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Downtime last night – This time (almost) planned.

In my constant effort to stay no more than a couple of steps behind current technology, I have started aquiring Dell 1850′s to replace my 2650′s.

I decided to go with the 1850′s because they are smaller form-factor, which means that they’ll fit in my cramped little rack and allow me room to add the third rack of disks to the Clariion.  I had originally purchased the 2650′s because not having a SAN in the basement I needed something in the way of real storage.

One happy side-effect is that apparently the PC3200 DDR2 memory that the 1850′s requires is in much higher supply than the PC2100 that the old 2650′s took.  This makes it cheaper to run more member and thereby fewer servers.

The whole thing was sold to the finance committee as a power saving/cost saving effort.  The best part (and real reason) is that this upgrade has enabled me to go from ESX 3.5 to vSphere4.  (The 2650 doesn’t support vSphere4 due to it’s lack of 64 bit support)

So far my impression is vSphere4 is that it’s a pretty solid upgrade to ESX 3.5, however I’m sure that once I get a chance to dive into it I’ll find a lot more coolness burined under the covers.

Oh – and the 2650′s are probably hitting ebay soon, should anyone want them – let me know ahead of time and I’ll cut you a sweet deal for being a reader.

Yes – I can say it.  Dell lied to me.

I have a problem with my new notebook.  Recently (read: less than 90 days ago) I bought a new Dell D620.  When I was forcibly ejected from my last company I found myself without a notebook computer.  So I logged in and bought one. 

Given that my new job requires extensive travel, I chose to spend the extra $300/US or so on their “Next Business Day” warranty.

They could have at least bought me a drink first.

According to Dell – next business day doesn’t mean it will be replaced in the next business day, it means the tech will call you on the next business day and schedule a time to come and replace your motherboard, and that time will be the “NEXT BUSINESS DAY AFTER HE RECEIVES THE PARTS”

That’s such a load I can’t even believe it.

So here I am with a laptop with one failed USB port, and the second one failing – an issue which Microsoft has already said contributed to the multiple failures Vista experienced, in a situation where the only day I’m not traveling in the next month is thanksgiving day.

So the fun part is:

The idiot Jr. level support dweeb told me, promised me after I asked him twice if he was sure, that the tech would come to my house ON THANKSGIVING DAY to replace the motherboard in my laptop.

Now I don’t hold him responsible (though I do hold him stupid for not checking his calendar before making a promise that you and I know will cost Dell a mint to fulfill) for Dell’s policies.  As a Jr. level support dweeb he effectively did his job of keeping me from getting to a more senior support dweeb.

But to promise support on a national holiday is hilarious, and I’m going to have a blast ramming that one down their throats when the guy doesn’t show up.

Sorry – it’s late, I’m tired, I’ve had a bad day. 

The hilarious part is – I even gave him the chance to back out of his lie:

The problem is, I think, that of course Dell doesn’t use support people from the US, which would mean that he didn’t realize that Thursday was a holiday. Don’t know, don’t care.  They made a promise now I expect them to follow through.