Anybody who has ever worked for one minute in Microsoft SQL (or any SQL database for that matter) knows how easy it is to screw up in the language and delete something you didn’t mean to.  Typically, I write my SQL queries that will delete data from a table out as SELECT queries before hand, just to make sure I’m getting rid of what I expect to be getting rid of.  Standard DBAish best practice right?

Unfortunately, today, I was in a hurry (aren’t we always) and I didn’t do this simple check before I wrote out a Delete statement.  I noticed that the process seemed to be taking far longer than I expected, but I chalked that up to a very busy database, and let it run.  Then I saw 1347323 rows affected in the Results Window.  Call in the toilet paper patrol boys, we’ve got a brownie…

Thankfully, this table isn’t really modified on a daily basis, so I was able to restore last night’s Snapshot of the database as a clone (thank you Netapp!) and just copied the backed up table back over.  I know I’m not the first, nor will I be the last to do something really stupid like this and have to call on a backup, but man’s it’s nice to know they’re there when you need them!

As I was going through and creating our backup plan for work, I noticed that LCR (Local Continuous Replication) kept failing for the Exchange Server.  As LCR is necessary for ensuring you have a secondary live database (in case your primary fails), it’s kind of a big deal.  It had been disabled, most likely because it was creating HUGE log files and impacting storage space.  Well, after doing some additional research, I created a new LUN on our SAN and after fighting with the iSCSI initiator for a while (until I realized I forgot to map the LUN to the server) finally got a new volume to shove the log files on.  But every time I would start seeding it, it would immediately fail.  After running the Test-ReplicationHealth cmdlet, it kept reporting that it was missing log files.

While we run a backup of the Information Store nightly, something happened in between that backup and the LCR attempt, so there was some misinformation about what log files needed to be around.  The solution?  Rerun the backup process for the information store in question, and then start the LCR seed.  Immediately, I got a healthy and have been healthy since.

I hate MS Backup, but in this case, it was essential.

Keep the Web Open, don’t kill due process. Don’t kill freedom.

I had to take a minute to sit down and write about the incredible blessings that we’ve had this Christmas season, that have allowed us to bless others’ lives.  I am grateful that we have been able to provide Christmas presents for people outside our typical ring of family.  We’ve been able to bless other people’s lives in other ways beyond physical gifts.  It has been a great reminder that much of the reason for giving gifts at Christmas is to be symbolic of the great eternal gift that we were given the Savior.  I’m very grateful for that gift as well.  This season, we have much to be grateful for.  I’ll post more details.

I hesitate to even write this, because I really do love VMWare products.  We’re currently using ESX 4.0 at work (moving to ESXi 4.1) with vCenter Server managing 3 hosts, and then we have a couple of independent ESXi 4.0 servers running as well.  Because we’re getting ready to upgrade the 4.0 servers to ESXi, we wanted to have a support contract in place to make sure we were covered in case something blew up.

Our contract expired back in 2009, and because we hadn’t needed the service contract, we just let it lapse.  Unbeknownst to us, when you go to reactivate your license, VMWare makes the effective date of the service contract retroactive to the first day after your contract expired, in our case more than 2 years ago.  OK, that would be fine, EXCEPT THAT THEY CHARGE YOU FOR THE WHOLE TIME IT WAS EXPIRED!!!  Apparently, VMWare is under the impression that you can travel back in time and take advantage of their support contract in the past or something.

My boss, who is a diehard VMWare fan actually said, “Move everything to Hyper-V.  They can stick their license…” (and because I’m clean, and he’s Australian, I’ll not quote the rest of his diatribe. )  I’m going to see how much it is just to buy NEW licenses, as I have a pretty good feeling it’ll actually be cheaper to go that way, and then we’ll just apply the new license keys to the install.

Anybody else had this problem with VMWare?

I realize that I’m probably going to follow my typical pattern of making a few posts to my blog every once in a while and then forget about it for months as I usually do.  I really hope that’s not the case.

On August 31, 2011, my father, C. Edward Clark passed away in Salem, Virginia.  Dad and I hadn’t been close for years and the last time I went to see him, dementia was really beginning to set in.  But even with those facts, it was an emotional time.  Tammy tried to call, but I was in a meeting so I didn’t answer the phone.  She then texted me that he had died, so I called and we drove up to Virginia.

That night, before we left, I was feeling a very strange combination of sadness and melancholy.  I felt like I should be more upset and sad than I was, though, because it didn’t really seem to impact me.  After driving all night (we left at 7pm CDT and arrived in Waynesboro at 5AM EDT the next morning) and only getting 2 or so hours of sleep before meeting at the funeral home, I was still in a bit of a haze.  We met with a great funeral director who was very kind, helpful and loving.  Luckily, most of the plans had already been taken care of with his lawyer and Tammy years ago, but even so, it took 4 hours or so to finalize the plans. 

I was able to call the Bishop of the Waynesboro Ward and get him to request some brethren to help me dress Dad.  Steve Sweeney, Frank Willoughby and Jarrett Gold all showed up at the funeral home and assisted me in getting Dad dressed.  I took a few minutes to say some goodbyes to his mortal body, and to remind him that he was now ready to be resurrected.  As we were dressing him, I had the realization that the last time I had seen him in his temple clothing was when he had attended with me as I received my own endowments at the Washington DC temple in 1995 before I went on my mission.  This caused the tears to flow, as it reminded me of one of a number of good things that my father did for me.

I was able to assist Tammy with his eulogy, an exercise that was healing for us both.  I was then able to dedicate his grave, and we had a wonderful talk from Ron Fauver at the gravesite.  As per Dad’s requests, there was no public viewing, and there was no funeral service; he simply wanted a graveside service.  After seeing the grief that it caused my aunts and uncle, it helped me to realize that the funeral and visitation aren’t for the deceased, they’re for the survivors.  I know that’s an obvious thing, but it had never really hit me.  Finally, as per our agreement, Tammy presented the flag to Owen, because of their shared birthday, and because of the fact that he is the only member of his generation to remember Dad.  Owen was overcome and broke down in tears, which inspired Zoni and I to do the same.  It’s a moment I think none of us will ever forget.

Since his burial, I’ve had a number of times where emotions overcame me.  I think this is part of how I’ve been dealing with his death.  I am eternally grateful for the plan of salvation and the comfort that the knowledge of the temporary nature of death brings.  I have always been able to handle death well, and this was just another example of that.

Moreso, I’m grateful for the people of the Waynesboro Ward.  It was so very humbling to have the assistance of those brethren in dressing my father.  It was an enjoyable (though awkward, to be sure) experience because of their attitudes and their spirit.  Going home and having them there to help truly felt like I was returning to my extended family.  I guess, in many ways, I was.  As I bore my testimony yesterday in our home White House Ward, I was overcome by the realization that our children will do the same one day with the White House Ward.  Their Steve Sweeney or Frank Willoughby or Jarrett Gold will come from the people they’re growing up with now.  What a pleasant blessing they are in our lives.

I was also so impressed by my mother.  Though she and Dad divorced some 20 years ago, I know that she has always cared for him, which is just amazing considering the abuse that she suffered mentally from him.  She was upset and emotional, but as always, she was a support for Tammy and I and stayed strong for us.

As I was copying posts over from previous blogs, I came across the open letter I wrote to my father.  If they have internet on the other side, perhaps he’s able to read it.  Just as it was therapeutic then for me to write out my feelings, it has been therapeutic now to do the same.  Death is only temporary.  My father, who was racked for many years by Multiple Sclerosis, which led to his inability to even think straight, is now free of this mortal coil and can exercise his spirit in ways he hasn’t been able to for years.  He was welcomed home by his mother and father and by his brother and sister who passed on before him.  He is now hard at work, I’m sure, spreading the gospel of peace and repentance.  As I have reflected on my memories of him, it has helped me realize how much I wish I had his journals.  Perhaps, this will serve as an impetus for me to continue writing my thoughts, so my children can know how special they are to me.

So, I’ve created my blog again, and I decided that I wanted to go back and capture all of the previous blog posts I’ve ever made from the (now 5) different iterations of my site.  Thanks to the wonderful magic of the World Wide Web Archive (aka the Wayback Machine) at archive.org, it was actually pretty easy.

I highly, highly recommend taking a look at your site over the past few years.  Luckily, they had archives from riceboyler.com all the way back to 2001.  That’s impressive.

Way to go guys, I love what you do for us!