October 4 – phone rings, 4AM

phone rings, 4AM
still asleep, all websites down
way to wake up fast

Once a month or so, I take my turn being ‘on call’ to take overnight support calls if stations have problems.

And call they do.

With 40+ websites at TV Stations affiliated with 4 different networks in 4 different time zones, something can always go wrong.

It can be a problem with just one website.

Problem: I can’t get into our website
Answer: Have you tried to switch your computer off then on?

It can be a regional problem impacting several sites.

Problem: We can’t get into our websites
Answer: Have you tried to switch your computer off then on?

It can be server farm issues that impacts the eastern half or the western half of the company.

Problem: Everyone on the west coast can’t get into their websites
Answer: Have they tried to switch their computers off then on?

And it can be, once in awhile, a problem that takes all the websites offline.

Down.

Crashed.

404, not found.

In the words of the immortal Buster Scruggs, The San Saba Songbird , ‘That ain’t good’.

When that happens, the problem is not ‘what can I do to fix this’ but ‘who am I going to have to wake up to fix this.’

I will say this.

The words, ‘all sites are down’ sure wakes you up fast.