• visotor (unregistered)

    This article is the greatest. TDWTF's writers really turn me on.

  • Yanman (unregistered)

    I will shred this comment

  • AB (unregistered)

    TRWTF is the datacentre security. No workorder for these premises? No entry.

  • (cs)

    Come on everyone! Surely we can help suggest how to get Krang into the story…

  • Yep (unregistered) in reply to AB
    AB:
    TRWTF is the datacentre security. No workorder for these premises? No entry.

    +1

  • justsomedudette (unregistered)

    TMNT - that is all :)

  • (cs)

    Gotta be pretty Rocksteady on these Shredder assignments or they Bebop'n you on out the door!

  • (cs)

    This story gives me the High Pro Glow.

  • castlerobber (unregistered)

    Caribbean, not Carribean.

  • Inno (unregistered)

    James finally gave them the opportunity to use the backup data-center instead of decommissioning it.

  • Geoff (unregistered) in reply to Yep

    Sounds nice but not so easy to implement. Who write work orders? IT obviously. Who completes work orders? My suspicion is at many companies it would be the same person.

    This company put someone on a plane to do a simple un-rack job. Obviously this was a lights out DC, or nearly so. No smart hands, no local people. My guess is they hire local contractors when things go terribly wrong, or would if they did.

    So what happens is there is a meeting where this guy is told he is going to shutter the backup DC in Curaçao. He goes to Outlook grabs the wrong address and pastes into an e-mail HR/Travel and scribbles a copy down for his wallet. He would pasted the same wrong address into the ticking system, issued himself an incorrect work order.

    Some local security guard would looked at the work order with the address for the facility he is at, gone "okay" and the same thing would have happened.

  • Anonymous Bob (unregistered)

    The real WTF was that it caused a 24 hour shutdown, but they still had a "backup" datacenter.

  • Yngwie Malmsteen (unregistered)

    This guy is no shredder.

  • Cbuttius (unregistered)

    The real WTF is that they were shutting down the backup server.

    But then go on, save costs, never mind if your users have downtime.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to AB
    AB:
    TRWTF is the datacentre security. No workorder for these premises? No entry.

    Things tend to be more "relaxed" on the islands.

  • Andrew (unregistered)
    Eventually, "The Shredder" had enough of this treatment, and left the company. He now adminsters the Windows network at the local nuclear power plant.
    Oh god...
  • Gnurro (unregistered)

    TRWTF is mobbing.

  • MojoMonkeyfish (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous Bob
    The real WTF was that it caused a 24 hour shutdown, but they still had a "backup" datacenter.

    You, sir, are the winner of TRWTF! Runners up get a copy of our home game.

  • Lone Marauder (unregistered) in reply to Geoff
    Geoff:
    Sounds nice but not so easy to implement. Who write work orders? IT obviously. Who completes work orders? My suspicion is at many companies it would be the same person.

    This company put someone on a plane to do a simple un-rack job. Obviously this was a lights out DC, or nearly so. No smart hands, no local people. My guess is they hire local contractors when things go terribly wrong, or would if they did.

    So what happens is there is a meeting where this guy is told he is going to shutter the backup DC in Curaçao. He goes to Outlook grabs the wrong address and pastes into an e-mail HR/Travel and scribbles a copy down for his wallet. He would pasted the same wrong address into the ticking system, issued himself an incorrect work order.

    Some local security guard would looked at the work order with the address for the facility he is at, gone "okay" and the same thing would have happened.

    Not in some companies. Where I work, even though I'm responsible for the network hardware, in order to get into the datacenter I have to create a ticket that states specifically what is to be done (i.e., if the ticket says "check this server for connectivity issues" and it needs to be power-cycled, a separate ticket is required unless you had the foresight to include "and reboot if necessary" on the original ticket) and it has to be signed by two senior managers.

    And I know the popular meme about senior management, but at least at the levels I deal with, they're pretty technically competent, for the most part. Unless you can give a good reason why you need in, they won't sign it.

    After all this, you give the ticket to the rent-a-cop guarding the datacenter door, and he has someone escort you to the rack you need access to.

    All told, it usually takes 30-45 minutes at least to get all this done, usually so I can walk on the raised floor and press a power button. It's maddening at times.

  • (cs)

    Hands up, the two people who didn't see this coming a mile off.

  • Craash420 (unregistered)

    Did anyone else wince when the candiru was mentioned?

  • (cs)

    The "Shredder": Shredded.

  • (cs) in reply to Gnurro
    Gnurro:
    TRWTF is mobbing.

    Among birds, mobbing behavior is used to drive an enemy from the community. Any bird that shreds the trees containing the nests is clearly an enemy.

  • TRWTF PTSD (unregistered) in reply to Craash420

    Yes, I'm still shaking...

  • (cs) in reply to Craash420
    Craash420:
    Did anyone else wince when the candiru was mentioned?
    Why would you wince at the mention of a small river fish?
  • Ken B. (unregistered)
    For a week, James couldn't cause a single problem, because he'd be destroying HDDs in the backup datacenter.
    As I read that, I thought "please don't tell me he went to the 'live' datacenter and destroyed those drives".
    James had never arrived at the backup DC, Mike learned. But he had definitely showed up at the production datacenter.
    I told you not to tell me that!
  • Neil Morrison (unregistered)

    Clearly he did all of his 'training' at the ACME Computer Training Center. . . . Beep beep.

  • (cs) in reply to Neil Morrison

    where are those ninja turtles when you need them

  • Larry (unregistered) in reply to Geoff
    Geoff:
    Who write work orders? IT obviously. Who completes work orders? My suspicion is at many companies it would be the same person.
    This is why auditors want to see a little thing called "separation of duties". The person who authorizes a change should never be the person who implements it.

    Any CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) could have told you that. So TRWTF is that the guy with all the certificates didn't also have CISA on his list.

  • (cs) in reply to frits
    frits:
    Craash420:
    Did anyone else wince when the candiru was mentioned?
    Why would you wince at the mention of a small river fish?

    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2551/can-the-candir-fish-swim-upstream-into-your-urethra

    You can probably get the "wince factor" just reading the URL.

  • (cs)

    Good thing they had a backup!

  • (cs) in reply to Argle
    Argle:
    frits:
    Craash420:
    Did anyone else wince when the candiru was mentioned?
    Why would you wince at the mention of a small river fish?

    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2551/can-the-candir-fish-swim-upstream-into-your-urethra

    You can probably get the "wince factor" just reading the URL.

    Did you actually read the whole article. No proof was given of the behavior. If you check the wikipedia, you'll see that one documented case is highly suspect.

  • (cs) in reply to frits
    frits:
    Argle:
    frits:
    Craash420:
    Did anyone else wince when the candiru was mentioned?
    Why would you wince at the mention of a small river fish?

    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2551/can-the-candir-fish-swim-upstream-into-your-urethra

    You can probably get the "wince factor" just reading the URL.

    Did you actually read the whole article. No proof was given of the behavior. If you check the wikipedia, you'll see that one documented case is highly suspect.
    Did you even really understand what I was doing? I was explaining why the mention of "candiru fish" made people wince. I never said the legend was true.

  • Tasty (unregistered) in reply to castlerobber
    castlerobber:
    Caribbean, not Carribean.
    Mmm, carob bean!
  • Network Monkey (unregistered)

    I worked for the company during this incident. The "backup" datacenter was basically decommissioned, with all it's important functions moved to the "live" datacenter. We were basically operating without a proper backup, because we were underfunded and being forced by the bean-counters to close one of those datacenters now. It was far from ideal ideal, but it shouldn't have been a problem.

  • RonPaii (unregistered)

    The backup datacenter was on the same hurricane prone island as the production?

  • Marc Bonilla (unregistered) in reply to Yngwie Malmsteen
    Yngwie Malmsteen:
    This guy is no shredder.
    I must be the only one that laughed :o)
  • (cs)
    For a week, James couldn't cause a single problem...
    That sounds quite like a challenge.

    Lesson to be learned: Stupid finds a way.

  • Jockamo (unregistered)

    Blah blah blah data center blah decommisioned blah blah. Who cares. Tell me more about these open-air brothels.

  • Bryan the K (unregistered) in reply to boog
    boog:
    For a week, James couldn't cause a single problem...
    That sounds quite like a challenge.

    Lesson to be learned: Stupid finds a way.

    Nature finds a way. You can't stop it...like dinosaurs changing their sex.

  • YF (unregistered)

    OK, the outcome could be seen miles away... (shredding production servers, I mean)

    But I did learn something: collectively bugging the dead weight may set you free of it!

    I'll go home with a broad smile today.

  • Tom (unregistered) in reply to Network Monkey
    Network Monkey:
    I worked for the company during this incident. The "backup" datacenter was basically decommissioned, with all it's important functions moved to the "live" datacenter. We were basically operating without a proper backup, because we were underfunded and being forced by the bean-counters to close one of those datacenters *now*. It was far from ideal ideal, but it shouldn't have been a problem.
    So it sounds like they got exactly what they wanted. If they cared which datacenter, they should have said so, no?

    From time to time, I think it is necessary to close off all IT services, so the bean counters get an opportunity to count how many beans the company earns without their computers.

  • (cs) in reply to Argle
    Argle:
    frits:
    Argle:
    frits:
    Craash420:
    Did anyone else wince when the candiru was mentioned?
    Why would you wince at the mention of a small river fish?

    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2551/can-the-candir-fish-swim-upstream-into-your-urethra

    You can probably get the "wince factor" just reading the URL.

    Did you actually read the whole article. No proof was given of the behavior. If you check the wikipedia, you'll see that one documented case is highly suspect.
    Did you even really understand what I was doing? I was explaining why the mention of "candiru fish" made people wince. I never said the legend was true.
    But if it's not true, why should anyone wince? shrugs

  • Beachy (unregistered)

    In defense of The Shredder I spent three months on Curaçao as part of a military "deployment" and it is possible to get distracted by the nude beaches covered with 6' blond Dutch women with assets that defy gravity; also the sunsets were very nice.

  • synp (unregistered) in reply to Larry
    Larry:
    Geoff:
    Who write work orders? IT obviously. Who completes work orders? My suspicion is at many companies it would be the same person.
    This is why auditors want to see a little thing called "separation of duties". The person who authorizes a change should never be the person who implements it.

    Any CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) could have told you that. So TRWTF is that the guy with all the certificates didn't also have CISA on his list.

    Alright. You show the rent-a-cop an order form that says "run shredder dongle on all systems on all racks in the backup data center at [address of live datacenter]". The address is correct because James wrote it, and the person who authorizes didn't check (they never do).

    Do you think the rent-a-cop would have noticed the "backup" qualifier and stopped you? I think not.

  • stone (unregistered) in reply to pjt33

    I saw it coming THREE miles off.

  • (cs)

    And later still James Avery (slew of acronyms) fully embraced his moniker, changed his last name to Magenta, and started his own company.

    As an aside I wonder if this is a joke thrown at the real James Avery who is a well-known .NET developer, or if the name was a coincidence.

  • (cs) in reply to ObiWayneKenobi

    James Avery also voiced the Shredder. And played Uncle Phil. I mean, not the .NET Developer James Avery. He could be a .NET developer, I suppose, but I think he's more of an actor.

  • Boog, I Am Your Father! (aka Behold The Return Of Zunesis!)! (unregistered) in reply to Argle
    Argle:
    frits:
    Craash420:
    Did anyone else wince when the candiru was mentioned?
    Why would you wince at the mention of a small river fish?
    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2551/can-the-candir-fish-swim-upstream-into-your-urethra

    You can probably get the "wince factor" just reading the URL.

    That's been my nickname for years, but I never knew why until now.

  • (cs)

    I understand how Krang is difficult to work into the story but surely you could find a way to squeeze in Splinter.

    Also, I love how James gets more certifications as the story progresses. It's classic.

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