Hidden Value – May 2002

 

Q: How can I determine the validity of an SLT tape?

 

A: Bob J and Andreas Schmidt replied:

 

Use CHECKSLT.MPEXL.TELESUP option 1.

 

 

Q: Is there a way to view deleted records in a Native Mode KSAM file? "NOKSAM" which worked for CM files does not work.

 

A: Ken Hirsch replied:

 

If you open the file with the COPY aoption, then you can read all the records. There is a four-byte field at the start of each record that indicates whether or not it is deleted. This almost works:

 

file ksamcopy=yourksam,old;copy

fcopy from=*ksamcopy;to=

 

If you try this, you'll see that FCOPY reads by the original record length and gets off by four bytes each record.  If you write a program and read by the larger (by 4) record length, it will work.

 

 

Q: Does anyone have an example of using TAR to put data on to tape, on a

HP3000?

 

A: Rick Clarke replied:

 

This is from the HPITRC Document ID KBRC00000361

 

1)Create a tape node

 

:MKNOD "/dev/tape c 0 7"

 

2)Enter posix shell

 

:SH -L

 

3)Mount blank tape and enter the tar command

 

shell/ix>tar -cvf /dev/tape /ACCOUNT/GROUP/FILENAME

 

Lars Appel added:

 

If you do not want to use it from the Shell, but from the CI...

 

 :xeq /bin/tar "-cvf /dev/tape /ACCOUNT/GROUP/FILENAME"

 

Note, however, that only the Shell will expand wildcards...

 

 :xeq /bin/sh " -c 'tar -cvf /dev/tape /ACCOUNT/GROUP/FILE*' "

 

Oh, and the :xeq above is optional as well.

 

 

Q: We recently put in place a VPN in order to reach our HP3000 from outside our firewall (E.g., for telecommuting). We have had good success with the connection except when attempting to use REFLECTION file transfer. The transfer will timeout, but, and here's the interesting part, not all of the time.  Every once in a while, after several retries, the transfer succeeds. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

 

A: Bob Sorenson replied:

 

Try setting "Fast file transfer" to "Never".  This will be found under the WRQ tab. It should solve your problem.

 

 

Editor: Normally I do not include Q&As that deal with 3rd party products. However, because this speaks to an important feature of MPE/iX, I am including it.

 

Q: If I say 'altfile <somefileset>;xltrim' in mpex, what really happens? Is mpex working directly on each file or does it make a 'work' copy?

 

A: Ron Horner, Paul Christidis and Erik Vistica replied:

 

MPEX merely (ignoring for a moment all the verifications that it does) opens up the file and closes it with the option that returns to the system any 'unused' space on the 'last' extent of the file (NO second file). So a file with 10 equal extents, for example, will end up with 9 equal extents and 1 smaller (if there was any 'empty' space). This became 'achievable' as a result of how disc space is allocated in MPE/iX.

 

One thing that you should keep in mind is that the 'mod date' of all 'xltrimmed' files will be changed (unless ';keepamdates' is used) and that may impact your next backup. It bit me the first time that I used it because my backup needed another tape and thus I got paged in the middle of the night, etc.

 

 

Q: Today I had a perfect application for the NEWJOBQ feature in MPE/iX 6.5. We have two groups of users. One group submits jobs that take about 30 seconds each. Typical jobs for the other group take about 5 minutes each. So I thought I’d give the second group of users their own job queue.

 

NEWJOBQ ALTJOBQ;LIMIT=1

LIMIT 1    (for HPSYSJOBQ)

 

Now I submit a long job into the ALTJOBQ queue, and a quick job into the default job queue. The second job goes into the WAIT state. Why?

 

A: Michael Berkowitz, David Darnell and Denis St-Amand replied:

 

Your NEWJOBQ statement is correct, but your second statement didn't do what you thought. To put a limit of one on the HPSYSJQ job queue, your statement should read  :LIMIT 1;JOBQ=HPSYSJQ.  By saying :LIMIT 1, you are changing the total job limit on the system to one. Since the total limit is one, and the long job in ALTJOBQ is still running, the second job waits even though he is the only job in his queue.

 

 

Q: What is the command to abort a hung session? I tried

 

ABORTJOB #s3456

 

I seem to remember there is a command that will do more?

 

A: John Burke replied:

 

=SHUTDOWN

 

But seriously, there is a chance that if it is a network connection,

 

NSCONTROL KILLSESS=#S3456

 

will work. If it is a serial DTC connection, ABORTIO on the LDEV should work. Finally, depending upon what level of the OS you are on, look into the ABORTPROC command. This might help as a last resort.

 

Otherwise, I'm afraid you are probably stuck with having to do a reboot. Hung sessions happen much less frequently these days but are still one of the worst things short of a SYSABORT that can occur to a production system.

 

[Editor's note: NSCONTROL KILLSESS worked for the questioner.]

 

 

Q: What does HPSWINFO.PUB.SYS show?  All software or only installed software? So, how do I know what HP software is installed?

 

A: John Burke replied:

 

Generally speaking, HPSWINFO.PUB.SYS is a record of system software level and patching activity.

 

If you want information on HP software installed then you want to run psswinvp.

 

On 6.0, the calling sequence is

 

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

 

On 6.5, the calling sequence is

 

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

 

On 7.x? Sorry, someone else will have to chime in.

 

There is a command file (psirpt.pred.sys) but is is broken on MPE/iX 6.5; hence I've given the explicit calling sequence.

 

 

Q: I am in San Francisco, CA. Should my TZ variable be PST7PDT or PST8PDT?

 

A: Steve Dirickson and David Powell replied:

 

Not sure where else it is documented, but there is a list in the 1991 edition Cobol manual. PST8PDT is it.

 

 

Q: Can anyone tell me what this image error is and how to fix it?

 

 TURBOIMAGE RESULT AT $0008b4f8; RETURN STATUS = 44

 DBDELETE, MODE 1, ON #34 OF HEALTH.DATA

 CAN'T DELETE A MASTER ENTRY WITH NON-EMPTY DETAIL CHAINS

 

A: Jonathan Backus and Ray Shahan replied:

 

You are trying to delete a record from a dataset that appears to be a Manual Master. The problem is there are records in one or more associated Detail datasets that have this same key value. Therefore, there are "non-empty" chains and IMAGE refuses to delete the master record. You have to delete all of the chained records from the associated detail datasets first.

 

 

Q: I'd like to synch the time on my 3000 with my NT40 network. The NT side does regular, automated synch to NIST.

 

A: Mark Bixby and Jeff Kell replied:

 

First, insure your timezone is absolutely correct (:setclock/:showclock) and you have a system logon UDC to setvar TZ to the correct timezone.

 

Install NTP (available on Jazz if you didn't get it otherwise) and use the 'ntpdate' function to sync your clock to the NT servers.  Suggest you do this in a batch job that issues the ntpdate command and then :STREAMs itself;IN=xx to periodically perform the synchronization.

 

 

Q: I want to set a numeric variable, put a alpha in front of it, run a program and increment the numeric variable by 1; i.e.,

 

setvar num 123

setvar alpha 'r'

setvar composite !alpha!num

....

run program

 

setvar num num+1

setvar composite !alpha!num

 

Setting the composite variable fails.

 

A: David Burney and Friedrich Harasleban replied:

 

Instead of :

 

setvar composite !alpha!num

 

try

 

setvar composite "!alpha!num"

 

 

Q: The LISTDIR option of RESTORE applies only to NMSTORE tapes. It cannot be used for MPE/V format tapes. What utility can I use to view the file list of a MPE/V tape?

 

A: Gilles Schipper replied:

 

VALIDATE, from the contributed libarary. There should be a copy in the TELESUP account.

 

 

Q: If I want to reconfigure several disk drives so that I'm using three, instead of four, FWD SCSI cards, do I need to perform a system reload? Only the drive paths would be changing. All affected drives are on the System Volume Set and I would not have more than eight drives on a path.

 

A: Guy Paul replied:

 

Just did this last weekend. If all you are changing is the path, then no, you do not have to reload any data.

 

You can even change the ldev number without reloading, EXCEPT as I recently discovered the hard way, if the ldev you are changing is part of mirror.

 

 

Q: While viewing logs in sqlutil it does not seem clear how to view how full the log file is We have had problems whereas the logs have reached capacity and no new logs were available to change to. Any suggestions on how I can see the true size of the file:

 

A: Michael Gueterman replied:

 

You can use SQLUTIL's SHOWLOG command to find out how much "usable" log space you have left. Near the beginning of the output, there is a line that reads:

 

Number of Free Block(s): xxxxxxxx

 

That xxxxxxxx value will be the total amount of free log space across ALL defined log files. If you are using ARCHIVE logging, then you must store that log file before the space becomes available again. If you’re using NONARCHIVE logging, then, as your transactions are committed, the space in the log file becomes available. If you’re getting a LOG FULL condition, then either you need more/larger log files, and/or store the log files more frequently.

 

There is a chapter called 'Calculating Storage for Logging' in the Allbase/SQL Database Administration Guide that goes into detail about how to determine appropriate sizes.

 

 

Q: Is it possible to list the files that were stored on a specific CSLT? If so, how?

 

A: John Burke, Gary Jackson and Paul Courry replied:

 

CHECKSLT.MPEXL.TELESUP (option 1) will list the system files.

 

VSTORE can be used to list any "store format" files.

 

 

Q: Is there any way to list previous user log-ons? We need to know who was logged onto the system last night.

 

A: Andreas Schmidt, Jonathan Backus and John Clogg replied:

 

Use LOGTOOL. If you are logging event type 102 (Job/Session initiation) or type 115 (Console messages) you can find what you need quite simply.  If you aren't familiar with LOGTOOL, just run it and type HELP LIST. There are also CSL tools that will help format the system logs.

 

 

Q: I've been asked how the HP3000 resolves IP addresses to DNS names by someone in Networking. His query is: "Can it be pointed to a DNS server or does the name resolution have to be hard-coded in a HOSTS file?"

 

A: Guy Paul replied:

 

Actually both are now possible with the latest NSR patch available for 6.0 and greater releases. This will allow the NSSWITCH functionality that UX has had for years and allow you to use the reslvcnf.net and hosts.net solution and specify which one to try first.