My company is in the process of installing Windows XP Pro on a process computer. This means that the puter will be running from early next week until 2008 as the process is 24 - 7. Anyone having problems with XP Pro and uptime? We can't afford the issues that the original 98 gave people with it's memory leaks.
Windows XP Uptime
- Thread starter buckmasterson
- Start date
No problems. I've been up for about a month and a week with no issues at all. But 5 years? Good luck.
The machines will need to be rebooted every week or so to install the latest security patches etc etc...even for industrial strength Unix boxes 5 years uptime is a little optimistic I'm sure.
Edit: For the record I have no problems leaving my XP machine on 24/7 only reboots to install said security patches.
Edit: For the record I have no problems leaving my XP machine on 24/7 only reboots to install said security patches.
If that box is gonna have any contact with other computers, that sounds like a real bad plan IMO.
I hope you have mirrored, preferably hotpluggable disks by the way.
I hope you have mirrored, preferably hotpluggable disks by the way.
Well if you look at uptime records on netcraft.com the current record holder is FreeBSD with 1693 days of uptime (no reboots or anything, continous 24/7 operation incase you don't know... which most of you do, just a FYI for the uneducated)
That's 4.6 years of actively serving content on the internet. (website is www.daiko-lab.co.jp) So that's close to 5 years.
Unfortunately Linux is one of those OSes whose uptime clock cycles back to zero after 475 days, so it's hard to tell how much uptime the longest running Linux server has. My personal record was 6 months and some days before a power outage knocked out a old Prolient (cpu was a pentium overdrive (86mhz I think) in place of the old 486DX) SCSI server I had sitting around.
The longest uptime for a windows 2000 internet server is www.baltimore.com and is right now 783 days.
I find that kinda odd, since you need to reboot windows to apply security patches. BSD and Linux you don't have to reboot for anything, you just patch and restart the service. Unless you need to change the kernel or hardware or something of course.
But I guess they know what they are doing, they use a firewall that they themselves designed to protect the server. (they are a security company) So if they haven't been hacked and never figured it out, it's a pretty impressive feat.
Oh, and as far as WinXP fixing the problems of Win98's horrid memory management, they've fixed it. WinXP is based off of Win2k/NT. Could be called Windows NT 5.5 desktop edition and still be accurate and it's pretty stable. Maybe a slight degragation of performance over a couple weeks of being up, but it's insignificant compared to older win9x OSes.
Pretty rare to reboot or get blue screens, but IE has big issues with internet spyware/adware/malware/pop-up programs and stuff, very vunerable. I have to regularly clean that crap off of my parents computer. I use Adaware (free spyware removal tool) with a virus scanning program to scan my parent's computer every other week or so and that seems to catch everything.
That's 4.6 years of actively serving content on the internet. (website is www.daiko-lab.co.jp) So that's close to 5 years.
Unfortunately Linux is one of those OSes whose uptime clock cycles back to zero after 475 days, so it's hard to tell how much uptime the longest running Linux server has. My personal record was 6 months and some days before a power outage knocked out a old Prolient (cpu was a pentium overdrive (86mhz I think) in place of the old 486DX) SCSI server I had sitting around.
The longest uptime for a windows 2000 internet server is www.baltimore.com and is right now 783 days.
I find that kinda odd, since you need to reboot windows to apply security patches. BSD and Linux you don't have to reboot for anything, you just patch and restart the service. Unless you need to change the kernel or hardware or something of course.
But I guess they know what they are doing, they use a firewall that they themselves designed to protect the server. (they are a security company) So if they haven't been hacked and never figured it out, it's a pretty impressive feat.
Oh, and as far as WinXP fixing the problems of Win98's horrid memory management, they've fixed it. WinXP is based off of Win2k/NT. Could be called Windows NT 5.5 desktop edition and still be accurate and it's pretty stable. Maybe a slight degragation of performance over a couple weeks of being up, but it's insignificant compared to older win9x OSes.
Pretty rare to reboot or get blue screens, but IE has big issues with internet spyware/adware/malware/pop-up programs and stuff, very vunerable. I have to regularly clean that crap off of my parents computer. I use Adaware (free spyware removal tool) with a virus scanning program to scan my parent's computer every other week or so and that seems to catch everything.
What is this process? If it's alone by itself and doesn't get alot of contact with the internet or other computers then Windows XP is great. If Windows XP Pro is left alone I'm pretty sure it could stay up for 3 years or more with an excellent UPS system. If this "process" computer has alot of outside connections then go with Windows Server 2003.
The process is a Batch Plant consisting of 6 Major Scales 1000 to 3500 pounds each, and one minor scale 3.5 pounds. The XP box will be getting it's direction from 2 PLC's. The purpose of the box is to allow us to change set points, cycle times, ect... on the scales. It's an upgrade for a failing 386 system.
The box is not connected to the Company network as I told them I wanted no part of viruses or hackers. (I'm the Manager and the project is being developed by and outside contractor)
When XP was installed we ran it for 5 days and it rebooted, taking the batch system down and causing several problems. I have since disabled the reboot on failure feature and loaded a virus scan (McAfee 8.0) and found 2 viruses. The machine seems clean and stable now and we plan on connecting it to the system after Thanksgiving.
I have a problem with any Windows operating system running a process, and I don't need this headache. The thing had an ISA card from the 386 which was a nightmare to set up in XP. I have since bought the PCI version of the card and loaded the latest drivers.
Needless to say the contractor got PO'ed when I told him what all I have done, but at this point I don't need him any more anyway. He can go screw up someone else's life now...
The batching software is compatible with 98SE, NT, 2000, and XP. If you guys were doing this, what OS would you use?
The box is not connected to the Company network as I told them I wanted no part of viruses or hackers. (I'm the Manager and the project is being developed by and outside contractor)
When XP was installed we ran it for 5 days and it rebooted, taking the batch system down and causing several problems. I have since disabled the reboot on failure feature and loaded a virus scan (McAfee 8.0) and found 2 viruses. The machine seems clean and stable now and we plan on connecting it to the system after Thanksgiving.
I have a problem with any Windows operating system running a process, and I don't need this headache. The thing had an ISA card from the 386 which was a nightmare to set up in XP. I have since bought the PCI version of the card and loaded the latest drivers.
Needless to say the contractor got PO'ed when I told him what all I have done, but at this point I don't need him any more anyway. He can go screw up someone else's life now...
The batching software is compatible with 98SE, NT, 2000, and XP. If you guys were doing this, what OS would you use?
Yep, NT 5.1 is correct.
As for the OP, if you don't connect it to a network, you should be fine, XP can last just if you don't mess around too much with it.
As for the OP, if you don't connect it to a network, you should be fine, XP can last just if you don't mess around too much with it.
My uncle had a Netware box that reported its uptime as (I can't ever forget this, lol) 7 years, 83 days, 14 hours, and 53 minutes. That was when we took it down to move it in 1998. Long uptimes can be achieved, but if you are planning to run for 5 years, you should definitely go with something unix-derived. Even Win2K has issues with maintaining its uptime, especially under load.
Personally, Netcraft numbers are generally good for webservers, but different types of servers stress different parts of the box, and webserving isn't what I would consider a stressful task.
Personally, Netcraft numbers are generally good for webservers, but different types of servers stress different parts of the box, and webserving isn't what I would consider a stressful task.
Umm... if your company is going to be running an application for 24/7 for 5 years, you and your company should fire the person that suggested using XP for a "Mission Critical" application.
What you should have is a couple of servers with load balancing and clustering.
Your company should really consider this, if no one in your company does IT, then hire a consulting company to do so! You will be happier(a little bit broke, but well worth it).
What you should have is a couple of servers with load balancing and clustering.
Your company should really consider this, if no one in your company does IT, then hire a consulting company to do so! You will be happier(a little bit broke, but well worth it).
Windows 2000 Pro. I would patch it first and install a good software firewall and lock it down so the only open port is the one I needed for my application (and if possible give it a seperate vlan so it's on a differant logical network than anything else). If you have good hardware and keep it blocked off well enough than it's quite possible you could achieve 5 years uptime, the key is to keep all of it's unnecisary services shut-down and all the ports closed so that even if there was a voulnerability with it nobody would have a way to make use of those exploits. And of course have strict controll to its physical access (once it's setup I wouldnt give anyone access at all).
So my answer is yes it's possible, but only if you (the admin) do your job right (which would also be the case with any *nix variant).
-Spy
buckmasterson, Windows XP is very stable! I have yet to have it crash or go down for any reasons but power outs. Sounds as to me your issues with that computer is the age of that computer and some of it's hardware. In other words how about a newer computer? How you got viruses on it when it was not hooked to a network? I take it someone has some disk with viruese and all you did was install anti viruses software? I would say how about a format! Anyways whatever OS you take up on good luck withyas.
--Idoxash
--Idoxash
Originally posted by: Confused
Heh...you guys all bash Windows, but my friend's brother has had a 95 box up for about 7 years, 24/7, without a reboot, running one program which controls i believe a greenhouse. Try beating that
Confused
No way!! Until now I've never been compelled to shout....
:camera:???
(Jeez, that was an AT first)
XP should be able to handle uptimes like that. The key issue will be security, seeing as you wont be able to take advantage of security fixes. (ie, you can install them, but they dont have an effect untill the system is rebooted).
As long as the system isnt connected to the internet, there shouldnt be any problems.
The NT kernel is very stable. If the system crashes, its mostly due to bad hardware (crappy ram) or bad drivers (ATI).
As long as the system isnt connected to the internet, there shouldnt be any problems.
The NT kernel is very stable. If the system crashes, its mostly due to bad hardware (crappy ram) or bad drivers (ATI).
Actually most of the Microsoft patches that tell you to reboot dont really require a reboot. Many of them will work as intended if you stop the service, perform the update, start the service. Of course this is not the reccomended update path but it works fine for stuff like IIS, messenger service, etc.
And of course like I said before if those services arent running or are not accessable than you run little risk of anyone/anything taking advantaged of an unpatched service (considering the service will be unavailable).
-Spy
The guy who wrote the Batch Making software connected the machine to the network when he installed the software, thus the viruses. I took the machine off the network and it will not be reconnected.
As for IT support, HAH! It's 350 miles away in the corporate office and they do not support process PCs. We have a guy in the plant, but he isn't much help.
For now I'm going to stick with XP and the PCI card. I have another box that I installed 2000 on and configured the ISA card. If the XP box gives me any more problems I'll plug in the 2000 box.
I wish like heck Unix would work with the program, but it's Windows or nothing.
As for IT support, HAH! It's 350 miles away in the corporate office and they do not support process PCs. We have a guy in the plant, but he isn't much help.
For now I'm going to stick with XP and the PCI card. I have another box that I installed 2000 on and configured the ISA card. If the XP box gives me any more problems I'll plug in the 2000 box.
I wish like heck Unix would work with the program, but it's Windows or nothing.
You would be in the same boat with Unix, if you wanted 5 years uptime it would take proper administration. If you were to install some common distribution of Linux and than run your process ontop of it than I wouldnt be surprised if it ran into problems within the next 5 years, it would take a proper install of only the packages you needed with proper firewall setup to make Linux work like you wanted it to. With your kind of need for uptime you must have the system administered properly, no OS in-and-of itself is going to be enough without proper administration.
-Spy
-Spy
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