Conference azur::mcc

Kathrin,

We don't  have  any immediate plans but we would be very interested in this.
Our  problem is generating and managing initialisation scripts for the Phase
V router products.  There are two parts to our problem:

1) Generation.   We have a menu-driven, fairly complex configuration utility
that  asks  the user some questions and generates and compiles a script.  It
would  be  nice  if this utility was part of MCC, as far as the customer was
concerned (probably a PM or FM).

2) Management.   The customer will have several load hosts which all need to
be  updated  with  a copy of the script when it is changed.  An MCC MM could
track information about the load hosts in reference attributes and deal with
copying the new files (source and binary) to each load host.

We would really like these features.  We don't have the resources to develop
them,  at  least  in  the  short  term.   Also,  I believe they are actually
generic,  not router-specific but no-one else seems to be very interested at
the moment!  Looks like you have some of the same needs.  Anyone else?

Graham

>> We would really like these features.  We don't have the resources to develop
>> them,  at  least  in  the  short  term.   Also,  I believe they are actually
>> generic,  not router-specific but no-one else seems to be very interested at
>> the moment!  Looks like you have some of the same needs.  Anyone else?

Hey... As the guy now responsible for the EMA Configuration Management stuff,
I'm interested - at least with regard to modelling/architecting the 
generic elements of this.  I'd welcome any ideas/requirements on this - as it 
will help me to not only prioritise elements of the models/architectures but 
also to ensure that all necessary pieces are covered.

Send me Mail on LOGRUS::KELSEY.

- Paul

Being the person who asked Kathrin to write this note I guess its time for
me to own up.

We need a configuration and management utility that can not only configure the
initial scripts but also modify and manage these scripts.  Does the CONFIG
utility do this?  I was given to understand that it did not and hope that I am
wrong.

If this utility is MCC based, will all customers who what these features have
to buy MCC? (Or does it come packaged with a Phase V system?)

I would be very interested in obtaining an MCC based utility that using the MSL
for my Gateway, and a forms based interface, create the initialization script.
It should also save the previous answers for modification at a later time by
the same network manager or another manager.

Arnold

Arnold,

Aha!  I should have guessed it was you really!!

We are adding a modify function to the configurator for Hastings.  This will
save  the  configuration information entered previously, allow modifications
and regenerate the script.  It cannot parse the script file so it won't deal
with modifications the manager made by editing the script (but we have a way
round that -- we can talk about that by mail).

There is  another  function that we would like in the configurator but which
won't  be  there for Hastings V1: volatile management.  This is an extension
of  the  "modify"  option to issue the NCL commands necessary to perform the
requested  modification(s)  to  a running system.  This is much more complex
because  it  may  involve  operations  like DELETE as well as setting up new
things.

As I  said  in  .1,  I  would also like to see an MCC-based configurator.  I
might  have difficulty selling product management on the idea of MCC being a
pre-requisite but I would certainly try!

Graham

    A slight digression:
    
.4> As I  said  in  .1,  I  would also like to see an MCC-based configurator.  I
.4> might  have difficulty selling product management on the idea of MCC being a
.4> pre-requisite but I would certainly try!
    
    What exactly is the concern here? The expense of MCC, the "size" of
    it, or the requirement to use a "complicated" product?
    
    For the first of these, we give away the license to use MCC free with
    the DECnet license (on VMS - we'll have a similar scheme available
    under Ultrix as likely as not), so I don't see cost as an issue.
    
    In addition, VMS has plans (not yet announced to the general public!) to
    ship the MCC kernel on a future release of VMS - so availability is
    also less of an issue.
    
    Colin

RE .4

I like all the features listed, but why can't the configuration utility
parse a modified NCL script file?  Rumor has it that the VMS configuration
utility has this feature now, cannot confirm that since I have not seen and
VMS DECnet Config utility.

Like you mentioned, I'll send mail...

Arnold

For the  mid-  to  low-end  routers cost and, more significantly, size would
probably be issues.   

However what concerned me more (and is true for high-end routers as well) is
that  we  are  trying  very  hard  to  decouple  our  routers  from  any DEC
pre-requisites  at  all.   For  example,  we  are looking at how we can sell
routers  into  LANs  where  they  only  have  SUN  or  HP  systems.   We are
investigating  things  like  installation  on and downline load from non-DEC
UNIX systems and PCs.  No VMS or ULTRIX around, let alone MCC!

We certainly have to be able to sell into sites where they have (foolishly!)
decided  to use something other than MCC as their network management system,
even if they do have some DEC systems around.

However, I  see  no  reason  why  we  can't use an MCC-based configurator as
*added  value*  that  they  get if they use MCC.  We just need to be able to
function competitively in the non-DEC environment, not wonderfully.

Graham