Late Night ZFS Fuel

A lot of people ask me why in the world I chose operating systems/filesystems programming for a living. Among the usual answers, like for some reason I just really enjoy it and I'm a detail freak, I have recently come up with a new one to add to the list: Jamba Juice. Yep, that's what I said, cool fruity goodness in a cup. Like everything, there's an underlying story to the newest addition to my list which I'll explain.

If you haven't already, read Jeff Bonwick's Halloween Day blog entry. In it, he explains exactly what it took in the final hours to deliver ZFS, the newest and coolest filesystem coming soon to a Solaris Express realease near you. One of the key ingredients that I'd add to the many things that helped deliver it is Jamba Juice. Actually, particulary the Coldbuster smoothie that they have. I'm fairly certain the craze was started by Jeff Bonwick and Bill Moore and eventually all of us got hooked as well. Come hell or high water, we all wanted to be in the room at the time Jeff would come in with a delivery of Coldbusters for everyone. So no matter what time you left at night(or morning usually), you better be sure to get in to the office in time to get one.

At first, it started small, with just enough juices for everyone. However as the weekend tore on, and the heat in the room went up, Jeff started coming in with reserves which he'd stow away in a fridge for everyone to have as the night progressed. After watching Bill and Jeff drinking these in succession in the months prior to delivery, I started to wonder if it was maybe something in the juice? I mean, it could be a whole new pitch for Jamba Juice, "drink enough and you too can deliver your own awesome filesystem!" I still think there might be something to it. At any rate whatever it was it was working.

Everyone in the team was pulling hours close to about noon working anywhere till 5 or 6am. It was amazing,and as Jeff pointed out, not in the most comfortable of environments. The heat was ridiculous, only to be replaced by the slightly lower temperature but the crazy noise of a huge fan outside the door. Extension cords were everywhere, and navigating your way out of the room required some serious acrobatics. Somehow though, no one cared, everyone was there, everyone was working hard, and everyone, it seemed, was also having a good time. We were truely in start up mode. Everyone had something to contribute and you could tell they were really working on something they loved and believed in because they just thought it was that freakin cool. It's the best team of people and the best time I've ever had the pleasure to work with.

After the putback into Solaris, we hung on to our "startup" room for one more night, before it was time to disband. People had to fly back to other states, the equipment went back to its owners, and people went back to their offices. All knowing that they were part of delivering one of the most innovative technologies into Solaris. So as we move on into the next steps of ZFS fun I'll still look back and wonder was it something in the juice?

Posted at 09:00AM Nov 16, 2005 by ndellofa in ZFS  |  Comments[1]