Aravind’s Blog

Techworld has come up with a list of 10 Common Mistakes that Network Administrators should do away with. Here’s a jist of the article given as Best Practices:

1. Change the UPS batteries every 2 years

2. Its always handy to have a kitpack that ranges from copies of every OS in use by your users to a roll of duct tape

3. Make sure that your OSs/Applications are patched with the latest updates

4. Always do a back-up check whenever you do a back-up

5. Take extreme care with your cabling

6. Always use branded hardware components

7. Make sure you have warranty contracts on all your hardware & label each one with the warranty contract number and support phone numbers

8. Always use a test environment before you do a software installation

9. Always plan your hardware for extra capacity

10. Whenever you do a change, take into account your users

And hey, don’t forget that you can use OpManager to monitor your UPS’ health and PatchQuest to keep you up-to-date on the patch front.

The year’s at the spring,

And day’s at the morn;

The brothers end their feud;

The BSE crosses the 7000 mark;

Its time for The Championships;

Our baby’s doing well;

Govind’s in Heaven -

All’s right with the world!

Hmm, its time to move on. The above’s inspired from Robert Browning’s Song, from Pippa Passes. Anyone knows the origin & what Pippa Passes mean?

Oh, it was a wonderful feeling looking at our cute, new born baby girl for the first time. She was born on June 10, 8:16 am IST. She weighed just 2 kg during birth. First day she was ok, but she got diagnosed for jaundice. The poor child has since been kept under blue light in an incubator sort of. Drips were given too, so were anti-allergic & anti-biotic medicines. She’s pulled through quite nicely till now & the doctors say there’s nothing to worry. But then as a dad of such a beautiful, delicately fragile little baby girl only 5 days old, can one stop worrying?

And to make matters worse, in the most cruelest tragedy, one of my best friends for years, Govindarajan, died in a car accident last Sunday night. He’d got married only 2 days before, on Friday morning, just when my baby girl was being born. Thursday evening, we friends from Annamalai were there having a funtime at his wedding reception. Friday afternoon, he’d called up and congratulated on me becoming a dad. That would be our last conversation.

Govind, Raja to his friends, was my room-mate in Annamalai for 3 years. We had a lot in common, reading books in particular. Just can’t forget the days when we cycled/walked to the small lending library. He was a voracious reader of Tamil fiction, particularly those based on history. Saandilyan & Kalki were his favorites. The days at Annamalai couldn’t have been more merrier - we slept on the same bed, woke up, went to class, took our food at the veg mess (where he was the rep), spent long hours at the Chidambaram Railway Station, ogled at & talked about our college girls, fought for the silliest of things, went for treats together with the same set of friends… the list is endless.

He was a studious guy, topping his class in many a semester. He excelled in NCC too, the high point being his long cycling expedition through many parts of Tamil Nadu. And Govind was the one who pulled me away from L&T to AdventNet. Had a memorable trip with him & his team to Ooty 2 years back.

Torn between leaving the baby in a critical situation & seeing Govind, couldn’t be there for his last journey to the cremation ground. The thought of not seeing him for one last time will haunt me forever