From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 1067ce,c3fb2e547555e41a X-Google-Attributes: gid1067ce,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,3cd3b8571c28b75f X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-09-13 11:59:06 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!wn13feed!worldnet.att.net!204.127.198.203!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!sccrnsc02.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3F6368E8.7080106@attbi.com> From: "Robert I. Eachus" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,alt.os.multics Subject: Re: A Customer's Request For Open Source Software References: <3F4828D9.8050700@attbi.com> <3F4EA616.30607@attbi.com> <3F512BD1.8010402@attbi.com> <3F52AA5F.8080607@attbi.com> <3F53B88E.7040405@attbi.com> <3F61BA54.9060702@crs4.it> <3F620703.9080804@attbi.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.34.139.183 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-Trace: sccrnsc02 1063479546 24.34.139.183 (Sat, 13 Sep 2003 18:59:06 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2003 18:59:06 GMT Organization: Comcast Online Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2003 18:59:06 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:42455 alt.os.multics:2015 Date: 2003-09-13T18:59:06+00:00 List-Id: Edward Rice wrote: > > Can you actually point to any site that re-cabled a processor or IOM or SCU > without powering down the system, Robert? At AFDSC, we did about as much > dynamic reconfiguration (and upgrading) as any place, but when it came time > to disconnect power and data cables, HFED wanted the system all to > themselves. > > We certainly split our system without bringing down service -- that was a > daily operation. But I don't consider adding back a processor at 5:00 AM > that was removed at 8:00 PM the previous evening to be an upgrade. At BCO in Billerica, MA it was actually done at least once or twice that I was aware of. As you point out, it is a power and cabling issue. We did have every box on its own circut breaker, so doing it was a lot less dangerous. But remember, that in this situation it helped a lot that BCO was part of Honeywell, and there was some trading back and forth of staff with CISL in Cambridge, MA, where they hacked their own Multics system a lot. (CISL was the development site for Multics.) As for disk and tape drives, that was done all the time. The only two times I can remember BCO being down, a squirrel jumped from one power wire coming into the building to another in the rain. I also can't remember any occasion where Honeywell support people came to our site. Doesn't mean it didn't happen. However there were at least a dozen times where someone from CISL showed up to do a hardware mod, or to oversee an OS upgrade. Even though we were a different part of Honeywell from CISL, the geographic convenience meant that we were often the first non-CISL site to install a software upgrade or hardware fix. Those hardware fixes were the occasions where one processor at a time was shut down, modified and added back in. But again, the reason it was so nice was that it was much nicer to live with fewer processors for most of a day, compared to shutting the site down for a day or two to do the same thing. -- Robert I. Eachus "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure." -- Jacques Chirac, President of France "As far as France is concerned, you're right." -- Rush Limbaugh