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SPEAR.DOC - - SPEAR V2.0(1137) 24 October 1985
COPYRIGHT (C) 1985 BY DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, MAYNARD, MASS.
THIS SOFTWARE IS FURNISHED UNDER A LICENSE AND MAY BE USED AND COPIED
ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS OF SUCH LICENSE AND WITH THE INCLUSION
OF THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICE. THIS SOFTWARE OR ANY OTHER COPIES
THEREOF MAY NOT BE PROVIDED OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE TO ANY OTHER
PERSON. NO TITLE TO AND OWNERSHIP OF THE SOFTWARE IS HEREBY
TRANSFERRED.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS SOFTWARE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE AND
SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY DIGITAL EQUIPMENT
CORPORATION.
DIGITAL ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE USE OR RELIABILITY OF ITS
SOFTWARE ON EQUIPMENT WHICH IS NOT SUPPLIED BY DIGITAL.
SPEAR.DOC - - SPEAR V2.0(1137) 24 October 1985 Page 2
1 SUMMARY
SPEAR is a package of programs which enables the field service and
operations staffs to quickly isolate and correct problem areas in the
system hardware or software. It is composed of 5 functions: RETRIEVE,
SUMMARIZE, KLERR, COMPUTE, and INSTRUCT. SPEAR is shipped with the
monitor.
SPEAR is written in BLISS and supports DECnet Phase IV under TOPS-10,
and TOPS-20. SPEAR runs in native mode on both systems.
2 EXTERNAL CHANGES
2.1 Dialog Changes
1. Because of dialogue changes in RETRIEVE and SUMMARIZE, if you
have existing SPEAR V1.0 command or control files, you must
change them accordingly or they will not run.
For RETRIEVE, the changes from V1.0 to V2.0 are in the
Selection type, Error and Nonerror fields. There are no
changes necessary if your command or control file specified a
Selection type of Error, All.
You can maintain the same functionality for an error selection
by changing the V1.0 dialogue to the following V2.0 dialogue:
SPEAR V1.0 SPEAR V2.0
.SPEAR .SPEAR
*RETRIEVE *RETRIEVE
*SERR:ERROR.SYS *SERR:ERROR.SYS
*INCLUDED *INCLUDED
*ERROR *ERROR
*DISK *DISK
*RP06 *RP06
*FINISHED *ALL (Here's the difference.)
*EARLIEST *FINISHED
*LATEST *EARLIEST
*DSK:RETRIE.RPT *LATEST
*/GO *DSK:RETRIE.RPT
*/GO
To RETRIEVE the events for a specific device error, replace the
ALL in the previous V2.0 control file with one or more device
error types, e.g. Software, Bus, Channel-controller.
For Nonerror selection, you can now select specific devices.
Instead of Noneor, specify Statistics, Configuration,
Diagnostics, Other, or a combination of these separated by
commas.
SPEAR.DOC - - SPEAR V2.0(1137) 24 October 1985 Page 3
SPEAR V1.0 SPEAR V2.0
.SPEAR .SPEAR
*RETRIEVE *RETRIEVE
*SYS:ERROR.SYS *SYS:ERROR.SYS
*INCLUDED *INCLUDED
*NONERROR *STATISTICS,DIAGNOSTICS (Change)
*EARLIEST *DISK (Change)
*LATEST *RP04,RP06,RP20 (Change)
*DSK:RETRIE.RPT *FINISHED (Change)
*/GO *EARLIEST
*LATEST
*DSK:RETRIE.RPT
*/GO
For SUMMARIZE, two new prompts have been added to the dialogue,
Category and Show Error Distribution. You can maintain the
same functionality by changing the V1.0 dialogue to the
following V2.0 dialogue:
SPEAR V1.0 SPEAR V2.0
.SPEAR .SPEAR
*SUMMARIZE *SUMMARIZE
*SYS:ERROR.SYS *SYS::ERROR.SYS
*EARLIEST *ALL (Change)
*LATEST *EARLIEST
*DSK:SUMMAR.RPT *LATEST
*/GO *YES (Change)
*DSK:SUMMAR.RPT
*/GO
To get summaries for a specific device or class of devices,
replace ALL in the previous V2.0 dialogue with device
selection. For example:
SPEAR V2.0
@SPEAR
*SUMMARIZE
*SERR:ERROR.SYS
*DISK
*RP06,RP20
*FINISHED
*EARLIEST
*LATEST
*YES
*DSK:SUMMAR.RPT
*/GO
To suppress the error distribution charts, change the YES to NO
in the dialogue.
SPEAR.DOC - - SPEAR V2.0(1137) 24 October 1985 Page 4
2.2 New Functions
There is a new function available to users of SPEAR called KLERR.
o KLERR is an addition to the basic package of SPEAR that is
bundled with the operating system. It provides translation of
the signals that RSX-20F transmits to the error file.
2.3 New Features
There are several new features that have been added to the regular
functionality of the SPEAR package, besides the dialog changes for
RETRIEVE and SUMMARIZE.
o Support for several new devices has been added. Among these
are the MSCP disk devices, the CI20, and the HSC50 controller.
For a full view of the new devices supported, see the
TOPS-10/20 SPEAR MANUAL.
3 KNOWN BUGS AND DEFICIENCIES
3.1 Bugs
1. Occasionally an error may appear declaring that an invalid
string descriptor has been detected in SPEAR. When this
happens, the message '?DESC?' may appear in the output. If
either of these occurs, please send us a QAR, along with the
event file so that we can track it down.
3.2 Restrictions
1. Some numeric values in various output reports are limited to a
specific field width. When this field width is exceeded (i.e.
the value is too large for the field), the field will be filled
with asterisks. An exception to this practice is that
asterisks in the RP20 summary report indicate fields that don't
apply to a particular line item.
3.2.1 Minimum Core Requirements - All SPEAR programs grow to meet the
demands of the data file. Since it was expected that SPEAR would run on
virtual machines only, no effort went into meeting any core limits.
SPEAR.DOC - - SPEAR V2.0(1137) 24 October 1985 Page 5
This was in the project plan.
The following will give you some idea of how much core (virtual or
physical) is required to run SPEAR on TOPS-10. The numbers are in
pages.
* ESTIMATED
FUNCTION | SPEAR | SYSERR * SPEAR | SYSERR * SPEAR
| AT START | AT START * DURING RUN | DURING RUN * REQUIREMENTS
----------|----------|----------*------------|------------*-------------
Retrieve | 156 | 66 * 172 | 152 * 250
Summarize | 72 | 66 * 108 | 152 * 200
This means that a system running SPEAR needs 250 pages of user memory
available. Again these numbers are based on a test of one week's data
(with many entries).
4 INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
We recommend that you follow these procedures when installing this
package:
1. Install the new software in a directory with the logical name
NEW: insuring that the old version is not destroyed, and is
the default version.
2. Send out a message to concerned users that the new version is
available in NEW: and that they are encouraged to use it.
This allows for a fall back strategy in case of problems.
3. After a comfortable period of time (1 or 2 weeks), move the old
version into a directory with the logical name OLD: and move
the version from NEW: into the normal default directory. Then
send out mail notifying the users of the change. This
continues to ensure that a fall back strategy exists.
4. After another week or two send out mail that the version in
OLD: will be deleted soon. Then delete the old version if no
objections are recieved in a day or two.
4.1 Documentation Files For Basic Package:
o SPEAR.DOC - SPEAR installation document.
o DEFINE.LIS - Event file documentation.
SPEAR.DOC - - SPEAR V2.0(1137) 24 October 1985 Page 6
4.2 Files Needed To Run The Basic Package:
o SPEAR.SPE - Help file used during user interface.
o SPEAR.EXE - User interface and main control routines.
o RFB.EYE - Internal definitions for RETRIEVE package.
o MSGARG.SPT - Binary file for RETRIEVE package.
o RETRFB.SPE - Text file for RETRIEVE package.
o SPRRET.SPE - Text file for RETRIEVE package.
o SPRRET.EXE - Event management & translation package (RETRIEVE).
o SPRSUM.SPE - Text file for SUMMARIZE package.
o SPRSUM.EXE - Device summarization package (SUMMARIZE).
o SPRKLE.SPE - Text file for KLERR package.
o SPRKLE.EXE - Package to dump KLERR reports (KLERR).
o SPRCOM.EXE - System Availability and Effectiveness Reports
(COMPUTE).
o SPRCOM.SPE - Text file for COMPUTE.
o SPRINS.EXE - The CAI INSTRUCT Function.
o ANSWER.TXT - Answer sheet for INSTRUCT Function.
o INTRO.SPE - Text file for INSTRUCT.
o SPEAR.MSG - Text file for INSTRUCT.
o NOTIFY.EXE - NOTIFY Function.
o NOTIFY.SPE - Text file for NOTIFY.
4.3 Loading And Installing The Basic SPEAR Package
Mount the distribution tape for Backup and then run BACKUP with the
following commands:
R BACKUP
/TAPE (logical tape name)
/REW
/FILES
/INTERCHANGE
SPEAR.DOC - - SPEAR V2.0(1137) 24 October 1985 Page 7
/RESTORE SYS:*.*=*.*
/EXIT
.K
4.4 Basic Package Special Considerations
All the files listed in section 4.2 must exist in the same directory for
SPEAR to operate properly.
SPEAR.DOC - - SPEAR V2.0(1137) 24 October 1985 Page 8
5 INTERNAL CHANGES
1. RETRIEVE short format displays the additional info field from
bughlt/chk/inf events.
[End of SPEAR.DOC]