Foreseeing problems (linux related)
       Sunday Jan 24 12:17:58 2021
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       One of the things I am most proud of after using linux for 15 years is 
       that I can foresee problems before they show up. This week I had to 
       update our HP proliant server with debian linux oldstable release 
       squeeze and before running the magic words apt update && apt upgrade I 
       thought: Well there are two things to keep in mind here. One, one of 
       the disks in the raid might be broken (which is often the case after 
       months of 24/7 service) and two, the new kernel might fail to boot. 
       
       It turned out I was right. One of the disks broke and the new kernel 
       failed to boot. Since I could not fix it remotely I had to go to the 
       data center to manually boot the system and then remotely fix the 
       broken kernel.
       
       The system was up and running in a few minutes thanks to my expertise 
       in dealing with broken systems. This post has nothing to do with egos 
       or self-praise. It is just a reminder that experience is always a 
       plus. No matter how clever or geek you are. Experience is always 
       an extra point. 
       
       I am really happy that I was able to solve the problem on a Friday 
       and the server was up and running during the weekend ;-)