HP 3000 Manuals

General Information Manual

Systems Management 

Systems management is the process by which data center managers ensure
efficient operations of their computer system environments and networks.
These environments may include standalone systems, distributed production
systems, and central-site data centers.  HP 3000's standards-based
systems and network management encompasses a broad range of management
functions and systems services that include the following:

   *   performance management
   *   administration
   *   system security
   *   system availability
   *   operations
   *   storage management


          Figure 3-7.  Systems Management Services Framework 

HP OpenView 

Hewlett-Packard's overall strategy to address customers' needs for a
flexible, integrated approach to systems and network management is
encompassed under HP OpenView.  HP OpenView provides a consistent
management framework for an organization's entire network of information
and computing resources.  HP OpenView can reduce costs and improve
systems and network availability by providing integrated, centralized
management of networked HP 3000s and multivendor networks.

HP OpenView System Manager provides exception-based system management.
Operators are notified of system events graphically and automatically by
the HP OpenView network map.  Operators can define which events to
report, providing flexibility and eliminating unwanted notifications.
The virtual console provides full system control, including the ability
to shut down and restart remote systems from the system manager console.
HP OpenView System Manager also provides the ability to archive events
and to generate reports.


          Figure 3-8.  HP OpenView System Manager 

Performance management 

Performance management helps you realize the full potential of
HP 3000 systems.  The HP 3000 provides a full range of performance
management products, which are complemented by comprehensive performance
consulting services.  The HP 3000 supports resource management (HP
LaserRX), diagnostics (HP GlancePlus), capacity planning (HP RXForecast),
and application optimization (HP SPT/XL and HP APS/V).

HP LaserRX.   

HP LaserRX software provides the comprehensive system activity
information needed to manage your HP 3000 systems for optimal
performance.  Within minutes, LaserRX provides data to help you better
understand system performance and provide information to your users.  As
an experienced system manager, you can immediately find the depth and
breadth of data necessary to fully analyze your HP 3000 systems.

This performance management software tool helps contain costs,
streamlines your internal data processing operation, and efficiently
delivers defined levels of service.  The software helps you perform
actions as varied as scheduling batch jobs, identifying system
bottlenecks, and balancing system and data center resources.  It can also
assist you with equipment purchase planning.  Over time, the software
pays for itself by enabling you and your organization to maximize the
return on your systems and applications investments.

HP LaserRX software and an HP Vectra PC (or IBM PC AT) serve as a central
performance management workstation.  With it you can display and analyze
data collected from one or more HP 3000 systems.  Data appears in color
graphic format for trend analysis and in tabular format for detailed
study.  HP LaserRX software continuously collects and reduces data from
your HP 3000 systems without incurring significant performance overhead.

HP GlancePlus.   

HP GlancePlus/XL is a performance monitoring and diagnostic software tool
for the HP 3000 900 Series systems.  HP GlancePlus provides information
on current system resource usage and process activity to help system
managers and operators quickly isolate and resolve performance
bottlenecks when they occur.

HP GlancePlus is host-based, interactive software that can be accessed
from any supported terminal.  HP GlancePlus provides real-time system
performance information, which is updated at user-defined intervals.  The
performance information ranges from the global summary of system activity
to process-level detail and system resource utilization detail.  Users
have the flexibility to set thresholds and filters to view only the
process information that they specify.

HP GlancePlus displays global summary bar graphs at the top of every
screen to provide a quick view of overall system resource utilization.
The software also provides detail screens for in-depth examination of
individual system resources, such as CPU, disk, or memory, and individual
processes.  The combination of function keys and an online Help facility
make HP GlancePlus easy to use in the day-to-day management of your
system.

HP GlancePlus/V will be available for MPE V systems in mid-1991.
Customers with software support for HP Glance/V will receive HP
GlancePlus/V at no additional cost.

HP RXForecast.   

HP RXForecast is a forecasting product that allows customers to perform
regular system resource forecasting and supports ongoing capacity and
budget planning.  Forecasts are based on past trends and can incorporate
projected future business demands.  HP RXForecast integrates into the HP
LaserRX user interface and uses HP LaserRX log file information.  HP
LaserRX is a prerequisite product for the purchase of HP RXForecast.

A business unit is a key indicator of business volumes and has a direct
relationship with system utilization levels.  For example, the number of
sales orders could be a business unit for an order processing system.
Sales orders are typically recorded and projected into the future as part
of normal business planning.  If a correlation between the number of
sales orders and system utilization can be confirmed, then a business
unit file can be built and used for producing system capacity forecasts.

HP Software Performance Tuner/XL.   

HP Software Performance Tuner/XL (SPT/XL) provides information needed to
increase the performance of native mode 900 Series application programs.
With this software, you can evaluate the design and efficiency of
application code during development or monitor and improve the
performance of production applications.  For more information on SPT/XL,
please refer to Chapter 4, "Data Management and CASE".

HP Performance Consulting service.   

HP Performance Consulting service is a flexible, comprehensive service
designed to maximize the performance and return on investment of your
current systems, and to help you ensure that there are sufficient
computer resources available to support your business as it grows and
changes to meet new challenges and opportunities.

HP performance consultants can assist you by analyzing your current
system performance, identifying existing or potential bottlenecks,
providing recommendations to improve system performance, assisting you in
defining performance-oriented systems management practices, and helping
plan for system and business change and growth.

HP System Utilization--Global service 
This service provides you with a presentation quality report that
summarizes the current system resource utilization of your system as a
whole.  The report includes graphical representation of global system
utilization with clear interpretation guidelines and an executive summary
prepared by an HP performance consultant.

HP System Utilization--Application service 
This service provides the information contained in the HP System
Utilization--Global service, and, in addition, provides information on
system resource usage, transaction rates, and response times for your top
five applications.

Administration 

System administration encompasses job accounting and chargeback,
configuration management, PC network management, and software change
management.  The system management commands and utilities provide
simplified system maintenance operations.  Compared to other computers of
similar power, the HP 3000 requires significantly less time and effort
for system administration.

System account structure.   

The HP 3000 accounting facility provides a flexible and powerful means of
coordinating access to the system and to disk file usage.  To coordinate
system access, system administrators can devise a structure of accounts
and users that reflects the functional organization of the people who use
the system.  The accounting facility maintains running totals on the
amount of system resources that each account consumes, including disk
space used, cumulative CPU time consumed, and cumulative terminal connect
time for sessions.  The current totals can be displayed at any time and
can be used for billing purposes.

Users are individuals who access the HP 3000.  Each user is assigned a
unique name and optional password and is assigned to a specific account.
Each user may have a specified home group of files and may access any
other file groups in the account.  A maximum job priority may be assigned
to each user.

Groups are used to partition the file domain of an account.  Files must
be assigned to a group, and each group has a unique name (within the
account) and an optional password.  Limits may be established on the
permanent disk space, CPU time, and connect time used by a group.  The
operating system maintains running counts of resource usage for each
group, and the sum of these group counts equals the total resource usage
of the account.

Accounts are collections of users and groups.  Each account has a unique
name and an optional password assigned to it when the system manager
creates the account.  Each account also has its own file domain or unique
set of files.  The system manager may define resource-use limits for an
account.  The operating system maintains a running count of each resource
that the account uses.  The operating system also stores a list of user
names and group names recognized by the account, the maximum job priority
at which jobs may be scheduled, and the limits established for the
account's usage of disk file space, CPU time, and connect time.

The account structure provides both control and security over file use.
Access to the system is granted only to individuals with a valid log on
identification consisting of account, group, and user names, each of
which may require a password.

Job accounting and chargeback 
A job accounting and chargeback management system tracks computer usage,
analyzes usage, and provides comprehensive chargeback reporting.
Comprehensive resource usage tracking and billing is by port (workstation
or modem), job or session, department and application, and individual
user.  Independent software vendors (ISVs) extend the operating
environment features to provide job accounting and chargeback solutions
on the HP 3000.

Configuration management 
Workstation changes represent the majority of the configuration changes
on a system.  HP OpenView DTC Manager provides easy and dynamic
reconfiguration of workstations.  HP OpenView DTC Manager provides an
intuitive, graphical user interface to configure, monitor, diagnose,
control, and update software on DTCs.  An operator can centrally and
dynamically manage local and remote workstation connections and remote
system-to-system communications across multiple DTCs on the LAN. Further,
dynamic reconfiguration minimizes system downtime caused by DTC and
workstation changes.

PC management 
HP is a recognized leader in integrating and managing PCs with HP 3000
systems.  PC management includes resource sharing, PC software
installation and distribution, PC backup, and so on.  With resource
sharing products such as HP NewWave System Services, PC users on the
network can share high-quality printers and plotters, allowing more users
to produce professional output and realize the full value of the
peripherals.  In addition, PC users can share files transparently and
gain the benefits of the HP 3000 system backup.

PC management includes support for various LANs and network operating
systems.  The 900 Series supports HP NewWave Office, HP LAN Manager
clients and Named Pipes, HP NS LAN Gateway for Novell clients, and Novell
Portable NetWare.  For more information, please refer to Chapter 5,
"Networks".

Software change management 
Software change management is provided by HP Software Revision Control
(HP SRC). HP SRC provides automatic and comprehensive version and release
control for installing some software applications.  HP SRC tracks
historical changes, which is particularly important in systems
maintenance.  For more information on HP SRC, please refer to Chapter 4,
"Data Management and CASE".

System security 

Operating system security is an essential component of systems
management.  To protect your system from unauthorized access and data
corruption, the HP 3000 provides robust system security.  The operating
system is designed so that the user capabilities, the account structure,
the file system, and system security are integrated.

The HP 3000 900 Series provides Department of Defense (DoD) C2
functionality when combined with a user interface package.  Every file
and device can optionally have an access control definition (ACD), which
specifies which users have access to that file or device.  An ACD can
restrict read, write, and append access, and can restrict printing access
to a particular device to a specific user or set of users.


          Figure 3-9.  HP 3000 System Access Security 

Restricting user access 
Passwords can be assigned for each account and for each group within an
account.  Passwords can also be assigned to each user name.  Thus, to log
on to the system, a user can be required to provide up to three
passwords.

To illustrate, suppose you know the password for your user name and
account.  You would be able to log on to the system and access files in
your home group, but you would be unable to access files of other groups
in the account whose passwords are unknown to you.

Once users are logged on to the system, their capabilities can be
restricted in a number of ways.  For example, a user can be restricted
from saving files or using nonshareable devices, such as tape drives or
line printers.  The system manger can limit the amount of CPU time and
disk space that a user may consume.  Also, the system manager or operator
can restrict access to system tables, system resources such as process
management and logging, and data communication subsystems.  Operators can
even restrict users to either interactive or batch access, although
normally both are allowed.

File security 
File lockwords, similar in effect to passwords, can be assigned to files.
When a file is protected by a lockword, the user must supply the lockword
in order to access the file.

It may be beneficial to allow users to access given files but control
what they may do with the files.  On an account, group, and file basis,
the system manager can restrict any or all of the following:  reading,
locking, appending, writing and saving files, and executing program
files.  In addition, users cannot access files that are not in their own
account (except for files in PUB.SYS meant for general usage) unless the
file has been released.

System availability 

System availability on the HP 3000 begins with the proven, highly
reliable PA-RISC hardware.  PA-RISC processors have fewer parts and are,
therefore, more reliable than traditional architecture processors.
Another standard feature of the HP 3000 hardware is the capability to
continue processing after temporary power failures, without losing
sessions or corrupting data.  An integral part of the operating system is
the transaction manager, which automatically checkpoints and logs
activities for critical system structures, user files, and databases.
This facility guarantees data integrity in the event of a system failure.
For more information, please refer to the "High Availability" section.

Beyond these standard features, the HP 3000 focuses on maximizing system
availability by minimizing the fundamental causes of unplanned and
planned downtime.  To address unplanned downtime, the 900 Series
supports products to manage disk failures (HP Mirrored Disk/XL),
processor failures (HP SPU Switchover/XL), and software failures (HP
AutoRestart/XL). These products are described in the "High Availability"
section.  To minimize planned downtime due to system backup, HP
TurboStore/XL virtually eliminates unavailability due to backup with its
high-performance capabilities.  The online backup capacity of
TurboStore/XL provides access to user data while it is being archived.
HP TurboSTORE/XL is described in the "Storage Management" section.

Operations control 

Operations control consists of production scheduling and output spooling.
The HP 3000 900 Series provides key production scheduling functionality.
The operating system includes job control words (JCW) for programmatic
management of job streams.  The HP 3000 supports jobfences, which allow
execution of high-priority jobs and denial of low priority jobs.  Queue
management is another important aspect of job scheduling.  Queue
management provides the ability to balance processing queues between
heavy batch jobs and light, interactive sessions.  Additionally, queues
can be dynamically changed for any process, which is of particular
importance for high-end systems that process a large number and variety
of jobs.

A complete set of operator commands and utilities simplifies operational
tasks such as system configuration, startup, modification, backup, and
recovery.  Operator commands and utilities also simplify spooling and
tape labeling.

System startup 
The HP 3000 allows the system manager to specify a series of commands to
be executed automatically each time the system is started.  These
commands eliminate the need for operator intervention when the system is
started.

Automatic creation of sessions 
Automatic creation of sessions allows terminals to log on automatically
into application environments.  You can begin working without having to
log on to or interact with the operating system.  This feature helps to
make the system easy for inexperienced users to use and provides an
additional level of security.

Automatic scheduling of jobs 
Job scheduling allows you to specify a particular time and date to run
your jobs.  For instance, if a job will impact system response time, it
can be scheduled to run when fewer users are logged on to the system.
The job will be executed automatically, without operator intervention.
Automatic job scheduling can be used to automate many daily operation
routines such as backup.

Self-adjusting system tables 
On the HP 3000, most system tables are self-adjusting to the system
requirements, thus eliminating the need for a system shutdown to adjust
these tables.  This feature provides increased system availability as
well as simplifying system operations.

Job scheduling 
The HP 3000 job and session scheduler schedules jobs and sessions
according to their assigned priorities in the queue.  The user can
specify the priority of a job by assigning it a priority number.  System
operators can reset the priority of the job and also limit the number of
jobs that can be executed at any one time.

In addition, the system operator can set a priority limit such that only
jobs with an assigned priority number above the limit, or jobfence, are
free to execute.  For example, if the jobfence is 8, then jobs with an
assigned priority number of 8 and below do not execute until a lower
jobfence number is assigned.

Process scheduling 
Jobs and sessions are scheduled by means of a master queue that is
ordered by priority.  This master queue is divided into areas called
priority classes.  Each area is bounded by two priority numbers
established by the system manager.

The HP 3000 automatically reassigns priority classes to each process
executing on the system.  You may, however, specify priority classes by
selecting a general category of process dispatching priority for the
program.  This is done by including the PRI parameter in your JOB or
HELLO command.  The five process dispatching priority types (queues) are:

   *   AS - system processing only
   *   BS - very high priority
   *   CS - interactive
   *   DS - batch
   *   ES - very low priority (background)

The operating system actually translates priority types into numerical
ranges that are ordered in a master queue.  The numerical range of each
priority type can be changed at any time to ensure that an optimal
balance of services is maintained among the processes on the system,
allowing for a centralized control of the system load.  For example, the
desired mix of batch and interactive processes can be set by managing
queue priorities.

When the execution of one process is interrupted for any reason, such as
I/O, an internal interrupt, or an interrupt from the scheduler itself,
control is passed to the process with the next-highest priority that is
awaiting CPU resources.  When two or more programs have the same
priority, the oldest process is selected first.

Process execution 
As a process runs, it may require more code or data.  If the code or data
is not present in main memory, the memory manager is instructed to
retrieve it before the process is allowed to continue executing.  While
the process waits for the needed code or data to be transferred, the HP
3000 transfers control to the next process ready to be executed.

The objective of the process dispatcher and the memory manager is to
provide optimal use of system resources while satisfying the requirements
of executing processes.  This is performed automatically by the HP 3000
operating system without assistance from the system operators.

Job control facilities 
The HP 3000 uses job control words (JCWs) and conditional execution
functions that permit you to design job streams whose execution can be
altered based on the results of previous job steps.

Both system-defined JCWs and user-defined JCWs store job status
information and pass the information between programs and between a
program and the CI. JCWs are defined and accessed by commands from the CI
and by intrinsics from your programs.

JCWs can also be used in conjunction with conditional execution function
statements.  These statements specify a logical expression (TRUE or
FALSE) and are evaluated during program execution.  If the value found is
TRUE, the remaining statements related to that condition are executed.
If the value is FALSE, any existing alternative statements are executed
instead.

Spooling facility 
The HP 3000 provides a flexible spooling facility for output devices and
batch job input.  (SPOOL is an acronym for simultaneous peripheral
operations online.)

The HP 3000 spooling facility permits the concurrent use of output
devices that would otherwise be nonshareable, such as tape drives and
line printers.  For instance, if several users send output to a line
printer at approximately the same time, their output is directed to spool
files on disk and printed on a priority basis as the printer becomes
available.  In this way, each user can immediately proceed with other
processing activities without having to wait for the printer.  Spool file
priorities can be changed by the system operator.

The spooling facility for the 900 Series has been enhanced with
additional functionality and capabilities that increase productivity
still further.  For example, on the 900 Series, spool files can be easily
scanned, archived, or routed to other systems in a network for printing.
The functions of the CM Spooler and SPOOK utility are fully integrated
into the file system and CI. Spool files are permanent, recoverable files
managed by the file system.  Spoolfiles are accessible through new and
extended CI commands, utilities such as STORE/RESTORE, and popular text
editors such as HP EDIT. Spoolfiles are contained in the HPSPOOL account
in either the IN or OUT group.  There are no practical limits to spool
file size or the number of spool files.

Minimized operator requirements 
Recognizing that smaller enterprises cannot afford a great deal of
operator intervention and larger enterprises with smaller replicated
sites prefer minimal operator intervention, the HP 3000 is designed to
meet minimal operator requirements.

Transparent disk space management 
When creating a new account, it is only necessary to specify how much
disk space that new account receives.  The system operator need not be
concerned as to where the system will allocate space for the new user;
global disk space is allocated transparently.

Storage management 

Storage management encompasses backup and restore, disk management, tape
management, and database management.

System backup and restore.   

Periodically, the operating system and user files must be copied from
disk to tape for archival purposes and as protection against hardware
failure and accidental or intentional destruction of information.

On the HP 3000, simple backup commands can be executed to initiate system
backup.  Messages inform the operator of the progress of the backup
activities.  In some environments, job scheduling may be used with the
STORE utility to permit unattended backup.

HP 3000 backup solutions deliver online, unattended backup to high-speed,
low-cost devices.

HP TurboSTORE/XL.   

HP TurboSTORE/XL provides high-performance data backup as well as
unattended dedicated data backup and unattended online data backup, thus
improving systems availability and reducing operator staffing
requirements.  With digital data storage (DDS), TurboSTORE/XL provides
cost-effective, unattended backup to digital audio tape (DAT). Fast
Search provides access time on DAT to 20 seconds on average to a maximum
of 20 seconds.

TurboSTORE/XL offers the following purchasable options:

   *   optical disk autochanger support provides unattended backup for
       the largest configurations:  up to 70 Gbytes per drive
   *   online data backup (available as an option)
   *   support for up to eight backup devices running in parallel
   *   support for IBM-labeled and ANSI-labeled tapes
   *   tape format and operator interface compatible with
       HP STORE/XL
   *   support for dissimilar tape devices such as HP 7980 and HP 7979


          Figure 3-10.  HP TurboSTORE/XL 

HP TurboSTORE/XL provides fast data backup by storing data to multiple
backup devices running in parallel, thus eliminating the performance
bottleneck experienced by backup methods that use a single tape drive.
In addition, TurboStore/XL performs interleaved disk reads to maximize
transfer rate from the disk subsystem.  TurboSTORE/XL also restores from
multiple devices running in parallel.

HP TurboStore/XL increases backup performance through software data
compression.  For maximum flexibility, two different data compression
algorithms are provided.  The fast algorithm more than doubles backup
device capacity and performance.  The high-density algorithm provides
almost four times data compression and maximizes backup capacity.  The
high-density algorithm requires more CPU resources but provides maximum
single-device backup for HP 3000 Series 948 through 980 processors.

With the online backup option of HP TurboStore/XL, critical 24-hour-a-day
system processing is supported while system backups occur.  No
modification to applications is required.  Though normally a short,
five-minute application interruption occurs to ensure complete data
integrity, with ALLBASE/SQL applications, there is no interruption.
After online backup has been started, applications can continue
processing while the backup runs in the background.

Unattended backup is supported with up to 70 Gbytes when utilizing HP's
Rewritable Optical Disk Library System.  DDS technology provides
cost-effective unattended backup of up to 5 Gbytes on single DAT, or up
to 20 Gbytes on multiple DATs.

Disk and tape management.   

A disk space management system increases productivity by automating the
management of a data center's disk space.  Further, it reduces the time
data center staff must spend managing disk and tape storage.  A disk
management system automatically determines which files must be saved and
which are no longer needed.

A tape management system addresses all aspects of tape usage and control,
which also includes labeled tape support.  The HP 3000 operating system
provides labeled tape processing performance comparable to unlabeled tape
processing.

Third-party products augment the HP 3000's strong functionality to
provide total control over the content, disposition, movement, and
maintenance of all tape volumes by automatically updating the tape
library and by selecting the tape number.

Database administration.   

Database administration (DBA) involves various tools that provide change
control, recovery, copy, and restructuring of databases.  HP ALLBASE/SQL
inherently incorporates these functions, as do most relational database
management systems.  For HP TurboIMAGE/XL, HP DBChange Plus provides
these capabilities.  For more information on database management systems
and their utilities, please refer to Chapter 5, "Data Management and
CASE".

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation