Long ago, in about 2005, I was given the task of shutting down some old, very obsolete systems in the data center. I got through quite a few, migrating to newer systems with newer OSes, newer application software, and so on. But there was one that was a total thorn in my side - the oldest system in the building.

This was an old Compaq Proliant 2500, running Windows NT4 and SQL Server 6.5. The hardware, OS, and SQL Server were all well past end of life, but nobody had been able to pin down who owned it or was responsible for it, so it just kept going, waiting for the irreparable and inevitable crash. I was the FNG, so I got the task of figuring out what to do with it.

We did have some notes about who owned it, so I started down that path. I called the designated owner, and asked them about the machine. "Oh, no. I haven't owned that in years. Try this person." So I called that person, and they referred me to a third person, who referred me back to the first person again. I even went around the loop again, this time asking if there was anyone else they could suggest - no dice.

Meanwhile, I dug into user accounts on the system. At the OS level, only the admins had access, as one would hope. At the SQL Server level, there were no domain accounts, only SQL logins - "standard security," as Microsoft called it. I tried to match user logins to names, but they were all generic "appuser" type logins.

In an attempt to see who was actually using it, I monitored logins for a week, just to see if I could even capture any evidence that the thing was actually in use, rather than just turning electricity into heat. I didn't catch anything.

All of the above took a few weeks, leaving messages and missing return calls and such. Finally, I went to my manager. "I can't figure out who owns the machine, and I can't even prove it's in use at all. I want to shut the SQL Server services down for 30 days to see if anyone complains. If no one gripes, I'll power it down for 30 days. If still nobody gripes, I'll yank it out of the rack and send it for scrap. I should have it off our list in 60 days." With full blessing, I shut off the services and set a calendar reminder 30 days later.

On day 30, I got a call from somebody I did not know - "Hey, our server is down, and I wonder if you can help us?"

It turned out that this was a database that only got used once a month, for some weird reporting thing that I didn't even try to understand. It wasn't even very important - they said they had noticed it was down, and just figured it would be up again later. After a week or so, they finally had to call someone.

Now that I had a contact, I was able to get in touch with the person who actually owned it. And the migration was quite simple. I moved their database to a shared utility server, and they were very happy for the improved performance. I even got the old machine out of the rack and sent to scrap before the 60 days were up.