I practiced a new x-mas change freeze idea this year, shut down un-important systems.

The idea is simple, systems are at "risk" if you don't update them, if you update them then they change, if they change they can fail, if they fail you've got work to do :(

I didn't fancy doing any extra work over x-mas this year so I decided to shut down any system that didn't neeeeeeed to be online, i.e. the box that monitors this site (nagios) and the box that backs up this server (boxbackup); the up shot was this, linickx.com was the only server online, everything else was safe, if linickx.com had a problem I could restore from my backup, and so I didn't have to worry about any updates, log in reports, etc etc with my boxes, which meant my inbox was quieter, and so was my christmas ! :D

I don't think this is an reasonable approach for a business as some systems have to stay online over the christmas period but a lesson can be learnt, the chances of something go wrong will decrease if less is running, and this will also give the opportunity for mangers to review what is needed , and approach the all important cost saving initiative:)

Anyway, now that every-thing's back online I'd like to wish my readers a happy new year !