[Info-vax] HP Integrity rx2800 i4 (2.53GHz/32.0MB) :: PAKs won't load

[lists at openmailbox.org]

On Sun, 28 Feb 2016 14:20:06 +0000
Kerry Main via Info-vax <info-vax at rbnsn.com> wrote:

> Then, add in the "what is we lose a site and we cannot lose any data" 
> scenario to the cluster and the complexity goes through the roof - "split 
> brain" and many of the issues which ALL OS platforms need to address. 

Does that mean "can't lose access to any data" or "can't lose data?"

If the former, how many setups can really provide that in real time? I know
a system that can do it in near-real time and it will sync up but if you
lose a system your data on that system is going on be inaccessible. As far
as "can't lose any data" goes, that sounds like a feature of any OS that
claims to be enterprise ready. Until an airplane hits the data center.

> Tough problem on any platform - OpenVMS's current state may not be
> the best, but does anyone have a better solution which also ensures 
> data stays in sync between volumes on different systems at different 
> sites? (please do not state HW mirroring)

Why not? Even software mirroring has been proven worthy in production for a
long time. By that I mean smart/consistent mirroring as opposed to dumb
mirroring though. Maybe that's what you meant by "HW mirroring."

> All of us here on this newsgroup understand the frustrations of the past 
> 2 decades of DEC/Compaq/HP decisions. With each acquisition, OpenVMS 
> became a smaller fish in a much larger pond. 

Well, almost all ;-) I did feel bad when HP messed up their calculator
division though and they have nobody to blame for that but themselves.

> Having stated this, to the point raised in the last reply, one needs to 
> understand that multi-site clustering with no data loss in a DR scenario
> is a really tough nut to crack - on ANY OS platform. 

I'm not sure no data loss in a DR scenario is possible on any platform I
know of. At first I thought you were talking about a hardware failure. If
you're talking about airplane hits the building and you can avoid *any*
data loss that has to be a huge competitive advantage for VMS over pretty
much anything out there. And it ought to be on every single piece of
marketing collateral for VMS including war stories and links to white
papers.

But if it's only a matter of temporary unavailability, or short term delay
then I know another OS that can provide that through third party tools and I
guess others could also.