This pilot fish is fed up with manually dealing with backup problems. “I had to reset the daemons database and put the tape back in the autoloader before the batch could rerun a failed backup,” he says.

The simple solution is to write a script that automatically checks everything involved in the backup and adjusts anything that’s not right.

So that’s what fish does, and it seems to work fine.

After completing the script, fish mentions to his manager what he has done. A co-worker in a cube nearby overhears and pipes up: “We looked at that when we wrote the backup script in the first place, and it’s impossible.”

Fish’s reply: "Why didn’t you tell me that 20 minutes ago, before I wrote the script that sorted the problem out?”

“He went strangely quiet,” fish says. “He took the script, checked it and, with the comment, ‘Oooh, you’re doing it that way,’ quietly disappeared into the computer room.”

Sharky specializes in the possible. So if you can, send me your true tale of IT life at sharky@computerworld.com. You can also subscribe to the Daily Shark Newsletter.