 







                      HP Availability Manager Version 2.3-1

                                  Release Notes

              The following notes address late-breaking information and
              known problems for the HP Availability Manager Versions 2.3
              and 2.3-1. These notes fall into the following categories:

              o  Installation note

              o  Problems corrected

              o  New and changed features

              o  Operation notes

              o  Display notes

        1 Installation Note

              This note pertains to the installation of Availability
              Manager Version 2.3-1.

        1.1 Uninstall Prior Versions Before Installing the New Kit

              Before you install the kit, you need to uninstall any
              previous versions of the software. This is explained in
              the Version 2.3-1 installation instructions.

              Prior to installation, you might want to make a copy of
              your AVAILMAN.INI file as a reminder of the names of
              the groups you usually monitor. Also, delete any desktop
              shortcuts for previous versions of the Availability Manager
              because they will be invalid with the new version.

        2 Problems Corrected

              The following sections discuss problems corrected in
              specified versions of the Availability Manager.

        2.1 Problems Corrected in Version 2.3-1

              The following sections discuss key problems that have been
              corrected since the release of the Availability Manager
              Version 2.3.

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        2.1.1 Consistent Sorting of Tables in Display Panes

              You can now sort by fields displayed in the Node Pane of
              the main Application Window and in the Single Disk Summary
              Page. To sort by a field, click its column header. To
              reverse the sort order of that field, click its column
              header again. This ability is now consistent with tables in
              other display panes.

        2.1.2 Error Message in Port Data Display on Cluster Members Pane

              Prior to Version 7.3-2 of OpenVMS, clicking the handle
              in front of Ports in the Cluster Members pane sometimes
              resulted in the display of the following error message
              instead of the port information:

              ?? Error retrieving Circuit data, error code=0x7 
                 (No room in response buffer)

              This was a problem related to gathering circuit data on
              OpenVMS that has been corrected in Version 7.3-2.

        2.1.3 Cluster Members Pane Fixes

              Various fixes to the Cluster Members pane have been made to
              reflect changes made in the SCACP utility:

              o  In the LAN Virtual Circuit Summary section of the LAN
                 Channel Summary Data display, the "Max PktSiz" and "ECS
                 Priority" columns of the LAN display are reversed.

              o  In the LAN Path (Channel) Summary section of the LAN
                 Channel Summary Data, the "Priority Chan" column has
                 been renamed to "Priority Cur."

        2.1.4 Memory for Availability Manager on OpenVMS Alpha Systems
              Incorrectly Calculated

              In the Availability Manager Version 2.3, the memory
              calculation used during startup was smaller than required
              for optimal Java performance. This problem has been
              corrected.

        2.2 Problems Corrected in Version 2.3

              The following sections discuss key problems that have been
              corrected since the release of the Availability Manager
              Version 2.2-1.

        2

 







        2.2.1 Corrected Host Node Page/Swap File Display

              OpenVMS Version 7.3-1 and higher do not have a page or swap
              file Reserved field. Availability Manager displays have
              been updated to reflect this change.

        2.2.2 Wait States on Single Process Are Now Explained

              In previous versions of the Availability Manager,
              explanations of wait states were omitted from the
              description of the Single Process Wait States page. Wait
              state calculations are now explained in Chapter 3 of the
              Availability Manager User's Guide and in tooltips.

        2.2.3 Out-of-Memory Problem

              In previous versions, a memory leak caused the graphical
              user interface eventually to become unresponsive. This
              problem has been corrected.

        2.2.4 Data Collector Errors

              In previous versions, the Data Collector would, on rare
              occasions, cause a systemwide failure due to divide-by-
              zero and range-check errors. These problems have been
              corrected.

        2.2.5 Most Events Trigger Color Scheme

              Any event that is not classified as an informational
              message causes a node to display in red, as described in
              the "Getting Started" chapter of the Availability Manager
              User's Guide.

        2.2.6 Problem with Seasonal Time Changes Corrected

              Previous versions of the Availability Manager used a
              version of the Java runtime environment that had problems
              with seasonal time changes. Availability Manager Version
              2.3 uses a version of Java runtime environment that has
              corrected this problem.

              For OpenVMS systems, make sure that the time zone
              differential logical name SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL is
              defined correctly.

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        2.2.7 Additional Problems Corrected

              The following problems have also been corrected:

              o  Tooltips now show up in node displays.

              o  Single disk display windows now display consistently.

              o  Various font size problems have been corrected on lock
                 and cluster pages.

        3 New and Changed Features

              The following sections discuss new and changed features
              introduced in specified versions of the Availability
              Manager.

        3.1 Features in Version 2.3-1

              The following sections describe features that are
              introduced or changed in Availability Manager Version
              2.3-1.

        3.1.1 New Node-Specific Data Collector Logicals File

              This version introduces a way to specify node-specific
              settings found in AMDS$LOGICALS.COM for a cluster
              environment. For example, this allows you to set the
              AMDS$DEVICE logical to a node's specific network adapter.

              The node-specific settings are in AMDS$LOGICALS_
              <node-name>.COM, where node-name is the name of the
              OpenVMS node in the cluster. To create this file, copy
              AMDS$LOGICALS.TEMPLATE to AMDS$LOGICALS_<node-name>.COM,
              and edit the file to configure node-specific settings.

              When SYS$STARTUP:AMDS$STARTUP executes, it searches for and
              executes the following files, if they exist, in this order:

              1. The AMDS$LOGICALS.COM file

              2. The AMDS$LOGICALS_<node-name>.COM

              Either or both files can be present; however, if neither
              file is present, SYS$STARTUP:AMDS$STARTUP outputs an error
              message and exits.

        4

 







        3.1.2 Additional Fields in Disk Volume Summary Display

              The following new fields are displayed for all versions of
              OpenVMS for which the Availability Manager collects data:

              ___________________________________________________________
              Field         Description
              ___________________________________________________________

              Used          Number of blocks used on the disk.

              Physical      Total number of blocks available on the disk
              Size          device. This is the "Total blocks" field of
                            the $ SHOW DEVICE/FULL display.
              ___________________________________________________________
              The following new fields are displayed for OpenVMS Alpha
              Version 7.3-2 and later:

              ___________________________________________________________
              Field         Description
              ___________________________________________________________

              Volume Size   Current number of blocks available for file
                            allocation. This is the "Logical Volume Size"
                            field of the $ SHOW DEVICE/FULL display. (See
                            $ SET VOLUME/SIZE for more information.)

              Volume Limit  Maximum number of blocks the volume can reach
                            using Dynamic Volume Expansion. This is the
                            "Expansion Size Limit" of $ SHOW DEVICE/FULL
                            display. (See $ SET VOLUME/LIMIT for more
                            information.)
              ___________________________________________________________

              If the Availability Manager detects that a disk volume size
              has increased, an VLSZCH event is signalled:

           AFFS55 Volume size of device $8$DKA200 (OPAL-X9U6) has changed
              ^                             ^          ^
            Node                          Device     Volume
            name                           name       name

              Documentation in the Availability Manager User's Guide will
              be updated with these fields in a future release.

        3.1.3 OpenVMS Version 7.3-2 Support

              The Availability Manager now supports data collection on
              OpenVMS Version 7.3-2 nodes.

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        3.2 Features in Version 2.3

              The following sections describe features that are
              introduced or changed in Availability Manager Version 2.3.

        3.2.1 DECamds Parity

              The Availability Manager has now reached functional parity
              with DECamds; this means that all features supported by
              DECamds are now supported by the Availability Manager.
              The Availability Manager also contains many additional
              enhancements and new features.

        3.2.2 Memory Utilization

              Memory utilization has been improved in the Data Analyzer
              when the Availability Manager loads program libraries.

        3.2.3 Performance

              There has been a moderate improvement in overall
              performance of the Data Analyzer.

        3.2.4 Window Turn Rate

              The window turn rate for disks is now supported on the
              OpenVMS I/O Summary page.

        3.2.5 NOPROC Event Support; Watch Process Customization Page

              The NOPROC event has been implemented in this release.
              You can now monitor up to eight processes on a node using
              the new Watch Process Customization page. If you enter a
              process name, the Availability Manager signals a NOPROC
              event if a process disappears and displays the following
              message in the Events pane:

                 NOPROC node-name cannot find process named: process-name

              If the process then reappears, the following message is
              displayed in the Events pane:

           PRCFND node-name has recently discovered process process-name

              This feature requires the latest version of the
              Availability Manager Version 2.3-1 Data Collector on the
              OpenVMS node being monitored.

        6

 







        3.2.6 LOVOTE and LOVLSP Events

              LOVOTE and LOVLSP events have been implemented. LOVOTE
              and LOVLSP are explained in Appendix B of the Availability
              Manager User's Guide.

        3.2.7 Lock Log

              In previous versions, no way existed to see lock contention
              history. This made lock contention resolution difficult.
              To facilitate lock contention investigation, locks
              under contention are written out to a log file called
              AvailManLock.Log.

        3.2.8 LAN Adapters Renamed to LAN Devices

              In cluster displays, the term "LAN adapters" has been
              renamed to "LAN devices" to be consistent with other
              OpenVMS utilities such as SCACP.

        3.2.9 CPU Process State Summary Display

              This new display allows you to easily monitor process
              states on the system on the OpenVMS CPU Modes Summary and
              Process States page. Refer to Chapter 3 of the Availability
              Manager User's Guide.

        3.2.10 How to Print a Screen

              Documentation has been added to explain how to print
              a screen. Refer to the Getting Started chapter in the
              Availability Manager User's Guide.

        3.2.11 Event Counts and List of Events

              A count of events has been added to the Node Pane of the
              main Application Window. Also, if you hold the cursor
              over a node name or the number of events, the Availability
              Manager displays a list of the events associated with the
              number of events.

        4 Operation Notes

              The following sections contain notes pertaining to the
              operation of the Availability Manager Version 2.3-1.

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        4.1 SYS$AMCONFIG.DAT Must Have Correct File Format

              The SYS$AMCONFIG.DAT file must be in a variable-length
              carriage-return-carriage-control format. If you create the
              file as a stream or stream-variant file, the OpenVMS boot
              code might not recognize the file contents correctly.

              To confirm that you have the correct format, enter the
              following DCL command:

                   $ DIRECTORY/FULL SYS$AMCONFIG.DAT

              A correctly-formatted file will include the following two
              lines:

                 .
                 .
                 .

              Record format:      Stream, maximum 0 bytes, longest 0 bytes
              Record attributes:  Carriage return carriage control
                 .
                 .
                 .

              You can also enter the following command:

                   $ DUMP SYS$AMCONFIG.DAT

              Correct output from this command will show the 'B' in
              "BOOTLOAD=TRUE" as the third character in the first disk
              block; for example:

           20455552 543D4441 4F4C544F 4F420034 4.BOOTLOAD=TRUE  000000
           64616F4C 203B2020 20202020 20202020           ; Load 000010
           6F6F6220 74612052 45564952 444D5220  RMDRIVER at boo 000020
           00000000 00000000 FFFF656D 69742074 t time.......... 000030
           00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 ................ 000040
                 .
                 .
                 .




        8

 







        4.2 Logical LAN Support

              Logical LAN support is new in OpenVMS Version 7.3-2.
              Refer to the New Features and Documentation Overview for
              OpenVMS Version 7.3-2 for more information about logical
              LAN support.

              The Availability Manager is compatible with this new
              feature. You can specify a logical LAN device in the
              logical AMDS$DEVICE. However, if the current device name
              that the logical AMDS$DEVICE specifies is part of a logical
              LAN failover set, the device name needs to be changed. This
              is because specifying a physical device in a failover set
              is illegal and will result in an error when executing $
              @SYS$STARTUP:AMDS$STARTUP START. For a device name, you can
              specify either the logical LAN device name of the failover
              set or another network device.

              The following figure shows a possible OpenVMS pre-Version
              7.3-2 configuration. The AMDS$DEVICE logical points to
              EIB0:.

                                      AMDS$DEVICE
                                           |
                                           V
                          EIA0:          EIB0:           EWA0:

              If, after installing OpenVMS Version 7.3-2, you create
              a logical LAN failover set with EIA0: and EIB0:, the
              AMDS$DEVICE logical can no longer specify EIB0:, because
              EIB0: is now in a failover set. In this case, you must
              set the AMDS$DEVICE logical to either LLA0:, which is the
              logical LAN device, or to EWA0:.

                          EIA0:          EIB0:           EWA0:
                         \                    /
                          ---------+----------
                                   |
                                   V
                                 LLA0:





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        4.3 Administrator Account Required

              On Windows 2000 and Windows XP platforms, the Data Analyzer
              must be run from an account in the Administrator group.
              This restriction will be removed in the next major release
              of Availability Manager.

        4.4 Problem Displaying Large Numbers of Processes or Disks

              Very busy networks can sometimes interfere with the
              transfer of data between the Data Analyzer and the Data
              Collector. This problem is noticeable when you display
              large numbers of disks or processes. The number of disks
              or processes might change temporarily because of a lost
              data message. This problem will be corrected in a future
              release.

        4.5 Event Reporting Problems

              The following list contains known event-reporting problems:

              o  Unimplemented threshold event: LOSTVC

              o  Event reporting irregularities:

                 -  Some posted events may not be canceled promptly when
                    the condition goes away.

                 -  LOVOTE and LOVLSP events are posted for every node in
                    the cluster rather than once per cluster.

        4.6 Out-of-Memory Problems on Long Runs

              If a session runs for many days, and the Data Analyzer is
              collecting data on many nodes, the Data Analyzer might run
              out of virtual memory (object heap). (See the Availability
              Manager installation instructions for Windows or OpenVMS
              for details on how to modify the heap size.)

              On Windows systems, the Data Analyzer does not report the
              problem. On OpenVMS systems, the Data Analyzer displays
              an "OutOfMemoryException" error in the window in which the
              Data Analyzer was started. On either system, one or more
              parts of the display might stop updating. The only solution
              is to restart the Data Analyzer.

        10

 







        5 Display Notes

              The following sections contain display notes pertaining to
              the Data Analyzer.

        5.1 Position of Main Application Window

              The Availability Manager saves and restores the position,
              size, and dimensions of the main Application window when
              you restart the application.

        5.2 Problems Using the Data Analyzer on All Platforms

              The following sections contain notes about the display of
              the Data Analyzer on Windows and OpenVMS platforms.

        5.2.1 What to Do If a Node Is Displayed Twice

              A node can be displayed twice in the Node pane when the
              Data Collector (RMDRIVER) is started before the network
              transports are started. To avoid this problem, always
              start your network transports (DECnet) before starting
              the Availability Manager Data Collector.

        5.2.2 Events Sometimes Displayed After Background Collection
              Stops

              The Data Analyzer sometimes displays events after users
              customize their systems to stop collecting a particular
              kind of data. This is most likely to occur when the Data
              Analyzer is monitoring many nodes. Under these conditions,
              a data handler sometimes clears events before all pending
              packets have been processed. The events based on the data
              in these packets are displayed even though users have
              requested that this data not be collected.

        5.2.3 Truncated LAN Channel Summary Display

              The LAN Channel Summary display might be disabled for
              some OpenVMS nodes if there are more than seven channels
              for that virtual circuit. This problem results from a
              restriction in the OpenVMS Version 7.3 PEDRIVER. For this
              condition, the following error message is displayed:

              Error retrieving ChSumLAN data, error code=0x85 (Continuation data
              disallowed for request)

              This problem has been corrected in the OpenVMS Version
              7.3-1 PEDRIVER.

                                                                       11

 







        5.3 Problems Using the Data Analyzer on OpenVMS Systems

              The following sections contain notes about the display of
              the Data Analyzer on OpenVMS platforms.

        5.3.1 Exiting Field on Data Collection Customization Page

              While using the OpenVMS Data Collection Customization page
              on OpenVMS, if you change a data collection interval and
              press Enter to exit the field, the value is not entered as
              expected. You must use the mouse to move the cursor out of
              the field.

        5.3.2 Long Runs Exhaust XLIB Resource ID

              The version of Motif currently shipping with OpenVMS is
              based on X11R5. That release of X11 uses a resource ID
              allocation scheme that works poorly with the Motif support
              in Java for OpenVMS. As a result, long-running Availability
              Manager sessions might stop updating the display at a
              time that depends on the speed of the OpenVMS machine.
              For example, a session running on a dual-processor 275 MHz
              system reported the following after 14 hours:

                   Xlib:  resource ID allocation space exhausted!

              On faster machines, this message was reported after only 8
              hours. This problem is expected to be corrected in a later
              version of DECwindows Motif.
















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