ITRC Forums Successes

[Kimberly Ann]

Hello Everyone!

For the past two months, I've been receiving feedback on Forums issues, and the information has been terrific. I thank you all for your continued efforts.

I'm also very interested in hearing about any highlights and/or successes you've had in using the ITRC Forums. In particular, do you have specific instances where you have:

1. Posted a question and received a key answer that solved your problem.
2. Viewed a message thread that had a solution to a problem you were trying to solve.
3. Found the Forums to be of particular help in sharing information, exchanging best practices, or saving you time.

If you have message examples to share, please provide the URL of the thread if possible. Thanks in advance for your input!

Best Regards,
Dan Gazzaniga
Forums Manager

[Praveen Bezawada]

Hi
We had this recurring problem with oracle installation using pfs_mount and have been really helped by Stefan Farrelly's suggestions on how to work with pfs_mount.
From then on we had 100% success with pfs_mount.
We are really thankful to Farrelly and Forums, it's really a great place.
Below is the link to the thread that solved our problems.

http://my1.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x37f1f841489fd4118fef0090279cd0f9,00.html

Warm regards
...BPK...

[Thierry Poels_1]

hi Dan,

I think that almost EVERY thread is an example of ITRC Forums successes.
Some problems of mine problems have been solved here; it helps me to keep my knowledge up to date; and I learned new things and viewpoints from the forums.
Keep it up!
regards,
Thierry.

[Ron Irving]

Dan...

I, being fairly new to HP-UX, have found the forums to be an invaluable source of knowledge. Every thread I have posted, (and I've posted a few,) have come back with timely information that has ALWAYS solved the problem, or pointed me in the right direction to solve it myself. I've learned alot, and don't even want to think of where I'd be without it.

Ron Irving

[harry d brown jr]

Could we add another topic, such as Virtual Partitions (vPars)?

[Bill McNAMARA_1]

I think one of the major successes for hp is the availability of worldwide scale 24*7*365 support (for free too!)

Later,
Bill

[Mark van Hassel]

Hi,

I've only posted one question this far but I got a fast response and it was the solution to the problem I had. Also when browsing through the forums I gather quite a few hints an tip along the way.

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x75a972234586d5118ff00090279cd0f9,00.html

[Victor_5]

Hi Dan:

I think it is really a good idea to collect this kind of stories.

In my case, I got the ITRC web site from one of my friends early this year, after that, I joined it and learned a lot from the forum. Now, I like it more and more and I have even won my first hat.

Last month, I passed the HP certification exam successfully, before I attended the test, I went through the web site and knew some key points about the exam, for example, subnet set up, NFS and DNS, etc.

Actually, the forum helps me a lot and help me solved a lot of problems, I also learned a lot from others' experience. Here is an example:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xddfef9beca68d511abcd0090277a778c,00.html

The most impression of the forum is the quick response. You know, when I meet some problems which I never met before, I need time to find answers from manuals or from my friends, however, I found that it is not a very effective way, sometimes, I could not find the related manuals; sometimes, I could not find a right person to help me.

This forum is really a good resource, so many helpful and experienced experts! I also can learn something from others' cases even though I have no problem at all.

Thanks for the great forum, and thanks for your great work.

Shawn

[Karen Elrod]

This forum is the champion of all forums. I have found it easy to use, quick to find the needed information and all the people are above average.
I use it for problems (of course), but also to see how others approach maintenance and fine tune their HP servers. I come here first when I need help or information.
I also like how it has formed a community. Everyone is willing to share their knowledge and assistance, building a better neighborhood.

[Mark Vollmers]

Dan-

I think that the big success of the fourms is the availability of information. a lot of times, you have a problem and the manuals are too generic to help. You could call tech support, but that can take a long time (and it might not be a major problem). I really like how I can either search or post when I have a problem (like when I was updating the server to 11.0 or trying to configure things like NIS or sendmail) and have not only answers but pointers on how to do things better. Normally, feedback is quick too (less than half-hour, which beats the pants off tech support).

Even with many people not assigning points, it is amazing to look down the list and see all the magic answers. That speaks to how great the forum is.

Mark

[Joseph C. Denman]

I agree with one of the above responses. I think that every thread in the forum is a sign of success. This forum is the best I have ever seen. It is overwhelming the amount of knowledge in one area. One stop shopping. I have posted numerous questions with quick responses. I don't think there is a question anyone could ask about HP that someone here could not answer or at least put you on the right track. In addition to the newspaper in the morning, this forum is key reading. Keeps me up to date on the tech and also lets me see other professionals points of view.

KEEP IT UP!!

...jcd...

[Sachin Patel]

Hi Dan,
Couple month ago everday I used to go to foxnews, cnn, msn, yahoo and etc.. Now everyday first thing I do in morning is to logon to forum.
Wenever I have problem I search the forum and 95% of the time It puts me on the right track or solves my problem.
recently I have problem and my answers was on my previous question.
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x665b1012aa92d5118ff10090279cd0f9,00.html

I Love it.

Sachin

[Richard Darling]

Dan,
All of my problems, except for one, have been successfully solved using the forum. The other day couldn?t get a login to the ITRC, and called support at the 1-800-633-3600 number. It wasn?t until I was prompted for my system handle, which I couldn?t remember, did I realize that I hadn?t used phone support for quite a while!

The forum is great, and it is the first site I visit in the morning. The thing that I find most helpful is seeing unique solutions that I may use in the future. I save them into a file for future reference.

RD

[Kimberly Ann]

Sachin,

Great to know the ITRC Forums are having an impact on media stalwarts such as CNN, Fox, MSN and Yahoo! ;)

Thanks everyone for your feedback -- please keep it up!

Regards,
Dan

[Wodisch]

Hello Dan,

if the forums continue "growing" in quantity and quality
then you will get into problems with HP Education, for
everybody will start to learn everything from here, not
in the HP classroom training any more ;-)

At least I learn a lot - even though all my questions were
complete failures (well, I only had two of them ;-)

Regards,
Wodisch

[linuxfan]

Hi Dan,

In two days(since your posting) 14 success stories so far. This is inspite the HP conference in chicago.

I know there are thousands of other folks who just read/follow these forums on a regular basis and use it to solve their problems.

I myself have been following the forums for a long time, but on a passive level, just started participating actively only a couple of weeks ago and simply love it.
I know there have been some problems (network/database) to access the forums but otherwise a job well done Dan.

Keep up the good work.

-Cheers
Ramesh

[Patrick Wallek]

Dan,

Absolutely marvelous thread!!! That was a great idea!

I think the Forums exemplify the spirit of cooperation and knowledge sharing that goes on here. Everyone very willingly shares their knowledge and experiences with everyone else and work together to try to solve someones problem.

These forums have helped me not only in solving a problem or two, but I also learn so much from reading the other posts. I always learn something from the responses that Jim Ferguson, Clay Stephenson, and Bill Hassell to name a few.

These forums are a very unique place. While they have had their problems (we won't go there in this post! ;) ) this is a WONDERFUL resource for everyone. I sincerely hope that this site can stick around for a long time.

[Jim Turner]

Dan,

I have received quick and valuable help for my posts (too many to detail) here in the forums. I have also picked up many nuggets of wisdom from reading responses to others' posts. Although I still follow dutchworks (HPADM), the forums have become the "mainline" for this UNIX info junkie.

Being in Chicago now for HP World 2001 is a dream-come-true. I met Bill Hassell tonight. He is an extremely nice man. I'm hoping there was at least a tiny bit of "divine transfer" of his immeasurable UNIX knowlege when I shook his hand.

After reading the wise and learned responses of James Ferguson, Clay Stephenson, Patrick Wallek, and Rita Workman, I have now had the pleasure of meeting these fine individuals in person. We have broken bread, laughed, drank, and shared "war stories" with each other. I feel proud and privileged to call these people my friends, and I'm looking forward to the remainder of the week.

Although I'm far from being a UNIX expert, I *do* enjoy sharing what little I know in the forums. Hopefully, the day will come when I can offer as much in return as I receive from the forums. I find the forums to be both a valuable resource as well as a great community. A community that now has faces and personalities to go along with some of the names. Thanks everyone!

All the best,
Jim

[Kurt Beyers.]

The forums are a great source of information concerning HP servers and the software that runs on it. The answer that helped me te most can be found at http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xdaace7613948d5118fef0090279cd0f9,00.html

I think I still would be searching on this topic without the forums

Kurt

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Hi Dan,
Its brough me a way of keeping up (and learn alot...) my HPUX knowledge especially when doing long term administration of other OS ( mostly IBM AIX...) like now (SP2 migrations...)

You get addicted to the thing!


All the best
Victor

[John Bolene]

I posted this
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x4fecd211e18ad5118ff10090279cd0f9,00.html

and got a wonderful answer.

Also it appears that I have just gotten the wizard hat...woowoo

[Thierry Poels_1]

congrats John!!
the crown is just a small step away ;)
regards,
Thierry.

[John Waller]

Dan,

The forum has has helped me in a few instances though I have only placed 2 or 3 questions myself. Even though we have 24*7 software support with HP I always search the forum when I have a problem. The main reason is that if the problem has occured before, then you already know what people have tried before and whether it worked or not. I find the people who contribute to the forum appear to have a greater knoledge than the first line people in the responce centre so you also get a better answer to a problem.

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

Hi to all

Before joining the ITRC forum I could not spell systems administrator.

Now I is one ?

Seriously though this is the place to be.

>;-)

Paula

[Thierry Poels_1]

isn't it "system administrator" ? ;-))))