3000 NewsWire Online Extra

July-August editions

Hello NewsWire subscribers:

Welcome to the July-August edition of the Online Extra, your interim issue of the 3000 NewsWire between First Class mailed editions. This month's Extra is delivering more, reporting on events at the HP World conference through the Web as well as follow-ups and add-ons to the July issue of the NewsWire. Subscribers who have filed updated e-mail addresses received this report by e-mail, but we'll also be cybercasting from the HP World conference, posting stories on our World Wide Web FreeNews site (http://www.3000newswire.com/newswire).

The e-mailed Online Extra is an exclusive service to our paid subscribers. This month we'll be putting our reports of HP World week on the Web site for all to see, and to get you in the habit of visiting our site to get updates on the HP 3000.


HP sets B-tree beta date

B-tree indexes, probably the most eagerly anticipated performance improvement to IMAGE/SQL since Critical Item Updates, is set to go into beta tests in October, according to HP's MPE/iX engineers in Bangalore, India. The project picked up momentum after a meeting between the SIGIMAGE committee and HP early this year, and it looks like getting the enhancement delivered could happen in a release early next year. One possible means of delivery might be the PowerPatch 2 for MPE/ix 5.5.

According to those inside HP, there are two poritions to the project, since the support for the indexes from within IMAGE/SQL is necessary. The first part is to actually develop the b-tree technology and tie it into IMAGE intrinsics. NM KSAM is reportedly being used as the b-tree technology. Additionally, the IMAGE/SQL interface must be developed. Having b-trees in IMAGE only is helpful, but not sufficient.The second porition of the project is required to fully support the accessing of IMAGE through the b-trees from SQL.

HP and Legato to offer NetWorker backup solution

Legato Systems will be selling an MPE/iX client for its NetWorker backup solution to HP 3000 customers by the end of November, the second backup solution HP is helping to offer to its HP 3000 customers. The deal will let customers order NetWorker support through HP, so the HP-UX server module can be serviced through the HP Response Center.

NetWorker/iX has been a porting project since the start of 1996, moving over from its HP-UX roots. In some ways it represents the promise of the Posix project for MPE/iX, a project begun in part to get more applications available for the HP 3000. Delivering a second backup solution for the 3000 may not be breaking new ground in application types, but anything that increases the program count for MPE/iX has some benefit for the market.

Palo Alto based Legato is offering a "client module" of the software, which it says "supports many storage management server platforms and can accommodate a variety of clients, servers and storage devices. Legato's long-term strategy is to create an integrated set of solutions centered around storage management that enhance and simplify network computing as a whole."

The client module suggests that controlling NetWorker will require an HP-UX or non-3000 system. Legato is pushing the concept of one backup solution for all your platforms, and HP has helped in the port to extend its co-existence strategy for the HP 3000. HP cut this deal while Maria Cannon was still marketing manager of CSY, so she's commented on it in Legato's press release:

"What this module provides is the ability to back up HP 3000s to a NetWorker server running on an HP 9000," she said. "The result is that from a single storage management platform, NetWorker can meet virtually all enterprise backup, restore, and archive needs of HP customers. This joint project is an example of how the HP Commercial Systems Division wants to work with partners to bring complete solutions to our customers."

NetWorker/iX doesn't appear to be a completely-3000 backup solution, but instead a component piece in a strategy that puts a non-3000 system in charge of your 3000 backup.


MANMAN spin off in the future?

We keep hearing rumors of an imminent spin off of the MANMAN operations that are part of the Computer Associates empire. MANMAN, which is still serving many HP 3000 sites, became part of the vast family of CA products a few years ago, but customers have had mixed reviews on the acquisition. Assistance for software problems has been harder to come by for many sites, and the latest releases of MANMAN aren't working properly, either. Add tough contract renegotiation to the list and you're got a set of issues that could drive even more customers to alternatives, some of which require a migration away from the HP 3000.

Nobody can tell this month, but a spin-off of the MANMAN business back into its own operation might have a positive impact on all those issues. Or not; so far as we can remember, CA has never taken an acquired company and put it back on the path to being focused and independent again. We expect some word on the issue when CA World convenes in the last week of August.


New HP 3000 book to roll out

HP World will be the site where Prentice Hall unveils "The Legacy Continues: Using the HP 3000 with HP-UX and Windows NT." The book is written by three HP employees and promises to be a co-existence tool for HP 3000 managers who interoperate systems using HP's three commercial business server environments. Mike Yawn, one of the book's authors, is responsible for writing the code that has ported the Java compiler to the HP 3000. So Yawn is doing more than talking the talk about interoperabilty. He's walking the walk, since Java support puts the 3000 on a even footing with those other HP systems. The book even includes a short but easily understood explanation of what Java can mean to the 3000 -- which is part of a well-written section on object oriented programming. For ordering information, contact Prentice Hall Books.


Talking between 3000s on the Internet

Duane Percox, a developer at HP 3000 solution supplier Quintessential School Systems, has developed software that lets users talk to each other between HP 3000s using the Internet:

"If you don't have multiple 3000's, or if the only 3000 you have is not open to the Internet then don't bother to read any further. Unless of course you are curious enough to read about the possibilities ;-)

The Brave souls who remain:

Don't ask me why, but I wrote two programs which can be used together to allow you to talk over the internet from your HP 3000 to someone on another HP 3000. I needed to develop some technology along these lines and it turned out to be a good demonstration project. If you are interested in helping me test these programs for doing Internet talking 3k to 3k, then email me and I will send you a .zip of the files and some notes."

Percox is at duane@qss.com.


COPY command tip using Posix

Jeff Vance of HP offered another solution and sample code to solve the following request for MPE/iX functionality: How to copy a file (using the COPY command) and use the current date as part of the name:

There were a couple of good suggestions, but I want to share a way to use the POSIX name space and handle century dates. The most difficult part of this example is parsing the various filename formats that can be passed in, e.g., MPE unqualified, MPE fully qualified, POSIX absolute pathname, POSIX relative pathname, etc. A way to convert an MPE filename to a POSIX pathname is shown. This example works on 5.0:

PARM file

comment Date Copy: makes a copy of file with the current date (YYYMMDD)
comment appended to its equivalent POSIX name. Usage:
comment dcopy abc --> /ACCT/GROUP/ABC.YYYYMMDD 1
comment dcopy abc.efg --> /ACCT/EFG/ABC.YYYYMMDD 1
comment dcopy abc.efg.hij --> /HIJ/EFG/ABC.YYYYMMDD 1
comment dcopy ./abc --> ./abc.YYYYMMDD
comment dcopy /abc --> /abc.YYYYMMDD
comment dcopy /abc/def --> /abc/def.YYYYMMDD
comment dcopy .abc --> .abc.YYYYMMDD
comment
comment Notes: 1. POSIX names cannot exceed 16 characters when directly
comment under a MPE group, therefore the dot before the date is not
comment used if this would cause an overflow.
comment
comment Bugs: a) MPE file equations and system files ($oldpass) don't work
comment b) Inline MPE lockwords don't work
comment
comment Verify that "file" is a legal name and exists
if not finfo('!file", exist) then
echo "!file" does not exist.
return
endif
setvar CENTURY 19
setvar posixname (lft("!file",1) = "." or lft("!file",1) = "/")
comment Extract just the filename part from file
if posixname then
setvar target rht("!file",len("!file")-pos("/","!file",-1)) + "."
setvar qualify lft("!file",pos("/","!file",-1))
else
comment MPE name - convert to uppercase POSIX name
setvar target ups(lft("!file",pos(".","!file.",1)-1))
if pos(".","!file") = 0 then
setvar qualify "/!HPACCOUNT/!HPGROUP/"
elseif pos(".","!file") = pos(".","!file",-1) then
setvar qualify "/!HPACCOUNT/" + &
ups(rht("!file",len("!file")-pos(".","!file"))) + "/"
else
setvar qualify "/" + ups(rht("!file",len("!file")-pos(".","!file",-1)))+&
"/" + ups(str("!file",pos(".","!file")+1,&
pos(".","!file",-1)-pos(".","!file")-1)) + "/"
endif
if len(target) < 8 then
setvar target target + "."
endif
endif
comment
comment Now just append YYYYMMMDD to target and qualify it
copy !file, !qualify!target!CENTURY![rht("0!HPYEAR",2) + &
rht("0!HPMONTH",2) +

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