I had to do a simple update to a xmpp messaging server this past week to fix a problem with IE hanging on a close of a ajax window. The problem can be described here, here and here.  Basically when we open our flash IM window and close that window within the same browser session, a new launch of the IM window would not occur.

It was suppose to be a quick update, tweak one parameter to lower the BOSH timeout and restart the tomcat server. It should have taken 10 minutes, maybe 20 with testing, to complete this update. I left the office two and a half hours after I started the update. Seems the networking guys were doing some firewall work that “should not have any effect” on my work, but rather than pointing the VIPs to one data center at time, well they pointed the external DNS name to both data centers.

So I wasted about 2 hours chasing ghosts. Sometimes work is just too much work. Oh by the way.. It looks like the update did not work