Disclaimer ---------- The following document has been passed to us by Hewlett Packard for information only, to assist Apollo/Domain and Series 700/HP-UX users who require to operate both workstation families side by side or who are planning to migrate from one to the other. The provision of this information should not be taken as a commitment by HP to provide services based on its contents. Users with particular questions arising from this information are invited to send them to Alan Silverman (alan@cernapo) who will pass them to HP. ....................................................................... Open Migration Seminar Questions and Answers -------------------------------------------- This is the entire set of questions from customers and HP's responses that resulted from the Open Migration Seminar broadcast on June 2, 1992. IBP 1-1 Is the fix to UDP affecting NFS 2.3 performance available with Domain 10.4 also available as a patch to 10.3.5? (PD92-m0395)? IBP 1-1 RESPONSE: PD92_M0395 does not exist. Patch pd92_m0419 comes close to what you want. Some TCP bugs were fixed and the receive queue for NFS was increased. This improves performance, but for the whole fix an upgrade to SR10.4 is required. I would say install this patch but going to sr10.4/NFS 4.1 is a better answer. The fix requires kernel changes to the ethernet driver that only went into 10.4. The 10.3 TCP patch fixes some problems, but the performance will be markedly worse than with the SR10.4 kernel and SR10.4 TCP. Please note, because of the confusion with the naming of our upcoming NFS release on Domain that supports the ONC 4.1 standard, we have renamed this release Domain NFS 4.1 (instead of Domain NFS 3.0). IBP 1-2 Are there other performance enhancements to NFS available thru SR10.4? IBP 1-2 RESPONSE: Other than improved UDP performance? Yes, but these features are not used until NFS 4.1. IBP 1-3 If so are they available as patches to 10.3.5? IBP 1-3 RESPONSE: No. IBP 1-4 What types of mounts were done in the Domain NFS testing? (options used, default, hard/soft) IBP 1-4 REPONSE: All types of mounts and all options were used in testing. IBP 1-5 Has anyone at HP used the Leggato nhfsstones software to benchmark Domain NFS? If so I would be interested in the results. If not, why? (Seems to be the standard NFS performance test; was used for 700 series). IBP 1-5 REPONSE: We are working with our Networking Division on testing and will consider using this benchmark with NFS 4.1 (the next release of Domain NFS previously referred to as 3.0). IBP 1-6 Will the automounter available with HP-UX 8.07 support a map file? IBP 1-6 RESPONSE: Yes, the automounter in HP-UX 8.07 supports map files. You can create an automounter map file, and use it with the automounter: /usr/etc/automount /dir IBP 1-7 If it does not, will it in the future? IBP 1-7 RESPONSE: HP-UX 8.07 already does support map files. IBP 2-1 [A] DMX and Advise software should be supplied at no cost to Apollo owners who buy HP700 series. This is a small cost to retain customers. The software could be made available on Internet, so distribution costs are lowered. If documentation for DMX is only a small booklet, that shouldn't be too costly. Charging for longer documentation (especially more than one per location) isn't unreasonable, but documentation could also be available from Iworks, or included on the next laserrom release. Since we are in a government DOD environment, it takes almost as much time and paperwork to buy an extra $100 item as it does a $15,000 workstation. IBP 2-1 RESPONSE: HP is re-evaluating the pricing and delivery of the DMX and Advise products for Domain customers on maintenance. Details on how we will improve the situation will be available by September 1st. IBP 2-2 [B] The future and direction of HP toward OSF seems a little less clear. You may have given a false impression that only the add-on technologies such as DCE are of any value. I might agree that the original OSF/1 kernel isn't worth porting, but the follow-on micro-kernel concept surely seems worthwhile. Is HP still committed to this goal? IBP 2-2 RESPONSE: We are incorporating both kernel and layered technologies from the Open Software Foundation into our HP-UX offerings. This includes Motif, DCE, and DME, as well as selected kernel functions from today's OSF/1 kernel. We are evaluating micro-kernel technologies as the possible basis for future systems, but will not deploy this until we can bring real customer benefits as a result of these offerings. The micro-kernel technology from OSF is not "production ready" today. We are excited about the potential benefits to be gained from micro-kernel technologies, but are not in a position today to commit that this is a technology we will incorporate into HP-UX. Our objective is to deploy new technologies into our customer base in a way that is not disruptive. We have replaced HP-UX's file system, VM system, and driver subsystems in previous releases without major customer disruptions so are confident we can do so in the future. IBP 2-3 [C] If HPUX is "open" and standards based, why aren't the "developers tools" included? Part of the reason UNIX is appreciated, is the ability to obtain public software in source and "make" executable programs. Without full X11 libraries and include files this is not possible. IBP 2-3 RESPONSE: HP has taken a conservative approach to delivering software, choosing not to provide software we have not fully debugged or are not ready to fully support. As a result, we have not released most of the "public" software available for HP-UX. We are working with Interworks as a means of providing this software. Interworks is presently building an HP-UX contributed library that should include a good selection of public software. In the meantime, if you are on the Internet, the X11 software is available via address hpcvaaz.cv.hp.com: in the directory ~ftp/pub/MitX11R5. IBP 2-4 [D] Our laboratory is trying to establish an open and heterogeneous Unix environment. We can take advantage of laboratory wide support and cut our own local administration costs if we use standard based tools. I applaud the upgrading of NFS in Domain, and await Domain NFS 3.0. I was a little surprised at the restrictions on NFS in HPUX 8.05, and sorely await automounter and mounting of less than entire file systems. IBP 2-4 RESPONSE: There are actually two questions here: 1. Which HP-UX release do we support automounter? Automounter is first supported in 8.07. 2. Can we mount less than entire file system? On the client side, HP-UX customers can always mount to entire file systems, directories, etc... However, on the NFS server side, limitations with export have been resolved in Release 9.0. In HP-UX 9.0, Exportfs will be supported to allow export at the directory and even the file level as compared to previous releases that allowed only whole file systems to be mounted. IBP 2-5 [E] HPUX is robust, but how stable is it? We bought a new workstation last summer (HP730 that wasn't delivered for many months). When it arrived it has HPUX 8.05, when 8.07 was already shipping. One should get up-to-date software for a reasonable period (6 months to a year). Upgrades of UNIX standard utilities such as NFS should not require a whole new HPUX upgrade or purchase. On Domain systems, OS software and maintenance was included with hardware maintenance (I guess some people complain about that), but our inquiries about maintenance on the HP730 indicate that software maintenance is very expensive (it should be less if HPUX is so robust and standards based!). There has been a lot of turmoil dealing with maintenance since HP acquired Apollo, with most of the people on your end not really sure of how things work - which makes us doubly unsure. There should be a price guide I can read for planning purposes (including GSA pricing), so I don't have to ask for a quote each time. In the past year it has taken at least of few weeks to get a quote back even by FAX, and often the information is not correct, and we have to scramble for funds when the procurement office gets the final cost on a contract. IBP 2-5 RESPONSE: As an indication of the stability of HP-UX, we can offer the assessment of industry experts in a D.H. Brown study: "HP-UX is considerably more robust, functional and usable than the average UNIX implementation" (D.H. Brown Associates November 1990). The delay in your 730 shipment, and your getting HP-UX 8.05 instead of 8.07, are directly related. To eliminate additional delays, the 730s were put on the shelf with software (8.05) loaded, waiting for the delayed chips from our supplier. By the time the chips arrived and were incorporated into the 730s for shipment, 8.07 was shipping. Our judgement was that for 730 customers, the additional functionality represented by 8.07 did not justify further delay for reloading. HP's reason for upgrading NFS in a general HP-UX release (rather than on a standalone basis) is that the majority of our customers want a coordinated system release, in which the many elements of the system are upgraded, and provided in fully integrated form, at the same time. This upgrade approach is the least destabilizing to customer operations. The expense of an update service, in which you are provided up-to-date software as it becomes available, is part of what you pay for in a maintenance contract. If having the latest & greatest software is a priority for you, a software maintenance contract is your best bet. You are right that many customers prefer that hardware and software maintenance be separate from each other, and HP's service structure reflects that. Also, HP's service pricing is different from Apollo's, because the service offering is different - for example, more call-in hours. These changes are now well- understood by our field personnel. As regards availability of a price/configuration guide, such materials may be obtained from your Sales Rep. Reps are often reluctant to release the information because it changes, and doesn't include current sales programs or promotions, etc. Similarly for the GSA contract summary. We suggest that you tell your Rep about your planning needs and ask for copies of those documents. Perhaps this will help reduce the length of your planning-to- delivery cycle. HP recognizes the need to keep order error rates and cycle time as low as possible. We have an active program, both in the factory and the field, to keep these parameters under control. IBP 2-6 [F] A non-migration issue concerns HP's reputation. It is very good in terms of quality workmanship, and has greatly increased with your price/performance lead with the 700 series. However, there is the feeling that HP is highly weighted in favor of its large (mostly commercial) customers who want a total solution. Although I am glad the sales people aren't as "pushy" as SUN sales people, they don't seem as willing to find solutions that are not all HP. The software partners seems to be good and getting better all the time, but for hardware the problem still exists. This is beyond your scope so I will cut it off now. IBP 2-6 RESPONSE: We appreciate your comments in this area. HP has traditionally been a hardware company with a very diversified product portfolio. Naturally, we would look inside our company first for any technology, components, or products that could help our customers. But just as you've seen us improve in the software area we expect to improve in the hardware area because customer satisfaction is our main goal. To increase the number of non-HP hardware solutions, we have established a new 3rd Party EISA card and SCSI device qualification program. Your Sales Rep can access the qualified product list on-line, and these hardware products will also appear in HP's periodic Solutions Catalog when new issues are published. If a specific hardware solution you require is in fact not currently available on HP workstation platforms, try our Specials Group. The Specials Group can provide integrated solutions for individual needs. This group will work with other vendors to supply your hardware and software solutions. IBP 3-1 We would like to see Open Dialogue on HP700 machines. Questions are: How difficult would it be to get the application up and running on a 700? IBP 3-1 RESPONSE: We are planning to offer a Open Dialogue binaries on the Series 700 as a "specials" product. We have a few customers that are interested in it. If the demand increases, we will consider offering the product on the Series 700 as a standard product. If you are interested in the "specials" product, your Sales Representative can put you in touch with the Software Technology Division. IBP 3-2 Would HP consider making the source code available to people who would maintain it in a public domain fashion? IBP 3-2 RESPONSE: We currently offer Open Dialogue source code on our price list, and it is our plan to continue to do so. Therefore, we are not planning to release the sources to the public domain. IBP 4-1 [1] During July 1991, we purchased 2 HP/Apollo 425e computers. These were purchased specifically because OSF compliance on these machines had been promised. Now we hear it will not be delivered. What upgrade plans are now available that will provide OSF compliance? IBP 4-1 RESPONSE: Both Domain/OS and HP-UX are or will be OSF AES compliant in the next OS release. The OSF AES specifies an overall OSF compliant environment specification (AES stands for Application Environment Specification) including an "OSF compatible" Application Programming Interface. A white paper is available through your field office that explains the operating environment and migration path for Domain customers. Ask for "HP's Path to Open Systems for Domain Customers", Part No. 5091-4311E. HP is using the HP-UX base to deliver usable OSF/1 and OSF technologies while building upon an existing large application and programming base. Future OSF technologies will be incorporated into HP-UX on Series 700 products. We are now shipping an upgrade that converts a 425e to a 710. IBP 4-2 [2] We kept 3 DN machines last July because HP had also promised, as a minimum, interoperability with the OSF compliant operating system. Has this also fallen along the wayside? What can HP propose to solve this problem? IBP 4-2 RESPONSE: This is best explained by first reading the section "Interoperability", starting on p.21 in the above whitepaper, then discussing any details you need answered with a local HP Technical Consultant. IBP 4-3 [3] We cannot consider switching to HP-UX within the next 2 years. What is HP going to do for future upgrades to HP-UX? IBP 4-3 RESPONSE: We have committed to providing OSF/AES compliance, DCE, and DME capabilities in the future. Our next HP-UX release is presently scheduled for customer shipment this fall. I have also included a short list of HP-UX 9.0 features in reply to question IBP 9-6. IBP 4-4 [4] While the RISC architecture delivers quite cost effective speed, our engineers do not need that level of performance. In fact, we are still impressed with the speed of our 425's. How long will HP continue to ignore the needs of the middle range user and insist on selling them machines that are both much too powerful and much too expensive? IBP4-4 RESPONSE: In contrast to your situation, we have found that the demand for more performance in any price range, including mid-range, continues to increase in all market segments. So we need to continue to develop and manufacture higher performance mid-range machines (as well as in other industry price bands). To answer the needs of customers who want to stick with a given level of performance, but want to pay less for it, HP 1.) is continuing to lead the industry in lower-end price/performance and 2.) has recently established a new workstation division (Entry-Level Systems Division - ESD) to provide even lower-priced workstations in the future. IBP 4-5 [5] In addition, our secretary and technician need, as a minimum, interoperability and data sharing with our engineers. Even HP cannot expect customers to supply $30,000 computers to their support staff. What solution can HP offer for this problem? IBP 4-5 RESPONSE: We can certainly provide your support staff with computer workstations that will interoperate with, and share data with, your engineers' for substantially less than $30K each. For example, our color X stations start at $2990 and the Model 705 workstations start at $5890. Please contact your HP Sales Representative and ask about pricing for such low end workstations as the S425e or S705, or our X-Terminals, or PC connectivity tools. IBP 5-1 [1] In the white paper, "Hewlett-Packard Workstations: Operating Systems Stragegy for Domain Customers", on page 21 the following was written: "In addition, HP will protect your investment in Domain format archived tapes by providing the capability to read WBAK-format tapes on an HP-UX machine." Is this true for 1.3GB DAT tapes? IBP 5-1 REPONSE: Our goal for RBAK on HP-UX is to support the media types that were supported for RBAK on Domain. We are currently investigating DAT tape support for RBAK on HP-UX to make sure that there are no technical barriers to supporting DAT. IBP 5-2 [2] Will HP-UX ever have a tape command that will permit easy manipulation of multiple tape-files on a single tape? IBP 5-2 RESPONSE: We have capabilities such as fast search supported on the fbackup command on DDS/DAT media. We do not have or have planned any file manipulation utilities other than the standard capabilities provided by tar, fbackup/frecover, and cpio today. The Omniback product offered on Domain/OS and HP-UX provides a number of tape management and journaling capabilities. We are working to provide RBAK capability. IBP 6-1 [1,Q1] There seemed to be a tremendous amount of response to the option of faxing in our questions. I would like to know what the other users have asked and how their questions were answered: Will the questions and their responses be gathered and published somewhere (a post-teleconference newsletter or comp.sys.hp perhaps)? IBP 6-1 RESPONSE: Our plan is to respond to the specific questions asked by each customer via fax. We will also send the complete list of all customer questions and answers via surface mail to all customers that asked questions (the entire package is too long to fax). We will also provide copies of the questions and answers in hardcopy form at the Interworks conference in New Orleans in August. When posting information to the Internet, HP must abide by the Internet guidelines. We are investigating the possibility of posting only those question/answer pairs that have to do with technical information, because the Internet guidelines do not allow us to post marketing information. IBP 6-2 [2,Q2] A user who called in had a question concerning HPTerm. I don't recall the question he asked, but the answer given made it sound as if VUE that comes with Domain/OS SR10.4 doesn't have an HPTerm program. Does the SR10.4 VUE come with HPTerm? IBP 6-2 RESPONSE: No, HPTerm is not included with VUE on Domain SR10.4. IBP 6-3 [3,Q3] Domain ACL's implement a very useful feature known as "initial Directory" and "initial File" permissions. How will ID/IF permissions be dealt with if someone is manipulating data from an NFS client on an HP-UX machine? IBP 6-3 RESPONSE: File permissions must be set up on the Domain system to be compatible with the standard UNIX semantics in order to ensure proper handling. We would recommend not accessing ID/IF ACL'd files from a non-Domain system as the behavior is unpredictable. IBP 6-4 [Q4] Will future releases of HP-UX employ IF/ID ACL's? IBP 6-4 RESPONSE: We do not have any current plans to use IF/ID ACLs. Our strategy with regard to this is to adopt appropriate standards as they are accepted in the industry. Currently, Unix uses the umask to determine permissions on files. IBP 6-5 [4,Q5] It is possible for a user to login on an Domain workstation with various "sublogins". Each login has one unique entry in the /etc/passwd file. How will PasswdEtc handle a Domain login of user.group.org? IBP 6-5 RESPONSE: Passwd Etc handles these accounts (several SIDs with the same person) the same way Domain/OS does; this should "just work". Since the login utility itself (part of Passwd Etc) makes calls to the Domain Registry, it works the same way is it does under Domain. Entries for a user who has multiple accounts under Domain are reflected in the /etc/passwd file as seperate users distinguished as different "user string names". Another words, under Domain to log in to the robinson.dsee account, they must type in robinson.dsee as the user. The same thing would be required under Passwd ETC. IBP 6-6 [5,Q6] Several login mechanisms were mentioned at the teleconference. With PasswdEtc it is possible to make the HP_UX system a "registry client", however this would not work for other platforms. In the case of NIS it is possible to integrate HP-UX systems and non-HP-UX systems together. It seems like one more step needs to be taken to tie Domain -> HP-UX -> non- HP-UX systems. Does Domain/OS (SR10.3 or SR10.4) support NIS? IBP 6-6 RESPONSE: Our next version of Domain NFS, version 4.1 which will be available at the end of this year, will support full NIS capabilities on SR10.4. In the meantime, you can get a version of NFS from the Workstation Specials group that supports NIS. IBP 6-7 [Q7] Will Domain/OS support NIS with the release of NFS 3.0? IBP 6-7 RESPONSE: Yes, with the release of Domain NFS 4.1, NIS will be supported on Domain. (Note that we previously referred to this release as Domain NFS 3.0, but to prevent confusion we are now referring to it as Domain NFS 4.1 to reflect its compliance with the ONC 4.1 standard.) IBP 6-8 [Q8] If Q7 and Q8 are both "no", do you have a recommended solution for allowing "homogeneous registry administration with all three cases? IBP 6-8 RESPONSE: The answer to the previous questions was "yes", with Domain NFS 3.0 you will be able to use NIS for integrated registry management among Domain, HP-UX, and non-HP Unix systems. IBP 6-9 [6,Q9] Currently with VUE 2.0 it is possible for a user to setup a different "environment" (backdrops, color schemes, etc.) for each user on each node. The premise to this is that a user logs in to one workstation on their desk 95% of the time. If that user gets up and logs in on another workstation they will have to setup the backdrops, colors, and everything else all over again. (This is due to the fact that VUE sets up a directory system in your HOME directory whereby each node stores its configuration ($HOME/.vue/node:0). This system is very difficult for users to work with in a lab environment whereby a user can sit at any arbitrary machine and begin working. They would like to see the same workspace manager and the same colors that they had yesterday (on a different machine.) With Domain/OS and Display Manager this isn't difficult at all. Your startup files exist for all machines (of the same display type at least), however VUE is "node specific" in its configurations. I put in a PR with HP about this a few months ago, but I haven't heard anything concerning it. I don't recall the PR number off hand, but I know it exists. When will VUE configuration be non-node specific so that a user can get the same configuration at any workstation? IBP 6-9 RESPONSE: You're not alone in your comments. A number of customers mentioned this same thing during the customer visits we did as part of the design phase of the next version of HP VUE. Consequently, the next version of HP VUE, due out in fall 1992 on HP-UX 9.0, will be "non-node specific." This new release of HP VUE will not be supported on Domain. For the current version of HP VUE, a commonly used work-around has been to create the HP VUE environment you want on your "home" machine (this gets saved in files in the .vue/homemachine:0 directory), then link the other .vue/hostname:0 directories to it. IBP 6-10 [7,Q10] While John Agosta was discussing networks and different configurations he made reference to the picture on page 19 of the workbook. The diagram depicts an Apollo Token Rink and and Ethernet joined together by a "Gateway" node (either a series 700 of DN machine.) At one point John said that this was not a recommended configuration, yet this example is sited many times in the NFS discussion as a "typical" configuration (as well as being the configuration at our site.) Why did John Agosta say that the ATR/Ethernet gateway is not a recommended solution for integrating DN and 700 machines? IBP 6-10 RESPONSE: In general, you may want to consider doing away with workstation gateways and replacing them with a system designed specifically for network routing; routers and/or bridges. Some addition information is if you do use workstations as gateways, consider using a Domain/OS system for DDS routing, and a series 720/30/50 for TCP/IP routing. Thus having 2 gateways between a subnet. This is for performance reasons. Why? First the obvious, use a Domain/OS system to route DDS packets between the DN systems on the 2 subnets; a 700 cannot route those DDS packets. For the second system, you should avoid using a DN system as a TCP/IP gateway because of its limited TCP/IP throughput capabilities. Depending on the DN system, the optimum TCP/IP throughput will be anywhere from 250-500 KB/sec. As presented in the Customer Migration Broadcast, the series 700's TCP/IP transfer rates are from 740 KB/sec (ATR) to 1100 KB/sec (Ether). Now, this is NOT required for interoperability, this is just a mechanism to allow you to obtain optimum network throughput. Also, if your network topology is such that only TCP/IP packets need to be transferred across the gateway, then only one gateway is needed for optimum throughput. IBP 7-1 [1] This seminar left we with the impression that HP/Apollo has a very weak plan in place for customer migration to the HP-UX operating system and past that to OSF1. Issues I feel that are not handled gracefully are the Domain ACL issue, the DCE issue, and the 400 series to upgrade to PA-RISC issue. It would appear from these that HP is not completely committed to OSF1. These concerns are where my questions to you and Hewlett Packard arise. Where is a detailed plan(s) that will take us to HP-UX since I do not yet see any clear vision or paths from HP? IBP 7-1 RESPONSE: HP is fully committed to OSF. We have changed our implementation of this commitment so that we can insert OSF technology into our products incrementally, to ensure that we provide production ready technology with a minimum of upheaval to our existing customers. There are still a number of areas in which the path from Domain to HP-UX is not smooth. Domain ACL's cause difficulty because they do not map to the UNIX protection model used in HP-UX and other UNIX systems. Our suggestion is to use the UNIX protection model only on Domain, unless your layered software or third party products depend on Domain ACL's. Our DCE plans will make OSF's Distributed Computing technology available to you as soon as we can deliver production ready products to you. We'd like these to be sooner than the current planned releases, but we are unable to so consistent with meeting our quality goals. We feel comfortable that our system upgrade program for 400's to 700's will be both technically and economically attractive to our customers. Our vision for the future is HP-UX into which we will insert OSF and DCE technology. We've articulated this path in the White Paper "Hewlett Packard's Path to Open Systems for Domain Customers" which was included in the seminar handout and is available from your sales representative. IBP 7-2 [2] Why are there no tools available, either on the Domain side or the HP-UX side to help with this? Further, since it is apparent that OSF1 will use an ACL method very similar to Domain, why doesn't HP-UX include the DCE option for those of us that need to migrate? IBP 7-2 RESPONSE: Although the OSF ACL model looks similar to Domain, it is dependent on key DCE enabling technologies such as Kerberos security. It is not possible for us to incorporate ACL functionality without these enabling functions. We can't provide the ACL functions any faster than we can provide the entire set of DCE functions. IBP 7-3 [3] OSF1 is going to use a Domain-like DCE. Why are we being expected to use the inferior NFS type product in HP-UX then back up to the DCE product in OSF1? Or to rephrase, why doesn't HP-UX include the DCE option for those of us that need to migrate? IBP 7-3 RESPONSE: We will be offering the DCE file sharing functionality (the Distributed File System, DFS) on HP-UX when we can provide a production-ready product. Under certain limited conditions, some of our customers have elected to use the AFS 3 product from Transarc in the meantime. IBP 7-4 [4] I heard no mention yesterday of the 400 series upgrade plan for PA-RISC. HP has said in the past that this was going to be offered and we have since ordered some 425's. What is the latest and greatest official position for the upgrade of of 425's to PA-RISC? IBP 7-4 RESPONSE: The board upgrade from S400 to PA-RISC has been announced, and was discussed at the beginning of the June 2nd presentation, but it is worth re-iterating for those that may have missed it. The 425e to 710 upgrade is orderable today with a ship availability of July 1. The price for the 425e to 710 is $5890, plus $100 for an HIL interface keyboard, if you are upgrading a Domain system. The remaining S400 to PA-RISC board upgrades will be orderable on July 1st, with a ship availability no later than first quarter of 1993. This set of upgrades will include: 400dl/400t/425t to 7xxt/33 $4890 400dl/400t/425t to 7xxt/50 $7390 400s/425s/433s to 7xxs/33 $4890 400s/425s/433s to 7xxt/50 $7390 The /33 and /50 at the end of the S7xx number relates to the processor performance (in MHz). These equate to over 35 SPECmarks and over 55 SPECmarks, respectively. Note that these performance levels are conservative as they have been measured with prototype hardware and prototype software, prior to performance tuning. Again, those upgrading domain systems will need to order a new keyboard. For more information see your sales representative. Your sales office will be receiving their "S400 to S700" Upgrades Sales information shortly. IBP 7-5 Is buying 425's a mistake in light of this migration to HP-UX? IBP 7-5 RESPONSE: Whether you should be buying 425's is dependent on your situation. Many customers cannot move directly to the S700/HP-UX today. The best solution for these customers are to buy S400's, then upgrade them in the future to S700's with HP-UX. This allows you to get increased performance while staying on Domain. You can than upgrade to S700 with HP-UX after you have ported any proprietary software to standards on HP-UX. This gives you additional performance with investment protection. If your application is already ported to S700/HP-UX then you may begin your migration by directly purchasing S700's via our trade-in program or purchasing S400 upgrades to S700's to be delivered in early 1993. IBP 7-6 What are the compelling reasons for me to migrate soon as opposed to waiting for a time, say a year? IBP 7-6 RESPONSE: Our Open Migration Program is designed to support your migration as and when it makes sense for your particular operation. Reasons that a number of customers are migrating now, include near term need for high desktop performance, PA RISC price/performance, 3rd-Party applications availability or enhancements, adoption of standards, or some combination. HP is also offering very aggressive pricing promotions and trade in credits that may change in the future. IBP 8-1 [1] HP760 has different keyboard ^ characters when login from SUN. How can we set them up without "stty" every single key? IBP 8-1 RESPONSE: This is a common problem across all platforms. A quick workaround is to add the following line to your .profile and .cshrc file: stty echoe intr \^C kill \^U erase \^H susp \^Z Another common problem is with rlogin/telnet. If you try to login to a remote host, and you use a TERM type not know to the remote host, the keyboard and terminal interface cannot be properly setup. To interoperate between Domain/OS, HP-UX, and SunOS, we would recommend using xterm. The xterm terminal type is known and understood by all three systems. While in the Display Manager, it is recommended you set the pad to vt100 prior to performing a remote login to an HP-UX or SunOS system. IBP 8-2 [2] hpterm will display across the net on SUN, but only after 10-30 minutes. IBP 8-2 RESPONSE: This should not happen. The hpterm should display in less than 15 seconds. Some things you may want to look at . . . o Can you successfully ping the HP-UX system? If so, what are the time intervals between pings? o Is this just a problem with hpterm, or does it also happen with xterm, and xclock? o Does the same delay occur when you display a SUN system's xterm on to the HP-UX system? o Was the network saturated? o What is the network topology? Were there many gateways you needed to go through? IBP 8-3 [3] rup command is very sluggish (i.e. stay in the middle of the list and not displaying all the nodes around the net.) IBP 8-3 RESPONSE: There are two questions here. 1) Why is rup not displaying all the nodes around the net? A remote host only responds if it is running the rstatd(1M) daemon. Also, broadcasting does not work through gateways; therefore, rup does not report information about machines that are reached only through gateways. 2) Why is rup sluggish? The broadcast process takes about two minutes. This allows loaded systems time to respond. IBP 9-1 [1] We find that in talking to the application specific integrated circuit vendors, specifically LSI, XILINX, and VITESSE, that it will not be till 1993 that they have stabilized support for the HP700 platform and Mentor V8.0. It is our understanding that LSI and VITESSE do not yet have a definite date set for support of the HP700 and Mentor 8.0. If we do not get faster full support for the HP700 and Mentor V8.0, we will be forced to ship the seven recently acquired HP700's back and replace them with 400 series machines in order to get our products to our customers. What can you do to speed up the support by XILINX, LSI, and VITESSE for the HP700 and Mentor V8.0? IBP 9-1 RESPONSE: The best way we have to accelerate the porting of applications is to provide technical assistance to vendors. We are providing this assistance to accelerate the porting of XLINX and LSI. We are continually working with Mentor to ensure that HP's and Mentor's migration plans are as consistent as possible. IBP 9-2 [2] Having been a long user of Domain OS and having used HP/UX for 6 months trying to get 7 HP730's integrated into our existing Domain network of HP/Apollo 5500's and 425t's, we are appalled at the lack of robustness of network NFS file sharing capabilities between HP/UX and Domain as compared to network file sharing of a Domain network by itself. We are very angered at the lack of support and commitment to Domain OS. We feel that the lack of network file sharing capabilities on HP700 machines from the Domain ring cancels the advantage of the faster HP/PA machines. We would much rather have the 400's and Domain than 700's and poor network file sharing between HP/UX and Domain. We feel that until HP/UX has the network file sharing capabilities of Domain OS, that HP should be committed to continue to support Domain OS. Given a preference for 400's and Domain rather than 700's and poor network file sharing between HP/UX and Domain, why take two steps backward and use the weaker networking between HP/UX and Domain while waiting a couple of years for HP/UX to get the ease of Domain network file sharing? Why not stay with Domain OS, the leader in network file sharing until HP/UX comes up to speed? IBP 9-2 RESPONSE: First of all, HP is committed to continue to support Domain until at least the year 2000. We want our customers to be free to migrate when it is best for their individual situation. If you do not need the performance of the Series 700, you can continue to use your DN and Series 400 nodes with the assurance that HP will continue to support Domain on these nodes. We agree that NFS functionality is not as extensive as Domain file sharing in several areas: ease of administration; performance (on Domain); and lack of a single name space. We are attempting to address these issues by offering automounter in HP-UX 8.07 and Domain NFS 4.1; by improving the performance of Domain NFS for version 2.3 on SR10.4; and by suggesting procedures so that file name consistency can be maintained. In the future, we will provide the DCE DFS, which will provide a higher degree of file sharing functionality than NFS. IBP 9-3 [3] Can you give us a patch for HP/UX V8.07 that will allow network file sharing from Domain to HP/UX? Thus far by using NFS, we have been able to use files on the Domain ring while logged on to an HP730 but not vice versa. We need to be able to use files residing on the HP730 machines from the 425t's on the Domain ring. By use, I mean that we need to be able to have Mentor applications running on the Domain ring update files on the HP700 machines as they do on the Domain ring, not just copy and read capability. IBP 9-3 RESPONSE: It is not possible for us to provide a patch that will enable HP-UX systems to participate in Domain Distributed Services file sharing. This would involve very extensive development which would be contrary to our strategy of providing open systems functionality. The data sharing limitation you are referring to is a function of the implementation of Mentor 8.1. This version of Mentor's application uses file access functionality that requires Domain. At Mentor's release 8.2, you will be able to access files on either Domain or HP-UX from an application running on either Domain or HP-UX. IBP 9-4 [4] When an HP425t is upgraded to an HP7xxt, will it still be able to use its previous token ring capability? IBP 9-4 RESPONSE: When you upgrade your 425t to a S7xxt, the existing Apollo Token Ring card will also be upgraded to S700 ATR functionality (included in the upgrade price). The S700 ATR functionality includes TCP/IP protocol only. For more information ask your sales office for the existing S700 ATR product data sheet. IBP 9-5 [5] What are the options of the xx's in the HP7xx upgrade of an HP425t? IBP 9-5 RESPONSE: There are two performance points to choose from when upgrading your S400 desktop and deskside systems. The "xx" in S7xx will be related to the performance of the upgrade you choose. The low-end performance upgrade will be more than 35 SPECmarks, with the processor running at 33MHz, and the higher performance upgrade will be above 55 SPECmarks, with the processor running at 50MHz. These performance numbers are conservative since they were run on prototype hardware and prototype software, without performance tuning. Since we do not yet have the final performance numbers we will be using the following product numbers: 400dl/400t/425t upgrade to 7xxt/33 (35+ SPECmarks) 400dl/400t/425t upgrade to 7xxt/50 (55+ SPECmarks) 400s/425s/433s upgrade to 7xxs/33 (35+ SPECmarks) 400s/425s/433s upgrade to 7xxt/50 (55+ SPECmarks) (The /33 and /50 relate to the processor speed.) IBP 9-6 [6] When will HP/UX V8.1 be available and what will be its major enhancements? IBP 9-6 RESPONSE: The next release of HP-UX will be HP-UX 9.0. While I don't want to announce the full feature set of the release, I will let you know a few of the larger enhancements. Note that I am including core OS features only, not layered capabilities such as DCE layered technologies. These include: - OSF AES compliance. - X11R5 - Motif 1.2 - Updated Visual User Environment (VUE) - POSIX 1003.2 - Lots of performance enhancements - New peripherals - Memory-mapped files Watch for the announcement of HP-UX 9.0 this fall to get the full details behind this list. IBP 10-1 [1] During the seminar, it was stated that HPUX cannot handle the "Domain-type" extended ACLs. Is there any chance that this will change? For security reasons we use extended ACLs. For instance, the following ACLs provide us the required protections: Required entries wali.%.% prwx- %.%.da -rwx- %.%.% ----- Extended entry rights mask: prwx- %.sys_admin.% prwx- %.%.none -r-x- %.backup.% -r-x- %.ramdac.% -r-x- %.%.train -r--- I have tried to duplicate this scheme in UNIX but cannot. Someone who shouldn't be able to get into a directory or file can. IBP 10-1 RESPONSE: HP-UX does have ACLs that can be used to extend standard Unix permissions. These ACLs are not identical to Domain ACLs. It may help you to contact your Technical Consultant (support rep.) to discuss ACLs. Questions IBP 6-3 and 6-4 also discuss issues regarding ACLs. IBP 10-2 [2] We utilize "IKOS" as a simulation tool. In order to submit a batch job and have the program write to secured files, UNIX provides ACLs which allow the batch job to inherit the rights of root (or some other super-user). It is our understanding that HPUX does not support this particular ACL. For example: (in UNIX) 4000 set user ID on execution >From the KOS manual - "this ACL is REQUIRED for submission of batch jobs." If this protection scheme is not set, that batch job WILL NOT RUN! We have found through sad experience that this scheme is documented but is not supported by SYSV UNIX nor HPUX. The following quote is from "Managing SysV System Software (010851-A00), Chapter 5 - "Protection of Files and Directories" section 5.1.2 "The setuid and setgid bits": "The 4000, 2000, and 1000 bits in a protection mode have meaning only for executable files. They affect the behavior of a file when a user executes it. The 4000 bit is the "setuid" bit. If you execute a file that has this bit on, the operating system sets the effective user ID of the process to the owner ID of this file. Simarly, the 2000 bit is the "setgid" bit. It sets the effective group ID to the group ID of the file. The ls command reports the setuid (or setgid) bit with the letter "s" in place of the "x" for execution by owner (or group). Though ls displays them in place of the "x", these bits do not affect permission to execute the file. The operating system always checks the "x" bit. For example, if a program has the protection mode 6711, the owner ID "pooh" and teh group ID "bears", ls -l reports its protection as: -rws-s--x The program always executes as though it were invoked by user "pooh" and group "bears". The 1000 bit is the "sticky" bit. On Domain systems, this bit has no effect". So why document it if you aren't going to support it or make it useful? Without the support of the 4000 scheme, it requires us to submit simulation jobs in "real-time" which ties up a node and clobbers the engineers time. It is my understanding that the 4000 mode is "standard UNIX". We placed a call to HP to inquire about the "failure". The answer as "Too bad..." Wrong response if you ask me. IBP 10-2 RESPONSE: HP-UX does support the use of the setuid and setgid mode bits (i.e., the 4000 scheme) and we ship system binaries which are setuid root (-r-sr-xr-x), for example. If you have actually found that an HP-UX binary or application that is setuid does not work as you expected, contact your local HP sales office or the Response Center (whichever is appropriate for your situation) to report such a problem. The response you refer to was incorrect and inappropriate. IBP 10-3 [3] Due to restrictions of 3rd party software, our integrated Circuit Test Unit (TRILLIUM brand) cannot upgrade from HP-DOMAIN OS-9.7.5. If the rest of our community upgrades to the 700 series of workstations, can files be transferred to the tester? Currently we telnet from the tester to a design node (say DN3500), make edits, save the file, the ftp the data (some 250,000 lines of vectors) from the DN3500 to the tester. If we cannot do this in the future, we're in deep yoghurt! IBP 10-3 RESPONSE: If you are now using standard ARPA services (such as telnet and ftp) for communications between your design workstations and your tester, you will be able to continue this practice tools after migrating your design workstations to Series 700 HP-UX machines. IBP 10-4 [4] During the seminar, it was announced that "rbak" would be supported on the 700 series (did you mean HP-UX?) Why not "wbak" as well? My concern is not being able to read archived tapes (some 4,000 of them) in the future. These tapes contain data required by government contracts and must be stored for "n" years. Should someone decide to drop the "rbak" support in the future, we're again in deep yoghurt. The "industry" agreed some years ago that GDS release 3 canonical stream format (OUTFORM3) would be a standard binary data exchange format. Why can't you do the same with "rbak" and "wbak" for data archived for HP machines? IBP 10-4 RESPONSE: We are planning to produce a tool that will enable you to read RBAK tapes on an HP-UX machine. We are not planning to support WBAK on the Series 700 because we believe it doesn't make sense to have our users continue to make more tapes in the proprietary Domain format. We agree that it makes sense to use standard formats for archiving data. However, we evaluated the alternative of providing a reformatter for old RBAK tapes and determined that because of the cost and inconvenience of reformatting old tapes it was better to provide an RBAK reading facility on HP-UX. IBP 10-5 [5] Our network consists of older machines - DSP80, DSP90, 570T, 3000, and 3500. Can we migrate directly to the 700 series ' machines or must be "stop off" at a 425 then to a 700? Somewhere I heard that there was a severe incompatibility (of data and file type) between the 3000 and 700. True? (If so. what a way to sell a 425 workstation!) IBP 10-5 RESPONSE: You may migrate either directly from a DN to a Series 700, or indirectly, via a Series 400 - whichever best suits your operations. The reason that some customers are migrating first to a Series 400 is that 1.) they can stay on Domain and still get a power boost while they are porting their proprietary software to standards on HP-UX, and 2.) then do a upgrade to an S700 after the port to get even more performance and investment payback. On the other hand, if you don't have to port software before you migrate, the path from DNs directly to S700s is the easiest. And yes, there is a file incompatibility between the Domain file system and HP-UX (as well as other Unix) file systems. Note that there is no difference between DN's and S400's on Domain, in this regard. We recommend NFS for providing file-level interoperability while you have both Domain and HP-UX nodes on the same network. IBP 10-6 [6] I understand that the "/user" scheme will not be used in the future. For me, that makes no difference because I type around 90 words per minute. For my engineers, it will be extremely painful to have to "path" everything; some of them can barely login with two fingers. IBP 10-6 RESPONSE: It sounds like your concern is about users having to type absolute pathnames if there is a change in the directory names that they use. On HP-UX (and other Unix systems), users include frequently accessed directories in their command search paths to avoid typing absolute pathnames. This is accomplished by setting the PATH environment variable in users' shell startup files (e.g., .profile, .kshrc, .login, .cshrc). If locations of directories and files change, the user can be minimally affected by updating the PATH variable in the startup files to reflect the new locations. IBP 11-1 [1] Which of the 'DSEE User Options' you mentioned: Aide-de-Camp Amplify Control CCC ClearCase Teamnet comes with a tool to convert system models and libraries, pools, and release areas (if still needed) to a 100%. If there is no complete transformation, what and to which extent is left? IBP 11-1 RESPONSE: The ClearCase product contains a tool for conversion of DSEE libraries to ClearCase format. DSEE pools and release areas are not needed with ClearCase and are not converted. ClearCase does not contain a tool to convert system models, however the documentation contains detailed information on making this conversion. IBP 12-1 [1] I want to migrate to OSF, but your plans have me stop at HPUX if I want to take advantage of the upgrade/trade up program. I believe these programs will end before OSF is ready and so would like to see these programs extended or support for the DN5500, 425t, 433s machines under OSF. IBP 12-1 RESPONSE: We recognize that the upgrade and tradeup programs are key to a successful migration program and that some customers are not ready to migrate for some time. We regularly update our Trade Up programs to reflect our new offerings. We have not set termination dates on any of these programs, but recognize that these cannot be short-term promotions. HP-UX is not a stopping point, but is in fact a starting point for for OSF technology. We will incorporate OSF technology into HP-UX. Once on HP-UX, you will continue to receive OSF technology in future releases. IBP 12-2 [2] As support for the ATR card on the series 700 will end in '95, I will have to recable, not something I look forward to. How come I don't have investment protection in cabling, probably the hardest to replace? IBP 12-2 RESPONSE: Our goal in providing Apollo Token Ring functionality on Series 700's was to give our customers some time to transition their facilities to standard networking. Our goal is to protect your investment in Apollo Token Ring cabling for a transition period. We believe that transitioning to a standard networking physical layer such as Ethernet or FDDI in our customer's best interest. IBP 12-3 [3] Why not make a 32 bit version of the ATR card as the EISA is a 32 bit bus? IBP 12-3 RESPONSE: While we are continuing to support the Apollo Token Ring as a transition tool, HP is committed to standards. Therefore we are limiting our investment in proprietary networking. Since the the existing ISA bus card performs satisfactorily as a transition tool, we are focusing our networking investments on standards. IBP 13-1 I have an application written in FORTRAN that uses GPR calls. To run this on a 700 series machine it appears that I need to use X11 calls. Since FORTRAN handles parameters as call-by-reference and X11 mostly uses C call-by-value convention, this means that I cannot call X11 directly from my FORTRAN application. The application is some 65,000 code lines long and represents several man years of effort, so translating it to another language is out of the question. The GPR-on-X emulation is too slow for this application which is very graphics intensive. Will HP be providing an interface to X11 from FORTRAN, or do I need to write "wrappers" for all of the X11 routines? In the latter case, is HP going to force me to buy a C compiler just so I can use X11? IBP 13-1 RESPONSE: You have several alternatives, unfortunately, none is without difficulty. HP doesn't have a full-fledged interface to X11 from FORTRAN and none is planned as an official, supported product. The HP-UX 9.0 FORTRAN compiler, however, does support both calls by reference and calls by value, so it would be possible (not easy, but possible) to do C calls from your FORTRAN program. The downside is that there are no FORTRAN header files for X. However, a contrib tape is being created for Interworks that includes unsupported FORTRAN "bindings" (they've actually been available since X11R4 came out) that may prove useful as models for those header files. Alternatively, you may be able to find a 3rd party vendor with a FORTRAN to X product. Wrapping your X calls is another alternative. The ADVISE migration package of tools contains a set of source code examples for GPR to X. It also contains a code scanner that finds GPR calls in your code and suggests appropriate X calls. You can use the source code as a starting point for your wrappers. >From a strategic point of view, to conserve your resources, you might want to explore creating a GPR to Starbase porting tool. This would also keep you above having to deal with all the low-level Xlib stuff.Once in Starbase, you could use the sox11 driver to get to X. IBP 14-1 We are moving our Cadence CAD from Apollo Domain to HP-UX on HP7xx. What text editor does HP recommend in this situation? What is HP's medium term strategy? The editor must be capable of being the default editor in HPVUE and Cadence. A user friendly screen editor is required, vi is not acceptable. 'vuepad' seems the nearest by has no global substitute and is not extendable for the more expert user. 'xedit' is supplied on Domain. Why is it no available on HP-UX as it seems better than any other HP product? VEd and DMX are extra cost products and I am not sure of their suitability or long term availability. I have submitted these questions through normal HP Sales channels but without much success. IBP 14-1 RESPONSE: Our strategy is to not dictate text editors. As you know, people typically spend a lot of time with their text editors and consequently become very religious about them. HP VUE is designed such that you can have any text editor you want as the default for your HP VUE environment. You can load it into the front panel for easy access, or better, associate it with your files, so you just double-click the file and the editor starts with the file open in it. As for user friendly editors, we agree with you, vi is unacceptable. So is emacs for that matter. They're very powerful once you learn how to use them, but they're hardly friendly. You're right about vuepad, it's a memo writing program not a text processing program, so it would probably be a little underfunctioned for your needs. Vuepad is to save people from having to use vi in cases where they don't have their own editor. Text editors is an application area where there are currently some very fine products. A few of the products I've tried are: * WordPerfect (non-graphical interface) * Island Write, Paint * Framemaker * Rapport Consequently, the HP VUE development team feels its resources are better spent improving the HP VUE environment proper. Efforts are currently going into making it easier to obtain, demo, purchase, and integrate applications like those mentioned above into the HP VUE environment. As far as "extra cost," sad but true, nothing's free anymore. It used to be that "if it's bundled it's free" but that wasn't even true, not really; someone was paying the cost of development somewhere along the line, if not the customer, then the vendor was temporarily eating the cost to get the business. However, we've received feedback similar to yours on this issue, and we are reconsidering our perspective. IBP 15-1 [1] When is a tool with the similar functionality of "dspst" (preferably X based) available on HP-UX? Especially with the option "-n"? (N.B. 'Glance/Glance+) is not a substitute for 'dspst') IBP 15-1 RESPONSE: Although HP has not yet announced plans for HP/PAK on HP-UX, our current direction is to make HP/PAK available on HP-UX. We are not in a position at this time to commit to a delivery date, but based on strong customer feedback, our plan is to make HP/PAK available on HP-UX as soon as possible. HP/PAK 5.0 includes a tool, XPS, which is X-based, and provides very similar functionality to DSPST. HP/PAK version 5.0, available on Domain today, is the version targeted for HP-UX. IBP 15-2 [2] When will "Glance" have an X interface on HPUX? IBP 15-2 RESPONSE: Currently, we are actively investigating and prototyping an X/Motif interface to HP Glance. We are not far enough into the investigation to make any product commitments at this time. IBP 15-3 [3i] Why doesn't HP offer 10baseT interface (RJ45) as an option along with Thin & Thicknet LAN interface? IBP 15-3 RESPONSE: There is an add-on LAN card for the Series 700 workstation to support additional interfaces and 10baseT is supported. The card does come with a Thin MAU built on it and the required BNC connector for Thin LAN operation. It also has an AUI port where a Thick LAN or Ethertwist (10baseT) Pocket MAU can be connected. The product number for the Pocket MAU is 25567A. When this, and our other LAN cards, were designed, we felt that the majority of installations would be using Thin LAN. That is why the Thin MAU was built on the card. However, both of the other LAN options were covered by the AUI port. IBP 15-4 [3ii] I hear that HP's market study shows that there is no great need for this (10baseT interface) among the user community. But did HP ever ask the community if they are using 10baseT with a MAU? If so how many? Those are the group that could save over $100/MAU if the interface was available as an option. (To the best of my knowledge almost all of our 20+ sites in Phoenix (AZ) and Austin (TX) are pre-wired for 10baseT. I doubt if any market researcher ever asked us; certainly not me. P.S. If HP was so keen on market studies, any study would have showed that the user community really wanted DOMAIN/OS on HP700 series! But HP for one reason or other conveniently ignored that "study". IBP 15-4 RESPONSE: Currently our hardware supports the 10baseT interface by using a MAU connected to the AUI port. We will take your suggestion under advisement for future hardware to support a built-in 10baseT interface. IBP 16-1 [1] Will we be provided with a list of "Domainisms" that are being considered? IBP 16-1 RESPONSE: The Domain-isms in HP-UX (bundled) or available for HP-UX in 1992 are: - NCS - NetLS - DMX (a DM-like editor) - Omniback - Passwd/etc. client (a Domain server is required) - Apollo Token Ring (TCP/IP services only) We are also working on Apollo Pascal, RBAK and DDE debugger capabilities for HP-UX on the Series 700. These will not be delivered until 1993. These are early enough in development that details on levels of compatibility or product limitations will need to wait until later in the year. Note that we are currently offering an Apollo Pascal compiler on UX as a "special", which means that the product has not been subjected to the testing required for a standard HP product. Support for this special product must be obtained from the Workstation Specials organization. IBP 16-2 [2] Will HP provide a ClearCase price break for sites that are already heavily concentrated using DSEE? IBP 16-2 RESPONSE: Yes. The HP division that offers the HP ClearCase product (the Software Engineering Systems Division), has agreed to a DSEE to ClearCase trade-up program. The basic plan is as follows: 1 customer must have DSEE under maintenance 2 for every maintenance contract the customer has, they will receive a $1,000 credit-off-list towards the purchase of HP/ClearCase (the quantity-one list price for HP/ClearCase will be $4,000, same as Atria charges) 3 the net price per license becomes $3,000 4 the customer's discount will then be applied 5 customer must take out maintenance on HP/ClearCase IBP 17-1 We have DSEE running on an Apollo 425t under Domain/OS. We would like to know details of our options to migrate hardware and software to HP700 machine running HP-UX, and using configuration control. Our code managed by DSEE is very critical and needs to be available at all times for our applications programming effort. We would like info presented at the June 2 seminar and any additional information you might be able to send to help us. IBP 17-1 RESPONSE: The following is an overview of DSEE alternatives on HP-UX Series 700 workstations: Contents 1. Summary 2. Aide-De-Camp offer (from SMDS) 3. CaseWare/CM offer (from CaseWare, Inc.) 4. Change and Configuration Control (CCC) offer (from Softool Corporation) 5. TeamNet offer (from TeamOne Systems, Inc.) 1. SUMMARY As part of the HP Open Migration Program, HP is providing information regarding alternative Configuration Management (CM) tools to its installed Domain customers. HP is selling a CM tool, HP/ClearCase, as an OEM for Atria. This product was chosen because a number of installed DSEE users told HP that they believed ClearCase may be a suitable replacement for DSEE. However, ClearCase may not be the best fit for all customer needs, so we are providing information to our installed base regarding non-HP CM tool alternatives. What follows below is a summary of the incentive offers each of the four CM tool vendors is making in conjunction with the HP Open Migration Program. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2. Aide-De-Camp offer (from SMDS) Software Maintenance and Development Systems, Inc. will offer to DSEE customers the items/products below as part of the HP Open Migration Program. 100% trade-in credit for amount paid by customer for DSEE license (up to $2,000.00 per seat/license) applied against new ADC license purchases made before 12/1/92, when support contract is purchased at the same time. 50% discount on new ADC license purchases or upgrades made before 12/1/92 which go beyond replacing an existing DSEE installation when support contract is purchased at the same time. Software Maintenance and Development Systems will provide a documented migration strategy for DSEE users with each ADC license purchase to help translate DSEE-unique information for easy use with ADC. For each day of consulting time customer buys to ease migration, Software Maintenance and Developement Systems will provide a matching day FREE. For each student sent to an ADC training class as part of a migration effort, another may attend FREE at the same class. For more information please contact; Mary Cole Vice President Software Maintenance And Developement Systems, Inc. P.o. Box 555 Concord, MA 01742 (508)369-7398 ------------------------------------------------------------ 3. CaseWare/CM offer (from CaseWare, Inc.) CaseWare will offer the following to DSEE customers as part of the HP Open Migration Program: 30% Product Discount on purchases of CaseWare/CM for each DSEE license replaced DSEE Migration to CaseWare/CM Utility - to move DSEE models to CaseWare/CM models - to move DSEE data to CaseWare/CM data Consulting Discounts 1 - week 20% 2 - weeks 25% 4 - weeks 30% Note: offer expires 8/1/92 or after first 25 customer POs - which ever comes first. For more information please contact the HP VAB Sales Representative, Cynthia Barry, TN 472-3151. CaseWare, Inc. 108 Pacifica Irvine, CA 92718 (714) 453-2200 ----------------------------------------------------------- 4. Change and Configuration Control (CCC) offer (from Softool Corporation) Softool Corporation will offer the following to DSEE customers as part of the HP Open Migration Program: 50% of the price paid for DSEE will be applied to the purchase of the same number of CCC/Manager Seats. (If the customer has 30 seats of DSEE and wishes to buy 25 seats of CCC/Manager, Softool will credit the customer for 50% of the price paid for 25 seats of DSEE.) For more information please contact the VAB Sales Representative Joe Roy TN 685-6115. Softool Corporation 340 S. Kellogg Avenue Goleta, CA 93117 (805)683-5777 ------------------------------------------------------------ 5. TeamNet offer (from TeamOne Systems, Inc.) 15% Discount for each TeamNet license by customer to replace DSEE license, if TeamOne support contract is also purchased. Free 90 day warranty for DSEE users as part of TeamOne support contract. Free first copy of media and TeamNet documentation at each customer site. For each day of TeamOne consulting time customer buys from TeamOne to ease Migration, TeamOne will provide a matching day free up to a maximum of five days. TeamOne will provide a "functionality map", comparing DSEE with TeamOne's products. For more information please contact the VAB Sales Representative Diane Sullivan TN 694-3508. TeamOne Systems, Inc. 710 Lakeway Drive, Suite 100 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (408) 730-3510 IBP 18-1 [1] If I understood correctly Domain OS support will end somewhere around 1995. If so do I throw away all my token ring cards and replace them with ethernet cards, and likewise the cables? IBP 18-1 RESPONSE: First a little clarification - support for Domain/OS and Domain nodes communicating via Apollo Token Ring, will continue until at least the year 2000. Support for the HP-UX Apollo Token Ring card ends in January of 1995. By that time, we expect our customers to have transitioned their HP-UX nodes to a standard physical layer (such as Ethernet). You can continue to use Apollo Token Ring for the Domain nodes you have beyond 1995. For your HPUX nodes, by 1995 you will need to install cabling for a standard physical network. If you choose Ethernet for your standard networking physical layer, you will not need to replace the HP-UX Apollo Token Ring cards with new cards because the HP-UX workstations have a built in Ethernet interface. IBP 18-2 [2] This is a note about Instant Ignition, sendmail and changing the hostname. It was my experience that when I changed the original name that I have my 730 host, it rendered mail to that host undeliverable. With Instant Ignition, the sendmail configuration file(s) are frozen. They need to be unfrozen, modified, and then refrozen. If it is useful to you to the reference number that I received for a call about that problem is: W1739454. IBP 18-2 RESPONSE: The problem you were seeing was probably not related to Instant Ignition, but rather to the hostname change. Anytime you change your hostname, make sure that your system, as well as all other systems on the network, recognize the new hostname. You can verify this by running the nslookup command with the new hostname on your system and other systems. If you are running sendmail, refreeze the sendmail configuration file to make sure that the sendmail database is current. IBP 19-1 [1] Is the 4xxt/s to 7xx higher performance option (i.e. >55 Specmark) available for both t's and s's or just s's? IBP 19-1 RESPONSE: Yes, the S4xxt's and S4xxs's are both upgradable to the greater than 55 SPECmark performance. IBP 19-2 [2] Why isn't 802.5 supported on upgraded 4xxt's? If ATR card is removed, could an 802.5 card be installed? IBP 19-2 RESPONSE: Sorry, even if you removed the ATR card, an 802.5 card cannot be installed into an upgraded S4xxt system because of the following reason. The S4xxt's were designed with a limited functionality ISA I/O slot. For I/O performance the upgrade to the S4xxt's include an EISA bus electrical interface to that slot; however, the form factor (particularly the connector and card guide alignment) remains ISA based. For this reason the EISA 802.5 card will not physically fit. (The S400 ISA 802.5 card is not electrically compatible.) In general, we recommend that you use an upgraded S4xxs (deskside) or any S700 with an EISA slot as your gateway to 802.5. Note: You can trade-in your S400t for credit on any S700, if your need direct connection to 802.5. If you have more specific needs, please work through your sales office for a solution that works for you. IBP 20-1 [1] Can an Apollo machine (DN3500 or DN4500) be used as an X terminal of an HP730 or 750 to run AutoCAD (sort of client/server Architecture)? IBP 20-1 RESPONSE: An Apollo machine can be used as an X terminal for any application that uses X windows as its graphics interface. The current version of AutoCAD for HPUX Series 700's (Release 11 for HPUX), supports X windows. The performance of Xwindows on Domain workstations is less that on the Series 700 machines. You will need at least 12 MB of physical memory, and you will generally experience performance improvement with added physical memory. IBP 20-2 [2] What discounts or trade in values is HP willing to give for the replacement of DN3500 and DN4500's with HP700's? IBP 20-2 RESPONSE: HP has provided credits for these systems since 1990. Today, HP's Trade Up Program offers credits ranging from $2200 to $4500 for DN3500 and 4500s when you trade them in for a Series 700 or 400. The DN 3500 and 4500 however, which are currently listed in Category A (provides maximum credit values) will move to Category B in November 1992, thus lowering their trade in credit value. Credit values are based on the Category the system is listed in, and the price of the new system. Contact your HP sales representative for pricing details. IBP 20-3 [3] Referring back to the seminar, is: HP425e upgradable to 720 or 730 HP425t upgradeable to 720 or 730 at approximately what cost? IBP 20-3 RESPONSE: The 425e is upgradeable to a 710, not 720 or 730. The following table summarizes the upgrades, their cost and their performance: From: To: List Price SPECmarks 425e 710 $5890 49.7 400dl/400t/425t 7xxt/33 $4890 >35 (>705 perf) 400dl/400t/425t 7xxt/50 $7390 >55 (approx. 720 perf) 400s/425s/433s 7xxs/33 $4890 >35 (>705 perf) 400s/425s/433s 7xxt/50 $7390 >55 (approx. 720 perf) IBP 21-1 For our 260+ node Apollo internet, we're looking to identify all the issues involved with UID/GID compatibility among heterogeneous file systems (HPUX, SGI, SUN, etc.). Do we leave system UID's/GID's (canned accounts) AS IS on all systems? And, if we leave these untouched on all systems, what are the implications for mismatches such as bin, lp and so on. How will this affect printing? IBP 21-1 RESPONSE: Leave "canned" account UIDs/GIDs as they come with the system. The implications for interoperability of leaving system UIDs/GIDs untouched should be few, if none at all, if these values are maintained in a way which allows them to be accessed correctly. For example, Passwd Etc and NIS both provide mechanisms for keeping the original system UIDs/GIDs available. From what we have seen, this hasn't affected printing because we've been able to print both ways between Domain and HP-UX, which both have different UIDs for lp. I haven't tried printing between HP-UX and the other platforms you mentioned, but the UID/GID differences should not affect printing. If anything, the differences in the functionality of spooling mechanisms will affect how well printing works between different systems. IBP 21-2 Is it better to go with AFS (with DCE) rather than NFS for better compatibility with Domain ACL's and extended ACL's? Is it supported on Domain? If so, what OS release? How much disk space will the AFS product require? IBP 21-2 RESPONSE: While the model for ACL's with DCE is structurally similar to that in Domain, we believe that the you will still have to transition your Domain ACL's to obtain compatibility with DCE ACL's. The UNIX protection model will be upwardly compatible with DCE, so we believe it makes sense to transition your Domain extended ACL's to UNIX protection now. Our plans for DCE on Domain are not yet firm, but we will provide a mechanism for Domain nodes to get to files on DCE's Distributed File System. IBP 21-3 Please clarify the new licensing of NFS. Margo's presentation seemed to say that we can install all our machines as NFS servers with one NFS license, whereas the certificate we received only gives us license to install NFS as a limited client (nfs_lc). IBP 21-3 RESPONSE: The licensing change for Domain NFS enables you to install NFS on every node in your site, with each node being a client, a server, or both. IBP 21-4 We have experienced problems with HP VUE because of its insistence on creating a ~/.vue/:0 dir for each node a user logs into, (assuming NFS access to users homedir). What is the BEST way to deal with this? (We are manually linking all :0 dirs in user's .vue dir to a single corresponding directory elsewhere.) IBP 21-4 RESPONSE: For the current version of HP VUE, what you're doing is the correct work-around. In talking with customers during the design phase of the next version of HP VUE, this same issue was brought up. Consequently, in the next version of HP VUE, you will be able to log into the same session regardless of where you log in from. The next version of HP VUE is due out this fall, but there's a catch - it's coming out on HP-UX 9.0 (not Domain). IBP 22-1 In porting our Aegis product to an 'open' architecture, we had planned on replacing the Aegis mbx_$ calls with TLI calls. However, the OS (10.3) does not contain the underlying protocol stack to support this. Does either Domain/OS 10.4 or HPUX come bundled with the necessary driver? IBP 22-1 RESPONSE: Neither Domain SR10.4 nor HP-UX come with the drivers to support the TLI (Transport Layer Interface). IBP 23-1 [1] What happened to the 40Plus Series investment plan? When we first bought our 400's you promised us a board upgrade for under $5000 to over 40 mips. We already upgraded most of these systems once to the 425t series for an additional $2000. IBP 23-1 RESPONSE: Our 40+ plan was based on availability of 40+ MIPS Motorola 68K processors, in a timeframe useful to our customers. As you may know, these products are not yet available from the supplier. Their potential usefulness to our customer base depends on availability of 3rd Party applications. Given the protracted delay in parts availability, prospects are not bright for broad 3rd Party support. We haven't ruled out such a product, but are clearly not now in a position to make a commitment. On the other hand, we are in a position to offer an alternative. Our Series 400 to 700 Upgrade provides an upgrade path to 40+ MIPS on a PA RISC processor for just under $5000 on S400 t and s models (and offers quite a bit more power for under $7500, as well). The 425t's you mention can be upgraded to either PA RISC performance level. We also offer an upgrade from an S425e to an S710 for $6500. The S700s support thousands of applications, and this upgrade program represents a superior alternative for many customers. IBP 23-2 [2] Why are you pushing use onto a 3rd party developer (Transarc) for the Andrew file system? At the end of last year we were told that your schedule had slipped to the 4th quarter for DCE with full Apollo like compatibility. You did not mention any plans for this during the seminar. IBP 23-2 RESPONSE: The Andrew File System being offered now by Transarc (AFS 3) is not the version that will be used for the DCE Distributed File System (DFS). We are not pushing our customers to use AFS 3 from Transarc. We believe a limited number of customers will find AFS 3 from Transarc attractive, so we want our customers to be aware of it. We will be offering a DCE Toolkit in the fall. This toolkit will not contain the DFS, since it will not be ready by that time. We expect to offer the full DCE in 1993. IBP 23-3 [3] What do we do with all our archived data bases which reside on 60MB cartridges under the Domain file structure. Will we be able to convert these to HP-UX (cartridge to cartridge)? IBP 23-3 RESPONSE: Our plan is to provide a means for customers to continue to read RBAK tapes after they have converted all of their workstations to HP-UX. We believe that this is a more convenient alternative than requiring users to convert every tape to an HP-UX archive format (either tar or fbackup). Also, there are some data items on the tapes that that you may not want to restore because they have limited or no utility on HP-UX (Domain binaries for example.) For these reasons, we chose the alternative of providing a tool to read RBAK tapes on an HP-UX system. IBP 23-4 [4] Does NIS replace Passwd/Etc? IBP 23-4 RESPONSE: We believe that Passwd/Etc and NIS are alternatives for user account registration that are to be used under different circumstances. Passwd/Etc is a transition tool that allows you to extend your current Domain registry database and practices to HP-UX workstations you add to your Domain network. Using Passwd/etc will give you some time to transition to UNIX-style system administration. Passwd/etc requires the registry database to reside on Domain and does not extend to non-HP Unix workstations. At some point as your network becomes predominantly HP-UX, you should switch to NIS. If your are incorporating a large number of HP-UX workstations into your network at once, you may want to use NIS right away. In this case, the next version of Domain NFS will allow you to have NIS on your Domain nodes for interoperability between the Domain registry and NIS. Here are some additional technical differences between Passwd/Etc and NIS that you should be aware of as you plan your user account strategy. Domain/OS Registry supports user account policy information. These policies can be used to control password lifespan, account lifespan, minimum password length and composition. HP-UX nodes running Passwd Etc clients can use these useful features by participating in the Registry. The Registry has a concept of ownership to help control access to the elements of the database. This provides support for multiple network administrators. Passwd Etc clients can take advantage of these functionalities. Passwd Etc provides a utility, passwd_refresh, which creates a local copy of /etc/passwd and /etc/group using the information from the registry database. This file is used for account control in case the network registry is not available for any reason. This file will also be used by programs which are written to use the /etc/passwd local file. Passwd Etc supports the updated version of passwd, chsh, chfn for updating the user account information. Passwd Etc is based on NCS which is a key component of DCE from OSF. NIS(YP) maintains a set of files called maps that nodes query as they would a database. These maps can be used to store other information in addition to storing user account information(for eg. /etc/hosts). Maps are created from /etc/passwd and /etc/group files and these must be maintained in addition to the maps. NIS(YP) administrators must use text editors like vi and emacs to edit the /etc/password and /etc/group files to create and manage accounts. NIS(YP) does not support policy information. NIS(YP) services have a single user (typically root) who creates and manages all user accounts on the internet. NIS(YP) provides utilities like ypmake to automate the propagation of maps. NIS(YP) maps can also be manually copied from the master server to the slave servers by the administrators. If a NIS(YP) server is unavailable, users without entries in the local /etc/passwd and /etc/group files cannot login. NIS(YP) users must use special YP commands like yppasswd to update their account information. NIS is based on SUN's ONC rpc. IBP 23-5 [5] How do we get to the Interworks bulletin board? IBP 23-5 RESPONSE: The Interworks library is available on-line at the Interworks node (128.255.18.10) or by modem at (319) 335 6191 (8data/1stop/np). Login: iworks password: iworks The library is also available on cartridge or 8-mm tape. Less than the complete library may be ordered on tape. Contact Dave Shaw, Interworks Librarian for more details (303) 443-9413 or "librarian@iworks.ecn.uiowa.edu" The HP-UX portion of the library is currently available only in the iworks "anonymous ftp" area. This directory can be found in ~/pub/comp.hp IBP 23-6 [6] How can we continue to support our Versatec plotters if we switch to the 700 series computers. I am not aware of any interface boards for this configuration. IBP 23-6 RESPONSE: Xerox has recently released a product that connects Versatec plotters to HP Series 700 workstations. It is called the Versatec Parallel Interface (VPI), and connects the S700 SCSI interface to the plotter's parallel interface. Contact David Galante at Xerox Engineering Systems for details: (716) 423-1158. IBP 23-7 [7] Why is it so expensive to convert C++ from Domain to HP-UX? IBP 23-7 RESPONSE: The C++ product on HP-UX includes both a C++ compiler and a translator, rather than just a translator as was available on Domain. The transfer charge reflects the additional functionality. IBP 23-8 Could you please send me a copy of the VAB list of software that is currently supported or scheduled for support on the 700 series? IBP 23-8 RESPONSE: There was a matrix included in the Seminar package that detailed the major application vendors and their support for the 700's as well as other HP workstation hardware. In case your package was missing this item, we will also fax it with the responses to your questions. The complete listing of Third Party Solutions is a document entitled "Solutions Catalog" which you can obtain from your local sales office. IBP 23-9 [9] On page 66 you mention a Transarc White Paper. Will you please mail me a copy. IBP 23-9 RESPONSE: We will fax a copy of the Transarc Paper with the responses to your questions. Additional copies are available from Transarc Corporation, Gulf Tower, 707 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA IBP 24-1 The foil showing the hardware migration of 4xx t/s systems to 7xx systems needs expansion. A copy of the foil showing pricing was not included in the handouts. A complete description of the hardware migration detail is needed. In particular: equivalent 7xx system 425t to 730 425t to 7xx next generation PA RISC top end We need a detailed schedule of the availability of hardware upgrades. IBP 24-1 RESPONSE: The following table summarizes the upgrades, their price, performance, and availability: From: To: List Price SPECmarks Orderable Available 425e 710 $5890 49.7 Today July 1 400dl/400t/425t 7xxt/33 $4890 >35 July 1 Q1'93 400dl/400t/425t 7xxt/50 $7390 >55 July 1 Q1'93 400s/425s/433s 7xxs/33 $4890 >35 July 1 Q1'93 400s/425s/433s 7xxt/50 $7390 >55 July 1 Q1'93 For S700 performance equivalents, see question 20-3 above. Your sales representative currently has the 425e to 710 upgrade Sales Guide information, with complete upgrade information. Following that we will have additional information at Interworks in August. IBP 24-2 What Domain-isms will be added to HPUX in '92? Which are planned for the future? IBP 24-2 RESPONSE: The Domain-isms in HP-UX (bundled) or available for HP-UX in 1992 are: - NCS - NetLS - DMX (a DM-like editor) - Omniback - Passwd/etc. client (a Domain server is required) - Apollo Token Ring (TCP/IP services only) We are also working on Apollo Pascal, RBAK and DDE debugger capabilities for HP-UX on the Series 700. These will not be delivered until 1993. These are early enough in development that details on levels of compatibility or product limitations will need to wait until later in the year. Note that we are currently offering an Apollo Pascal compiler on UX as a "special", which means that the product has not been subjected to the testing required for a standard HP product. Support for this special product must be obtained from the Workstation Specials organization. IBP 24-3 At NFS 2.3 it appears that administrators will have to maintain N /etc/exports files, 2*n*m or more mount/mount points. Where N is the total number of NFS linked workstations, n is the number of Domain OS workstations, and m is the number of HPUX workstations. Are any tools planned to handle this mess? IBP 24-3 RESPONSE: In NFS 2.3 /etc/damd handles this problem satisfactorily; in NFS 4.1, changes to Domain pathname parsing in pmlib and the standard /usr/etc/automount daemon handle the problem much more elegantly. IBP 24-4 At NFS 3.0 for Domain OS: How robust will the Automounter be? Will cron scripts that update NCS and NIS implementations in a mixed network be bi-directional? How? IBP 24-4 REPONSE: How robust will the automount daemon be? It's certainly our plan to make it very robust, and all current evidence indicates that it will be! I don't altogether understand the question about cron scripts: let me answer what I think may have been the underlying question. Our NIS implementation will *extend* the Registry by exporting or importing information. The former case corresponds to running the master YP server on the Registry master, and the latter case to running a slave YP server on the Registry master. The "how" part of the question would be difficult to answer in a few lines. Obviously there are standard (Domain) mechanisms to read information from the Registry, or to modify information information in the Registry, and we use those mechanisms. IBP 24-5 Please add an "Administering HPUX workstations in a Domain OS-HPUX Mixed Environment for Domain OS Administrators" course, 3-5 days. IBP 24-5 RESPONSE: A new HP-UX Workstation Administration for Domain Users course (part number HP H5364S) is now scheduled in the U.S. and Canada. This 5 day course is taught by Instructors experienced with Domain/OS and HP-UX system administration and explores key issues and solutions for interoperability. Call 1-800-HPCLASS in the U.S. or (416) 678-3048 in Canada for scheduled classes or for more information. IBP 25-1 As a follow up to the information I received through the Migration from Domain to HP-UX seminar, I did have another question. Our implementation of the Apollo architecture runs a proprietary Object-Oriented Database called VISION which is provided to use from Innovative Systems Techniques in Newton, Massachusetts. Our data base is approaching 2 gigabytes on a single DN10000. VISION requires mapped files. When will this feature be re-added to HP-UX? The original plan was for it to appear in HP-UX 9.0, but now I understand that it will not be added until a later release. This feature is the only reason that we have not made the port to HP-UX. IBP 25-1 REPONSE: Memory-mapped files are still planned for HP-UX 9.0. See IBP 9-6 for some of the other HP-UX 9.0 features. IBP 26-1 My question surrounds HP's DPC products DPCI-1 and DPCE. I currently have several licenses of each and wish to add more. I am aware that if I migrate to HP-UX I will need to convert the licenses I have into HP-UX compatible products. The workbook distributed at the Migration Planning Seminar indicates on pages 3 and 5 that a transfer fee of N/C and $100.00 respectively will exist. Apparently since March of this year HP no longer sells the DPCI-1 and DPCE products and has entered an agreement with another vendor (Micro Mechanics) for their sale and distribution. If I purchase additional licenses for DPCI-1 and DPCE from this other vendor will HP honor the amounts shown in the HP Migration Planning Seminar workbook for those additional licenses purchased? IBP 26-1 RESPONSE: The purpose of the Software Transfer Program is to minimize the expense of obtaining licenses to comparable functionality on HP-UX. The corresponding products on HP-UX for DPCI and DPCE are HP LanManager X and SoftPC. The transfer fee you quote refers to the cost of obtaining licenses to LanManager X and SoftPC on HP-UX, it does not refer to additional DPCI-1 and DPCE licenses. HP has transferred ongoing maintenance of the Domain PC integration products to Micro Mechanics. While HP has removed these products from its price list, we are continuing to offer maintenance on the products purchased from HP. Micro Mechanics is continuing to sell and enhance the products for Domain. HP will honor the trade up program for licenses of DPCI-1 and DPCE purchased from HP, as long as these licenses are under HP maintenance. Micro Mechanics as a third party is responsible for any credit or trade-in programs it provides to its customers. IBP 27-1 It has been leaked via "Open Systems Today" and a few other journals that HP might be the first defector to SRV4 and Unix International. Is this true? Are your long term plans to continue HP/UX development or to standardize on SRV4? IBP 27-1 RESPONSE: I'm afraid Open Systems Today got this one wrong. HP's plans are to continue to enhance HP-UX, while integrating new technologies as the market demands. Perhaps Open Systems Today was confused that one of our PRO (Precision RISC Organization) partners was doing an SVR4 port as part of their deployment plans. IBP 27-2 We saw commitment to put Domain-isms on HP/UX but what about commitment to HP/UX-isms on Domain? A plan to generate a complete NFS, RPC, NIS and all tools related to each of these should have a commitment from HP. IBP 27-2 RESPONSE: The specific items you mentioned are included in the release of Domain NFS 4.1 scheduled for the end of this year. At this release, we will be providing a full implementation of NFS, ONC RPCs, and NIS based on the ONC 4.1 industry standard. This release will be a update for customer on Domain NFS maintenance. IBP 27-3 What is the plan for 8mm tape support on HP-UX? IBP 27-3 REPONSE: Because HP has selected DAT as its strategic high capacity tape output device, we do not have plans to support the 8mm tape in HP-UX. It's our plan to work with third party companies to ensure that the device and drivers can be purchased for HPUX. IBP 28-1 When using a hpterm on UX, and telnetting to a Domain network, hpterm is an "unknown terminal type" and therefore vi doesn't work. Domain needs hpterm defined in the terminal definition files. IBP 28-1 RESPONSE: This is a common problem across all platforms. A quick workaround is to add the following line to your .profile and .cshrc file: stty echoe intr \^C kill \^U erase \^H susp \^Z Another common problem is with rlogin/telnet. If you try to login to a remote host, and you use a TERM type not known to the remote host, the keyboard and terminal interface cannot be properly setup. To interoperate between DomainOS, HP-UX, and SunOS, we would recommend using xterm. The xterm terminal type is known and understood by all three systems. While in the Display Manager, it is recommended you set the pad to vt100 prior to performing a remote login to an HP-UX or SunOS system. Currently, we don't have plans to change the Domain termcap files to include hpterm. However, we will investigate your suggestion of modifying the termcap files on domain to include an hpterm definition. IBP 28-2 I tried pricing out a transfer from Domain to UX and found the $500.00+ charge for media (cdrom) a little steep. Is this really reasonable? IBP 28-2 RESPONSE: There are two options for the HP-UX media and documentation kit. The version for $495 US includes the CDROM media; two installation guides; and two HPVUE documents. The $595 set includes these items and a hardware identification module (HP-HIL ID module) if you choose to use this method for identifying your workstation. We believe that these are reasonable charges for the media and documentation provided in the kits.