I’m always fascinated by human systems of the kind that rely on other people to advance some process along a path as sequentail steps to its final objective. Sometimes, its very simple. Order a drip coffee at Starbucks, “Grande, no room”, give the Starbucks card to the Barista, she/he swipes it, money changes hands in the cloud and you get your card and coffee. Two humans interacting with each other, a computer and the coffee maker completed the transaction without a hitch. There’s more.
What happens if the Starbucks card doesn’t have enouch cash to complete the purchase? What happens if the customer doesn’t have an alternate means of payment. What happens if the customer has decided to purchase a mug and some chocolate covered beans as a present for a person dear to them and would like it gift wrapped – AND the person is in front of you at 7:30 AM when you dearly want to get to work on time.
These examples are all rather trivial. Let’s take this up a notch. Let’s say we’re working for a giant world-wide corporation with many divisions, business units, organizations, sub organizations, operational and political fiefdoms, protectorates, and kingdoms.
What happens when your Windows KMS Product Activation Server suddenly refuses to process any new activations? Existing, activated servers are fine. They continue to renew their activation tokens. But suddenly, those two new SQL servers need to be deployed in a Windows High Availability Cluster and they’re not being activated. What do you do? Indeed, you pull out your troubleshooting guide with all the notes and “gotchas” that you painstakingly documented when you created the KMS host. You review each step of the process. No joy.
Being the type of individual that doesn’t like to spin their wheels, I tend to call Microsoft Support and open an incident. I especially like to do it when the customer is under Software Assurance and I don’t have to use my credit card.
I was fortunate to connect with a Syetem Engineer on the Windows Activation Support Team. We went through the usual diagnostics: Is there a DNS entry that identifies the KMS host and the port it’s listening on. Can Host and client Telnet on the port. Is the firewall configured to allow Windows Activation? Are all of the servers on the same time and Time Zone? Cut to the chase.
In this instance, the KMS host was activated and was functioning and activating servers; however, it apparently was in some sort of “state of grace.” It just stopped working on June 1st. My support engineer said the solution was simple. Send an email to the Microsoft Activation team. Include such things as the name of the organization holding the license, the enrollment number, the reason for the request, the person making the request, the person’s email address and the name and email address of the “Authorized User.” As the Systems Engineer responsible for the KMS environment, I need to track down the “Authorized User,”
Many emails and phone calls later, i track down the person who ordered the product. That person, unfortunately, is not the “Authorized User.” Now the thought of having to track down a person in the corporate maze, brings on a state of hopelessness.
I call the Microsoft Activation team, “Can you give me the name(s) of folks who are registered Authorized Users so I can contact them and ask them to plead for a new activation?” Well, that would be compromising security. I talk to more people in the corporate network. They have no idea of how things work in the Microsoft world or in their own procurement process; however, they are friendly. One person actuall6y took the time to explain how their licensing agreement worked. Nice but I’m no closer to may goal.
In one last effort, I email Microsoft asking for the name(s) of an Authorized User that they have on file. Two days later, I get a response. The person on the list is the one who patiently explained the licensing scheme to me. Arrgh!
I get back to the person and ask her to send the Activation Team an email asking for a re-activation of the product key. This time we’re successful! Case closed.
A few days later, I get the customer survey request. Am I happy? Today, I’m in love with the world – sure. More questions – generally satisfactory answers – not really bad, not really good. Would I recommend Microsoft to others? Sorry, that was a GAP surver question but it got me to thinking… Would I recommend Microsoft to others?
This posting is provided “as is” with no warranties, guaranties or any rights whatsoever. All content is based on the author’s experiences and opinions and is not intended to influence the actions of the reader.