How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
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Re: How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
#2Some people might not have realized USDS is still around since it was best known for the Healthcare.gov rescue under Obama. But it's still here, and still hiring people to work on problems like this www.usds.gov/join
Re: How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
#3Some people might not have realized USDS is still around since it was best known for the Healthcare.gov rescue under Obama. But it's still here, and still hiring people to work on problems like this www.usds.gov/join
I am glad to see it's still around. I was worried that it would be cut with the change in administrations since it reports into the White House. The USDS is a shining example of civil service and the best of government.
Re: How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
#4Some people might not have realized USDS is still around since it was best known for the Healthcare.gov rescue under Obama. But it's still here, and still hiring people to work on problems like this www.usds.gov/join
I am glad to see it's still around. I was worried that it would be cut with the change in administrations since it reports into the White House. The USDS is a shining example of civil service and the best of government.
Has work there changed with the new administration? Wondering how much USDS tech goals change with different administrations.
Re: How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
#5Its amazing to see how "solving" the problems can often not solve the problem. Immediately when faced with a error that happened after five minutes I might just put a sleep(301) in the startup script, but that totally would have masked the issue for others. Also amazing foresight by the kernel team to think ahead and make this wrap explicit.
Re: How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
#6I had the pleasure of meeting and working with many amazing USDS engineers. Lots of talents, many are truly dedicated to the higher purpose and truly believe in the mission of serving our country. It's a shame that because of the current administration, people are less and less interested in the government.
Re: How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
#7Its amazing to see how "solving" the problems can often not solve the problem. Immediately when faced with a error that happened after five minutes I might just put a sleep(301) in the startup script, but that totally would have masked the issue for others. Also amazing foresight by the kernel team to think ahead and make this wrap explicit.
Author here. Completely agreed. My jaws dropped when I saw the INITIAL_JIFFIES. The kernel developers really saved our butt.
I could not imagine debugging this problem if INITIAL_JIFFIES was randomized. It may takes days/weeks/months for this bug to appear.
Re: How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
#8I just wanted to say that I love these type of postmortem stories. Thanks for sharing!
Re: How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
#9I love bugs like these. Make it crash is often the hardest part of solving any bug and without this you'd have never known. There is one nasty bit to this story though: the NSOC was running outdated firmware on their Cisco's and wouldn't have known about it if an outside party had not alerted them to this fact. That's pretty sloppy on their end.
Re: How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network
#10I really hope USDS can help introduce interdepartmental digital transfers within the federal government.
To give an example of how frustrating it can be... I went through the visa -> green card -> citizenship process. No two departments talk to one another, and when they do they seemingly transmit information on paper which is then transcribed by hand introducing errors/typos.
For example USCIS does not talk to the SSA digitally at all. I filled in a single form which was used for both my Visa/Green Card and to apply for a Social Security Card on my behalf, my name was spelt correctly on the visa, but got typo-ed during entry into the SSA's system (then the emphasis placed on me to prove their error, even though other US government departments don't have the typo, including any official ID I hold or naturalisation certificate).
Additionally when you earn citizenship the USCIS won't tell anyone. You have to get your piece of paper and physically go tell each department one by one about the change, otherwise nothing will happen.
Why doesn't the federal government just have a big database? Or failing that, why does one department not electronically transfer records to another department? Why are people still hand re-entering information already held digitally?