it looks something like this [translate into your favorite language]:...code...
read registry for OS version and set = x
Does version x fit into the predefined range that this patch was written for?
if No then bail and give err code
if yes then run installer...more code...
I see no evidence of Brain Surgery and/or Rocket Science here.
It is 100% the fault of the OS vendor - the patch should include a check to ensure it is not installing on the wrong OS. Patches for GAMES do this, patches for applications do this [at work two days ago I tried to apply a Lotus Notes 5.0.12 patch to a 5.0.9 client and was curteously informed that it was the incorrect version - not that diffucult to code, apparently...] so why can't a [no doubt] Critical patch for an operating system make this simple check?
Sure, some paper MCSE used the wrong target scope when applying the patch - he/she totally screwed the pooch. However, the patch installer should have detected that is was trying to 'upgrade' an incorrect OS and terminated on the other 59,993 attempts rather than just slamming itself in - that is NOT the admins fault.
ANY patch that allows itself to be installed on an alien OS is flawed - I don't care what your pet OS is. Lame code is lame code no matter what is tastes like.
if they were not connected to the network then they could not have demonstrated the new [and very expensive] remote installation software to the PHBs...
I'm sick and tired of you people coming in here and stirring up the sh*t.
Why don't you just take whatever it is you have against what I think this thread is about and go somewhere where people care about whatever is was that YOU thought this thread was about?
All of the things you list can be [and are]outsourced to lower wage paying tech support firms rather than kept in-house.
An outsourced job does not have to go overseas in order to cost someone a paycheck.
the same kind of moronic sheet-stains who I live with in NY who voted in a socialist from a different state to be our US Senator [we could have put up our own, REAL commy like Mario Cuomo - but nooooo, we get stuck with the impeached former president's puppet master who had yet to unpack the U-Haul when the campaign started...]
I'll trade Utah's morons for NY's - there are fewer of them...
I work for a medical insurance company whose claims processing front-end is an application which is only available on a certain GUI-centric OS. An earlier episode of proactive-geekitude is now paying off in the form of email bullitins indicatiing that #s 1 and 2 in your scenario have taken place and this app and/or OS is effected (it does not matter which).
Now assume step #4 takes 'only' 6 months to arrive. If I followed step #3 the result is that approximately US$2 billion of medical bills will not have been paid. Yes, that is a 'B' and represents only my company - there are many more using the same software/OS and doing multiples more in annnual pay-out. Presumably, they would also have been down until patched.
It is simply not possible to do what you suggest in the real world. The cost of your approach makes it undoable [is that a real word?]. I'm in day 1 of a 2 day 'upgrade' to the aforementioned app. We spent 4 months in prep work and testing the get to a 99.99someodd% certainty that we will have less than 48 hrs downtime. Early planning started in '02. And this is only a point release. Less than 2 hours after the DBA pressed the enter key to kick off the database conversion script I was approached by the Project Manager who inquired about per seat cost to upgrade the GUI-centric OS and its evil sibling office suite to the current version as it is a requirement for the full version upgrade he is planning for Q1/'05...
It is simply not an option to take down a mission critical app [and certainly not >7k instances of the GUI-centric OS and therfore ALL apps] until patched/repaired/replaced. It is barely possible to do so even if the purpose IS to patch/repair/upgrade the system(s).
'94 grad [after 6.5 years]- Aerospace Engineering and Physics - both exceedingly useful skill sets during the days of the "Peace Dividend"... I submitted 34 resumes in '94 - only 5 even bothered to acknowledge the effort - all 5 were NASA centers and I believe were obligated to do so by law. '94 sucked ass.
in '95 I found myself running a coffee shop [I used to get dangerously wired and try to teach the high-school kids hanging out there how to do differential equations...ah, the memories]
'96-'97 I wired and tested pumps [assembly-line stuff - excellent environment for intellectual growth... ]
'97-'00 rode the shockwave of three separate start-up implosions having by this point decided to jump into computer work [hardware/admin stuff - programming was never my bag although I could spin decent FORTRAN code back in the day...]
since then I've been doing tech support/admin work in the health care industry. Support/admin salaries have been flat for years - 35-65k depending on what you do and how badly management needs to shave another percentage off administrative overhead to make it look like last year's plan really worked - programmers do not seem to get hired at all anymore - we now see an endless stream of project contractors and consultants who beat code into our systems and move onto the next job handing the taco bag out the window...
There are, no doubt, kick*ss jobs out there but for the most part entry level programmers are not something most PHBs are tossing huge chunks of cash at right now.
i am not a security weeny but why in gods (tm) name would you want to connect your admin interface to the rest of the LAN - thats just insane on the face of it - the admin NIC should be connected via an isolated cable to the box from which one would administer and that box should not be connected to anything else...
"...lawsuites...America, I think we have a new word!"
better hurry up and get the copyright for that before you get sued for speaking/typing a word without permission...
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it looks something like this [translate into your favorite language]: ...code...
read registry for OS version and set = x
Does version x fit into the predefined range that this patch was written for?
if No then bail and give err code
if yes then run installer ...more code...
I see no evidence of Brain Surgery and/or Rocket Science here.
It is 100% the fault of the OS vendor - the patch should include a check to ensure it is not installing on the wrong OS. Patches for GAMES do this, patches for applications do this [at work two days ago I tried to apply a Lotus Notes 5.0.12 patch to a 5.0.9 client and was curteously informed that it was the incorrect version - not that diffucult to code, apparently...] so why can't a [no doubt] Critical patch for an operating system make this simple check?
Sure, some paper MCSE used the wrong target scope when applying the patch - he/she totally screwed the pooch. However, the patch installer should have detected that is was trying to 'upgrade' an incorrect OS and terminated on the other 59,993 attempts rather than just slamming itself in - that is NOT the admins fault.
ANY patch that allows itself to be installed on an alien OS is flawed - I don't care what your pet OS is. Lame code is lame code no matter what is tastes like.
if they were not connected to the network then they could not have demonstrated the new [and very expensive] remote installation software to the PHBs...
and what, exacly is wrong with this thread?
I'm sick and tired of you people coming in here and stirring up the sh*t.
Why don't you just take whatever it is you have against what I think this thread is about and go somewhere where people care about whatever is was that YOU thought this thread was about?
= ; ^ ) >
All of the things you list can be [and are]outsourced to lower wage paying tech support firms rather than kept in-house. An outsourced job does not have to go overseas in order to cost someone a paycheck.
Net Result [Appendix A]: Those employees are now doing essentially the same job for substantially reduced income and benefits.
I learned long ago that you need not like the people you are sleeping with...
the same kind of moronic sheet-stains who I live with in NY who voted in a socialist from a different state to be our US Senator [we could have put up our own, REAL commy like Mario Cuomo - but nooooo, we get stuck with the impeached former president's puppet master who had yet to unpack the U-Haul when the campaign started...] I'll trade Utah's morons for NY's - there are fewer of them...
Your approach is fatally flawed.
Consider this:
I work for a medical insurance company whose claims processing front-end is an application which is only available on a certain GUI-centric OS. An earlier episode of proactive-geekitude is now paying off in the form of email bullitins indicatiing that #s 1 and 2 in your scenario have taken place and this app and/or OS is effected (it does not matter which).
Now assume step #4 takes 'only' 6 months to arrive. If I followed step #3 the result is that approximately US$2 billion of medical bills will not have been paid. Yes, that is a 'B' and represents only my company - there are many more using the same software/OS and doing multiples more in annnual pay-out. Presumably, they would also have been down until patched.
It is simply not possible to do what you suggest in the real world. The cost of your approach makes it undoable [is that a real word?]. I'm in day 1 of a 2 day 'upgrade' to the aforementioned app. We spent 4 months in prep work and testing the get to a 99.99someodd% certainty that we will have less than 48 hrs downtime. Early planning started in '02. And this is only a point release. Less than 2 hours after the DBA pressed the enter key to kick off the database conversion script I was approached by the Project Manager who inquired about per seat cost to upgrade the GUI-centric OS and its evil sibling office suite to the current version as it is a requirement for the full version upgrade he is planning for Q1/'05...
It is simply not an option to take down a mission critical app [and certainly not >7k instances of the GUI-centric OS and therfore ALL apps] until patched/repaired/replaced. It is barely possible to do so even if the purpose IS to patch/repair/upgrade the system(s).
Testify !
'94 grad [after 6.5 years]- Aerospace Engineering and Physics - both exceedingly useful skill sets during the days of the "Peace Dividend"... I submitted 34 resumes in '94 - only 5 even bothered to acknowledge the effort - all 5 were NASA centers and I believe were obligated to do so by law. '94 sucked ass.
in '95 I found myself running a coffee shop [I used to get dangerously wired and try to teach the high-school kids hanging out there how to do differential equations...ah, the memories]
'96-'97 I wired and tested pumps [assembly-line stuff - excellent environment for intellectual growth... ]
'97-'00 rode the shockwave of three separate start-up implosions having by this point decided to jump into computer work [hardware/admin stuff - programming was never my bag although I could spin decent FORTRAN code back in the day...]
since then I've been doing tech support/admin work in the health care industry. Support/admin salaries have been flat for years - 35-65k depending on what you do and how badly management needs to shave another percentage off administrative overhead to make it look like last year's plan really worked - programmers do not seem to get hired at all anymore - we now see an endless stream of project contractors and consultants who beat code into our systems and move onto the next job handing the taco bag out the window...
There are, no doubt, kick*ss jobs out there but for the most part entry level programmers are not something most PHBs are tossing huge chunks of cash at right now.
i am not a security weeny but why in gods (tm) name would you want to connect your admin interface to the rest of the LAN - thats just insane on the face of it - the admin NIC should be connected via an isolated cable to the box from which one would administer and that box should not be connected to anything else...
"...The middle of nowhere..."
and its also in a canyon - I shredded a timing belt on an '82 escort coming up the hill out of Warsaw going towards Buffalo a few years back.
they have VOD but no service stations open on a saturday...
= ; ^ )>
"...lawsuites...America, I think we have a new word!" better hurry up and get the copyright for that before you get sued for speaking/typing a word without permission...
Gauntlet kicked ass! [hehehe, you're old...] = ; ^ ) >