At 17:44 17/11/00 -0500, Stigers, Greg [And] wrote:

>We need to pull a file from a host during a batch processing window, after
>the batch runs that produces the file, but before the system is taken down
>for backup, currently a space of three to four hours, except for the
>exceptions. Sometimes, things go wrong, and this can even delay the backup.

I can give you an idea of what was done on a system I worked with several
years ago.

In this case we were downloading a backup file to a PC running MS-DOS and
Reflection with a serial connection.  The PC was left with Reflection
running, but not logged on.  When the batch program was ready, it FCOPYed a
command file to the PC that instructed Reflection to delay 10 seconds and
then log on and download the file.  The file was saved by using "log
bottom".  The system worked very well and saved our reputation on one very
important occasion.  I won't mention names, but it was an occasion when all
the local media were in for a big event and they never got wind of the fact
that our HP3000 was down at a very crucial moment!

Playing this trick over a network is something I've never tried because I
don't think one can FCOPY to a PC using it's IP address (and to a specific
copy of Reflection).  One way out might be to have a serial connection to
the PC as well and use this to start the process (I'm assuming that the
serial connection would be too slow to do the whole thing).

Maybe someone else can come up with a way to start a process on the PC from
the HP3000?

John D. Alleyn-Day  [log in to unmask]
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