By SARA PANAG
World/National Editor
Over the weekend the University Student Information (USI) system was going under a major change, but certain holdups prevented a smooth operation in the new UNIX environment.
One of the hang-ups was a lock on the system. With an overload of users the system put locks on tables, thus blocking access for other users who wanted to get on, said Bill Cope, an application developer for USI.
When a part of the database was accessed, such as class schedule, and too many users logged on, the system put locks on that section to prevent an overload, and other users were locked out.
'The old system has a tried and true program which allowed massive amounts of users. In the UNIX environment database we're still trying to work through that,' Cope said.
BYU is going through a dramatic change in the setup of the USI system, Gary L. Kramer, associate dean of admissions and records, said.
'The university has never, ever undergone such a significant change,' Kramer said.
The last year-and-a-half have been spent towards making this change to a windows-based system possible, while working out bugs along the way, he said.
'Three or four years ago the university decided to cease upgrade of the mainframe because it was too costly, like the software, so they decided to change to UNIX,' Cope said.
Douglas M. Chabries, dean of engineering and technology, along with several university officials looked at different operating systems to determine which one had the best cost and capability to perform BYU's purposes. Chabries said they determined that the architecture of the UNIX system had a lot of benefits.
BYU's mainframe operating system is proprietary: BYU's mainframe vendor is IBM and only IBM software is compatible, Chabries said. UNIX works on a distributed computing system which is supported by several vendors. Like a personal computer, software compatible with the UNIX system can be used.
'People come to expect a certain level of service and are disappointed if there is a decrease in that level of service. The world of distributed computing presents some special problems and some great opportunities,' Cope said. 'People will need to be patient as we work to provide as much service as possible in the new environment.'
Even with the best preparation and testing there is still the possibility of a 'migration mishap' with moving the database from a mainframe environment to a UNIX environment, Kramer said.
'We're just used to (the mainframe), and we're going through growing pains just as we did at the beginning when we got the mainframe,' Cope said.
He said some may feel that it is better to work bugs out as the new system is used, but USI wants the new system to operate at its best before putting it out for use by the student body.
The UNIX system is being handled by a team of 12 application developers, and the staff at admissions and records came in Friday and Saturday to test the handling of the system.
The changeover will resume this Saturday.