SNA Plus Token ring

[Michael Tully]

Has anyone configured a HPUX server with SNA to use a token ring card, that uses a station addressing but no IP addressing?

We are connecting a HPUX server with a token ring card (broken ring card) to a 3174 upstream constrollr without using any IP.

This is such a mystery set up I was wondering if anyone has actually achieved it. Using a dummy IP address through SAM does not work. It always renders the card as unconfigured.
Any assistance will get you points and big thank you. I'd offer you a beer, but some of you might be too far away ... ha ha ;^)

Regards
Michael
"When I have trouble spelling, it's called fat finger syndrome"

[Duncan Edmonstone]

Many many years ago I did this... it does work, and work reliably - all the setup is done via xsnapadmin - I am assuming you do have SNAPlus2 installed on this system.

If the TR card is PCI, there is an undocumented command you can use to config/reset the card /usr/sbin/pcitr_util

What specific problems are you having Michael?

cheers

duncan

[Michael Tully]

Hi Duncan,

Appreciate the response. I saw no information on this on itrc search and of course the whole set up is vague to say the least.
I do have the SNAPlus2 all ready to go and that was a *pain* in itself ... I'll check in the morning my time on the command you mentioned....

I don't have a problem yet, as I mentioned the whole set up is vague and I was wondering whether others had one of these ....

Cheers
Michael
"When I have trouble spelling, it's called fat finger syndrome."

[Bernhard Mueller]

Michael,

I can only confirm what Duncan said, because I know a customer with this setup you describe was in production until recently.

Also I remember that when we upgraded all the boxes from 10.20 to 11.0, the SNA specialist from HP recommended a couple of patches. Moreover, initially there was a certain driver missing of which no one had thought before, but I am not sure I remember that correctly.

Regards,
Bernhard

[Duncan Edmonstone]

There's a reason its fuzzy and vague - its cos SNA is so damn complex! There's a lot more to it than TCP/IP, and a lot of the terminology changes depending on who you talk to.

OK from what I remember (I can't remember where you actually set all this stuff in the GUI), and this will be very vague cos it was a long time ago:

1. From within the SNA section in SAM (not xsnapadmin) you need to make sure you have the correct drivers installed for token ring cards (IIRC this leads to a kernel regen & reboot)

2. Now you need to define your TR card in SNAplus2 - IIRC the only info it actually asks for is the card 'instance no' - this isn't the PPA no of the card, its the instance of token ring cards in your system - so if you only have one token ring card the instance no will be 0.

3. Next you need to know the 'network name' - whoever runs the box your talking to should be able to tell you this (I'm assuming its either an MVS or OS400 box??)

4. With the network name established you need to define your node itself as a control point. By default this is set to 'NETWORK_NAME.HOSTNAME', but your mainframe buddies may want you to set it to something different.

5. Define a service access point for the TR card (can't remember the specifics of this I'm afraid)

6. Define a remote system name (control point) for the system you are connecting to - this will be in the form NETWORK_NAME.SYSTEM_NAME - again your m/f buddies should be able to tell you this.

7. Now you need to define a 'link station' this is basically a permanent connection between your host and the remote system - the link stations can be configured to be always up, or be started 'on demand' when something wants to use them. To define the link station you need some information from your m/f guys on how they have their end configured (if its MVS you want to know how they have their 'VTAM defintions' for your system configured). Basically in order to configure your end you need the following info:

-The Link Station name
-The local node ID (typically a hex number in the format 05D XXXX)
-The MAC adddress of the 3174

8. With the link station defined you can try and start it. IF your very lucky and got everything right first time then the link station will activate - you now have a connection established between yourself and the remote systems FEP. More likely is that it won't start - run through everything you have configured with your m/f guys - review the contents of the SNA error logs with them (some of the messages generated have very short descriptions which the m/f guys may be able to expand on), and ask them to enable tracing/logging on their 3174 so they can see if you are at least hitting the controller.

9. This is where things go in different directions... let me know if your are configuring SNA for green screen 3270 access, or for some programmatic access to the mainframe (such as Connect:Direct, MQ/Series or the SNA extensions of BEA TUXEDO)


HTH

Duncan

[Pete Randall]

Michael,

I've got nothing to offer but sympathy. We got out of the token ring environment several years ago and, even if I could remember any details, they would be for HP-UX 9.04.

What I can do is raise a glass in comiseration tonight (and I think I will!).

Good luck, mate,

Pete

[Volker Borowski]

Hi Michael,

well configuring the card with SAM should work.
I remember you needed STREAMS to be installed on 9.04, but it became part of the standard since 10.x and should already beeen installed. May be you need special patches for STREAMS ?

Be sure that your machine is not the only one in the ring. It took be two days once, to find out that one of my rotten TR-cards was not able to become ringmaster. So having this single card in a passive MAU never worked. Found out by accident, when plugged in a laptop to the MAU for debugging purposes it worked promptly.

Never configured SNA, but to be sure you are not blocked by buggy Hardware, I'd try to get IP ready first.

Good luck
Volker

[Michael Tully]

Bernhard,

Thanks for the information about the patching. I had already been through the patching as I couldn't even talk to the SNA software through SAM. SAM patch, plus network patches on top of March 2003 bundle.

Duncan,

Thanks for the extremely valuable input. I will read this a few times and talk with the network guy/MF guy about it.
The pcitr_util program gives some pretty big warnings, so I'm going to tred a little carefully with it. The "not to be used otherwise" bothers me, as for one, why is it /usr/sbin instead of /usr/lbin ?? hmmm


# ./pcitr_util -?
pcitr_util is for HP support personnel use only!
It is unsupported and not to be used otherwise!

Usage:
pcitr_util -c -f [-- ...]
Supported commands:
start, shut, reset, readreg8, readreg16,readreg32,
writereg8, writereg16, writereg32

pcitr_util -c start -f --
start options:
-F {0 | 1} -- full duplex OFF/ON
-a {0 | 1} -- autosense OFF/ON
-s {4 | 16 } -- speed 4Mbps, 16Mbps
-m -- MAC address
-f -- functional address
-M -- MTU

pcitr_util -c readreg{8|16|32} -f --
readreg options:
-o -- register offset

pcitr_util -c writereg{8|16|32} -f --
writereg options:
-o -- register offset
-v -- new register value

Pete, cheers I'll need all the luck for this ...

Volker, very interesting. I'll keep on eye on that little showstopper. (Although we're not planning on using IP)

I'll keep this posting updated, so if some poor unsuspecting SA comes along there is a dirt trail to at least follow.

Regards
Michael
"When I have trouble spelling, it's called fat finger syndrome"

[Jeff Schussele]

Uuuuhhhmmmm....Earth to Tully - This IS the 21st century.

Remember these quotes...?

"Man - what are we doing to do with 4Mb/sec?"

"Why would anyone need MORE than 640K?".

But remember these were the same people. I thought they all retired - now I'm wondering if they all retired to Australia. ;~()

Cheers,
Jeff
"You just can't fix stupid."

[Michael Tully]

I'll have to think of a name for ya Jeffrey .... ha ha

Unfortunately I am not the solution designer here, just the implementer ... And when I get my hands on him ...
Mate if you were to retire ... man there's plenty of places, but steer clear of the gold coast, too many wankers, sunshine coast ... too expensive ... Cairns ... too far away ... There is a smaller place called Nelson Bay ... it's wonderful and not too far away. It have everything, gold fishing, beaches, nite life (Returned Services Club to get sloshed) and shopping for the missus.

As Forrest Gump says ...

Stupid is as stupid does.
(Guess I'm stupid ... ha ha)

Cheers
Michael
"When I have trouble spelling, it's called fat finger syndrome"

[Jeff Schussele]

Hi mate,

Call me Schuss or when you're aggravated call me Bogart - as it was when I was in HS.
I'll leave that to all of you to discern just *why* I got that moniker.
Either way just call me - I'm very thick-skinned.

Be assured, as I'm sure you are, that was no insult towards YOU.
I was teasing you about sigs & slamming the powers-that-be for still clinging to an essentially dead protocol.

Cheers,
Jeff (Gotta luv it - never a dull moment I say)

[Duncan Edmonstone · Accepted solution]

My first impression of the pcitr_util command was the same... don't use it if I'm told not to... but then if you look at the startup script for the TR card (/sbin/init.d/pcitr IIRC) it *is* used in there.

Never had a problem with it myself... In fact I had to use it quite regularly when I found that sometimes when the TR went down, only doing a card reset would re-enable it.

HTH

Duncan