HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
HP DeskManager B.05.00 Enhancements
by Stuart Craig
Pinewood Information Systems Division
The latest version of HP DeskManager (B.05.00) is now available and
includes the following major enhancements.
TRANSPORT
The following enhancements have been made to the transport system
provided by HP DeskManager.
Network Services (NS) Transport
The ability to configure NS connections with adjacent computers, and to
utilize the new NS Transport mechanism. Fully qualified NS Node names
can be used to identify remote systems. It is no longer necessary to
store passwords of remote systems on the local database, improving system
security and reducing the administration involved with changing
passwords. New operator commands exist to enable and disable NS Slave
trucks, and MAILSTATUS now shows receiving truck status.
Optionally, the IP Address of the remote computer can be specified. It
is included to allow customers to improve security, as it can be used to
check to ensure against unauthorized applications masquerading as Master
Trucks.
The following UDCs for NS & DS transport are modified:
* MAILON Starts the NS slave process in addition the the DS slave
and other processes.
* MAILSLAVEON Starts the NS slave monitor in addition to enabling
the DS slave.
* MAILSLAVEOFF Stops the NS monitor process and disables the DS
Slave.
The following UDCs have been added:
* MAILNSSLAVEON Starts just the NS slave monitor process.
* MAILNSSLAVEOFF Stops just the NS slave monitor process.
* MAILDSSLAVEON Enables just the DS slaves.
* MAILDSSLAVEOFF Disables just the DS slaves.
The MAILSTATUS UDC includes an extra line to show whether the NS
transport subsystem for receiving mail is running. In addition, there
will be one line for each incoming NS Slave Truck, identifying the
sending computer and mailnode being serviced.
NOTE Communication using NS transport is available only between one
HP`DeskManager/DeskManagerPLUS version B.05.00 system and another.
DS communication must continue to be used to link HP DeskManager/
DeskManagerPLUS B.05.00 to pre B.05.00 versions of the product.
Enhanced Transport Controls
The limit on the maximum number of master trucks running on a system has
been increased from 8 to 36. To complement this increase, the ability to
start and stop additional Master Trucks is provided, thus allowing the
number of concurrent Master Trucks to be adjusted dynamically without the
need to restart the entire Transport system. Two new operator commands,
^FDSTARTMTRUCKS'' and ^FDSTOPMTRUCKS'' are available for this purpose.
Previously, if a Master Truck hung while sending to a remote node,
messages for that node were blocked until the transport system was
restarted. With DeskManager B.05.00, once a hung Master Truck has been
identified, the ability to disable it and release the associated mailnode
and computer, and to schedule around the hung truck is provided using a
new operator command, DISABLEMTRUCK.
Return-to-sender facility
DeskManager B.05.00 features a new mechanism, available by default, to
control what is returned to the sender of a message when it is found that
one or more names in the Distribution List are unable to be resolved.
The default is to return the original message to the sender with an
informative message attached giving the reason for non-delivery.
USER INTERFACE
The following enhanced functionality is available with the DeskManager
B.05.00 release:
New Script functions
DeskManager B.05.00 introduces formal support for some previously
unsupported Script Active functions and Directives, and introduces some
new capabilities. The result of this is better integration of
applications and the ability to do more sophisticated operations.
New (or previously unsupported) Script Directives:
* &AB - allows abbreviations of commonly used commands to be set up.
* &BREAK - enables and disables the Break key.
* &CALLFATHER - forces the HP DeskManager User Interface program to
suspend and activate its father process. This is to allow data
passing where HP DeskManager is invoked as a son process, rather
than the other way around. The father process calling HP
DeskManager is able to use the application umbrella as if it were
a son of the HP DeskManager User Interface.
* &NOECHO - provides the same function as &ECHO 0. That is it
disables echo of each script command as it is executed
* &STORE - allows the archiving of a complete folder to an MPE file
in internal HP DeskManager format.
* &RESTORE - provides the reverse function of &STORE
* &SIGNON - provides the means to set up a Script which is
automatically executed each time the user signs on.
* &DPAGELNGTH - allows setting of page length for diary displays, in
the same way &PAGELENGTH is used for other parts of the product.
* NOCLOSEBRAC - provides a means to allow the usage of "("
characters in following active functions (for example within
escape sequences). This option prevents the parsing algorithm
from supplying erroneously a matching ")" which could invalidate
the sequence.
New (or previously unsupported) Script Active functions:
* <CREATED {item}> - returns the date that an item was created, in
days relative to the current date.
* <ATTDATE {item}> - returns the date that an item was attached to
its parent item, again in days relative to the current date.
* Provides variable substitution with the + string facility.
* <MPEXL> - returns true (1) if the processor on which the script is
running is an MPE/iX machine; otherwise it returns false (0).
An example of the use of some of these new script capabilities would be a
script to delete messages from the intray created before a certain date.
User Password Controls
HP DeskManager B.05.00 introduces controls which allow the systems
administrator to enforce the usage of passwords, with the following new
functions:
The administrator may use a new Passwords screen in MAILCONFIG to:
* censure users set a password.
* specify a minimum length and minimum composition requirements.
* set expiration dates on passwords to ensure users change their
passwords after a specified time.
NOTE The new password controls will not apply when HP DeskManager is run
as a batch job or for HP DeskManager Intrinsics users. Current
versions of HP AdvanceMail and HP NewWave Mail also do not provide
support for the new controls.
Hooks for ISO7 Support
DeskManager B.05.00 includes an extension to the previous converter
mechanism, whereby character set converters can be integrated, thus
allowing specially written converter programs to handle the translation
issues. This functionality will be particularly useful for customers
wishing to use ISO7, a variant of ASCII, whereby certain characters are
interpreted and displayed as country-specific characters. The mechanism
allows converters to be integrated with the DeskManager User Interface,
providing:
* The permanent conversion of "Text Compatible" items, such as TEXT
and HPSLATE in the Work Area to an alternative character set.
* The temporary conversion of TEXT items as they are read or printed
in any area.
CONFIGURATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The following enhancements have been made to configuration and
administration for the DeskManager B.05.00 release:
* It is possible to configure in batch using MAILUTIL local data
that could only be accessed by MAILCONFIG.
* New transactions are introduced that allow configuration of (for
example) local user passwords, capabilities, computer/gateway
details, etc.
NOTE With HP DeskManager B.05.00, the batch transaction formats used by
MAILUTIL and *ADMIN have been enhanced over those used in version
B.03.R0. In particular, the width of transaction records has been
extended from 72 to 80 characters. As a result, this causes
problems with text editors, such as TDP and EDIT/3000, which keep
line numbers in these columns. The solution is to save such files
as unnumbered, for example, by using the "k fname,unn" option
within TDP and EDIT/3000.
MISCELLANEOUS ENHANCEMENTS
* A new command, LOOKUP is available at any prompt in DeskManager,
so that the user can search the directory independently from
sending a message or creating a distribution list. The user may
scan down the directory of names or may supply a name and have
alternatives supplied if the name is non-unique. Extra user
information will also be returned, if configured by the system
administrator.
* Enhanced editing of distribution lists of Replies and
Replies-to-all allows the creator of the reply to add his own name
and also CCs and BCCs to the Distribution List.
* When the user enters a distribution list name at one of the TO..
prompts, HP DeskManager B.05.00 offers the choice of retaining
categories within the list, or the (pre B.05.00) action of giving
them all the category of the current prompt. The User Profile is
used to select whether the choice is offered.
* If selected from the User Profile, any extra user attributes which
may have been configured (such as job title, extension number,
company site) can now be displayed when adding names to
distribution lists.
* The display of messages is altered so that the original creator of
a forwarded message can be displayed without the user opening the
message and reading the individual parts. This feature is
selectable from the User Profile.
* The List command has been extended, and now includes:
* LIST NEW
* LIST URGENT
* LIST PRIVATE
* LIST FROM <Creator name>
* The PASSEDIT password program that runs in batch mode, thus
allowing further improvement to centralized administration.
* Support for the removal of a sort-chain from the Global Database,
which significantly improves the performance of the batch-update
mechanics when manipulating user names.
* Improved VT LAN performance for terminal users.
* MAILSTREAM enhanced to support date and times.