Lone Server: A new man

Thought TechEd was as good a time as any to give you all some great news…I’VE BEEN UPGRADED!

Well, it’s been a crazy few months since the Windows Server 2008 RTM. I kept wondering why they were letting me hang around – what business does one Windows Server 2003 have in a farm of WS08s? It was just embarrassing. But there I was, clinging to the remote desktop port on the corporate firewall like Milton to his red swingline stapler.  Then one day the engineers caught wind that I was shopping around for a new job and it all became clear. Wayne, one of the IT guys, pulled me aside and told me that is was in my best interest to cut the whole “woe is me” song and dance.

Wayne explained that as the last WS03 server I had an important role at Microsoft.com – I had to try my hardest to prove that WS03 performed as quickly as WS08.  At first I was a little hopeless, but then Wayne then told me the best part – if I won, I get to bask in the glory of winning, but if I lost, there was a good chance that I’d be sent down upgrade row.  I realized I couldn’t lose!  For a minute I thought about throwing the race to expedite my upgrade, but I knew that there are still a lot of WS03s out there and I wouldn’t want my crew to get a bad rep. So I rolled up my sleeves, drank a couple cups of coffee, listened to that song, “Eye of the Tiger” and then I gave it all I had!

Long story short, I just couldn’t keep up with the WS08s. Wayne told me that it all came down to “efficiency” or “cost” of the number of requests per CPU cycle. Looks like WS08 is over 10% more efficient then I am in handling live web platform traffic for www.microsoft.com. Wayne explained that this improved efficiency helps enterprise customers reduce their server footprints in datacenters and ultimately reduces the overall cost of running their site/s.

So now I am upgraded! For all you ‘03s out there don’t worry…it didn’t hurt a bit!   They said it would just be a Day Upgrade under local anesthetic, and they were right!   Within hours after the procedure I was up and helping on Microsoft.com.  I feel 5 years younger.  The WS08 team even got me a card to welcome me aboard. Everyone signed it.  Shucks.  One person wrote “wishing you a speedy recovery”— I didn’t realize the irony of that slogan until I booted up again!  I AM faster!