Thursday, January 5, 2012

NetApp Insights: NDU Ifgrp


I'm shamelessly plagiarizing some of my colleagues because this data is just too good to not share.

Q).  Has anybody converted a standalone physical interface into a single-mode vif/ifgrp non-disruptively before?

It should just be a matter of tweaking the partner interfaces and rc files at the appropriate times and doing some takeover/givebacks, but if someone has actually done it for real rather than me working out what I “think” will work in theory then that would be nice.

I’ve got cutting and pasting or “source” a script file that downs all the vlan interfaces, etc then creates a singlemode ifgrp, then recreates all the vlans, aliases, etc as an option, but am also looking for other options that might sound a little bit more NDU to a cust that’s a bit hot at the moment rather than playing with live interfaces on an active controller.

A). As far as the VIF goes I would copy to original rc file, place the new rc in place and yes do takeover/givebacks so long as the networking is done correctly the filers should boot up cleanly using the new rc file.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Downloads

This could accurately be filed under the category "rant."

Hey software companies: how do you earn money?  When people use your products, right?  Yeah.  That's when you earn money.

Here's a question: why would you ever make it more difficult for people to TRY your product?  Never.  That would be stupid.

So what's the #1 behavior you want to encourage?  Customer interaction with your product.  Well, how do they interact with it?  Most of the time, they have to download it.  So I would imagine that creating a labyrinth of hyperlinks that would lose and confuse users would be the last thing you'd want to do.  But you freakin guys do it all the time.

Case in point: Spybot Search and Destroy.  You've got users who probably already have a virus.  They're already cranky, they're already frustrated, they already have no patience.  They're dumb end users who just want their computers to work.  So experiment with me: how many clicks does it take you to go from their home page to actually downloading a product?  I count 6.  And that's WHILE knowing where to go.

You know where your download link should be?  On your home page.  Front and center.  People who visit the page should be asked (via text on your homepage) to download your tool BEFORE they know what they're downloading.  What on earth is more important for a homepage than getting your product in your customer's hands?