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Conference decwet::windows-nt

Title:Windows NT
Notice:See note 15.0 for HCL location
Moderator:TARKIN::LIN.com::FOLEY
Created:Thu Oct 31 1991
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:6086
Total number of notes:31449

5810.0. "When an NT server hangs??" by CHOWDA::GLICKMAN (writing from Newport,RI) Tue Mar 18 1997 10:32

A customer presented this scenario to me:

	An NT server hung.  

They want to know if it's possible for the machine to reboot itself.
They told me that OS/2 was capable of this.  And were interested in 
this particularly because this is a server.

They did not give me more details than that.  

Can someone comment?
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5810.1axel.zko.dec.com::FOLEYhttp://axel.zko.dec.comTue Mar 18 1997 11:139

	Ask for more details?

	A hang is indicitive of a problem. If my car "stops running" I'd
	like it to start up again, but that doesn't solve the
	problem.

						mike
5810.2WOTVAX::HILTONSave Water, drink beerThu Mar 20 1997 03:541
    There's settings in control panel, server to repeat on crash etc.
5810.3BHAJEE::JAERVINENOra, the Old Rural AmateurThu Mar 20 1997 05:018
    I assume you mean reboot on crash? (and it's Control Panel/System...).
    
    As far as I know, it won't help if the system just hangs.
    
    Of course it depends on one's definition of a hang - but if it _really_
    hangs, then I see no other way but to pressthe button (unless you have
    some sort of watchdog H/W).
    
5810.4Watchdog H/W??CHOWDA::GLICKMANwriting from Newport,RIThu Mar 20 1997 06:435
    re .3
    
    Hang is what I was told.
    
    What do you mean by watchdog H/W?
5810.5BHAJEE::JAERVINENOra, the Old Rural AmateurThu Mar 20 1997 07:4111
    �What do you mean by watchdog H/W?
    
    There's watchdog hardware which reboots the computer if it hangs (don't
    know if any Windows NT versions exist though). This is basically the
    only foolproof method - how would a pure S/W solution know when the
    computer is hung? If it really hangs, the S/W to reboot it hangs
    also...
    
    See www.forthrt.com (though it doesn't seem to support Windows NT -
    maybe there are others).
    
5810.6Watchdog: force reset if software hangsBBPBV1::WALLACEjohn wallace @ bbp. +44 860 675093Thu Mar 20 1997 07:4112
    A watchdog will (typically) force a system reset if it isn't poked
    regularly by software within a given interval (typically seconds or less).
    
    Watchdogs are not usually found in retail PCs or mainline Alpha
    systems.
    
    Digital's PICMG passive-backplane "modular computing commponents" offer
    watchdog support on at least some of the CPUs (Alpha and Intel) as it
    is often required for the industrial/telecom markets.
    
    regards
    john