While testing cannot be used as a substitute for investigating code,
you can identify potential Year 2000 problems by testing software in an
artificial environment that simulates future dates.
The OpenVMS operating system allows you to set the system clock forward
to create an appropriate testing environment. This allows you to test a
variety of post-year 2000 scenarios, such as whether January 1, 2000
falls on a Saturday and March 1, 2000 falls on a Wednesday (after leap
day on February 29).
Note that many system applications and layered products are affected by
any substantial modification of system time. The testing procedure described on this website is
similar to that used for common maintenance operations (such as system
upgrades) and includes steps to minimize the side effects of modifying
system time.
You may wish to perform other tests. In addition to regression test
suites, we also ran other tests, including load testing, cluster tests,
the User Environment Test Package (UETP), and ad hoc tests of
DECwindows Motif, the Backup utility, the job controller, and the file
system exerciser. Test clusters contained a combination of both
DECnet-Plus for OpenVMS (Phase V) and DECnet for OpenVMS (Phase IV)
nodes.
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