Fire the techies? (Apple Education article)

[Doctor Q]

A new Apple education story about the Yale Daily News goes a little too far, in my opinion, in implying that you don't have to bother with any form of tech support to keep a mission-critical server running 24/7.

Beginning in January of 2004, the publication shifted its technology infrastructure to Power Mac G5 computers, Mac OS X, and Xserves. Despite the fact that the News has no tech support staff, this powerful new system has yet to miss a beat.

System downtime just isn't an option, says photography editor Nathan Francis. "It's really important to us to have a system in place that basically manages itself, and will be self-supporting," Francis says. "None of us wants to have a reliance on a tech support staff. We'd used Macs for a long time for our production needs ... so when Mac OS X came out, offering even more stability and reliability, it just made sense to us to make the upgrade."

I certainly know that sometimes a server will run without intervention for months or years. I manage one myself for a school. I don't have to tend to it often, but I know there would be scores of unproductive students and an unhappy teacher if the server had a problem and I didn't jump in to help. If they believe Apple's article, should they tell me I'm no longer needed?

When an organization, department, or group has nobody on call for technical issues, it seems foolhearty to me, like saying "I'm a pretty good driver so I don't need auto insurance."

Macs are easy to set up (most of the time). Macs are reliable (most of the time). These are good marketing points for Apple. But I don't think Apple should imply that that tech support is no longer needed to run servers. Yale has been lucky, and using Macs "makes you lucky", but isn't Yale's news group a little too optimistic?

 

[Sun Baked]

Macs are easy to set up (most of the time). Macs are reliable (most of the time). These are good marketing points for Apple. But I don't think Apple should imply that that tech support is no longer needed to run servers. Yale has been lucky, and using Macs "makes you lucky", but isn't Yale's news group a little too optimistic?

Yes, a little too optimistic.

It's great when the XServe is operating just like you want, but as some have stopped by and said -- there are things that go beyond the typical novice situation and/or Apple simplified interface.

For these situations, it's great to have a person who knows unix and Apple Server setups.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Very optimistic.

Human inteference is always needed for one reason: "common sense".

Sure, a couple of Xserves with IP failover, all racked and stacked in server racks attached to a UPS system, wired to redundant networks will stay up and running for a long, long time.
But occasionally you want to upgrade the OS, restore a lost file from a backup, manually check the syslog... etc. Same reason why pilots keep flying planes.
And for the users, it is a comforting feeling to be able to contact a real person who is knowledgeable, and can really understand other humans.