Re: What IS an "AS/400" ??????

>how often would your company keep the as400 if you had to "reboot" several
>times a day. microsoft NT say it all "NOT THERE". at my company i see the pc
>jockeys continually upgrading and changjing, nothing is ever stable for them.
>what's with that?


As much as I enjoy Micro$oft Bashing, I must admit the NT servers at work
are reasonably reliable (although at the present time we've had more NT
crashes than AS/400 crashes).

The AS/400 can do more than one thing at a time--  serve web pages,
database records, communicate with remote locations, etc. etc.

The NT world rolls in a separate server for each function.  Sort of like a
new box for each subsystem.  If you compare an NT box to an AS/400
subsystem they're just as reliable-- we've had occasion to end and restart
various subsystems on the fly; on the NT side they reboot an individual
server.   If you count restarting a subsystem as a 'crash,' we're not
immune.  [I really like the message, "Subsystem QINTER had a function
check; but the machine is nobly struggling to go on."]

The thing that makes NT NOT reliable is (1) people messing with the
configuration (ie installing PTFs and CUM Tapes), and (2) overloading the
power strip.

A word about (2)-- the NT gurus had the racks all nicely plugged into
separate outlet boxes under the floor (each is a separate circuit).
Someone plugged them all back together for some reason.  A CE for one of
the routers plugged his laptop into the same power strip and CLUNK!

The biggest difference between NT and AS/400 is that I have no fear about
re-configuring lines, controllers, devices, subsystems (within reason), and
other system-level stuff without a dedicated machine.

The NT folks get queasy if you just -mention- configuration and system
level stuff.  There are APIs in NT that are in the manuals, yet Microsoft
will not support your system if you use them (or so the gurus have informed
me).  Seems they're either flakey or their scope is not restricted tightly
enough.

On both sides we've been slapped silly by the sheer amount of data that a
corporation accumulates!  We both have a periodic "Clean Up Before We
Delete It" marathon.  And, we both have added good chunks of disk space
this year.

I -do- consider the AS/400 more convenient, in that we can stuff everything
into one box and it keeps running; no need for multiple boxes, with the
plethora of console keyboards, monitors, and mice.

Uh, well, we -do- have one console for each of our 7 AS/400s in the
operator's area-- but we promised to cut that number down to 2 this year.
(:

I guess we'll just have to tippy-toe around the NT vs AS/400 issue until we
clean up our own act.  (:

--Paul E Musselman
PaulMmn@ix.netcom.com


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