This may be redundant, but......

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Does anyone know if there have been any official "tests" such as creating a "mini" interconnected landscape of computers to mimic "the world's" interconnectedness....and, if so, by whom....what were the results: good, bad, or disastrous? I am not a computer person so I don't know what it would take to create such an environment but I am curious to know if it has been attempted, or if it has been attempted in some format by a computer competent person.

-- NSmith (ldybug811@aol.com), December 03, 1999

Answers

I think something called the Internet does that.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), December 03, 1999.

Yes, but I highly doubt that it is possible to test the entire Internet. I am asking whether a much smaller "sample" of interconnected computers has been tested in a Y2k environment.

-- NSmith (ldybug811@aol.com), December 03, 1999.

Hi NSmith!

This might be part of what you are wondering about:

Engineers On Y2K Breakdowns Computer Currents

(Fair Use)

"A Y2K taskforce organized by the Internet Association of Japan has developed a comprehensive analysis and simulation of technical problems that could occur on the Internet due to Y2K.

The findings of the report have been published on the Internet and are available for Internet service providers and network engineers, along with countermeasures to any possible problems. The authors emphasize that the nature of the Internet - as a collection of mutually connected networks - means that problems in other areas of the Net may influence other networks, no matter how well prepared each provider may be.

The case studies looked at individual Net-connected servers, the routing of traffic between computer servers on the global Internet and the DNS and how servers behave in conjunction with the directing and transferring of e-mail and other Internet traffic.

Problems were identified in servers that use and rely on Internet protocols like HTTP and FTP as well as computers that require access to worldwide DNSs. Under certain scenarios e-mail and news group articles could be discarded, e-mail could build up on a mail server and be delayed and IP addresses may not be found. Also older operating systems on routers may have Y2K problems and certain sites may become congested.

Recommendations include: ensuring server software is upgraded to the latest version, be aware and plan for abnormal traffic loads over New Year and adjusting clock sources and DNS settings.

On a global scale, the taskforce called for more international cooperation on Y2K contingency matters for the Internet infrastructure. They particularly called for an investigation of all major DNS servers and the running of simulations to see under what circumstances mail and other servers could fail.

The IAJ taskforce's report is available on the Web, at http://www.iaj.or.jp/y2ktf/ r01e.html"

There have also been "simulations" of various networks, particularly in banking and the telecom world, all of which have been deemed "successful." Time will tell...

-- (pshannon@inch.com), December 03, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ