THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA

Just read his account before reading this.

To all budding sysadmins - in a DR situation, it's not necessarily how good a tech you are. People skills come to the fore. People around you will look to you for leadership. Appearing cool, calm and collected is extremely important. Let people know what the state of play is - this enables them to feel reassured and to also start planning other tasks. Don't set false expectations - be realistic in possible outcomes. Again, this helps them to organise backup plans. The most important task during this period is to reassure the client, let them know what's going on, and to enable them to move forward without them standing around feeling helpless with that sickening sensation at the bottom of their stomach.

Granted, a comprehensive DR plan means everyone knows what's going on, what needs doing and an ETR, but not everyone has one of these.

Finally, several studies have shown that an e-mail server failure in large organisations has the same psychological impact on syadmins as being in a car accident. Being cool, calm and collected is actually good for your health!

Thanks Chris, I guesss I should have said I was demoing demenor at that point.    Ya, that's it.  It was a planned demo failure to make another point.  Sure, that was it.  ;-)