Grrr... Network idiots....
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OK - call me a noob if you need to because I didn't check out the drives on a SQL 2000 box that I built a short while ago - but you would think that once it became a SQL 2000 box that the network boys could keep their hands off it.
Nah.....
While the "design" (term used loosely) I used kinda stunk, the reason behind me doing it was to maintain some level of consistency between machines. The server has 3 drives on board and the whole lot are set up in RAID-5 (not my choice, I can tell you!) so I did the next best thing to physical drives with their own controllers and created the separate drives using a logical format. I left C: alone and then created an extended partition on the drive with 4 logical drives contained therein. Can anyone say "Performance would SUCK!"?? No kidding - but I did that for consistency and it's not a high-end box anyway.
So... in between my setting up the logical partitions and installing SQL 2000 into it's various 'drives', one of the network boys came along and decided that he didn't like my (admittedly) crappo design and promptly went about dropping the drives I created, moving the files on logical D:\ to partition D:\ that they had created, and moved the backups and other directories to the SAN which NOBODY but the network boys are allowed to access from this machine - not even with Admin rights.
So then.... 4 logical drives gone that I created and replaced with 1 partition on local & 3 mappings to a SAN that I can't access. Can anyone see where this is heading?
I come back and think, "I should put the master and mastlog in that other drive that I set aside on other machines for the system DBs..." Yes - Yes - again it begs the question of why I would do this when it's all logical partitioning anyway. Just "because" - that's why!
The drives exist in Explorer with the same directory structure that I employ but nobody has informed me that they have screwed with the machine nor that I cannot access the other drives. So I go into Enterprise Manager and change the startup settings for the default instance and stop SQL Server. All good - so far....
Then I go into Explorer to move the files to their new location. "Not authorised to write to...." The drives are there in the listing but apparently they aren't really there and I couldn't use them even if I did have the auth.
OK - reboot....
Drop off the drive map to the drive I need and call it something else (it lets me do this) but then it won't let me create a new mapping through net use back to the D:-drive. Fair enough - I thought the circular reference wouldn't work. So I map it to another server and it still doesn't start.
STUFF IT! Reinstall.....
Two things have come out of this....
1. I will be checking my ability to relocate files before doing this in the future, and
2. I am going to bite the balls off any network meathead who thinks that it's OK to screw with my installations in the future.
A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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Heh... first, I'm not into "biting balls"
And, I'd have to say "lack of planning on somebody's part, did constitute and emergency on your part." 
I do agree that they probably should have asked you "what's up" before putting the hammer on your machine but, if the setup was that important, why didn't you start the communication path by telling the network guys that you were going to build a machine on their network that didn't meet their specs and why? Certainly, you must've known they'd come running when they saw it appear on their network. Shoot... they may have even given you a good work-aorund on the much faster SAN.
Hellava good rant though... had a few of those myself and they sure do help blow off the steam
--Jeff Moden
RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally) -
I'm not very partial to biting them myself but the "doing" is much better than the "getting" to the point that the "getters" will avoid the "doer"
Yeah - I know that a bit of communication could have avoided this issue. I've just been here just under a month now and are still getting used to how things work. It's the first time I've met a network crowd who were scared about the thought of going to 64-bit machines....
They built the server to their specs in the first place and put it on the network and I put SQL on later. Who would have thought that they'd come back and bollox up an installation that they knew nothing about?
Can't get on the SAN - no ports left (I'm not kidding). Major financial institution and everything is done on the cheap.
Glad you enjoyed the rant - I had to tone it down a bit from my usual kind of rant though
A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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Hoooo-boy! Do I understand that! My rants peel paint, knock bricks out of old buildings, and embarrasses seasoned sailors
not to mention causing damage to anything not tied down and those unfortunate enough to be in the permimiter of ground zero.Sounds like you have your work cut out for you
If they have those kinds of hardware problems, just wait 'til you get your hands on the "code" they have... you're biggest problem will be deciding which toilet to flush it down 
--Jeff Moden
RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally) -
I feel your pain! My favorite is when the network guy tries to give you advice on how to manage your SQL environment and thinks it is a good idea just because he read it in a "Best Practices" article somewhere. I wonder if there is an article we can point them to titled "Knowing how to use google and owning a copy of a SQL book, doesn't make you a DBA."
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Matt,
I think you should tell the network guys you're sorry for screwing up their machine and promise not to do it again.
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Michael,
That sounds like a mighty fine idea - I think I will do just that. Right now even - just as soon as I run down to the pub and get a couple of cartons of beer for them just to make up for the inconvenience of them having to set their server "right" again after having that nasty SQL Server installed on it
A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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