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Server Runs Continuously For 24 Years (computerworld.com)
In 1993 a Stratus server was booted up by an IT application architect -- and it's still running.
An anonymous reader writes:
"It never shut down on its own because of a fault it couldn't handle," says Phil Hogan, who's maintained the server for 24 years. That's what happens when you include redundant components. "Over the years, disk drives, power supplies and some other components have been replaced but Hogan estimates that close to 80% of the system is original," according to Computerworld.
There's no service contract -- he maintains the server with third-party vendors rather than going back to the manufacturer, who says they "probably" still have the parts in stock. And while he believes the server's proprietary operating system hasn't been updated in 15 years, Hogan says "It's been extremely stable."
The server will finally be retired in April, and while the manufacturer says there's some more Stratus servers that have been running for at least 20 years -- this one seems to be the oldest.
There's no service contract -- he maintains the server with third-party vendors rather than going back to the manufacturer, who says they "probably" still have the parts in stock. And while he believes the server's proprietary operating system hasn't been updated in 15 years, Hogan says "It's been extremely stable."
The server will finally be retired in April, and while the manufacturer says there's some more Stratus servers that have been running for at least 20 years -- this one seems to be the oldest.
"It never shut down on its own because of a fault it couldn't handle," said Hogan. "I can't even think of an instance where we had an unplanned shutdown," he said.
This isn't a server that has had an OS uptime of 24 years. This is a computer that they are still using after 24 years that "hasn't crashed". So what. The Amiga still being used from the 80s was a bigger deal. This article is really just an ad for Stratus.
'"I can't even think of an instance where we had an unplanned shutdown," he said.'
Um... I should hope so, since if it had, it wouldn't have had 24 years of uptime. And no photo of the output of "uptime"? I'm starting to think that they DID shut it down/reboot it many times, but somehow ignore this in the "uptime". Nonsensical article.
it DID NOT run continuously for 24 years. It simply never stopped or restarted without admin intervention, two very very different things.While still impressive it is no where near as impressive as if it had run 24 years continuously.
"Over the years, disk drives, power supplies and some other components have been replaced but Hogan estimates that close to 80% of the system is original," according to Computerworld.
Then is it still considered the same server? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Personally, I have a computer that lives in a case I got in 2003. I am on motherboard #4, power supply #2, processor #2, memory modules #6 & #7, hard drives #4 & #5, etc. However, I still consider it to be the same computer. Perhaps there is something psychological about it, but the name (or in this case the case) has a special significance even if all the guts have been swapped out.
Stratus are an old school redundant parallel architecture. You can take a node off line without taking the system down. Beyond that multiple levels of redundancy with components. Portions of the system have certainly been taken down, but the system as a whole kept running.
No one would consider that kind of architecture now; much too expensive, when other solutions are available now. The key word in the previous sentence is "now". Probably not an ad for Stratus, they don't really exist anymore.
The equivalent now is a server farm. There are systems (server farms) that have been running for over a decade.