Tandemworld Newsletter for October 2009

XYGATE USER AUTHENTICATION GREATLY REDUCES MALICIOUS LOGON OPPORTUNITIES

XYPRO is pleased to announce the release of XYGATE User Authentication (XUA), version 1.60. A module within XYPRO’s Safeguard PRO package, XUA provides multi-factor authentication with enhanced logon controls and single sign-on with LDAP/Microsoft Active Directory. We won’t list all of XUA’s standard features here, but instead concentrate on its new capabilities:

Time-based logons. XUA can now restrict logons based on the time of the day.
Control for stripping leading spaces from passwords through the use of a new UACONF keyword IGNORE_LEADING_SPACES.
On newer versions of the HP NonStop server, Safeguard does not generate the password expiration warning message, if an authentication SEEP is configured. XUA 1.60 has the ability to control the display of the password expiration message through the use of a new UACONF keyword, PASSWORD_EXPIRES_MESSAGE.
New macro (XUA_NETWORK_CHECK) that checks the HP NonStop system configuration readiness for LDAP or RSA authentication.
Audits impersonation logon's outcome as "LOGON (IMPERSONATION)" The new outcome can be used as a selection criteria, when running XUA reports.
Previously, the LDAP and RSA proxies were stored in OSS space. From this release onwards the LDAP and RSA proxies will be stored in the XYGATEUA guardian installation location. This eliminates the steps in managing OSS directories for the proxies.
Now has the ability to retrieve the remote IP address for FTP logons, when HP's FTP is used.

If you’d like further information on XYPRO’s Safeguard Pro package it can be downloaded here:
https://www.xypro.com/fileadmin/downloads/helpdocs/SafeguardPRO2009.pdf
Or email Dan at dan.lewis@xypro.co.uk

You can keep up to date on all the latest news from XYPRO by reading the Blog, LinkedIn group, Twitter feed, Facebook page or Bebo. All are linked from the XYPRO home page: www.xypro.com

It's Not Too Late To Access "Application Rejuvenation"

If you missed NuWave's webinar on NonStop application rejuvenation, it's not too late!

Just go to: http://www.nuwave-tech.com/webinars/applicationrejuvenation to access the recording.

The webinar discussed how to incorporate new technology into existing business processes with minimal costs and risk. Integrating Web Services into current business strategy can actually be quite easy, and once this capability is enabled, new doors begin to open for greater efficiencies and increased business functionality. Access this valuable content now.

www.nuwave-tech.com

The Evolution of Async and Sync Replication for High and Continuous Availability Architectures

The Gravic Shadowbase Products Group is pleased to announce the availability of a recorded presentation that Paul Holenstein, Executive Vice President, and Dick Davis, Shadowbase Sales Manager, gave during Dan Porter’s Weekly Technical Update Conference Call on September 29^th, 2009.

Presentation Title:

The Evolution of Async and Sync Replication for High and Continuous Availability Architectures

Presentation Abstract:

Businesses are demanding higher and higher application availability for their business continuity needs. As their demands have increased, data replication technology has been evolving to support both high and continuous availability architectures. This talk reviews this evolution, and discusses the current state-of-the-art technologies for asynchronous and synchronous replication for NonStop systems.

Please contact Shadowbase@gravic.com to receive the entire webcast.

Please Visit Gravic at these Upcoming Shows:

GTUG BITUG

German NonStop User Group British Isles NonStop User Group

European NonStop Conference National NonStop Meeting: The BIG SIG

Darstadtium Conference Center Institute of Directors, Pall Mall

Darmstadt, Germany London, England

November 18-19, 2009 December 2-3, 2009

Latest Edition of the “Achieving Century Uptimes" article series:

As seen in The Connection, published by Connect, by Dr. Bill Highleyman, Paul J. Holenstein and Dr. Bruce Holenstein

Part 18: Recovering from Synchronous Replication Failures (9/09):
A discussion of the procedures that allow transaction processing to continue in the face of a target database failure and for reinstating the target database as a participant in transactions upon its recovery. http://www.gravic.com/shadowbase/pdf/Achieving Century Uptimes Part 18 (SG recovery).pdf

For additional information about Gravic’s products and services, including free whitepapers on how Shadowbase data replication solutions can solve your company’s business continuity, data integration and synchronization, and real-time business intelligence challenges, please visit: www.gravic.com/shadowbase.

NonStop Java--The "New COBOL"

This was the title of an article written by Sam Ayers that was published in the Sept/Oct issue of The Connection.

Go to http://www.nuwave-tech.com/pub/articles/ConnectionArticle.pdf to see how NuWave's products "facilitate the integration of COBOL servers to newer technologies such as SOAP and Java Message Services (JMS)".

www.nuwave-tech.com

NonStop - A Running Commentary – October, 09

The opinions expressed here are solely
those of the now self-employed author

So much has changed since I wrote the last article – the purchase of GoldenGate by Oracle has been completed. Those left at GoldenGate have now become a part of the multi-platform Fusion group – the same group where other acquisitions, e.g. BEA with Tuxedo and Web Logic Server, reside - and where the business is focused on more than just the data base. But of course, the situation may change should the deal to buy Sun complete. Oracle would balloon from some 85,000 employees to more than 135,000 and become a serious contender in the general purpose computer manufacturing industry.

But as someone who worked in the Business Development group within GoldenGate and who managed the partnerships between GoldenGate and HP as well as a partnership with IBM, Oracle couldn’t come up with anything for me to do. They already had a well-entrenched team performing these duties, so I formed my own company almost three weeks ago and posted the news to the LinkedIn user group Real Time View. Check out:

“For those already catching on to the status updates I posted earlier today - yes, I am now on my own. Turned "pro," so as to speak. I will be working out of my new company Pyalla Technologies, LLC - so look for a blog posting to Real Time View later in the week.

“I remain highly interested in all things related to disruptive technologies - especially when they bring with them the potential for radical innovation. Many of you have seen presentations I have given over the past few years and can recognize that this has been a reoccurring theme. And it will be a challenge building a business around this, but already the doors have begun to open.”

And last week, I followed up with a more comprehensive expose on the blog, Real Time View that I titled “Let’s talk …” and that can be found at:

http://itug-connection.blogspot.com/2009/10/lets-talk.html

Turning pro? Highly interested in … disruptive technologies? For the last couple of years, attendees of my presentations at user events may recall that this has been a common theme of mine, and when you throw in the thought of “radical innovation” you will recognize the consistency of my message. I am particularly attracted to technologies that are “cool” like the Mini, the iPod, and selected examples of modern architecture! I like the new manufacturing facility built recently for BMW that has gantries transporting unfinished vehicles across the heads of those in the accounts payable section, for example. A constant reminder of why they work for BMW!

But with the presentations and from the discussions that followed, I have tapped into a wealth of knowledge and experience that has become the basis for my writings and commentary. Over the past two and a half years, it has helped me develop my own, highly opinionated and subjective style of reporting. Not quite tabloid, mind you – but with hooks that readily attract readership. And staying focused on issues within the data canter in general and with HP NonStop in particular, I have found that there’s a global audience for this type of commentary and so I plan to keep it up.

When it comes to social networking, the topic I covered in the last edition of this eNewsletter, this will anchor much of the work I plan to do. I am working to expand this and to transition to new, more immediate forms of communication. Blogs, and the articles they feature, are becoming more of a reference “library” and over time contain a lot of material that, in the hands of users and vendors alike, can help support decisions to deploy NonStop.

For more interaction with the readership, the “user groups” that have sprung up on LinkedIn, the most widely used “networking” facility among business professionals – even among those of us in IT – supports a more immediate, interactive form of communication. Even as I have been writing this article I have bounced in and out of the user group “Real Time View” to respond to comments made by the membership. But there’s even more that can be done to improve the exchanges.

In my new capacity at Pyalla Technologies, I am in the early stages of developing a new group that will be part of an established network of IT professionals. I am being given the opportunity to develop a topic in an area where I have experience and where I know I can find an audience. This community website has one goal in mind: to give those of us in the business of IT a way to connect no matter our allegiances or current community associations.

And this leads me to the question posed to me most-often. What will I be doing? What are the areas of interest for Pyalla Technologies? I have broken this down to just three – and all driven by what interests me most. The enterprise data center.

The three areas are: communications and networking, Web Services and SOA, and Network, System, and Applications management.

I will continue to maintain my focus on communications and networking – from my earliest days in IT, linking devices and systems together has been central to much that I have done. I have first hand knowledge working for companies that pioneered TP Monitors (Datacom/DC), built protocol convertors (Netlink’s 3703 SNA Protocol Convertor) and wrote SNA stacks (InSession’s ICE).

But these days, what’s happening above the communications layers, is just as interesting. It should come as no surprise to anyone reading my blog posts to find that I have a deep interest in Web services and SOA. Again, I have first hand knowledge with the development of WebGate and SafeTGate at InSession.

Finally, throw these two themes together, assemble them as a stack, and paralleling it and tightly coupled with both themes, is the subject of network, system, and application management – another area that I will follow with passion! Working with Nixdorf Computers I came across NET/MASTER and worked to re-implement on Tandem Computers as NonStop NET/MASTER – a project that brought me into the DSM group within Tandem.

In the coming weeks, I will be providing more information on this new endeavor. It will complement the work I am now doing with Infrasoft Pty Limited, a start-up out of Sydney made up of some of the original members of the InSession team. It will also be consistent with the white papers I am under contract to produce for a number of ISVs in the NonStop marketplace. And it will parallel the work I will continue to do in blogs and online forums.

Where do I find the time? Perhaps the second most asked question of me of late. Well, as of three weeks ago, it is now my sole business. And I am looking forward to remaining an active member of the wider NonStop community – look for me at upcoming regional events as I will be participating in GTUG next month! Drop by and I will buy the coffee!

Richard Buckle

Founder, and CEO

Pyalla Technologies, LLC

www.pyalla-technologies.com

richard@pyalla-technologies.com

________________________________________________________________________

HP – ITUG user group: Director (2000 – 2006)

- Chairman (2004 & 2005)

IBM – SHARE user group: Marketing Director (2007 – 2008)

LinkedIn - Real Time View user group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1878133&trk=hb_side_g

Real Time View blog: www.itug-connection.blogspot.com

Buckle-Up blog: www.buckle-up-travel.blogspot.com

Twitter: RichardKBuckle

TANDsoft Introduces New TMF-Audit Toolkit

TANDsoft, Inc., took advantage of CTUG’s annual conference in Toronto, Canada, to announce its new TMF-Audit Toolkit™, a companion product to the recently introduced Enscribe-2-SQL Toolkit™. Both solutions offer application developers flexible, affordable alternatives to more expensive conversion products or manual conversion techniques.

The TMF-Audit Toolkit easily converts non-audited TMF files to audited TMF files. No changes to the Enscribe applications are necessary. The toolkit’s library includes an API that allows developers to write procedures specifying TMF transaction boundaries. Full conversion flexibility otherwise available only with manual conversion is retained, and the result is improved application database performance. With the product’s embedded Toolkit Trace, Enscribe activity can be captured and analyzed to construct TMF transaction boundaries for custom applications.

TMF-Audit Toolkit: Features and Benefits

· Available on all HP NonStop servers

· Supports custom applications

· Offers unlimited conversion flexibility

· Permits file-by-file and application-by-application incremental migration

· No changes to Enscribe applications are necessary

· No privileged code required

· Supports full Enscribe API

· Online backups for 24x7 availability

· Enables replication with RDF, Shadowbase, DRNet, GoldenGate, etc.

For more information, visit www.tandsoft.com. Or call us at +1 (514) 695-2234.

TANDsoft’s HP NonStop solutions include time-zone virtualization, time-sensitive application testing, and file synchronization for disaster recovery.

Visit TWINSOFT at the forthcoming GTUG/Community Connect in Darmstadt

For the first time this year, the GTUG and Community Connect in Darmstadt will be a truly international event covering the complete Spectrum of HP Products and solutions.

The agenda on the 18. and 19. November will focus on all aspects of the HP NonStop platform comprising best practices, products and solutions.

As experts in the NonStop world and also business integration across all established platforms, TWINSOFT will be participating.

Visit us at our stand in the exhibition hall and profit from our 20 years of HP NonStop expertise.

Ross Systems International FINFO New Functionality

Ross Systems International, are pleased to announce that as a result of the increasing uptake of FINFO as a management tool there has been an upgrade to increase the scope and usefulness of the product.

FINFO is a utility to be used on HP NonStop ™ Systems to display Guardian file information. The file information can be selected by a number of criteria, it is then sorted on a specified key and displayed in one of a number of formats. User Totals showing file usage are also displayed at the end of each subvolume, volume and system displays.

FINFO already gives system management teams the ability to report on the usage of HP NonStop disk space which in itself has generated more comments and suggestions. As a result of these discussions a major upgrade of FINFO has been suggested which is encapsulated in the two questions:

The old one was disk space usage oriented:

Who or what is using what of my disk space?

The new one is operational usage oriented:

Am I going to encounter problems with my files reaching their space limits?
Are the index levels increasing so a level which is going to impact operational efficiency?

The second set of questions is new and the answer lies in the ability to accurately query and report on:

The percent usage and file extent information of operational files
The ability to query file systems, selecting file by attributes like, percent usage, index level, partitioning information and SQL information.

It was therefore obvious that the FINFO selection and display capabilities had to be improved to allow for this new form of interrogation and display.

Thus the command set was altered in the following manner:

The Display Capabilities were changed to allow for:

a)         A new extents display which included data such as
            (i)         Max Extents
            (ii)        Index Level
            (iii)       Percent Usage

b)         The existing Excel/Spreadsheet export has been upgraded to include, as above
            (i)         Max Extents
            (ii)        Index Level
            (iii)       Percent Usage
The selection capabilities have been upgraded enabling selection on
a)         SQL Properties such as any, table, index and view files
b)         Percent Usage
c)         Index Level
Note. These changes have resulted in the displacement of the ProgId’d selection parameter.
The help command has also been altered to keep in line with the current parameter/command set.

At the same time the licensing system has been altered to allow for the advent of blades, which has resulted in my having to find out various processor parameters (PROCESS_GETINFOLIST_) for blade systems. This resulted in the generation of the PROBE Utility since I was unable to find them in any HP documentation.

This utility is available from our website. www.rsi-ns.com

If you decide to try PROBE on your system, please let me know the results since it also includes a speed test which is potentially of interest to most HP NonStop users and if I get enough results I will be able to publish them. Probably the first non HP sponsored comparative test.

If you would like to trial FINFO please contact us and we will give you a short term license to try it out. The software and manual is already on the web ready for downloading, but it will not operate without a license, so you will need to mail us your details so that we can send you a license. Installation is then a very simple matter.

Please contact Rupert Stanley of Ross Systems International Limited at rupert@rsi-ns.com or
+44-1206-392923 for additional information or to order .

Information on RSI’s products including FINFO can be found on http://www.rsi-ns.com/.

Partners TWINSOFT and Integrated Research invite PROGNOSIS users to participate in the forthcoming

PROGNOSIS User Group on the 17.11.2009

The PUG will take place immediately before the GTUG/Community Connect event in the Congress Centre Darmstadtium in Darmstadt.

The aim of the PUG is to provide the PROGNOSIS user community with the latest news regarding new products and solutions, to provide information on future developments and to establish a platform to enable all participants to exchange information. It is also a valuable source of interactive feedback on how users deploy PROGNOSIS to improve their business processes and what enhancements would be desirable in future developments.

We have many new products and solutions to present:

§ PROGNOSIS Change Auditor

§ Financial Transaction Manager (FTM) resp. Generic Transaction Collector (GTC) resp. Generic Transaction Manager (GTM)

§ PROGNOSIS Performance and Service Level Reporter

§ PROGNOSIS Non-Event Monitor

§ Enhanced NonStop EMS Event Monitoring

§ Maybe also support for HP Storage Works XP Arrays

§ New PROGNOSIS installations and solutions worldwide

§ Product Roadmap

§ Customer use cases

You will have the unique opportunity of being able to meet experts from Integrated Research and TWINSOFT and to discuss your questions personally.

Please register for his event by contacting jeanette.prevost@twinsoft.de. Your participation requires no fee.

Manage Your NonStop with comForte's TOP product

comForte recently acquired TOP from Gresham Software Labs and is now selling the product worldwide.

TOP is an easy-to-use GUI-based tool providing intuitive and effective access to all HP NonStop subsystems and components from a Windows workstation. By deploying TOP you get the best of both worlds - a graphical user interface and a 6530 terminal emulator. With two means of access, users learn how to use NonStop servers faster while experienced NonStop users can get direct access to command-line tools when required. Experienced users find that they can perform their work faster, with fewer syntax errors and less reference to the manuals.

For more information please go to www.comforte.com/top or contact your sales representative by sending an email to sales@comforte.com

Join us at the following events:

MEXTUG, Oct 28, Mexico City, Mexico

GTUG/Connect Germany, Nov 18-20, Darmstadt, Germany

ACE Asia, Nov 11-13, Chiang Mai, Thailand

BITUG BIG SIG, Dec 3, London, UK

NuWave's President Takes Position as Interim Chairman of New SIG

As a result of rising disappointment with national and regional conferences, a new special interest group has been formed to establish a voice to influence decisions made about these events. The group, called the NonStop Partner SIG, will work with Connect and HP to make positive changes to communications and events. As a firm advocate for change, NuWave's president, Ernie Guerrera, has been selected to hold the demanding volunteer position of Interim Chairman of the group.

The mission of the SIG is to give the HP NonStop vendor community increased visibility to NonStop customers through coordinated and focused communications; to improve the vendor/customer experience at conferences; and to provide a forum for vendors to exchange creative ideas. The SIG's LinkedIn group can be used as the single point of access for NonStop users to communicate with and receive news from NonStop vendors. Although the group will advocate primarily for NonStop vendors, users are also encouraged to submit suggestions. You may do so by emailing Ernie directly at eguerrera@nuwave-tech.com or by joining the group on LinkedIn.

IT Going Green

As the debate on Global Warming continues, there is one thing all people and companies can agree upon; being environmentally responsible is an ethical obligation we share. One of the leading factors contributing to economic, political change around the world over the past two decades is Information Technology. IT is growing at an astounding rate. It was estimated by the IDC, that the information created, captured, and replicated in 2007 was more than three million times the information in all the books ever written, and that between 2006-2011 this will increase 10 times.

IT has bridged the gap between developing and developed nations in ways that was never before thought possible. Information and Communication are now considered the building blocks for socioeconomic development. To handle this growth we consume vast amounts of resources building out data centers, expanding data storage driving higher energy demands.

In response to the concern over environmental impact to this growth, many companies have undertaken Green initiatives. There are many ways we can “Go Green” in IT. One of the most efficient ways is to reclaim, refurbish, reuse and recycle our IT products. Castle Systems, Inc. has been providing these services to the NonStop community for the last 15 years. Building long-term relationships we have become extremely familiar with current platform utilization and requirements. We match our customers disposing of system hardware, with End Users who will benefit from these products. This provides a good ROI to one user while enabling another to benefit from reuse of quality hardware at a significant savings

Castle Systems, Inc. offers deinstallation, packing, logistics, and data destruction at no charge. We reclaim any product that still has value to NonStop users and recycle all components with the highest standard of compliance. We maintain a strict policy that no hardware processed through our facility will ever end up in a landfill. Contact us today to see how we might be of service:

Phone:	1.800.731.1966 (U.S. & Canada)
	216.738.3000
Fax:	1.440.918.0400
Email:	sales@castlesystems.net
Website:	www.castlesystems.net

Check out this Cool New Service

As much as I love to say wonderful things about DRNet, sometimes it’s ok to take a break and explore other things.

Let me introduce you to Jon Schmidt and his High Performance Team at Transaction Design. 20+ years ago I worked with Jon on the Stratus platform. Very early he had established himself as the “go to guy” for squeezing transactions thru a Stratus platform. Years later I ran into him at the ITUG show in San Jose. Jon was quietly manning his booth, on the back row, talking about performance and his Ban Bottlenecks service. His Client base had expanded beyond the Stratus to quite a few NonStop Users. Every time I ran into Jon at a show I would find out a bit more about what he was up to.

Let me tell you about the Ban Bottlenecks Performance Service. Jon has tools that sit on your NonStop platform and collect performance statistics. Once a week these tools make suggestions to improve on overall transactional performance. Once a month the data is transmitted to the Transaction Design labs where Jon and his team pour thru the data and provide deep analysis. They produce a detailed hyperlinked report that starts from a high level “report card”, letting you drill down to metrics that not many of us really understand.

But the best part of this service, and why I think this is something NonStop Users should take a look at, is the monthly WebEX review. The Ban Bottlenecks Team conducts a personalized detailed monthly web conference review of your report, explaining any and all anomalies they find. Customers can request specific things to monitor and track. Jon’s experts zero in on your watchpoints, make suggestions, and tracks results over long periods.

It’s a pretty cool service. You work with the top NonStop performance team in the world. You get to set your own goals. They make real suggestions and track overall improvement. The analysis happens remotely. Results are delivered via WebEx, linking the Ban Bottlenecks team with your business team. Best of all, Ban Bottlenecks is offered as a subscription service.

Check it out at www.TransactionDesign.com if you get a chance. We like these guys a lot and I am betting you will too.

Jim McFadden

Director of Business Development

Jim.McFadden@Network-Tech.com

+1 402 968 3674

Availability Digest Travels to the Moon with Apollo 11

You have to go all the way back to 1969 to find one of the first examples of continuous availability. That was the year that men first stepped on the moon – then successfully did it again and again using highly automated, continuously available systems representing the extreme in safety-critical systems. Check out the Availability Digest’s September issue for an interview with Apollo 11 engineer Ed Poole, who explains how NASA employed lock-stepped computers and active/active systems to accomplish one lunar landing after another.

Also in the Digest’s September and October issues:

· Our Never Again articles examine Google’s troubles with cloud computing and PayPal’s August, 2009, network crash.

· “Spamalytics” describes how a team of computer scientists orchestrated a parasitic infiltration of an existing spam botnet’s infrastructure to determine the financial viability of spam.

· Is your company ready for the swine flu pandemic? When up to half your workforce may be absent for days, “Pandemic Response Planning” helps a business prepare for this human unavailability crisis.

The Digest is free online and focuses on continuous processing architectures, with particular attention given to active/active technology. www.availabilitydigest.com

Tandemworld within EMEA

Tandemworld specialise in the recruitment of HP NonStop / Tandem specialists.

We Currently have a number of Highly skilled NonStop / Tandem professionals seeking new projects and assignments

within the EMEA Region.

Do you have Project Work that you need assistance on? Hardware upgrades to perform?

These professionals are available on a short or long Term Basis (1 Week to 1 year +) at Very Competitive rates.

We can also supply Permanent employees and other technical resources e.g. IBM, Unix, Unisys DEC/VMS etc.

If you have a requirement for Contract or Permanent Resources or require further information please contact us :-

+44 (0) 20 8304 7979

info@tandemworld.net

www.tandemworld.net

To place article(s) within our future newsletters please Email us.

For Future Sponsorship opportunities please Email us.

User Groups

NonStop Event , Darmstadt , Germany 18th -19th November 2009 More info at http://www.nonstopevent09.gtug.de

BITUG BIG SIG, December 3rd 2009, London, UK

For more information, please visit http://www.bitug.com

INUG Autumn Conference 18th November 2009.

The event will be held at HP Los Rozas, Madrid. For further information please contact via email info@inug-connect.org

The next OTUG Meeting Thursday, November 12th. The agenda and registration information will be sent out soon.

The meeting will be held in Columbus, Ohio at JPMChase's (Bank One) Polaris Campus just off of 270 North/71 North intersection. For further information Please EMAIL US

The OTUG Board is looking forward to seeing you at the meeting.

MRTUG Meeting

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Location: HP Office Downers Grove, 2001 Butterfield Rd., Suite 800, Room: Rolling Meadows A & B, Downers Grove, IL

Time: 9 am to 4:30 pm (continental breakfast and working lunch included)

Agenda: to include speakers on updates from HP NonStop, HP Operations Management, NuWave - Nonstop Application rejuvenation, VTS Small end footprint, HP Pathway Product Update, Xypro - Barry Forbes Security Update, HP RSAA Update, and great prize drawings!

Looking for a Solution or an answer to a particular problem ASK Tandemworld. We will contact the vendors for you and find a suitable solution that meets for current and future needs.