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Windows Upgrade, FAA Error Cause LAX Shutdown
fname writes "The recent shutdown of LAX due to an FAA radio outage was apparently caused by a Windows 2000 integration flaw, possibility related to an old Windows 95 bug. An article at the LA Times claims that the outage was caused by human error, as the system will automatically shut down after 49.7 days (related to this Windows 95 flaw?), and a technician didn't reboot the system monthly as he should have. This happened after an upgrade from Unix to Windows. I don't think blame should be assigned to the technician who missed the task; rather, it seems a gross oversight for the FAA to guarantee that such a critical system will crash after only one missed maintenance task. Who's really at fault?"
"Upgrade" from Unix to Windows, eh. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Use Ctrl-C instead of ESC in Vim!
I thought switching to Windows from *nix saved time, money, and hassle! Haven't you guys seen those banner ads here?
To the rescue!
http://www.nbc.com/LAX/
-- The Funk, The Whole Funk, And Nothing But The Funk
"This happened after an upgrade from Unix to Windows."
Thats the funniest thing I heard all day. Windows is an upgrade from unix. I almost choked on my coffee.
sleep 4294080 /s
shutdown
It's an upgrade because it helps to create thousands of jobs for full-time system power cycling engineers.
So I installed Linux.
Fight Spammers!
You have to love a system that requires downtime as part of uptime. How many Linux users have this problem? (Please press the Start button to shut down (stop) the computer.)
Sure,
doesn't sound like it should start (initialize) anything...I'm still amused & suprised the poster left off the quotes as in "upgrade" from Unix to Windows.
Vote Quimby.
I remember back when that bug was announced. Seems it was at least a couple of years after Windows 95 had been out. I guess they had to work through a lot of other bugs to get Windows 95 to make it long enough for this bug to occur.
Unknown host pong.
"Why did they move from Unix to Windows in the first place?"
Maybe they didn't want to have to reboot on January 19, 2038
UNIX -> Windows is like Clinton -> Bush.
Sorry, but someone had to say it.
I believe the 49.7 days of uptime for a Windows 95 box is a new record, shattering the previous record in Norway of 27.9 days back on January through February of 2001. Congratulations!
--
http://www.aikiweb.com - AikiWeb Aikido Information
Would that be 'exLAX'?
Are you kidding?
Think about it.. the Tech managed to keep Windows up and running for almost 50 days. The guy's a hero!
That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze
Frank Stallone.
You know what?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url= /library/en-us/sysinfo/base/gettickcount.asp
Sounds like who ever wrote the software/OS module they were relying on used this gem. I hereby dub who soever was so silly as to do this as a 'code monkey, first class'.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
giant advertisement:
I'm thinking that maybe "the guy that almost crashed a bunch of planes" is not the name they were looking for.(I'm not making this up- that's really the ad I'm seeing.)
314-15-9265
... should be:
"Microsoft: Writing the software to prevent SkyNet since 1981."
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Each M T W Th R S Su 12:45 AM shutdown /l /r /y /c
We have used that exact script for YEARS to nightly reboot a troublesome NT4 BDC at a remote location.
Does it work on Friday? You might want to check on that...
BTM
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
For a real-time application like air traffic control, you really can't automate reboots like that. You need someone standing there to say "crap! crap! crap!" and take the necessary actions when the system decides it doesn't want to reboot properly.*
*even if they don't know what to do, they can at least shout "crap!", which is more than a system stuck at the BIOS screen with an "elbow parity error" can say.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
I'd hate to sit next to you during Price is Right.
That's every 584,942,417 years. Which is simply not going to be good enough in my book.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Ladies and Gentlemen, at this time the Captain would like to ask you to remain seated with your seatbelt firmly fastened, however if there are any computer technicians flying with us today, especially if they know what to do when a 'Fatal Exception has occured at 0029:C02FDEC6', would that person please come forward to the cabin immediately?
Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
"This wasn't an ARTCC. Besides, the ARTCC's are all on DSR now, and a bunch have URET on top of that."
Well, I'm glad you cleared that up!
Let me see, you claim that the error was in the integration of the Windows server. Thanks for clearing that up, because the submitter wrote, "The recent shutdown of LAX due to an FAA radio outage was apparently caused by a Windows 2000 integration flaw."
Ya, way to correct that error. It was in the integration of the Windows servers, not a Windows 2000 integration flaw.
Personally, I use an axe.
LegendMUD
...2) Every box must be able to FAIL ON ITS OWN
That requirement makes it obvious why they needed to switch from Unix to a Microsoft product, doesn't it?
Personally i use sudo reboot because I would never login as root for security/safety reasons.
Funny, those are the only reasons I ever log in as root.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Aviation expects 99.9999% uptime with absolutely no message loss, and we would achieve that with hot-standbys and MySQL mirroring.
;-)
Yes, that was a jab at you, Postgres fans.
May we never see th
Surely you mean Microsoft Server Cycling Engineers (MSCE)
Golly gee-whiz, if someone is too stupid to migrate a million-record dBase table to SQL, he only deserves a real good whacking (and a career re-orientation into would you like grits with that ???)...
Most of the time it is not because the inability of the database tech, but the "hey, it's been working so far" attitude of the decision makers.
Maybe the powers that be are allergic to Open Source solutions and commercial databases can be expensive. Maybe the client applications are tied to the current system and porting them would be too expensive (example, POS systems).
I can imagine the conversation:
- "We are closed at night anyway"
- "Yes, boss, but recovering from a failure (knock on wood) can be too difficult in the current system"
- "Well, that's what we are paying you for"
- "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Would you like grits with that?"
No sig
The decision to replace the legacy system was made the same week RadioShack quit selling vacuum tubes. Coincidence? I think not.
I'm still having a bit of trouble with the notion that moving from UNIX to Windows was regarded as an upgrade.
What a long, strange trip it's been.
Personally I:
% su -
# uname -n
and MAKE SURE I'M ON THE RIGHT MACHINE !!
# shutdown -r 120 'go away!!'
Most system's reboot invoke a `shutdown -r now`.
"Remember, any tool can be the right tool." -- Red Green
I'm sure Emilia Airhart said the same thing before she patched her Windows 3.11!
Unix to Windows95? more like downgrade...big time
Now you've become a thrustworthly company!
Ah, but then you couldn't tie in a catchy Rolling Stones song with your product launch.