Q: In what sort of situation would one call DBGET, DBPUT or DBUPDATE using an empty list?

A: Bruce Toback, Frank Gribbin and Steve Dirickson replied:

It makes no sense to use in DBPUT. It might be used as a quick test to see if a record can be DBUPDATEd, but is mostly useful in DBGET for setting the current record (as above) or for walking down a chain examining the information in the status record.

Q: I'm adding new disks to our HASS and I have lost my notes. I don't do this kind of thing very often and could use a quick refresher.

A: Jérôme Leproux replied:

When adding new disks to your configuration, don't forget to create first a path with ID=PSEUDO. For example, let's assume your FWSCSI card has path 0/20 and you want to add a disk ldev 30 with path 0/20.10.0

You'll have first to add in sysgen's io menu the 0/20.10 path with id=PSEUDO before adding your new device:

io> AP 0/20.10 id=PSEUDO
io> AD 30 path=0/20.10.0 id=your disk's ID
io> HOLD
io> EXIT
sysgen> KEEP

You can then dynamically validate your configuration (if the disks may be hot-plugged) using the DOIONOW utility.

Warning: Be careful with your disk's id since you could assign a SCSI-SE disk's ID to a FW-SCSI disk, and it would run after a dynamic configuration, but your disk wouldn't be recognized on the next reboot. If you're not sure of the id, have a look to the IODFAULT.PUB.SYS file to find an appropriate ID.

You'll then have to initialize your new disks with volutil.

Q: We are trying to stream a server job in the CS queue. However, even though the job card contains ";pri=CS" the job and all it's processes run in the D queue. What do we nee to do?

A: John Clogg and Doug Werth replied:

The JOBPRI command is what you need to look at.

:help jobpri

JOBPRI

Sets or changes the default execution priority for batch
jobs and sets a maximum execution priority for batch jobs.

SYNTAX

JOBPRI [maxsubqueue][,defaultsubqueue]

You need to change the MAXSUBQUEUE to CS to allow jobs to log on.

You can put this in your SYSSTART file.

Q: Using SYSGEN, I have enabled autoreply on both of our DLT tape drives. But when I initiate a STORE, it still asks for a REPLY. Do I need to reboot the system in order for this to take effect?

A: John Burke and Jean Huot replied:

In a word,yes.

Q: [A follow on question.] If I have multiple tape drives, and I wish to enable them for autoreply, do I need to issue the "HOLD" command between each "MDEV" statement? Or is a single "HOLD" command sufficient after all the MDEV statements?

A: Tony Newton replied:

No, just enter all of your MDEV commands and do one "HOLD" at the end and you should be good.

Q: Does anybody know how to run the Software Inventory Report, Psswinvp.Pred.Sys, under 6.5? Is there a replacement? I have always executed it as follows:

run psswinvp.pred.sys;xl='xl.pred.sys,xl.diag.sys'

from a command file, but now all I get is a banner display.

A: Steve Pittenger replied:

The second XL has been changed to DIAGXL.PRED.SYS, so the command should now read:

run psswinvp.pred.sys;xl='xl.pred.sys,diagxl.pred.sys'

Q: Has anyone here ever remote-rebooted his or her HP3000 by just using a dial-up modem connection? I heard somewhere that HP has ways of accomplishing this entirely by remote administration, but is this possible for end users like me?

A: Tony Newton and Paul Courry replied:

It sure is. You will have to do a <CTRL>B ER to enable remote console and a <CTRL>B UL to unlock remote console. You should then be able to dial in to LDEV 21, hit break and remote administrate the machine. Don't forget to set-up a remote-access password though, because you don't want every Phil, Bill and Jill dialing in to assist you with your administrator duties.

Several people noted that HP now sells a product called Secure Web Console that allows you to do all this over the Internet.

Q: Last year we had a thread going regarding BULDACCT's use of PASCAL and someone said that patch MPEKXY7 should fix that. Has anyone installed this patch (or a newer version). BULDACCT does not appear to have changed in 6.0 Express 2.

A: Donna Garverick and Denis St-Amand replied:

MPEKXY7D (for 6.0) wasn't included in 6.0 pp2 but MPEKXY7E (for 6.5) was included in 6.5 pp1. And, yes it works.

Q: Can anyone tell me what CONTROL BLOCK WAIT means?

A: Stan Sieler and John Clogg replied:

Basically, someone is trying to procure (obtain) a lock on a resource that is already locked. MPE/iX relies heavily on a data structure called, variously, a semaphore or control block. Several products, available from third partys or HP, can give circumstantial evidence. At least one product from a third party can provide direct evidence of the process locking the necessary resource.

Q: If I were to add a CPU to my 997, would there be license issues?

A: John Clogg replied:

You can count on it. It will vary by vendor, of course. In some cases the upgraded machine will be in the same tier and in others it won't. In terms of technical issues, the answer is again "it depends". Some software checks only the HPSUSAN, which shouldn't change when you add a processor, but others check both the HPSUSAN and the HPCPUNAME, which should change with a processor upgrade. So you will have to spend more money on some products, and some will require new installation codes as soon as you upgrade. You'll need to contact all of your software suppliers before the upgrade to determine which ones.

Q: Does anyone know if there is an equivalent in ctsm of going into the old Sysdiag/Termdsm/Reset/Ldev# ?

A: Anonymous and Lars Appel replied:

cstm
ru termdsm

This is documented in the 6.5 Communicator.

Q: Does anyone know where I can find information about the program DATE.HPBIN.SYS? Running this program on our test box produces a date in 2002 and I don't know where this is coming from.

A: Doug Werth replied:

This suggests you have a large gap between your software clock and your hardware clock. Try running SHOWCLKS.PUBXL.TELESUP. What SHOWCLKS displays for CTIME is the same thing you are seeing when you run DATE.HPBIN.SYS.

You can use the following to correct your clock, although it is advisable to do it on an idle system to be sure that logged events retain proper time stamps. This procedure assumes the Eastern Time Zone. Adjust accordingly for other zones.

:SETCLOCK TIMEZONE=W4:00

:SETCLOCK;CANCEL

:SETCLOCK DATE=2/6/2001;TIME=hh:mm;NOW <<insert the current local time>>

Re-run DATE to see the effect it has. SHOWCLKS will also use the TZ variable which should be set accordingly. TZ will default to EST5EDT. Check TZTAB.LIB.SYS for valid TZ values.

[Editor's note: If TZ is not set, CTIME will reflect a default TZ of EST5EDT. However, DATE.HPBIN.SYS will display Greenwich Mean Time.]

Q: We're looking at getting the 100MBit card for our system. And, yes we know we need the extra software from HP.

- We intend to use the new card for a new private set of IP addresses.
- We intend to keep the old card on the existing set of public IP addresses.

Is this OK? Are there other issues that would conflict?

A: Patrick Santucci and Doug Becker replied:

As long as you buy and install the software from HP, and have a HP engineer install the card, it works great. You will have to configure the card in NMMGR, so make certain that you have the correct slot address. Everything else in your plan looks fine.

Q: Revisiting an old thread regarding editing of byte stream files. Suggestions were:

1) Use Samba -> I don't have this set up yet
2) Use VI -> I'm not adjusted to this editor, difficult getting used to for now
3) Use Qedit -> Not available on this host

Is it possible to transfer a bytestream file using Reflection to the PC, then send it back as a bytestream file? The follow up would be: if not, do I then use TOBYTE or something else? What is the opposite of TOBYTE?

A: Lars Appel replied:

Yes, you could, but why not try this

:xeq /bin/frombyte "/your/favourite/bytestream.file MPENAME"

:editor
/t mpename
...
/k;e

:xeq /bin/tobyte "-at MPENAME /your/favourite/bytestream.file"

Using FILE EDTTEXT and RUN EDITOR,BASICENTRY the above could even be simplified with a little UDC or command file, I guess.

Q: Is there a single escape sequence that would 'reset' ALL of the console function keys to their default settings?

A: Wirt Atmar replied:

EscE (hard reset) resets most everything.

Q: I am trying to setup network printing and I get an error I have never seen before after I have created the devices in ioconfig. The error is:

ioconfig:EXIT
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)

What is wrong?

A: John Clogg and Jeff Kell replied:

The last restart was NOT a START NORECOVERY. IOCONFIG can't save the changes. Your printers are however created and accessible, but only for the duration of this boot. If you want them to be available on your next START NORECOVERY, you'll have to add them again in SYSGEN with 'basegroup config'.

Q: Why would FINFO report a different maximum number of extents than LISTFILE?

A: Stan Sieler replied:

Because of a bug in the FLABELINFO intrinsic (it returns the wrong number for max extents). We submitted a call to the HP ESC (HP ITRC) on November 16, 2000:

Call ID is 3100460068, CR: JAGad38891, STARS SR No 8606169616.

I'd suggest people submit bug reports mentioning this SR, because HP asked us to provide a business case for fixing it:

Q: [Editor's note: Several problems/questions posted this month had at their root cause an incorrect or incomplete Patch/iX "bundle". Bad things can happen when this is the case. So, the question becomes: How can I be sure I have the correct and complete version of Patch/iX?]

A: The only foolproof way to accomplish this is to download the bundle in store-to-disk format from either www.itrc.hp.com or ftp.itrc.hp.com. In addition to PATCHIX.INSTALL.SYS and PATCH000.INSTALL.SYS, there are a half dozen or so files in the INSTALL group that begin with the letter "A" that are required for the successful operation of Patch/iX. While these files are contained on PowerPatch tapes, the instructions for restoring Patch/iX do not include the "A" files, plus there is no guarantee the version on tape is the latest. Also, these files need not reside on LDEV1.

Q: I have a 9x7 with an HP-IB card in it. It is not configured on the system. When it boots up, as far as the operating system is concerned, there is no HP-IB card. That being said, would there be any problem upgrading to 6.5 with that HP-IB card still sitting in the computer?

A: Stan Sieler and Gilles Schipper replied:

There is no problem with leaving the HPIB card in.

If you boot on 6.5 and the card and associated peripherals are configured, you will see the appropriate LLIO error and "higher component configuration failure" messages, before otherwise successfully booting.

If the card and associated peripherals are deleted from sysgen i/o configuration, the system boots up without any error messages - as if the card did not exist.

So, for those that like to switch among different o/s's, without worrying about performing associated physical hardware removals and additions, you can rest easy - 6.5 will not present a problem for you.

Q: How can I determine when a STORE tape was created?

A: Doug Werth and Gilles Schipper replied:

You can determine the store date as follows:

:file t;dev=tape

:restore *t;@;listdir

Don't worry about using the restore command. No files will actually be restored when using the ;LISTDIR option.

Q: Our system used to come up to the OPERATOR.SYS password when we rebooted. Now we have to manually put in START NORECOVERY. What has changed?

A: Wesley Setree and Ronald Horner replied:

It's because AUTOBOOT is not setup. Once AUTOBOOT is set, then you don't have to perform START NORECOVERY.