Predictive Support Changes in MPE iX 7.0 Express 1
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Commercial Systems Division R&D
Product Overview
The HP Predictive Support software (referred to as Predictive in the rest of this article) provides proactive hardware support and helps increase the uptime of your systems by monitoring system memory and disk/tape drives. When Predictive detects a potential problem, it sends a message to the HP Response Center. The Response Center portion of the system screens the data and forwards problems requiring further analysis to a Response Center Engineer. If action is needed at your site, the Response Center Engineer and a Customer Engineer will work with you to resolve the problem. This proactive hardware support is provided as part of your HP Hardware and Software Support Services Agreement.
Predictive accesses STM diagnostics in MPE iX 7.0 Express 1
Predictive uses the diagnostics platform to access memory and disk related information. Starting with MPE iX Release 6.5 and later, the diagnostics platform changed from sysdiag to Support Tools Manager (STM). For MPE iX 6.5, and the initial release of MPE iX 7.0, Predictive works with the sysdiag diagnostics, not the STM diagnostics, using a sysdiag library (DIAGXL.PRED.SYS). For versions of Predictive starting with MPE iX 7.0 Express I (patch OSPLXD2(B)), it directly accesses the STM diagnostics. By directly accessing the STM diagnostics, Predictive provides increased functionality, and improved accuracy of information provided to HP.
Required patches for Predictive on MPE iX 7.0 Express 1
The following patches are required for Predictive on MPE iX 7.0 Express 1 to function correctly. All of the listed patches (or a superseding patch) are on the PowerPatch tape provided with MPE iX 7.0 Express 1:
OSPLXD2(B) - This is the Predictive patch that provides the new Predictive functionality described in this article.
CONGD15(A) - This is a console driver patch that is required for Predictive to dial out on the system remote support modem.
MPELXM3(A) - This patch contains fixes from MPELXK6(A) which are required for the posix fork and exec functions to work properly
ODILXL6(A) - This patch contains fixes to the STM diagnostics that are required for Predictive to function correctly.
Predictive for MPE iX 7.0 Express I includes the following changes:
The Predictive version is B.70.02.
Predictive runs on 9x8, 9x9, 99x, A400, A500 and N4000 systems. Note that 9x7 systems are no longer supported on MPE iX 7.0, so they are not supported by Predictive.
Support for A and N class system memory. The sysdiag version of Predictive on the initial MPE iX 7.0 release disabled memory coverage on all A and N class systems.
Autoraid disk devices (such as the model 12H, XP256, XP512, etc.) are not covered by Predictive on MPE iX.
The Predictive DISCSCAN scanner is no longer available as of MPEiX 6.5. This is because DISCSCAN supported the older HPIB and HPFL devices. The interface cards for these devices are not supported on MPE iX 6.5 and MPE iX 7.0.
The Predictive Support MONitor (PSMON) changes from PSMON.PRED.SYS to PSMOND.PRED.SYS. The Predictive code from the HP-UX version of Predictive was leveraged to create the new version of Predictive. When HP-UX Predictive was ported from sysdiag to STM, PSMON was changed to PSMOND. This was carried forward into MPEiX 7.0 Express I. The new PSMOND monitor utilizes both the posix and MPE iX environments. The PSMOND monitor uses network sockets to communicate with the STM diagnostic monitor diagmond. This requires the addition of an entry in the SERVICES.NET.SYS file for psmond. The installation job for Predictive will attempt to add a psmond entry as socket number 1788, as follows:
psmond 1788/tcp # Predictive to STM diags
If there is already a psmond entry, the installation job will not attempt to add another one. If there is another service using socket number 1788, the installation job will add 10 to the service number (1798) and check if that service exists. The installation job will try incrementing the service number by 10 up to 50 times (service numbers 1788,1798,1808 thru 2278). If the install job is unable to find an unused number, an install error 201 will occur, and the operator will need to manually add a psmond entry to SERVICES.NET.SYS before the installation can continue.
The Predictive SCSI disk scanner (SCSISCNP.PRED.SYS) has been changed to improve the accuracy of disk failure detection. The SCSISCAN scanner on sherlock based versions of Predictive could only look at the logs residing on HP manufactured disks (such as HPC2490AM, HPC2474S, etc.). For OEM manufactured disks (Seagate, Quantum, IBM, etc.) SCSISCAN could only look at the system logfiles for errors that were logged for the individual disks.
The SCSISCAN scanner on the STM version of Predictive is able to look at the logs residing on both HP and OEM disks. This enables more accurate problem detection. Both the standard SCSI log pages and Growing Defect List are looked at.
The Predictive Support Monitor (PSMOND.PRED.SYS) startup model has changed. A new job named JPSMON.PRED.SYS was created to start PSMOND. To have Predictive monitor your system, JPSMON.PRED.SYS must always be running. We chose not to change the name of the job from JPSMON.PRED.SYS to JPSMOND.PRED.SYS so that customers would not have to change their existing environment. The sysstart.pub.sys file will not need to be modified, and if the JPSMON.PRED.SYS job is already incorporated into existing processes for starting and stopping the network, etc., they will not need to be changed.
A change that will be seen, is that the logon changes from:PSMON,MANAGER.SYS
or
PSMON,PREDMON.SYS
to:
PSMOND,PREDMON.SYS
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WARNING! If JPSMON.PRED.SYS is not running, Predictive will not perform the Scheduled daily run to monitor your system. |
:SHOWJOB JOB=PSMOND,PREDMON.SYS You should see one active job.The installation job for Predictive Support will attempt to place a "STREAM JPSMON.PRED.SYS" command in the system startup file (SYSSTART.PUB.SYS), after the STREAMS command. If this fails, then you should manually add a line to SYSSTART.PUB.SYS to stream the JPSMON.PRED.SYS job.
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NOTE: The sysstart must have a creator of MANAGER.SYS in order to be automatically executed during system startup. Additionally, the first line of sysstart should be the STARTUP directive. |
Startup
Limit 20,60
Jobfence 7
Spooler lp;start
Streams 10
Stream jstrtlan.sysmaint.sys
Stream jpsmon.pred.sys
**
The logon for the job PSMON.PRED.SYS was changed to the user PREDMON.SYS, which does not have AM, SM or PM capability, for enhanced security.
This was done because a job being streamed from the sysstart file must have existing passwords for user, account and group embedded.
The original logon was MANAGER.SYS, and it was perceived as a security violation to embed the MANAGER.SYS passwords. The install job will create the PREDMON user with OP,ND,SF,BA capabilities. The PREDMON.SYS user is NOT created with IA capability. Also, the JPSMON.PRED.SYS will have access restricted to (L,X:AC), so only the creator of the file (MANAGER.SYS), or a user with SM or AM (within the SYS account) could read the file and see the embedded passwords.
A warning message was added if JPSMON.PRED.SYS is not running when the PSCONFIG.PRED.SYS program is run. PSCONFIG uses the JOBINFO intrinsic to detect if a job is logged on as either "PSMOND,PREDMON.SYS" or "PSMOND,MANAGER.SYS". If there is not a job matching either of these names running, the following is displayed on the system console, and the users terminal:
****************************************
* WARNING: JPSMON.PRED.SYS IS NOT *
* RUNNING. PREDICTIVE CAN NOT *
* MONITOR THE SYSTEM WITHOUT *
* JPSMON.PRED.SYS RUNNING. *
* *
* To enable PREDICTIVE monitoring on *
* this system, :STREAM JPSMON.PRED.SYS *
****************************************
HP Predictive supports the following Disk models via SCSISCAN:
1 GB Disks DSP3107LS DSP3107LSW ST31200N ST31200W ST31230N ST31230W 2 GB Disks ST12400N ST12400W ST32171N ST32171W ST32272N ST32272W ST32272WC ST32272WD ST32550N ST32550W VP3215S VP3215SW XP32181S XP32181W XP32181WD 4 GB Disks DGHS04Y ST15150N ST15150W ST34371N ST34371W ST34572N ST34572W ST34572WC ST34572WD ST34573N ST34573W ST34573WC ST34573WD XP34361S XP34361W XP34361WD 9 GB disks DDYS-T09170 DDYS-Y091 DGHS09Y DMVS09 DMVS09D IC35L009UCD210 IC35L009UDC210 IC35L009UWD210 IC35L009XCD210 IC35L009XWD210 NEPS-309170W NEPS-309170Y ST19171N ST19171W ST19171WD ST19173N ST39102LC ST39103LC ST39103LW ST39103WC ST39173N ST39173W ST39173WC ST39173WD ST39175LC ST39175LW ST39175WC ST39176LC ST39176LW ST39204LC ST39204LW ST39205LC ST39205LW ST39216LWV ST39216N ST39216W ST39226LC ST39226LW ST39236LC ST39236LCV ST39236LW ST39236WD ST39251LC XP39100S XP39100W XP39100WD 18 GB disks DDYS-T18350M DMVS18 DMVS18D DRH18D DRHS18D DRHS18V IC35L018UCD210 IC35L018UCPR15 IC35L018UDC210 IC35L018UWD210 IC35L018UWPR15 IC35L018XCD210 IC35L018XCPR15 IC35L018XWD210 IC35L018XWPR15 MAJ3182MC NEPS-318350W NEPS-318350Y ST118202LC ST118202LW ST118202WC ST118273N ST118273WC ST118273WD ST18452LC ST318203LC ST318203LW ST318203WC ST318204LC ST318204LW ST318251LC ST318251LW ST318275LC ST318275LW ST318275WC ST318276LC ST318276LW ST318404LC ST318404LW ST318405LC ST318405LW ST318406LC ST318406LW ST318416N ST318417N ST318417W ST318426LC ST318426LW ST318432LC ST318432LW ST318436CV ST318436LC ST318436LW ST318436WV ST318437LC ST318437LW ST318451LC ST318451LW ST318452LC ST318452LW 36GB Disks DDYS-T36950M DRH36D DRHS36D DRHS36V IC35L036UCD210 IC35L036UCPR15 IC35L036UDC210 IC35L036UWD210 IC35L036UWPR15 IC35L036XCD210 IC35L036XCPR15 IC35L036XWD210 IC35L036XWPR15 MAJ3364MC MAJ3365MC ST136403LC ST136403LW ST136403WC ST136475LC ST136475LW ST136475WC ST336404LC ST336404LW ST336476LC ST336476LW ST336605LC ST336704LC ST336704LW ST336705LC ST336705LW ST336706LC ST336706LW ST336732LC ST336732LW ST336737LC ST336737LW ST336752LC ST336752LW ST373405LC ST373405LW 72GB disks IC35L072UCD210 IC35L072UDC210 IC35L072UWD210 IC35L072XCD210 IC35L072XWD210 ST172804LC ST172804LW ST173404LC ST173404LW ST373405LC ST373405LWThe following peripherals are no longer supported:
Any HPIB or FLEX Interface Disk, including but not limited to:
HPC2200A - 335MB HPIB Disk
HPC2202A - 670MB HPIB Disk
HPC2203A - 670MB HPIB Disk
HPC2281A - 335MB HPIB Disk
HPC2282A - 670MB HPIB Disk
HPC2201A - 670MB Flex Disk
HPC2204A - 1.34GB Flex Disk
The following SCSI disks are no longer supported:
HPC2460x - 420MB Disk
HPC2461x - 673 MB Disk
HPC2462x - 1.36GB Disk
HPC2470x - 234MB disk mechanism
HPC2471x - 328MB disk mechanism
HPC2472x - 422MB disk UPGRADE KIT
HPC2473x - 673MB Disk UPGRADE KIT
HPC2474R - 1.36GM C3 UPGRADE KIT
HPC3010M1 - 2GB SCSI Disk (As of April 30, 2000)
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