HP FTP vs Multinet FTP question

[Peter Katz]

Hi: I'm working on migrating from Alpha VMS V7.3-2 to IA rx6600 VMS 8.4. The Alpha uses Multinet, the IA rx server uses HP TCPIP v5.7. A few problems have come up. They are: 1. The Multinet ftp procedures (over a thousand) all use a DIR command. The HP TCPIP ftp equivalent is DIRECTORY (all spelled out). Is there any way to redefine the ftp directory command to accept dir as a standard syntax ? I don't see how unless I can change the ftp command structure or somehow redefine it. 2. The Multinet command doesn't require a /OUT=a.a when creating a file using the dir command; the TCPIP FTP requires it. 3. The IA ftp fails with a network error when doing the directory command unless I add a SET PASSIVE ON command. The documentation indicates that PASSIVE ON is required if there is a firewall or if IPV6 is used. The Alpha in the same subnet has no problem doing the ftp dir command. Any idea as to what the default setting is using the Multinet ftp (passive on or off ?) and also, why would TCPIP FTP SHOW STATUS say that IPV6 is on when the standard TCPIP stack is not IPV6 enabled - or is it ? 3. So bottom line, how have others dealt with the issue of moving from Multinet to TCPIP, when they have lots of Multinet syntax that doesn't match the HP TCPIP syntax ? Changing everything by hand is not an option I'd like to consider at this time. Thanks all in advance for your help. Peter

[RBrown_1]

Why use HP TCPIP? It looks like Multinet is available for VMS on IA-64. http://www.process.com/tcpip/multinet.html

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] A few problems have come up. [...]

Can you demonstrate/exhibit any of them?

> [...] 1. The Multinet ftp procedures (over
> a thousand) all use a DIR command. The HP
> TCPIP ftp equivalent is DIRECTORY (all
> spelled out). [...]

Where's the problem? Did you actually _try_
"DIR" and get a failure? "DIR" seems to work
for me:

alp $ tcpip show version

HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Alpha Version V5.6 - ECO 5
on a COMPAQ Professional Workstation XP1000 running OpenVMS V8.3

alp $ ftp alp
220- Antinode FTP Server. Please be nice.
220 alp.antinode.info FTP Server (Version 5.6) Ready.
Connected to alp.antinode.info.
Name (alp.antinode.info:sms):
331 Username sms requires a Password
Password:
230 User logged in.
FTP> cd testu
250-CWD command successful.
250 New default directory is ALP$DKA0:[SMS.testu]
FTP> dir
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening data connection for ALP$DKA0:[SMS.testu]*.*;* (209.98.249.184,27605)

Directory ALP$DKA0:[SMS.testu]

sms.DIR;1 1/16 25-MAY-2010 15:37:49 [SMS]
(RWE,RWE,RE,E)

Total of 1 file, 1/16 blocks

226 LIST Directory transfer complete.
167 bytes received in 00:00:00.06 seconds (2.61 Kbytes/s)
FTP>
quit
221 Goodbye.
alp $

DCL also has a "DIRECTORY" command, but "DIR"
normally works there, too.

As usual, showing actual commands with their
actual output can be more helpful than vague
descriptions or interpretations.

> [...] Changing everything by hand is not an
> option I'd like to consider at this time.

Write a computer program?

What, exactly, do these "ftp procedures" do?
There may be better ways to do the same work
which would depend less on the details of
your FTP client program. But with
approximately no useful information, it's
hard to know.

[Richard Whalen]

If PASSIVE mode has not been specified (as on or off), MultiNet FTP attempts to negotiate passive mode. Passive mode is tried, and if it works, it is used. If it doesn't work, then non-passive mode will be tried.

As for the IP stack reporting that IPv6 is on even when no interfaces have been set to use IPv6 interfaces, that's "normal" for a stack that supports IPv4 and IPv6. An application that wants to support activity on both IPv4 and IPv6 will listen on IPv6 and the IPv4 code will check for an IPv6 listener if it doesn't find an IPv6 listener.

[Robert Atkinson]

Peter, I'd also consider HG-FTP, if you can't get what you need from the HP stack.

It may be closer to the Multinet client, and is better than the HP equivalent in my opinion.

Rob.