Re: Anyone know why the Alpha market is so so quiet?

On 05/29/07 00:06, Richard Maher wrote:
Hi Kerry, Ron

Sorry to but in, and I'm not trying to put words in Kerry's mouth, but
WRT: -

[On top of this, like all well run IT shops with important applications,
they need to test their Apps before they release OS patches.]

and

[If you have experience in large DC's - how do you recommend Cust's
continually test their app's and keep all these different Linux versions
current with all of the 5-20 security patches per month?]

I think it would help if Ron pointed out exactly what testing he performs on
each system and the hosted applications, after each one of these yum fests.

1) Let's just do it and see what happens on Monday?
2) System manager reboots and checks the console for errors?
3) Fire up the applications and make a couple of quick queries?
4) Run a comprehensive regression test suite ?
5) Check performance, resource utilization, output all the same?
6) Get Users involved to verify results?
7) Run an End-of-Year?

I'm not saying all of those things should be done for every minor version
upgrade, and I have seen a few VMS sites that never do more than (1), but if
Kerry could say what he expects should be done, and Ron could say what he
actually does then it might speed things up a little bit :-)

As you say, it depends on the patch.

Application changes go thru a QA sign-off after being run on the QA cluster. The larger the changes, the bigger the QA effort.

Some VMS & Rdb patches, though, can't be *adequately* tested on the QA cluster because it's not as powerful as the main cluster and can't simulate the same load.

--
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA USA

Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day.
Hit him with a fish, and he goes away for good!
.

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