HOW TO USE VISUAL INSPECT

[Jesús Ávila]

Hello everyone.

I am evaluating the possibility of acquiring Visual Inspect as a tool for my C++ developments on Tandem (we have Blade series), in fact, i downloaded the 60-day trial from HP's website, but I can not connect to the tandem.
What should I do in Nonstop side to start the server process to be able to connect to make a debug?

[Bill Honaker]

The SOFTDOC file is where I remember seeing the instructions to run
the PORTMAP process on the host. That process should be started for
the TCP/IP stack that serves the host address.

You wil lhave to stop and restart the IMON process once after the IP
stack is started. Here's a simple case of that; I put it in the
system startup file after the IP stack is up.

RUN $SYSTEM.ZRPC.PORTMAP/NOWAIT, TERM $ZHOME, NAME $ZPM0, CPU 0/1,&
TCPIP $ZTC0
STOP $IMON
IMON/NAME $IMON,NOWAIT,PRI 185,TERM $ZHOME,CPU 0/1

Then you have to run the 'NobleNet Portmapper' on your PC while you
are starting Visual Inspect.

If you are past a firewall, there are other steps to take because
Portmapper is an 'RPC' protocol; and you can't easily control the IP
ports being used.

Hope that helps.

[Jesús Ávila]

El lunes, 22 de julio de 2013 18:07:18 UTC-5, Bill Honaker escribió:
> The SOFTDOC file is where I remember seeing the instructions to run
>
> the PORTMAP process on the host. That process should be started for
>
> the TCP/IP stack that serves the host address.
>
>
>
> You wil lhave to stop and restart the IMON process once after the IP
>
> stack is started. Here's a simple case of that; I put it in the
>
> system startup file after the IP stack is up.
>
>
>
> RUN $SYSTEM.ZRPC.PORTMAP/NOWAIT, TERM $ZHOME, NAME $ZPM0, CPU 0/1,&
>
> TCPIP $ZTC0
>
> STOP $IMON
>
> IMON/NAME $IMON,NOWAIT,PRI 185,TERM $ZHOME,CPU 0/1
>
>
>
> Then you have to run the 'NobleNet Portmapper' on your PC while you
>
> are starting Visual Inspect.
>
>
>
> If you are past a firewall, there are other steps to take because
>
> Portmapper is an 'RPC' protocol; and you can't easily control the IP
>
> ports being used.
>
>
>
> Hope that helps.
>
>
>
>
>

> On Mon, 22 Jul 2013 13:38:55 -0700 (PDT), Jesús Ávila

>
> <jesu...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> >Hello everyone.
>
> >
>
> >I am evaluating the possibility of acquiring Visual Inspect as a tool for my C++ developments on Tandem (we have Blade series), in fact, i downloaded the 60-day trial from HP's website, but I can not connect to the tandem.
>
> >What should I do in Nonstop side to start the server process to be able to connect to make a debug?

Hi Bill!!

Thanks for your answer, I'll try your advice and then i will tell you the result.

Greetings!

[dave....@gmail.com]

I've used VI for years and always liked it because it was like dbx. We are currently using it for our c++ development and it works well with the caveat that it is unable to expand complex c structures. If you flatten them out by removing sub-structures you can expand them in VI. Trying to work directly with the structures produced by DDL isn't so too productive.

Dave

[Keith Dick]

Bill Honaker wrote:
> The SOFTDOC file is where I remember seeing the instructions to run
> the PORTMAP process on the host. That process should be started for
> the TCP/IP stack that serves the host address.
>
> You wil lhave to stop and restart the IMON process once after the IP
> stack is started. Here's a simple case of that; I put it in the
> system startup file after the IP stack is up.
>
> RUN $SYSTEM.ZRPC.PORTMAP/NOWAIT, TERM $ZHOME, NAME $ZPM0, CPU 0/1,&
> TCPIP $ZTC0
> STOP $IMON
> IMON/NAME $IMON,NOWAIT,PRI 185,TERM $ZHOME,CPU 0/1
>
> Then you have to run the 'NobleNet Portmapper' on your PC while you
> are starting Visual Inspect.
>

The most recent contact I had with Visual Inspect, less than a year ago, did not require the user to start a portmapper on the PC. Visual Inspect took care of starting the portmapper itself. I don't know whether starting the portmapper yourself will cause any problem, but keep in mind that it might cause problems. I beiieve Bill is right that the SOFTDOC is where you will find the setup instructions. If it does not contain instructions for starting portmapper, you probably should not start it.

[Bill Honaker]

Starting the PM may be different depending on the version of Windows;
the last time I tried to use VI on my 64-bit Windows 7 system, the
connection failed until I started PortMapper. You could try to
connect without it running on the PC first, and if that fails try
starting it manually.

[Jesús Ávila]

Hello everyone!

First of all, thanks for your comments and advices, they were very helpful to understand a little more about the process of Visual inpect on Tandem.

Unfortunately I can not yet connect my client to the VI process that is running on Tandem , I will show you a serie of steps that i have tried to take in order to connect with the Nonstop.

1. I applied the following command (recommended by Bill):

$DATA5 U255136A 2> RUN $SYSTEM.ZRPC.PORTMAP/NOWAIT, TERM $ZHOME, NAME $ZPM0, CPU 0/1,TCPIP $ZB1AB

2. After, i used the rpcinfo tool to validate that portmapper is up

$DATA5 U255136A 3> rpcinfo -p
program vers proto port
100000 2 udp 111 portmapper
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper

3. Then, i used the same tool to verify that the nonstop can see my laptop, in fact, i have started the portmapper and the VI in my laptop

according to HP

To test RPC communication from your PC to your NonStop server, you
must know the IP address the PC used to connect to the NonStop system.
(Both the PC and NonStop system may have multiple IP addresses.)
Assuming that you can start a TACL session from the desired PC to the
desired NonStop Server, one way to get the address used by the PC is
to enter this TACL command "scf info window [#myterm],detail" from a
window/session. The IP address the PC used is the "Remote Address".
Run RPCINFO with the following command: RPCINFO -p <IP-ADDRESS-OF-PC>

$DATA5 U255136A 4> RPCINFO -p 10.255.14.51
program vers proto port
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 2 udp 111 portmapper
1089921505 16 tcp 2235

4. According to HP too:

You should see, at minimum, program 100000 for both UDP and TCP. Next
enter the command: rpcinfo -t <IP-ADDRESS-OF-PC> 100000

$DATA5 U255136A 5> rpcinfo -t 10.255.14.51 100000
program 100000 version 2 ready and waiting

5. And i used the SCF subsystem to verify the ports:

$DATA5 U255136A 7> SCF
1-> assume $zzlan
2-> assume process $zb1ab
3-> listopens
TCPIP Listopens PROCESS \PROTST.$ZB1AB
Openers PPID BPID PLFN BLFN Protocol Lport
$ZPM0 0,1478 3 0 UDP 111
$ZPM0 0,1478 4 0 TCP 111
4-> exit

What I need to connect the VI by Tandem, because the error that is generated when it trying to connect is:

Event Manager: Boker is Unaviable
Where: EMMonitorConnCreate

Thanks for your help!!!

[Bill Honaker]

I suggest that you try to manually start the NobleNet Portmapper on
your PC. The icon to start it should be in the same Programs folder
as the Visual Studio ('HP Visual Inspect ' and the version number).

A PortMapper process must be running on both ends of the connection
for VI to be successful.
Bill

On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 15:25:43 -0700 (PDT), Jes�s �vila
<jesu...@gmail.com> wrote:

>El lunes, 22 de julio de 2013 15:38:55 UTC-5, Jes�s �vila escribi�:

[Tone]

Here is the obey file we use to (re)start things

fup copy $system.startup.startvi

system
stop $imon
status *,prog $*.*.dmon,stop
status *,prog $*.*.inspbrkr,stop
status *,prog $*.*.portmap,stop
$system.zrpc.portmap/in $ZHOME,out $ZHOME,term $ZHOME,nowait,name
$zpm0,cpu 2/1,tcpip $ztc0
delay 5 seconds
imon/term $ZHOME,in $ZHOME,out $ZHOME,name $imon,pri 180,nowait,cpu 0/1,
tcpip $ztc0

[Keith Dick]

This might not be your problem, but if you start Imon before the portmapper is really, really ready, things won't get set up right, or at least that was the case a couple of years ago. Just delaying 5 seconds might not be enough if things on your system make portmapper startup slow. I don't know of a way to insure that portmapper really is ready before starting Imon. I think you mentioned stopping and restarting Imon earlier, but you ought to try that again, since you have rejiggered things since then.

All this assumes that you do have a functioning portmapper running on your PC. Some PC networking tools will show whether that is true, but I don't remember exactly how to do that. Bill is right that if VI is not automatically starting the portmapper, you need to start it yourself. The version of VI I used did start portmapper automatically, but maybe yours doesn't.

For me, one of the most infuriating things is to have debugging tools that don't work reliably. When you get VI working, it is nice, but the setup is so fragile that it qualifies as infuriating in my book. A good tool built on unreliable underpinnings. But maybe there wasn't any other underpinning available.

[Warren M]

The fact that your host RPCINFO doesn't show a program entry for the VI broker, tells me that the VI broker process has not connected to the host port mapper process ($ZPM0).

Once you see the VI broker program entry in the host RPCINFO, you should run RPCINFO from the PC. You can find RPCINFO in the VI subvolume. By default, there is not a program menu entry for it. Select PORTDUMP from the menu and enter the Tandem host address. You should see the same entries as you saw on host RPCINFO. Once you see the same entries in both RPCINFO displays, you should should be good to go.

Be aware that VI takes special considerations if you have firewalls between your PC and the Tandem host. You will need to open a range of ports in both directions for VI to use and you will need special params to specify the port range on the host when starting the broker. There is also an .INI file on the PC that needs to be modified to specify the port range for the client to use.

[wbreidbach]

I just had a look at our startfile for VI and we have an additional line for inspbrkr as the last line:

inspbrkr/name $zbk0,nowait,term $zhome,out $zhome/tcpip $tc0 ,override

Another problem with VI is the use of the portmapper if you have to go thru a firewall. If you want to limit the portmapper to use only specific ports for VI you have to specify 2 parameters:

param vi^tcp^port^low <lowest port of range>
param vi^tcp^port^high <highest port of range>

before starting anything.

I agree to Keith that VI is not really reliable, every couple of days the development people are requesting the restart of VI.

[Jesús Ávila]

El lunes, 22 de julio de 2013 15:38:55 UTC-5, Jesús Ávila escribió:

Hi everyone!

I want to thank you for the advices and tips that I received from all of you.

Finally I connected my VI to the Nonstop with the next steps:

First, I initialized the portmapper with the next command:

$DATA5 U255136A 1> RUN $SYSTEM.ZRPC.PORTMAP /NOWAIT, TERM $ZHOME, NAME $ZPM0, CPU 0/1,TCPIP $ZB1AB

Then, to initialize the broker I used this command:

$DATA5 U255136A 3> RUN $SYSTEM.SYS03.INSPBRKR/NOWAIT, TERM $ZHOME, NAME $ZBK0, OUT $ZHOME/TCPIP $ZB1AB,override

In my laptop I started portmapper manually. Then I can verify the conectivity for each process and its ports, firts on Nonstop server and then on my laptop:

$DATA5 U255136A 5> rpcinfo -p

program vers proto port
100000 2 udp 111 portmapper
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper

300404 2 tcp 912
$DATA5 U255136A 6> rpcinfo -t 10.***.***.14 300404
program 300404 version 2 ready and waiting


$DATA5 U255136A 8> scf
SCF - T9082H01 - (23JUN11) (02MAY11) - 07/30/2013 13:22:53 System \PROTST
(C) 1986 Tandem (C) 2006 Hewlett Packard Development Company, L.P.
(Invoking \PROTST.$DATA5.U255136A.SCFCSTM)

1-> assume $zzlan
2-> assume process $zb1ab
3-> listopens

TCPIP Listopens PROCESS \PROTST.$ZB1AB

Openers PPID BPID PLFN BLFN Protocol Lport

$ZBK0 0,1047 2 0 TCP 667
$ZPM0 0,1850 3 0 UDP 111
$ZPM0 0,1850 4 0 TCP 111
4-> exit


$DATA5 U255136A 7> rpcinfo -p 10.***.***.51

program vers proto port
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 2 udp 111 portmapper

$DATA5 U255136A 8> rpcinfo -t 10.***.***.51 100000

program 100000 version 2 ready and waiting

And thats all!! Now the VI in my laptop is conected to the process on Nonstop Server, I will generate a macro with all these commands

So, now I need to know how to use VI, I have developed just in TAL, so it will be a little dificult to get friendly with VI. Do you know where can I find a user manual?

Greetings !!

[dave....@gmail.com]

TAl should be no problem as we debug our c++ that calls TAL modules. I don't see a VI doc on the web but I have a Getting Started With VI that is in the old format where each chapter is a PDF file. I have zipped it up and will email it to you. It's pretty bad in general, but file TPSEC03.PDF has some useful information.

Basically you just start VI on your PC, logon to the broker, rund your program and VI window(s) will pop up.

Dave

[Jesús Ávila]

Thanks Dave, I got it, so thank you all for your support, I have been working with tandem and base24, so, if i can help you with something send me an email.

Regards!!

[Bill Honaker]

Jesús,

The only manual I've been able to find is the online help. You can
use the Help menu after you are connected to the NS server, or you can
open the 'chm' file that contains the help. (On my Windows 7 machine,
for example, it's in the folder 'C:\Program Files (x86)\HP Visual
Inspect 3.4', and is called visinsp.chm).

The main help screen seems well organized, I'd suggest the links under
'Getting Started'.

Hope that helps,
Bill

[Jesús Ávila]

Thanks Bill !!!

[rcw...@gmail.com]

Dave, I would sincerely appreciate a copy of the PDF file on VI that you offered to send to Jesus.

Richard Wiseman ]rcw...@gmail.com[

[dave....@gmail.com]

I sent it to you but guessed at your email. Did you work on the Amtrak system too many years ago?

Dave

[cog...@gmail.com]

Jesus how did you specify the ip and port of the pc where you run the visual inspect. I noticed you passed the TCPIP process name, that the one i'm asking how di you started and with what info

[Randall]

Would ya'll consider moving to gdb? It is a lot easier on firewall managers since you don't need a portmapper. It is part of the NSDEE suite.

[Pierre]

For c/c++:
Randall true, but if gdb for NonStop was available on any of the many other cool IDE's and not in Eclipse sure, but honestly it is a pain pain pain. We are therefore preferring VI, which still have the look and feel of Windows 95, above NSDEE/Eclipse. Java devs might like Eclipse and it is maybe good for that, but c devs hates using this CDT Eclipse IDE. Also CI and build automation tools hates CDT Eclipse.

For functionality comparison VI still eats NSDEE/Eclipse, many cases open with HPE about this.

Unfortunately VI's last version was 4 and no bugs being fixed any more. It at least seems to work in Windows 10.

B.T.W. For tns (code 100) there is a VI derivative and still under full HPE support and development and I guess the reason is B24. Not sure why HPE does not make this not also usable for code 700, 800 and 500 too (, and use cmake as build manager and kick NSDEE out the door ;-) ).

[Randall]

The NSDEE Debug package is based on gdb. It is available and has been for a few years as a replacement to Visual Inspect for code 700, 800, and 500. The only real issue I've had with it is that it does not line displaying SPI buffers. Otherwise, it works nicely wherever I have used it. The make facility in NSDEE is cygwin (or rhcygwin) and based on gmake. Not sure why you hate it so much.