Re: Good Microsoft TV ad!

ZnU wrote:
In article <proto-824DD7.13070718042009@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Walter Bushell <proto@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <znu-6AE894.14425416042009@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
ZnU <znu@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <fZadnQCEC4WA6XrUnZ2dnUVZ_hadnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
GreyCloud <cumulus@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

As chip vendors improve their processes, the susceptibility should be reduced.
What has already been proven? That quote doesn't comment at all about the subject of software bugs vs. hardware-level memory corruption.

The page does give an estimate for the frequency of memory corruption, however: roughly one bit error, per month, per gigabyte of memory. When one considers that the odds of a single-bit error leading to a program crash are fairly low, it's clear that the vast majority of crashes have absolutely nothing to do with the problem ECC solves.
How about inaccurate results, say a bit error in the high order field in a financial statement, or any bit in a flag in c which uses zero vs non zero as true vs. false? A bit error that makes someone's account balance negative instead of positive or vice versa?

Crashes are far from the worst errors.

For a bank database server which has 90% of its RAM full of critical account data, 365 days a year and 24 hours a day, this matters quite a bit, and I would encourage anyone choosing such a system to utilize ECC memory.

That is all going to be in databases and transaction logged on disk. If that system would lose or corrupt data in the event of a memory failure (which still can occur with ECC), then it is a poorly designed system.

Steve
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Good Microsoft TV ad!
    ... GreyCloud wrote: ... The page does give an estimate for the frequency of memory corruption, however: roughly one bit error, per month, per gigabyte of memory. ... When one considers that the odds of a single-bit error leading to a program crash are fairly low, it's clear that the vast majority of crashes have absolutely nothing to do with the problem ECC solves. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Good Microsoft TV ad!
    ... The page does give an estimate for the frequency of memory corruption, however: roughly one bit error, per month, per gigabyte of memory. ... When one considers that the odds of a single-bit error leading to a program crash are fairly low, it's clear that the vast majority of crashes have absolutely nothing to do with the problem ECC solves. ... why do you suppose that the most mission critical transactions are done on OpenVMS systems? ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Good Microsoft TV ad!
    ... ZnU wrote: ... The page does give an estimate for the frequency of memory corruption, however: roughly one bit error, per month, per gigabyte of memory. ... If that system would lose or corrupt data in the event of a memory failure, then it is a poorly designed system. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Good Microsoft TV ad!
    ... The page does give an estimate for the frequency of memory corruption, however: roughly one bit error, per month, per gigabyte of memory. ... When one considers that the odds of a single-bit error leading to a program crash are fairly low, it's clear that the vast majority of crashes have absolutely nothing to do with the problem ECC solves. ... why do you suppose that the most mission critical transactions are done on OpenVMS systems? ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Good Microsoft TV ad!
    ... GreyCloud wrote: ... The page does give an estimate for the frequency of memory corruption, however: roughly one bit error, per month, per gigabyte of memory. ... When one considers that the odds of a single-bit error leading to a program crash are fairly low, it's clear that the vast majority of crashes have absolutely nothing to do with the problem ECC solves. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)