Alarm, ahtung, attention, whistle all the server

Many people have no idea what the nervous system of the system administrators is: something constantly fails, and users do it all without any measure. Every day, we have to solve dozens, if not hundreds of tasks related to maintaining the operability of servers, network infrastructure, a fleet of user computers, all kinds of equipment and electronics. Not to mention all sorts of simpler tasks like software setup and office equipment maintenance. In our work a lot of routine, and we wanted to bring a little variety and fun to the workflow. No sooner said than done: after thinking a little, we built a special system of warning, control, control and rule.

In our company, everyday tasks - tasks - for system administrators are created in the internal information system. In our department hangs a large TV, which displays a list of the current unclosed task. Naturally, all tasks are classified by importance and urgency.

We wanted to make some nice variety in the process of obtaining information about new tasks. To do this, we chose several types of events and wrote a small application that sends messages (triggers) about these events to the virtual COM port of the Arduino Nano. Now, depending on the received trigger, the Arduino signals us with the help of one of the devices:
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• When a task arises that requires an urgent solution, the tambourine begins to knock. To do this, we have attached a solenoid to the car door drive.
  
  
  
  
• If a critical temperature increase is registered on some server, then we immediately know about it thanks to a loud call, which are used in the metro. Do not pay attention is simply impossible.
• With an increase in the critical number of tasks, the rubber pig of psychedelic coloring grunts. Here, too, a solenoid is used, which actuates a lever that presses the animal.
  
  
  

The code for programming this whole thing is quite simple, even a schoolboy can handle it:

int metro = 13; int buben = 12; int pig = 11; int alarm = 10; int usbnumber = 0; void setup() { pinMode(metro, OUTPUT); pinMode(buben, OUTPUT); pinMode(pig, OUTPUT); pinMode(alarm, OUTPUT); Serial.begin(9600); } void loop() { if (Serial.available()) { usbnumber = Serial.read(); if (usbnumber == 'm') { digitalWrite(metro, LOW); } if (usbnumber == 'b') { digitalWrite(buben, LOW); } if (usbnumber == 'a') { digitalWrite(alarm, LOW); } if (usbnumber == 'p') { digitalWrite(pig, LOW); } if (usbnumber == 'q') { digitalWrite(buben, HIGH); } Serial.print(usbnumber); } } 

In addition, especially for employees who personally come to our department for professional help, we made a device for relaxation - the control panel of the technical support department (you can see it in the first picture).

Indicators:

• Entropy level in the department.
• The average number of neurons in the head of the department staff (u / mm3).

Buttons and switches:

• Turbo mode. When a particularly urgent task appears, the head of department presses a button, and system administrators start overclocking in frequency and power.
• "Stop hardcore." It is used when causeless fun intervenes in the process and you need to stop it in order to resume working mood.
• Friday mode. The ideological antipode of "Turbo" with protection against accidental inclusion, so that by chance on Wednesday not to arrange Friday.
• "Great Random." Chooses randomly the employee who will solve the task. Linked to the randadmin function in our internal information system.
• "Have you tried rebooting?" Just nice to click.
• "You tried to turn on / off." Used in conjunction with "Have you tried to reboot?".
• "Attention, in the office girl!". When you press the button, the light panel on the ceiling “Attention, in the office lady!” Also turns on. Do not ask where the mismatch came from. Our team is strictly masculine, and we are used to expressing our emotions vividly when one or another interesting task appears. And in the head of the beautiful girls who come to us to set up their pink laptops and become random witnesses of the expression of these emotions, the pink ponies stop jumping and the rainbow fades over the field of life. In order to avoid this, we came up with a sign warning our colleagues about the appearance of a tender creature whose fragile inner world could be broken.
• "Task by". It is pressed in cases where the task cannot be solved by us or does not belong to the technical support department at all.

The remote with buttons and indicators is a good thing, but quickly annoying. Therefore, in addition to the pleasure of tactile sensations, the console allows you to have fun in another way: it allows you to play the game "neutralize the bomb." The timer displays a countdown of 60 seconds, and during this time you need to have time to pick the right combination of keystrokes and switches that will stop the timer. If the sapper-enthusiast does not have time for a minute, the sound of an explosion comes from the speaker.

We kindly invite all those who have come to sit down at the console, share painful problems, and while we are working hard to solve the problems that have arisen, stand, figuratively speaking, at the helm of a team of system administrators. And it’s pleasant to a person, something can take hands and attention, and we don’t need to make sure that the bored guest doesn’t unscrew something important from the devices and accessories that are richly arranged in the department.

In general, the scheme of our new offline notification system looks like this:



The first visitors have already positively appreciated our creation. And now we are getting used to new unusual sounds that accompany the appearance of the next tasks.

PS In the process of creating a system, no pigs were harmed. Happy sys admin!