HECnet December 2019

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17 participants
12 discussions

Tops-20 ANONYMOUS FAL Preliminary Testing Results/DAP Query

by tommytimesharing＠gmail.com

I have been working with a kind volunteer who is using OpenVMS Alpha.? It's been quite productive. While I haven't run into any security exposures, yet, the experience has enabled me to find a few things to tweak up.? For example, the VMS logging and reporting was clearly superior to what was being put in the FAL log (which wasn't even timestamped and didn't have the requested file name). We ran into some interesting behavior.? When ANONYMOUS access is restricted to the stand-in user and its subdirectories, wildcard listing requests that are outside of that lexical scope do not report any errors but rather return zero files (none).? That was puzzling because the part of the code that did the access check was clearly doing the reject with appropriate return values. Further analysis showed that in the main loop for stepping wildcards, a reject causes the file in question to be skipped; nothing is actually done with the return values.? I believe this may be intended behavior for two reasons.? The first is that if the wildcard includes files to which the ANONYMOUS user does legitimately have access, it's friendlier to report those as opposed to stopping everything. The other reason I believe has to do with DAP itself; I don't think you can't return more than one return value per ACCESS request, even with a wildcarded file specification.? So perhaps this isn't a bug so much as an unintended consequence?? Does anybody know what the behavior should be? At any rate, I don't believe the current behavior is 'informative'.? What I'm thinking of doing is saving the last error code and returning that if the count of files returned in list is zero.? Otherwise, the user had something to look at. Do I have any volunteers who operate something besides VMS?? I'd be interested in RSX(+), IAS, RSTS and OS-8.? They never did DECnet on RT-11, did they?

5 years

Tops-20 ANONYMOUS FAL/DAP Testing Update

by tommytimesharing＠gmail.com

VMS testing is largely complete and resulted in a number of tweaks.? This was particularly the case for logging as VMS appeared to be more productized in this area. ? I picked up a number of good ideas, most of which I've implemented.? I also had a rather glaring omission; I had completely forgotten to implement restrictions on PRINT...? There was also a problem of properly reporting error codes; in some cases, a wildcard request could come back from the 20 with no indication whatsoever that all the candidate files were rejected due to lexical restrictions.? The workaround gives a result, but apparently imperfectly (see below). RSX testing has been quite interesting.? It seems that the 20 doesn't appear have _ever_ reported month formats properly. The DAP 5.6 specification appears to be neutral in certain areas as to case sensitivity.? Most importantly, the case of a month is not made explicit, although the abbreviations are uppercase.? The 20 uses a monitor call (ODTIM%) to convert from the 36 bit internal format to text, yielding capitalized months.? So, instead of *DEC* for a month, you get *Dec*. RSX is sensitive to this and reports all dates and times as zero. It was an easy fix to uppercase everything.? Kudos to Johnny for an amazing guess in that area. Of more concern is the fact that certain results from the 20 can cause the RSX DAP client (NFT) to go into an Infinite Loop, necessitating an abort!? This is suspected to be incorrect error reporting on the 20's side.? So I've got some digging to do in that area.? I'll get to that in a few days; I had a few more access restrictions that I wanted to implement to give additional granularity. I'm hopeful for some RSTS results in the not too distant future.

5 years

Compliments of the season

by Keith.Halewood＠pitbulluk.org

Hi all, Hoping you HECnetters have a peaceful that-time-of-year and a prosperous year++ Regards Keith

5 years

VMS Stratum-1 GPS NTP server tips?

by supratim＠riseup.net

Folks - has anyone managed to get a GPS receiver that spits out NMEA protocol data over a USB port on a Linux box hosting a SIMH VAX to work as a OpenVMS stratum-1 NTP server using either digital TCP/IP services or Process MULTINET? (I probably messed up phrasing the question but you will get what I am trying to ask) TIA Supratim --- Supratim Sanyal, W1XMT 39.19151 N, 77.23432 W QCOCAL::SANYAL via HECnet

5 years

How frequently do you update your node list?

by tommytimesharing＠gmail.com

I finished my changes to FAL and DAPLIB to support ANONYMOUS usage on HECnet with some degree of security. Naturally, the first thing I did was regression testing, both with one of my 20's and another 20 on HECnet (TWENEX). Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything on TWENEX because it didn't know about my node definitions, so NFT had no syntactical way to specify the connection (that I could remember).? Intrigued, I went to a number of other 20's to see what a SYSTAT might show.? Aside from the fact that most of them appeared down, none of them knew about either TOMMYT:: or VENTI2::...? Well!! However, before I got too huffy, I wondered when the last time **I** updated was, the answer turning out to be "never"...? Shame on me.? So I knocked together a weekly batch job to pull a specially formatted node list from MIM::, suitable for swallowing by SETNOD (you have to have a RETURN statement at the end or you get an error which can blow up a batch job).? This also allows me to track (somewhat) the comings and goings of nodes which is of interest. So the question is, how frequently are the rest of you updating and how are you doing it?? My batch control file is below in case anyone with a 20 wants it. Meanwhile, I am looking for a few volunteers to contact me off-list to do a little alpha testing before I post the code for ANONYMOUS usage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ @DayTime @Enable @Set Trap File @Define OLDS: PS:<OLD-SYSTEM> @Rename SYSTEM:NODE-DATA.TXT OLDS: @NFT *SET DEFAULTS MIM:: /USER: *SET DEFAULTS MIM:: /PASSWORD: *SET DEFAULTS MIM:: /ACCOUNT: *DIR MIM::FIX.T20;0 *COPY MIM::FIX.T20;0 SYSTEM:NODE-DATA.TXT *EXIT @Define OLD: OLDS:NODE-DATA.TXT.0 @Define NEW: SYSTEM:NODE-DATA.TXT.0 @Define DIF: OLDS:NODE-DATA.DIF.-1 @FILCOM *DIF:=OLD:,NEW: =^Z @SETNOD *TAKE SYSTEM:NODE-DATA.TXT.0 *SAVE *INSERT *EXIT @Information DECnet @VD OLD:,NEW: WEEKLY:: @CHKPNT WEEKLY @Submit GETNOD.CTL.0 - @ /After:+167:59:59 - @ /Assistance:Yes - @ /Batch-Log:Append - @ /LogDisposition:Keep - @ /LogName:GETNOD.LOG.0 - @ /Notify:No - @ /Output:NoLog - @ /Restartable:YES - @ /Time:00:01:00 - @ /Unique:No @Goto END %ERR:: @Original ERun NEW:MM.EXE.0 *DayTime *Send Nag *DECnet Node Update Error *Go figure out what went wrong and restart the batch job *^Z *User-Header Importance High *User-Header Priority Urgent *User-Header X-Priority 1 *Erase Bcc *Send *Quit END:: @Information (about) Batch-Requests @Echo That's all folks!

5 years, 1 month

DAP

by tommytimesharing＠gmail.com

I have been fixing some issues with the file access listening (FAL) under Tops-20.? Briefly, it would crash on listing extremely large directories and return incorrect byte sizes and counts for files under certain circumstances.? It also did not support anonymous access as is currently used in HECnet (blank user name).? There were other issues. It's been a bit of a slog, the first two issues taking a considerable amount of time to solve.? However, they're fixed and I've got some prototype anonymous code running.? I would say that I am about 1 to 2 months away from an alpha test; the configurable restriction parsing is nearly done, hooks remain to be into DAP functions and deployment documentation to be written. Questions: 1. My own version of FAL appears quite dated; it only has edits to Tops-20 V6.1 (1985), whereas the last monitor distributions were in the 7 series. * Does anybody have any source files later than that for Tops-20? 2. What is the last version of DAP (any platform) for which a specification exists? 3. The implementing DAP module (DAPLIB) appears even older, apparently dating to V6.0, 1981 time-frame (which seems incorrect).? It? supports DAP 5.6, for which I have the specifications. * It does /not/ support $RENAME (ACCFUNC 3), which I found remarkable.? Is $RENAME supported on all other platforms? * I note that ACCFUNC 5 is reserved.? Is this used now? * Is ACCFUNC 0 used?? For what? * Is any ACCFUNC later than 8 defined?? What is the first free one? The reason I ask the last is that some of the logic is largely table driven, based on ACCFUNC.? This suggests modeling the restriction parsing and implementation in a similar way (I.E., off of ACCFUNC), which would be quite straightforward.? However, I want to be sure I understand those numbers. ??? ??? --T

5 years, 1 month

DAP

by bygg＠cafax.se

Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote: > > 3. The implementing DAP module (DAPLIB) appears even older, apparently > > dating to V6.0, 1981 time-frame (which seems incorrect).?? It > > supports DAP 5.6, for which I have the specifications. > > * It does /not/ support $RENAME (ACCFUNC 3), which I found > > remarkable.?? Is $RENAME supported on all other platforms? > > It's certainly supported under RSX, and without doubt also under VMS. Just checked. On ATLE:: .copy kaka.txt=nul: On TOPSY:: .r nft *rename atle::[10,335]allan.txt=atle::[10,335]kaka.txt/u For remote atle::[10,335]kaka.txt User-id: 10,335 Account: Password: [10,335]allan.txt <= ATLE::DSKA:[10,335]KAKA.TXT Total of 1 file * On ATLE:: again: .dir kaka %WLDNSF No such files as kaka .dir allan ALLAN TXT 0 <055> 10-Dec-19 DSKA: [10,335] Log on ATLE:: contains: 11:38:25 FAL-Stream 0 -- Begin -- Servicing ANF-10 node ATLE for userid 10,335 11:38:25 FAL-Stream 0 -- End -- Servicing ANF-10 node ATLE for userid 10,335 So it seems to work under TOPS-10. > Johnny --Johnny (the other one)

5 years, 1 month

Some SIMH weirdness on Raspbian

by Keith.Halewood＠pitbulluk.org

Hi, Perhaps this isn't strictly HECnet related but as HECnet traffic is traversing some part of this weird arrangement via pydecnet, I'm taking a chance: I run SIMH on Raspberry PIs under Raspbian Buster. I have both IPv4 and IPv6 networking switched on and a router/DHCP(v6)/DNS infrastructure to cope successfully with it. (Nothing is wireless for what I'm about to describe, not that it would make much difference) SIMH's simulated Ethernet devices on the PIs are TAP connections to a bridge device connection to a real eth0 - no problem here. SIMH instances' consoles and terminal MUX devices are listening on individual ports and I telnet into these usually from my PC via Putty. The DNS servers do not have AAAA for the PIs, just A, so the PC connects to the PIs via IPv4 - no problem here. The PIs show the SIMH instances listening on the right TCP ports but when I filter with -4, ie: netstat -a -4 I don't see SIMH listening. When I filter with -6, ie: netstat -a -6 I do see a listen on those ports. I notice that, for example, ssh listens on 0.0.0.0:ssh AND [::]:ssh but SIMH listens only on *:8601 (for example) The * seems to show up only when I restrict the search to the ipv6 family. The * seems to indicate a listen with no 'family' preference. An established connection to *:8601 seems even stranger. It only shows up when netstat is run with -6 but it shows the correct IPv4 addresses for each endpoint. It is an IPv4 connection anyway. The 'ss -6' command shows up something even weirder for the established (IPv4) connections: The local address port is: [::ffff:192.168.2.42]:8601 and the remote address port is: [::ffff:192.168.2.12]:61152 The IPv4 part of these ports is correct. Why are they 'encapsulated' in some IPv6 syntax and listed as IPv6 connections? Can anybody point me in the right direction for some explanation please? My google keyword searching skills seem a little off today. Regards, Keith

5 years, 1 month

Re: [Simh] RQDX1 or RQDX2

by bqt＠softjar.se

Thanks. There gotta be something closer than AUS though... Although I have a friend that is about to relocate from Melbourne to Denmark in a few weeks time... :-) But nah. Definitely should be possible to find something closer. I know there is stuff in Sweden, if I just had the time... Johnny On 2019-12-06 03:52, malcolm at avitech.com.au wrote: > I can help with an RQDX2.? I would need about a week to retrieve it from > storage and test it. > > I'm in Australia.? Postage won't be cheap.? I won't need it back though, > if cost is an issue. > > Malcolm. > > *From:*Simh [mailto:simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com] *On Behalf Of *Tom > Perrine > *Sent:* Friday, 6 December 2019 13:25 > *To:* Johnny Billquist > *Cc:* Info-PDP11 at dbit.com; hecnet at Update.UU.SE; simh; [PiDP-11] > *Subject:* Re: [Simh] RQDX1 or RQDX2 > > I saw your note - I also need a Modula-2 compiler. I'm looking for the > Zurich one for UNIX/VAX. Is that the one you may have? > > On Thu, Dec 5, 2019 at 4:18 PM Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se > <mailto:bqt at softjar.se>> wrote: > > Ok. So I had plans to locate an RQDX[12] during my christmas vacation. > Unfortunately, events outside of my control have forced me to change my > christmas plans, and I no longer will be able to get my hands on an > RQDX[12] by my original plan. > > I have a bunch of RD53 disks that I want to dump out, and I need such a > controller, so now I'm searching if there is anyone who could lend me > one for a couple of weeks or so. > > I'm located in Switzerland, near Zurich. Anyone close by would > obviously > make it easy, but if anyone would be willing to ship from somewhere > else, I'd be just as happy. I could pay for the shipping and return > shipping, but can't really afford anything beyond that right now. > > I hope to locate a few missing files from a Modula-2 compiler among > other things on those disks, and if found, it will be shared with > anyone > interested. > > ? ?Johnny > > -- > Johnny Billquist? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? || "I'm on a bus > ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?||? on a psychedelic trip > email: bqt at softjar.se <mailto:bqt at softjar.se>? ? ? ? ? ? ?|| > Reading murder books > pdp is alive!? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?||? tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol > _______________________________________________ > Simh mailing list > Simh at trailing-edge.com <mailto:Simh at trailing-edge.com> > http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh > -- Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

5 years, 1 month

Re: [Simh] RQDX1 or RQDX2

by bqt＠softjar.se

Right. Good point. I hadn't even reflected on that early firmware versions for the RQDX1 can't handle the RD53. Johnny On 2019-12-06 04:24, Chris Zach wrote: > I'll check in the attic tomorrow, I think I have an RQDX2. You'll need a > RQDX2 with the -YA or better ROMs to be able to read an RD53, the RQDX1 > could only do the RD50-52. > > C > > On 12/5/2019 10:08 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote: >> Sorry, no. Maybe I should have mentioned that this is for a PDP-11 RSX >> version. I have most of the files, but are missing a few. >> >> ??? Johnny >> >> On 2019-12-06 03:25, Tom Perrine wrote: >>> I saw your note - I also need a Modula-2 compiler. I'm looking for the >>> Zurich one for UNIX/VAX. Is that the one you may have? >>> >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Dec 5, 2019 at 4:18 PM Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se >>> <mailto:bqt at softjar.se>> wrote: >>> >>> ???? Ok. So I had plans to locate an RQDX[12] during my christmas >>> vacation. >>> ???? Unfortunately, events outside of my control have forced me to >>> change my >>> ???? christmas plans, and I no longer will be able to get my hands on an >>> ???? RQDX[12] by my original plan. >>> >>> ???? I have a bunch of RD53 disks that I want to dump out, and I need >>> such a >>> ???? controller, so now I'm searching if there is anyone who could >>> lend me >>> ???? one for a couple of weeks or so. >>> >>> ???? I'm located in Switzerland, near Zurich. Anyone close by would >>> ???? obviously >>> ???? make it easy, but if anyone would be willing to ship from somewhere >>> ???? else, I'd be just as happy. I could pay for the shipping and return >>> ???? shipping, but can't really afford anything beyond that right now. >>> >>> ???? I hope to locate a few missing files from a Modula-2 compiler among >>> ???? other things on those disks, and if found, it will be shared with >>> ???? anyone >>> ???? interested. >>> >>> ????? ? ?Johnny >>> >>> ???? -- >>> ???? Johnny Billquist? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? || "I'm on a bus >>> ????? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?||? on a psychedelic trip >>> ???? email: bqt at softjar.se <mailto:bqt at softjar.se>? ? ? ? ? ? ?|| >>> ???? Reading murder books >>> ???? pdp is alive!? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?||? tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol >>> ???? _______________________________________________ >>> ???? Simh mailing list >>> ???? Simh at trailing-edge.com <mailto:Simh at trailing-edge.com> >>> ???? http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh >>> >> >> -- Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

5 years, 1 month

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HECnet December 2019