Thursday, April 8, 2010

1st Rule of Data-Comm ... Always Check the Connection

That one seems so obvious.  I know.  It is one of the universal truths.  I recently fought for hours with a NetApp appliance trying to figure out why it was having issues.  Turned out to be 2, not 1 but 2 bad GBICs!  I managed to duct tape and coat hanger the brain to the disk shelves while I waited the 24 hours for warranty parts replacement to get me the new GBICs, but I can never get those hours of troubleshooting back.

Everyone I've ever talked to says those things are notorious for failing.  A $300 part the size of a USB thumbdrive is notorious for failing yet we continue to use them in our enterprise class equipment.  Makes no sense to me.  At least I have several fiber loopback testers and a couple of spare GBICs on hand now.

1. As simple as it sounds ... check the connection first

2. When it's not the connection check permissions ;)

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