INFO-VAX Wed, 03 Jan 2007 Volume 2007 : Issue 6 Contents: Re: Alpha console ANSI colour support ? Re: Announcment from OpenVMS Engineering - Daylight Saving Time changes Re: Announcment from OpenVMS Engineering - Daylight Saving Time changes Re: Connectivity to SQL Server from Existing COBOL Apps Re: Getting cluster to ignore temporary loss of ethernet ? Re: PWR SWitch om XP1000 Re: PWR SWitch om XP1000 Re: Run command file from PC Re: Run command file from PC Re: Run command file from PC SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Suggestions for F$GETDVI Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Re: vmware VMS ISO ? Re: VT100 LED and BEEP frequencies Re: VT100 LED and BEEP frequencies Re: VT100 LED and BEEP frequencies What method(s) to connect to VMS from Mac OS X through X11? Re: What method(s) to connect to VMS from Mac OS X through X11? Re: What method(s) to connect to VMS from Mac OS X through X11? Re: What method(s) to connect to VMS from Mac OS X through X11? Re: ZX6000 server with hung system firmware Re: ZX6000 server with hung system firmware ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 14:09:34 GMT From: "Jeffrey H. Coffield" Subject: Re: Alpha console ANSI colour support ? Message-ID: David J Dachtera wrote: > That's a useful technique - I use it myself, but can be stymied/thwarted by > applications which insist on asking questions at system startup time. > What application would ask a question in the system startup that you wouldn't be able to put in the answer to the question? I've not run into this. Jeff Coffield ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 07:37:29 -0600 From: koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) Subject: Re: Announcment from OpenVMS Engineering - Daylight Saving Time changes Message-ID: In article <1167828877.536318.111530@48g2000cwx.googlegroups.com>, "tadamsmar" writes: > > What if we don't upgrade from 7.2-1? Any consequences? > Your C RTL may need help for a couple of months each year, if you have applications that care about with timezones and DST changes. Note: your IP stack may be supported if you only need to worry about IP-accessable systems in different timezones. On some of my systems Multinet includes the only appplications I have that care about DST and timezones. A new timezones.local file will be good enough for mine. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 06:24:14 -0800 From: "tadamsmar" Subject: Re: Announcment from OpenVMS Engineering - Daylight Saving Time changes Message-ID: <1167834254.492484.323520@n51g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> Bob Koehler wrote: > In article <1167828877.536318.111530@48g2000cwx.googlegroups.com>, "tadamsmar" writes: > > > > What if we don't upgrade from 7.2-1? Any consequences? > > > > Your C RTL may need help for a couple of months each year, if you > have applications that care about with timezones and DST changes. > > Note: your IP stack may be supported if you only need to worry about > IP-accessable systems in different timezones. On some of my systems > Multinet includes the only appplications I have that care about DST > and timezones. A new timezones.local file will be good enough for > mine. Thanks, I think we are OK there, no timezone/DST awareness except for the offset in hours. We use NTP to set the time on the 7.2-1 systems and we schedule the DST changeover ourselves. That all should still work. Looks like for the 7.3-2 systems I can just use the latest PCSI and UPDATE patches. UPDATE now include TZ and all dependencies. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 09:13:38 -0800 From: "Tracy" Subject: Re: Connectivity to SQL Server from Existing COBOL Apps Message-ID: <1167844418.051530.109240@48g2000cwx.googlegroups.com> Richard, Are you on some kind of experimental allergy medication? Nothing you say makes any sense at all. I am under no illusions about either the scope or feasibility of this migration project, I'm just exploring options, one of which is database redirection. If it were possible, it would make a great deal of sense, both in terms of the hosting of our big iron and the Rdb licenses we currently pay for. I am actually exploring some rather expensive options as well, including a full migration by Transoft. So there goes the "doing it cheap" meme out the window. I'm not a big Covey devotee, but one thing he pushes makes a lot of sense, and may be something you'd like to remember: Seek first to understand. Regards, Tracy Richard Maher wrote: > Hi Tracy, > > Well you've obviously thought all this through; that's the main thing! > > Just curious, but: - > > 1) Is "Tracy" your real name? (and not just on weekends) > > 2) Are you working for some dodgy Bangalore outsourcer who's promised the > earth for a song and hasn't the faintest idea of how to deliver? (Or is this > a home-grown version of F-Troop and We're-the-Fakawwee anyway?) Don't worry! > It'll be ages before anyone works out what a waste of time this is, and then > they'll go back to what they were doing before and you get to keep all those > consultancy dollars; win-win! Still, you've managed to extract the Rdb > metadata and build a SQL Server database, so you've gotta be 90% there, > right? > > 3) Please tell me the name of the tin-pot, piece-o'-shit company that this > "work" is being undertaken for!!! In particular, please give me the name of > someone in their compliance dept! (God forbid it's a publicly listed company > and shareholders money is relying on you blokes with the red noses and > oversized shoes) > > 4) Still, I have no doubt that you are the first person to ever attempt to > move a VMS application to Windows so just keep pushing it up that hill. I > mean how hard can it be? "Doing it cheap" *is* "Doing it right"! > > Regards Richard Maher > > "Tracy" wrote in message > news:1167780782.631841.153250@42g2000cwt.googlegroups.com... > > We have a set of existing COBOL apps on an OpenVMS server and would > > like to know if it is possible to redirect the database calls to an > > equivalent SQL Server database running on Windows. As a first step > > toward porting our apps away from VMS we'd like to recreate the > > database on Windows. We have already acquired the ODBC Rdb drivers and > > are able to port the database metadata and data to Windows. That part > > is solved. But is there a simple way to just "point" the Rdb calls to > > the new SQL Server database? Thanks for your help > > ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 01:09:47 -0800 From: "Bart.Zorn@gmail.com" Subject: Re: Getting cluster to ignore temporary loss of ethernet ? Message-ID: <1167815387.640101.18410@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.com> The assumption was here that the network (the only cluster interconnect) was not available at the time the node in question crases and reboots. At that moment it cannot see any other cluster members and it will create a new cluster instance. Bart Jur van der Burg wrote: > >The rebooting node will create a new instance of the cluster, because > >it cannot see any other active cluster members. Next it will continue > >or hang, depending on the VOTES and EXPECTED_VOTES settings. > > I have to disagree on that one. It will see the other cluster members, > but will wait until the wait condition (quorum for example) is resolved. > Then it will join the existing cluster. > > Setting RECNXINTERVAL to a big value is no issue, as long as you do > it on all nodes. I regularly set it to about an hour or so if I play > with Xdelta in a cluster to prevent premature reboots. > > Jur. > > > Bart.Zorn@gmail.com wrote: > > The rebooting node will create a new instance of the cluster, because > > it cannot see any other active cluster members. Next it will continue > > or hang, depending on the VOTES and EXPECTED_VOTES settings. > > > > When the network comes back up, the other nodes will crash with a > > CLUEXIT, because they find out that there is an other instance of the > > cluster there where they expect their own instance. > > > > In other words, when one node crashes during the switch reboot, all > > will crash. However, if you can halt the crashing node before it can > > reboot, and wait with the reboot until after the network is back up, it > > will just re-join the existing cluster. > > > > Regards, > > > > Bart Zorn > > > > JF Mezei wrote: > >> Malcolm Dunnett wrote: > >>> A large value for RECNXINTERVAL is the simplest way to address this. The > >>> downside is that it will make a legitimate cluster transition ( eg when one > >>> node crashes ) take longer. > >> What happens if you have a RECNXINTERVAL set to say 5 minutes, a node > >> crashes and reboots within that time period ? what will the rest of the > >> cluster say when that node asks to join the cluster when the rest of the > >> cluster still thinks that node is alread in the cluster ? > >> > >> In terms of my own needs, since this appears to be a dynamic sysgen > >> parameter, I guess when I plan some system maintenance, I can use SYSMAN to > >> execute a sysgen script to change the active value of RECNXINTERVAL to some > >> high limit, and then once the switch maintenance is done, does it back to > >> its normal limit. > > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 05:51:26 -0800 From: "Tom Linden" Subject: Re: PWR SWitch om XP1000 Message-ID: On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:55:35 -0800, Alan Frisbie wrote: > Tom Linden wrote: >> Just got back from Palm Desert. While away I had left 3 XP1000's, >> a VAX and a DS10L running in the cluster. Owing to our annual winter >> storms we had a several power outages here in Pebble Beach. After >> the first outage the systems rebooted. There were apparently several >> other outages and when I returned I noticed that all the power switches >> on the XP1000's were dark. Not so on the VAX or DS10L. Depressing the >> switches restored things to normal. Anybody expreience this with these >> machines? Is this a known bug? AUTO_ACTION is set to RESTART. > > I had the same thing happen twice with my XP1000. I have a > UPS, but it is only good for about 15 minutes with all the > stuff I have hung on it. I never did figure out the problem. I can't say I figured it out, but I believe that the Power Supply in this unit is not as well designed. Wasn't this box designed by a Compaq team to run windows? > > Alan -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 08:07:45 -0800 From: "johnhreinhardt@yahoo.com" Subject: Re: PWR SWitch om XP1000 Message-ID: <1167840465.268242.37400@k21g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> Tom Linden wrote: > I can't say I figured it out, but I believe that the Power Supply in this > unit is not as well designed. Wasn't this box designed by a Compaq team > to run windows? Yep. Mostly anyway. The system design was not done by the usual group. It was done by the Compaq workstation group. Windows NT, Tru64 and OpenVMS were options, but the later 667MHz version was only offered with Tru64 and OpenVMS. By then Windows NT was not supported. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 02:52:43 -0800 From: "Ian Miller" Subject: Re: Run command file from PC Message-ID: <1167821563.133079.259870@i12g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> rexec/rsh If you are using HP TCPIP Services for OpenVMS product then see http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/732FINAL/6525/6525pro_006.html#remote_chap ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 11:58:25 +0100 From: "The MIp" Subject: Re: Run command file from PC Message-ID: "Mandi" wrote in message news:enftcp$6m1$1@news2.netvision.net.il... > How can I call a command file from a PC (from a dos box or from win32 > application) that would run on the VAX? > I have UCX on the VAX and both computers communicate via TCP/IP. > > Thanks > > Mandi > > REXEC REXEC host [-l username] [-n] command the sad thing is that it will prompt you for password from keyboard ! no switch ( like -p password ) - the mip ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 07:50:41 -0600 From: koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) Subject: Re: Run command file from PC Message-ID: In article , "Mandi" writes: > How can I call a command file from a PC (from a dos box or from win32 > application) that would run on the VAX? > I have UCX on the VAX and both computers communicate via TCP/IP. You'll need one of the following: 1) ssh on the PC to execute a command on VMS which will run the command file 2) rshell to do the above instead of ssh 3) an FTP server on VMS which includes a spawn command (I'm not sure which IP stack you're using, Multinet includes this) In addition, you'll have to figure out how to access the above from your application, or include the client end of the protocol for one of them within the application. Since ssh can be configured to use authentication methods that don't require transmitting passwords, or at least to transmit them encrypted, I'd prefer it. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:33:46 GMT From: Jack Patteeuw Subject: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Message-ID: I need to copy a "text file" (something created with TPU, like LOGIN.COM) from VMS to Windows. SFTP /SCP (part of the PuTTY suite) has various documented issues. WinSCP copies the file, but of course it does it in binary mode. I have tried CONVERTing the file to StreamCR, StreamLF and Stream before downloading with WinSCP but none produce a file that Windows Notepad "likes". ZIPing the the original and all of the variants, plus a MIME encoded copy, and downloading the ZIP archive did not help matters, even though WinZIP claims it understands MIME. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 06:42:46 -0500 From: Jack Patteeuw Subject: Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Message-ID: Once you find the text option in WinSCP it works just fine ! Interesting, because I thought that SFTP / SCP protocol did not handle "ascii" like FTP does ???? Jack Patteeuw wrote: > I need to copy a "text file" (something created with TPU, like > LOGIN.COM) from VMS to Windows. > > SFTP /SCP (part of the PuTTY suite) has various documented issues. > > WinSCP copies the file, but of course it does it in binary mode. > > I have tried CONVERTing the file to StreamCR, StreamLF and Stream before > downloading with WinSCP but none produce a file that Windows Notepad > "likes". > > ZIPing the the original and all of the variants, plus a MIME encoded > copy, and downloading the ZIP archive did not help matters, even though > WinZIP claims it understands MIME. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 07:54:03 -0600 From: koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) Subject: Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Message-ID: <5Ve3yI7Sx4yH@eisner.encompasserve.org> In article , Jack Patteeuw writes: > I need to copy a "text file" (something created with TPU, like > LOGIN.COM) from VMS to Windows. > > SFTP /SCP (part of the PuTTY suite) has various documented issues. > > WinSCP copies the file, but of course it does it in binary mode. > > I have tried CONVERTing the file to StreamCR, StreamLF and Stream before > downloading with WinSCP but none produce a file that Windows Notepad > "likes". I've been doing this with WinSCP, the PuTTY suite, and Filezilla. I think I like Filezilla the best (at least for now), but I depend on Windows Wordpad or emacs to deal with the document, not Notepad. Probably the easiest thing to dois change the default Open application from Notepad to Wordpad. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 07:54:55 -0600 From: koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) Subject: Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Message-ID: In article , Jack Patteeuw writes: > Once you find the text option in WinSCP it works just fine ! > > Interesting, because I thought that SFTP / SCP protocol did not handle > "ascii" like FTP does ???? Originally it didn't. It's feeling much better now, but the PuTTY suite still doesn't embrace it. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 05:56:47 -0800 From: "Tom Linden" Subject: Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Message-ID: On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 05:54:55 -0800, Bob Koehler wrote: > In article , Jack > Patteeuw writes: >> Once you find the text option in WinSCP it works just fine ! >> >> Interesting, because I thought that SFTP / SCP protocol did not handle >> "ascii" like FTP does ???? > > Originally it didn't. It's feeling much better now, but the PuTTY > suite still doesn't embrace it. > One other difference is that if you copy files from VMS to Windows it doesn't eliminate the version number as does ftp (at least taking to hgftp) -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 09:30:11 -0600 (CST) From: sms@antinode.org (Steven M. Schweda) Subject: Re: SCP / SFTP from Windows to VMS Message-ID: <07010309301120_2020028F@antinode.org> From: Jack Patteeuw > I need to copy a "text file" (something created with TPU, like > LOGIN.COM) from VMS to Windows. > > SFTP /SCP (part of the PuTTY suite) has various documented issues. Are these "issues" anything like "problems"? > WinSCP copies the file, but of course it does it in binary mode. > > I have tried CONVERTing the file to StreamCR, StreamLF and Stream before > downloading with WinSCP but none produce a file that Windows Notepad > "likes". Knowing little, I'd expect Windows to want CR-LF line endings, and Stream should provide that. Have you looked at the bytes on the VMS system and on the Windows system to see what's actually happening? > ZIPing the the original and all of the variants, plus a MIME encoded > copy, and downloading the ZIP archive did not help matters, even though > WinZIP claims it understands MIME. Using what on the Windows system to UnZip the archive? I don't use it on Windows, but around here, Info-ZIP UnZip has options like ("unzip -h"): -a auto-convert any text files -aa treat ALL files as text which might help some. But I wouldn't expect Zip-UnZip to be needed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Steven M. Schweda sms@antinode-org 382 South Warwick Street (+1) 651-699-9818 Saint Paul MN 55105-2547 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 04:41:03 -0500 From: JF Mezei Subject: Suggestions for F$GETDVI Message-ID: <3575$459b7a56$cef8887a$21654@TEKSAVVY.COM> It is documented in the FAQ that F$GETCVI(disk,"MOUNTCNT") is "broken". It doesn't report the cluster mount count, which is what people expect. Perhaps they could add CNTMOUNT which would report the real mount count (the one we need). Secondly, Say you have a boot node, it should be possible for it to find out if shutting down would deprive service to a number of satellites that depend on its system disk (with not ALT_HOST_AVAIL). I.E. not enough to just find out how many nodes have your system disk mounted, but one would want to know how many have it mounted as their system disk. Reasoning: when shutting down a system, great care must be taken to properly dismount the disks either locally only, or clusterwide, and when some disks are mounted as system disks, the dismount command fails. And if you're going to implement them, it would be useful to see them retrofitted in 7.3 VAX so that such procedures could run on a whole cluster and not requiring special, paired down, versions for vax nodes in a cluster. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 06:30:54 -0500 From: Bob Willard Subject: Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Message-ID: David J Dachtera wrote: > Arne Vajhøj wrote: > >>AEF wrote: >> >>>Arne Vajhøj wrote: >>> >>>>David J Dachtera wrote: >>>> >>>>>Bill Gunshannon wrote: >>>>> >>>>>>Not in the real world. Good enough doesn't cut it when someone higher >>>>>>than you says, "The corporate standard is MS Word." >>>>> >>>>>...until the(ir next) multi-billion-dollar outage due to malware. Then, the >>>>>higher-ups face turn-over while the workers bees burn the midnight oil to clean >>>>>up the mess. >>>> >>>>There were some real bad incidents 3-5 years ago. >>>> >>>>No move from Windows then. >>>> >>>>Now the MIS departments has tightened security. >>> >>>You mean like requiring 6-character passwords to now be "complex"? >>>Yeah, that'll stop 'em!!! ;-) >>> >>>OK, maybe they're actually doing some more useful things. >> >>More as in: >> min 8 characters >> min 1 uppercase >> min 1 lowercase >> min 1 digit >> min 1 punctuation > > > (read: impossible to remember, guaranteed to be written down and subsequently > compromised) > Bu11$hit -- Cheers, Bob ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 12:04:06 GMT From: bill@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) Subject: Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Message-ID: <501kdmF1dnt0lU1@mid.individual.net> In article <459B1C78.6336F3C4@spam.comcast.net>, David J Dachtera writes: > Arne Vajhøj wrote: >> >> AEF wrote: >> > Arne Vajhøj wrote: >> >> David J Dachtera wrote: >> >>> Bill Gunshannon wrote: >> >>>> Not in the real world. Good enough doesn't cut it when someone higher >> >>>> than you says, "The corporate standard is MS Word." >> >>> ...until the(ir next) multi-billion-dollar outage due to malware. Then, the >> >>> higher-ups face turn-over while the workers bees burn the midnight oil to clean >> >>> up the mess. >> >> There were some real bad incidents 3-5 years ago. >> >> >> >> No move from Windows then. >> >> >> >> Now the MIS departments has tightened security. >> > >> > You mean like requiring 6-character passwords to now be "complex"? >> > Yeah, that'll stop 'em!!! ;-) >> > >> > OK, maybe they're actually doing some more useful things. >> >> More as in: >> min 8 characters >> min 1 uppercase >> min 1 lowercase >> min 1 digit >> min 1 punctuation > > (read: impossible to remember, guaranteed to be written down and subsequently > compromised) Sorry to disappoint you but I don't have mine written down and I have no problem remembering it. The same was true of the last 3 as we are also now required to change it at regular intervals. People who wrote them down dis so even when they were allowed to be short and letters only. Of course, you shuld also add into that the fact that we can also use our CAC (SmartCard) for logging in. bill -- Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves bill@cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. University of Scranton | Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 05:50:40 -0800 From: "AEF" Subject: Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Message-ID: <1167832240.731568.243390@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.com> Arne Vajh=F8j wrote: > AEF wrote: > > Arne Vajh=F8j wrote: > >> David J Dachtera wrote: > >>> Bill Gunshannon wrote: > >>>> Not in the real world. Good enough doesn't cut it when someone high= er > >>>> than you says, "The corporate standard is MS Word." > >>> ...until the(ir next) multi-billion-dollar outage due to malware. The= n, the > >>> higher-ups face turn-over while the workers bees burn the midnight oi= l to clean > >>> up the mess. > >> There were some real bad incidents 3-5 years ago. > >> > >> No move from Windows then. > >> > >> Now the MIS departments has tightened security. > > > > You mean like requiring 6-character passwords to now be "complex"? > > Yeah, that'll stop 'em!!! ;-) > > > > OK, maybe they're actually doing some more useful things. > > More as in: > min 8 characters > min 1 uppercase > min 1 lowercase > min 1 digit > min 1 punctuation > > Or as in email scanners that removes all EXE, BAT etc. from attached > ZIP files in inbound email. > > Arne It turns out that you get a lot more bang for the buck by requiring longer passwords. Complex passwords are not that much harder to crack. Most characters will be lowercase. Puncutation will almost certainly be limited to periods, hyphens, and commas. This greatly reduces the total number of possible combinations comapred to a random character for each character. Hackers already know this trick. If you sit down and calculate it, you'll find that complex passwords aren't worth the trouble (I'll post some numerical examples later when I have more time). Some say that users will write down passwords anyway. (So why lock your door? Burglars will get in anyway!) I say *more* users will write down complex passwords and they'll hate it a lot more than adding a few characters to the minimum length. You'll probably also get more help desk calls for complex-password resets. Here's an article from infoworld (I can't find the original articles right now, I'll post them later). http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=3DprintThis&A=3D/article= /06/11/10/46OPsecadvise_1.html I've seen passwords with zeros for O's and 3's for E's. What hacker could break through this fortress of security? Trying zeros for O's and 3's for E's? What hacker ever think of that? This is like a mild speed bump where as increasing the length a few characters is more like huge mountain. It's like putting your wallet in the toe of your sneaker as you go into the water at the beach. Yes, it incerases the total possible number of passwords, but not by much. See the link I provided for more detail. AEF AEF ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 07:44:33 -0600 From: koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) Subject: Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Message-ID: In article <501kdmF1dnt0lU1@mid.individual.net>, bill@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) writes: > In article <459B1C78.6336F3C4@spam.comcast.net>, > David J Dachtera writes: >> Arne Vajhøj wrote: >>> >>> >>> More as in: >>> min 8 characters >>> min 1 uppercase >>> min 1 lowercase >>> min 1 digit >>> min 1 punctuation >> >> (read: impossible to remember, guaranteed to be written down and subsequently >> compromised) > > Sorry to disappoint you but I don't have mine written down and I have > no problem remembering it. The same was true of the last 3 as we are > also now required to change it at regular intervals. Right. Just keep changing that digit. You get ten of them to cycle through, that's enough to get past most password histories. Lots of people know that one. AIX has (had?) an algorithm to prevent this, but IIRC it used a reversable encryption which meant that it shipped with the decrypt algorithm built in somewhere (no, thanks). ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 05:57:45 -0800 From: "AEF" Subject: Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Message-ID: <1167832665.202244.273570@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.com> AEF wrote: > Arne Vajh=F8j wrote: > > AEF wrote: > > > Arne Vajh=F8j wrote: > > >> David J Dachtera wrote: > > >>> Bill Gunshannon wrote: > > >>>> Not in the real world. Good enough doesn't cut it when someone hi= gher > > >>>> than you says, "The corporate standard is MS Word." > > >>> ...until the(ir next) multi-billion-dollar outage due to malware. T= hen, the > > >>> higher-ups face turn-over while the workers bees burn the midnight = oil to clean > > >>> up the mess. > > >> There were some real bad incidents 3-5 years ago. > > >> > > >> No move from Windows then. > > >> > > >> Now the MIS departments has tightened security. > > > > > > You mean like requiring 6-character passwords to now be "complex"? > > > Yeah, that'll stop 'em!!! ;-) > > > > > > OK, maybe they're actually doing some more useful things. > > > > More as in: > > min 8 characters > > min 1 uppercase > > min 1 lowercase > > min 1 digit > > min 1 punctuation > > > > Or as in email scanners that removes all EXE, BAT etc. from attached > > ZIP files in inbound email. > > > > Arne > > It turns out that you get a lot more bang for the buck by requiring > longer passwords. Complex passwords are not that much harder to crack. > Most characters will be lowercase. Puncutation will almost certainly be > limited to periods, hyphens, and commas. This greatly reduces the total > number of possible combinations comapred to a random character for each > character. Hackers already know this trick. > > If you sit down and calculate it, you'll find that complex passwords > aren't worth the trouble (I'll post some numerical examples later when > I have more time). Some say that users will write down passwords > anyway. (So why lock your door? Burglars will get in anyway!) I say > *more* users will write down complex passwords and they'll hate it a > lot more than adding a few characters to the minimum length. You'll > probably also get more help desk calls for complex-password resets. > > Here's an article from infoworld (I can't find the original articles > right now, I'll post them later). > > http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=3DprintThis&A=3D/artic= le/06/11/10/46OPsecadvise_1.html Uh, that was the printable page! Try this one instead: (sorry!) http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/11/10/46OPsecadvise_1.html > > I've seen passwords with zeros for O's and 3's for E's. What hacker > could break through this fortress of security? Trying zeros for O's and > 3's for E's? What hacker ever think of that? This is like a mild speed > bump where as increasing the length a few characters is more like huge > mountain. It's like putting your wallet in the toe of your sneaker as > you go into the water at the beach. Yes, it incerases the total > possible number of passwords, but not by much. See the link I provided > for more detail. >=20 > AEF >=20 > AEF ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 08:25:57 -0600 From: Kilgallen@SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen) Subject: Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Message-ID: In article , koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) writes: > Right. Just keep changing that digit. You get ten of them to cycle > through, that's enough to get past most password histories. Lots of > people know that one. AIX has (had?) an algorithm to prevent this, > but IIRC it used a reversable encryption which meant that it shipped > with the decrypt algorithm built in somewhere (no, thanks). At the VMS password policy callout, without reversibly encrypting the password, the code has access to both the old password and the proposed new password. At that point arbitrary rules can be imposed such as that more than one character change, that the changing characters not all be numbers, that the characters being replaced be more than one value away from their replacements, that all characters must change (from characters previously in that position), etc. -- ============================================================================== DoD Instruction 8500.2 field test sites wanted - http://www.LJK.com/LJK/8500_2_fieldtest.html ============================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 14:47:35 GMT From: bill@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) Subject: Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Message-ID: <501u07F1cs0bmU1@mid.individual.net> In article <459B1E24.D49B3A76@spam.comcast.net>, David J Dachtera writes: > Bill Gunshannon wrote: >> >> In article <45994666.8290CDCF@spam.comcast.net>, >> David J Dachtera writes: >> > Bill Gunshannon wrote: >> >> >> >> In article <459807A6.EF027BAC@spam.comcast.net>, >> >> David J Dachtera writes: >> >> > Bill Gunshannon wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> In article <459783d4$1@news.langstoeger.at>, >> >> >> peter@langstoeger.at (Peter 'EPLAN' LANGSTOEGER) writes: >> >> >> > In article , JF Mezei writes: >> >> >> >>http://www.fcw.com/article97178-12-22-06-Web >> >> >> >>## >> >> >> >>Due to an increased network threat condition, the Defense Department is >> >> >> >>blocking all HTML-based e-mail messages and has banned the use of Outlook >> >> >> >>Web Access e-mail applications, according to a spokesman for the Joint Task >> >> >> >>Force for Global Network Operations. >> >> >> >>## >> >> >> > >> >> >> > Better late than never. I banned them (and MIME mails) some years ago >> >> >> > (though I run my mail on VMS and don't fear virii/worms)... >> >> >> > >> >> >> > "Text mails only here. No HTML or binaries needed for proper communications..." >> >> >> >> >> >> What do you do when someone needs to send a Word document to someone else >> >> >> at a remote location (inbound or outbound)? The Business Woirld still >> >> >> runs on MS Office, like it or not. >> >> > >> >> > Word documents can also carry malware. Likely to be banned also, sometime soon. >> >> >> >> Highly unlikely. Attempts by others to supplant MS Word have, up to this >> >> point, proved unsuccessful. >> > >> > In theory, and admittedly arguably, it already has been supplanted by mandate of >> > multiple federal laws in some privacy-sensitive industries. >> > >> >> Boy would I like to see those laws. "Unfair restraint of trade" comes >> immediately to mind. > > Read up on HIPAA and, to some extent, Sarb/Ox. Both of them specify behaviours. Neither of them specifically bans the use of any commercial product by name. That would be "Unfair restraint of trade". You are making an interpretation basec on your (erroneous) concept that it is impossible to secure an MS systems or application. > >> >> > Text documents will suffice in the vast majority of cases. >> >> >> >> Not in the real world. Good enough doesn't cut it when someone higher >> >> than you says, "The corporate standard is MS Word." >> > >> > ...until the(ir next) multi-billion-dollar outage due to malware. Then, the >> > higher-ups face turn-over while the workers bees burn the midnight oil to clean >> > up the mess. >> >> You know, people here keep saying this and yet the business world shows >> no sign of changing and, in fact, has yet to blame MS Software for any >> of these highly publicized fiascos. > > Indeed. Don't blame the ones who built the house out of paper, blame the ones > who lit the match. Blame the people responsible for the problem. As much as I (and others) dislike MS products, they have not been solely to blame for a long time. For exsample, when did XP come out? DA just mandated an end to using Win2K this past year and even that has not been implemented Army wide yet. And we won't even go into how many people on the INTERNET are still running Windows98. > >> > >> >> > >> >> > The world did not begin with M$ - it will not stop without it, either. >> >> >> >> Nice thought, but not grounded in reality. >> > >> > Damn, Bill, do you hear yourself? >> > >> > Think for a moment: What was your desktop "computing" environment prior to, oh, >> > 1985? ...or even Windows V3.x? (Hint #1: What famous software was touted to be >> > as easy as __, __, __? (Fill in the blank yourself.) Hint #2: It wasn't M$, but >> > did run on IBM/M$-DOS.) >> > >> > ...prior to 1975? >> > >> > Starting to regain your perspective now? >> >> Not talking about 1985 or 1975. We are talking about now. MS has the >> world locked and there is no sign this is going to change anytime soon, >> no matter what some of us would like. (Hint, the machine I am using >> right now is not running any MS products.) > > I could make a similar choice. I didn't. Not sure what this actually says. Are you saying that you could be using something other than MS but you choose to use MS anyway? Kind of runs afoul of your general complaint, doesn't it? And, of course, only supports what I said about MS having a lock on the industry when people admit they could be using something else but choose not to. > >> > >> >> Even given the alternatives >> >> I have seen no move to eliminate MS Word from places where it counts. >> >> Like businesses and schools (who are busy creating yet another generation >> >> that will know only one way to do business.) >> > >> > ...until corporate America demands downtime reductions through the non-use of >> > M$, or modified methods of using it. The day is coming, perhaps sooner than >> > anyone wants to admit. >> >> And where exactly do you see evidence to support the above claim? > > Read much? I read all the time. Like I read just a couple lines up that you could be using something else but choose to run MS. > >> Corporate America has yet to blame MS software for anything and is >> still happily in love with it. The honeymoon is far from over. > > I wouldn't go quite that far. I'll believe the honeymoon is over (why does that phrase always remind me of The Bickerson's? But I digress. :-) when I see MS stock tank. > > It rather like the story of the Peruvian sheperds being shown around America. > They see their first tall building, and the guide tells them all about it. > > The first question? "How many sheep does it hold?" > > Since my comparisons sometimes escape this group, I'll elucidate: When M$ (or > sheep) is all you know, "love" hardly enters into it. But that's my point. They are all the industry knows and there is no sign that this is going to change anytime soon. How can it? If all they are willing to use is MS they will never become familiar with anything else. An IT guy suggesting otherwise puts his job in jeopardy. What was the old saying? "No one ever put their job in jeopardy by recommending IBM." Just change that to MS and you have the situation today. > >> Given that there are currently alternatives that are easier to >> install, more functional and more efficient you would think MS >> would already be on the down swing. Reality is that they are not. > > Reality also is that alternatives are on the up-swing while M$ is likewise. > (Think: difference in "rate of climb") Name the Fortune 500 companies who have abandoned MS corporately! Heck, make that Fortune 1000. Numbers probably the same anyway. > >> > >> >> DA uses MS products extensively. There has, so far, been no expressed >> >> desire to even consider an alternative like OpenOffice. >> > >> > Desires seldom withstand legislation and/or executive orders. >> >> Can you say "Unfair restraint of trade"? I knew you could. :-) > > Has nothing to do with "Unfair restraint of trade", unless, of course, you refer > to M$'s anti-competitive behaviors as documented. Actually, it does. The government can legislate against activities and in some cases even results. They can not single out a commercial entity and legisalte against their products. Why is a Navy ship being run on Windows when there are very good Real-time OSes available that were designed specifically for the job. Hint: The government can not show favoritism so it has to define requirements in generalities and let all vendors bid. And MS won over the likes of OS9000 and QNX. Same rule, other direction. They can not exclude any vendor no matter what they think of the product. (The only exception being someone who is disqualified from bidding but the only reason I know of for this is being caught in illegal activity related to a bid or a contract.) Sorry, the government may allow other options but they are never going to be allowed to ban MS products. MS will have to loose in the marketplace and, sadly, there is no sign of this happeneing anytime soon. bill -- Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves bill@cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. University of Scranton | Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 15:10:16 GMT From: bill@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) Subject: Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Message-ID: <501vanF1dphdhU1@mid.individual.net> In article , koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) writes: > In article <501kdmF1dnt0lU1@mid.individual.net>, bill@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) writes: >> In article <459B1C78.6336F3C4@spam.comcast.net>, >> David J Dachtera writes: >>> Arne Vajhøj wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> More as in: >>>> min 8 characters >>>> min 1 uppercase >>>> min 1 lowercase >>>> min 1 digit >>>> min 1 punctuation >>> >>> (read: impossible to remember, guaranteed to be written down and subsequently >>> compromised) >> >> Sorry to disappoint you but I don't have mine written down and I have >> no problem remembering it. The same was true of the last 3 as we are >> also now required to change it at regular intervals. > > Right. Just keep changing that digit. You get ten of them to cycle > through, that's enough to get past most password histories. Lots of > people know that one. AIX has (had?) an algorithm to prevent this, > but IIRC it used a reversable encryption which meant that it shipped > with the decrypt algorithm built in somewhere (no, thanks). Yeah, works just fine on VMS. Been doing it for years on the University machine (as opposed to any I have run) that I have a default account on just by virtue of being here. Don't use it as it doesn't do anything. :-) bill -- Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves bill@cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. University of Scranton | Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 15:21:20 GMT From: bill@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) Subject: Re: US Military bans HTML in emails Message-ID: <501vvgF1dphdhU2@mid.individual.net> In article <1167832240.731568.243390@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.com>, "AEF" writes: > Arne Vajhøj wrote: >> AEF wrote: >> > Arne Vajhøj wrote: >> >> David J Dachtera wrote: >> >>> Bill Gunshannon wrote: >> >>>> Not in the real world. Good enough doesn't cut it when someone higher >> >>>> than you says, "The corporate standard is MS Word." >> >>> ...until the(ir next) multi-billion-dollar outage due to malware. Then, the >> >>> higher-ups face turn-over while the workers bees burn the midnight oil to clean >> >>> up the mess. >> >> There were some real bad incidents 3-5 years ago. >> >> >> >> No move from Windows then. >> >> >> >> Now the MIS departments has tightened security. >> > >> > You mean like requiring 6-character passwords to now be "complex"? >> > Yeah, that'll stop 'em!!! ;-) >> > >> > OK, maybe they're actually doing some more useful things. >> >> More as in: >> min 8 characters >> min 1 uppercase >> min 1 lowercase >> min 1 digit >> min 1 punctuation >> >> Or as in email scanners that removes all EXE, BAT etc. from attached >> ZIP files in inbound email. >> >> Arne > It turns out that you get a lot more bang for the buck by requiring > longer passwords. Not sure where it is in the approval process but we talked about allowing entire sentences (paragraphs?) as passwords and eliminating the need for non-alpha characters. > Complex passwords are not that much harder to crack. Not if you are in a position to use brute-force. Most computers today have all the horsepower needed to just try every possible character. After all, there are less than 128. :-) > Most characters will be lowercase. Not always. :-) > Puncutation will almost certainly be > limited to periods, hyphens, and commas. I do not now and have never (up to this point, at least) used any of those characters. > This greatly reduces the total > number of possible combinations comapred to a random character for each > character. Hackers already know this trick. The biggest safeguard is not providing a way to use a brute force attack. Unfortunately, this brings up another whole issue. Use of brute force to cause a DOS. > If you sit down and calculate it, you'll find that complex passwords > aren't worth the trouble (I'll post some numerical examples later when > I have more time). Some say that users will write down passwords > anyway. (So why lock your door? Burglars will get in anyway!) I say > *more* users will write down complex passwords and they'll hate it a > lot more than adding a few characters to the minimum length. I have no statistics to back it up, but I don't agree. I think people who are likely to write down their password are as likely to do it no matter what the length. Unless you let them use something that is easily guessed anyway. > You'll > probably also get more help desk calls for complex-password resets. > Here's an article from infoworld (I can't find the original articles > right now, I'll post them later). > http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/06/11/10/46OPsecadvise_1.html > I've seen passwords with zeros for O's and 3's for E's. What hacker > could break through this fortress of security? Trying zeros for O's and > 3's for E's? What hacker ever think of that? With your toungue pushed so far into your cheek be careful you don't bite it. :-) > This is like a mild speed > bump where as increasing the length a few characters is more like huge > mountain. It's like putting your wallet in the toe of your sneaker as > you go into the water at the beach. Yes, it incerases the total > possible number of passwords, but not by much. See the link I provided > for more detail. Thus the reason for the suggestion above. I hope it gets approved soon. bill -- Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves bill@cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. University of Scranton | Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 06:13:00 -0800 From: "GraphicDave" Subject: Re: vmware VMS ISO ? Message-ID: <1167833580.599266.327410@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.com> David J Dachtera wrote: > > > > Or are you running a version of VMware that runs on the bare metal? I'm not. > > The "bare metal" version (machine virtualization layer between the hardware and > the o.s.-es) is the only version I am aware of. > > As always, I am open to correction if someone can provide a suitable URL to > provide the explanation. > Comparing current Sever level products. (VMWare Infrastructure, ESX..., VMWare Server) http://www.vmware.com/products/server_comp.html Comparing current Desktop level products. (VMWare Workstation, Player...) http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop_comp.html VMWare Infrastructure (was ESX) is the 'bare metal' version. VMWare Server, Workstation and Player all require a host OS, be it Windows or Linux. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:21:36 -0500 From: JF Mezei Subject: Re: VT100 LED and BEEP frequencies Message-ID: Richard Maher wrote: > Is there some way to control/vary the ^G frequency on my VT100 while, at the > same time, synchronizing my LED displays? The sound is emitted by the hardware in the LK201 keyboard. DECwindows on a vaxstation could control the volume of both the keyclick and bell. However, I am not sure that the VT terminals could be told, via the serial line to vary the volume. In terms of the christmas tree with toy train running under it, I believe I should still have that somewhere. I take it ZIP would be the best way to package it for distribution ? ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 10:24:21 -0800 From: "johnhreinhardt@yahoo.com" Subject: Re: VT100 LED and BEEP frequencies Message-ID: <1167848661.250869.322380@n51g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> Richard Maher wrote: > Hi, > > Is there some way to control/vary the ^G frequency on my VT100 while, at the > same time, synchronizing my LED displays? > > The reason I'm asking is that I've got a huge Christmas planned for next > year and I reckon "VT100 Jingle Bells" would set the scene nicely, and be a > great tool for kicking off the celebrations! > > Does anyone still have that file of Christmas Tree graphics/escape sequences > from years gone by? If I could tie that in with the LED/BEEP extravaganza > it's sure to be a real hoot! > > Regards Richard Maher If possible you should pick up an old PDP (The -11/40, 45, 70 come to mind) with the "blinken lights" console and really go to town with your display. You might even be able to get it to play Jingle Bells on a nearby AM radio. Set up next to a vintage VT100 it really ought to be something! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 18:50:07 +0000 (UTC) From: moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com (Michael Moroney) Subject: Re: VT100 LED and BEEP frequencies Message-ID: "Richard Maher" writes: >Hi, >Is there some way to control/vary the ^G frequency on my VT100 while, at the >same time, synchronizing my LED displays? >The reason I'm asking is that I've got a huge Christmas planned for next >year and I reckon "VT100 Jingle Bells" would set the scene nicely, and be a >great tool for kicking off the celebrations! This isn't what you want, but there is an undocumented (and unintentional, I believe) escape sequence that puts the VT100 into a "piano mode". When this happens, pressing the keys makes tones (mostly buzzes, I think). Supposedly what really happens is the key repeat frequency is set very high, and the tones are the keyclick sounds at a very rapid rate. I have no idea what the escape sequence is. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 07:59:13 -0800 From: "johnhreinhardt@yahoo.com" Subject: What method(s) to connect to VMS from Mac OS X through X11? Message-ID: <1167839953.107057.69930@n51g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> Okay all you Mac OS X and VMS fans. What is your way of connecting the two using X11 on OS X to DECWindows/CDE on VMS? Do you use XDM or fix up a set of scripts/DCL procedures or something else? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 10:11:44 -0600 (CST) From: sms@antinode.org (Steven M. Schweda) Subject: Re: What method(s) to connect to VMS from Mac OS X through X11? Message-ID: <07010310114425_2020028F@antinode.org> From: "johnhreinhardt@yahoo.com" > Okay all you Mac OS X and VMS fans. What is your way of connecting the > two using X11 on OS X to DECWindows/CDE on VMS? Do you use XDM or > fix up a set of scripts/DCL procedures or something else? I start X on the Mac (10.3.9), then an xterm, and then I "rsh" (or "ssh") to the VMS system, where my LOGIN.COM sets the display automatically. I normally do very little this way, so the xterm is about as far as I go, but it appears that after an "xhost +VMS_SYSTEM", SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$CLOCK.EXE seems to work, so what could go wrong? What are _you_ trying to do? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Steven M. Schweda sms@antinode-org 382 South Warwick Street (+1) 651-699-9818 Saint Paul MN 55105-2547 ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 09:32:50 -0800 From: sean@obanion.us Subject: Re: What method(s) to connect to VMS from Mac OS X through X11? Message-ID: <1167845569.984217.132420@n51g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> johnhreinhardt@yahoo.com wrote: > Okay all you Mac OS X and VMS fans. What is your way of connecting the > two using X11 on OS X to DECWindows/CDE on VMS? Do you use XDM or > fix up a set of scripts/DCL procedures or something else? I have not tried to DCL script this, yet, but these are the manual steps I use. For X windows, the free but optionaly installed X11 application ( http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11/ ) is doing well with the DECWindows VUE$MASTER (FileView). But geting the ssh access working was not obvious. Since I had a hard time finding all of this in any one place, I figured I better document it here... 1) Enable X11 TCP ports in System Preferences under Sharing in the Firewall tab by adding a new entry with TCP Port Numbers 6000-6999. I named my new entry "X Windows" Or disable the OS X Firewall, but that's not recomended. 2) Enable the X11 TCP listen function on OS X from the shell command line using: %defaults write com.apple.x11 nolisten_tcp -boolean false % defaults read com.apple.x11 "NSWindow Frame x11_apps" = "439 500 486 332 0 0 1280 832 "; . . . "nolisten_tcp" = 0; You should only need to do this once. This can be done from the X11 xterm window that automatically opens when you launch X11. 3) Launch the X11 application, which by default is installed in the Utilites folder, an xterm window will automatically open, and use xhost to enable access: % xhost + So far I've had to do this each time I launch X11, but I expect there is a scriptable way... 4) Connect through ssh enabling X 11 tunneling: %ssh -X @ This strongly implies that ssh v2 is enabled on the VMS system in question. 5) Under VMS, use the Set Display command as expected: $ set disply/create/transport=tcpip/node= All the instructions that I found say the using ssh with -X will automaticaly set the X window server (which in this case is the OS X system: remember that X windows has the graphics display at the server) envronment variable or something to that effect, but not on VMS... And I hear somebody asking: "If X is coming back through ssh, why open the TCP X windows ports?" I don't know... 6) At this point I use: $ mcr vue$master because FileView lets me create subprocesses for DCL windows and the DECWindows EVE editor, among others. Hope this helps! Sean ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 2007 10:17:40 -0800 From: "johnhreinhardt@yahoo.com" Subject: Re: What method(s) to connect to VMS from Mac OS X through X11? Message-ID: <1167848260.157498.222410@k21g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> Steven M. Schweda wrote: > From: "johnhreinhardt@yahoo.com" > > > Okay all you Mac OS X and VMS fans. What is your way of connecting the > > two using X11 on OS X to DECWindows/CDE on VMS? Do you use XDM or > > fix up a set of scripts/DCL procedures or something else? > > I start X on the Mac (10.3.9), then an xterm, and then I "rsh" (or > "ssh") to the VMS system, where my LOGIN.COM sets the display > automatically. I normally do very little this way, so the xterm is > about as far as I go, but it appears that after an "xhost +VMS_SYSTEM", > SYS$SYSTEM:DECW$CLOCK.EXE seems to work, so what could go wrong? > > What are _you_ trying to do? > I want to run my various OpenVMS systems from my Mac. I have a KVM switch set up so that I can get to the consoles of most of them (but not the DS10L's), but I want to have windows open in one place so I can see more than one at once, copy/paste from one to another, etc. Most of this I know I can do from the Terminal app or some other terminal emulator, but there are times I want to run some of the DECwindows apps or have the CDE desktop on the Mac. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 06:03:45 -0800 From: "Tom Linden" Subject: Re: ZX6000 server with hung system firmware Message-ID: On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:03:14 -0800, Robert Deininger wrote: > In article <459b02f2@flight>, "Malcolm Dunnett" > wrote: > >> I just picked up a used ZX6000 Itanium server ( basically the same as an >> RX2600 ). I was hoping to get VMS running on it. >> >> Unfortunately it appears to be DOA. It powers up and after a couple of >> minutes I get diagnostic LED 2 coming on and 6 long beeps. The >> troubleshooting guide says this is hung system firmware and that I need >> to >> replace the system board. I did a warranty check on it and of course the >> warranty is long expired. >> >> Are there any other options here ( eg like the fail safe loader on >> Alpha ). >> Has anyone done this replacement? How expensive is it? > > There's no fail-safe loader on Integrity servers. Some of the new ones > have an active ROM and a backup ROM; if one gets corrupted you can make > it > use the other one to recover. Not all firmware components have two > copies, however. > > I don't know of any simple way for you to fix a corrupted firmware ROM on > the ZX6000. (If your system actually has a corrupted ROM, and not some > other problem. The diagnostics can be misleading. In particular, if the > monarch (primary) CPU doesn't come out of its reset state and talk to the > Baseboard Management Controller (BMC), it can look like a bad FW ROM. > > What's in the System Event Log (SEL)? > >> Needless to say I'm not terribly impressed with hardware that turns >> into a >> boat anchor with a simple firmware corruption. > > Yes, it is annoying when it happens. On many of the systems, there's a > debug/diagnostic port where special hardware can be plugged in to boot > the > system even if the ROM is corrupted. On those systems, the board could > be > repaired. It probably wouldn't be a field repair even so; a board swap > is > quick and easy, and the board could be repaired later at a lab with all > the necessary equipment. > > (Most) alpha system have a fail-safe loader, but that's because a > bare-bones, tiny, floppy disk device driver can be crammed into a small > corner of the SROM. Current storage devices don't lend themselves to > such > simple drivers. The cost of a floppy drive is really hard to justify > when > the main use is the (very rare) use of the fail-safe loader. How about some type of UBS device? > > If you are offered an Integrity server for sale, please check that it > will > at least boot to EFI. If it won't, don't expect it to be easy to fix > without specialized tools or expensive parts. -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 10:35:59 -0800 From: "Malcolm Dunnett" Subject: Re: ZX6000 server with hung system firmware Message-ID: <459bf6d8$1@flight> "Robert Deininger" wrote in message news:rdeininger-0201072203590001@dialup-4.233.149.88.dial1.manchester1.level3.net... > > I don't know of any simple way for you to fix a corrupted firmware ROM on > the ZX6000. (If your system actually has a corrupted ROM, and not some > other problem. The diagnostics can be misleading. In particular, if the > monarch (primary) CPU doesn't come out of its reset state and talk to the > Baseboard Management Controller (BMC), it can look like a bad FW ROM. I've tried swapping the primary and secondary CPUs and mixing and matching their power modules. No luck. I've tried different memory and a new power supply. I've removed all the PCI cards. The results are always the same. The Standby LED is on, the BMC led is flashing but the FW led is off. The last event in the event log says: No events were received from system firmware Data: FRB2/Hang in POST failure > If you are offered an Integrity server for sale, please check that it will > at least boot to EFI. If it won't, don't expect it to be easy to fix > without specialized tools or expensive parts. Well this is an Ebay purchase , you pays your money and you takes your chances :-) ------------------------------ End of INFO-VAX 2007.006 ************************