Finding IP Address of OpenVMS system

[Vineet Deshpande]

Hi,

I want to find out the IP Address of an OpenVMS system. I was using the following command earlier:- tcpip show interface

However I am facing a situation at customer end that this command is not working. At his end on a Alpha Operating System, Version V7.3-2 I am getting the following result:-

$ tcpip show interface
%DCL-W-IVVERB, unrecognized command verb - check validity and spelling \TCPIP\

Is there another command I can use? Any idea why this is happening? Is it that TCPIP services are not present there?

Please help.

Thanks,
Vineet

[Barry Alford]

Try
$ ucx show interface

this works on all versions of TCPIP Services for OpenVMS (which used to be called "Unix Connection")

[Vineet Deshpande]

Thanks Barry.

I will check if it works at the customer end. Will update the thread with that information later.

- Vineet

[Volker Halle · Accepted solution]

Vineet,

looks like HP TCPIP Services is NOT installed on your system. There may be another TCPIP stack installed.

Volker.

[Jon Pinkley]

Try using the command "SHOW NET".

It will at least give you a clue as to what stack is loaded, and may give you the ip address of at least one interface.

[Richard Whalen]

try
$ show logical *INET_HOSTADDR

[Hoff]

Likely the best bet here is what Rich has mentioned:

SHOW LOGICAL *INET_ADDR*

Best guess here is that this box either has no IP, or has one of the Process IP stacks installed. If this is the Process Multinet IP stack, try:

$ MULTINET SHOW /ALL

IIRC, Process TCPware uses the netcu verb for this:

$ NETCU SHOW HOST

Process software has product documentation online at the www.process.com site.

nb: The UCX command verb won't likely be found on V7.3-2 in isolation; it is typically only present for reasons of compatibility and only in concert with the ("newer") TCPIP verb. The UCX verb was used with versions of TCP/IP Services product prior to V5.0, and it's unlikely that this box has that old a version (still) resident. The V7.3-2 upgrade will typically replace the older TCP/IP Services stack with a V5-vintage stack, and you'll have a TCPIP verb and (for reasons of compatibility) the older UCX verb.

nb: The SHOW NETWORK command isn't a particularlty reliable means of determining the IP product installed, and doesn't (I just checked a Multinet box) reliably show the IP address.

[Robert Gezelter]

Vineet,

The most authoritative way to verify which IP stack is running on a system is to check the startup command procedure and associated files.

The default location for starting the IP stack is SYS$MANAGER:SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM. If the information is not there, it may be in a file invoked by this file, or other file invoked through the STARTUP database (managed using the SYSMAN utility).

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] (which used to be called "Unix
> Connection") [...]

Actually, it was the VMS Ultrix Connection.
But no matter.

Perhaps someone who knows something should
whip up a DCL procedure which would poke
around and determine which IP software is
running on a VMS system. Being able to tell
someone to run might save
everyone a lot of time in the general scheme
of things. (Perhaps someone already has,
but, if so, then it needs more publicity.)

[Hoff]

re: Steven, I've thought of doing that as part of a configuration investigation tool.

The downside is that you then need to explain and download that, and that leads to as much discussion around file transfers and file formats and other such.

By the time you're done here, pointing to the Multinet or netcu or UCX tool or the SHOW LOGICAL *INET_ADDR* stuff is probably just as (in)efficient as any other approach.

OpenVMS just isn't good at this stuff.

[labadie_1]

May be we should first issue a
$ ana/sys
sh lan
and check if we have IP or not started on this node.

Then, see the name of the process who owns the device BG, and then may be we can name the IP stack.

[Doug Phillips]

I don't know about TCPware, but for both Multinet and TCP/IP Services:

$ SHOW SYSTEM/PROCESS=*INET*

and/or

$ SHOW LOGICAL *INET*

will show if one of those two stacks is installed and started.

Multinet can be (and usually should be) installed with the UCX compatability option.

I don't find a logical *INET_ADDR* but I do see *INET_HOSTADDR

[Richard Whalen]

the show logical *inet_hostaddr will work on systems running MultiNet or TCPware as MultiNet and TCPware define UCX$INET_HOSTADDR and TCPIP$INET_HOSTADDR so that applications written for TCP/IP services can run transparently on MultiNet or TCPware.

[John Gillings]

re Steven:

>Perhaps someone who knows something should
>whip up a DCL procedure which would poke
>around and determine which IP software is
>running on a VMS system.

Already done, and already mentioned in this thread, see:

$ SHOW NETWORK [/FULL]

Product: DECNET Node: JOHNG Address(es): 1.265
Product: TCP/IP Node: johng.xyz.com.au Address(es): 10.2.20.212

It's also a stack independent mechanism for starting and stopping each network product

$ START/NETWORK DECNET
$ STOP/NETWORK "TCP/IP"

A properly conforming network stack will add itself to a "database" stored in logical names SYS$NET_SERVICES_*, which define various stack specific commands. See relevant HELP entries. I assume (but can't confirm) that Multinet uses this mechanism?

[Vineet Deshpande]

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for the answers and explanations so far.

The "ucx show interface" command did not work. But I did find out the output of show network which showed:-

Product: DECNET Node: Address(es):

I guess this means that DECNET service is installed while TCP/IP service is not installed on the system right?

I am going to ask to run a few command like:-

show logical *INET_HOSTADDR to see if I get the IP from there. But I have a few questions:-

1) If the service is DECNET then will the IP Address be some thing like "xx.xx" and not "xx.xx.xx.xx" ???

2) Can I take the IP address from the output of show network or show netword/full ??

Thanks,

Vineet

[Volker Halle]

Vineet,

DECnet is a completely different protocol. DECnet addresses are of the form n.m, where n is the DECnet Area address and m is the DECnet node address within that area.

If SHOW NETWORK[/FULL] does NOT show an IP address, the IP stack product did not correctly register it's IP address. It's even more likely, that there is no 'IP stack' installed.

To find all the various network protocols active on the LAN adapters of this node, issue the following commands:

$ ANAL/SYS
SDA> SHOW LAN
SDA> EXIT

This will show all active network protocols on all LAN adapters in the system (1 line per protocol). If you don't find a line with IP and/or ARP in column 'Client', then there definitely is NO IP stack installed and active.

Volker.

[Vineet Deshpande]

Thanks Volker. I am checking for the same and will update as soon as possible.

- Vineet

[The Brit]

Vineet.
since neither the TCPIP or UCX commands work for you, then you dont appear to have TCPIP Services installed on your system.
You dont mention whether you get any response from either

$ MULTINET SHOW /ALL

or

$ NETCU SHOW HOST

so based on your answers so far, you might have one of these installed but not started.

do you have a directory called

sys$common:[tcpware] ?? If you do, then you have tcpware installed (probably). look for

SYS$COMMON:[TCPWARE]TCPWARE_CONFIGURE.COM

This is a text file so you can read it. (do not modify it until you are really comfortable with what you are doing). If the system has been previously configured, you will find the system IP address in this file. vis.

$ NETCU_LINES == "LPB-0 127.0.0.1,EIA-0 xxx.xxx.110.207 /MASK=255.255.255.0

in my case "xxx.xxx.110.207" (insert your own first two octets.)

hth

Dave.

[Vineet Deshpande]

Hi All,

Our suspicion was right. I got a reply from a customer who said that half of their environment runs MultiNet and other half runs TCPIP.

It would be great if there is a command which will give me the IP Address irrespective of the stack but I don't know if that's possible. I have asked for the output of:-

SHOW NETWORK/FULL
MULTINET SHOW /ALL
show logical *INET_HOSTADDR

Is there any script or procedure I can use in case we cannot find a common command?

Thanks,

Vineet

[Volker Halle]

Vineet,

OpenVMS provides the $ SHOW NETWORK [/FULL] command mechanism for any network stack to register itself with the relevant 'show configuration' commands . The data is found in logicals, see $ SHOW LOG SYS$NET_SERVICES*

If the non-HP IP stack does not use this mechanism, please contact the vendor.

Volker.

[Jon Pinkley]

"Is there any script or procedure I can use in case we cannot find a common command?"

http://xkcd.com/627/

[Vineet Deshpande]

Hi All,

The command show logical *INET_HOSTADDR worked on the machine with Multinet stack. Plus it's working on other machines with TCP/IP also.

Thanks a lot for all your help!

- Vineet

[Vineet Deshpande]

The command which works on both Multinet and TCP/IP stack is show logical *INET_HOSTADDR

[John Santos_2]

This is a way-late followup, but I just confirmed that

$ show logical *inet_hostaddr

also works in TCPware (as was implied by earlier posts.)

For CMU or Wollongong, you're on your own :-)