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  Time is NOT Running Out On Your HP e3000!

  
 

In a recent Interex article (e3000: Time’s Running Out As HP’s End of Support Date for the MPE Platform Nears, Migration Rate Increases, Oct. 14, 2004), HP’s Dave Wilde is quoted as saying, “We have been very clear in all our presentations that customers begin their planning, because there is lead time…. The earlier you start, the more runway you have and the less you wind up with time-limited issues.”

HP’s big push to help e3000 customers migrate to other platforms is predicated on the belief that once HP’s support ends
on December 31, 2006, e3000 customers will have a difficult time maintaining their systems.

Your business dictates when you migrate

What’s really happening with the e3000? Jerry Mills of Ideal Computer Services, and Resource 3000 believes that there is still plenty of time to migrate. “We’ve been in the e3000 market for 21 years, and we know we can keep customer’s e3000 systems running well past HP’s 2006 deadline.” Mills reports that many parts are readily available, and have been available for some time.

There is still the question of who’s going to support customers

when HP is out of the picture. “Many options remain,” comments Steve Cooper of Allegro Consulting, and another partner in the Resource 3000 consortium. “The reason we’ve formed this alliance with other e3000 specialists is to ensure quality support
and consulting services exist for as long as e3000 customers exist.” He adds, “We feel we’ve got the most highly-qualified group to take over when – and even before – HP leaves.”

Doug Felder, Resource 3000 partner and president of ORBiT software, agrees. “Just in our company alone we’ve got about 150 years experience on the 3000. And, I believe we’ve got the best system support tools available on the e3000. There’s not much we can’t provide.” with most of HP’s support calls coming from their own, non-MPE savvy engineers, Bill Lancaster believes that, “e3000 customers won’t just see a transition in the level of support they receive – they’ll see an improvement.”

“We’re not alone in this view,” adds Cooper. He, Felder, Mills, Lancaster, and others at Resource 3000 see what they’re doing as just the beginning. “There’s strength in numbers,” Lancaster emphasizes. “We believe that our approach really does give e3000 customers a viable option to migrating before they’re ready.” Perhaps the sky really isn’t falling.

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The HP Never Hangs... Or Does It?

The e3000 is well known for its reliability and sturdy nature. On the very rare occasion when it hangs, here’s a handy checklist you can use to ensure problem resolution.

1. Does anything work? See if you can get a response on the system console or if any users can log on.

2. Check the system “speedometer.” At the hardware console, press control-B. There should be a pair of hex numbers alternating between FFFF and F#FF (e.g., F7FF). This shows system activity. (If one of the numbers is DEAD, then your system aborted)

3. Is there disk or tape activity? (lights are fl ashing)

4. Log the last few console messages and any jobs or programs running before the system hung.

5. Perform a memory dump, which saves the contents of memory and other information to tape:

At the console, press control-B, then TC, then press <return>. Do not enter RS – this will restart the system!

Boot from primary path? enter: Y

Interact with IPL? enter: Y

Put a write-enabled tape into the tape drive and at the ISL prompt, enter: DUMP

Enter a one line description of the dump, and press <return>. The dump will take between fi ve minutes and two hours, depending on your system’s memory capacity and the amount of activity on the system before it hung.

Upon completion of the memory dump, eject and write-protect the tape and label it appropriately. You may now restart the system as normal.
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  www.resource3000.com   Resource 3000 - NEWS - Issue No. 1 - JANUARY 2005