Monday, April 17, 2006
Learnings at Work - Applying Windows Security Patch!
On Friday, April 14th, we recieved an email from our company's Network Adminstrator team stating that they would be applying a Windows Security patch to all the desktops and the servers. We all went home, after making sure that all our desktops are logged off.
We came back on Monday to work. Everything was seemed to be working fine. By 10am, we started getting calls from our application users stating that they were experiencing performance issues and runtime errors with some of our web applications. We did our part of the checking to make sure that no one had made any changes to the production environment. By lunch time, some of the team leads had decided to do a "Reboot" of all the application servers and DB servers to get things under control. We all went to lunch, after restarting our servers. We thought the problem was over.
We came back from lunch to see that the problem was still there. We had databases on multiple servers and our applications were using the data from all these servers. We were having major performance issues because of just one server. We called the Network guys who performed the patch update and asked them to remove all the patches from all the servers to see, if that was the root cause. But, it wasn't !!
Then we started applying the patches again. When we reached the server, which was causing us more headache, we found that the server was missing one of the important pre-requisite patch needed for the current patch to be applied. When we manually started applying the patch, we realized this fact and brought the server in sync with all the remaining servers. Bingo!!! All the applications started working fine. This particular server was missing some MDAC patches and hence we were facing so many issues.
Learning: Don't blindly apply security patches to all the servers. Check what are the pre-requisites and make sure that the serves have them all before letting the new patches to be installed. Let the team also follow the process and publish the procedure to be followed for patch updates. Take extra precautions while applying patches to application and database servers.
I would like to hear, how such situations are being managed to make sure that all the machines in an organization are up-to-date with the same patch? Any response would be a new learning for me !!
We came back on Monday to work. Everything was seemed to be working fine. By 10am, we started getting calls from our application users stating that they were experiencing performance issues and runtime errors with some of our web applications. We did our part of the checking to make sure that no one had made any changes to the production environment. By lunch time, some of the team leads had decided to do a "Reboot" of all the application servers and DB servers to get things under control. We all went to lunch, after restarting our servers. We thought the problem was over.
We came back from lunch to see that the problem was still there. We had databases on multiple servers and our applications were using the data from all these servers. We were having major performance issues because of just one server. We called the Network guys who performed the patch update and asked them to remove all the patches from all the servers to see, if that was the root cause. But, it wasn't !!
Then we started applying the patches again. When we reached the server, which was causing us more headache, we found that the server was missing one of the important pre-requisite patch needed for the current patch to be applied. When we manually started applying the patch, we realized this fact and brought the server in sync with all the remaining servers. Bingo!!! All the applications started working fine. This particular server was missing some MDAC patches and hence we were facing so many issues.
Learning: Don't blindly apply security patches to all the servers. Check what are the pre-requisites and make sure that the serves have them all before letting the new patches to be installed. Let the team also follow the process and publish the procedure to be followed for patch updates. Take extra precautions while applying patches to application and database servers.
I would like to hear, how such situations are being managed to make sure that all the machines in an organization are up-to-date with the same patch? Any response would be a new learning for me !!
Friday, April 14, 2006
Simple delicious Indian Recipes for everyday life! - Curd Rice
Let me start with a very simple yet a very tasty food. This is made of cooked rice and curds (or Yogurt).
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
- Curds (Yogurt)
- Well Cooked Rice
- Oil
- Mustard Seeds
- Hing Powder
- Curry Leaves
- Dry Red Chillies
- Coriandar Leaves (Cilantro) for garnishing
Method:
Cook rice and keep it aside. Make sure that the cooked rice is soft.
Take the appropriate quantity of Curds (yogurt). If the curds is too thick, dilute it with water or milk. Use milk if yogurt is sour, else water is fine.
Heat 2 teaspoon ful of oil in a small bowl. Add mustard seeds when the oil becomes little warm. Add a pinch of hing powder, curry leaves and red chillies when the mustard seeds start spluttering. Mix all this to the Curds. Add little salt and sugar, as per your taste, to the curds.
Mix the rice in the above curds and stir well. Rice tends to absorb all the water in the curds. Just before serving add some more curds to the rice. Garnish the curd rice with coriandar leaves. Serve cold.
Hope you enjoy this simple delicious food. Kids love the taste and it is healthy too!
Come back for more !
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Experiences of moving back home
After living in United States for seven and a half year, we decided to move back to our home country, India, with our two children. The decision was not easy. I can't believe it is already been 8 months since we moved back to India.
Why did we move back? Not to be philosophical or cynical about the whole thing, we moved back because we missed our family and friends, we missed the smell of earth when it rained, we missed the good Indian food, we missed the tea by the roadside tea-stall ( A small tea shop), we felt that the kids were missing all the fun that we had when we were kids, we also felt that our parents needed us now more than anyother time, we thought that we would be more happier in India being amongst friends and family.
When we moved back in August, 2005, we were very apprehensive about how our children would adapt to the Indian conditions. It just took them 15 days to adjust. My son found many kids of his age in the community and on the 16th day he was out there on the playground playing with all the kids. Daughter was too little to understand the difference between US and India, however suddenly she found so many people talking to her and playing with her all the time. Both the kids were very happy. It was just me and my wife who took more than 6 months to get used to life in India.
Was it good decision to move back? Looking back, I feel that YES! It was a good decision to move back. I have never seen my family so happy and healthy. Professionally I am still adjusting to the work culture here, but, I do not have many complaints as such. Parents get to see us when they feel like. We are having a great time, being here. So far there are no regrets.
I made some very good friends while I was in US. I will never forget my friends Francisco, Scott, Jason, Bharath, Anup, Uday, Rajan and Steve to name few. We had a great time together. Shared many experiences. Enjoyed each others company. We all had similar mindset, "take care of the people working for you and do what is good for the organization while learning about business challenges and turning them into solutions".
About my experiences of coming back... It is a human nature, once you get adjusted to life's luxuries you start complaining a lot :-). It was the same case with us when we moved back. We complained about bad roads, dusty surroundings, lack of customer service, indesciplined drivers on the road and kept discussing how things were better in US. We had forgotten the fact that this was the place where we spent 20+ years of our life, before we moved to US. We failed to realize that nothing much had changed with Indian lifestyle, but, it was us who had changed. But slowly, we started forgetting about these complaints. Life in India has many good things to offer. We found our old friends and Friends and family visits became regular and fun. We started watching cricket game in groups and are having great fun. Me & my wife play with our kids in the playground almost everyday evening and we have made many new friends in the neighbourhood. We have been going around the town enjoying delicious Indian food. We are becoming part of this place. Now that road conditions have also improved, I do not have complaints about driving around :-).
Professionally it was a learning for me. Things have changed a lot in Software Industry here in India. There is a tremendous demand for software professionals and companies find it difficult to keep people on board. This was a challenge for me when I joined my current employer. After discussing with subordinates and others in the company, I came to know that many people left because of not getting proper recognition. The team that I am managing currently had a low morale as they were supporting and developing software applications for Company's use rather than for a outside client. Very few people knew what this department was doing and what contributions it has done to the company. My challenge was to create an image for this department, let the Executives and the whole of the organization realize the contributions done by the department. And, I had to retain good talent to get this done. Took me couple of months to understand the mode in which the department operated.
The issues were
Why did we move back? Not to be philosophical or cynical about the whole thing, we moved back because we missed our family and friends, we missed the smell of earth when it rained, we missed the good Indian food, we missed the tea by the roadside tea-stall ( A small tea shop), we felt that the kids were missing all the fun that we had when we were kids, we also felt that our parents needed us now more than anyother time, we thought that we would be more happier in India being amongst friends and family.
When we moved back in August, 2005, we were very apprehensive about how our children would adapt to the Indian conditions. It just took them 15 days to adjust. My son found many kids of his age in the community and on the 16th day he was out there on the playground playing with all the kids. Daughter was too little to understand the difference between US and India, however suddenly she found so many people talking to her and playing with her all the time. Both the kids were very happy. It was just me and my wife who took more than 6 months to get used to life in India.
Was it good decision to move back? Looking back, I feel that YES! It was a good decision to move back. I have never seen my family so happy and healthy. Professionally I am still adjusting to the work culture here, but, I do not have many complaints as such. Parents get to see us when they feel like. We are having a great time, being here. So far there are no regrets.
I made some very good friends while I was in US. I will never forget my friends Francisco, Scott, Jason, Bharath, Anup, Uday, Rajan and Steve to name few. We had a great time together. Shared many experiences. Enjoyed each others company. We all had similar mindset, "take care of the people working for you and do what is good for the organization while learning about business challenges and turning them into solutions".
About my experiences of coming back... It is a human nature, once you get adjusted to life's luxuries you start complaining a lot :-). It was the same case with us when we moved back. We complained about bad roads, dusty surroundings, lack of customer service, indesciplined drivers on the road and kept discussing how things were better in US. We had forgotten the fact that this was the place where we spent 20+ years of our life, before we moved to US. We failed to realize that nothing much had changed with Indian lifestyle, but, it was us who had changed. But slowly, we started forgetting about these complaints. Life in India has many good things to offer. We found our old friends and Friends and family visits became regular and fun. We started watching cricket game in groups and are having great fun. Me & my wife play with our kids in the playground almost everyday evening and we have made many new friends in the neighbourhood. We have been going around the town enjoying delicious Indian food. We are becoming part of this place. Now that road conditions have also improved, I do not have complaints about driving around :-).
Professionally it was a learning for me. Things have changed a lot in Software Industry here in India. There is a tremendous demand for software professionals and companies find it difficult to keep people on board. This was a challenge for me when I joined my current employer. After discussing with subordinates and others in the company, I came to know that many people left because of not getting proper recognition. The team that I am managing currently had a low morale as they were supporting and developing software applications for Company's use rather than for a outside client. Very few people knew what this department was doing and what contributions it has done to the company. My challenge was to create an image for this department, let the Executives and the whole of the organization realize the contributions done by the department. And, I had to retain good talent to get this done. Took me couple of months to understand the mode in which the department operated.
The issues were
- These folks were building applications on the spur of a request coming from a group of few people, without any analysis and without any ownership from the particular group.
- There was no analysis on what is the business benefit and who would use it
- Even after developing and deploying the application there was no tracking as to whether is it being used
First task was to change this process. What I did (ofcourse with the help of my team and various business users)
- Discussed with various departments for which the applications were built and identified business owners for various areas of operations
- Put a process in place to evaluate the need for an application by way of business users coming up with business benefits to the department and the company, savings that the application would bring (interms of money and saved resource time) and number of users who would benefit from the application.
- Introduced complete project management life cycle with proper SDLC, based on my previous experience
- Mentored my team on how to build enterprise class applications
- Included executives on communications and met with them to discuss how our department is helping in improving operational efficiency of the organization by way of delivering important applications.
All these things helped change the image of the department in the organization. People came to know about wonderful things that happened within our department through our Intranet site (which we had used to highlight our contributions). Team members started getting recognition from their friends and management due to the changes. I feel that, as a Manager, I have done the right thing for my team. There are many more people in the organization, who would like to work in this department because of the challenging work that we take up and the kind of friendly atomosphere we have. It has given me a sense of satisfaction that I have accomplished the task of building better image of the department. Now the challenge lies ahead to keep this image bright and shining moving forward.
I will be putting some real life project management and software development articles in next few days. Also look for some delicious Indian recipes for everyday life from my wife!!
Hope you come back to visit this place and look at other articles.
Till next time........God Bless!
