System iNEWS magazine recently published the "Top 10 IT Problems We Don't Have with IBM i". I don't want to paste the whole thing here and I don't want to put the link because it needs a subscription and people who don't know IBM i really shouldn't bother subscribing. So I'll just mention two somewhat-related items on the list.
#2 Unplanned Downtime
#7 Rebooting as a "Solution"
For four years, I worked for a company that ran AS/400 (a.k.a. iSeries a.k.a System i) along side another system, which I won't mention. And it got the reputation of the most "non-problematic" system. I mean the box itself was a dwarf compared to the racks and racks of servers needed to run the other system, and yet it's very stable. And it's not stable because it's rarely used. In fact, it's used 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, and up 24/7. The other system had, in total, more users than the AS/400, but in context, the lone AS/400 (with just one CPU) handled more users per CPU compared to the other system. The only time that I could remember it was taken down was because of a problem with the power supply of the data center where it was located and then for system upgrade. In the same span, the other system was taken down unplanned several times because of, among other things, problem with the database (several times), and problem with something that I didn't entirely understand (it refused to let anyone sign in). Of course all these are just based on observation, as a developer for both systems. Just anecdotes and aren't scientific. I didn't really know the root causes of what happened. The AS/400 just appeared stable. It wasn't even part of the yearly planned downtime (during long Holy Week weekend of the year) per se because for some reason it wasn't needed, though it's still affected because the network itself was taken down for maintenance.
I envy you carl. I never really got to work with such systems. Right now my life is getting far and far away from the things i used to do. I program less now. I dont read as much as before. I dont use linux anymore, as ive worked in an office that uses industry standard tools daw kuno that run on windows. and sometimes i study one thing today so i can use it tomorrow and have production output the next day .. but not very computery thing, but something else - for advertising, for art(daw kuno, napud), for video, for photography and unsa pa diha. But good thing is, some of these things nga akong ga buhaton karon mejo ganahan na pud kaayo ko. And looking back before I enrolled for Comp Sci sa xu, I figure na I enrolled for yknw.. the graphics thing and not the programming side of it. I wished till the end of my stay there na mag offer sila og something related to graphics pero never happened. So its kind of good na i found some of the things i was looking for karon sa work. But hey, if i hear somebody talk about servers, programs, systems, networks and connections.. man it gets me all excited again. its like that first day I coded "Hello darn world." in xu lab. Naa mo didto ato na time, classmate man ta with rkhu and eric. hehehe.
ReplyDeleteWell, Mungk, you're chasing your dream so there's really nothing to be envy about. When I took up Computer Science, what I'm doing now wasn't really what I had in mind. I wanted to work for a company that created games or systems software. I never really dreamed of working with business applications. But the pineapple company happened. Reality had a way of catching up to me. Things and circumstances that I can't escape. If majority ownership of that company hadn't change I probably would still be working there. Somehow I learned to love my work there, which is practically the same work that I'm doing now.
ReplyDelete