[HECnet] Tops-20 SETNOD Failure

------------------------------------------------------------------------ On 5/4/21 10:31 PM, Thomas DeBellis wrote: Personally, I don't see how it could /possibly/ be anything to do with the REACH:: node definition, but I have been known to occasionally overlook the utterly obvious, particularly when it's near night-night. Maybe not this time. Right now, the way to figure it out is to get the minor error data and see where that takes things.? So I'm making a change to JNTMAN to have .NDINT to return the lower level code on an incomplete insert. SCLINK appears to have a problem that it is mangling return values, which I'm currently investigating. You can't just blithely assuming somebody got it wrong and 'fix' things; sometimes it's a certain way for a reason. On 5/4/21 8:46 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote: > On 2021-05-05 00:54, Mike Kostersitz wrote: >> Ouch that is one of my nodes ? @Johnny Billquist >> <mailto:bqt at softjar.se> anything you could think of since we just >> renamed my old RSX11M node to REACH. > > Well. It is something slightly broken in Tops-20, so there isn't > really anything we can do about it. > > Except hope that Thomas can figure it out and fix it. > > ?Johnny > >> >> Mike >> >> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for >> Windows 10 >> >> *From: *Thomas DeBellis <mailto:tommytimesharing at gmail.com> >> *Sent: *Tuesday, May 4, 2021 15:16 >> *To: *HECnet <mailto:hecnet at update.uu.se> >> *Subject: *[HECnet] Re: Tops-20 SETNOD Failure >> >> I fixed a few things in SETNOD to get some more information about >> the error.? In particular, >> >> ? * Allow listing of AREA 1 (this was specifically disallowed, I don't >> ??? know why) >> ? * More consistent error reporting (via ESOUT%) >> ? * List more than one node when doing an area list (it would only list >> ??? a single node) >> ? * List nodes with more than three digits in the node number when >> doing >> ??? columnar output >> >> So now you get the expected results: >> >> ??? SETNOD>lis a 1 >> ??? [Area 1] >> ??? A1RTR?? 1023??? ATHENA?? 620??? ATLE???? 605??? AURORA 606?? ??? >> BANAI??? 770 >> ??? BANX25?? 771??? BEA?????? 19??? BIZET??? 800??? BJARNE 7?? ??? >> BLINKY?? 266 >> ??? CATWZL?? 302??? CLYDE??? 269??? COOPER?? 263??? CRISPS 201?? ??? >> CYGNUS?? 259 >> ??? DAVROS?? 254??? DBIT???? 351??? DE1RSX?? 450??? DE1RSY 452?? ??? >> DOCTOR?? 252 >> ??? ELIN???? 616??? ELMER??? 617??? ERNIE????? 2??? ERSATZ 350?? ??? >> FLETCH?? 100 >> ??? FNATTE???? 3??? FREJ???? 608??? GAXP???? 730??? GNAT 16?? ??? >> GNOME????? 6 >> ??? GOBLIN???? 4??? GVAX???? 731??? HAGMAN?? 262??? HARPER 261?? ??? >> HORSE??? 150 >> ??? HUGIN??? 602??? HYUNA??? 500??? INKY???? 268??? JIMIN 501?? ??? >> JOCKE???? 21 >> ??? JOSSE???? 17??? KLIO???? 451??? KRILLE???? 8??? LOKE 607?? ??? >> MACARO?? 303 >> ??? MACRA??? 258??? MAGICA???? 1??? MASTER?? 251??? MIM 13?? ??? >> MUNIN??? 603 >> ??? NIPPER?? 202??? NOMAD??? 610??? NOXBIT?? 720??? ORACLE 301?? ??? >> PACMAN?? 265 >> ??? PAI????? 541??? PALLAS?? 621??? PAMINA??? 18??? PIDP11 560?? ??? >> PINKY??? 267 >> ??? PISTON?? 520??? PLINTH?? 200??? PMAVS2?? 510??? PONDUS 15?? ??? >> PONY????? 12 >> ??? PUFF????? 22??? QEMUNT?? 151??? REI????? 540??? ROCKY 11?? ??? >> ROJIN??? 542 >> ??? RSX124?? 306??? RSX145?? 304??? RSX170?? 305??? RSX184 307?? ??? >> RUTAN??? 255 >> ??? SHARPE?? 260??? SIDRAT?? 253??? SIGGE???? 10??? SPEEDY 24?? ??? >> TARDIS?? 250 >> ??? TEMPO????? 9??? THOROS?? 257??? TINA????? 14??? TIPSY 604?? ??? >> TONGUE?? 264 >> ??? TOPSY??? 601??? VALAR??? 400??? VAROS??? 256??? WXP 20?? ??? >> WXP2????? 23 >> ??? YMER???? 609??? ZEKE?????? 5 >> ??? Total nodes in area 1: 92 >> ??? SETNOD>exit >> >> Regarding the error, I have reproduced it with a single entry, viz: >> >> ??? !setnod >> ??? SETNOD>_set nod 2.298 name REACH_ >> ??? SETNOD>_insert_ >> ??? ?SETNOD: Failed at node REACH (2.298), Item 0 of 1 >> ??? SETNOD> >> >> The high level code to do the entry is in JNTMAN.? It loops through >> the table passed to it via .NDINT, calling a lower level routine >> called SCTAND in SCLINK.? An error here is passed up to JNTMAN, but >> it is not passed back to the user. There are some other problems in >> SCLINK pertaining to negative return values, so some minor work is >> necessary there, also. >> >> I'll make some changes to these two modules, generate a new monitor >> for VENTI2 and see what happens in a few days. >> >> Right now, if any Tops-20 using is using SETNOD to update DECnet >> tables, this appears to fail.? If anybody else is seeing it or can >> reproduce it, I'd like to hear about it. >> >> ??? On 5/4/21 11:15 AM, Thomas DeBellis wrote: >> >> ??? Has anybody ever seen SETNOD fail to insert the entire node >> list?? I >> ??? just did. >> >> ??? Shortly after I put my 20's up on HECnet, I wrote a reoccurring >> ??? batch job that fires once a week on Sundays to pull the latest node >> ??? list (T20.FIX) from MIM::.? I use the highly venerable FILCOM >> ??? program to do a difference of it with the previous week's list.? I >> ??? don't do anything in particular with the output except save it in >> ??? case I feel like looking at it for some reason. >> >> ??? The batch job always inserts the entire list, rewriting whatever >> ??? might be in the monitor's data base.? I have always been >> unsatisfied >> ??? with doing things that way because it seemed to me to be >> inefficient >> ??? as the node list grew.?? The HECnet node list count was 716 on >> ??? 9-Jun-19 and it's now up to 884 as of the latest version that I've >> ??? pulled, 30-Apr-21.? The other problem is the microscopic >> possibility >> ??? that a node is in Tops-20's monitor database (a hash table) that >> ??? isn't in the HECnet node list. >> >> ??? Nodes can get removed, although I think that infrequent. Nodes >> ??? could get inserted outside of the batch job, but I think that most >> ??? unlikely in my situation.? Nodes can get renamed, as evidenced by >> ??? 2.299 below, which went from THEPIT to THEARK.? None of this should >> ??? or has broken anything. >> >> ??? However, it's been in the back of my mind to do two enhancements, >> ??? one to Tops-20 and one to SETNOD.? The NODE% JSYS should have an >> ??? additional feature to return the current monitor data base.? The >> ??? SETNOD program should be enhanced to take that to compute the set >> ??? difference with the new list.? This would show additions, renames >> ??? and deletions.? That would bring the update operation down from >> some >> ??? hundred items to less than ten, on average.? This would obviously >> ??? make more of a difference on huge DECnet's in the tens of thousands >> ??? of nodes.? Another NODE% feature should probably be to whack the >> ??? entire monitor database except for the local node, which would be >> ??? useful for trouble shooting. >> >> ??? Last Sunday, the batch job failed with the following error: >> >> ??? 18:33:40 USER?? SETNOD>*TAKE SYSTEM:NODE-DATA.TXT.0 >> ??? 18:33:40 USER >> ??? 18:33:40 USER?? [Fork SETNOD opening <SYSTEM>NODE-DATA.TXT.1 for >> ??? reading] >> ??? 18:33:41 USER?? SETNOD>*SAVE >> ??? 18:33:41 USER >> ??? 18:33:41 USER?? [Fork SETNOD opening <SYSTEM>NODE-DATA.BIN.74 for >> ??? reading, writing] >> ??? 18:33:41 USER?? SETNOD>*INSERT >> ??? 18:33:41 USER >> ??? 18:33:41 USER *?SETNOD: Failed at node REACH* >> ??? 18:33:41 USER?? SETNOD> >> >> ??? I had a look at the SETNOD source and the HECnet node list and have >> ??? discovered and concluded a few things.? First, there doesn't >> seem to >> ??? be anything syntactically wrong with REACH::'s definition: "set nod >> ??? 2.298 name REACH".? Second, there don't appear to be any semantic >> ??? issues.? 2.298 wasn't in use and it shouldn't matter if it was. >> >> ??? In the case of INSERT, there are two kinds of errors from NODE%, a >> ??? general failure of the JSYS and an incomplete insertion. The error >> ??? is from the second case.? Unfortunately, SETNOD isn't reporting >> ??? enough information about the error, so I have to make some changes >> ??? there.? It's also possible that SETNOD is building an inconsistent >> ??? database for the monitor to swallow; at least the LIST command is >> ??? giving me some odd results, viz: >> >> ??????? SETNOD>list arEA 2 >> >> ??????? [AREA 2] >> ??????? A2RTR >> >> ??????? TOTAL NODES FOUND: 1 >> >> ??????? SETNOD> >> >> ??? That's clearly wrong, viz: >> >> ??????? !i dec >> ???????? ?Local DECNET node: VENTI2.? Nodes reachable: 7. >> ???????? ?Accessible DECNET nodes are:??? A2RTR??? BOINGO LEGATO?? >> ??????? TOMMYT??? VENTI2??? VENTI??? ZITI >> >> ??? The Exec output should probably be changed to say, "Nodes reachable >> ??? in local area" and "Online nodes in area are:" >> >> ??? Anybody have any ideas?? Hunches?? Clues? >> >> File 1) OLDF:[4,120]??? created: 1241 15-Apr-21 >> File 2) NEWF:[1,1]????? created: 0102 30-Apr-21 >> >> 1)1???? set nod 44.9 name OSMIUM >> **** >> 2)1???? set nod 2.292 name OSIRIS >> 2)????? set nod 44.9 name OSMIUM >> ************** >> 1)1???? set nod 13.3 name RED >> **** >> 2)1 *set nod 2.298 name REACH * >> 2)????? set nod 13.3 name RED >> ************** >> 1)1???? set nod 2.298 name RSX11M >> 1)????? set nod 1.306 name RSX124 >> **** >> 2)1???? set nod 1.306 name RSX124 >> ************** >> 1)1???? set nod 42.5 name SPARKY >> **** >> 2)1???? set nod 2.291 name SPARK >> 2)????? set nod 42.5 name SPARKY >> ************** >> 1)1???? set nod 2.299 name THEPIT >> 1)????? set nod 35.70 name THOMAS >> **** >> 2)1???? set nod 2.299 name THEARK >> 2)????? set nod 35.70 name THOMAS >> ************** >> >