HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
HP Software Integration Sockets/XL Enhancements
by Dan Kaplan
Cooperative Computing Systems Operation
HP Software Integration Sockets (HP Sockets) is a software tool that
allows you to integrate new and existing applications in a network of
MPE/iX and HP-UX computers. HP Sockets provides flexible data transfer,
transformation, manipulation and process control. You can use HP Sockets
to connect applications on the same computer or on different computers
across a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN).
Release A.02.00 of HP Sockets/XL adds the system administration
capability to MPE/iX systems, so that network access to an HP-UX computer
running HP Sockets/UX is no longer required. Any software developed
using the HP Sockets/XL Release A.01.10 Access Routines runs with release
A.02.00 without relinking
PRODUCT FEATURES The following list describes the features of HP Sockets:
* comprehensive, program-to-program communication capabilities
* high performance data translation, manipulation and record
reformatting
* programmatic start and stop of local and remote processes
* simple yet powerful application program interface (API)
* system management and administration of integration environment
PRODUCT BENEFITS The following list describes the benefits of HP Sockets:
* provides unparalleled flexibility in software configuration
* has minimal impact on existing applications
* allows incremental integration with low entry cost
* builds sophisticated interfaces faster with minimal programming
* reduces learning curve required to write interfaces
* eliminates network interfacing within the application
* has a distributed system for high performance
* has distributed administration nodes to eliminate central failure
points
* drastically reduces maintenance and support costs for integrated
systems
* reduces custom code content of integrated systems
ACCOUNT STRUCTURE The HP Software Integration Sockets product must be
installed in the HPSKTS account. If you have an existing HPSKTS account
on your system, please rename it. During the installation, HP Software
Integration Sockets creates an account, HPSKTS, and a few groups within
that account. The product is installed into that account.
OTHER REQUIREMENTS AND DEPENDENCIES The following information describes
the other requirements and dependencies surrounding HP Sockets:
Network HP-UX machines and MPE/iX machines in the same HP Sockets domain
must be connected by the same LAN. MPE/iX machines must have Network
Services (NS) software installed. Loopback must be initiated for the
MPE/iX system by executing the NETCONTROL NET=LOOP;START command prior to
issuing the :NSCONTROL START command. Both of these commands require NM
capability and probably needs to be issued from the operator's console.
HP-UX HP Sockets/XL release A.02.00 is fully compatible with HP
Sockets/UX release A.02.00. It is not compatible with any earlier
version of HP Sockets on either HP-UX or MPE/iX. This means that all
computers in the same HP Sockets domain must have HP Sockets upgraded to
A.02.00 at the same time. After performing this upgrade, the
configuration should be validated and restarted (see the HP Software
Integration Sockets System Administrator's Manual 92568-90002, for
details on how to do this.)
Software At least one MPE/iX machine must have the following software
installed:
HP C/XL language compiler
Link Editor
If your MPE/iX system is used for development of HP Sockets application
adaptors in FORTRAN, COBOL, or Pascal, you must also install compilers
for those languages.
RINs You must configure enough Resource Identification Numbers (RIN) for
your MPE/iX system. HP Sockets/XL uses 7 local RINs.
Job Limit HP Sockets programs (including the HP Sockets Management
Daemon, SMD) run in one job. Once your network starts up, the SMD should
always be running. You may have to adjust the job limit for your MPE/iX
system.
Sessions Each program to be started using the SpStartProcess procedure
uses one session. You may need to adjust the number of sessions allowed,
according to the number of processes started, using SpStartProcess and
running simultaneously. The maximum such number can be calculated by
counting the entries in the PROCDEF file for processes configured to the
MPE/iX node. In any case, the absolute maximum number of simultaneously
running processes on any given node that HP Sockets allows is 225.
File Descriptors Each program calling SpInit on an MPE/iX node uses two
message files, one for normal messages and one for message or file
notification and process stopping. You must allow three file descriptors
for each such program for HP Sockets usage: one for each of the message
files, and one for the mapped file that gets checked (by reading a flag)
whether or not HP Sockets is running.
POST INSTALLATION In order to use HP Sockets/XL, the HP Sockets
Management Daemon (SMD) program must be running. We recommend that you
start the SMD by streaming the job file STARTSMD.PUB.HPSKTS after the
network services have been started. The job file contains the following
lines:
!job startsmd,mgr.hpskts/sapphire;pri=cs
!run smd.pub.hpskts
!eoj
The passwords should be changed to the passwords you set on the HPSKTS
account and MGs user. For more information about administrating the HP
Sockets systems, please reference the HP Software Integration Sockets
System Administrator's Manual (92568-90002).
Make sure that networking has been started before running the SMD, and
that loop back has been started. Typically the commands to do this are:
:netcontrol net=lan1;start
:netcontrol net=loop;start
:nscontrol start^s
These commands require NM capability and probably needs to be issued from
the operator's console.
Before shutting the networking down (by issuing a nscontrol stop), please
make sure that HP Sockets/XL has been shut down, and the SMD job has been
killed in that order.
UPGRADE INSTRUCTIONS If you are upgrading from version A.01.10 to version
A.02.00, there are two steps to perform after installing the new HP
Sockets/XL software.
First, roll over any HP Sockets/XL internal files by executing the
following commands:
:HELLO MGR.HPSKTS <<-- Including your passwords
:RUN PARAMROL.PUB.HPSKTS;info="SPPARAMS.PUB.HPSKTS 800"
:RUN SMDROLL.PUB.HPSKTS;info="SMDNDSTA.PUB.HPSKTS"
:RUN SPOOLROL.PUB.HPSKTS;info="INTERNAL.HPSKTS"
Second, you should revalidate your configuration before starting up the
HP Sockets domain from the administration node.
ENHANCEMENTS FOR A.02.00 All HP Sockets Manager (smain) system
administration functions can now be performed on an MPE/iX machine. This
allows you to have an HP Sockets domain that consists only of MPE/iX
machines.
The network port addresses used by HP Sockets can now be configured when
starting up SMD.PUB.HPSKTS.
Various timeout values can now be set using the changeparm command in
smain.pub.hpskts. These timeout values affect the internal timeouts used
by HP Sockets for network events, and allow adjustment for time delays on
your local or wide area network.
The SpSendMsg access routine has an additional flag value
(SpINACTIVE_NOSEND_FLAG) that allows a sending adaptor to determine
whether a receiving adaptor is currently running.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION The HP Software Integration Sockets Self-Paced
Tutorial for MPE XL and MPE/iX (92616-90004) introduces the basic
features of HP Sockets.
For a more in-depth description of the features supported by HP Sockets,
order the the following manuals:
* HP Software Integration Sockets System Administrator's Manual
(92568-90002)
* HP Software Integration Sockets Programmer's Manual (92568-90001)
* HP Software Integration Sockets Access Routine Reference^s
(92568-90025).