McCann, Dave wrote:

> I have a need for a Cobol program running on my HP3000 MPE box to
> with imbedded SQL to query an Oracle DataBase that resides on a SUN box.
>
> I have no idea on how to make this happen or if it is even possible.
> Please Help!!!
>
> Thanks  Dave McCann
> Matlensilver
> 732-469-5362  ext. 2108
> [log in to unmask]


Dave,

I was asked by a client of mine to read an MS Access database, from the
HP3000.  I had called HPRC , and they recommended that I write my own
service software to run on the PC, and use IPC socket calls to communicate
with the service on the PC. HP doesn't seem to have this functionality
bundled into MPE as far as I know.  What I ended up doing is using something
that was developed for a previous application.

Back in the early 90's, working with Net Partners Inc., in Houston. We
developed a 'Mainframe Network Integration'  system that connected our Unix
machines to the HP-3000/70 MPE/v machine. Since then, we have started using
these routines on the Windows NT platform. On the HP3000 we used IPC socket
calls, to build a small subroutine library of  NWCONN, NWSEND, NWRECV,
NWDISCON, and a few more misc. routines.  Because this shop writes all their
own business applications in-house, it was a perfect match. The in-house
written apps. on the Unix box could easily share data with the HP3000, or NT
machines. For example: I could write a program on the HP3000 that will
process clock punches that are collected on a Unix machine. The process that
is reading the time clock is a demon/back-ground process on the Unix box.
One of the first things it does is call NWCONN, specifying a service name,
and host name. On the host (HP3000) I could write a program that also calls
NWCONN, and then NWRECV's the clock punches, and DBPUT's them into an Image
database. Net partners developed the server process to run on Unix, NT, and
MPE/v, and MPE/iX. These server process will answer all connections for a
specific range of ports, and start the related (in-house written )
application service, and pass the socket connection off to it. Using this
functionality I have written programs that run on MPE, but read data from an
MS Access database on a PC, and some that run on Solaris and read Image
databases on the HP3000. Additionally, I have a HP3000 system monitor that
will connect to a Linux box an NWSEND a phone number and job name error. The
linux service process then dials that number and plays a voice message, and
waits for a response. The response is then NWSEND't back to the HP3000. I
have found the uses of this simple functionality absolutely limitless.

Net partners started by connecting a prototype, development network, so we
could immediately begin writing the application code.    Then they designed
and
implemented a fault-tolerant production network. Additionally, they
developed a custom communication package to allow the mainframe to
communicate with the Unix server handling the interfaces. This communication
package used redundant links (Serial and TCP) to the HP3000 and provided an
automatic fallover and recovery mechanism in the event of a network
interruption. When completed we could unplug the ethernet connection to our
HP3000, and all process connected using the NWCONN wouldn't miss a beat,
they didn't even know about the interruption, because it was handled by Net
partners lower level service processes, utilizing the serial line as a
backup. I can remember one time when our ethernet link was down most all
day, and we didn't even know it. The labor data collection system continued
to function while the ethernet card had gone out. It took HP four hours to
get us another card, but we weren't down. I guess I'm getting of the
subject, but the bottom line is that it can be done. It does take alittle
work, but once it's done it can be used for many applications.

   http://www.npartners.com/

Regards,
Michael Anderson