Computer Network Administrator is usually a pretty good gig. You get to play with new technology, and the work is usually varied enough. Sometimes you spend more time than you want fixing little user problems that pop up instead of your own project initiatives, but overall it's not a bad deal.
However, when a server goes down and everyone can't do their job you have to go into crisis mode. Crisis mode really stinks. It can get pretty stressful when you are try to figure out what the problem is and everyone is calling you at the same time. Luckily, I have a technician who I can transfer my phone to, then I close my door and barricade myself and buckle down to fix the problem.
Yesterday our Microsoft Exchange 2000 e-mail server went down. I thought we had it up again, but this morning it was down again. I had to take the server offline and do a defrag and repair on the e-mail database. I was supposed to be off to go up to Park City for our company retreat, but it was not to be. It took about 6 hours today to get everything back up and running again.
I had budgeted for a new e-mail server this year, and we should have rolled it out in spring, but every time they look at the price tag (40 grand over 4 years) they keep putting it off. So I have to keep nursing this one along until they finally break down and let me buy it.
You learn a lot during crisis mode, but the stress and excess adrenaline can really wear you out.
Work has been pretty busy lately. We have been upgrading a lot of our systems, which is very good, but it keeps you hopping. This is what we have upgraded in the last 6 weeks:
