System Administration

Getting to Know You

Mark Pascal wants an

[i]nteractive web access log analyzer: instead of getting a static set of reports, build queries like "referrers of all the 404s" or "requested URLs of all the hits referred by Google," and get tables and charts dynamically generated. I know it takes a while to crunch that kinda data, so this would be good for exhibiting or attaining one's grok-in-fullness status wrt data structures. [via Phil Pearson]

We're using a product that kinda-sorta does that. It requires Oracle, and has some issues with large data sets, but works reasonably well.

11:38:59 AM # Google It!
categories: System Administration

A Matter of Life

Mary Wehmeier elaborates on what being on call means to a clinical pharmacist.

[G]etting dressed at 3:15 AM and driving 15 miles to the pharmacy to mix and make an IV for a patient in need-- and get the Rx out and deliver it in less than 90 minutes.

As I unhelpfully pointed out to an irate client who was displeased with our 15 minute response time: his problem was not a matter of life and death. It was very important to him, but there was no demonstrable impact on his business at 04:00 EST, and nobody died. We were not in the medical business.

On the other hand, alert project managers shouldn't let the sleep-deprived deal with the clients.

10:04:08 AM # Google It!
categories: System Administration