uptime 2 years!

andrew clarke mail at ozzmosis.com
Wed Oct 8 16:45:44 UTC 2008


On Wed 2008-10-08 09:21:53 UTC-0700, Jeremy Chadwick (koitsu at FreeBSD.org) wrote:

> I don't want to rain on your parade, but uptime ultimately means squat.

Agreed.

> I can install FreeBSD on a box under my desk at home, on a UPS, and
> leave it powered on for the next 30 years -- it tells people absolutely
> nothing about the reliability of the OS, or what kind of stress it's
> undergone during that time.

I'd be impressed if an ordinary PC lasted 30 years continuously
running.  Even if the HDD is solid-state you still have to think about
other moving parts, particularly the CPU and PSU cooling fans.  I've
had a bad run with PSU fans recently.

Is FreeBSD 7.1 2038-proof?  ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

(I wonder what version of FreeBSD will be the latest in 2038?)

> Additionally, long uptimes also reflect directly on sysadmins: I take it
> to mean "the administrator is very lazy".  There are security holes
> (kernel or userland/library-level) which are exploitable on boxes which
> have been up for that kind of time.  I'm also making the assumption that
> said boxes have Internet connectivity, hence my point.

Yes, my initial thought was "what, you don't use freebsd-update?".

Regards
Andrew


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