Sunday, October 30, 2005
The fourth week in review
I have tools! I now have SecureCRT (ssh) and IBM Director on my laptop, but nowhere to connect. I still don't have access to any servers or admin rights to my desktop. I need to install MQ Server on my desktop so I can use MQ Explorer. I don't think I need a licence in this situation, but I'm going to have to have proof for the desktop manager before he'll do anything. I asked IBM but our contact person was out of the office.
The MQ handoff is going well. I thought I was going to have problems with this one, but Gordo's been good with the chalk talks and pretty responsive to my email queries. He's an old school mainframe system programmer, and MQ is just a sideline (at first, he said pastime). Despite what he said before, the MQ cluster setup is quite slick, but I have to question the decision to go Intel. I've been documenting as much as I can from Gordo. My boss even reported this activity in his status.
On the other hand, the web/application server handoff has tanked. The team leader is away this week and next. I asked for access to a particular server where I noticed a problem, and the guy who has the root password is away. I ask for a copy of MQ software and the same guy has the key to the software cabinet. I had asked my boss when I started if this was going to get political, and he said not. After I asked for access to the servers, the lead hand came to him with concerns about my role and how it was going to impact their jobs, i.e. losing them. Apparently, they (four guys) do a lot of work on JBoss and WAS, but I'm only one person and quite happy to let them do operational support if that's what they want to do.
The good news is that my boss did find a application server strategy paper. The bad news is that JBoss is the preferred product.
I haven't eaten with my boss all week except for Monday when he made an effort to go down with the new guy. This was the status quo at the old place.
D.
The MQ handoff is going well. I thought I was going to have problems with this one, but Gordo's been good with the chalk talks and pretty responsive to my email queries. He's an old school mainframe system programmer, and MQ is just a sideline (at first, he said pastime). Despite what he said before, the MQ cluster setup is quite slick, but I have to question the decision to go Intel. I've been documenting as much as I can from Gordo. My boss even reported this activity in his status.
On the other hand, the web/application server handoff has tanked. The team leader is away this week and next. I asked for access to a particular server where I noticed a problem, and the guy who has the root password is away. I ask for a copy of MQ software and the same guy has the key to the software cabinet. I had asked my boss when I started if this was going to get political, and he said not. After I asked for access to the servers, the lead hand came to him with concerns about my role and how it was going to impact their jobs, i.e. losing them. Apparently, they (four guys) do a lot of work on JBoss and WAS, but I'm only one person and quite happy to let them do operational support if that's what they want to do.
The good news is that my boss did find a application server strategy paper. The bad news is that JBoss is the preferred product.
I haven't eaten with my boss all week except for Monday when he made an effort to go down with the new guy. This was the status quo at the old place.
D.
