Gurpreet, working weekend

So yesterday I was trying to migrate a physical server to a virtual variety. (need to do this?  get disk2vhd!)  I ran into a snafu with activation.  I was unable to reactivate the virtual version of the server using over the internet methods so I had to result to calling in for help.

I went through a series of four individuals in this process, every single individual was obviously Indian.  All of them were difficult to understand to varying degrees.  Of course I find this common strategy used by big companies of outsourcing their phone support to cheap Indian labor very frustrating and annoying.

Usually when someone resorts to calling a support line they are already annoyed enough as a result of whatever problem they are experiencing.  To compound that with having to muddle through communicating clearly with someone whose native language is not English is just stupid in my opinion.

I was unable to get immediate support for my issue and instead the third person I spoke to took my contact info for a call back.  By the time the 4th Indian, named Gurpreet, called me back I had already figured out the answer to my problem myself.

To be fair, all of the telephone representatives were polite enough albeit somewhat robotic.  I did my best to keep my tone with them equally polite, despite my dislike for what they represent.

FYI, if you are trying to migrate a physical server to a virtual copy and that server has an OEM Windows Server license, you will have issues.  OEM licenses live and die with that server hardware and can not be used in a virtual environment.

My solution to this issue is to upgrade the server to Windows Server 2003 R2 which I have a volume license for and THEN migrate it over using DISK2VHD.  I will then again use that volume license to activate the server in Hyper-V.

On Saturday I will be working at the office, replacing all of the switches with new ones as well as patching our NOC over to some new all CAT 6 wiring we had installed a couple months ago.  The hope is to squash a weird bug we have had with transfer speeds over our network in certain situations.

After work I plan to pick up mom to have her come out for a visit.  We want mom to help us cement the color choices for the exterior of the house.  We also thought on Sunday she could hang out at the water park with us while we get some laps in.

Ali probably had her best week in awhile as far as work goes.  Working less hours makes both her and I happier and results in a better quality of life all the way around.