Server Room Smells Can Be an Early Warning

Barence writes "As embarrassing as it may seem, an eggy smell in a server room needn't mean broaching the delicate subject of hygiene with a colleague. It can actually be a signal that something is about to go wrong with your server setup, as this consultant discovered after days of assuming questionable personal habits were to blame. The culprit? An expiring UPS device, sending out its own unique warning signal."

Riiiiiiiiight

[Anonymous Coward]

Amazing how many dying UPS devices must be hidden in my boss's office.

But....

[santax]

Does this mean I can use my father-in-law as a UPS?

Can be?

[bertok]

"Can be an early warning?"

"CAN be?"

Like all IT administrators who've actually worked with server hardware, I have a heightened sense of smell, but only specifically for the smell of burning plastic. It's not a mere warning, it's an instant alarm that'll have every IT person in the room sniffing the power supplies.

We IT people, we're like bloodhounds or something. I can smell burned plastic from across the street. I've been set off by welders at a car mechanic a block away. I've been set off by an invisibly tiny bit of cheese someone dropped into a toaster oven once... three floors down from the server room. Had me in a right panic.

IT is all fun and games until the servers literally melt into slag. There's no repair CD for that -- and we all know that the backup tapes, while wonderful for backing up, aren't so good at the actual restoring bit. That's why they're called backup tapes, not restore tapes, see?

Re:Who's minding the servers?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Windows in the server room?"

You'd be surprised how many servers still run XP professional, or 2003

Computers run on smoke

[jgreco]

Computers run on smoke... when the smoke comes out, they stop running.

Re:Riiiiiiiiight

[Anonymous Coward]

worst goatkcd ever

Re:Can be?

[drinkypoo]

I have a heightened sense of smell, but only specifically for the smell of burning plastic.[...] I've been set off by an invisibly tiny bit of cheese someone dropped into a toaster oven once...

Must have been American "cheese", the only kind you can't tell apart from the wrapper.

Shhh

[gadzook33]

Listen...do you smell something?

Re:Ooooga Booooga oh S#!t

[dna_(c)(tm)(r)]

If the egg smell is strong and you quit smelling it

And how exactly do you tell if the smell is gone or your nose just gave out?

When 13 minutes later your body assumes a horizontal position without any conscience action on your part. This is confirmed when your hart stops beating and you stop worrying about the state of your UPS.