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Ron Seybold
Editor in Chief

New passwords are coming for the NewsWire site

After a successful conversion to the Apache/iX Web browser, our Web site will be getting a new set of passwords for all paid subscribers. We'll be mailing these passwords to you by regular mail during May, and expect to have all of the passwords in place by June 1. In the meantime, your old passwords will continue to give you access to our site, with all of the news and technical features on the HP 3000 since 1996 online. The new passwords will be available via e-mail as well.

It's our shift from the Open Market Web server to the Apache that demands we change all passwords. Open Market served us well from the earliest days when we launched the Always Online site in 1996, but HP stopped supporting the software for the HP 3000 some time ago. Now that Apache is officially supported by the HP Response Center, we asked Webmaster Chris Bartram to make the shift to this Open Source Web server.

We're in plenty of company in using Apache. More than one in two Web sites around the world use the software, which is in wider use than Microsoft's Internet Information Server. In fact, Microsoft's popular HotMail site is served from an Apache server, one of the 7.8 million domains. We're glad to be one of the tribe, and happy that Mark Bixby and HP have made this tool available for the HP 3000 community.

979/989 gets firmware update to fix clock, halts

After reports that the Series 979 and 989 systems were losing time on their clocks and experiencing short CPU freezes, HP shipped off new firmware for the systems to correct the problems. Patches are MPEKXY0C for MPE/iX 5.5, and MPEKXY0B for 6.0. In addition to the software patch, owners will also need a firmware change, a rather rare repair for an HP 3000 problem. HP's Goetz Neumann of the Worldwide Technology Expert Center reported that the PDC (processor dependent code, or CPU firmware) version/revision needs to be at least 39.43.

Some owners of the biggest 9x9 systems seemed upset at being saddled with a firmware-level fix. One support specialist for an insurance application said "The 989 does not even come close to meeting HP's usually excellent record of a quality product. Should I mention that the system is fast enough to overflow system tables with no plans by HP (as told by the lab) to fix it -- since this is fixed in 6.5, which by company policy we won't be going to for 6-12 months?"

The specialist noted that "If you are running Adager on a 989, make sure you are on the lastest release. The fine folks at Adager were nice enough to put additional code in their product to make sure that it doesn't trigger this system table overflow."

Adjust your 3000's time for daylight savings shift

We won't spend a lot of time discussing this, but about two weeks back there was a time shift in the US and a little earlier for some European countries. If your HP 3000 needs to get its clock adjusted for the time shift, our net.digest editor John Burke has compiled a great summary of how to do it, circa MPE/iX 5.5. You use the SHUTDOWN command followed by a system START, then use the SETCLOCK command. For full instructions on resetting your clock, steer to the NewsWire Web site for the complete net.digest article: http://www.3000newswire.com/subscribers/netdigest9710.html By the way, our editor is eager to hear from you on how this works for your site. You can e-mail John at john.burke@paccoast.com. It's pretty certain that the process will make the cut in his forthcoming "Best of Hidden Value and net.digest," to be published late this summer along with the printed directory of the HP 3000 software in SolutionStore 3000. Read John's columns in the Tech section of the NewsWire's Web site: http://www.3000newswire.com/subscribers/TechHeads.html

Interex sets its 2001 HP World show dates

Speaking of time adjustments, Interex is adjusting the time of the year you can expect to attend its HP World conference, beginning in 2001. The international user group for HP customers and suppliers announced its show AFTER this fall's Philadelphia feast will be held May 12-17, 2001. Chicago's vast McCormick Place convention facility will host the show.

HP World Marketing Manager Ellen Martin posted a note on the Internet that said, "Beginning in 2001 HP World Conference & Expo will be held in the May/June timeframe. Past survey results have indicated that conference attendees and exhibitors prefer a spring timeframe for HP World. After careful consideration based on survey results, we have moved the annual event to the spring! "

The very next HP World is set for September 9-14 in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, in Philadelphia. The NewsWire will celebrate its fifth birthday at the show, so we hope to see you there.

Things are changing for 3000 enterprise backup

As if there wasn't enough to think about at enterprise backup vendor Legato, the company's stock got blasted in the NASDAQ meltdown week, dropping 56 percent of its value in a single day. The huge sell-off didn't have much to do with the problems in getting the solution to run with HP e3000s. No, investors heard the company might have to restate its 1999 earnings because some salespeople engaged in improper transactions. A similar meltdown happened at McKessonHBOC in 1999 for similar reasons.

HP's been investing in new relationships for the HP 3000 over the past few years, and has been very proud of working with Legato for quite some time. The more complete story is that there are other enterprise backup solutions out there for the platform from far smaller companies. In a recent chat about backup media on 3kworld.com, some customers complained of slow installation of Legato solutions with their 3000s. Backing up between many different servers including an HP 3000 over a network doesn't have to come from a large company. If Legato isn't performing much better than its stock for you, look up Hi-Comp in the SolutionStore 3000 http://www.solutionstore3000.com to find a link to a solution with more 3000 heritage.

Optimize your backups for TurboStore with a white paper

It's not exactly an enterprise-wide solution for backup, but TurboStore is running at a lot of HP 3000 sites, thanks to HP's bundling policy which placed it in every system for many years. HP recently released information that can help TurboStore sites optimize backup performance. Steer your browser to http://jazz.external.hp.com/papers/TSWhitePaper.html to help make TurboStore faster. Or, you could upgrade to some non-HP alternatives. If you're not aware of them, look up Orbit or ROC Software on the SolutionStore site — http://www.solutionstore3000.com

Compare files with a new free utility

When programming it's often important to compare files for differences. There's a new free utility to help do this on your HP 3000, written by Allegro Consultants. To compare two source files with SCOM, steer to http://www.allegro.com/software/#SCOM You can also use the included diff program that's in MPE/iX 5.5 and later in the Posix shell. Ted Ashton notes that diff "requires (or is at least a lot happier after) converting the files to bytestream. You'll probably want to run it with the -c option."

ODBC Workshop set for GHRUG in May

With ODBC connecting HP 3000s at a growing rate, using the middleware to best advantage might require some advanced training. The company that created the included ODBC middleware in MPE/iX is offering an ODBC workshop in Houston next month, as M.B Foster associates runs a one-day seminar in conjunction with the Greater Houston Regional User Group. The ODBC Boot Camp will be Thursday, May 4 from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. at Houston's Doubletree Hotel. You can still get in on the pre-registration fee of $150 per person until April 20, which includes continental breakfast, lunch, and refreshments sponsored by HP. After April 20, the boot camp goes up to $200 per person. M.B Foster promises you will

* Understand more about connecting to data sources such as IMAGE/SQL, ALLBASE/SQL or Oracle;
* Be aware of technical considerations such as Performance, Security, Data Types and Database; differences;
* Take into account the end user access considerations such as navigation, joins and the application workflow, and;
* Be able to configure clients for today's desktop tools

Send your registration by fax or e-mail to Richard L. Pringle, GHRUG Program Chairman, Fax: 281-557-8513; E-mail: richard.pringle@lmco.com

3kworld chat: Use ODBC and PCs to keep license counts low

One of the biggest advantages of using ODBC might be to keep your user license needs low on your HP 3000. Dropping user counts on MPE/iX can save plenty on buying a system -- important in an era when HP 3000 alternatives don't even have such a thing as user license counts.

The whole subject came up on the 3000-L mailing list recently, prompting 3kworld.com to host a quick and informal chat on it. HP 3000 guru and geek-at-large Chris Gauthier led the discussion, which included the following tip on getting ODBC to cut license costs:

Anonymousalso: User licenses are killing the hp3000

ChrisBartram: I agree. They're causing vendors/users to jump through hoops to make their apps "work around" the limits

Anonymous: Does anybody know if ODBC connections count?

ChrisBartram: ODBC does not. They're just TCP/IP socket connections to a (non-MPE) server process. Just like email and other type apps

chris_the_geek: ODBC isn't counted, it is invisible. Web servers don't count either..

Anonymous: Great! I can develop my application in the PC, use ODBC to read IMAGE and buy the minimum number of licenses.

chris_the_geek: That actually is a very common Web-deal! Take advantage of IMAGE without the giant user license.. Lots of Web people are doing this very thing...

The discussion is part of the new commitment to original content at the 3kworld.com site. The last few weeks have seen chats on DLT and AutoRAID technology, and on Wednesday April 19 the site will host a "New Tape Technology We Would Like to See on the HP 3000" at 1:00 PDT/4:00 EDT (and yes, 10PM for most of Central Europe). We expect to hear about Ultrium on the 3000 at the chat. Go to the Net Event tile on the main 3kworld page to participate.

HP drops some 99x memory modules

John Painter of HP reseller Computer Solutions reported that HP will be dropping some of its smaller and older memory modules for the 99x "Emerald-class" servers. Painter's site at http://www.internetcsi.com/tips.htm reports:

"HP will be discontinuing several HP e3000 99x memory subsystems as of August 1, 2000. These include the 256 MB memory board [A2234A(Z)], the 512 MB memory board [A2588A(Z)], and the 768 MB memory board [A2589A(Z)]. The effect of these discontinuances will be different for 997 customers and for older 996/995/992/991/990 customers. These discontinuances have no effect on HP e3000 9x9KS and 9x8 customers.

For customers who own HP e3000 996/995/992/991/990 Servers, there are no replacement memory modules for these discontinued products. Customers who wish to add additional HP supported memory products to their servers have until the discontinuance date of August 1, 2000 to purchase these memory products. In these servers, the discontinued memory will be supported as long as the HP e3000 Servers are supported. However, customers will not be able to add any more HP supported memory subsystems after August 1, 2000.

For customers who own HP e3000 997 Servers, the 8 GB large memory subsystem carrier card (A3839A) and its related 1 GB memory modules (A3832A) will continue to be sold after August 1, 2000. Since most HP e3000 997 Servers are being ordered with large memory configurations, the minimum memory size that will be sold with new HP e3000 997 Servers will be changed to 1GB as of August 1, 2000.

To utilize the 1 GB memory modules on the 8 GB memory subsystem carrier card, MPE 6.0 Express 1 or later is required."