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Hidden Value details commands and procedures in MPE that can improve your productivity with HP 3000 systems. Get a free NewsWire HP 3000 Always Online cap – submit your MPE tip directly to us here at the NewsWire. Send your tips to editor@3000newswire.com, or fax them to 512.331.3807.

Is there any way for FINFO to return the original creation time for a file?

HP’s Jeff Vance replies:

As of MPE/iX 5.5 Express 3, there is a new FINFO item to return this information. Here’s the table on how it works:

FFINFO Number Mnemonic Return Type
58 SECTORS
NUM SECTORS		 Integer
59 EXTENTS
NUM EXTENTS		 Integer
60 CREATETIME
FMTCREATETIME		 String
-60 INTCREATETIME
CREATION TIME INTEGER		 Integer
61 ACCESSORS
NUM ACCESSORS		 Integer

(This last item is the same value as the total number of accessors in the LISTF format 8 summary line).

Remember, HELP on the Express releases has not been updated. HELP on 6.0 will reflect all of the new features since 5.0. In the meantime you can get information on new features from CSY’s Jazz server. Follow “Communicators” to 5.5 Express 3.

Our remote console (dev 21) will sometimes stop displaying the various operator messages, as if STOP was pressed. Usually a return will “revive” the sleeping console and start displaying all the waiting messages. But is this dangerous? Is there a limit to the number of messages waiting to be displayed or TELLOPed ? What would the consequences be if that limit was ever reached?

John Burke replies:

It is dangerous, though the level of danger depends on activity; i.e. how many console messages are being generated over a given period of time. The buffer is pretty generous now as compared with MPE V days – but when it fills up I believe the result is the same as back then: any process that generates a console message will hang. Like logons and logoffs.

A likely cause for the console to behave as if STOP were pressed? Someone inadvertently hits the space bar starting a terminal read and suspending the display of console messages.

I need to use a variable in a job that is the value found in a 1-record file. How can I do a SETVAR to equal the value in the file? I am not wedded to the SETVAR command.

Kevin Miller replies:

You can use INPUT varname < filename. INPUT will create the variable if it doesn’t exist.

My boss needs help with physically deleting logical records in FORMSPEC. We have historically used ‘991231’ as the ‘end-of-time’ for certain data fields, and we are getting ready to change this to ‘20271231’, which prompts his need for help.

Scott Petersen replies:

If your desire is to remove the deleted forms completely from your forms file, this is a simple process. You need to go to terminal specification menu in FORMSPEC (select “T” on the main menu) and then press ENTER. This will force a total recompilation of the forms file, but will remove some, if not all of the old trash forms.

Is the a native mode version of the ‘calendar’ intrinsic, HPCALENDAR, that returns a 32 bit integer?

HP CSY’s Gopi replies

As of MPE/iX 5.5 Express 4, the new HPCALENDAR intrinsic is available inNative Mode. This intrinsic returns 32-bit CALENDAR format with its upper 23 bits : number of years since 1900, and its bottom 9 bits : day-of-year

Is there a tool that monitors the number of reads and writes to a IMAGE database?

Bradmark’s Jerry Fochtman replies:

IMAGE itself utilizes mapped I/O to access the data structures on disc. As such, it is significantly more complex to determine whether or not a physical I/O occurs. On the other hand, if you are interested in tracking the amount of calls to the IMAGE intrinsics, you could develop a set of AIF/Pes (Procedure Exits) to count the IMAGE calls.

Barry Durand adds:

What I am doing to capture this data is to turn on the two FCLOSES in the IO subsystem of SYSGEN. After a shutdown and restart this logs FCLOSEs to the LOGFILES and can be viewed by SYSDIAG (logtool). If you want to count only the FCLOSES then you can use FILERPT program written by Allegro Consultants.

Stan Sieler adds:

You can also set/reset logging options without rebooting by using our (free) SYSLOG program at www.allegro.com/software/

We got the following message while trying to work with a file on our HP 3000:
Version mismatch in ‘FTPFD17A’.
Expected ‘MOVER A.00.02’
Actual ‘begin 440 FTP’
What do we need to do to make this file accessible?

Chris Bartram of 3k Associates replies:

That header indicates the beginning of a uuencoded file. Sounds like you need to uudecode the file first (to get a binary file from what is now likely a 7-bit-ascii text file).

You might be able to use the uudecode from the Posix shell (uudecode.hpbin.sys ) to decode it. If not, the nmdecode program and command file from our FTP or Web sites (www.3kassociates.com) will decode uuencoded (and other format) files.

Didn’t there used to be a parameter on MPE/V machines that let you do a restore starting from Reel 2, you could ignore the fact that you must start from Reel 1?

Paul H. Christidis replies:

I found this on a old CD:

Starting with a Particular Tape Volume: Normally, RESTORE will require the mounting of the first tape volume which contains any file which is to be restored. If you need to restore a file set and one of the tapes containing it is unavailable, you can mount the first available tape and specify STARTHERE as an option in your :RESTORE command. This will cause files on prior volumes to be listed but not restored; restoration begins with the first qualifying file on the mounted tape.

I have a program called NETTIME that uses TIMEP to get time from a time server. The people in charge of the timer server have informed me that they would prefer me to use NTP instead of TIMEP. How can I get this running on my HP 3000?

Michael Gueterman replies:

Mark Bixby has performed the XNTP port for the 3000. Take a look at www.cccd.edu/~markb/xntpix.html for some information and the binaries. If you’re simply looking for a client, then you may just need ‘ntpdate’ from the package. If you want to have a 3000 act as a server as well, you’ll need to run Syslog/iX as well, also available at Bixby’s Web site.

What is the TCP/IP port number that NS/VT uses on the 3000? We are setting up our network switches to block/allow various TCP/IP traffic. Apparently, we can do this by port number.

Joe Geiser replies:

Port 1570 is the common port blocked on most firewalls today, although 1537 is another that should be blocked. 1537 is not very common anymore, except for the older versions of the terminal emulators. MPE will still talk on both, though. New versions of Termulators use 1570 exclusively – so a lot depends on what termulator you are using, or if you want to really protect yourself.

Is there an MPE way to change the priority of a process?

Bradmark’s Jerry Fochtman replies:

Look at the command ALTPROC, which has an option whereby you can specify a PIN. You can get the details on syntax by typing :help altproc.

How do you specify an IP gateway for default route? We can’t access the HP 3000 from a class C other than the one the 3000 is on, even though we have two local class Cs.

3K Associates’ Chris Bartram replies:

In NMMGR, select open config, then NS, then unguided config, then goto netxport, then goto NI, select your LAN interface from the list and hit ENTER, select GOTO Internet, select your router (if it’s already there – if not, make up a name for it and hit Add). On the next screen you provide the IP address of the router, and under “IP Network Address” select “@” - IP MAsk (blank), Hops (any number). Hit SAVE DATA, home cursor and type “utility” and hit enter, then select “validate” then “validate netxport”. To get the changes to take effect, you’ll need to either stop/restart the network, or enter :netcontrol update=internet;net=lan1 (use whatever your LAN interface is called)
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