From: "ROW::EVERHART"@star.zko.dec.com Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 15:37:22 -0500 Message-Id: <95110215372198@star.zko.dec.com> To: everhart@GCE.MV.COM Subject: Decuserver jnl 10/95 X-Vms-To: STAR::SMTP%"everhart@gce.mv.com" Article 7508 of comp.org.decus: Path: nntpd.lkg.dec.com!crl.dec.com!crl.dec.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!eisner!mcmahon_b From: mcmahon_b@eisner.decus.org (Brian McMahon, Info-VAX Refugee) Newsgroups: comp.org.decus,vmsnet.decus.journal Subject: DECUServe Journal October 1995 Message-ID: <1995Oct30.232646.11714@eisner> Date: 30 Oct 95 23:26:45 -0400 Organization: DECUServe Approved: mcmahon_b@eisner.decus.org Lines: 1331 Xref: nntpd.lkg.dec.com comp.org.decus:7508 vmsnet.decus.journal:12 The DECUServe Journal --------------------- October, 1995 From the Editors' Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 What's Inside, an Antidote to Journal Bloat Folders and PC Notify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 About Empty Folders and Multi-user PCs TeamLinks Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 How to Implement Searching for TeamLinks Clients Host Routing in DECnet Phase V . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The Saga Continues RAID Controller Woes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Trials and Travails of SWXCR Configuration Fibonacci Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 A Simple Explanation Internet Firewalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 What To Do, Where To Learn Domain Name Service and Windows NT . . . . . . . . 20 DNS, Patches, and Docs WHOIS for Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Sources for Winsock Utilities The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 2 From the Editors' Keyboard From the Editors' Keyboard ---- --- -------- -------- Most recent issues of the DECUServe Journal have been a little bit on the hefty side, as you may have noticed (and our news system certainly did). This time, your devoted editors have adopted "short and sweet" as their watchwords. The topics in this issue range from firewalls to Fibonacci series, but none overly long-winded. The obligatory Iowa weather report: It's snowing outside. Wet, heavy, slushy stuff. We'd tell you exactly how delighted we are, but we can't figure out how to do that without violating several of the DECUServe Canons of Conduct. And now (speaking of not being overly long-winded), on with the show. * * * * * The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 3 Folders and PC Notify Folders and PC Notify ------- --- -- ------ Abstract: Two questions briefly stated and answered; the first, concerning the possibility of empty folders existing in the file cabinet, the second, about how to handle PC Notify when users aren't necessarily tied to one PC. Participants: Laura Kilinc, Graham Pye, Russ Radkiewicz, Pat Scopelliti. Conference: ALL-IN-1 Note 1151.0, 24-Aug-1995 Kilinc: Folders disappearing and pc notify entries appearing ------------------------------------------------------------ I have already called DEC support on the issues below and was told that what is happening is the way things work and that nothing could be done about it. I am hoping that someone might know some tricks. - If an empty folder is left over night, it is deleted. I would like the empty folder to stay. (Is it MR$TIDY doing this deletion?) - When using TeamLinks at the PC and IOS at the server, if a user logs onto a PC it automatically adds an entry into OA$PC_NOTIFY. I do not want this to be automatically done. I want the user to have to enable this because we often log into the PCs of other users. Note 1151.1, 24-Aug-1995 Scopelliti: Folders are virtual ------------------------------- Folders exist in the file cabinet simply as keys associated with documents. If no document has a folder key value "TEST", then the folder TEST does not exist. There is no "registry" of folder names - at least not in the user's personal file cabinet. This is how it's always worked. The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 4 Folders and PC Notify Note 1151.2, 5-Sep-1995 Pye: ----- RE .1 This is IOS's view of the world. Because MailWorks does allow empty folders, then TeamLinks and the FCS pretend that an empty folder still exists. When the FCS cache is emptied, the imaginary empty folder goes away. Re .0 You can configure TeamLinks so that it won't automatically add the PC notify entry. A better way is to configure it so that it adds *and* removes the entry when you disconnect, so that the next PC you use will re-add the new node name. Note 1151.3, 8-Sep-1995 Radkiewicz: More on PC notify . . . ----------------------------------- Re .2, .0 To add a bit more detail to the PC notify setup, from the TeamLinks Information manager screen select Options|New Mail Notification... make sure that the last 2 check boxes are checked; Enable on each connection to mail service, and Disable when disconnecting from mail service. When Enable new mail notification is checked, a record is created in the OA$PC_NOTIFY database when you connect and the record is deleted when you disconnect. TeamLinks Searching --------- --------- Abstract: Searching for text in the ALL-IN-1 File Cabinet is currently not possible from a TeamLinks client. Following are some thoughts on how to get around that restriction. Participants: Russ Radkiewicz, Ruth Saunders, Don Vickers. Conference: ALL-IN-1 The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 5 TeamLinks Searching Note 1154.0, 30-Aug-1995 Saunders: Teamlinks and Searching --------------------------------- We're currently on ALL-IN-1 v3.0 and were getting ready to install Teamlinks for some of our PC clients. But, I just found out that in Teamlinks, you can't search for a word or phrase! Choosing Find and filling in a word in the text field doesn't work. According to Teamlink's Help, "This field is not available for searches in ALL-IN-1 IOS drawers." Do you know when this will be fixed? Do you know of any way that this can be done? We have to be able to search or else Teamlinks won't be installed. H-e-l-p! Note 1154.1, 31-Aug-1995 Vickers: It's a feature - here's a workaround --------------------------------------------- I fear that Digital sees this as a feature rather than as a bug. I BELIEVE the rationale is to reduce the potential load on an ALL-IN-1 file cabinet server. I suggest that you may wish to call Digital via your sales person and the CSC to express your views and the business need for this feature. In the mean time, there is a very good start of a solution in the SUBSCRIP application also in the \AIDA sub-directory of the TeamLinks SDK. This application allows you to submit a script on the ALL-IN-1 data access server (AIDA) passing parameters. You can create a script that does the text search (BIND/SFILE mumble) and mails back the list of documents. It's ugly but effective and you could market it as freeing the client from having to wait at their 'terminal' while the search is being performed. ('; Some pointers about the TeamLinks SDK are in topic 1143. Note 1154.2, 6-Sep-1995 Saunders: Invalid general protection fault ?? --------------------------------------------- Thank you! Thank you for your help! I thought I might need some more of your valuable help once I started to work on the script. But, I've hit a stumbling block before that! My son downloaded the tlsdk.exe file from the Internet for me. I then had to upload to our Vax, then use Reflections to download to my PC. (We don't have a Internet connection at work yet.) But, when I type tlsdk at the Dos prompt on the PC, I get "application has violated system integrity due to an invalid general protection fault." Does this error ring any bells to you? The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 6 TeamLinks Searching Note 1154.3, 6-Sep-1995 Vickers: Sounds like the EXE became non-binary ---------------------------------------------- The violation of system integrity, which is ALMOST a redundant term with MS-DOS, is almost certainly because the TLSDK.EXE file was not moved in a BINARY mode on one of the transfers. The file transfer over the Internet should have been done with a MODE BINARY and your transfer to your VAX system should have also been done in a BINARY mode which depends on the protocol and tool you used for that. Hopefully, it was the second step that was not done in BINARY so you can repeat that one. When you get the file on your PC system, don't forget the /D qualifier so that all the sub-directories get created. I forget to add /D every now and then and get everything on one HUGE directory. Most embarrassing. By the way, I just copied the Internet version of the SDK to: USR_SCRATCH:[VICKERS]TLSDK.EXE If you are connecting to DECUServe via Kermit on your VAX system, you can use Kermit from here to transfer the file. Unfortunately, the Internet version is lagging behind the version on CompuServe by a few weeks. I'll bug the Digital folks one more time about this. Note 1154.4, 8-Sep-1995 Radkiewicz: Another way to do half the move ------------------------------------------- Of course, if you have TeamLinks installed and working, and have the SDK in a VAX directory, you could import it into an ALL-IN-1 file cabinet drawer and export it with TeamLinks. I do this all the time especially when I start something at work and continue working on home it from home with this method. From ALL-IN-1 VT client do the following: use the RVC option on the DT menu to get the file into a drawer. From the TeamLinks client: select the drawer and folder where the file is located, chose the EXPORT option from the File menu or the export button from the button bar, you will be asked where to put the file on your local PC. I have found this to be a quick and safe, even on a 9600 async modem connection. The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 7 Host Routing in DECnet Phase V Host Routing in DECnet Phase V ---- ------- -- ------ ----- - Abstract: The following update is of interest to those of you who are holding on to DECnet Phase IV because you're not interested in buying a new router. Participant: Larry Kilgallen. Conference: DEC_NETWORKING Note 1191.0, 12-Sep-1995 Kilgallen: Host-Based Routing for DECnet Phase V ------------------------------------------------ > <<< Note 350.11 by EISNER::KILGALLEN "Larry Kilgallen" >>> > -< There will be slight delay in the *real* Phase V >- > > Since DEC has not committed to a particular release date or version, > I guess for most of us it just means that Phase V will come a little > later than for others. Even more so than DECwindows, DECnet Phase > V will certainly be a case where only those with the true pioneer > spirit will run it the first chance they get. > > A bug so massive as not supporting the major improvement in Phase > III (routing) on the acknowledged major operating system (VMS) is > certainly enough to make most of us refrain from trying Phase V. > If DEC wants to put that much egg on their face (I can imagine the > headlines in Computerworld now), it is their privilege. At the Boston LUG meeting today, VMS DECnet/OSI Engineering Manager said that support for the present Phase IV DECnet implementation will be dropped "only after host-based routing is available in DECnet/OSI on both VAX and Alpha". As is appropriate, DEC continues to say that host-based routing is not appropriate for all environments. As is even more appropriate it seems to me they have gotten a message from those who have not moved to DECnet/OSI (even if it will route over TCP/IP). RAID Controller Woes ---- ---------- ---- The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 8 RAID Controller Woes Abstract: The following is a troubleshooting session in several iterations, the goal being to set up a RAID-5 array using SWXCR controllers. The discussion includes lots of interesting things to check when a StorageWorks setup exhibits nondeterministic behavior. Participants: Duncan Brown, Arnold De Larisch, Keith Parris. Conference: HARDWARE_HELP Note 1925.0, 29-Aug-1995 Brown: SWXCR Raid controller flakiness? --------------------------------------- Anyone out there using the 3-channel PCI-based Raid controller (aka SWXCR)? I've got a pair of them in a 2100 4/275, but in that case this disks are just set up as all "JBOD" disks. It works fine. We recently got a 2100 4/233 system with a pair of these same controllers, but in this case I'm trying to set the drives up as 6-member RAID 5 sets. And it's giving me fits. After a lot of dinking around with one controller, I actually got it to successfully create a RAID 5 set of 6 drives....with one drive marked as "failed". Leaving that same drive in place, I had it rebuild it, and I now have a complete RAID 5 set. On the second controller, I simply can't get it to work. Sometimes you can see one drive light stop blinking partway through the initialization process. I let that go one time, and of course that drive showed failed (now I just reboot if I see that happening.) Other times they all blink, but at the end it says "failed initialization" and one or two drives are failed. If it's just one, I try to rebuild it (either with or without formatting the drive first) and it fails. I've swapped drives around to no avail. It actually seems to follow the SLOT more than anything else, though across time the "bad slot" drifts (what was once failing will work and some other drive will show as failed.) This is all from the SWXCRMGR program level, I haven't even booted the OS on this thing yet! (It is destined to be Digital Unix.) the drives are all RZ29B-VW drives (the wide-SCSI version), with wide rackmount BA350 shelves front and back. I have six shelves, one per SCSI bus. These are the PCI 3-channel Raid controllers, each with 32MB of cache. I have write-back caching enabled, although until the batteries get here (they were backordered) that's risky, but they The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 9 RAID Controller Woes should arrive before we really have this in production anyway. SWXCRMGR software is version 3.11 I believe (April 1995 date) The cabling (done by DEC) all looks fine. The drives all format fine if I just do that to them. It's almost acting like the SCSI bus isn't terminated, or like maybe there's a problem with the SWXCRMGR software. Does any of this ring any bells with anyone? Anyone else successfully set up this type of configuration? I'm going to call DEC about it, but I've been trying to gather more facts about exactly how it's failing, since they're just going to ask that first thing anyway. Of course with a format time of about an hour and a 6-drive-RAID-5 initialization time of 4 or 5 hours, it's taking a while to try the various permutations to isolate the problem! Note 1925.1, 29-Aug-1995 De Larisch: Check the SHELF_OK jumper on the BA356 -------------------------------------------------- Duncan .... we've been using the PCI SWXCR for about 6 months now .... Did you enable "fault management" on the controller? If you did, you need to ensure that the BA356 is jumpered so the SHELF_OK signal is routed to the controller (W1 is position 2 on J17). This is located on the Backplane of the BA356 chassis. Also, I've notice that the mechanical contact on the SWXCR's edge connector is poor. I've resorted to using the 'bulkhead' BN31K-0E cable for channel 1 (only connecting channel 0 on the card's edge connector). Also ... Are you formatting the drives individually? You can select to format multiple drives concurrently and save a bit of time. Let me know how things go! Note 1925.2, 29-Aug-1995 Brown: Update ------------- Fault management is enabled. I actually opened up one shelf and looked at that jumper and remember thinking it was correct, but I'm going to go recheck it now with the "must be in position 2" mantra running through my head... (Remember, this system is as-built by DEC themselves, so everything *should* be right...right? OK, OK, stop laughing...) > Also, I've notice that the mechanical contact on the SWXCR's edge connector is > poor. I've resorted to using the 'bulkhead' BN31K-0E cable for channel 1 (only > connecting channel 0 on the card's edge connector). In our first machine (the one with 16 JBODs), the drives were all in internal shelves, so we only used the edge connectors (those are the The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 10 RAID Controller Woes ones you are referring to as "edge" right, the ones on the top edge of the card?) In this case, all shelves are external, so we have two shelves plugged in to the bulkhead connectors on the back edge of the card, and the third plugged into the extra bulkhead connector (which is then plugged into the top edge connector on the card.) The connections all look OK to me. > Also ... Are you formatting the drives individually? You can select to format > multiple drives concurrently and save a bit of time. Yes, I figured that out pretty quick! Across the numerous attempts at this, one common scenario is "initialize RAID set, one drive fails, rebuild RAID set and let it reinitialize the failed drive" which simply chews up enormous amounts of time, period. A local StorageWorks guru had never heard of anything like this, so I called it in to the CSC. The guy there agreed it sounded a lot like a lack-of-SCSI-termination situation, but unless all my shelves auto-termination modules are failing, that probably isn't it. He's stumped too, though he admits I'm the very first person he's seen running the PCI SWXCR 3-channel controller with all 16-bit drives. So who knows, maybe I've bleeding-edged my way into some problem they didn't catch in the design. Or maybe that SHELF_OK jumper is just wrong, let me go check that now!) The fate of the CSC call is that they're going to send the local FE out to have a look. I'm not sure how he can help though, unless he likes hanging around at 3-4 hours per shot (like I have been doing!) just to watch each new strategy fail... I'll keep you updated. Note 1925.3, 29-Aug-1995 De Larisch: Need further checks of BA356's Personality and Terminator --------------------------------------------------------------------- To clear up my terminology ... I used "edge" and "bulkhead" connector to refer to the same item. It's the pair of connectors on the external "bulkhead" of the card. I found, mechanically, unsound connections based upon the relative position of the connector to the "bulkhead's edge" (that part of the CPU chassis which supports the card's bulkhead. This was an issue on the AlphaServer 1000 4/200 pedestal. > A local StorageWorks guru had never heard of anything like this, so I > called it in to the CSC. The guy there agreed it sounded a lot like a > lack-of-SCSI-termination situation, but unless all my shelves > auto-termination modules are failing, that probably isn't it. He's > stumped too, though he admits I'm the very first person he's seen > running the PCI SWXCR 3-channel controller with all 16-bit drives. So > who knows, maybe I've bleeding-edged my way into some problem they > didn't catch in the design. Or maybe that SHELF_OK jumper is just > wrong, let me go check that now!) The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 11 RAID Controller Woes You probably want to also check the "personality module" on the BA356 just for grins. All switches should be ON. The cable should be plugged into JA1. Nothing should be plugged into JB1 (Auto terminates). The BA35X-MC jumper board should be installed in the backplane in the connector behind slot 6. That's all I can think of for this moment! Note 1925.4, 29-Aug-1995 Brown: Fun with mechanical engineering -------------------------------------- > To clear up my terminology ... I used "edge" and "bulkhead" connector > to refer to the same item. It's the pair of connectors on the external > "bulkhead" of the card. I found, mechanically, unsound connections > based upon the relative position of the connector to the "bulkhead's > edge" (that part of the CPU chassis which supports the card's > bulkhead. This was an issue on the AlphaServer 1000 4/200 pedestal. I was just tearing it all apart to look at it and I see what you mean. It's trivial to get the card in such that there isn't ANY room between the metal housing on the connector and the hole in the back of the chassis. (This is on the RM version of the 2100, but the standard version has a similar issue.) That makes it difficult or impossible to get the connector on right. I also had the problem that PCI slot 0, on the EISA slot side, has this RF shielding stuff that is supposed to be pinched between the back plate on the card, and the chassis back plate. Well, my controller (the one that's failing) had the wavy metal shielding stuff riding up on the back surface of the card! That's easy to do, especially with the whole backplane mounted sideways like it is: put the card in too low and then bring it up into position, and bingo the metal's scraping the back edge of the card. It doesn't *look* like it was actually contacting anything other than blank card, but just to be sure I made very sure to put it in just so, so that the shield was pinched properly on the other side of the back plate. This was the same time I was discovering that PCI slot zero is where "SWXCR #2" resides, and PCI slot 1 is where "SWXCR #1" resides...silly me for thinking they'd be numbered in the same order... SO now it's off trying to initialize a 6-drive RAID 5 set again... > You probably want to also check the "personality module" on the BA356 > just for grins. All switches should be ON. The cable should be plugged > into JA1. Nothing should be plugged into JB1 (Auto terminates). The > BA35X-MC jumper board should be installed in the backplane in the > connector behind slot 6. The personality module is the first thing I checked, since that's where the termination happens. The switches are all to the drive side (which I thought was all OFF, but I'll have to look again) and the cable is on the front connector. And at least on the one shelf I took apart, the The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 12 RAID Controller Woes 16-bit jumper board is in the proper place, and the SHELF_OK jumper is...OK! Details as they become available... Note 1925.5, 30-Aug-1995 Brown: It works, but does it? ----------------------------- Of course it failed to properly initialize the RAID set again. it went to 100% and showed success, but when you view the config, one drive (a different one of course!) shows "FLD" status. Your comments about the SHELF_OK jumper and error management made me think of something though. I had been powering down the machine, swapping drives, rebooting, and then manually running the rebuild procedure so I could keep tabs on its process (it reports back to the screen when you do that, with percent complete and any error messages.) That had worked fine when I went through all this on the first controller. So this time I let it work its standard magic: I left everything running, and pulled the "failed" drive. I inserted another drive into the slot. About 30 seconds later, it automatically started rebuilding it. I left it running, and sure enough when I came in this morning, I had a fully initialized, no-failures RAID set. Go figure. Just to make a point, I formatted that "failed" drive and sure enough it had no errors. Of course, to *really* drive home the point, what I need to do is let it configure a RAID set with one drive failed...pull that drive out...and then put it right back in again! I am convinced it would rebuild it without error. SO this whole thing may be some obscure problem with the standalone routine software or something. I must admit I'll remain skeptical of these drives' integrity until I get the OS booted and shovel some data over to them! Note 1925.6, 30-Aug-1995 De Larisch: Check Spin-up Delay parameter & Try to force failed drive Optima ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Have you tried the "utilities" menu on the standalone diskette? There is an option to "Make Optimal" or some such option. Given that you have just "formatted" all the drives ... there is NOTHING of interest on them. Simply use this option (and of course ignore the dire warnings about using it ...) since you have NOTHING to loose. Then for grins, I'd run the parity check software probably on-line (i.e. from the O/S level) before doing anything serious with it. > Your comments about the SHELF_OK jumper and error management made me > think of something though. I had been powering down the machine, > swapping drives, rebooting, and then manually running the rebuild The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 13 RAID Controller Woes > procedure so I could keep tabs on its process (it reports back to the > screen when you do that, with percent complete and any error messages.) > That had worked fine when I went through all this on the first > controller. Interesting ... I'll bet that if you remove the "failed" drive and re-insert it that you can make it "optimal" and all will be well. There may be a "spin up" issue that you are seeing ...how many drives are you allowing to be spun-up at a time??? You may wish to extend the delay to say 20 seconds (from the default of 12s). This will give the drive more time to "come ready". Is the "failed" drive always a "high unit number" drive? > SO this whole thing may be some obscure problem with the standalone > routine software or something. I must admit I'll remain skeptical of > these drives' integrity until I get the OS booted and shovel some data > over to them! I suspect that the controller is being a bit more "reserved" than it should. If this continues to persist ... I'd be happy to forward you name and number onto the engineering group responsible for the SWXCR series. Note 1925.7, 30-Aug-1995 Parris: Faster init's using write-back caching temporarily ---------------------------------------------------------- One trick I've heard of to speed those init's is to turn write-back caching ON while you're doing the init (then turn if back OFF before you actually use the array, unless you're using the PCI-bus version (the KZPSC) and it has the optional battery backup for the cache). Note 1925.8, 30-Aug-1995 Brown: Wrong connector (I know, you already suggested it!) ---------------------------------------------------------- We're actually using write back caching anyway. (The batteries themselves have been back-ordered, but I hope they arrive before we actually put this into production and depend on the data...) The problem has almost certainly been solved... I'm not sure where I saw a picture of the JA1/JB1 connector and thought these were done right but they were *not*. The cables were all on JB1 (the one that DISABLES the termination!) Yes, this system was built by the Digital rackmount systems folks. The cables were all beautifully dressed and tied to just the right length, I had to cut it all apart and retie it to get the connectors in on the top (JA1) connector. One might ask why DEC chose to make the extremely-hard-to-get-at connector the main one!! I don't have any 8-bit shelves, did those cable up to a connector that faced towards the front of the shelf? That would sure explain why the assemblers put it together the way they did (nobody told them the 16 bit shelves used the hidden connector!) The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 14 RAID Controller Woes It was a guy at the CSC who's been working with me on this that got another similar call, but with someone working with a pedestal shelf. They figured out that's what the problem was, and he called me to suggest it might be the problem here. I have one set of shelves recabled, and it's initializing the RAID set now. I fully expect it to work, and I'll keep you posted on the results. Anyone who's got an order in for a CAB system with 16 bit shelves (regardless of controller type) better check those cable connections! If the connector is buried inside the shelf, you're OK. If you can see it on the front, you've got problems. (Unless of course you really intended to use the front connector to chain two shelves together...) Duncan, feeling more terminated now... Note 1925.9, 30-Aug-1995 De Larisch: Ah ... the old double terminated SCSI Bus! ------------------------------------------------------ > We're actually using write back caching anyway. (The batteries > themselves have been back-ordered, but I hope they arrive before we > actually put this into production and depend on the data...) Interesting story goes with "why this product is backordered" ... basically is because of our site. We were among the "lucky few" to have ordered the Battery kits as soon as they hit the price book. The OEM vendor Mylex sent DEC the WRONG batteries ... Digital SHIPPED the WRONG batteries ... Arnold called the product manager to inform him of the Oops. Product placed on Backorder ... Arnold is now waiting for a 'correct' replacement. The group in Shrewsbury IS working the issue as fast as they can. > I'm not sure where I saw a picture of the JA1/JB1 connector and thought > these were done right but they were *not*. The cables were all on JB1 > (the one that DISABLES the termination!) Yes, this system was built by > the Digital rackmount systems folks. The cables were all beautifully > dressed and tied to just the right length, I had to cut it all apart > and retie it to get the connectors in on the top (JA1) connector. One of the SWXCR engineers warned me about that ... come to think of it. Since I'm in the process of 'cabling' up a RM AlphaServer 1000 4/233 as we speak with a BA356 & BA350 and SWXCR (PCI variety) ... I'll keep this issue in the forefront of my mind. Thanks in advance for saving many of (additional) hours of hang wringing. > Duncan, feeling more terminated now... All I have to say as the Arnold the Terminator ... "I'll be back..." The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 15 RAID Controller Woes Note 1925.10, 31-Aug-1995 Brown: End of story ------------------- Sure enough, my RAID 5 set configured fine the first time out with the cables on the right connectors! A lot faster, too- I guess it was trying its darndest before to retry failed transfers until it got it right... So I'm all set, all I need is some batteries for my cache! Fibonacci Series --------- ------ Abstract: Somewhat off the usual beaten track, we find this nicely concise explanation of the Fibonacci series. Participants: Henry Carmichael, Dale Hoehne. Conference: ARTIFICIAL_INTELLIGENCE Note 25.0, 14-Sep-1995 Hoehne: Fibonacci Series ------------------------ Looking for a simple explanation of Fibonacci's series. I found a reference in this forum but not being an AI or math guru ... it's somewhat hard for "this" layperson to understand .. Any help would be appreciated .... Any pointers to internet sites that may have additional info would also be appreciated ... TIA Note 25.1, 14-Sep-1995 Carmichael: Fibonacci Series: does this help? --------------------------------------------- Fibonacci series: a general term for a series where each term n is equal to the sum of the two preceding terms. In mathematical terms, n(x) = n(x-2) + n(x-1) [first two terms are special] To illustrate, usually, the first term is 0, and the "seed" (my name for it) is arbitrary, but greater than 0. So we have: 1st term: n(1) = 0 The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 16 Fibonacci Series 2nd term: n(2) = 1 = 1st plus seed 3rd term: n(3) = 1 = n(1) + n(2) n(4) = 2 = n(2) + n(3) n(5) = 3 = n(3) + n(4) n(6) = 5 = n(4) + n(5) ... Some may argue that my first term is really the "zeroth" term, and that you don't need it. You can pick your own "seed" to generate your own series (I suppose it could be any real number, but I have only seen integers used). So, if you use 3 as the "seed", the series would go: 0, 3, 3, 6, 9, 15, ... Fibonacci series occur many places in nature - the example that comes to mind is the number of seeds in successive circles of a sunflower. Note 25.2, 15-Sep-1995 Hoehne: Thanks -------------- Thanks Henry, Your explanation is simple enough ... even "I" can understand :-) Internet Firewalls -------- --------- Abstract: Sure, Internet security is a big issue; yes, firewalls seem to be all the rage; but where do you go to find out more about them (and possibly avoid problems with a vendor)? The following discussion contains numerous pointers, along with experience and the wisdom born of it. Participants: Don Boelling, Bruce Bowler, John Briggs, Linwood Ferguson, Matt Holdrege, J.M. Ivler, Milton Lopez, Jack Stevens. Conference: SECURITY The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 17 Internet Firewalls Note 312.0, 26-Aug-1995 Ivler: Internet Firewalls ------------------------- As the Internet Specialist, one of my many tasks was to implement security prior to placing the systems on the net (next week we start on-line). I didn't have a great deal of say about most of the stuff that happened and was presented with a prechosen vendor the day I started... It was the best firewall I have ever seen. Once connected to the Internet it guaranteed, based on everything I saw, to not allow any single person access to our internal system. The firewall software, Firewall-1. The hardware, a SUN Netra. There was just one little problem... you see, there was just one ethernet port on the Netra. While this did ensure security, it also was a bit of a disadvantage for those that actually wanted to communicate with a firewall between the inner-net and the Internet. I have since brought in another vendor (actually, I opened the bidding up to all vendors, and was deeply disappointed in DEC who had no real product to offer, and then shucked and jived me on to a VAR who had no real idea on what to offer... - but that's a business-whatever conference issue...). The fun of this whole thing was when the original vendor told me that I "better take the firewall they provided, or they would sue me". The sad part is that this was a Sunsoft VAR, and while I was willing to fight for what was right, just how many jerks like this are out there doing Internet Security and Firewalls? Note 312.1, 26-Aug-1995 Holdrege: caveat emptor ----------------------- There is a plethora of crooks out to make a buck off the Internet. Firewalls being somewhat arcane, are a good area for these people to practice the art of the scam. Your only recourse is to get a good understanding of how firewalls work. But once you have that, you can build your own firewall for peanuts. Note 312.2, 28-Aug-1995 Bowler: Can you recommend a "starting point"? --------------------------------------------- The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 18 Internet Firewalls Note 312.3, 28-Aug-1995 Ferguson: Some starting points ------------------------------ Hire a better consultant (there are a couple floating around here and the one we hired was great but apparently overly busy so I'll let him chime in if he wants more work). There's a newsgroup at comp.security.firewalls. We ended up with a package from Trusted Information Systems, which as I understand is available in a DIY kit over FTP, or they will sell all setup (though I do not know what is included in that). That's just the firewall software not a system to put it on. We got ours on a PC running unix BSD. Our only problem is we can't do http through it in the old version we are running, but their newer versions do. So far it has been completely solid -- only crash was when a bad video card took it down. We also run a news server on it. I think it was a 486/66. For the most part we treat it like a black box. That's good and bad. Good, because we have been able to ignore it due to the fact it just sits there and runs; bad because our system manager really does not understand it well enough to do things like upgrade it. Then again, not being able to run http probably cuts our network traffic way, way down. Lots of people who want to pay on the internet won't play in character cell mode. :-) Note 312.4, 28-Aug-1995 Briggs: Firewall resources -------------------------- The bible: Firewalls and Internet Security (Repelling the Wily Hacker) William R. Cheswick and Steven M. Bellovin, Addison-Wesley ISBN 0-201-63357-4 It is not possible to praise this book enough. It is precisely the resource you need. Mailing list: Send to majordomo@greatcircle.com a message containing "subscribe firewalls" or "subscribe firewalls-digest" FTP: ftp.greatcircle.com, directory pub/firewalls. Check out pub/firewalls/FAQ coast.cs.purdue.edu newsgroups: comp.admin.policy, comp.protocols.tcp-ip, comp.sources.unix, comp.sources.misc, comp.unix.admin, comp.unix.wizards, comp.security.announce, misc.security, alt.security. We are currently using a home-grown firewall using the TIS toolkit mentioned by Linwood in .-1 The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 19 Internet Firewalls Note 312.5, 28-Aug-1995 Holdrege: basics ---------------- As Linwood mentioned, comp.security.firewalls is the newsgroup to scan and ask questions in. It is a brand new group, so it doesn't have its own FAQ yet, but there are others floating around. But the best advice I can give is to start with the basics. Read Comer's Internetworking with TCP/IP series to fully understand how the Internet works at the middle layers. Once you have that knowledge, you will be able to better appraise the various firewall offerings. Note 312.6, 29-Aug-1995 Stevens: Haven't Had That Problem --------------------------------- We are using Firewall-1, and are very happy with it and our vendor (Internet Security Corporation). The hardware we are using is a Sun SPARCstation, and it can easily be configured with up to four Ethernet ports. So I don't understand who is doing what to you. One of the reasons we did not build our own firewall is that I am very busy with doing my job and did not want another one doing firewall research and development. Note 312.7, 31-Aug-1995 Ivler: We have a firewall... ---------------------------- Okay, We went with Raptor. It works great, it is GUI based (so our "firewall admin" doesn't have to understand the innards), and it used dual-honed DNS to keep us "in the black" from external probes, but in the clear internally. It also was an easy setup and install (except for the DNS part). One nice feature was the use of S/Key one-time passwords for FTP and Telnet access to the system from the outside. Note 312.8, 1-Sep-1995 Lopez: And then there's BorderWare ---------------------------------- Some comments about DEC's referral to VARs in .0 are hard to understand. From trade media announcements (and direct contact with both vendors), I know that DEC is re-selling the BorderWare Fireall system, a from- the-ground-up, dont-mess-with-Unix type system that runs on a PC and also provides a split The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 20 Internet Firewalls DNS, FTP and WWW servers. We have it. It was a cinch to install, it's sitting here in my office and nobody else knows it, particularly our users and all applications running on internal systems. It's inexpensive, and fairly well supported. See http://www.border.com/ if interested. Note 312.9, 26-Sep-1995 Boelling: I have a DEC SEAL firewall! ------------------------------------- I just purchased the full DEC firewall system. Consists of three Alpha workstations. Works fine. Two are stripped down DEC OSF/1 operating systems to do the gateway and applications gateway work. The other is a full blown workstation used for mailgate. I guess I don't understand the comment that DEC didn't have anything to offer. I got one. It works great. Two ethernet ports on gate. DNS, Usenet, applications proxy's, are all working fine. Maybe after I learn how this thing operates a little better I will be able to answer some questions about it. If you need the DEC order numbers or the contacts for info, let me know and I will get them to you. Domain Name Service and Windows NT ------ ---- ------- --- ------- -- Abstract: A discussion of where to get a domain name server for NT, with digressions concerning the 3.5.1 patch and documentation resources. Participants: Joe Crum, Joseph Gill, Fred Lobmeyer, George Merriman, John Vottero. Conference: WINDOWS_NT Note 154.0, 25-Sep-1995 Gill: How to config TCP/IP & DNS on WNT 3.5 ------------------------------------------- I just inherited a Window NT machine. The machine needs to be configured with TCP/IP using Domain Name Services. Since I'm new to Windows NT, I had a few basic questions, o The machine is running WNT Advance Server 3.5. Does 3.5 come with TCP/IP? Does it support DNS? o I thought I read version 3.5.1 is out. Is it worth upgrading The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 21 Domain Name Service and Windows NT to? Is the patch free? o Since no one can find the documentation for NT box, is there any sites (FTP, WWW, FAQs, etc) with info on NT? Note 154.1, 25-Sep-1995 Merriman: Plenty of reading material on WNT ------------------------------------------- > o The machine is running WNT Advance Server 3.5. Does 3.5 > come with TCP/IP? Yes. > Does it support DNS? If you mean "Can it use TCP/IP DNS for address resolution?", the answer is yes. WNT Server doe not provide DNS server functionality out of the box. > o I thought I read version 3.5.1 is out. Is it worth upgrading > to? Is the patch free? The latest version is 3.51. I paid about $70 for the upgrade. At that price, it is probably worth it. > o Since no one can find the documentation for NT box, is there > any sites (FTP, WWW, FAQs, etc) with info on NT? Spring for the WNT Resource Kit. I think the list price is about $150, but I paid $99, as I remember. It consists of four printed volumes and a CD-ROM. Microsoft also offers a Self-paced training course on NT Server. There are also loads of third party NT books out these days. You can also look in ftp.microsoft.com, and www.microsoft.com. Note 154.2, 26-Sep-1995 Vottero: DNS is in the resource kit ----------------------------------- DNS server software is included in the Resource Kit. It's also available from ftp.microsoft.com. Note 154.3, 27-Sep-1995 Lobmeyer: Latest Version is 3.51 Service Pack 1 ----------------------------------------------- Just an update to the latest version is WNT 3.51 Build (1057:Service Pack 1) The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 22 Domain Name Service and Windows NT You can get the Service Pack at http:://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes/NT351/ussp1/ Note 154.4, 29-Sep-1995 Crum: Resource kit also has the DNS server & HTTP server -------------------------------------------------------- Also, if you have the NT CD, the manuals are in the SUPPORT\BOOKS directory in Windows help file format. WHOIS for Windows ----- --- ------- Abstract: Several references to WHOIS software and related Winsock stuff. Participants: Shawn Allin, Charlie Byrne, Karl Erbland (via DCS). Conference: INTERNETWORKING Note 391.0 Allin: Windows version of WHOIS? -------------------------------- I don't know if this belongs here, or in PC Software, but here goes. I'm looking for a MS Windows-based freeware/shareware implementation of WHOIS. Does anyone know of such a beast? Note 391.1, 25-Sep-1995 Byrne: Internic pointer ----------------------- re windows WHOIS, don't know of one but you might want to nose around http://INTERNIC.NET/rs-internic.html The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 23 WHOIS for Windows Note 391.2, 25-Sep-1995 Erbland: Have several WHOIS for Windows --------------------------------------- I have several. I will post them to the LINX - LUG Information News Exchange's FTP area or will find the direct pointer for the file(s). I will also post the answer here when I find out for sure. Give me a few minutes and I'll return with more info. Note 391.3, 26-Sep-1995 Erbland: Some WHOIS info... --------------------------- Two WHOIS zipped files for Windows are: winwhois.zip -- whois wsfngr15.zip -- finger/whois Try most any Windows shareware/PD areas. You will usually find them under a "winsock" subdirectory for Windows 3 files. I will place these in the LINX FTP directory tomorrow. They will be available after 10:00 AM EDT. Using a web browser pointed to: http://www.sims.net/linx Follow the directions from the LINX Main Page for FTPing files. Other FTP instructions are available by e-mailing me at: karl@ksme.net or karl@linx-pubs.com. Note 391.4, 26-Sep-1995 Allin: Thanks ------------- Thanks Karl, I'll look for them this morning. I actually did look at CICA before asking here and that was the one utility that I couldn't find. Note 391.5, 1-Oct-1995 Erbland: WWW site for Winsock applications - TUCOWS --------------------------------------------------- The following Web link is one I knew about but forgot to mention. It is: The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software (TUCOWS) http://www.tucows.com/ You will absolutely love this Web site. The DECUServe Journal October, 1995 Page 24 WHOIS for Windows Every Winsock application you could ever want is here, and more (some software for other platforms). Uses a unique bovine rating system! This is DEFINITELY a Five Cower! Heavy graphics and tables. You can also visit the TUCOWS link from the LINX FTP / Download area which is available from the LINX pages: http://www.sims.net/linx Let me know what you think of TUCOWS. About the DECUServe Journal --------------------------- Publication Information Topic threads in the DEC Notes conferences on DECUServe are selected for publication on the basis of strong technical content and/or interest to a wide audience. They are submitted to the editor from various sources, including DECUServe Moderators, Executive Committee members, and other volunteers. Suggestions for inclusion are enthusiastically solicited. Articles selected for publication are edited on an OpenVMS VAX system in TPU and then formatted with Digital Standard Runoff. What's a DECUServe, Anyway? DECUServe is an on-line conferencing system which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 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