Legato (650.812.6112, www.legato.com) released NetWorker version 5.5, an enterprise storage management solution that includes the HP 3000 as both a client and storage node. The latest version includes an enhancement for the Legato MPE/iX Client which moves the Turbostore API for Legato into NL.PUB.SYS. The solution still requires an NT or Unix system to hold the metadata used in controlling backups, but the Storage Node software lets HP 3000s be attached to high-capacity devices such as DLT drives and automated libraries.

HP continues to make note of the Legato solution in its strategic briefings, such as the Customer Forums held in November across North America. Legato, and products like it, let managers define subgroups of systems to be backed up together, regardless of operating platform. But it has applicability for shops with only HP 3000s, too.

“You don’t need to be in a heterogenous world to take advantage of it,” said R&D chief Winston Prather. “If you just want a big stacker or silo plugged into the HP 3000, you can do that.” Other benefits of such cross-platform solutions — Legato runs on most NT and Unix systems, as well as Microsoft’s Cluster Service — include a single set of commands for backup operators, regardless of the platform being backed up.

Posix directory bug
gets 5.5 fix, 6.0 soon

Developers and customers making regular use of Posix — or using scripts that rely on Posix — will be getting repaired Posix directory purges soon. The problem cropped up in MPE/iX 5.5 PowerPatch 5, and isn’t fixed in either the PowerPatch 6 or MPE/iX 6.0. Recursive directory purges (using the command rm -R) fail, then leave non-zero user counts on Posix directories that can only be cleared with a system reboot.

One workaround that avoids the problem is to use the MPE :PURGEDIR ;TREE command. You can also dodge the bug by having Patch/iX skip patch MPEJXV9B during installation or upgrades of the operating system.

HP 3000 R&D chief Winston Prather reports the bug has a stand-alone patch, MPEKXL0, to fix the problem for customers on MPE/iX 5.5 PowerPatch 5 or 6. A 6.0 patch will also be available in the near future.

Two free seats
for HP training

HP customers with a Premiere Support Contract are entitled to a pair of free seats in the new MPE/iX 6.0 courses being offered in 24 cities around North America. Calling 800.HP.CLASS will deliver details on scheduling for the New Features and Functions of MPE/iX 6.0 course, a $450 one-day class. You can check out schedules for the classes online — and register, too — at the HP Education Web site: browse to www.
hp.com/education/sections/mpe.html

CSY searches for
support problems

General Manager Harry Sterling put out a call in the Strategic Customer Support Forums for evidence of weak HP 3000 hardware support. Customers report that some HP engineers arrive onsite and aren’t familiar with HP 3000 equipment. “I have an ongoing arrangement with our support managers worldwide to fix these problems, but we need to know about where are the problem areas are,” Sterling said. “I’m still hearing some issues around hardware support in particular — CEs come in and say ‘I don’t know 3000s.’ ”

Sterling gave his e-mail address (harry_sterling@hp.com) during the Forums and invited HP 3000 customers with these kinds of CE experiences to report the weak support to him. “Be very specific about the kinds of problems you’re having, and recognize your local [HP] manager will probably give you a call to follow up.” Sterling said. He added that HP has spent considerable resources to educate the HP support community about 3000s in the past year, but more work needs to be done. “It really is a quest of mine over this next year to fix this problem,” he said.

Automatic spam checking
in NetMail 3000

The latest version of NetMail 3000 from 3k Associates (800.NET.MAIL, www.3kassociates.com) ties in with automated spam-checking servers on the Web. Chris Bartram of 3k reports that his company’s product uses anti-spam services on the Internet which allow mail servers to dynamically check the IP address of incoming mail — and refuse anything coming from “problem” domains. The Mail-Abuse Prevention System, the Online Realtime Blacklist Service and Dorkslayers all track junk-mail purveyors, and report the violators to mailservers. Dynamic filters which use the services can be enabled on the latest NetMail release. The watchdogs keep junk off mail servers, Bartram said.

“As a dynamic service, Dorkslayers is the quickest to ‘react’ to spammers,” Bartram said, “and since it automatically re-tests blacklisted machines, it’s also the most current service. They take no prisoners; admins running misconfigured mail servers need to take notice that the rest of the ’net isn’t going to keep being subjected to junk that should have been prevented by due diligence.”

Bartram adds that “my daily spam ingestion has dropped to less than half of what it was before the dynamic filters were added.”

Improved Samba
goes online

Samba experts CSI Business Solutions and Easy Does It Technologies have posted a Samba/iX Server version 1.9.18p10 for MPE/iX systems at their joint Samba/iX Web site, www.sambaix.com. The version is the latest, current stable version of Samba/iX, with many new features, including far better security. HP’s version, available from Jazz and being shipped with MPE/iX 6.0, is a two-year-old Samba 1.9.16p9. (See “Samba: Past, Present and Future,” November 1997 NewsWire).

The release available at the Web site is beta software. The version will allow HP 3000 users to delete the “registry hack” they have been forced to use, a Windows Registry Entry which enables clear text password handshaking. Speed increases and a host of other improvements (detailed in our November report) are part of the new package, which is free.

HP plans Measureware,
Perfware for HP 3000

Customers who want an HP-supported diagnostic capability integrated with OpenView will be able to include HP 3000s next year. HP’s Winston Prather said that the 3000 division was “investigating and porting the Measureware parts of OpenView to the 3000. We don’t really have a release date yet, but we should see some improvements in that.” HP was looking for companies to partner with on the porting project, a process where a customer helps specify the product and gets to use the software on a test basis. Contact Rachel Kornblau of CSY at rachel_kornblau@hp.com for more information.

Free TAPECOPY appears
on HP Jazz Web site

eXegeSys programmer Kevin Miller has created a new version of Lars’ Appel’s TAPECOPY utility, available for free on the HP Jazz Web site. Similar to the HP TELESUP account’s STORCOPY program, TAPECOPY does tape-to-tape, tape-to-disk and disk-to-tape “raw” copies. TapeCOPY can now create disc archive files that are TurboSTORE “STOR” (store-to-disc) compatible. This means they can be examined or unpacked with RESTORE;;LISTDIR or RESTORE. Find your copy and documentation about three-fourths of the way down the Web page at http://jazz.external.hp.com/src/src.html. It’s a tar file archive, so have that Posix utility from MPE/iX ready to unpack the download.

Newest SPLash!
outputs C code

Allegro Consultants (408.252.2330, www.allegro.com) has a new version of its SPLash! Native Mode SPL compiler for MPE/iX that generates C source code. This gives 3000 shops who are updating and enhancing programs or modules written in SPL a means to host that code on any platform. The product is also a powerful HP 3000 development tool.