Wanting nice and simple way of copying text files from HP UX to Windows 2003

[John O'Neill_6]

Hey All,

I have a need to have a simple means of automatically copying files from HP UX 11i to Windows Server 2003 (Standard edition).

Background:

We are running JetForm Central pro on HP UX 11i (PA-RISC) which has been perfectly fine for years now, however... as we are migrating to HP UX (Itanium) we have investigated and found that JetForm is not supported on this new HP platform.

So... we got our Jetform re-seller to set it up for us on windows 2003 in our evaluation environment, and it seems to work just fine, the only sticking point is this:

Each 'print job' that JetForm does takes the form of a small text file describing the form to use and the data that will go into the form, Jetform monitors a directory on the compuer it runs on and when files arrive happily goes off and does it's thing.

Now, on our HP UX 11i (PA-RISC) environment where jetform AND our application are both running, this is a nice setup..

But now, with our new environment, Jetform and the applicaation that use it are now on different boxes.

MY problem is this:

What is a good way to set up a mechanism where I can have files that are created on HP-UX automatically transfered over to the Widnows 2003 machine and into the JetForm 'pickup directory'?

I thought about having our application dump the file on HP-UX and then invoke an FTP script to push the file over to the windows computer. Or having the windows computer do the FTP'ing on a regular basis.

But... sometimes there can be hundreds of letters and I don't want hundreds of FTP's firing off between the machines for obvious reasons.

I remember that in a very old SCO Unix to HP Unix migration project years ago we used something called NFSMount, where i would create a 'mount' directory on the connecting maschine and a 'share' directory on the other machine, it seemed to work.

Any hints, tips, experiences that people can share would be appreciated as it's become an unexpected sticking point in our migration project to HP UX Itanium.

-John

[John Fjeldberg]

Perhaps installing samba server and use CIFS:
Samba) http://techcom.cup.hp.com/dir_cifs/supinfo_cifs_serv.html
should give the winbox access if you share it...

[John O'Neill_6]

Hi,

Thanks for the link.

I tried the wesbite but i get the message 'Cannot find server'.

I'd rather not have the windows computer 'connect' to the UNIX system, I would rather have the UNIX system connect to the windows computer though if possible.

-John

[John Fjeldberg]

Whops, should have checked it first, try :
http://h20293.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=B8725AA

The bundle actually includes a CIFS client for HPUX as well, which should allow you to mount windows shares from the HPUX box...

[John Fjeldberg]

Actually, you can download the client by itself without the server, it may be more convenient: https://h20293.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=B8724AA

[Heironimus]

Just to clarify...

HP CIFS Server is a packaged version of Samba and includes Samba's command-line client for accessing shares.

HP CIFS Client is a completely different piece of software that lets you mount a share as a filesystem on HP-UX.

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Windows 2003 has a free package called SFU 3.5 that is able of connecting to NFS shares. It can also NFS enable windows shares.

So after that, the PA-RISC box can write files or get files from the Windows and vice versa.

Samba/CIFS-9000 integration is another option that will work.

You can get a openssh server for windows, set up password free access both directions and use scp to send files back and forth. The downside is that you will get the same job volume as ftp and since authentication and transmission is encrypted, you get even more system resources used.

Many solutions, the trick is to balance between setup time and resource use when finished.

SEP

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Windows 2003 has a free package called SFU 3.5 that is able of connecting to NFS shares. It can also NFS enable windows shares.

So after that, the PA-RISC box can write files or get files from the Windows and vice versa.

Samba/CIFS-9000 integration is another option that will work.

You can get a openssh server for windows, set up password free access both directions and use scp to send files back and forth. The downside is that you will get the same job volume as ftp and since authentication and transmission is encrypted, you get even more system resources used.

Many solutions, the trick is to balance between setup time and resource use when finished.

Also, Itanium as an emulation program called Aires that lets you run PA-RISC binaries on Itanium. If you don't mind a massive performance loss you might still be able to migrate to Itanium.

SEP

[Court Campbell]

I have never been a fan of SFU (no great reason). I usually do a minimal cygwin installation and setup an nfs server. I also like to install openssh so I can ssh, scp, sftp to the windows box.

http://www.csparks.com/CygwinNFS/index.xhtml

Then just mount the exported nfs directory to the hpux server.

ssh info, if interested:

http://pigtail.net/LRP/printsrv/cygwin-sshd.html

[John O'Neill_6]

Thanks peoples :)

I'm reading all the information supplied by everyone's very helpfull posts, there's a fair bit to go through so may take me a while to get back to you all.

I'll be back in a couple of days to let you know how I go :)

-John