3000 FTP gets
better, but has limits
Even while HP
points to one of its broader offerings to improve the 3000’s
operating systems, customers still hope to enjoy more scope for the
work. FTP services under MPE/iX will be getting new command support.
The FTPHDE4 patch for release 7.5, HP’s last rollout of MPE/iX,
includes new FTP/iX support for
- logon
security, /etc/ftpusers
- file access
security, /etc/ftpaccess
- log all
file transfers & commands functions
-
/etc/ftpaccess logon banner
- FTPSRVR
site chmod & site chown
But HP is
sticking to a policy that might keep the FTP improvements off of most
HP 3000 systems. HP’s patches have to clear a beta-test period
where customers try out the enhancements on their 3000s in the field.
James Hofmeister, the HP engineer managing the FTP improvements, said
that so few customers were willing to load such enhancements onto
3000s running 7.0 and 6.5 MPE/iX that it’s become hard to
justify HP’s engineering time.
Some
customers are running systems with the 6.0 release, still widely
installed on smaller 3000s. Hofmeister reminded customers that FTP/iX
needs large files support, a feature of the operating system only
available going back to the 6.5 MPE/iX release. Older releases like
MPE/iX 6.0 “are off support for several years. No further
changes will be implemented with FTP/iX 6.0.”
The FTP
enhancements on MPE/iX 6.5 and 7.0 “[are] in the plan, but we
find very few customers are willing to install these patches as alpha
test (going on now) or beta test,” Hofmeister reported to the HP
3000 newsgroup. “The SIB 2003 enhancements on MPE/iX 6.5 and 7.0
were not available as General Release for more than a year due to
lack of interest (no one would install them as Beta Test patches). It
is hard to justify working on patches for 6.5 and 7.0 in these
conditions.”
HP has
brought up the too-few-testers issue since last summer while
describing its plans for patch development. Customers who want to
alpha-test the new FTP features on 6.5, 7.0 or 7.5 releases can
contact Hofmeister at james.hofmeister@hp.com.
