Don't Shoot, I'm Only The System Administrator!
The Register, Friday, June 27th, 2025
This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Nigel" who shared a story from 2004 when the office he worked in found itself in the path of Hurricane Ivan, the superstorm that rampaged its way across the Caribbean and the USA for almost three weeks.
"At the time I worked in my company's main office in the computer room keeping all the phone, network, and server systems online," Nigel told On Call.
Nigel's employer installed a substantial diesel generator and uninterruptible power supplies but hadn't tested them before Hurricane Ivan rolled into town.
"We all agreed that power outages lasting days were possible, and that it was far from certain it would be possible to refuel the generator," Nigel told On Call.
The company therefore devised a plan to save generator fuel by shutting down its systems at night, when nobody needed them, and then restart them in the morning.