i am a superior tool-wielding hominid

[rone]

Today i was at my company's colocation cage.  The task set before me and my coworker was to rack two Sun Fire 445 servers.

The Problem
The rails are one and one-third rack units high.  There are two holes on top and bottom, and two pins in the middle.  The idea is that the holes allow the rails to be screwed in, and the pins align directly with the two unused screw holes in between.

In practice, you can see a bend at the end of the rail.  This causes the rail to not allow the pins to align with the holes.  Thus, the rail is effectively useless.

The Solution

I managed to procure a hammer at my favorite restaurant, Hunan Taste, where my coworker and i had lunch.  It was either that or attempt to unbend the cheap metal rail with a pair of vise grips.

The Result

Once again, a judicious and clever application of violence saves the day.

Comments

Not a sysadmin, but used to play one on TV...

[mononeuron.livejournal.com]

Applying a claw hammer to a precision-engineered, carefully manufactured equipment rail looks daft.

Why would you apply a wood-working tool to such a exquisitely designed metal-formed part?

Don't you know why The-Great-BOFH-In-The-Sky gave us The Engineer's Hammer, with a 32-ounce head, a flat poll (for smashing things, like bothersome users) and a pointed "V" head (for splitting skulls of bothersome users)??

Golly, man, don't you know there's a proper tool for EVERY purpose??

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

What was especially comedic is that when we got back from lunch, we found a hammer hidden in the box with the cable ties.

They WANT you to think so!

[mononeuron.livejournal.com]

> when we got back from lunch, we found a hammer

The aliens put it there, just to mess with your head.

The hammer was NOT there when you left.

Nobody every saw it there before lunch, right?

And nobody remembered putting it there, right?

Clearly, THEY are at work again!