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Hidden Value details commands and procedures in MPE that can improve your productivity with HP 3000 systems. Send your tips to john@burke-consulting.com, or fax them to 512.331.3807.

Edited by John Burke

What is the path for the network card on a 928?

Variations on this question are frequently asked; in fact, the same question was asked last month for a 927. In this case, the specific answer, provided again by Bob J. of Ideal Computer, is 56/56. However, I want to repeat the general answer given last month provided by Steve Macsisak, run ode mapper at the ISL prompt, or, if the system is running, SYSGEN -> IO -> LPATH.

I am trying to find where the setting is on the 9x9 MFIO card to switch from the Thin Lan port to the AUI port.

John Burke replies:
If the CE Handbooks were published on the web, the answer would be simple. [Note this was the number 2 ranked item on the recent SIB.]

Gilles Schipper, Doug Werth and Bob J contribute to the correct answer:
The HP 3000 flavor of the multi-function IO card is not auto-sensing. The corresponding HP 9000 K-Class equivalent is auto-sensing. The 9x9 multi-function IO card has a large jumper block that determines which of the AUI or BNC port is active — just as in the 9x7 and 9x8 mfio cards. It is located close behind the ports themselves. The jumper pack goes closest to the port you want to use; i.e. toward the BNC for 10base2 and toward the DB for AUI.

What causes the error FTPERR 9?

Tom Emerson replies:
Ummm, “FTP”? Okay, seriously though, the first hit of a Google search for “ftperr 9” is:
docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/doc3k/B3695790153.15039/49, a Web page that reads (in part):
(FTPERR 9) Cannot connect to host: !
Cause: FTP was unable to open a host connection. Typically this FTP error is accompanied by a socket error that provides more information.
Action: Check the spelling of the host name or IP address. Otherwise, seek the assistance of your Node Manager.
[Editor’s note: The actual question and answer is not why I included this. Rather it was to note the power of the Internet in general and Google in particular to find things buried at hp.com and elsewhere. ]

I’ve configured Apache and have the Web site up using the system’s hostname. I’m also trying to develop additional servers using the same IP address and a different port (8080) than the one in the default (80). I want to do this so that I can put financial reports on a separate intranet site and restrict access using a .htaccess file or an allow file (haven’t gotten that far yet). Am I on the right track?

John Burke replies:
I would use Virtual Named Hosts. This “looks” like you are running multiple servers, but there is no need for you or your users to mess around with separate ports. Your .htaccess file goes into the directory you want to protect, which would probably be the document root of the virtual server you wish to secure. I do not recall any previous comments about Virtual Named Hosts with Apache/iX so let me just add that I have been using them for some time quite effectively. It helps mitigate the HP 3000’s inability to support multiple IPs on one LAN card.

Is there a way to compare two different NMCONFIG files? A simple file compare does not work very well since NMCONFIG has binary data in it. I am looking at the possibility something unintentional was implemented when I implemented some printer changes. If a change had been unintentionally kept by someone, but not dynamically implemented, it would have been implemented along with some DTC changes I made for printers. Our network problems were first noticed a few hours after I implemented the DTC changes.

Gilles Schipper replies:
If you have not rebooted since you made your last changes, you can copy the file NMCONFIX.PUB.SYS to, say NMCFGOLD.PUB.SYS, and look at NMCFGOLD with NMMGR to zero in on those areas you changed to compare with the current NMCONFIG. NMCONFIX.PUB.SYS represents the configuration file used at the most recent bootup.
If it’s not immediately obvious where the differences may be, you could at least print both configuration files (NMCONFIG and NMCONFIX) to carefully examine and compare the hard copy listings for any differences.

Will a tape created on a DDS4 be able to be read on a DDS3? Also does the length of the tape matter?

Goetz Neumann replies:
Maybe, and yes. It will work with 120 meter (DDS2) and 125 meter (DDS3) media. It will (obviously) not work with DDS4 (150 m) media. It will (not so obviously) not work with 60m DDS1 media. I am not sure if a DDS4 drive can write 90m DDS1, though I believe the answer is no.

Is there an MPE script that calculates the week number of the year using the current day and HPDAY (or any other system variable)? For example, today would be the second week of the current year, since the first week ended on 1/4/03.

John Wolf replies:
You can use the POSiX ‘date’ command, which has 3 different ways of calculating the week number. The options are:
%U: With Sunday being the 1st day in the week range (00 to 53). Days before the 1st Sunday are in week 00.
%V: With Monday as the 1st day in the week range (01 to 53). This option requires 4 or more days in the new year to be week 1, otherwise they are part of week 53 of the previous year.
%W: With Monday as the first day in the week range (00 to 53), similar to %U above.
Example for today, 1-7-2003: date +%V
Result: 02
The man page for date can give you much more detail. The date command has every conceivable way of displaying date and time related information. You can place the results of the POSiX command into a variable and make it a regular function in your system.
[Michael Anderson pointed out the value, especially now, of using a non-MPE specific solution in new development.]

How do you check for the existence of a file using a jobstream where, if it exists do this, else do that? We are running MPE/iX 5.5.

Dane Bodamer and Harry Morris reply:
:if finfo(‘filename’,’exists’)
: comment Process the file.
...
:else
: comment We have a problem because the file wasn’t created.
...
:endif

[Editor’s note: I verified that this solution should work on MPE/iX 5.5. In a blast from the past, Carro Arrubarrena Mariano replied with the way we all used to do it (and which still works fine)]:

:SETJCW CIERROR = 0
:CONTINUE
:LISTF FILE.PUB.ACCOUNT,2
:IF CIERROR <> 0 THEN
: comment Process the file.
...
: ELSE
: comment We have a problem because the file wasn’t created.
:ENDIF
Can a tape created on a DLT4000 can be read on a DLT8000?

Michael Berkowitz replies:
Absolutely it works. We went from DLT4000 on our old machine to DLT8000 on the new and it reads the tapes. We’ve been using DLT IV tapes on both tape systems.

How can I convert a bytestream file to an MPE fixed-length record file?

Sam Knight and Craig Lalley reply:
Use FCOPY.

Tom Brandt suggests using frombyte.
Stan Sieler notes that either solution can cause you trouble unless you know the length of the longest “line”, since both assumed 80 characters maximum. Tom Brandt added the frombyte and fcopy solutions work differently. fcopy will truncate source lines longer than 80 bytes. frombyte will wrap source lines longer than 80 bytes into the next target record.

Stan then mentioned that if the file came from a PC, and if you have WRQ Reflection, you might have a nifty utility called FILEINFO.COM. Assuming your file is called FOO.TXT, do: FILEINFO FOO.TXT and it will display a LISTF-like output, including a “RECSZ” column that’s the length of the longest line in the file.

After moving files using MPEIX (altfile @.@.@(ondevice(xx));dev=yy) off a disk from a private volume, I tried scratchvol on the disk. Strangely enough, the image database that now resided on the other disks could not be accessed. What is wrong?

John Clogg, Gilles Schipper and Stan Sieler reply:
The problem is that a file that appears to be on a specific disc might have extents on another. Also, there is no way to remove a volume from a volume set. The disc volume can be scratched, but the volume set’s volume table is not updated to reflect the change. The only way to safely remove a volume from a volume set is to scratch the entire volume set, rebuild it without the disc you want to remove, and restore all the files from a backup.

How can I move $STDLIST from one system to another and have it show up as $STDLIST? I’ve tried dscopy and spoolf but it won’t do what I want.

John Burke replies:
I like STORE-TO-DISK for this. STD capability is available to everyone on all versions of MPE/iX from 6.0 to 7.5 although for the earlier versions you may have to apply a patch first. Simply store the files(s) to disk (O###.OUT.HPSPOOL). You can use DSCOPY or FTP to copy the resulting file to your other system. Then simply RESTORE the file(s). MPE/iX takes care of all the messy details.

Is it possible to tell MPE to logon a user other than OPERATOR.SYS during bootup?

Michael Anderson replies:
START NORECOVERY LOGON=session,user.account
John Burke adds that if it is a permanent change, you could use STARTSESS in the SYSSTART file as

startsess 20;session,user.account;nowait;hipri

Will HP will stop generating patches for the HP 3000 sometime this fall?

HP’s Jeff Vance replies:
HP plans to continue full software support for certain MPE/iX releases beyond this year (6.5 through 2004, 7.0 and 7.5 through 2006). That includes creating new patches for any critical or serious problems that are found with these releases, similar to what HP does today. It also includes Response Center support and the higher levels of support that are available today. What I am intending to convey here is that HP plans to do the same things we do today with support through 12/31/06.

I’m trying to add some additional drives (EMC) to our system. EMC has installed and configured them in the cabinet. I have added the paths and devices using IOCONFIG. However, DSTAT does not show those new devices. SHOWDEV does list them. So what am I missing? I’m using IOCONFIG, which states that a reboot is not required. I am using the AddDevice command with the next path dot 7 ie., ldev=2007 path=0/12.7.0.
This command works error-free and returns me to the prompt quickly. I then do the ListDevice on 2007 and it shows. Exiting IOCONFIG, I do a SHOWDEV ON 2007 and it shows. Now, here is the problem, DSTAT on 2007 says that “2007 is not in the volume table. Try switching device offline, then online” So maybe IOCONFIG does (in this case) require a reboot?

Guy Paul replies:
You made a mistake in your configuration. Usually SCSI address 7 is the address of the SCSI card.

I have a question about Apache and security. I’m trying to secure individual directories in htdocs, and down the road other virtual Web sites on my HP 3000s, to specific users within our organization. I’m a real neophyte to Apache and POSIX and haven’t had any luck setting up an “allow” file yet. Is this the appropriate course to follow or is there is a better methodology that I don’t know about?

Andreas Schmidt replies:
Use the ..htaccess file and .htpasswd file, along with the /APACHE/CURRENT/bin/htpasswd program (yours may be in a different place). The .htaccess file is required in each directory you wish to protect, and looks something like:

AuthUserFile /APACHE/PUB/security/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName “Access to HP3000 Apache Test Area”
AuthType Basic
<Limit GET>
require user as3223
</Limit>

The .htpasswd file will look something like
as3223:xxxxxxxxxxxx

This is general Apache functionality not specific to Apache/iX. More information can be found on www.apache.org.

Is a HP LaserJet IIIP networkable?

Wirt Atmar replies:
Although I’m tempted to write, “As in hooking a chain to it, as in a boat anchor?” I won’t write that. The answer I truly suspect you want is: any HP PCL-speaking printer that has a parallel port on it can be networked into an HP 3000 through the use of an external JetDirect box. If the LaserJet IIIP has a parallel port on its back, it should be quite easy to do.