VMS 7.3 and HP TCPIP 5.4

[Mike Lancaster]

Can I install HP TCPIP services 5.4 without having to upgrade to 7.3-1. Currently I have a
alpha4100 running OpenVMS 7.3 with CPQ TCPIP v5.1? I am looking to go to HP TCPIP 5.4 to enable me to use ssh.

[Ian Miller.]

I think TCPIP V5.4 is supported on V7.3 (but VMS V7.3 is not supported) however for offical statements ask hp.

[Jess Goodman]

Do you need to use the client or the server side features of SSH? I know that the SFTP client that comes with TCP/IP services 5.4 will actually work fine back on VMS 7.2-2 with the TCP/IP services 5.1 stack, and I bet the SCP client will work too.

Try copying the client .EXE images that you need from a TCP/IP 5.4 distribution or system disk to SYS$SYSTEM: on your V7.3 system disk:

TCPIP$SSH_SSH2.EXE
TCPIP$SSH_SFTP2.EXE
TCPIP$SSH_SCP2.EXE

Then use the SSH, SFTP, and SCP verb definitions from TCP/IP 5.4 on that system:

define verb SSH
synonym SSH2
image TCPIP$SSH_SSH2
parameter P1
value (type=$rest_of_line)
noqualifiers

define verb SFTP
synonym SFTP2
image TCPIP$SSH_SFTP2
parameter P1
value (type=$rest_of_line)
noqualifiers

define verb SCP
synonym SCP2
image TCPIP$SSH_SCP2
parameter P1
value (type=$rest_of_line)
noqualifiers

Or you can just run them with MCR since they don't need to be DCL verbs. Note that the SFTP and SCP programs will often spawn a subprocess to run the SSH program. If the SSH .EXE file is not in SYS$SYSTEM you must use "-S" sshpath on the SFTP or SCP command line, where "sshpath" is a unix style path like /dev/dir/TCPIP$SSH_SSH2.EXE.

[Volker Halle · Accepted solution]

Mike,

the Software Rollout Report says:

TCP/IP Services VA 5.4 7.3-1 7.3-2 0LXAA

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/os/swroll/62PLUS.HTML

The software rollout reports are a good resource to answer questions like this, as the information is accurately from the time of the release of the layered product.

The TCPIP V5.4 Installation Guide also states V7.3-1 and V7.3-2 only.

So the 'official' answer is: you need V7.3-1
Whether installing TCPIP V5.4 on V7.3 still would work is up to you to try or find someone who's tried it before.

Volker.

[Veli Körkkö]

and the latest ECO kit for TCPIP V5.4 is ECO 5. I have installed that on VMS V7.3-1 and could not get SSH any more going.

To fix the issue I had to upgrade DECwindows/Motif from V1.2-6 to V1.3-0.

SSH at V5.4 ECO5 appears to needs SYS$SHARE:DECW$SETSHODISSHR.EXE and that comes with VMS V7.3-2 (and later) but also on Motif V1.3-0.

So, you need SSH. You would also install latest ECO kits after base kit. And going to latest ECOs it appears that you will need Motif V1.3-0 and now question is if that is installable on top of VMS V7.3?

You might as well just upgrade to VMS V7.3-2
since then it is all supported and there should be therefore minimal risks involved.

_veli

[Ian Miller.]

The benifits of upgrading to V7.3-2 from V7.3 outway the risks and you will be on a supported version.

[Mike Lancaster]

Thanks to everyone for the the information it is really appreciated.

As to the reason for not upgrading the OS my application team is still using Oracle Forms and when I attempted to go to 7.3-1 they informed me that the Forms would not work so I dropped back to 7.3. The 4100 is now purely a development machine so I can re-attempt the upgrade and see if I can work with them through the problem(s).

I will need to be able to use both the server and client sides of ssh and sftp.

[Jan van den Ende]

Mike,


when I attempted to go to 7.3-1 they informed me that the Forms would not work


Would you care to be some more specific about that?
No guarantee, but the most likely reason seems to me to be just (a) quota setting(s).
And if so, THAT can quite easily be cured!

hth

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Lars Funck Jensen_1]

>> my application team is still using Oracle Forms and when I attempted
>>to go to 7.3-1 they informed me that the Forms would not work.
>>

Forms can run under 7.3-2. We recently moved a VMS 7.1-2 AS4100 5/400 1GB Oracle 7.x.x Forms application to a DS20 6/500 1,5 GB. Upgraded the system on a local disk ( VMS 7.3,one reboot, VMS 7.3-2 + updates ( pt. upd4 + 8-12 patches).
After the upgrade we moved the systemdisk to a EVA SAN disk.
We installed Oracle 9.2.05, created new databases and imported the (old) database(s). The use og Row-id made some changes in the Forms application needed, but mostly manual work.
The old Oracle 7.x is still there, but only for the Forms interface.

Result 2.5-3 times speedup.

Please note that XFC is enabled on 7.3-2 and your database files should have caching disabled.

[John Gillings]

Mike,

>As to the reason for not upgrading the
>OS my application team is still using
>Oracle Forms and when I attempted to go
>to 7.3-1 they informed me that the Forms
>would not work so I dropped back to 7.3.

V7.3-2 was released in 2003, you'd think that would be plenty of time for applications people to get used to it!

Furthermore, the intent of dash releases is 100% binary cross compatibility. The official support statements say that ISVs do not even have to requalify software. It will just work.

Unlike many other software environments, upwards compatibility is a prime objective of OpenVMS. In the OpenVMS VAX regression suite there are images linked on VMS V1.0 (1978) which MUST run before a new version is let out the door.

About the only way to write software which works on V7.3 and doesn't work on V7.3-1 or V7.3-2 is to use $GETSYI SYI$_VERSION to extract the version string and the have a conditional on a direct string comparison.

I'd strongly recommend installing V7.3-2 (note this is not an "upgrade" it's an "installation"!). I don't think it's actually necessary for TCPIP V5.4, but if you want full support, you don't have a choice. Customer support centres will give you "best effort" on V7.3 and V7.3-1, but there will be no more patches from engineering issued for those versions.