Dear DIGITAL UNIX administrator,
The DIGITAL UNIX Software Group is developing OS features and software
tools for managing a system's hardware, and we are asking 'real world'
admins like yourself for feedback. Be assured that all responses are
strictly confidential. We appreciate any and all input!
Thanks,
Madeline T. Asmus (mad_at_zk3.dec.com)
Paul Henderson (pgh_at_unx.dec.com)
DIGITAL UNIX Engineering Group
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Section I. Who are you? (hint: look on your badge)
1. Which best describes your experience (check all that apply):
System administrator
Hardware designer
Software developer for computer hardware
Application programmer
Unix kernel programmer
Video Game tester
Other Specify (________________________)
2. Which best describes what your immediate organization (for
example, "Operations Support Group") does:
Application server support
User level software applications
Hardware level software applications (device drivers,
etc.)
New hardware design
Hardware support
Production environment support
Am trying to figure that out
Other (________________________)
3. What types of systems do you manage (PCs, workstations,
servers, mainframes)?
Section II. Hardware Management on DIGITAL UNIX
Please use this list of system hardware to answer a few questions below:
A. Network options
a. Ethernet
b. Gigabit ethernet
c. Token Ring
d. FDDI
e. ATM
f. Other
B. I/O Devices
a. Printers
b. Modems
c. Graphics options
d. Keyboards
e. Input devices
f. Async/sync communications
g. Audio
h. Video
i. Other
C. CPU & Memory
a. Cache
b. Processor
c. Memory
d. Other
D. Storage controllers and devices
a. Disks (hard drive, floppy, zip, etc.)
b. tapes
c. RAID
d. Fibre Channel
e. Other
E. Power & Environmental Management
a. Power Management
b. Redundant power supply
c. Fan Status
d. Ambient temperature
e. Other
4. Specify what hardware you add or remove (ex. A.a, A.e, C.a-d) and
any software tools you use or need to complete this task.
5. Specify what hardware interfaces you reconfigure and the software
tools you use or need to complete this task.
6. Specify what hardware is difficult to manage with the current
DIGITAL UNIX software tools, and specify the software tool you
use.
7. Specify what hardware is easy to manage with the current DIGITAL
UNIX software tools, and specify the software tool you use.
8. Specify any software tools you do not use on a regular basis, but
are still vital to your operation.
9. Specify what hardware, if any, has had problems and has required better
software tools to investigate the problem.
10. Specify what hardware information you need to easily access on a
regular basis.
11. Specify what hardware characteristics you need to easily access if
problems occur.
12. Specify any hardware information that you would *like* to access,
but currently cannot.
Section III: Other vendors (this is the *new* DEC folks...)
(If you do not have other vendor's hardware, please skip this section.)
For some reason, people also buy other vendors hardware. In the past, we
may not have admitted it. But now we do.
13. Describe what you like about other vendors software tools used for
managing their hardware.
14. Describe what you dislike about other vendors software tools used for
managing their hardware.
Section IV: More information
15. Please add any problems, issues, concerns, or suggestions which
will help us improve the management of hardware for you. The sky's the
limit.
16. Would you be willing to be contacted further to discuss your hardware
management needs?
Thanks for taking the time to reply! We appreciate your input and
willingness to help us make DIGITAL UNIX even better.
Received on Tue Oct 20 1998 - 17:36:28 NZDT