Call in an expert when you need it

I was working yesterday on a clients SBS 2008 server that we had inherited.  The clients SBS 2008 install had been messed with by at least 2 IT companies before we got to them.  One of the issues I was trying to resolve was that Companyweb was not working.  I went through the normal things on the SBS blog that affect companyweb, but in the end it was still not working.  Robert Crane – grand poobah of Sharepoint and Office 365 and well known author of the WSS Operations Guide happened to be in our office doing some other work for us.  After spending some time trying to fix it myself, I relented and called on Roberts experience… and I’m bloody glad I did.  What was taking me a long time to fix, was very quickly fixed by Robert using instructions he had prepared earlier.  His Windows Sharepoint Services Operations Guide includes Chapter 13 which we used to resurrect the clients Companyweb with a fresh install and then reattach the databases.

The funny thing about this all was that we didn’t really need Sharepoint / Companyweb working as the customer didn’t need it.  What we did need to do however was to get it working so that the SBS Internet Domain Name wizard would works so we could properly setup their Exchange for external access.  The previous IT company didn’t try that and there were issues as a result.  I was able to read the logs for the wizard (dpcw.log) and determine that the wizard was crashing at the point it tried to configure the Companyweb correctly.  So we needed to fix Companyweb so that the wizard would work.  All up – a great afternoons work – the client is now VERY happy indeed.

Now I could have kept at this for many more hours, but instead of letting my ego get in the way, I called in an expert.  The expert then came in and fixed it quickly.  How often do we as IT Professionals think we can solve things and we don’t want to actually call in other help?  Is it just us or is it other professions as well?  I know from experience that when I can’t solve something after a period of time, I find it beneficial to call on someone else’s view point – they might just have the answers you are looking for.  Thanks Robert – and I highly recommend the Windows Sharepoint Operations Guide if you don’t have a subscription, get one – now!