Library Web Chic

Okay, this is today's rant. Why can't two web servers (both IIS with the same version of the Microsoft XML parser) ever work the same? So I wrote this nifty piece of code that would display an RSS feed as part of a web page and tested it. Works great in my test environment, but on my live site… not a chance.

I think that this illustrates the biggest challenges with setting up a test environment. You have to make sure that it mirrors your production environment adequately. This may seem like a really obvious little thing, but if

• you aren't savvy enough to catch more than the BIG differences (versions of IIS)

  or

• you don't have control of the servers

it can be a big deal.

You see, servers maintainance and administration is not one of my stronger skills. I rely heavily on the even techier guys at work to make sure the boxes run. I know some basic stuff (how to set up a website in IIS) but obviously not enough to figure out why my nifty code won't work. So after four hours searching the net and the Microsoft knowledge base with no luck, I am pretty annoyed.

So what's a frustrated web chic to do. Well, short term. Find code that works in both environments. Long term, either I need to know more about servers or find an expert about such things to ask future questions. I will probably choose the latter. In my humble opintion, in depth knowledge of servers isn't part of the core webmastering knowledge base. Although, you may disagree with me and I will say it might have helped in this situation.

Ultimately, what needs to be part of the core webmastering knowledge base depends on your job. If you have to administrate your own servers sole then server knowledge is going to be essential. However, if your focus is more on design and development then there are many more skills that will assist you in your day-to-day tasks. Its all a matter of context and perspective.