Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Stealth on July 29, 2005, 10:14:09 am
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Not the rack most of you thought i was referring to when you read the title i'm sure;
i bought a new 42U rack at work... HP. now what i'm looking for is some cathode tubes to hide in the rack for eye-candy. i've got reasons for wanting to do this, and the company's going to cover the cost.
main problem is that all the 'cold cathode tubes' i can find are meant for the 12v computer power supply dongle thing. i need some that are standalone, can plug into a regular 120v outlet. anyone know where i could find them? i've tried ebay with no luck
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Cold cathode tubes in a server rack?
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!
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*expects this thread to get tons of views and few posts because of title*
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A rack from HP??!!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!
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Originally posted by Stealth
Not the rack most of you thought i was referring to when you read the title i'm sure;
i bought a new 42U rack at work... HP. now what i'm looking for is some cathode tubes to hide in the rack for eye-candy. i've got reasons for wanting to do this, and the company's going to cover the cost.
main problem is that all the 'cold cathode tubes' i can find are meant for the 12v computer power supply dongle thing. i need some that are standalone, can plug into a regular 120v outlet. anyone know where i could find them? i've tried ebay with no luck
hehe... dongle...
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Yer all a bunch of *******s.
There. i said it.
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directron.com
they are in houston (beltway 8 and harwin) and are really cheap. check there.
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you could always get, or better yet, build a 12v power suply.
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what some of you kids will never understand, and what will most likely keep you at the level you're at financially for most of your lives, is that what something LOOKS like is very important. If we have corporate clients walk into the offices, and they want to see the server room... most of them don't even know what a server IS, but if they open the door, and see our racks, with all the lights, and a soft, cold blue light illuminating the servers, that's eye-candy, and they'll think to themselves "Wow. this looks really professional"
Part of my job is not only to keep the network running, but to make sure it looks good in the process.
Also, does the idiot who called a HP rack "GAAAYYYYY" have any experience with any HP products other than desktops? Has he ever seen an HP rack in person? Most likely not... the sound of ignorance.
Thx Matthew
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Originally posted by Stealth
Also, does the idiot who called a HP rack "GAAAYYYYY" have any experience with any HP products other than desktops? Has he ever seen an HP rack in person? Most likely not... the sound of ignorance.
It's a proven fact that HP racks are 12% more homosexual than other industry-leading brands.
Edit: Also, this thread's title is very ambiguous. (Now that we've degenerated into gay jokes and such)
Oh and I'm with Bobb. Although if you're lazy you could buy a cheap ATX PSU and set that up behind the servers, shouldn't cause a lot of heat/noise issues as long as its low wattage.
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Originally posted by Stealth
what some of you kids will never understand, and what will most likely keep you at the level you're at financially for most of your lives, is that what something LOOKS like is very important. If we have corporate clients walk into the offices, and they want to see the server room... most of them don't even know what a server IS, but if they open the door, and see our racks, with all the lights, and a soft, cold blue light illuminating the servers, that's eye-candy, and they'll think to themselves "Wow. this looks really professional"
Part of my job is not only to keep the network running, but to make sure it looks good in the process.
Also, does the idiot who called a HP rack "GAAAYYYYY" have any experience with any HP products other than desktops? Has he ever seen an HP rack in person? Most likely not... the sound of ignorance.
Thx Matthew
Or if your clients DO know what servers are, they might think to themselves "wow, these guys have got nothing better to do than case mod their racks."
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Come to think of it, if you're going to do something as silly as mod your server racks, why not go all the way and install a fog machine? You could claim it's part of the 'coolant exhaust system'; it'd really add to the theatricality of things. :p
Plus, if the room's big enough, it could double as a disco dance hall when network activity's up and all the lights are flashing. :p Or, alternatively, during a massive system failure.
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Originally posted by Stealth
what some of you kids will never understand, and what will most likely keep you at the level you're at financially for most of your lives, is that what something LOOKS like is very important. If we have corporate clients walk into the offices, and they want to see the server room... most of them don't even know what a server IS, but if they open the door, and see our racks, with all the lights, and a soft, cold blue light illuminating the servers, that's eye-candy, and they'll think to themselves "Wow. this looks really professional"
Part of my job is not only to keep the network running, but to make sure it looks good in the process.
Also, does the idiot who called a HP rack "GAAAYYYYY" have any experience with any HP products other than desktops? Has he ever seen an HP rack in person? Most likely not... the sound of ignorance.
Thx Matthew
y'know, I spent 3 weeks last Christmas down at a reasonably sized middleware company, when they had a whole host of new people (including a new board member from HP who'd worked out the legal settlement at Sun with Bill Gates and Steve Balmer) and potential customers coming in. Not a single one AFAIK asked or even cared about how the hardware looked. In fact, from what I remember most of the servers were kept in a cupboard.
So anyone worth a damn would care more about the work being done than the shininess of hardware when evaluating a company. And I'd say you'd pretty damn stupid as well as insulting to insinuate that you'd be ' kept you at the level you're at financially for most of your lives' because you value substance over style.
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I have very mixed feelings about what Stealth is about to do. My mind started to scream as soon as it comprehended "case modded racks", and not in a positive way I might add.
I very much encourage companies to invest to server rooms. I have seen far too many server rooms that are not adequate for the room's task. Main faults have been poor air conditioning and extreme clutter of wires and cables on floor, on walls and on servers(!). Not to mention I've even seen one case where it was next to impossible to reach the malfunctioning server(!). But case modded racks... :wtf: The room is supposed to be extremely practical, not extremely cool looking.
Fine, a customer who knows next to nothing about computers visits your server room and sees all that flashyness. Maybe that's a good thing. But what happens when a IT professional visits your company and happens to see your server room if he did not even ask for it? He will likely think the company's ran by idiots.
I'd rather invest in keeping the server room as clean as possible, that gives a good impression to both non-tech savvy visitors as well as pros. Not to mention the fact that to my knowledge not even once has a pro asked to see a company's server room, not-tech savvy visitors probably don't even know to ask about it.
By the way. I should add that when a company also has a server line of products, it has nothing to do with desktops or notebooks. You cannot compare it, you might as well compare totally different companies. That said, I don't know a single company who's desktop and notebook product lines are top notch, but nearly all server lines are. They really cannot afford to make poor servers.
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Originally posted by SadisticSid
Or if your clients DO know what servers are, they might think to themselves "wow, these guys have got nothing better to do than case mod their racks."
Sign of a good sysadmin that. If you have nothing to do all day long it means you're doing an excellent job :D
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wow. too many people to reply to personally, so i'll sum it up:
I don't care if an "It professional" walks into the room and sees the racks glowing. if anything, i'm sure they'd think it was cool, i know i would... as long as everything works, i'm doing my job well.
not even once has a pro asked to see a company's server room, not-tech savvy visitors probably don't even know to ask about it
and
Not a single one AFAIK asked or even cared about how the hardware looked. In fact, from what I remember most of the servers were kept in a cupboard
our servers are kept in a server room... not a cupboard, just for the record. also, you're both showing your knowledge, i can see that. When we have important guests, they almost ALWAYS want to see around the offices... and part of the offices include the loud room with a door that says "No unauthorized entry"... it's pretty cool to open that door to them, and let them step into a 65 degree room, with dedicated A/C, all the telco equipment mounted on the wall, and the servers all running in their racks... a company that does 100% of its business via computers, and receives 95% of its revenue through electronic orders, i guarantee you they care to see what the servers that are doing it all look like.
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also, next time if you have a suggestion, find another thread. i asked where i could find the cathode tubes... i guess i shouldn't have even said what they were for, and i would've probably received much more helpful replies
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i like racks :)
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Originally posted by Stealth
also, next time if you have a suggestion, find another thread. i asked where i could find the cathode tubes... i guess i shouldn't have even said what they were for, and i would've probably received much more helpful replies
Probably not, anyone with at least one functional brain cell knows that cold cathode tubes have one purpose: ricing **** up. Even if you'd neglected to mention what they were for people would have been able to put 2 and 2 together and make 4.
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I still sudgest the extra power suply, the more clunck and wires you have the cooler it looks.
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Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Come to think of it, if you're going to do something as silly as mod your server racks, why not go all the way and install a fog machine? You could claim it's part of the 'coolant exhaust system'; it'd really add to the theatricality of things.
:lol:
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Originally posted by Stealth
wow. too many people to reply to personally, so i'll sum it up:
I don't care if an "It professional" walks into the room and sees the racks glowing. if anything, i'm sure they'd think it was cool, i know i would... as long as everything works, i'm doing my job well.
Actually, I'd wonder why on earth you thought it was an acceptable risk to go mucking about in your company's very-literal heart to make it look pretty, when no one should really be in there to appreciate it anyways.
Of course, I'm not exactly an IT professional, so I guess I'm more concerned with keeping stuff working and less concerned about impressing people with multicolored lights when working at an IT-based company. :wtf:
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Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Come to think of it, if you're going to do something as silly as mod your server racks, why not go all the way and install a fog machine? You could claim it's part of the 'coolant exhaust system'; it'd really add to the theatricality of things. :p
Plus, if the room's big enough, it could double as a disco dance hall when network activity's up and all the lights are flashing. :p Or, alternatively, during a massive system failure.
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:wtf: :lol:
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Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Actually, I'd wonder why on earth you thought it was an acceptable risk to go mucking about in your company's very-literal heart to make it look pretty, when no one should really be in there to appreciate it anyways.
Of course, I'm not exactly an IT professional, so I guess I'm more concerned with keeping stuff working and less concerned about impressing people with multicolored lights when working at an IT-based company. :wtf:
well see again... showing your ignorance... it's not a matter of "mucking around". installing cathodes to give it a glow isn't really jeapardizing anything in the server room.........
"no one should really be in there ... anyway". see, you're arguing with yourself. one minute you say it's the heart of the company, and the next minute you're saying no one shoudl be in there... the way it works is, if our servers RUN the company, then people who want to INVEST in the company are going to WANT TO SEE the servers that they're going to, ultimately, be investing in. they'll want to open the door and feel the freezing air come out... step onto the raised floor, and see the soft blue glow and loud noises of fans and blinking lights coming from the racks in the middle of the room. don't say they wouldn't, because they would. and it's not just me that thinks this... management's wanting me to go ahead and do it, it's on the company's budget. if you think you're smarter than the management of a multi-billion dollar company, then maybe you're not as smart as you think :-/
also, IT professional or not, in any company, the main goal of every employee in every department, is to impress management and potential clients as much as possible. if that means i have to get a fog machine and have the floor in a constant 2 inches of fog, then i would... but that would be going too far.
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Originally posted by Admiral LSD
Probably not, anyone with at least one functional brain cell knows that cold cathode tubes have one purpose: ricing **** up. Even if you'd neglected to mention what they were for people would have been able to put 2 and 2 together and make 4.
not true. they're for visual effect. eye-candy. and that's what i'm going for here...
tell ya what, i'll take before and after pictures so you can all judge ;)
Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Actually, I'd wonder why on earth you thought it was an acceptable risk to go mucking about in your company's very-literal heart to make it look pretty, when no one should really be in there to appreciate it anyways.
because I work in IT, and it's my job?
EDIT: Also, bobbau, you're right... that's probably going to be the best bet in the end
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If I was going to invest in a company, I'd choose one that wasn't pissing away money on unecessary frivolities.
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Dude, do you have any clue what "rice" means?
EYE CANDY.
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"no one should really be in there ... anyway". see, you're arguing with yourself. one minute you say it's the heart of the company, and the next minute you're saying no one shoudl be in there... the way it works is, if our servers RUN the company, then people who want to INVEST in the company are going to WANT TO SEE the servers that they're going to, ultimately, be investing in. they'll want to open the door and feel the freezing air come out... step onto the raised floor, and see the soft blue glow and loud noises of fans and blinking lights coming from the racks in the middle of the room. don't say they wouldn't, because they would. and it's not just me that thinks this... management's wanting me to go ahead and do it, it's on the company's budget. if you think you're smarter than the management of a multi-billion dollar company, then maybe you're not as smart as you think :-/
No, I'm not arguing with myself. When you meet new people, do you open up your chest and show them your heart? No.
And if your server room is in a public place, then you will have issues. I guarantee it. Sooner or later someone will push the wrong button, trip over a cord and unplug it, spill something on the equipment, etc. Not to mention if you constantly have warm bodies there, it hinders the A/C.
Finally, prove to me that I'm stupider than the manager of a multi-billion dollar company. Go ahead. Prove it. Maybe I'm just smart enough that I wouldn't need to rely on cathode-ray lights in a server room to prove that my company is a good investment.
because I work in IT, and it's my job?
The sign of a good IT technician, as someone pointed out earlier, is being able to set things up and have as few problems as possible. If you're continually mucking around with the server racks, you're not doing your job.
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You expect the management of multi-billion dollar companies to know how to manage servers? Better than the geeks in this forum (many of whom are software devs or in IT)? Can you say "delusional"?
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Stealth, you may want to check out Startech for the cathodes and antec or xoxide or something for a silent PSU.
And for the record, i think this is very cool.
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Originally posted by Liberator
And for the record, i think this is very cool.
Why doesn't this surprise me in the least?
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*sighs*... one by one:
No, I'm not arguing with myself. When you meet new people, do you open up your chest and show them your heart? No.
if that person's wanting to invest in a company, or "do business" with you, then yeah... you may want to take your shirt off and show them what's underneath... i'm sure you'll agree
And if your server room is in a public place, then you will have issues. I guarantee it. Sooner or later someone will push the wrong button, trip over a cord and unplug it, spill something on the equipment, etc. Not to mention if you constantly have warm bodies there, it hinders the A/C.
it's not a public place... it's locked and under heavy security, but again... it's not like people are going to be running around inside. it's a matter of opening the door, everyone looking in, then closing the door... no one can damage anything in there if they tried anyway... i mean, everything's locked into the rack, which is bolted to the floor... no visible (or accessible) cables, etc. so this point is void
Finally, prove to me that I'm stupider than the manager of a multi-billion dollar company. Go ahead. Prove it. Maybe I'm just smart enough that I wouldn't need to rely on cathode-ray lights in a server room to prove that my company is a good investment.
again... i don't care how smart or stupid YOU are... we're doing this to cater to (must be the fifth time i've said this) potential clients, who want to see the heart of the company, and who want to be as impressed as possible by it. we could open the door and have them look into a spotlessly white, clean, freezing, loud room with racks in the middle... or we could open it up and they could see the cold blue glow coming from the rack... that's cool, whether you admit it or not.
You expect the management of multi-billion dollar companies to know how to manage servers? Better than the geeks in this forum (many of whom are software devs or in IT)? Can you say "delusional"?
Oh my god, i swear... since when is this a matter of managing servers!?!? did you even READ the thread? No one's questioning how we manage servers... that's not an ISSUE here. it's a matter of making something look as attractive as possible to the high end clients we have that fly from all over the country to visit our offices!11111
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again... i don't care how smart or stupid YOU are...
Then why did you bring it up in the first place? :wtf:
Oh my god, i swear... since when is this a matter of managing servers!?!? did you even READ the thread? No one's questioning how we manage servers... that's not an ISSUE here. it's a matter of making something look as attractive as possible to the high end clients we have that fly from all over the country to visit our offices!11111
:lol:
Well, part of managing servers is keeping them running in an efficent manner. Stringing lights around in the room != efficient. On the plus side it doesn't sound like there's not much chance of someone accidentally knocking something out while they're in there.
we could open the door and have them look into a spotlessly white, clean, freezing, loud room with racks in the middle... or we could open it up and they could see the cold blue glow coming from the rack... that's cool, whether you admit it or not.
Actually, a "spotless white, clean, freezing" room sounds pretty cool. Now, loud doesn't sound so great, but unless you're installing a thick viewing window or blue lights that double as sound cancelling devices, I doubt it'll matter either way.
I guess you could mask it with some twilight zone music. :D
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Originally posted by Kamikaze
You expect the management of multi-billion dollar companies to know how to manage servers? Better than the geeks in this forum (many of whom are software devs or in IT)? Can you say "delusional"?
Well c'mon. You know they're smarter than you. I mean, THEY MAKE BILLIONZ!!11lol
Originally posted by Stelath
if that person's wanting to invest in a company, or "do business" with you, then yeah... you may want to take your shirt off and show them what's underneath... i'm sure you'll agree
That really depends on what kind of business you are conducting. What kin dof business do you do that has you taking off your shirt to get people to give you money? :wtf:
You know, I'll probably regret asking that someday.
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Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Actually, a "spotless white, clean, freezing" room sounds pretty cool. Now, loud doesn't sound so great, but unless you're installing a thick viewing window or blue lights that double as sound cancelling devices, I doubt it'll matter either way.
IMO the perfect server room would be clean, and full of shiny, perfect condition brushed aluminium (cos it's pretty nice looking....ok, that is a bit hypocritical statement to make) server racks. And that's all.
It's like having a mint condition, ordinary car and adding an exaggerated spoiler, black windows, and tubed flourescent lights under the wheel arches. You might think it looks neat, your more sycopantic mates might too, but everyone else will point and laugh.
If your really insist on appealing visually, choose something taste neutral; black, grey, white, etc - mild colours that are commonly associated with working technology.
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Originally posted by Knight Templar
That really depends on what kind of business you are conducting. What kin dof business do you do that has you taking off your shirt to get people to give you money? :wtf:
You know, I'll probably regret asking that someday.
well i'm glad that went right over your head... the reason i SAID that was to imply that if (how to put this) someone's business relies on people knowing what their body looks like, you think their 'clients' are going to be content just seeing their clothes? of course not...
i wasn't the one who brought that up though, someone else did
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Well, part of managing servers is keeping them running in an efficent manner. Stringing lights around in the room != efficient. On the plus side it doesn't sound like there's not much chance of someone accidentally knocking something out while they're in there.
again, maybe it's because i work on servers all day, but i'm still failing to see how adding lights make a server room/ servers run less efficient. :wtf:
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Because the time could be better used elsewhere to test/check/implement? Because it represents a piece of equipment that draws power & took time to install, yet has no functional purpose.
Efficiency is minimal effort for maximum functional result, and regardless of effort there's no useful result here.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
Because the time could be better used elsewhere to test/check/implement? Because it represents a piece of equipment that draws power & took time to install, yet has no functional purpose.
Efficiency is minimal effort for maximum functional result, and regardless of effort there's no useful result here.
not true. there are many times we all sit around the whole day, fixing a "problem" here and there like replacing a printer toner, etc. it's not like we have a constant flow of servers coming in that we have to "test/check/implement". we do have a lot of spare time on our hands. the better we do, the more time we have.
on the other hand, there are nights where i've worked from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and then get an email on the way home that a SQL box has gone down, and then i go back to work, and work through the night, till 3:00 the next afternoon getting it up and running again... but it's not always like that.
there's no useful result here.
again... that must be an opinion, because your opinion differs from mine, the rest of our IT, and management.
EDIT: while i'm on that, do you mind if i ask you how old you are, and what job you hold (what industry you're in), and any previous jobs? I'm trying to find out with what experience you're making these comments :-/
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Originally posted by Stealth
not true. there are many times we all sit around the whole day, fixing a "problem" here and there like replacing a printer toner, etc. it's not like we have a constant flow of servers coming in that we have to "test/check/implement". we do have a lot of spare time on our hands. the better we do, the more time we have.
on the other hand, there are nights where i've worked from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and then get an email on the way home that a SQL box has gone down, and then i go back to work, and work through the night, till 3:00 the next afternoon getting it up and running again... but it's not always like that.
again... that must be an opinion, because your opinion differs from mine, the rest of our IT, and management.
will it make the servers more secure (physically or electronically), or reliable, or fault tolerant?
Originally posted by Stealth
EDIT: while i'm on that, do you mind if i ask you how old you are, and what job you hold (what industry you're in), and any previous jobs? I'm trying to find out with what experience you're making these comments :-/
If you must know; Aged 22, 1st class BSc (Hons) (around 80-85% average over all 4 years) in Computer Science from University of Strathclyde, followed by 8 months rolling consultancy work for Enigmatec (www.enigmatec.com), developing new patent technology designed by Prof. Richard Connor of Strathclyde University (also Head of CS) and Prof Alan Dearle of St. Andrews University. Currently in final stage of interview process for Amazon SDC / applying for MSc courses (Forensic Informatics / Advanced CS).
(Work included several trips to the London office (both of them) when they were inviting clients from HP, Sun, Intel, etc around for talks)
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wow that's great. you should replace all the management and IT jobs we have... because your opinion differs so much from theirs... and mine.
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Perhaps I've just not had the time to allow a pragmatic technological approach towards functionality and efficiency to become overridden with a need to add useless gimmicks?
What exactly did you tell your management? Did you suggest an alternative or give a SWOT-style analysis? Or just say it'd impress people and hope they took that at face value? do you have a mockup design set out? (y'know, to check the cabling positions, airflow, power usage, etc) Have you asked any clients? What have they said previously when you've been touring them round the server room?
I find it odd that you'd rather have blue lights than a spotlessly clean server room. As cathode ray tubes AFAIK don't have a noise cancelling purpose, I doubt noise is a differentiating factor. You made to comparison to seeing the 'body' of a company - anyone wanting to see that, if they have any savvy (and they bloody well should), won't give a **** about lighting, because it has nothing to do with the ability of the company to manage or manipulate the servers. And if that big client bloke is impressed and goes back to his business, and asks his tech support guys why they don't have little light tubes in the server room - what're they going to say? Perhaps 'because we don't need them'?
(Of course, it becomes even less important if you're not actually selling server rooms.)
Just tell me one tangible benefit - a factual one, not opinion of what 'looks nice' to Mr Random Client - of cathode tube lighting.
And don't dare think that because someone else agree with you at your work, you can call people disagreeing here 'kid's or say we'll never get a decent job (etc) because of that.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
Perhaps I've just not had the time to allow a pragmatic technological approach towards functionality and efficiency to become overridden with a need to add useless gimmicks?
What exactly did you tell your management? Did you suggest an alternative or give a SWOT-style analysis? Or just say it'd impress people and hope they took that at face value? do you have a mockup design set out? (y'know, to check the cabling positions, airflow, power usage, etc) Have you asked any clients? What have they said previously when you've been touring them round the server room?
actually i didn't suggest anything... one of our vars did, and the IT manager of the mother-company agreed, and that was it...
I find it odd that you'd rather have blue lights than a spotlessly clean server room. As cathode ray tubes AFAIK don't have a noise cancelling purpose, I doubt noise is a differentiating factor. You made to comparison to seeing the 'body' of a company - anyone wanting to see that, if they have any savvy (and they bloody well should), won't give a **** about lighting, because it has nothing to do with the ability of the company to manage or manipulate the servers. And if that big client bloke is impressed and goes back to his business, and asks his tech support guys why they don't have little light tubes in the server room - what're they going to say? Perhaps 'because we don't need them'?
but maybe subconsciously they'll think "wow, that looks cool"... i'm sure they'll never go to their IT managers and complain that they don't have cathode tubes, but at least it'll get the effect to them
(Of course, it becomes even less important if you're not actually selling server rooms.)
Just tell me one tangible benefit - a factual one, not opinion of what 'looks nice' to Mr Random Client - of cathode tube lighting.
THAT IS THE BENEFIT!!1... *shakes head*. with all the experience and degrees you're swinging, you can't see the benefit of making something look appealing to a large client? maybe you should go right back to school :-/ granted there's no 100% guarantee that everyone who looks into our server room is going to be awe-struck, but again... taking slight risks is part of business, right? (another thing you shoudl've learned in college), and if in the end we spent $50 on cathode tubes, it's not really TOO big an investment...........
And don't dare think that because someone else agree with you at your work, you can call people disagreeing here 'kid's or say we'll never get a decent job (etc) because of that.
first, when i made that remark, i'd received the following comments so far in my thread:
- GAAAAYYYYY
- a rack from HP? GAAAAAAYYYYY
- "expects thread to get lots of views based on title"
- hehehe... dongle.
- Yer all a bunch of *****s
Second, the point i was making, whether they liked it or not, is that this would be visually appealing to corporate clients (read: eye-candy). it's not a matter of whether or not it would... no opinion there... it WILL... since a LARGE PERCENTAGE of the higher-end clients don't care what a server room "should" (in your opinion) look like. the more appealing we make it, the better. obviously if we went to the extent of installing a disco light, and fog machine (thanks whoever the clown who broght that up was), then we'd be going too far. this thread was not created to entertain opinions of what i was doing. it was to ask where i could get 120v standalone cold cathode tubes. end of story
... you see where i'm coming from? the last two replies i got were decent (thx bobbau and matthew). AT THIS POINT it was not a matter of agreeing with my work or not that prompted me to say that... it was a bunch of kids yelling "GAYYYYY" and laughing because i said "dongle", and not understanding the benefit of appealing to clients... i'm sure you'll agree if that's the way they act, that they most likely won't really increase their financial horizons too much...
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soooooo let's put an end to this 'discussion'... i'll let you know when i've got it done (thanks to the few people who actually CONTRIBUTED to this thread), and post before/after pictures, and you can tell me what you think. since in the end, after all, it's a matter of opinion...
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[q]actually i didn't suggest anything... one of our vars did, and the IT manager of the mother-company agreed, and that was it...
[/q]
(vars?). AAh, so it could just as easily be to keep the employees happy?
[q]but maybe subconsciously they'll think "wow, that looks cool"... i'm sure they'll never go to their IT managers and complain that they don't have cathode tubes, but at least it'll get the effect to them[/q]
Even in the best case, it won't make them sign up. In the worst they'll dislike it. Any representative worth their salt would judge on something a lot more tangible than server lights - to do otherwise would be neglecting their responsibility to their company.
[q]THAT IS THE BENEFIT!!1... *shakes head*. with all the experience and degrees you're swinging, you can't see the benefit of making something look appealing to a large client? maybe you should go right back to school :-/[/q]
No, I see through it. You've no guarantee what the Client will or will not like in terms of aesthetics. You can see that here by the difference of opinion; and this sort of demographic (gamers, probably mostly in the 16-mid 20s range) is the sort who really you'd expect to like flashy lighting.
If I was assessing a company I wanted to invest, or purchase from, I would ignore flashy lighting in the server room. The 'eye candy' I'd be interested in would be organizational - are the servers in good condition, is the cabling organized and tucked away from tripping risk, etc.
It's not a factual benefit. It's a matter of opinion.
[q]what some of you kids will never understand, and what will most likely keep you at the level you're at financially for most of your lives, is that what something LOOKS like is very important. If we have corporate clients walk into the offices, and they want to see the server room... most of them don't even know what a server IS, but if they open the door, and see our racks, with all the lights, and a soft, cold blue light illuminating the servers, that's eye-candy, and they'll think to themselves "Wow. this looks really professional"[/q]
That didn't apply to anyone replying, that applied to anyone with a different opinion. Implying that to do so, would mean you'd never get a promotion or good paying job, etc.
Personally, I don't give a **** about fancy lighting, and I focus on functionality and efficiency above flashy stuff in my work. That's my opinion, and I think it has, does and will stand in good stead in my line of work.
Nor do I like having my intelligence or experience asked for - because if you want to challenge my opinion, challenge it based on what I've said, not what degree I've had, etc. i think I've explained enough of measoning for that.
EDIT; and that's my opinion. You'll note (and hopefully forgive me if) I get narky if I feel I've been attacked for holding it.
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no that's fine, and i'm sorry for anything i said on my part... no hard feelings.
i just want to give this a try. it's not going to be "flashy lighting", it's just going to be a soft, cold glow around the servers. i think it will look cool. i'm not going to overdo it or anything, don't worry, and it won't be a large investment, or too hard to revert to the previous configuration ;)
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I think the idea is silly, but you didn't ask for my opinion, you asked me how to get it done, that's why I sudgested getting/makeing a seperate power suply for the 12v tubes. I work in a plant with a upper management office built right into the front of it, the plant's primary purpose has clearly been demonstraited to be to impress investors, this has been made painfully clear given there investment in new machines that cost 3/4ths of a million dolars that all look very cool (includeing a machine that has a built in robot arm) but actualy work slightly slower than the older equipment we had, and with a vastly higher waist and mess. yeah, haveing tubes that light up the equipment would probly do the job of displaying the assets, they are set up so that you take the side off of a rack and they can see all the stuff inside lit up by them right? it might be a good idea to hook these into a seperate circit so you can turn them off when not showing off (weather you do turn them off or not isn't important, just so it's set up so you can), that way on the rare occasion you get some IT guy who looks at it and gets a bug up his ass like most of the people here have, you can say; "well we usualy only turn these on when were showing off or fixing some hardware /*flips switch*/ see, anyway as I was saying the router over here handles..." or if your boss ever asks what your going to do about all the electricity the lights are waisting.
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The way I see it, he probably went to his superiors and said "hey, I could get some cool looking lights to go with the racks for the server room" and they probably said "hey, that does sound cool, go for it" with the company covering it and all (at least, that's basically how it works at my job). And if his superiors said "go for it" then he'd better. I'm not sure why everyone's giving him such a hard time. :doubt: If you're having such a problem, contact his superiors about how you think their server room should be run. :blah:
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similar to that, except it was actually suggested by someone else, and they liked it, and told me to go with it ;)
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Well there you go. My supervisor tells me to waste boatloads of ink to make the DVDs for the office staff look cool.. even when it's their own personal copy that no one else will see, nor care.. and even if it's a waste of money and resources in my opinion, it's not in her opinion. So, I do what I'm told, and I keep my job. Amazing! ;)