Plus ca change... 2530

writes:

This could spawn a whole new thread, dealing with system "improvements" intended to increase uptime but having the opposite effect. In our case, we do a lot of data collection through RS-232 ports. Many of our clients inserted buffer boxes in the lines so that if we went down, all the data would be safely kept until we came back up.

But these boxes turned out be less reliable than either our software or the PeeCees on which it runs. Some condition that we never determined - data sensitivity, possibly - occasionally caused the boxes to refuse to release the data they were buffering. You could watch them filling up with data that was going down a black hole. This didn't happen often, but when you're running 24-7 it's just a matter of time.

We'd usually find out about the problem through a phone call from an anguished customer complaining about a beeping noise that was driving them nuts - and in the background we could hear the beeping. This was the box complaining that it was full - all further data was spilling onto the floor (figuratively speaking). At this point the customer had two options: he could bypbutt the box, or do a complete reset that wiped the box's memory. But there was no way that data was coming back.

We tried sending one such box back the manufacturer - and although its battery kept its contents intact, they couldn't get it to release the data either. Yes, the box had turned into a WOM.

So we've removed these buffers from service. Our systems are more reliable without them.

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