Welcome to our 22nd edition of Online Extra, the e-mail update of articles in the October 1997 3000 NewsWire as well as items that have surfaced since we last mailed our last First Class issue. This service is an exclusive to our paid subscribers between the First Class issues you receive by mail, updating the stories you've read and adding articles that have developed between issues.
Express 3 is shipping
We got a report late last week that the Express 3 release of MPE/iX 5.5 started arriving in customers' shops. So far, the only sites to report receiving the release have ordered it directly through HP's Response Center to solve a problem. Official forms for ordering the release just began to arrive early in the week of Nov. 3
A bug in DDX gets fixed -- so check your databases
It's a rare thing for a bug to surface in the IMAGE database, but a lot of effort on the part of Adager's support wiz Ken Paul (to find the cause) and the HP database labs (to develop a fix) got a dangerous one cornered this week. If you don't use dynamic detail dataset expansion (DDX) in your operations, you don't have to worry about your databases. But everybody else who uses the feature -- mostly in 24x7 shops or places with very large databases -- needs to check for a consistency problem that might have caused them to lose detail data.
We'll have more details in next week's FlashPaper, but for now we wish every reader who's using DDX would run a database utility against their DDX-enabled databases. We know that Adager finds the problem as part of its usual pre-processing check -- simply point either Model One or Model Two at the database and wait for the report. If you don't have Adager, you can get a time-limited version for free to check for the problem and correct the databases. We've also heard that Bradmark is making a standalone utility, FIXDDX, available to look for the problem and fix it. Both companies will deliver their free tools over the Internet if you're in a big hurry to check.
The fix for the problem is in a couple of patches you can get from the Response Center, one for MPE/iX 5.0 and the other for 5.5. The MPE/iX 5.0 patch is TurboIMAGE version C.06.23 and has Patch ID TIXKX11. The patch for MPE/iX 5.5 is TurboIMAGE version C.07.07, has Patch ID TIXKX13, and is built on the version of IMAGE released on MPE/iX 5.5 Express 3. The patches are in effect new versions of the database. The patches are beta released at this point, but have been tested and solve the problem.
The bug condition is pretty rare, but it's possible to lose data as a result of the bug. Only seven people have reported it so far in three years of heavy DDX use, so the timing has to be exactly wrong for it to happen. But unchecked it can lead to data loss, a very rare thing for the HP 3000. Advice and counsel about correcting the problem is available from the database utility vendors, so you can get data recovered in some cases.
If you discover the problem, it will be reported as EndOfFile (EOF) discrepancies. The problem comes from an event that HP's Jon Bale at the IMAGE lab describes as when "an erroneous expansion may take place, which can then lead, possibly at a much later time, to data set entries being placed beyond the real file EOF. When the file is later closed, these entries are lost. The circumstances in which the erroneous expansion could take place are as follows: At the same time that an actual dynamic data set expansion is being performed within a call to DBPUT by one process, a second process (user) accessing the same data set for the first time causes execution of IMAGE's "open data set" module. If the timing is just right (actually just wrong), the result will be incorrect internal data set structural information being saved to disk. Specifically, the recorded internal CAPACITY has been incremented TWICE, while the EOF has been correctly incremented -- only once. This defect has been in the code since the introduction of DDX approximately three years ago."
Bale advised that "customers who use DDX and think they may be susceptible to the problem described can request either of these beta patches from the HP Response Center." It's a real mark of achievement that something this insidious and baffling could get a fix in just a few weeks time. Everybody who worked on the project deserves an 'attaboy,' from Paul at Adager who persevered to show HP the problem to the IMAGE lab engineers who solved the problem quick, considering how hidden it was. We think the whole episode shows there's lots of spark still left in HP's IMAGE lab.
Watch for new 3000 hardware this week
If it's November, then it must be new system announcement time at the HP 3000 division (CSY). We'll be able to say quite a lot about the newest HP 3000 sometime after midnight Tuesday, the official release date for the news. HP has only talked in public so far about two new systems in its lineup -- a replacement for the discontinued Series 939KS and a new high end for the same 9x9 line, rumored to be the 989KS. Stay tuned to see which end of the 9x9 line gets a new entry, and don't order anything on the low end until you hear about the prices from us.
Those 9x9 card cage extenders are delayed
If you're waiting on the ability to extend the IO capacity of your 9x9 systems, you'll be waiting awhile longer. HP originally thought it would be releasing the new card cage extenders for the systems in the fourth quarter. Now we've heard about a new Express 5 release of MPE/iX 5.5 that will be required to make the HP-PB I/O Expansion card cages work with the 9x9 systems. With Express 3 running late and Express 4 needing to make an end-of-1997 deadline, the I/O expansion apparently got pushed back. It's not the only thing in this spring's 3000 enhancements to be delayed. We've heard that the Series 997 upgrades hadn't shipped as of the first week of November, either.
Editorial: Why NT isn't being adopted any faster
We're tired of throwing rocks at such a slow-moving target as Windows NT, especially since a lot of our readers are deploying the operating environment in their enterprises alongside HP 3000s. But we would like to note that the software's ability to move in and take over for things like MPE/iX is almost entirely unproven. Applications are the lure to installing NT, but getting them to interoperate with existing business processes on other platforms is the work that still looms before most managers.
The upside to this dilemma is that the NetServers from HP at least have the experience of a enterprise-class solution provider behind them. Try buying NT from a supplier like Dell or Compaq to see the difference in value added after the hardware sale. If you're accustomed to having IT-grade support for your business systems, make sure your supplier believes in adequate response time and knows their way around Microsoft's Service Packs. In any case, you'll need some experienced hands on hand to make the new systems talk with your trusty HP 3000s.
Often a decision to work with NT is based on perceived savings, as companies size up the cost of Intel-based hardware versus more specialized systems like HP 3000s. The savings can disappear if you develop islands of information then need to integrate after installation. People are pausing before making a wholesale NT commitment when they already have information infrastructure in place that's working. An IDC study conducted earlier this year said the number one reason for not adopting NT was concern with interoperability. Make sure that if you're choosing to work with NT you have access to the technical experience to make it connect with your HP 3000s. It can be done, but an integrator or consultant who knows the 3000 and NT can make promised savings materialize.
NSD, report manager get new names
While at this year's HP World we were introduced to a company that
appears to be
new to the 3000 market, but in reality is just wearing new trappings. Users
of datacenter
management and spooler software for HP 3000s probably remember NSD,
providers of
JobRescue, JobTrak datacenter products and the Electropage and NERDD electronic
report distribution solutions for MPE/iX. Wrapping itself around adopting
the COLD
(Computer Output to Laser Disk) strategy, the company's been renamed and
refunded,
and now is known as Nobix, Inc. (www.nobix.com, 510.227.5600). David Warda
remains at the head of the firm.
Nobix has renamed NERDD as COLDmine for HP-UX, report mining software now hosted on an HP 9000 that can work with reports generated by HP 3000 applications. HP's California Analytical Division, SAFE Federal Credit Union and Trimble Navigation have all taken HP 3000 application reports and moved them into COLDmine to reduce paper costs and improve information access. Trimble now moves its HP 3000 MANMAN reports into COLDmine to create a document managment solution. Nobix is also getting ready to launch an NT version of COLDmine that uses a browser interface.
PatchWatch: Get just that LISTF improvement
If you've been looking for the improved LISTF command set that tells you who's accessing a file, you can get it without any other features in a patch that went into general release last week. Patch MPEJXR6C gives you the new "ACCESS" and "LOCKS" formats of LISTF and :LISTFILE that will display current accessors or lock status of the files in the specified fileset. The Response Center has the patch if you don't want the rest of the enhancements -- and changes -- that are in Express 3 MPE/iX 5.5.
How to decide between 100Base-T and 100 VG AnyLAN
Now that HP has put patch LSSEDP4A into general release, both 100VG AnyLAN and 100Base-T networking will be supported on MPE/iX 5.5. It's also in the Express 3 release that's arriving at customer sites real soon now (the patch went GR on October 23, probably one of the last bits of new functionality to be ready for the Express). You'll need new networking cards in your 3000s and PCs and some new hubs and routers. When you're buying, be sure to ask if all of the ports on these devices will do 100 megabit speeds. Some network interface cards and hubs will do both 100 and 10 in mixed environment.
But how do you decide which of these 100-megabit networking pipes you want to work with? Sure, a lot of it depends on what kind of wiring you already have installed. But there are a few clues to follow that might lead you away from the juggernaut of 100Base-T. That's the protocol HP agreed to support after its VG AnyLAN didn't get as much support from hub and router vendors. There's a good reason why those vendors jumped on the 100Base-T bandwagon, according to Birket Foster of M.B.Foster Associates: 100Base-T requires more hubs and routers than AnyLAN. He says
"If you are considering [wiring] a site with many users, you might look at www.100vg.com, which will explain the wiring requirements and the 100VG technology. It has some white papers and suppliers lists; 3com and HP are among the suppliers.You may be moving uphill to get VG AnyLAN; its competitor, 100Base-T, has grabbed a lot of mindshare without proving much technical superiority. The bottom line may rest with your bottom line. If you don't anticipate a lot of desktops needing 100 megabit connections, then the VG AnyLAN performance advantages might be outweighed by a better price on hubs, routers and NICs. On the other hand, VG AnyLAN goes farther between those routers.In summary, you can get more distance with 100VG; you can use CAT3 or CAT5 wiring;
it supports TCP/IP and Token Ring; the knee of the [performance] curve is further out because of the way it works; and you get more users on the same segment given same traffic as 100Base-T."
St. Paul joins as an HP Partner
St. Paul Software, which provides electronic commerce software solutions for HP 3000s, announced it became a member of the HP Partnership program. St. Paul said the partnership "reflects HP's recent efforts to expand its position in the electronic commerce industry and allows both companies to strategically align their sales and marketing efforts." St. Paul Software's EC/EDI software and HP 3000 hardware provides an electronic commerce solution to businesses using. St. Paul said that businesses have been benefiting from combination since St. Paul Software's EDI products began running on the HP 3000 platform in 1987.
That D640 is faster than a LaserJet 5si at MOPYing
The enhanced D640 printer we reported on in our October issue includes MOPying capability. Well, it took an HP 3000 veteran printmaster like Steve Hammond of the Association of American Medical Colleges to discover this, but these new D640s deliver the technology even better than the HP desktop printers that first introduced it. Hammond reported in his SIGPRINT newsletter:
"MOPying is a feature first introduced in the LaserJet 5si line of printers. MOPy stands for Multiple Original Prints. HP found that many laser-printed documents were immediately being taken to photocopiers for reproduction. This is an obvious waste of time and energy. HP added the MOPier function, which handles multiple copies without wasting bandwidth. If you want five copies with current printers, the driver sends the document and graphics five times. A MOPier transmits the document only once and rasters only once! The 5si is slightly different, since it sends the document once, but rasters for each copy. Thus, this makes the D640 faster than the 5si."Hammond also heard that HP wouldn't be investing much more in the rest of the HP5000 line of printers -- most notably the two continuous form F100 and F135XP workhorses designed to replace the old HP 2680 printers that are still chugging out paychecks in more than a few sites. According to Hammond, HP's Systems Printers Business Manager Curt Dowdy "told us at the [HP World] conference that HP is de emphasizing future developments on this printer family. HP has chosen to enter printer markets which it can effectively dominate. This market is difficult to dominate, so HP has chosen to continue to market and support the printers, but will put no more effort into R & D. The [F100 and F135XP] printers currently support PCL 4, but will not move up to PCL 5."
Shifting time rather late -- but better than Windows 95
If you've still not reset your HP 3000s to adjust for the end of Daylight Savings Time, there's a great summary of how to do it on in the Tech Section of this Web site, courtesy of John Burke. It's also available as part of our October issue's net.digest column, which John edits.
Any time shift process on the 3000 is bound to be more effective than the one included in Windows 95's automation. James Overman of the HP Support Technology Lab, who wrote the new b-tree-capable QUERY, reported on the Internet that Win95 just wouldn't believe it had really adjusted the time backward:
"It seems that while I was working on my Win95 HP PC at home on Saturday night (writing a paper for school), up pops a screen saying that the system has automatically updated my system time for daylight savings and to please check the time was correct. I looked and the time had been set back to 1 AM. I cleared the popups and continued working....
Sure enough, an hour later, up pops a screen saying the time has been
adjusted
for daylight savings and ... (deja vu, just like Groundhog day!). So, it
seems time will
never get past 2 AM last Sunday!! At least not until we reboot, or change
the time to 2:01,
as I had to do."