Secure nfs-dfs gateway, distributed computing environment admin tools offered to the software foundation
It was a busy week for distributed technologies over at Hewlett-Packard Co. The company has also firmed up its Distributed Computing Environment and Encina-based transaction processing offerings with important new technologies. It has a secure gateway which finally allows Distributed Computing Environment users secure access to Network File System environments, a much-needed common management tool for administering Distributed Computing Environment-based services, and a peer-to-peer mechanism for integrating IBM mainframe and HP-UX transactions including two-phase commit. Hewlett has offered the first two up to the Foundation for inclusion in future Distributed Computing Environment releases.
Distributed Computing Environment adminstration system, secure NFS-DFS and CICS gateways
As well as enhancing distributed management options available under OpenView, Hewlett-Packard Co now has several key enhancements for its Encina/9000 transaction processing software and the DCE/9000 Distributed Computing Environment, including gateways providing secure access to DCE from Network File System environments, transaction-sharing between Hewlett-Packard and IBM Corp mainframe transaction processing systems plus an integrated administration manager. Encina/9000 is the Hewlett-Packard implementation of Transarc Corp’s transaction processing monitor and DCE/9000 is the Cupertino company;s own implementation of the Open Software Foundation’s Distributed Computing Environment technologies. Although Encina must run on top of Distributed Computing Environment, as currently sourced from any supplier, the two come with separate and incompatible command line interfaces. Hewlett-Packard has moved to reconcile this and other anomalies with a new graphical-based interface that provides a consistent terminology set for developers across both environments. The administration system is also designed to enable developers to implement tools and methodologies consistently across the two environments, provides integrated HP-UX and DCE logins, an Encina configuration mechanism, and come with – the jewel from Hewlett-Packard’s point of view – DCE Configurator, enabling a single point of configuration for all DCE cells at core and DFS Distributed File System levels with Foundation dce_config compatibility. Hewlett is offering-up DCE Configurator to the Foundation for inclusion in future releases. Hewlett-Packard has added three components to DCE/9000 – now at release 1.2 and due out this month – its implementation of the Software Foundation’s Distributed Computing Environment 1.0.3.
Call wars
The Distributed File System allows users to share file systems remotely and the Global Directory Service enables disparate DCE cells to hook-up. Most interesting is a Hewlett-Packard developed secure gateway for Distributed File System interaction with Network File System-based environments. The NFS-DFS gateway, anticipated a few weeks ago, enables Network File System clients to access Distributed File System files without compromising security. Formerly, the whole Distributed File System had to be exported. Now, one or more Network File System gateways can be installed in a single Distributed Computing Environment cell without providing access to the whole file system. Although it may not end the remote procedure call wars, the mechanism certainly offers an interoperability solution as far as file systems go. Hewlett says it will license this gateway to the Foundation for inclusion in future DCE releases. Hewlett-Packard’s DCE Programmers Toolset now comes with a debugger that supports threaded applications. Hewlett says a DCE application environment based upon its DOMF Distributed Object Management Facility will be generally available by mid-year – beta ships are already underway. HP DCE/9000 is $1,800, GDS starts at $3,100, NFS-DFS Secure Gateway costs from $2,000. To its Encina/9000 transaction processing system announced in June last year, Hewlett-
Packard has added the PPC Gateway. It supports peer-to-peer transactions across TCP/IP and IBM Systems Network Architecture networks and allows mainframe CICS systems to co-ordinate or be co-ordinated by HP/9000 Encina, with two-phase commit (sync level 2) for data integrity. With this comes the Encina/9000 recoverable queuing system which retains integrity across systems when tasks are queued or de-queued. The new Encina/9000 ships in April. Hewlett claims to have live Encina user sites among the collection of pilot systems now in operation, but declined to be more specific. HP Encina/9000 RQS costs from $3,000, the PPC Gateway (for servers only) costs $4,000. All tags are for workstation and entry-level server implementations – basic DCE/9000 and Encina/9000 services required cost extra.
Moving ahead of Foundation with network management
Hoping to grab some of the limelight ahead of an Open Software Foundation announcement scheduled for late May, Hewlett-Packard Co last week revealed details of its own implementation of network management option technologies that are to feature in a forthcoming release of new OSF Distributed Management Environment components. Hewlett is effectively re-architecting the communications structure of its OpenView Distributed Management Platform on HP-UX and SunOS to use Compagnie des Machines Bull SA’s XMP management protocol (now the X/Open Management Protocol application programming interface), and the XOM OSI abstract data manipulation language application programming interface. These technologies, plus Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG’s X.500 directory services and other IBM Corp work, integrated and packaged by Hewlett and the Foundation, form the basis of the next Distributed Management Environment technology release, NMO Network Management Option, which is expected to ship in June. Hewlett has been responsible for much of the Network Management Option integration work, and by dint of a separate arrangement with Bull, has been able to jump the gun in announcing products based on Network Management Option technology.
Older
However, it is understood that Hewlett-Packard’s agreement with Bull calls for the provision for an older implementation of XOM – Network Management Option will be offered with the latest 7.0 release. Hewlett-Packard now offers SNMP and OSI/CMIP-based OpenView environments and is targeting Distributed Management Platform 4.0 at telecommunications companies. It includes services for event-handling, access to Guidelines for the Definition of Managed Objects, GDMO standards, an object registration service and development tools. To provide CMIP access, OSI stacks are required – HP OSI Transport Services/9000 under HP-UX and SunLink OSI 8.0 for the SunOS implementation, although CMIP for SunOS won’t be supported in 4.0 but will feature in a follow-on release. Hewlett-Packard says that future versions of DM will also use Object Management Group Common Object Request Broker technologies. HP OpenView DM Platform 4.0 will be available in May for HP-UX and SunOS-based systems, the company says, priced at $10,000. The DM communications infrastructure is $5,000 and a DM developers kit costs from $24,150. Hewlett says version 4.0 supports all 3.X application programming interfaces. The Foundation’s Network Management Option is designed to be used in conjunction with the other Distributed Management Environment services announced last November.
