Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Path: utzoo!telly!eci386!jmm
From: jmm@eci386.uucp (John Macdonald)
Subject: Re: Maintenence-free UNIX?
Message-ID: <1990Oct11.154348.12387@eci386.uucp>
Reply-To: jmm@eci386.UUCP (John Macdonald)
Organization: Elegant Communications Inc.
References: <90282.125053RMG3@psuvm.psu.edu> <1990Oct10.161242.3423@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 90 15:43:48 GMT

In article <1990Oct10.161242.3423@Neon.Stanford.EDU> dkeisen@Gang-of-Four.Stanford.EDU (Dave Eisen) writes:
|In article <90282.125053RMG3@psuvm.psu.edu> RMG3@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
|>
|>  The question is - 'Is maintenence-free UNIX an oxymoron?'
|>  I have a very serious reason for asking the question, humorous
|>though it may seem at first glance. 
|
|
|I don't think it's a humorous question at all, it's a serious issue for
|my company. We sell point of sales systems (we wrote a device driver
|that allows a cash register to talk to a Xenix box and software to
|do price lookup, inventory control, accounting, etc.) running on Xenix
|to people who are incapable of using (or unwilling to learn) vi, let 
|alone administer a Unix system. The current policy of our major contract
|is to let their distributors decide whether or not to even give anyone on 
|site the root password! This forces us to make the system run by itself.
|
|It is no small task to make a UNIX system maintenance-free. I wouldn't
|try to pretend that we've succeeded.

Warning: commercial service description to follow...

Our company has a service offering called ERSA - Expert
Remote Systems Assurance (announced in comp.newprod in
August, check your archives or send me email for a copy).
It provides remote systems maintainence for ANY type of
Unix (Xenix System III, version 7, Sys V, BSD, split universe,
etc.).  It is highly extensible for local control, or for
adding customized support modules.  We mostly try to deal
with computer service providers - system manufacturers,
VARs, etc. rather than end users.

If requested, I can discuss technical aspects further in
this forum.  If you have business questions, try email,
snail mail or phone.

mail    Elegant Communications Inc.
        602 - 481 University Ave.
        Toronto, Ont., Canada, M5G 2E9

phone   +1 416 595-5425

fax     +1 416 595-5439 (working hours only - the line is
                        attached to a modem at night)
-- 
Cure the common code...                      | John Macdonald
...Ban Basic      - Christine Linge          |   jmm@eci386