AIX vs standard unix

[Glenn R. Stone]

Grover Davidson (grover at skybridge.SCL.CWRU.Edu) writes:

>It is my opinion that IBM has tried to do some things to make unix 
>easier to administrate for both the more advanced admins as well as the
>new admins. How many admins out there would like to chuck the extendable
>JFS? What about modifying the system while users are on? 

This is, IMHO, a Good Thing.... 

>I do, however, believe that IBM DOES SUFFER from the 'WE'RE IBM AND BECAUSE
>WE ARE, WE WILL MAKE THE STANDARDS'. I think that if they publish some sort
>of 'intro to AIX Admin for experienced Unix Admins' type manual.

It's in /usr/lpp/bos/bsdadm.  

>They have listened to us some. The changes at IBM Defect support do show that.

Yeah.  It's nice to call in a problem and get a fix Airborne Expressed to 
you the next morning....  Big Blue's problem tracking (at least for AIX),
or, more accurately, their ability to figure out what's wrong and how
to fix it, has been at worst better than passable.... a damn sight better
than some vendors whose names I won't mention (but it's got three letters :-)

>The problem that I, and many other accounts in this area, is that there is 
>only 1 SE for over 60 sites. As a result, we get NO SUPPORT. and IBM does
>not seem to care about it. Our SE doesn't even have any backups. This is
>probably not uncommon for IBM, but it sure does irritate me!

This is getting better.  We just got an SE dedicated to the thirty machines
scattered about Tech campus, and she and the salescritters are working with
Tech's computer center in an attempt to fix problems like updates getting
lost in the shuffle, etc.... 

>We get better support and assistance from the net that we do from IBM.
>Am i supprised? NO! I have NEVER SEEN IBM PROVIDE HIGH QUALITY SUPPORT
>FROM IT'S OWN ORGANIZATION!!

It's the nature of the net to be able to provide good assistance fast,
period.  Computers are like sex: it's a lot less fun when you do it
for a living.  Those who post to the net are doing it for fun, and 
they will just by nature do a lot better job than those who have to 
grind thru it 8 hours a day.... besides, it's a lot different when
you've done it for real five times instead of calling some guru and
relaying a message.... you KNOW how it's done.  That and the fact that
you have ten thousand people out there looking at your question instead 
of one frazzled SE....  the net will always and forever give you better
support than ANY commercial enterprise.  If you want net.support for 
your OS, get GNU.  That's all I can tell you.

>Remember, they will probably listen better if we tell them not only what
>they keep screwing up, but also what they do fix correctly. Don't you wish
>people took that attitude towards you as a sys admin?

Yeah.  And the attitude I've been hearing the last two weeks is that
they're eager beavers, all we have to do is speak up.  

Next thing you know, IBM'll outlaw the necktie. 

Naaaaah.

-- Glenn R. Stone
gs26 at prism.gatech.edu 
speaking for himself