The Cynic
    Steve The Cynic:
    No multilaunch is needed.

    Can confirm. Paul doesn't know how to use NTP.

  • MightyM (unregistered) in reply to TRWTF: KOD
    TRWTF: KOD:
    Who authors TDWTF? Why does the KOD (Kiss of Death) link go to "Knife of Dreams"? Good god, the quality of the content is falling faster than a lead-loaded Dodge Ram that just drove off the Grand Canyon. PATHETIC.

    And NTP goes to Ninh Thuan Province and DOS goes to Directorate of Overseas Surveys. You could almost think this was on purpose. But someone making a joke on a humor site is quite unheard of.

    (Personally I thought this was the funniest thing about this article)

  • (cs) in reply to TopTension
    TopTension:
    > passive-aggressive tone

    Huh? Bob's email sounded rather polite to me, especially given the circumstances.

    I don't know about that. Bob did threaten Paul with a Robert Jordan book. That's bordering on open hostility.

    Then again, at least it wasn't Terry Goodkind.

  • (cs) in reply to LazerFX
    LazerFX:
    Anyone get the feeling that this is like something out of Finding Nemo - only instead of 'mine', the birds are all saying 'time'?

    That was beautiful.

  • Clint (unregistered) in reply to TopTension

    Exactly what I was thinking. He goes out of his way to even say 'no I don't think this is intentional on your part.' Pretty polite in my opinion and I'm as high-strung as they come.

  • (cs) in reply to RangerNS
    RangerNS:
    Steve The Cynic:
    No multilaunch is needed.

    Can confirm. Paul doesn't know how to use NTP.

    A closer look at the man page on FreeBSD reveals that:

    (1) ntpdate is to be retired...

    (2) nptd can be run withthe*-goption to emulate ntpdate (chat to time servers, set time, exit

    If you run with -g, the "kernel time discipline" is disabled. On operating systems that support it (stock Solaris, Tru64, Linux, and FreeBSD, possibly others) this allows ntpd to tweak the system's clock frequency to make up for it being slow / fast. Disabling this is a bad idea.

    In general, you set up the list of time servers to watch in /etc/ntpd.conf and start ntpd as a daemon at boot time, and that's all. It will manage the clock all by itself. Only if you have a weird network configuration do you need to mess with other parts of the config.

    Conclusion: as a confession, this is fine, because running a mis-configured ntpd (ok, ntpd itself was probably configured correctly, but it was being run in a way that was incompatible with that configuration) is a serious WTF. Well, serious for the server owner, anyway.

  • (cs) in reply to TRWTF: KOD
    TRWTF: KOD:
    Who authors TDWTF? Why does the KOD (Kiss of Death) link go to "Knife of Dreams"? Good god, the quality of the content is falling faster than a lead-loaded Dodge Ram that just drove off the Grand Canyon. PATHETIC.

    that's not all that fast - the Ram cross-section is large so even with a bed full of lead ingots it won't get up to warp speed.
    Now, a Ram full of lead (or just a feather will do) falling into the Grand Canyon after all the air was removed from the canyon...

  • (cs) in reply to Todd Lewis
    Todd Lewis:

    Mind you, the anonymizing process usually makes the heros look like boobs, but just take that as part of the challenge.

    And why not: which do you think most nerds want to look at:

    1. heros (person or sandwich)
    2. boobs (whaddy think?)
  • Valued Service (unregistered) in reply to cellocgw
    cellocgw:
    Todd Lewis:

    Mind you, the anonymizing process usually makes the heros look like boobs, but just take that as part of the challenge.

    And why not: which do you think most nerds want to look at:

    1. heros (person or sandwich)
    2. boobs (whaddy think?)

    Or both... Oh yes, Power Girl, I would like you to star in a DWTF!

  • anonymous (unregistered) in reply to cellocgw
    cellocgw:
    Todd Lewis:

    Mind you, the anonymizing process usually makes the heros look like boobs, but just take that as part of the challenge.

    And why not: which do you think most nerds want to look at:

    1. heros (person or sandwich)
    2. boobs (whaddy think?)
    If you could show me a boob sandwich you'd be my hero right now.
  • Anonymizer 999 (unregistered) in reply to I'm surrounded by idiots

    I would have thought that the TRWTF: KOD post was a joke, therefore not giving it additional attention. On the other hand the systematic pointing to other sources eluded me, as I was focusing on the real hyperlinks to pool.ntp.org and Kamp. Thanks for pointing this.

  • Chelloveck (unregistered) in reply to Valued Service
    Valued Service:
    Oh yes, Power Girl, I would like you to star in a DWTF!

    It's a little known fact that the President's daughter is named Karen Starr.

  • Paul Neumann (unregistered) in reply to foo AKA fooo
    foo AKA fooo:
    Zacrath:
    LazerFX:
    Anyone get the feeling that this is like something out of Finding Nemo - only instead of 'mine', the birds are all saying 'time'?

    No? Just me?

    Oh well.

    Captcha: suscipere - that's a very suscipere cron job.

    If this comment doesn't get blued then I am leaving forever.
    Now that's why I'd call passive-aggressive: Being aggressive by threatening to be passive (i.e. leaving).

    And of course, if my comment doesn't get blued, someone will be leaving forever!

    And now there are two good reasons to NOT blue it!

  • Robert (unregistered) in reply to nobulate

    I've done it before for non-vital daemons before. However I used @reboot rather than run it regularly. Not sure ntpd would of qualified...

  • Bruce W (unregistered) in reply to Todd Lewis
    Todd Lewis:
    TRWTF: KOD:
    Who authors TDWTF?... PATHETIC.
    That would be you. And me. And the rest of us. Want to raise the bar? Help yourself.
    Agreed. If you want better stories, submit some! I recently sent in my fourth submission. I write them well from the beginning to reduce the amount of "creative license" the staff writers need to do.

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