Uptime

[3fingersalute]

Last year, I built up a small Windows 2000 machine for recording video from a netcam I installed here to watch our lobby area. Anyhow, its nothing spectacular, but what's cool is I officially hit a year uptime a few days ago:

http://i3.tinypic.com/vzimpv.jpg

Not too shabby for an old P3 machine transferring 5-10GB of data a day.

[street1]

3fingersalute-I am really interested in the motherboard.

Is it a 440BX?

It is great to see something work properly for an extended
period of time.

You did a good assembly job 1 year ago.

Congratulations on a job well done.

[amyb]

what about updates? LOL. It would drive me crazy when you need a server to be up all the time and would have to update and have to reboot.

[3fingersalute]

3fingersalute-I am really interested in the motherboard.

Is it a 440BX?

It is great to see something work properly for an extended
period of time.

You did a good assembly job 1 year ago.

Congratulations on a job well done.
Actually, it wasn't assembled a year ago, it is an old Gateway 2000 computer that was upgraded to a PIII/733 about 4 years ago using an Intel board that does indeed use the 440 chipset.

So, this machine is actually fairly dated, and still runs like a champ for long periods of time!

[3fingersalute]

what about updates? LOL. It would drive me crazy when you need a server to be up all the time and would have to update and have to reboot.
This machine does not have any internet access, so it doesn't really get any updates other than some virus updates which are pushed locally over the LAN. Its not an actual server either, is just a 2000 Pro box used for recording and archiving video files from an Axis netcam.

[amyb]

Oh ok. Great job :cool:

[emr]

This machine does not have any internet access, so it doesn't really get any updates other than some virus updates which are pushed locally over the LAN. Its not an actual server either, is just a 2000 Pro box used for recording and archiving video files from an Axis netcam.

But it's still on the network; therefore prone to attack from outside? That is, anything that gets in over the lan.

emr

[NooNoo]

But it's still on the network; therefore prone to attack from outside? That is, anything that gets in over the lan.

emr
firewall it - if it ain't broke don't fix it... The problem with old pcs and video software is that just about anything can break it... it's stable, let it be.

[emr]

firewall it - if it ain't broke don't fix it... The problem with old pcs and video software is that just about anything can break it... it's stable, let it be.

Exactly, get it behind a firewall. I would chuck it behind a router and have it on a different subnet with no way for it to be got at from anywhere else on the network unless you specifically authorise it; or for it to get at anything else on your network.

emr

[NooNoo]

Exactly, get it behind a firewall. I would chuck it behind a router and have it on a different subnet with no way for it to be got at from anywhere else on the network unless you specifically authorise it; or for it to get at anything else on your network.

emr
Give it its own vlan...cheapest option if it's on a managed switch.

[3fingersalute]

It's actually on its own segmented LAN. Only thing on that LAN is the video camera and the box that the uptime screenshot is from. There is a port at my desk that is also connected to the same small switch; and I plug into that port when I need to Netmeeting into this box for any reason or to copy/delete video files.

[emr]

It's actually on its own segmented LAN. Only thing on that LAN is the video camera and the box that the uptime screenshot is from. There is a port at my desk that is also connected to the same small switch; and I plug into that port when I need to Netmeeting into this box for any reason or to copy/delete video files.

You got it all covered then. Waiting for the next screenshot in 362 days! :)

emr

[NooNoo]

It's actually on its own segmented LAN. Only thing on that LAN is the video camera and the box that the uptime screenshot is from. There is a port at my desk that is also connected to the same small switch; and I plug into that port when I need to Netmeeting into this box for any reason or to copy/delete video files.
So you don't want any help redesigning your LAN then? ;)

[3fingersalute]

So you don't want any help redesigning your LAN then? ;)
I would gladly take it, but I'm 2nd fiddle here, so I don't get to call the shots. :( I hope to get some Cisco training down the road to learn how to tweak these switches better - at the moment I have that Windows 2000 box on its own little Linksys switch because the VLAN thing is a mystery to me.

[NooNoo]

I would gladly take it, but I'm 2nd fiddle here, so I don't get to call the shots. :( I hope to get some Cisco training down the road to learn how to tweak these switches better - at the moment I have that Windows 2000 box on its own little Linksys switch because the VLAN thing is a mystery to me.
VLAN is a very simple concept.... if you know how to place a router into a network to break up the network into different lans, then apply that ability to a managed switch which can route according to it's set up. It separates a single physical network into a number of LANS and the user can only traverse the different lans if allowed - gives it a lot of security.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLAN has a nice explanation... but it doesn't go into dynamic VLANS which I think are brilliant... the VLAN is assigned to the user on the basis of login credentials, meaning that a person can login anywhere on the LAN (or WAN) and get nothing but their authorised segment(s) of the network... this works for both wired and wireless.

[3fingersalute]

You got it all covered then. Waiting for the next screenshot in 362 days! :)

emr And here ya go:

http://i12.tinypic.com/2j0mlv4.jpg

2 years and counting!! :D

[Platypus]

Hmm, which will give out first, hardware or OS? :)

[3fingersalute]

Hmm, which will give out first, hardware or OS? :)
Honestly, I would have thought the hardware would have - its pretty old and has been running non-stop for over 2 years now.

On the other hand, its pretty amazing that the OS (Win 2k) hasn't had any crashes or lockups in that amount of time either.

[NooNoo]

Hmmm that uptime also says that you have never run any windows updates....

[3fingersalute]

Hmmm that uptime also says that you have never run any windows updates....

I thought we discussed this last year, but I guess that was at the thread at another forum. Anyhow, no, I do not run updates, but this machine is on its own segmented LAN without internet access and this is the only thing that it does, so there isn't really any security concerns or needs for updates.

[NooNoo]

Lucky you!!

[Matridom]

I don't have a screenshot handy, but i got a records uptime of 604 days, several years back on my linux server, a 22 hour power outage ended that record.

[arch0nmyc0n]

We've had some pretty long times running here in the shop too. Being an internet provider we tend to have things on all the time. We have one box a customer colocates with us that runs NT 4.0 and it ran for 3 years without an issue. Unfortunately we had to turn it off when we moved shop just recently. It was an old compaq desktop and the hard drive is as loud as hell nowadays. I'm not even sure what he uses it for come to think of it...

[3fingersalute]

I don't have a screenshot handy, but i got a records uptime of 604 days, several years back on my linux server, a 22 hour power outage ended that record.
Years ago I had a linux server I used at our shop for hosting MP3's, I had an uptime of about 500 days on it, and it didn't even have a UPS, it just sat down in the basement and we never had a power failure.

[3fingersalute]

http://i25.tinypic.com/6dzejr.jpg

This just passed the three year mark :eek:

[Platypus]

That's quite impressive!

[3fingersalute]

That's quite impressive!
Thanks. Unfortunately this is about as far as it will make it. Its scheduled to be replaced in the next month or two with a bigger machine with more storage space.

I'm going to hate clicking on "Shut Down" :(

[slgrieb]

Yep, 3Finger, I can see why this would be like losing a family pet.

[arch0nmyc0n]

I'd keep it up just for giggles....

[3fingersalute]

I'd keep it up just for giggles....
I debated it. I honestly wonder when it would croak?

[Guts3d]

Never, the 440 BX was the superman of its time.

[NooNoo]

I have one still going... I use it for 98 era stuff, I can't quite give up Kings Quest :D