Diary of a stressed Network Manager.... Part 2

It's been one hell of a stressful and busy six weeks, but the school summer holiday will shortly be over and the start of a new academic year will be upon us once more.

A few weeks ago I was stressing, worrying and having sleepiness nights about getting both Evesham High School's and Simon de Montfort Middle School's networks merged in time ready for September when the school becomes an entirely new school called The De Montfort School.

I'm relieved to say we did it!  Ok, I managed one day off during the whole time, I'm knackered and exhausted, but both schools are now on one network and I can once again sleep at night....  For the time being at least.  Of course, that's not all we've done.

• New Aruba Networks wireless system comprising of 65 access points (to replace an aging Netgear managed system) installed at the High School to cope with a larger number of mobile devices connecting to the network.  These allow increased wireless speed AND better coverage across the site.
• Upgrade from Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to Microsoft Exchange 2013 on an entirely new HP Proliant ML350p Gen 8 server with 2 x Intel Xeon 2.30Ghz (12 Cores), 80GB Ram and 5x 600GB drives (Raid 5 configuration so it gives us about 2TB of usable space).
• Nice new intel i5 computers set up in one classroom to replace some god-awful Apple iMacs.

Plus lots of little upgrades here and there to computers and user profiles. 

My newly decorated office - Still a mess!

Of course, I suspect they'll be a few issues to begin with (it wouldn't be the start of a new year without them) and it's going to take some time getting use to not having some of the old IT teachers there now that they have moved on to other schools, but I look forward to working with a new team of teachers and a new technician.  I imagine some people will be quick to criticise certain things but hey ho....  That's just an average day working at EHS... ahem, sorry... TDMS.  Quick to criticise but slow to praise.

Nope - I didn't do anything with this room this year - I just like it hence why I have a picture of it here!

Am I still looking at other jobs or a career change?  YES and YES, but I'll wait and see how this year pans out first.  Things may be different now that we have a new Headteacher joining us...  or perhaps maybe not?

Additionally - the Summer season is nearly over and my favourite time of the year is about to begin. The temperatures are dropping and the nights are getting darker and cooler.  I'm actually feeling quite good - I don't expect it to last, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

New PC's in newly upgraded DU5 classroom

New PC's in newly upgraded DU5 classroom

New PC's in newly upgraded DU5 classroom

New PC's in newly upgraded DU5 classroom

Stress, Worry, Anxiety, Oh My!

Yes I know....  I am a worrier.  I worry about everything, and stress about every single thing that goes on in my life.  It's not healthy, and I dread to think what it's doing to my heart and blood pressure, but hey ho...  What can I do.  I've tried all sorts of medication (even herbal ones), but ultimately my nerves always get the better of me.

With only one week left until the end of term and the start of the school summer holiday, this time of year is usually quite stress free, but I've had something on my mind now for the past few months...  something big that (truth be told) has been giving me a few headaches, and sleepness nights, and now it is nearly upon me - the dreaded network merge between Evesham High School and Simon de Montfort Middle School.  I think it's public knowledge now, but both schools are merging during the six week summer holiday to become an entirely new school called....  "The De Montfort School".  and my job is simple - join both school networks together so that they are both on one network. 

Sounds simple enough, and in all fairness it is.  We are in a fortunate position where both schools are next door to each other and we already have a fibre cable/gigabit connection linking both sites, so the infrastructure is all ready in place.  Once we configure a few network switches, we should be able to get SDM's servers and computers on to the High School's domain.  The problem is, my constant worrying that something may go wrong at the start of September, or if I've missed something in my project plans.  Unfortunately some of the work also needs to be completed by external contractors, so I'm worrying whether or not they can do their parts on time too.   It's really messing my head up, and on many occasions I've been asking myself whether this is really what I should be doing for a living.  It's not that I can't do the job - I can...  It's the constant worrying.  I suppose it comes with being a Manager, but I lack the ability to switch off after work too which doesn't help, and on many evenings I find myself using remote access to do some extra work on the servers from the comfort of my living room.  I even admit, I don't spend nearly as much time with my family as I should.

So, what is the point of this post I hear you ask?  Well, I've written down my feelings before in a notebook and it helped, so I figured why not write about them here on my blog.  It's not like I have many visitors to the blog, so I doubt anyone I know will read it anyway.  Even if they do, there's nothing new here - everyone who knows me knows I'm a worrier.

Maybe I might get a visitor who managed to control their stress and who can perhaps give me some hints/tips.

Just don't tell someone who suffers from stress and anxiety to not worry.  If they could, they would!