Archive for July, 2008

Genesys Health Check Part One-SCS/SCI

Every morning, we check SCI to make sure that all our applications are running, and that they haven’t failed over for some unexplained reason. Unfortunately there are a lot of applications to check, an this gets a bit tedious. We’ve had several times where the person responsible for checking missed the fact that an application had failed.

So I wrote the following script to check current status of the applications against a list of “preferred states”. The biggest challenge I faced was that it isn’t particularly easy to get the current state of an application directly from the SCS logs. The only way I found: after someone logs into SCI, the SCS logs report a complete status check for all applications. So, support person must first login to SCI, then launch this script to check the logs against the preferred states list. In order to make use of this in your organization, you’ll need to set the LOG and APP variables. All the mentions of “CTS” in the script are references to one of our two Genesys environments. You can remove or change CTS to suite your implementation.

@echo off

set NORMAL=cts-status-normal.txt
set result=%temp%\cts-status-check.txt
set LOG=\\wpoh0010genwf01\Logs\cts_dub_scs_pr

set APP=ctssci

echo For this utility to work proprerly, you must have logged in to SCI recently, and cts_dub_SCS_pr must be PRIMARY.
echo If you have not done so, please log in to SCI now.
echo.
pause

:begin_here
if exist %result% del %result%
set FILE=%1
if .%FILE%.==.. (
rem if a file wasn’t passed in, see if we can find one
for /f %%k in (’dir /b /on %LOG%’) do set FILE=%LOG%\%%k
)
echo Checking %FILE%
copy /y “%FILE%” %TEMP%\cts-status-log.log
set BAD=false
echo Searching for SCI client connection ID
for /f “delims== tokens=1-3″ %%m in (’find /n “SC Interface ‘%APP%’ connected” %TEMP%\cts-status-log.log’) do (
set CLIENT=%%o
for /f “delims=[]” %%t in (’echo %%m’) do set /a STARTLINE=%%t-1 2>nul
rem echo %%m=%%n=%%o >> %result%
)
if .%CLIENT%.==.. (
echo Could not find client connection. Did you lauch SCI first? > %result%
exit
)
echo Searching for application statuses
if exist %temp%\cts-status-log2.log del %temp%\cts-status-log2.log
for /F “tokens=* skip=%STARTLINE%” %%t in (%temP%\cts-status-log.log) do echo %%t >> %temp%\cts-status-log2.log
find “SCI(%CLIENT%,ctssci)” %TEMP%\cts-status-log2.log > %TEMP%\cts-status-log1.log

echo Comparing application statuses against known good list: %NORMAL%
for /f “tokens=1-6 delims=(){}[]” %%i in (%TEMP%\cts-status-log1.log) do (
rem echo %%i %%j %%k %%l %%n
rem %%i — SCI
rem %%j — nnn,sci where nnn is client id
rem %%k — < ==
rem %%l — bbb, where bbb is dbid for app (I think)
rem %%m — app_name
rem %%n — app_status, mode
if “%%k” == ” <== ” (
rem echo “%%l} [%%m”
rem echo “%%k”
find “%%l} [%%n” %NORMAL% > nul
if errorlevel 1 (
echo %%l %%n IS WRONG
echo %%l %%n IS WRONG >> %result%
set BAD=true
)
)
)

if not exist %result% echo No application status problems detected > %result%

start notepad %result%

 

On Visiting Niagara

My family recently visited Niagara falls on the Canadian side. Here are my thoughts, and “lessons learned.”

  • The 6+ hour road trip from our home town makes the trip impossible as a day trip.
  • The 6+ hour road trip from our home town makes the trip difficult as a half-day trip.
  • Cost for adults to ride the People Mover: $7.50CA. Cost for children: $4.50CA. Our total cost for one round trip: $24CA.
  • Despite the People Mover, Niagara Falls is not a place for people with disabilities. Maybe someone with an electric wheel chair could get around, but someone who has difficulty walking will not have much fun here.
  • Eating lunch at Elements on the Falls incurs a $10CA seat fee. Well, not really, but it sure felt like it.  The entrees were $17-$25 for lunch, and would have been significantly less had they been anywhere else. But, while I didn’t enjoy my food very much, I did enjoy the view. All told, our lunch for 4 adults, and 2 children with no drinks (adults had water, children’s were included) nor desert was $110CA, including tip. As a side note, it is absolutely a shame that the website for Elements doesn’t include a real picture. The view was fabulous, even from our no-thanks-we-don’t-want-to-wait-for-a-window table. There were definitely cheaper places to eat in the immediate vicinity if one were inclined to save the money rather than enjoy the view.
  • The Maid of the Mist was well worth the cost of admission: $14.50CA per adult, $8.90CA per child. The 20 minute wait seemed to fly by, but we were there on a Monday. However, practice you ability to say “No” to prepare for departing the boat.  An outside vendor insisted on taking our picture prior to boarding the boat (I didn’t argue with them, though I was tempted). At the end of the ride, you must exit through the gift shop, then be hammered by the photographers’ sales people. We emerged unscathed, fortunately because the boy had to go potty. The photograph they took was a pretty bad overlay of us on a Niagara back ground. The prints: $25CA for two 6″x10″. I much prefer my own shot.
  • We paid $20 to park in the Falls Parking lot. We were walking distance (for those easily able to walk) to Table Rock. However, you can park at the Rapids View lot for only $10, and grab a free shuttle to Table Rock.
  • We did not Journey Behind the Falls, but the people who did were clearly visible from our Maid of the Mist. I want to do that the next time we go. The price is roughly comparable to Maid of the Mist.
 

What If?

We went with Scott and Carina, and a huge group of friends, to the Whetstone Park fireworks last night. We showed up late because of our own party, but it was just in time to start the 1.5 mile walk to the park.

Along the way, we passed by the Calvary Bible Church. Members of the church (I assume) were handing out bottles of water for the small price of accepting their pamphlet.

whatif-small.jpg

I glanced at the pamphlet momentarily as I accepted what I would later call my
“Jesus Water”.

At this point, my beliefs are somewhere between agnosticism and weak atheism, and I’ve been somewhat critical of religion in general recently. But I hate to argue against “strawmen” or examples that I make up in my head only to be easily beaten down. There are plenty of examples of idiots on the Internet, but that doesn’t necessarily represent official church doctrine. Here I have an “official” church outreach document which they are clearly hoping will a) increase their membership, and b) will save souls.

What if there really is a creator-god?

That would be absolutely fascinating. If I had an opportunity to meet this being, I’d be really curious as to how it came about all sorts of decisions: why are there vast reaches of total emptiness? have you tried this whole creation thing before? what have you been up to since you created this universe? are there other creations like this one? do you know what created you?

What implications does this have for me, His creation?

Um, why is the creator gender specific? Anyway, I’m not sure there are any implications. Just because the creator created me (and billions of other people, and planets and suns, and moons, and rocks, and viruses, and Hitler, and Polpot), I’m not sure what the implications are.

What if that creator will hold man, his creation, accountable in a day of judgment?

What if it won’t? What if the creator doesn’t really care? And accountable for what? What if we are accountable to hold all squirrels sacred, providing them shelter, food, and loving care? Crap. I see one in my back yard right now. I better go help him out.

What if the creator-god really loves man, his creation?

Love is an action. Dead-beat dads may claim they love their children, but it is the actions that speak louder than words. The claim that this creator loves us is like saying I love squirrels. If I don’t demonstrate that love, and there is no evidence of that love, then I have not loved that squirrel. Time for me to go make a squirrel chapel.

What if the creator-god has a son named Jesus?

I dunno. Father-son duos aren’t always the best thing. Sometimes the nut does fall far from the tree. Maybe Jesus is a little pissed–his dad gets to create entire universes, and he just gets to visit one itty-bitty planet for 30ish years. What if Jesus had a son, the creator’s grandson? Wow, procreation really works.

What if Jesus is who the bible claims he is? Eternal God, Virgin-born, Sinless, Savior, Resurrected lord.

So, let me get this straight. What if the creator has a son, who is the creator, who killed himself so that he could be brought back to life? If Jesus was born to a virgin, then his mother must not be human, because humans procreate through sexual intercourse. That’s how the creator created us, right? So the creator sets up all these rules for how things are done, but when he wants a son, he can’t just “poof” him into existence, he has to “poof” his sperm into some poor woman in order to create the boy? I’m afraid the sinless and savior pieces don’t really mean much to me…

What if he really is the only way to god, as he claimed to be?

Wait, Jesus is god and the only way to god? I don’t understand. Is he the finger pointing at the moon, or is he the moon? Perhaps this is some sort of cruel treasure hunt: follow the map to the treasure only to find another map, which leads to another map.

What if I arrive at heaven’s door with misplaced hope of entering in?

What if there is no heaven? Indeed, what if you were supposed to have been building squirrel chapels all along? What evidence of heaven do we have? What do the doors look like? Is it really someplace we want to be?

What if I haven’t met god’s requirement for entering in (to heaven)?

From the pamphlet, the requirement is “He that hath the son hath life; and he that hath not the son of god hath not life.” Um, could you make that requirement a bit clearer, please? Even translated to modern English, I still don’t get it “He that has the son has life.” How would I have the son? Like a cupie doll? Like an action figure? Oh! I’ve seen those in toy/novelty stores. I get it now. I must have a Jesus action figure. Maybe the squirrels would like it in their chapel!

So, I’m completely tired of this, and don’t feel like answering any more of these questions. What they gave me is essentially a pamphlet of Pascals Wager: believe because the risk of non-belief is too great. The pamphlet moves from deism in the first question (where we simply postulate that something might have created the universe) to a judgmental, demanding, multiple personality being. And the only source of information to support their presumed answers to the “What if” questions are a bunch of ancient stories.

I don’t think its likely, but it just might be possible that the universe was created by some being. However, it is a HUGE step to suggest that we should worship that being.

 

Signs you’ve thrown a good party

We had a bunch of people over to our house to “celebrate” Independence Day. I’ve put celebrate in quotes, because we didn’t talk a lot about independence, or take part in any particularly patriotic activities. But we gathered, and had fun. I think we held a nice party, and here’s why:

  • No alcohol was required to get things moving. I’m certainly not a teetotaler, but its good to see people having fun without the social lubricant known as beer.
  • The party was winding down about the time we expected, but didn’t feel rushed. Folks showed up anywhere from 12PM to 3PM, and left when they felt like it. We figured people would hang out much of the afternoon, and it was around 6:30PM when everyone had left.
  • Everyone brought great food to share. I sometimes worry about a “bring something to share” sort of potluck. I worry that everyone will bring a bag of chips. When we do large family gatherings (e.g. Thanksgiving) we assign dishes to families, so that we know whats coming and what we need to provide. For this party, I just had to let it go, and it turned out beautifully. From roasted potatoes to taco dip to home baked apple pie, deviled eggs, and brownies–the only chips were the ones we provided.
  • It rained most of the time, but, thanks to a portable awning showing up unexpectedly, a large contingent of folks hung out outside. So despite my fears that our “4th of July Picnic” had been rained out, it worked out perfectly.
  • There were a fair number of people who didn’t know each other, but they all did a great job of introducing themselves and having fun with their new acquaintances.
  • Anne pulled out Apples to Apples which about 15 adults and kids have fun with for nearly two hours. That game is great because of a) the short learning curve, and b) the ease of adding/removing/substituting new players. I was afraid out new coffee table would be broken by enthusiastic players…Apples to Apples
  • There was time enough for me to learn more about people who were just acquaintances before the party. One couple, both psychologists, probably learned a great deal more about me than I did about them. The both had a very friendly way of asking very polite questions that just seemed to get me to rattle on for minutes at a time.
  • The last sign of a good party: trampled grass in the back yard. After the rain let up, a bunch of kids (some of us a bit bigger than others) played kick ball and ball tag. The grass is still matted down, and its wonderful.