Because of the migration away from the hardware and Unix variant
UB was using, and because of its changing role, it was decided to
retire UB and utilize bulldog as its replacement.
UB History
The computing environment at UMD during the mid 1980's was much
different than it is today. There were various systems running the
VAX operating system from DEC that were used for business and
statistics; these system names began with the letter "v". Then, due
to an interest from computer science faculty and other adventure
seekers, systems running the Unix operating system emerged. These
system names began with the letter "u".
The early days of UB were marked with random and expected
crashes and sluggish performance. "You be sorry" and UB was often
found in the same sentence.
UB eventually moved to new hardware and a new variant of Unix,
and became one of the most important systems at UMD when the VAX
systems were retired and services such as email, in addition to
business and coursework support, was centrally located on UB.
Eventually, by the mid 1990's, when email and the newly
installed web server was overwhelming the system, these services
were deployed onto other systems and the role of UB began to
change. New systems such as bulldog emerged, running the same Unix
version as UB but offering an environment of experimentation that
did not impact the business use of UB.
By 2010, UB was mainly used by people who used Mathematica and
SAS, and students learning programming. UB did not even exist as a
physical system, being virtualized a few years earlier on hardware
and a Unix variant fast becoming deprecated.
Because of the migration away from the hardware and Unix variant
UB was using, and because of its changing role, it was decided in
2011 to not migrate UB to a new platform but instead revive bulldog
as its replacement. The bulldog system is virtualized Debian Linux.
The important services such as Mathematica and SAS once found on UB
is also on their own virtual system.
At 0800 on 7 September 2012 UB was effectively disabled, with
access only by ITSS staff. The hardware hosting the UB virtual
system also hosts the system used by Samba. Samba is being migrated
virtual Linux and, when completed, the hardware for UB will be
powered off.
There Will Always be a "U" and a "B" in Bulldog
UB may be gone and replaced by bulldog, but it's comforting to
know there will always be a "u" and a "b" in bulldog.
For questions and comments please contact dburrows@d.umn.edu.
University of Minnesota Campuses