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Dave Burke - A freelance .NET Developer specializing in Online Communities

A freelance .NET Developer

The blurred line between server administration and developer responsbilities

My previous post about getting smtp services to work brought up an issue that we as developers often encounter:  resolving server issues which may or may not have to do with a server's configuration and the blurred line between a server administrator's job and a developer's job.

I've publically boasted about the great System Admin (and Network Admin Support stud) I get to work with.  When SMTP services did not work today, I exhausted every possible code-level fix along with investigating the MMC IIS SMTP setup.  Then I asked my SysAdmin to try the STMP test web page I provided in conjunction with inspecting both the server SMTP setup and any firewall port settings on the network to make sure everything is working on his end.  He always does this as a top priority, tests the web email page, and sometimes, like today, he'll say he checked everything and is still getting the error.  Then its back in my court to move forward on the resolution.  And he never, never says that something in my app must screwed up, which is usually the first thing System Admins say to developers.

My System Admin sets up the server, which includes SMTP; he's the owner.  If I make any changes, no matter how seemingly insignificant, I make sure he knows about them.  Tonight, I added a 127.0.01 to the accepted SMTP connection list because it was required in using the SmtpMail.SmtpServer = “127.0.0.1“  Hell, he's fine with that.  Its not an issue because of a long track record of good communications, mutual respect, and our sharing security best practices as a top priority.

I've always felt that developers have to be part network/system administrators.  No developer can write an application, let along an enterprise application, unless they understand how things work behind the scenes.  I feel strongly that developers become much better developers when they have their own network for which they are solely responsible:  for installing and configuring the servers, IIS, Exchange, SharePoint, SMTP, managing Active Directory, managing SQL Server, whatever. 

So a blurred line between SysAdmin and developer responsibilities can be a good thing.

Published Feb 24 2004, 12:27 AM by daveburke
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Comments

 

David Cumps said:

An example of this could be found when you're coding at home, learning something.

To learn some coding subject you should be able to do it yourself, so you have set up a configuration at home with IIS, AD and a SQL server. And while you're setting that up, it gives you more insight in how it works, what options you have, what could go wrong, etc.

I'm coding a little website here with AD and MySQL and webservices. And when it's done it's going to get moved to production in my school. It's really valuable to see problems arise when you're coding and knowing the problem could come from an IIS setting. When it gets moved to production later on, and the error occurs, you can immediately tell the sysadmins where the problem could be.
February 24, 2004 7:03 AM
 

Dave Burke said:

David, Exactly my point. Thanks.
February 24, 2004 7:30 AM
 

TrackBack said:

Take Outs: The Digital Doggy Bag of Blog Bits for 24 February 2004
February 24, 2004 9:13 PM
 

Brian Desmond said:

And then there's the scenario where you're the admin AND the dev. Always an interesting night when something's broken and you've got a go-live date to hit (usually the next day) on some app.
February 26, 2004 9:23 PM
 

Dave Burke said:

Brian, Then I'm saying "Thank God for The Line!"--no matter how blurred. :-) No, I wouldn't want to do it both! Regards!
February 26, 2004 9:27 PM

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