> 2. In my posting I referred to a list that was very active and caused
> problems because of the lock file problem. How does anyone, especially
> a novice, test for that before the list is "open TO THE PUBLIC" in such
> a way as to catch a problem caused by heavy activity?
-----
In fact, not only is help needed in setting up and debugging a new
server and/or new list, but what about upgrading existing ones,
especially high-volume ones?
I've been asked to help a site on campus here where an old Majordomo
is installed solely to run a mailing list with over 1000 subscribers
and lots of traffic everyday; they're also running other old system
components.
They want help in upgrading everything. It's a touchy and sobering
prospect, approaching such a beast and preparing to poke it in a way
that might affect hundreds of incoming and outgoing messages in a
single day.....
Unfortunately the approach of many system people sometimes is to
install something once in a baseline configuration, and hand it over
to people who will run the system without understanding it, and then
leave. That's what happened to the people who just asked for my help
-- a predecessor of mine set them up and sent them on their way, and
then left, at least a year ago.
I always seem to come along later when the administrators are flailing
for help because something has gone stale, and I'm always trying to
explain at meetings & such how there is an ongoing software lifecycle,
that installing a package (like Majordomo, or a version of Sendmail,
or the PH/QI CSO nameserver, etc. etc.) is only the beginning of your
ongoing work in maintaining and supporting it, and following along as
the community of others develops a shared body of experience with it.
Chris Koenigsberg: ckk@uchicago.edu, ckoenig@midway.uchicago.edu
U. of Chicago Academic Information Technologies
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