Limitations
 		Previous Topic  Next Topic 

D3NT Limitations


The Break Key is no longer active. To do a Break you must do a <CTRL> <\>. This can be changed in D3 Device Manager under D3NT Settings.



TCL Verbs that are Not supported.


ACTIVATE                Now done in windows. Use D3 Activation.

COLOR                        Color is set within AccuTerm.

CONFIG                Use Windows NT Diagnostics and Control Panel setups.

CX-GRAPH        Digiboard CX commands no longer needed. Use Windows for setup and troubleshooting.

CX-REMOTE                LOOK-PORT no longer works either.

CX-RESTART

CX-UTIL

EXPORT                Use COPY DOS: command or write utilities using built in C functions

F-RESIZE                Only works on VME files. Use RESIZE.ALL now in the account

FDISK                        Use Windows

FREE                        Only reports VME disk usage. Use Windows Explorer or CHKDSK

IMPORT                Use COPY DOS: command or write utilities using built in C functions

ISTAT                        Not supported on FSI (Remote) files. Use D3 File Manager

LINK-PIBDEV                No longer necessary

LIST-LINES                DEV-LIST, NT_PINFO. Use D3 Device Manager. Use PMLL

LIST-PATCHES                Service Packs are loaded in NT. WHICH CD shows current version of D3

LOOK-PORT                There may be a utility that runs in Windows otherwise look at setups

MLOAD                No such things as ABS anymore. D3 has been rewritten in C

RENAME-FILE                Does not work. DO NOT EVEN TRY IT. Reported 3/22/1999

POKE                        Not supported

RESET-PORT        Not supported. Not even on serial ports. Use RESET-USER and REMOVE.DEV

SAVE (DFS                       Not supported. In the DM account,  use these commands: DB <enter> MD <enter> FSCK * <enter>. This will produce any data corruption.  Any corruption needs to be reported to JBS for repair. The option to type F-Fix will appear. DO NOT DO THE <F> OPTION. Jay at JBS said that it can make matters worse.

SET-BAUD                Try SET-PORT

SET-DATE                Use Windows or BIOS to set date

SET-FLOPPY                Use T-SELECT 0

SET-FLUSH                Use D3 Device Manager. D3NT Settings

SET-LPTR                No longer needed. Use Windows

SET-KBRD                No longer needed. There is no port 0. All ports are AccuTerm sessions

SET-SCT-DMA                No longer necessary. QIC-02 drives will not work in NT anyway

SET-TIME                Use Windows or BIOS to set time

T-ATT                        Use T-SELECT first before issuing T-ATT

UNLINK-PIBDEV        No longer necessary. Just use CONVERSE or TANDEM directly

WAIT.POST                No longer necessary


The FILE-OF-FILES file in DM does not contain statistics for FSI (Remote) files so the following commands function but only for VME files.

LFS                (Use NTLFS for FSI files)

F-RESIZE

The FSI on-line file sizing utility is FILE-SIZER in DM.

Also use NT_RESIZE directly on files, and NT_RESIZE-MENU in DM.


More limitations, and Traps

  1. There is a kno wn pr o blems list being created separately. Some known problems are incorporated here also.
  2. Plan on needing at least TWICE to THREE times the DISK SPACE plus NT and any other applications when moving from AP/PRO. Use SCSI HD for systems greater than 10 users. Also, you will need a minimum of 96 megabytes of Ram and 2 megs per user over 3 (i.e. Go to 128 megs until the 2 meg rule takes you higher), plus as much CPU you can afford. If you are going to run ANY other applications on the server besides the OS and D3 then more Ram will be needed.  The recommendation is not to run anything else on the server including print serving.
  3. Tape backup systems will need to have higher capacity also. Anything less than 1 gig will not cut it. The footprint of NT/D3/PM.PROGRAMS is around 600 Megs. Once you add data that figure will go to at least 1 gig. If you have a customer with a large database get the size, double it, then add. If you add other programs then keep adding. Also, since we are doing backups to disk then you need an even higher capacity drive.
  4. CD ROM writers are available for backup but I am not sure how practical that will be. If using a CD-ROM writer for Distributed, this device should not be setup on the main system unless setup in a very small environment where the server can be dedicated to writing a CD if necessary.
  5. Do not have D3 files open in Windows Explorer or in any other program or else it will bomb trying to access the file in D3 with file open error or other weird messages.
  6. There is no more port 0. That is used by the service that runs the d3 environment.
  7. The file save or account save process’ no longer back up b-tree indexes, so the indexes would have to be rebuilt if a customer does a restore. If a Windows backup is done then the indexes are backed up, but that would require shutting down the VME before the Windows backup to insure file integrity.
  8. To do a restore of a tape from an AP/PRO system into the FSI you must do a RESTORE-ACCOUNTS (R  (DO NOT USE 1000 to cut the modulo’s in half when restoring from AP/PRO). If you do an ACCOUNT-RESTORE then you must prefix the account with FSI: (Ex. ACCOUNT-RESTORE FSI:PM, Account name on tape PM) or else the account will be restored into the VME by default. If an ACCOUNT-SAVE is done on an account, which already exists in the FSI, then the FSI: is not necessary when restoring that account. WARNING, do not use FSI: on an account that is already an FSI account, it will produce weird results.
  9. DO NOT Resize files during a restore. Even  though you might be coming from a 2K frame size environment (Like AP/PRO) to D3 which is a 4K frame size environment you should NOT resize the files. DO NOT add a (1000 to the end of the ACCOUNT-RESTORE or RESTORE-ACCOUNTS verb. There will be a new FILE-SIZER program that can be run to resize files according to D3. I have found out that D3 takes up more disk space with same data as compared to AP/PRO.
  10. ACCOUNT-SAVE (A to create an AP/PRO compatible save in D3/NT. (3/22/1999).
  11. If you do a q-pointed account then make sure there is an FSI: before the account name being q-pointed to in the MDS entry in attribute 2.
  12. To effectively DX an FSI account change the q-pointer in the MDS entry for the account (attribute 1) from QS to Q.
  13. Incremental saves are not supported on FSI accounts.
  14. When you recompile a CALLX subroutine you must log off and back on to pick up the new object code.  Reported 3/1/1999.
  15. When you change a CALLX statement in the dictionary you must log off and back on to pick up the changes.  Reported 3/1/1999.
  16. Com ports above COM9 need to address \\.\C OM10 for example.
  17. Digiboard CX drivers should be downloaded from w w w .dgii.com.
  18. ACCU/PLOT-II does not exist in D3/NT.
  19. DESQTOP will have to be upgraded. They are still in beta as of 3/17/1999. On 5/5/1999 we are using the NT version and it seems to be working fine. DO NOT Flash Compile Desqtop programs.
  20. NTBACKUP skips files in use. The D3 environment is always in use. There is a registry edit that will allow open files to be backed up but this is untested. Use a Windows Backup program that is designed to backup open files or create a procedure to backup files in D3 then in Windows and make sure it is done properly. Implement single step recovery.
  21. D3 has the ability to backup to the hard drive so that would effectively double the need for space to duplicate the database as a backup. Also, the file that is created never shrinks in size once created. For example, if the backup file is 300 megabytes then you do a backup which is only 50 megabytes the file will still be 300 megabytes. Recover the space by deleting the file first if you do not need it.
  22. In CALLX subroutines, when opening files in another FSI account the account name must be part of the OPEN statement in Basic. Reported 3/22/1999. FIXED.
  23. If a Telnet session disconnects in the middle of a logon (either intentionally or because of a lockup) the port session is logged off and whatever is being worked on is lost. To prevent this from happening use DCD-OFF to maintain the port connection. This only works on nailed telnet sessions. This should be put into the logon PROC.  (Normally U MD PM in PM account, then add DCD-OFF prior to the line MAIN.MENU.)
  24. When logging off it takes longer to wrap up whatever it is doing and therefore seems to hang for a few seconds. If there were lots of changes in the data this may take longer. You will have to patient and let it finish up.
  25. Object code is compatible between D3/NT and AP/PRO. You can transport object code either way except if you have Flash Compiled in D3/NT which we will be doing.  Then you can not move object code back to AP/PRO.
  26. WATCH WHERE will work but it just seems that there is not as much activity in the where statement in D3/NT.
  27. In Basic: EXECUTE "T-SELECT 2" RETURNING MSG.NO and MSG.NO is blank. It should return the MESSAGES file item number. SET-PORT returns a blank also.
  28. In DM, T-SELECT 0 with no floppy in Drive A: then T-DET and it might hangs forever. You can not even break out if it does hang. RESET-USER did not work. Had to do a DEV-REMOV on the telnet client. You can put a floppy in the drive and it will free up.  Reported 3/22/1999.
  29. In an AccuTerm Telnet session, if you do a Carriage Return (ENTER, Char(13)) followed by a line feed (DOWN ARROW, Char(10)) then the line feed is ignored as input. It appears that a session from another computer works fine. Reported to Accusoft 3/23/199. He said it was part of the telnet spec but he would look into it. Pete called back 4/12/1999. He gave me a work around. In AccuTerm, go into Tools > Settings > Device > Advanced and remove the check mark from Binary. The only thing you give up is that you can not send a CHAR(0) from the keyboard which we do not do anyway. Spoke with Pick also and it seems to be a problem in the telnet server and they might fix it.
  30. The output-macro that lives on attribute 16 of the d-pointer for data file pointer will not take affect until you log off and back on. This may be changed later.
  31. In Basic, if you open the MDS file and your code is flash compiled then the FSI:MDS will be opened, not the VME:MDS which is what is used to logon with. Same with MESSAGES file also.
  32. SET-FLOPPY does not work use T-SELECT 0 or modify the MD entry.
  33. For floppies, we did the T-WEOF after every WRITET. This is not needed for D3/NT. If a T-WEOF is written on the disk then an entry READT needs to be executed in order to get past it.
  34. In CALLX subroutines you can Not open a DOS file with a regular OPEN “DOS: statement. This is called using OSFI through a CALLX on an FSI file. It is not supported and probably never will be supported. Use the %c calls (%open, %read, %write) to read/write to DOS files.
  35. When doing an NT_RESIZE on an FSI file, the modulo of the file is Not updated in attribute 3 of the dictionary entry for the data file pointer like AP/PRO. Attribute 13 is updated with the new modulo though. Use NT_FILE-INFO to display the actual modulo of the FSI file.
  36. It seems that the SUM verb is producing different result on large items (>100,000 bytes) from AP/PRO to D3/NT. It seems that the bug is in AP/PRO.
  37. Our old OKI-321 printer is not printing properly. The new OKI-321T prints fine. We have called Okidata and they have not been helpful. I suspect the buffer size is too small or the motherboard and the printer are not cooperating with Windows NT.
  38. When setting up a q-pointer on a remote machine to logto from within basic from a local machine the q-pointer on the remote must be added to FSI:MDS. Add an entry to VME:MDS for consistency.
  39. Renaming an account with U MDS “account name” then CTRL XI does not seem to work. You must use the D3 File Manager then right click on the account name to rename it. It will not appear in the VME with LF MDS until you shutdown and reboot the VME or do QS.UPD in DM.
  40. Programs that are used as CALL or CALLX for triggers or b-trees must be globally catalogued. There is a new CATALOG verb option (G to do this. If using the (G option then you must do (L option to catalog the program locally in the MD also. The (G option puts an entry in the FSIDM,CATALOGUE,RULEMODULES, file under the program name as the item id. NOTE: Make sure you are in the program account (i.e. PM.PROGRAMS, PL.PROGRAMS, PM.DIST) when you issue the catalog command with the (G or else it will register the program in the current account. NOTE: You must SELECT the programs first before issuing the CATALOG command or use an asterisk (ex: CATALOG PL.PGM * (G).
  41. Stop D3 VME Services in Windows vs. SHUTDOWN (or POWER-OFF) in the VME: When you stop the VME service via Windows, the shutdown process is started, but Windows only allows for a certain amount of time for the process to wrap up.  An abrupt halt is then done to D3.  This is a potential cause for GFE's (now called File Inconsistencies).  Be sure to use POWER-OFF or SHUTDOWN from DM rather than stopping the service.  If you get a File Inconsistency, and the file is critical, call JBS and they can correct the problem or involve Pick Systems. Data can be restored from backup but it would obviously be ideal to avoid this problem altogether.


New TCL verbs that may be useful

CONVERSE                DEV-DET, DEV.ATT, UNLINK-PIBDEV, LINK-PIBDEV no longer needed.

DEV-LIST                For listing all attached devices (Tape, Ports, Printers).

DEV-MAKE                For creating devices.

DEV-REMOV                For removing devices.

ESTIMATE-COUNT        For quickly counting a large file. I do not think it works any quicker though.

FILE-SIZER                On-line resizing utility. Use it to resize files automatically in the background.

LOGON-LOCK (F        To turn logon lock off.

NT_EVENTLOG                Displays the NT Event Application Log.

NT_FILE-INFO                Displays File Number, Actual Modulo and Server where file exists for FSI files.

NT_INDEXER                For regenerating indexes that exist for an entire account. Does not work either.

NT_IOTRACE                Trace data input and output on a port.

NTLFS                        NT List File Statistics on FSI files only. Use LFS for VME files.

NT_PINFO        Lists device specific information and statistics. This shows CPU and MEM usage.

NT_RESIZE                NT resize verb.

NT_RESIZE-MENU        Has examples of resize subroutines that we have to integrate into our system.

NT_TELNETDISC        For enabling/disabling the automatic telnet disconnect at logon.

PMLL                        Home grown LIST-LINES command.

QS.UPD                        Run this from DM after renaming an account in D3 File Manager to update the

                       VME.

RESIZE.ALL                Home grown version of F-RESIZE, but only works on one account at a time.

WATCH                Pick has created their own verb. Very similar. Type verb in for usage.

! or SH                        Use the exclamation mark or SH to execute a DOS command (Ex. !DIR).

There are a lot of new NT_ verbs. Very little of this is tested so proceed cautiously.


D3TCL is a DOS command, which can be used to execute TCL commands from a DOS window.

Also, read in D3 Books On Line “Running Flash Basic from DOS.” Flash compiler option G.


The registry value TelnetPibs in the key Pick0 allows to define a valid range of Pibs for regular Telnet, to avoid conflicts with printer ports for example. See the D3 Books On Line for more details.


To effectively do a :FILES in D3/NT shutdown the VME, open a DOS window, CD drive:\Program Files\D3\D3PROGRAMS, and Issue command > D3VME /FILELOAD. Select the tape device that contains the file-save. The tape device has to be created in the D3/NT Device Manager. It is recommended to use T-SELECT 2 which is a predefined pseudo floppy which can be used for anything. DO NOT ever use T-SELECT 1 since this contains the original data set.


If you experiencing problems with D3, like maxusers problems or you want to see the USER- COLDSTART run try D3VME /DEBUG in a DOS window. Stop the VME in services first then issue this command in drive:\Program Files\D3\D3PROGRAMS. This shows the boot sequence. Look for errors. You can also use set the service up in services, startup, set to Logon as system account and to Interact with the desktop. Then start the service and a window will appear. Look for errors. REMINDER: do not forget to set the service startup parameters back.


To just restore the VME which will leave all of the FSI accounts intact, shutdown the VME, open a DOS window, CD drive:\Program Files\D3\D3PROGRAMS, and Issue command > D3VME /RESTORE. Select tape device 1 (This contains the original Data Set).

After either of the two above procedures you must do the COPY DOS:. NT_UPGRADE and then execute NT_UPGRADE as well as restore USER-COLDSTART, PIBS, USERS and MDS entries.


To remove the D3 VME entry in the Services Applet, open a DOS window, installation drive:\Program Files\D3\D3PROGRAMS, and issue command > D3VME /REMOVE. To reinstall the service issue command D3VME /INSTALL.


To remove the D3 ODBC entry in the Services Applet, open a DOC window, installation drive:\Program Files\D3\D3PROGRAMS, and issue command > D3ODBCSV /REMOVE. To reinstall the service issue command D3ODBCSV /INSTALL. Make sure to Disable D3ODBC.


After a D3 Service Pack is installed results will appear in files C:\D3UPGRADE.LOG and D3UPGRADE.ERR.


A couple of suggestions when setting up network printers:

  1. Set the printers up on the NT machine where D3 is running. Create the printer on the server and DEV-MAKE to the printer on the server, not the remote workstation where the printer is actually attached.  Look in D3 device manager for a list of valid printer devices. Only use DEV-MAKE commands. Do not use D3 device manager to create printers (ex: dev-make -t NTPrinter -n 27 -a “\\server\sharename”). Once spool jobs are in NT they are no longer available or controllable in D3. You would then have to use NT to control the jobs.
  2. Set the printer properties to "spool on completion of job" if you are having trouble.
  3. Load the latest printer driver from the Manufacturer.
  4. Check the RAM & CPU usage on the servers. Have plenty of both.
  5. REMEMBER! Network printers do NOT print immediate like regular spooled serial printers. One exception is that the printers directly attached to the server where D3 is running will print immediate even if they are network printers.


NT Backup

  1. NT Backup does not backup open files. It also waits 30 seconds for each open file before continuing. For example, if you had 120 open files then the backup will be delayed 1 hour.
  2. The backup log will be very large because NT Backup records one line for each subdirectory that is backed up, and it prints the line again when doing the verify. On a typical system I estimate that the log would print on 7 to 10 pages. If more applications are loaded then the log will grow. For this reason we trim down the backup log before printing it.
  3. There is an NT Bac kup document that describes setups.


General AP/PRO to D3/NT Conversion Issues for Existing Customers

  1. Hardware. Make sure minimum requirements are met and all hardware is compatible. Get any special drivers. Make sure there is a working system running NT Service Pack 6a and D3 with the latest service pack before even considering starting.
  2. Make sure they get upgrades for any third party applications (DESQTOP).
  3. A PM.PROGRAMS and PM.DIST upgrade has to be sent out. You CAN NOT just recompile the programs, there are many changes between platforms. There are two production servers for cutting upgrades. One for AP/PRO and one for D3/NT.
  4. PM.DIST was changed dramatically. Before converting make sure all updates (Send and Receive) are done on all locations or else they will be lost and it will become a support nightmare.
  5. PM.DIST. Make sure all machines are updated simultaneously because of all the changes.
  6. PM.DIST will no longer use INFOLINKE. The data communications will depend on NT’s native networking capabilities. If a customer does serial port transfers then a network will have to be put in. It is much faster and more reliable. Modem transfers will be done using Dialup Networking or the Internet. The Internet requires a dedicated Internet connection at the Main to make this easy.
  7. Extend PIBS and PHANTOM ports if needed. By default, only 32 PIBS and 4 PHANTOM processes are setup.  Extend VME size to 200 Megabytes maximum.  Recommend at least 10 phantom ports.  See document D 3NT-4 for instructions.
  8. DEV-MAKE all devices. Only use nailed telnet ports. Use nonstandard telnet port and do DCD-OFF in the logon PROC.  Need map of all telnet ports and printers.
  9. Setup USER-COLDSTART, PIBS, and USERS.
  10. DX any accounts that are not pertinent to D3/NT (ex. InfoLinke, Bundle, AccuPlot, qa, pa, …).
  11. Do F-RESIZE on AP/PRO before doing the backup to make sure files are sized properly.
  12. RESTORE-ACCOUNTS (R to load data into the FSI. If doing ACCOUNT-RESTORE make sure you prefix the account with FSI: (Ex. ACCOUNT-RESTORE FSI:PM, Account name on tape PM) to restore the accounts into the FSI or else the accounts will restore into the VME by default.
  13. UPDATE-MD on all accounts.
  14. Load PM.PROGRAMS and PM.DIST upgrades. If already loaded then run BUILD.FILES in PM and run PM.DIST installation procedure. If unsure it will not hurt to run BUILD.FILES at TCL in PM.
  15. Load any third party software upgrades. (Ex. DESQTOP). DO NOT Flash compile DESQTOP programs.
  16. If the Restore did not rebuild the B-tree indexes automatically then they must be rebuilt in Perform accounts (BASF, PPG, SW, WE) and PM. Use the menu in the Perform accounts and PM.INDEXES in PM. Or use NT_INDEXER account name in DM. NOTE: Remember to globally catalog all the programs first (CATALOG PL.PGM * (G).
  17. Setup AccuTerm sessions on the client workstations conforming to nailed telnet ports.