Hidden Value details commands and procedures in MPE that can improve your productivity with HP 3000 systems. Get a free NewsWire HP 3000 “3000 for 2000” cap — submit your MPE tip directly to us here at the NewsWire. Send your tips to john.burke@paccoast.com, or fax them to 512.331.3807.

Edited by John Burke

I am having a problem purging a group. The group has zero files and no disk space associated with it, but when I try to purge it, I’m told that it is in use. How can you tell who is logged into a group?

Keven Miller replies:
Try LISTFILE /ACCT/GROUP,ACCESS

I am completely new to setting up Network Printing, but thought I had everything set up correctly. I am using a JetDirect EX Plus and C2951A Cable from the LPQ800 to the Jetdirect. The printer has been configured as LDev 1427 using IOCONFIG. I just did a very simple NPCONFIG.PUB.SYS: 1427 (network_address = 192.168.4.27). I am able to start spooling for the device without error messages. However, when trying to send a spoolfile to the printer I receive:
SNMP error SNMPERR_GENERR reported while retrieving printer status.
I then tried to PING 192.168.4.27 and get back: Destination Node does not exist: error # 1 Unknown Node. What could be wrong?

Michel Jourdevant replies:
Are you sure your JetDirect is configured with the IP address 192.168.4.27 and appropriate subnet mask and gateway? When you power on a JetDirect box for the first time it tries to get an IP from a DHCP server. If no DHCP server is available, it will take the default IP 192.0.0.192.

While trying to use IOCONFIG to add a network printer, I get the following error message:
**note** Retrieving NMMGR configuration data...
Class(es) updated, so rerun asoctbl.pub.sys to recreate asociate.pub.sys.
keeping to group BOOTUP.SYS
Purge old configuration (yes/no)?Automatic yes
**error** can’t purge configuration file MISCP.BOOTUP.SYS
SECURITY VIOLATION (FSERR 93)
This is followed by a file system tombstone. What does this mean?

Ed Stouder and Gerald Dillard reply:
Your last boot was done using “start recovery”. This causes the default configuration group to be BOOTUP.SYS, instead of the normal CONFIG.SYS. BOOTUP.SYS is a special configuration group that saves your configuration as of the last START NORECOVERY, and is write protected once the system is up and running. IOCONFIG should have made the changes to the running system, but could not save the changes to the BOOTUP.SYS configuration group.

What you need to do is to go into SYSGEN, change the base group to CONFIG and make the changes again; otherwise the next time you boot the system up, you will lose the changes you made. You will even lose the changes if you boot with a START RECOVERY, because the changes could not be written to the BOOTUP.SYS configuration, and that is the one that the system will use with a START RECOVERY.

Occasionally, we have a gateway go down and have been stopping and restarting the network to fix things. However, this is very disruptive. Is there a better way?

Fred Metcalf and John Dunlop separately reply:
We have lost a Gateway before and have used the magic command :NETTOOL.NET.SYS “nam;rou;gatel;quit” (that is gatel with an “L”) to check that the Gateways are active. Look under the “Active” column. The command :NETCONTROL UPDATE=INTERNET;NET=xxxxxx (where xxxxxx is the LAN name) is used to resume service without stopping/restarting the Network.

Is there a way that you can view the current software that is loaded on a particular system (IMAGE, Suprtool, Cobol etc.)?

Barry Lake, Dennis Heidner and Gary Sielaff all reply:
Try either :run psswinvp.pred.sys; xl=”xl.pred.sys,xl.diag.sys”
or, simply, :xeq psirpt.pred.sys

But, this only shows HP software, as Stan Sieler points out:
There is no registry of software on the HP 3000. This means that some HP software and nearly all third-party software will be unreported by xeq psirpt.pred.sys.

[Editor’s note: Several people suggested using either MPEX, or MPE’s LISTFILE with “code=” option, to list all program files on the system and then go through the list manually. A better idea came from Andreas Schmidt:]
Most third-party applications reside in their own account, so a simple REPORT XYZ.@ should allow you to fairly easily identify third-party applications that may be on your system.

Why don’t RESLVCNF and Samba get along? It seems Samba runs flawlessly when I comment out my DNS servers in RESLVCNF, but as soon as I put the DNS back in, I cannot attach to my Samba shares. My HP e3000 resolves IPs just fine but no luck with Samba. Any ideas?

Michael Gueterman replies:
Check that the DNS you’re pointing to has an entry for the loopback address in it: 127.0.0.1 localhost
This is because:

• MPE doesn’t use the HOSTS file if it gets a valid DNS response.

• Many DNS servers do not include the localhost entry as it is standard in their HOSTS file (which MPE won’t look at if the DNS is up and responding).

This leads to a situation where you can resolve names just fine, but Samba/iX will not function correctly as it uses “localhost” internally, and can’t resolve that name to the loopback address.

I have a defective system disk, which I filled up with garbage. When I run discfree.pub.sys, it tells me I have 533Mb free for transient free space and 0 Mb for permanent free space. How is that possible?

Gary Paveza, Dennis Heidner, James Reynold and Jeff Kell reply:
It depends on how you have the system set up. MPE allows you to specify maximum percentages for each of transient and permanent. Say, for example, you have a 1000Mb disk and have configured transient to use at a maximum 50 percent, and permanent to use 75 percent. That would allow transient to use up to 500 MB, and allow permanent up to 750Mb. Obviously, both cannot occur at the same time. Suppose now you use 200Mb for permanent and 500Mb for transient. Your available transient free space would be 0Mb, but you would still have 300Mb free on the disc. However, it can only be used for permanent file space.

How can I find the hardware (MAC) address of the network adapter in my HP 3000?

Doug Werth replies:
:LINKCONTROL @,ALL

Is it possible to FCOPY from a KSAM file to a regular MPE file WITHOUT the deleted records in it? I only want those valid entries from the KSAM file to get into the MPE file and not all of them.

Leonard Berkowitz replies:
The default for FCOPY is to copy only non-deleted records. If you want both deleted and non-deleted records, you would add the parameter “;NOKSAM”.

Is qzip available for the HP e3000?

Mark Klein replies:
Go to jazz.external.hp.com/src/gnu/gnuframe.html and pick up the GNUCORE binaries — it is contained within that archive.

I’ve heard that you can create a “startup” file with commands to be executed whenever the system starts. How? Is it just a text file containing the commands? Where does it need to be and what does it need to be named?

Mel Rees replies:
Create a file called SYSSTART.PUB.SYS. It has a format very similar to a UDC file, but is not identical. You can have different sections for your system; here is a small example from memory:

STARTUP
JOBFENCE 7
OUTFENCE 10
****
WARMSTART
LIMIT 0,0
****
COLDSTART
STREAM COLDJOB.UTIL.SYS
****
The STARTUP section is executed each time you restart, the other sections are run as appropriate.

Ian Sargent and Rich Holloway add:
Regarding SYSTART.PUB.SYS, don’t forget that it must be owned by MANAGER.SYS and reside on LDEV 1!

Finally, Barry Lake suggests:
It would be a very good idea to set all the access permissions for the file to “CR” to prevent prying eyes from looking at your setup. For example,

:altsec sysstart.pub.sys;access=(r,w,a,l,x:cr)