OVERVIEW OF HP-UX and DOMAIN SURVEY RESULTS With each mailing we provide some post-paid mechanism for you to contact us. (See enclosed comment card.) As we focus on the specific added value you require, we will ask again for your response to targeted surveys. Here's what we learned in April. HP-UX Summary: The majority of HP-UX systems reported are on HP-UX 8.x, the rest are divided between HP-UX 7.x and HP-UX 9.0. (As HP-UX 9.0 has only recently been distributed, many of you have yet to upgrade.) Most of you seem to be happy with the Series 300 or Series 400 workstations. For this and other reasons, a third have no definite plans to upgrade to the Series 700 workstations. Besides satisfaction with current performance, the lack of definite plans are due to lack of funds and incompatibility with existing applications (HPIB data acquisition & control, Rocky Mountain Basic, VME, etc.). Communications: Most learn of HP's plans either through the mail or from trade publications. Many suggested a periodic newsletter would be welcome. (This mailing is intended as an informal newsletter.) Those who know of HP SupportLine and use it, like it. Many of you are unaware of HP SupportLine, its ease of use and its (See article about HP SupportLine.) While only a quarter of those responding are active Internet users, those that are feel that it is an excellent way for HP to communicate with them. Patch/release process: As with Domain users a year ago, the current patch process is a source of confusion and irritation for HP-UX users. Most learn of patches through the HP Response Center after isolating the problem. Many suggested periodic receipt of a list of currently available patches in the mail. Patch process improvement is underway. Enhancements: There were a great variety of suggestions for enhancements to HP-UX. The clear winner was improvements to SAM (System Administration Manager). Suggestions ranged from "FIX IT!" to "Make it multi-vendor." Other common suggestions for HP-UX enhancements: (1) provide better support of non-HP workstations and peripherals on the network and (2) improve HP VUE (make it faster while using less RAM). All suggestions will be evaluated. Domain Summary: Roughly three quarters of those responding operate Domain OS SR10.3; less than a quarter operate Domain SR10.4. BSD is the most used environment, closely followed by Aegis. Most of you indicated you will begin migrating to the Series 700 (or other) environment by the end of 1994; however, most expect this to be a 12 to 24 month process. Communications: The response to the quarterly mailings has been overwhelmingly positive. We will continue to contact you every three to four months. Patch/release process: With regard to patches, 50% indicated that the HP Response Center is the primary source of patch information; used less are HP SupportLine, "word of mouth," Support UpDate, and third party vendors. Two thirds responding would like a periodic mailing about patch availability, while a third would like some form of electronic notification. Satisfaction with the current 1/4" cartridge tape media was expressed, although there were requests for CD-ROM, Internet, DAT, and UPS delivery. Enhancements: The top 4 requests are: (1) Interoperability solutions -- migration assistance, common computing environments across HP-UX and Domain, HP VUE 3.0, NIS interoperability, TCP/IP improvements, etc. (2) X11R5/Motif -- Support for X11R5 and Motif 1.2 on Domain. (Note: Support for these products is announced in a separate article.) (3) NFS Improvements -- Requests from SR10.3 customers who need the functionality provided in NFS 4.1 on SR10.4. (4) Device support -- Support for newer HP drivers, printers, plotters, disks, etc. Care to comment on the HP-UX or Domain results? Add a different perspective? Is there anything you want to tell us? Use the enclosed post-paid comment card. .PA HP SUPPORTLINE: WHAT IS IT, WHO CAN USE IT, AND HOW? HP SupportLine (HPSL) is an on-line facility which provides a fast, easy way for customers of HP support services such as you to find answers to your technical and support-related questions. It can also be used to communicate with Hewlett-Packard. You connect to HPSL from your own workstation via modem or internet. Once connected, you can: 1. Read the latest HP news. 2. Locate topical information; find solutions to known problems. (HPSL keyword or descriptive search capabilities allow you to retrieve information.) 3. Submit a technical software question to HP Response Center. (If you have Response Center support with your contract.) Who Can Use HP SupportLine? Customers who hold a valid HP support contract and who can access an hpterm window can use HP SupportLine. How Do You Use HP SupportLine? The HP SupportLine User Guide (PN 50718-90020) describes the details for accessing HPSL. To begin: HP BasicLine Customers--Call 415-691-3888 to obtain your logon. Please provide: 1. Name 2. Company Name 3. System Handle(s) 4. Telephone Number An HP representative will call you back with an HPSL password. (There is one password per system handle. The password can be used by multiple people--whoever uses the system handle to access HPSL.) Most users will find that HPSL Online HELP can assist their use of HPSL. For those who are uncomfortable with online documentation, hardcopy of the HP SupportLine User Guide can be requested from the HPSL admin desk. (HPSL Online HELP is the recommended documentation as it receives the most use and is updated more regularly than the User Guide.) HP ResponseLine Customers-- Call 800-633-3600; log a call with the HP Response Center. An HP representative will call you back and take the necessary steps to provide you an HPSL password. Domain Customers and HPSL-- HPSL is an HP 3000-based application and works best when used with an hpterm window. As a result, SWT has ported hpterm 1.3 to Domain and will provide it free of charge to all support customers who choose to use HPSL. By following the instructions for downloading a patch, hpterm 1.3 can be downloaded and installed on your Domain OS SR10.3.5 (or more current) system(s). The hpterm "patch" should be available by August 1993. DOMAIN PATCH INDEX AVAILABLE As a result of feedback provided by customers like you, we continue to address the number one source of customer complaint -- the patch process. Improvements already made include increasing the amount of patch communication by including articles in these quarterly mailings and on HP SupportLine; improving the readability of the patch documentation by re-formatting the release notes for consistency and completeness; and now, offering a patch index so you can quickly locate key patches. As patches are created, they will be documented according to the following logical groupings: Domain OS; Shell; Utility; Printer; Graphics; NFS; Language; or Library. Within these designations, each patch will be further segmented by the version of the OS. (See sample listing of the M68k patches, next page.) The patch index is designed to be used with a complete copy of the release notes. Note: Separate indices for M68k and A88k will be provided on HP SupportLine and on all patch tapes. If you have ideas for other improvements to the patch process, let us know. Use the enclosed post-paid card. NOW AVAILABLE: X11R5 ON DOMAIN AND UEDK 2.0 As mentioned in our April Domain communications, SWT is providing a release of new functionality for Domain OS SR10.4. Recently, all Domain support customers were sent instructions on how to obtain their free copy of X11R5 on Domain. Instructions for purchasing the X11R5 and Motif 1.2-based User Environment Development Kit (UEDK), version 2.0 follow. o X11R5 on Domain -- Includes X11R5, Motif 1.2, and hpterm 1.3 run-time software. (Free to those with a current Domain support contract.) o UEDK 2.0 -- Includes the development environment for XllR5 and Motif 1.2. (Available at US$1250. In the U.S. call 1-800-237-3990. In Europe, FAX a request to 33 76 62 25 15. In Asia Pacific, contact your local sales rep.) The ordering information was sent to the name on your Domain support contract. If you don't receive this information or are unable to locate it, please contact your local HP sales representative. DOMAIN SR10.3.5 PATCH BUNDLE HP continues to deliver value for your support dollars. This time in the form of an easy-to-install patch which loads all of the recommended patches for Domain SR10.3.5. The patch bundle has been one of your top requests. With its availability and other benefits provided in 1993, HP has delivered against eight of your top ten Domain support requests. Why load the SR10.3.5 patch bundle? The SR10.3.5 patch bundle is the "latest and greatest" version of Domain OS SR10.3.5. And it is easy to install. It is loaded just as a single patch would be. The SR10.3.5 patch bundle contains: o Recommended patches. As determined by your inputs to HP support staff. o Quality patches. Previously used by a number of Domain customers, the quality of each individual patch has been verified in the "real world." o Integrated, tested patches. These patches have been integrated together and tested across all supported sau types. o Many fixes for serious and critical defects. We continue to recommend that you move forward to Domain SR10.4, the OS version that receives the most engineering support from HP. However, if you choose not to move to SR10.4, we highly recommend that you move to this version of Domain SR10.3.5. To use this patch bundle, you may require one or all of the following: If you hold a valid Domain support contract, in August you will receive instructions from HP for obtaining the patch tape which includes the SR10.3.5 patch bundle. If you did not receive this information, please contact your local HP support representative regarding the status of your support contract. DOMAIN NFS 2.3 Occasionally we receive requests for Domain NFS 2.3 which is a discontinued product. There should be no need to obtain a copy of this product, as HP has provided other alternatives as part of its interoperability strategy. Domain NFS users with at least one copy of NFS 2.3 on support have the right to use NFS 2.3 throughout their network. This right was granted to ease interoperability and to encourage users to mount Domain nodes individually for improved network performance. This right to copy throughout the network relates only to the NFS 2.3 product, it does not apply to the NFS support contract itself. NOTE: We recommend use of Domain SR10.4 and NFS 4.1 if at all possible. CONFIGURING YOUR DOMAIN NODE FOR X TERMINAL-LIKE OPERATION Many older Domain workstations do not have the processing power to keep up with the demands of newer applications, particularly sophisticated Graphical User Interfaces. However, they do function quite well in this environment as an X terminal. An X terminal is different from a workstation in that it runs a single process, the X server. All OS facilities required by the server, such as networking, are built into the server itself. The X Display Manager Control Protocol (XDMCP) is used by the X terminal to request that a display manager on a remote host, such as xdm or HP VUE's vuelogin, start a session on the X terminal. All clients are executed on the host and displayed on the X terminal. This document describes configuring a DN3000 with 8 Mbytes of memory to function as an X terminal. Running the X server as an X terminal is straight forward, but arriving at the minimum configuration that provides a server with reasonable performance is more challenging. We used the system monitoring tool /systest/ssr_util/vmstat to determine the amount of physical memory being used by the system, and llkob(3) to see which file system objects were in use. Required Subsystem The only subsystem that is required is TCP/IP. The "Configuring and Managing TCP/IP" manual provides configuration information for TCP/IP. In addition, you should consider the following: Rather than running BIND services you can create your own /etc/hosts file. The only hosts that you will need in /etc/hosts are the host you want to run a session from and the host to serve as the X terminal. Also, you should change /etc/ttys so that the DM is not started. This can be done by putting a -x as the first parameter to /etc/dm_or_spm. For example: console "/etc/dm_or_spm -x" apollo on secure \ # use mkcon to redirect console output Configuring the Host The host must run some XDMCP-compliant session manager such as HP's VUE or xdm from the X Consortium. Refer to the vendor's documentation for information on configuring the host to manage remote machines using XDMCP. You will also need a login account on the host in order to use it from an X terminal. Starting the X Server Add the invocation of /etc/Xdomain to /etc/rc or /etc/rc.users. There are two possible ways for the X server to initiate a session with the host machine: The -query hostname option will tell the server to request the host, hostname, to initiate a session with the server. This option allows you to always start a session on the same host. The -broadcast option can be used to broadcast a request on the network. Any capable host could answer this broadcast to initiate a session. See the Xdomain man page for more information. In the future, we plan on providing a chooser client so that the user can select which host to start a session from. Logging in Locally If you ever need to login to your X terminal, you will need to either enable rlogin/telnet by having inetd start at boot time, or allow crp by starting the Server Process Manager by uncommenting the appropriate lines in /etc/rc.user. If your DN machine is not booted diskless, you should enable this so that you can shut the machine down. Running Local Clients If you find that you have some X clients that you use frequently, you can run them locally. Either add them to the rc files or start them remotely. Some experimentation is needed here. The speed of your terminal, your host, the network between the two and the kind of client you want to run will determine on which machine you want to run the client. Disk Space X fonts require from 1 to 8 Mbytes. If disk space is an issue, you can create a symbolic link for /usr/X11/lib/fonts to another machine. Alternatively, you can configure an X11R5 X server to use the font server on a remote machine. This will keep you from having to install all of the fonts locally. Minimum Configuration for Acceptable Performance We have found a DN3000 with 8 meg of memory and a 4 plane monitor running SR10.4 is quite adequate as an X terminal to a HP Series 720 running HP-UX 8.0 with VUE. Anything less than this configuration would likely not provide adequate performance. NOTICE: THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. HEWLETT-PACKARD MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH REGARD TO THIS MATERIAL, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. HEWLETT-PACKARD SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ERRORS CONTAINED HEREIN OR FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE OR USE OF THIS MATERIAL. (C) Copyright Hewlett-Packard Company 1993 SERIAL PERFORMANCE WITH DOMAIN SYSTEMS Particularly with Domain SR10.4, users have noted the lack of highly reliable 19200 baud serial line capability and an inability to make use of the 38400 baud rate where available. In the August 1993 patch release will be a patch to help address this problem for SR10.4 on several Domain platforms. (The DN3000, DN3500, DN4000, DN4500, DN5500, and DN10000.) The patch will provide you a means of doing reliable, serial transfers while also letting you easily and most effectively utilize the bandwidth of your serial lines. The following paragraphs overview the patch, the affected machines and the serial line performance to be seen after the patch is installed. Also noted is the impact of the patch on Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) performance. In August, details will be included with the patch in the patch release notes. Problem Description RS232 is spec'd to provide serial communication for distances up to 50 feet and speeds up to 20000 baud. Used as receivers, the Domain systems mentioned (DN3000, DN3500, DN4000, DN4500, DN5500, and DN10000) have not always been able to reliably provide this capability, mostly due to the speed of the receiver node and how busy it is. By understanding how incoming bytes are buffered by the receiving node, the problem is easier to understand and manage. The serial line interface chip (or UART) used by these Domain systems is able to buffer only a few characters while waiting for them to be processed by the operating system (OS). Whenever the UART has one or more characters waiting, it generates an interrupt to the OS to get those characters processed. The OS then moves the characters into a much larger software buffer where they wait to be processed by the user's application (for example, emt). When these Domain systems are used as receivers and they are too busy and/or too slow, problems can occur. For example, the hardware buffer in the UART can be overrun and characters will be lost. The possibility of this overrun occurring at 19200 baud became worse with SR10.4. (With SR10.4, code was added to the interrupt service routine for standards compliance, thereby slowing it down slightly.) Flow control is provided by RS232 to help address the problem of overrun. Flow control allows a receiver to tell the transmitter to stop sending until the receiver can catch up. Basically, there are two types of flow control provided: (1) RTS/CTS and (2) XON/XOFF. RTS/CTS flow control uses RS232 control lines to signal the transmitter. XON/XOFF flow control sends control characters on the data lines to signal the transmitter. Flow control has always been available on Domain systems to keep the software buffer from overflowing. Until SR10.4, the interrupt service routine was generally fast enough that flow control was unnecessary for the hardware buffer (at least up to 19200 baud). The patch to fix the overrun problem allows the user to enable RTS/CTS flow control for the hardware buffer. By changing the minor number of the device file the user can choose whether or not to use hardware flow control. (The August patch release notes will have details.) NOTE: Either the software or hardware buffer can overflow; each must be managed with properly configured flow control. If flow control is used on both buffers, then characters cannot be lost via buffer overrun, even at baud rates greater than 19200. Note also that flow control is only effective if the transmitter is properly able to respond to it. Affect of Flow Control on Performance Let's look at how flow control affects the performance of various platforms used as RS232 receivers. Unless noted, the data in Table 1 was collected using a DN5500 as the transmitting node, and a three meter cable. All of the nodes tested without the patch were able to reliably receive at 19200 baud as long as the receiver was not busy doing other processing, and as long as large amounts of data were not being transmitted. With the patch installed, the maximum baud rates listed in table 1 were attainable with no data loss. Table 1: Maximum effective throughput with no character loss (kbaud) Platform Without With patch patch DN3000 19 22 DN3500 19 26 DN4000 19 35 DN4500 19 37 DN5500 19* 37* DN10k 38 38 425s 38 N/A (*DN4500 transmitter) This table was generated with configurations in which the receiving nodes were not busy with other activities. If the receiving nodes are busy with other activities (a more likely scenario) then the throughput can change significantly. Without the patch, when the receiving node gets busy, its effective throughput will decline and it is almost guaranteed to lose characters at 19200 baud (except for the DN10000 and Series 400s). This character loss can generally be prevented by operating at a lower baud rate, with a loss of maximum possible throughput. However, with the patch, the system can be configured to receive at whatever maximum baud rate the configuration will physically support. The systems will then transfer data at the maximum rate at which they can handle it and characters will not be lost. To better illustrate this point, a DN4500 was configured as the transmitting node and a DN3500 as the receiving node. While the serial transfer was occurring, the receiving node was doing a search of the entire file system via a "find" command to generate additional demands on the system. The output of the find command was then sent to an unobscured window. Without the patch, no characters were lost at 9600 baud. At 19200 baud without the patch, 0.2% of the transmitted characters were lost. With the patch, no characters were lost at 38400 baud. In all cases, the effective transfer rate ended up being very close to 9600 baud. The point is even better illustrated with some data from a SLIP setup. Here again, a DN4500 was used as the transmitting node and a DN3500 as the receiving node. Neither system was busy doing other activities and ftp was used to transfer files between the systems. As expected, without the patch the transfer had no problems at 19200 baud. However, when the baud rate was increased to 38400 baud, it took more than twice as long to transfer the same file. This performance loss is due to a regular loss of characters; the loss of characters causes blocks of data to be retransmitted, which takes more time. With the patch installed, performance improved. At 38400 baud, the file was transmitted in half the time that it took to originally transmit it at 19200 baud, with no data loss. ________________ HP/WORKS CONFERENCE LEICESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND NOVEMBER 30, 1993 HP/Works is the HP/Apollo Workstation Users Society for users of HP-UX as well as Domain operating systems - throughout Europe. Two major conferences are offered per year. The first was held June 28, 1993 in conjunction with the HP Computer User's European Conference at Birmingham, England. Topics included: computers and communications, multimedia, teleconferencing, NT versus UNIX, and distributed network management. The next major conference is scheduled for November 30, 1993, in Leicestershire, England. This conference may expand to a two day event, where one day will consist of "Migration and Interoperability Workshop - Moving from 68000 to PA-RISC Architecture." Look for more information regarding this conference in the next mailing. INTEREX '93 CONFERENCE AND EXPO SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA (USA) SEPTEMBER 19-23, 1993 In operation for more than 19 years, Interex provides information on MPE-MPE/iX, RTE and HP-UX servers (Series 800s). This year, Interex offers a workstation track specifically for HP workstation users. Presentation and tutorial topics include: o HP-UX system administration o New HP-UX software development tools o Object database and 4GLs o Overview of DME o X for the non-expert For membership or conference registration, call 800-INTEREX (US and Canada). Or call 408/ 747-0227. Fax 408/ 747-0947. Interex is a not-for-profit organization operating independently of Hewlett-Packard. INTERWORKS '93 CONFERENCE PHOENIX, ARIZONA(USA) APRIL 25-28, 1993 The conference focused on how to best utilize your systems and how to empower your network. It was constructive, upbeat. A good mix of old and new members as 385 attended, creating the second largest conference. Half attended for the first time. The sessions were well-planned and useful. Superb technical lab featured multimedia; system administration tools; networking and servers; software development; operating systems; migration and interoperability. Equal representation from HP-UX and Domain operating system users. Most companies using Domain also had HP Series 700s. Conference topics included migration; networking; software development; operating systems; multimedia; performance; system administration; business issues (such as the patch process and order/delivery). Key issues communicated by conference attendees and status of HP's efforts to address them: Patch process--Need consistent distribution of aggregated, tested patches; proactive communication of patch contents; flexibility to choose what's needed ("pull" distribution, that is, distribution on request versus "push," or automatic distribution); distribution frequency and method. Status: In process. (See December 1992 and April 1993 mailings. See also articles of this mailing regarding update contents and patch index.) HP SupportLine (HPSL)--Requested a "1-800" number for calling HPSL; work on the interface to HPSL; support of 9600 baud modems (minimum) on HPSL. Status: Under investigation. TCP/IP Performance--Improve Domain TCP stack performance (HP-UX operates at 80%; Domain operates at 30%). Status: Under investigation. Communication--Make better use of comp.sys.apollo and comp.sys.hp for communications; supply quarterly mailings and Software Support Bulletin (SSB) on-line. Status: Being implemented, SSB under investigation. A number of other suggestions have been or are being addressed. The next major InterWorks conference will be the System Administration Conference. It will be held in Chicago, Illinois (USA), November 7-10, 1993. Today, Tomorrow, 2000 ... Domain & HP-UX OS Update July 1993 Hewlett-Packard Company Page 2 DOMAIN M68K PATCHES DOMAIN OS OS ENV PATCH # DATE STATUS /sau7-14/domain_os SR10.4 pd93_m0631 9306 ACTIVE /sau7-14/domain_os SR10.4 pd93_m0627 9302 obsoleted by pd93_m0631 /sys/mgrs/uds SR10.4 pd93_m0622 9306 ACTIVE /sys/mgrs/global/tcp SR10.4 pd93_m0615 9304 ACTIVE /sau2-14/domain_os SR10.3.5 pd93_m0632 9306 ACTIVE /sau2-14/domain_os SR10.3.5 pd93_m0628 9304 obsoleted by pd92_m0632 /etc/audit/audit SR10.3.5 pd92_m0367 9201 ACTIVE SHELL OS ENV PATCH # DATE STATUS {bsd4.3,sys5.3}/bin/ksh SR10.4 pd93_m0626 9304 ACTIVE {bsd4.3,sys5.3}/bin/ksh SR10.4 pd92_m0556 9212 obsoleted by pd93_m0626 /etc/rshd SR10.4 pd93_m0634 9306 ACTIVE /etc/rshd SR10.3.5 pd93_m0634 9306 ACTIVE Domain Patch Index - SAMPLE PRODUCT # DESCRIPTION_________ LDB90BAD Domain OS SR10.3 Media LFC50BAD Quarterly PSK #3 (makes SR10.3 intoSR10.3.5) 9308 Patch Kit Load ppd93_mpr01 (for m68K) or pd93_ppr01 (for a88k) (as of July 93, provides the "latest and greatest" version of Domain OS SR10.3.5) Hewlett-Packard Company Page 3 Hewlett-Packard Company Page 4 Hewlett-Packard Company Page 5 Hewlett-Packard Company Page 6 Hewlett-Packard Company Page 7