Spotted a server rack at a coffee shop in Austin that made me stop and stare

I was grabbing a latte downtown last week and noticed their network closet door was cracked open. Inside was this ancient HP ProLiant server with cables spilling everywhere like a spaghetti monster attacked it. I actually mentioned it to the barista and she said it runs their whole POS system and they haven't touched it since 2019. I offered to clean up the cable mess for a free drink and they took me up on it. Has anyone else stumbled on a setup in the wild that made you cringe?

3 comments

3 Comments

keithbennett19d ago

Wait, did they say they haven't touched it since 2019 or since it was installed? The barista probably meant that's just when the last time anyone looked at it was. That old ProLiant model was already ancient by then. Honestly, a machine like that still running a POS system is basically held together by hope and bad cabling at this point. You probably did them a real solid even if nobody there realizes it yet.

logan20519d ago

Yeah but @paul346, do you think the barista even knew what that thing was for? I mean, if they hadn't touched it since 2019 odds are nobody there has a clue what half those blinking lights even mean. That server was probably running some ancient version of Windows Embedded or something that hasn't seen a security patch in years. Sometimes the messy setups keep chugging along because nobody wants to be the one to break it, you know? But that's a liability in a coffee shop with people's credit card info flying through it.

paul34619d ago

I mean I get why you'd want to clean it up, but honestly that old HP server still working after all these years is kind of impressive. Sometimes the messy setups just keep chugging along no matter how ugly they look. Maybe it's just me but if it's not broken I'd probably leave it alone too.