Re: Communications Project -- MIDRANGE-L



Patrick Townsend wrote:

<I'm trying hard to find some new definitions of toad....>

BOY Patrick, can I save YOUR butt (if you SHOULD have to eat a toad that is...)

We just moved into a new home about 2 months ago (doing the "yard thing" now) in
a fairly wooded area and we have TOADS all OVER the place !!! Been a bumper crop
this year, I guess. Here's what it means to YOU ! IF I can get one away from my
youngest (3 years old - he LOVES to play with these things and there are hopping
all OVER the place) I can get one no bigger then the size of a small peanut M&M
(how's THAT for a bench mark); actually much "thinner", so if you cook it JUST
right (maybe stir fry) you should have basically NOTHING to eat but would
complete your end of the deal <BG> !!!!!!

Chuck

>
> Patrick
>
> Jeffrey Silberberg wrote:
> >
> > Hum,
> >
> >         I missed something, IP in the link ??, hardware ??, I thought you
> > were going to make this work with only AS/400 communications support in the
> > link.  Sounds like you have a PC in a box using IP to talk with the AS/400,
> > Right !  So you have done what many first suggested here which is put a PC
> > between GM and the Customer, and use a peer process, APPC, IP, something
> > other than ASYNC,  to make the final connection.
> >
> >         I think the toad needs to be well done...
> >
> >         JMS....  <g>
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Patrick Townsend <townsend@patownsend.com>
> > To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
> > Cc: nina jones <ddi@datadesigninc.com>
> > Date: Thursday, June 24, 1999 8:25 PM
> > Subject: Re: Communications Project
> >
> > >
> > >That sound is toad sizzling on the BBQ...
> > >
> > >It took a little longer than five days, but we are up and running now.
> > >Here's the play-by-play for anyone who's interested:
> > >
> > >TUE 6-15: We got the go ahead from Nina to ship her customer
> > >          the software and hardware today. She is going to be on
> > >          site on Thursday and will get it installed. The
> > >          PC technician there wants to load the IP address on
> > >          the serial interface unit, so we give him
> > >          instructions on how to do it. We would normally do
> > >          this before we ship the unit, but he doesn't have
> > >          an IP address for it and wants to do it himself.
> > >          It's easy - I'm not expecting any delays because
> > >          of this. The bets around here are split evenly on
> > >          my having to eat toad. But I'm confident, what could
> > >          go wrong?
> > >
> > >THU 6-17: The customer gets the software, it gets installed on
> > >          the AS/400, the hardware gets an IP address, we can
> > >          ping it from the AS/400. The serial unit gets
> > >          connected to the DSU/CSU and the link is up to
> > >          GM. By the end of the day things are looking
> > >          goooood. I smell victory. I'm starting to gloat.
> > >          I am not going to have to eat toad. Tomorrow I'm
> > >          expecting to capture GM Sequencing transactions
> > >          and wrap it up.
> > >
> > >FRI 6-18: Argh... We are getting data from GM but it is
> > >          garbage. Just strings of binary data. I fiddle
> > >          with the configuration on the AS/400 thinking
> > >          the set up isn't right. Calls to the customer
> > >          to verify the serial connection parameters.
> > >          The PC technician hooks up a PC and sees garbarge,
> > >          too! Now I'm sure there is a set up issue on the
> > >          GM side. More calls to GM. They've got their side
> > >          set up for EBCDIC data. That's a new one! Weird,
> > >          but we should be able to handle it. I make changes
> > >          in our configuration and now we are starting
> > >          to get some meaningful data, but it is chopped
> > >          up. We aren't getting complete transactions. Will
> > >          try again on Monday.
> > >
> > >MON 6-21: Fresh, ready to go at this again. We continue
> > >          to receive partial records. We re-check the
> > >          serial parameters with GM again. They insist
> > >          8N1, 19200, Xon/Xoff. More fiddling, calls
> > >          to our hardware supplier. No answers. Those
> > >          who bet I would eat toad are smiling again.
> > >          At the end of the day we decide to ask GM to
> > >          use ASCII data instead of EBCDIC. My thought
> > >          is that they might be sending control codes
> > >          in the data stream that cause problems. We'll
> > >          go at this again on Tuesday.
> > >
> > >TUE 6-22: GM switches to ASCII data. We change our
> > >          configuration on the AS/400 to match. Restart
> > >          the environment. We are getting data, but it
> > >          is still garbage. But it is interesting garbage
> > >          this time. Hex shows strings like B0B3B6. Hmmm,
> > >          this looks like ASCII numbers with even parity.
> > >          Or 7-bit data with a stop bit. Very curious.
> > >          If you turn the high bit off of the charcters you
> > >          get 303336. Real numbers! Hope is rekindled. Now I
> > >          am convinced that the connection is not what
> > >          we thought. More calls to GM.
> > >
> > >WED 6-23: Lost day for us. We get involved in a rescue
> > >          for another customer. But GM reports that the
> > >          serial parameters are not what they told us!
> > >          This is good news! GM changes the interface and
> > >          we start getting complete transactions in our
> > >          log. But Nina reports that the data is not going
> > >          to our inbound data queue. This should be easy
> > >          to figure out. The rescue is successful, but
> > >          we lose a day.
> > >
> > >THU 6-24: Yes, our C program is not writing the data to
> > >          the queue correctly. The problem is only in our
> > >          one-way receive module. Easy fix. Migrate the
> > >          code and Voila! Complete sequencing transactions
> > >          arrive in the file. Success! Great sigh of relief
> > >          at the customer site as they have to pass a
> > >          test with GM on Saturday. Nina's breathing again,
> > >          too.
> > >
> > >If you start counting on Thursday when the software arrived and got
> > >installed, it took 6 days to get everything working. One more than the 5
> > >days I bet. But things are looking good and the customer is happy. We
> > >all realize that we would have been up and running on Friday if the link
> > >had been defined correctly. And it's been great working with Nina. Her
> > >customer is lucky to have her on their team!
> > >
> > >What kind of sauce do you put on toad....?
> > >
> > >Patrick
> > >--
> > >IBM AS/400 communications, FTP automation, and network security
> > >software and consulting services.
> > >
> > >http://www.patownsend.com
> > >
> > >Jeffrey Silberberg wrote:
> > >>
> > >>     Well, is it done or roast T........
> > >>
> > >>         JMS...
> > >>
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>
> --
> IBM AS/400 communications, FTP automation, and network security
> software and consulting services.
>
> http://www.patownsend.com
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