On Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:42:33 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> Well we're not doing that at any other sites, so I don't think it's
>>> necessary.
>> 
>> "Well, regulation 10.3.723 subsection b, paragraph 6 says it is
>> required
> 
> If only.
> 
> The regulations only say that backups have to be taken every day.
> 
> If I make too much of a fuss about it, the head IT people will probably
> just nominate some random person and promote them to be a member of IT.
> (Despite the fact they have no clue what they're doing.) And then I'll
> have solved one medium problem and created a large problem...

So then you step up pointing out the issue.  Has the person been properly 
trained?  Do the regs require any specific training for the additional 
person?  What is the financial exposure to the company if the audit is 
failed because of inadequate training, or if the backups fail and 
critical data is lost?

> This is always the worry - rather than do the simple and easy thing that
> completely solves the problem, they always want to do something more
> complicated that generates new problems. I really hate it!

It's sometimes hard to do, but don't worry about what might be.  You can 
spend years thinking up worst-case "what if" scenarios and let that 
prevent you from solving an immediate problem.  Deal with the problems 
you have, not with the problems that might be.

And on that note (and pardon the total non-sequitor here), I realise I 
have to take my own advice here so I *can* get some sleep.  (Without 
getting into details, I learned about a potential really really bad 
health issue today in my family, but there hasn't been a diagnosis yet, 
but I've been worried absolutely sick about it all night = dealing with a 
problem that *might* be, rather than waiting for a diagnosis to be made 
by a qualified doctor.  Yes, it's time I take my own advice on this one.)

> Still, with a little unauthorised access to centralised systems, I was
> able to sort this particular problem out without their help. "The"
> sysadmin may be God, but when you have several of them things start to
> get... interesting.

Yep, they do.  Especially in a distributed environment.  There are 
certain operations that require centralised control.  The trick is in 
knowing which ones are.

Be careful about using unauthorised access, though - it can bite you in 
the ass if things go wrong.

> (Wasn't there a Pratchey book gooded "small gods" or something?)

Might've been.

Jim

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