[TriLUG] *nix consulting gig

[Patrick Williams]

Jason,

I could go to Raleigh with you tomorrow, but my partner who knows how to
solve this kind of problem is out of town (in Australia at the moment).  If
he could dial in tonight and look about and telephone you we might have an
answer tomorrow.

You can reach me tonight at 567-0433 if you haven't already got some help.

Best regards,

Patrick Williams
AMERICAN COMPUTER TECHNICS, INC.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason Tower" <jason at cerient.net>
To: <trilug at trilug.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2003 1:59 PM
Subject: [TriLUG] *nix consulting gig


> i need some assistance on a client job.  they are having a problem with
their
> business app that needs to be resolved ASAP, and i have not been
successful
> thus far.  in no particular order, here are some of the details:
>
> - the server is a reasonably new x86, about two years old
> - OS is Unixware 7 (no SCO jokes please, it wasn't my choice)
> - i have copied all of the relevent directories over to my server so they
can
> reviewed offline
> - end user interaction is performed through serial terminals, text only
>
> the application is a fairly typical business application, it handles
> inventory, invoices, accounts receivable, payment posting, that kind of
> thing.  it is a closed source proprietary app for which support is
> outrageously expensive, which is why i have been asked to find a solution.
> having seen it in action, it clearly uses a database of some sort as the
> backend but i do not know which one.  i've tried poking around the system
but
> the shell, command set, and syntax are sufficiently different from linux
that
> my attenpts to fully understand what is going on are stymied.
>
> the problem is that they try to run a "daily close" routine it returns the
> following message: "WARNING DAILY CLOSE RUNNING OR YOU ARE IN A RESTART"
and
> the routine fails.  this "daily close" routine is very important to them
> because without it they cannot properly process invoices and payments.  i
> assume there is some sort of database glitch but do not know how to fix
it.
> the server recently suffered a large number of dirty shutdowns due to
> hardware failure (that has been fixed) which may have contributed to the
> problem.  i believe the app itself is quite solid as they have had no
other
> problems with it.
>
> so here's the deal: if someone can help me fix this one particular "daily
> close" problem they'll earn a nice little consulting fee (exact amount
TBD,
> but probably between $250 and $400).  prerequisites:
>
> must know old school unix reasonably well
> know a thing or two about databases
> be available on monday to visit customer site (in raleigh)
>
> if anyone is interested, please email me offline.  thanks, jason
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