Thai Census System Crashes Around Country

[webfact]

Census system crashes around country

WATTANA KHAMCHU,

THANATPONG KHONGSAI

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The computerised system for conducting the Thai census crashed nationwide yesterday, and the authorities were trying to fix it, a senior official at the Department of Provincial Administration said.

Registration Office director Thawatchai Thammarak pointed out that the system had been in use for nine years, which was beyond the normal usage of six years. The malfunction left district offices unable to issue national ID cards or house registrations, so it also affected passport issuance by the Foreign Ministry's Department of Consular Affairs, he said.

The office pulled information from a backup database at the Registration Office's Service Area 1 Office (Wang Chai Ya) to use instead of the database at the Registration Office's Service Area 2 (Khlong 9 Lam Lukka). The system should be back to normal today, he said. The Registration Office was discussing other solutions in case this wasn't successful, he said.

Thawatchai admitted problems with the computerised system for the Thai census had persisted for three or four years and that, due to a previous controversy over database procurement, the department couldn't find new computers purchased for it and had simply maintained its ageing system. He said they couldn't find parts for maintenance, while procurement of new tools was stuck in red tape and was still under consideration by the Office of the Attorney General.

The director of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Administration and Registration Division, Supapong Kritsanapan, said the city, after getting notification from the Department of Provincial Administration that the system was down, issued a memo to all 50 district offices to inform the public that related work was suspended. As it wasn't sure when the system would be back to normal, he urged the public to call their district office to check whether the system was back before leaving home.

-- The Nation 2012-05-18

[whybother]

which was beyond the normal usage of six years.

Why is six years the normal usage? Is that the normal time for computers to last without any maintenance?

Edited May 18, 2012 by whybother

[Kilgore Trout]

Typical, the problem has been known for years but "mai pen rai,"

Now people can't get id cards or passports. Som nam na.

[george]

This affects issuing of drivers licenses as well.

[soundman]

This affects issuing of drivers licenses as well.

Yes it did, I was held up for over an hour while getting an International Driving Permit issued yesterday.

Honestly, when the staff told me the entire National Database was down, I thought they were pulling my leg and wanting to go on an early lunch.

[pointoffew]

As my car dealer has confirmed, the general Thai understanding of the word "Maintenance" is repairing when malfunctioning / broken down.

[belg]

thai style of handling problems and anticipating : wait till it crashes and face the consequences... no face lost, not my fault, mai bpen rai

[seaeagle]

Gradually and slowly, it's all falling down.

[JacChang]

Typical, the problem has been known for years but "mai pen rai,"

Now people can't get id cards or passports. Som nam na.

you forgot to say "jai yen yen" to customers

[OzMick]

"........the department couldn't find new computers purchased for it......."

Somebody knocked off their NEW computers? And apparently has got away with it?

[kotsak]

[phiphidon]

"........the department couldn't find new computers purchased for it......."

Somebody knocked off their NEW computers? And apparently has got away with it?

Allowing for a bit of nationspeak it could be the replacement computers that were to do the job were tied up in NACC probe into the BJP/Democrat Party Coalition computer leasing scandal back in 2010

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/10/17/politics/Interior-candidate-withdraws-30140248.html

[Narratio]

Why is six years the normal usage? Is that the normal time for computers to last without any maintenance?

There's no set time for software maintenance (this sort of software hardly ever gets updated) but for physical maintenance and replacement? Yes. At least an annual strip down and clean up, with 6 monthly or 3 monthly visual checks. For a system to be in continuous usage for that period, the problem lies, most probably, in the few moving parts that even PC's have. The system cooling fans. Not the room cooling system (if any) but the machines cooling system.

The little buggers spin and spin and spin and the bearings and shaft wear, the fan develops an annoying hum as it leans or tilts and the blades rub against the case. It heats up, has to run faster to get rid of the heat and finally siezes up. The motor overheats and trips its circuit breakers... assuming everything is western normal that is. the redundent fan takes over the loads and the system keeps running. Assuming the other half of the dual redundent cooling system hasn't previously died that is. Now go get new bits and replace. If this was the second system falling over then at this point the temperature of the computer, be it a bunch of pc's, distributed racks or an old IBM style cupboard, goes into overheat and crashes.

What damage occurs with that crash is the ugly bit. Data being written probably wasn't, anything left in the memory buffer is gone, read/write heads may have crashed onto platters ripping up data that was already there. It's a bitch to recover.

With no further information, I'd reckon that was where the problem started.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Narratio

[MILT]

"........the department couldn't find new computers purchased for it......."

Somebody knocked off their NEW computers? And apparently has got away with it?

Allowing for a bit of nationspeak it could be the replacement computers that were to do the job were tied up in NACC probe into the BJP/Democrat Party Coalition computer leasing scandal back in 2010

http://www.nationmul...s-30140248.html

My question is even with an on going probe, is there no funds to take care of basic Government functions such as this?

[bangon04]

Lucky that its not anything really important......

[Thai at Heart]

Hope they have a decent backup.

[whybother]

Hope they have a decent backup.

[Jayman]

Hope they have a decent backup.

Backup? That sounds preventive. A word not popular in Thailand. With the cost of storage doubled after the floods and the time it takes to run a backup I seriously doubt they do it very often. They'll be lucky if they have a backup from last month.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Jayman

[Payboy]

Hope they have a decent backup.

A pimply faced kid with a packet full of pirated CD software is fixing the problem right now.

[BWPattaya]

Let me guess. A TIT?

[SNGLIFE]

The news reports got it mostly wrong. Their was a mandate issued to have all historic census data keyed in PRONTO, so those responsible enlisted the "volunteer" assistance of people such as students (my wife, for example) to key in the data from old printouts en masse. The system could not handle the load and it crashed. IT 101: When expecting more load, have more load capacity available or put effective restrictions in place to prevent what happened. Instead, they sat on their...as per usual. Totally inept.

[mayday49]

But Hey! we got Tablets made in CHINA !?

[kotsak]

Let me guess. A TIT?

You got it

[Bagwan]

Let me guess. A TIT?

You got it

A Blue Tit to be exact.

[ginjag]

Let me guess. A TIT?

You got it

A Blue Tit to be exact.

Mostly brownish here,

[IsaanUSA]

which was beyond the normal usage of six years.

Why is six years the normal usage? Is that the normal time for computers to last without any maintenance?

They probably usually have 6 year service contacts. I think our company is on 4 year contracts. But it's the government (governments in general), so who knows.