Show Intrusion command displayed junk characters

[Mong Wisnhu Wardhana]

Hi,

My customer got a query as the following.
He executed "show intrusion" command in his OVMS V8.3 system, and he got junk characters (Shared Memory !14<(!@UQ.!2ZL!AZ)!> !9@UQ !9@UQ !9@UQ) beside the real output.

VMUS04%SYSTEM> show Intrusion
Intrusion Type Count Expiration Source
Shared Memory !14<(!@UQ.!2ZL!AZ)!> !9@UQ !9@UQ !9@UQ
NETWORK SUSPECT 1 25-APR-2008 17:13:57.27 LOCAL:.VMUS04::AOPR_MG32770

However, when he tried to execute the command again, there was no more junk charachter.

Could somebody help to explain please, how did the character come? Is there a corruption in the share memory?

Thanks & Best regards,
Mong

[Karl Rohwedder]

Mong,

if your customer is using V8.3, the following patch should fix this:
DEC-AXPVMS-VMS83A_RMS-V0700--4.

You can download it from:
ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/openvms_patches/alpha/V8.3/

regards Kalle

[John Gillings]

Mong,

The "junk" characters are an $FAO control string used to format output (see $FAO in the System Services Reference Manual to see what the directives mean).

Your symptom was caused by an earlier RMS patch changing some message definitions upon which SHOW INTRUSION depended. The V0700 patch corrected the references.

Note a simple method for diagnosing many issues that generate a error messages.

Try using all or part of the message text as a Google search. Use the whole string, or pick a substring that looks unique. I used "!9@UQ !9@UQ !9@UQ" and found another ITRC thread with exactly the same question. It was answered, but not with the exact name of the patch that fixes the problem (which I've just added for people who find it in future). It also found an openvms.org page containing the patch release notes. In future people who Google that string will find THIS thread as well, so have an increased chance of finding the answer.