Subj:   SIG/SysMan Meeting at Interex/Toronto
Date:   08/21/95
To:     [log in to unmask]
 
HP SYSTEM MANAGERS COMMUNICATE SUPPORT NEEDS AT SIGSYSMAN
by Ron Seybold, Seybold Media
 
System managers asked for better support from HP during this year's SIGSYSMAN
meeting, and Hewlett-Packard showed them the future of operating system patch
management.  For some customers, the future is further off than for others.
 
HP met customers' feedback about patch management with a short presentation
on how the company plans to deliver support over the Internet.  HP estimates
that about 15 percent of its customer base is using online support, and
customers at the SIGSYSMAN meeting explained why usage isn't higher.
 
"It's one-way communication," said one system manager.  "SupportLine's
database is never very current, and I can't seem to find the Known Problem
Reports that I'm searching for".
 
Bruce Richards, an HP product manager for electronic access support tools,
told attendees the company will give them deeper access to the databases with
answers to known problems.  "It's our intent to open up our problem
management systems even more," Richards said.  The HP rep said customers can
compare the difference in the systems at the HP booth on the show floor,
where existing electronic services run along prototypes and demonstrations of
new services.
 
Richards said that while HP is working on trying to consolidate the patch
process across both its business server systems, the differences will be
significant for some time.  "Patches are generated in the divisions,"
Richards explainedm "and it will be difficult to come up with the same
physical structure for each kind of patch."
 
Resolving these differences would let HP manage packaging and distribution of
all patches with a single process.  "We're trying to make the interface the
same," he added.
 
The electronic access to support information is important to HP, even though
most of its customers get help by calling the Response Center.  "The service
business is shifting from what you get over a phone - technology invented 100
years ago - to using a computer," Richards said.  "We think that by 1998
we'll have half of our customers accessing service electronically."
 
Sites using HP-UX will be among the earlier adoptees in this shift.  If
service availability is a good indicator.  Software updates available online
for HP products will start as an HP9000 service, while HP3000 availability
will follow sometime later.  HP is already providing unsupported software for
MPE/iX customers over its JAZZ World Wide Web server
(http://jazz.external.hp.com).
 
HP officials at the meeting invited attendees to limited-seating
demonstrations of a new patch management service later that day.  The
software sifts through available patches and analyzes the target machine's
configuration, "then works to determine which patches are most applicable to
the target system," Richards said.  The service has been prototyped on HP9000
systems, but can also be implemented for HP3000s.
 
Managers at the meeting wondered if the new patching tool would need to be
run against each system in a 60-computer enterprise.  HP is still taking
input on the features of the service through customer contacts at the show.
 
SIGSYSMAN attendees also had input on more traditional support delivery,
specifically the elasped time on Response Center calls before a live operator
connected with a customer.  Several managers reported that a 5-minute hold
before reaching a live voice is not unusual.
 
HP officals responded that wait times and response times are monitored
closely to determine the best staffing levels.  Another customer asked HP to
measure service demands, including peak calling activity.  "Look at your
activity during a major rollout like the upcoming 5.5 MPE/iX release," the
manager asked.  "Most people are calling to try and find out what patches
apply in that kind of situation.  If you staff for the average activity, you
won't have enough to handle the peaks."
 
The SIG elected Isaac Blake and Jeff Kell as co-chairs for the coming year,
and worked on gathering prospective issue ideas from attendees for its
upcoming year's work.  Blake said the SIG's work goes beyond its
platform-specific origins of MPE/iX sites, in part because many HP customers
- and many at the meeting - manage both HP-UX and MPE/iX systems.
 
"We want to serve what I call a Strategic Technical level of user," Blake
said.  Such a customer needs a forum to deliver needs to HP covering system
administration issues such as client-server performance management, backup to
disk farms, and other cross-platform concerns.  "Today's meeting is a good
example of how we can use the SIGs and HP lab members to work out problems,"
he said.
 
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SIGSYSMAN is an Interex Special Interest Group for System Managers, who's
charter is:
 
* To facilitate the exchange of information and address strategic issues
facing system managers of HP systems and servers.
 
* To provide a forum for system managers to work with HP and other vendors
towards solutions which work across platforms or on specific platforms.
 
* To coordinate with other SIGs for tactical system management issues dealing
with operating systems or networks.
 
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SIGSYSMAN has it's own listserver which you may subscribe to!!!
 
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Please note the SIGSYSMAN listserver is *NOT* a replacement for
comp.sys.hp.*, but more a place to address issues facing system managers
across multiple platforms (HP or not), or items like support.