Article View: comp.os.os2.programmer
Article #1118Graphics Interface Kit /2
From: MLONG
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 15:29
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 15:29
432 lines
35791 bytes
35791 bytes
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NUMBER 292-509
DATE 920915
CATEGORY WS00, CM00, CM20, GI00, GI10, WS20, AS10, AS60
TYPE Programming
TITLE FASTSERVICE FOR OS/2
ABSTRACT Today, IBM announces FASTService (TM) Release 2 for OS/2 (R).
FASTService is an IBM licensed product that provides tools to enhance
application availability by providing First Failure Data Capture
capabilities and problem notification for customer software developed
under OS/2. The technology used in FASTService provides the ability
to implement First Failure Data Capture functionality to help improve
software reliability, availability, and serviceability. FASTService
provides an easy-to-use, graphical user interface that conforms to
SystemView (TM) Integration Level 1. FASTService provides problem
notification to a stand-alone OS/2 user and, if the OS/2 system is
part of a local area network (LAN) or host-connected to a System/370
(TM) machine, an alert flows to a server unit and NetView (R) to
provide enterprise-wide management with automated problem detection,
notification, and support. See Marketing Announcement 392-204, dated
September 15, 1992, for additional details.
Planned Availability Date: September 25, 1992.
5621-134 FASTService Release 2 for OS/2
(TM) Trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.
(R) Registered trademark of International Business Machines
Corporation.
IN BRIEF . . .
FASTService Release 2 provides the following functions for
customer-written applications in the OS/2 environment:
o First Failure Data Capture with small, customized dumps, unique
failure identification, and virtually immediate reporting to
designated customer support personnel.
o FASTService start-up via parameter list and warm start to
establish operational environment.
o FASTService command level interface to provide dynamic,
operational control of probes and environment.
o FASTService tool utilizing Presentation Manager (R) to facilitate
coding of probe statements.
o FASTService probe enhancements to provide additional problem
identification and support.
o FASTService alert enhancements to include vendor name and
automatic problem notification to a focal point in a
host-connected environment.
o FASTService 16-bit, 32-bit and Ring-0 support.
o FASTService support for application message retrieval and
logging, error logging, and dump facility.
PRODNO 5621-134 FASTService Release 2 for OS/2
OVERVIEW DESCRIPTION
Development, operation, and support problems in software
applications become increasingly complex as the interdependence and
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size of applications increase. FASTService is designed to help
reduce the cost of developing, operating, and supporting software
applications and to help improve their serviceability and
availability in complex environments. FASTService provides a
user-friendly interface to build the probe statements and provide
data structure information. This is accomplished by the following
elements:
o Software probes, error detection statements implanted by the
programmer within critical junctures of the application, provide
real-time error detection and, enable customized data capture.
The software probes remain passive until triggered by an
unexpected condition.
o These probe statements interface to problem source identifier
(PSI) code to collect, through a customized dump, the data
identified by the software probes as necessary to resolve the
problem. To conserve resources, duplicate dump suppression is
enabled with unique symptom strings. This symptom string of
standardized keywords is built to uniquely identify the failure
and allow immediate recognition of known problems. In order to
conserve disk space, the PSI code will take up to eight dumps
then dump number 9 will overlay dump number 1. The parameter can
be set during FASTService installation from 8 to 99 dumps.
In addition, a generic alert is created to notify a
user-designated location of the problem and appropriate
corrective actions. The dump, symptom record, and generic alert
can be enabled or disabled online by function or by application.
The error can be displayed in a pop-up panel or routed to the
server in a local area network environment or to a host in a
connected environment. NetView can recognize the data stream as
a generic alert and flow it to the focal point.
The technology available with FASTService allows proactive
problem recognition by providing rules and conventions for how and
where to detect problems, and for what data to capture when a problem
occurs. This technology provides developers with a consistent
approach to problem detection and documentation that is flexible and
easy to use in complex environments.
FASTService for OS/2 is primarily designed to be used in a
System/370 host-connected environment, connected to a system using
FASTService for MVS and the FASTService for MVS Customer Services
Automated Service Interface (ASI). When used with the FASTService
Customer Services ASI, FASTService can provide an enterprise-wide
system solution of automated problem detection, notification, and
support.
Refer to Marketing Announcement, 392-204, dated
September 15, 1992, for details on FASTService Customer Services for
MVS.
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
This failure analysis and support technology can significantly
enhance applications systems management. FASTService provides the
capability to flow an alert to a pop-up panel on a stand-alone system
or flow the alert to the server and the host system in a connected
environment to report on application problems and availability. The
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cause of the problem is displayed and recorded in a consistent format
to maximize ease of use by the operator and applications support
functions.
USER PRODUCTIVITY
The programmer can utilize the OS/2 code to test applications.
FASTService provides a panel-driven tool under the Presentation
Manager to facilitate coding of the probe statements and defining
data structures. The software probes are portable to other SAA (TM)
systems, such as MVS, without any modification. The software probes
provide diagnostic data, unique failure identification, and
notification to assist the designated support personnel while helping
to reduce the problem's impact on the end user.
GROWTH ENABLING
Reducing the interruptions faced by application programmers in
solving problems can allow these resources to be able to focus more
time on developing new business applications. FASTService provide
the application developers with tools to implement the capture of
necessary problem data at the time of the error and communicate this
information without manual intervention. The methodology to detect
errors provides a consistent serviceability approach for all
programmers to ease integration of customer applications in a
complex, distributed environment. The result of this action can help
improve productivity in supporting applications in a complex
environment.
INVESTMENT PROTECTION
FASTService provides the application developer with a consistent
approach to define and handle application problems. This technique
of capturing and reporting application problems can help reduce the
overall cost of application development and maintenance as the
customer implements this strategy in all business applications. The
technology incorporated in these failure analysis and support
technology products provides the foundation for IBM's strategic
direction toward software problem detection and support. IBM intends
to migrate this technology into new and changed lines of code of
applicable IBM software products. The technology will also be
available to software business partners and other vendors in order to
pursue an enterprise-wide system solution of problem detection,
notification, and support.
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
Business solutions can be delivered by the Information Systems
organization in a timely manner with high quality. The
implementation of software probes in customer and vendor software
provides a consistent means to detect unexpected events, capture
relevant problem information, and report the incident to the
respective support group for problem resolution, and can thereby help
increase system availability and reliability. FASTService provides
the tools to access First Failure Support/2 (FFST (TM)/2) to perform
systems testing, implementation, and maintenance of new application
functions.
FASTService conforms to SystemView Integration Level 1.
SystemView is IBM's systems management strategy for planning,
coordinating, and operating heterogeneous, enterprise-wide
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information systems.
PRODUCT POSITIONING
FASTService should be marketed to customers who develop or run their
own applications on OS/2 systems and desire improved availability,
higher serviceability, and better problem management in this
environment. FASTService in the OS/2 environment provides automated
problem detection, customized dumps, error and message log entries,
and virtually immediate problem notification. In a stand-alone OS/2
system, the error can be displayed on a pop-up panel. In a connected
environment, such as a LAN or host-connected system, the problem
notification can be passed to the server unit or host system for
focal point problem management.
New software development projects are strategic candidates for
FASTService. Long-term benefits are attained by including software
probes during the design phase of an application. The software
probes are easily inserted into new code and enforce a new discipline
on the application programmer to consider errors, should-not-occur
conditions, and corrective actions. The programmer is aware of the
functions to perform and the data that needs to be analyzed if a
failure does occur. The software probes can ease development testing
and help get the application into production sooner with fewer
problems escaping the test cycle. Once the application has migrated
to production, the software probes should remain within the
application since they are passive until triggered. All of the
problem management functions provided by FASTService are now
available to the customer should the application encounter a problem.
Critical applications, already in operation, that require high
availability are candidates for FASTService. Typically the majority
of application programmers are working on maintenance and support of
existing applications. Immediate benefits can be realized by
implanting FASTService probe statements in error handling routines to
identify existing critical applications, modules, or programs that
are experiencing availability problems. Using FASTService can result
in improved availability and serviceability of the application and
can allow the customer to redirect programming resources to develop
new business applications. In addition, ongoing application
serviceability may be crucial if the customer experiences a turnover
of qualified personnel.
Additional and significant benefits can be realized in
centralized, automated problem management when the application runs
in a distributed environment which is connected to a host using the
failure analysis and support technology tools for the MVS environment
(FASTService for MVS and the FASTService for MVS Customer Services
ASI) and NetView.
It is recommended that programmers take the education provided
through an attachment (Z125-8287) to the IBM Customer Agreement.
Option 1 of this attachment includes a tutorial, a workshop on the
FASTService technology, and implementation assistance to provide
education which is key to understanding the technology and using the
probes to achieve the full benefits of FASTService.
FASTService provides additional tools to support program
maintenance for applications that run in IBM's SAA environments.
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FASTService continues to migrate to AD/Cycle (TM) concepts by
providing a more productive way to support the application during the
test, production, and maintenance phases of development.
STATEMENT OF GENERAL DIRECTION
The technology incorporated in the FASTService offering provides the
foundation for IBM's strategic direction towards automated software
problem detection and support. The FASTService integration of the
technology conforms to the requirements of SAA and, for the OS/2 and
AS/400 (R) environments, provides an easy-to-use, graphical user
interface that conforms to SystemView Integration Level 1.
FASTService for MVS will conform to SystemView Integration Level 1 by
first quarter 1993. SystemView is IBM's systems management strategy
for planning, coordinating, and operating heterogeneous,
enterprise-wide information systems. In addition, the concept has
been approved for integration into AD/Cycle tools to pursue an
enterprise-wide system solution of automated problem detection,
notification, and support.
Today, ACF/VTAM (TM) Version 4 Release 1 for MVS/ESA (TM) (See
Programming Announcement 292-483, dated September 15, 1992.),
ImagePlus (R) Release 1, OS/2 Database Manager Version 2, OS/2 LAN
Server Version 2, and NetView Performance Monitor Release 6 (See
Programming Announcement 292-494, dated September 15, 1992.) have
incorporated the First Failure Support Technology (TM) in their
products.
IBM intends to migrate this technology into new and changed
code of applicable IBM software products. Each IBM product will
announce incorporation of this technology, as the migration
progresses. It is IBM's intent to make the technology available to
our software business partners and to pursue a total system solution
of automated problem detection, notification and support.
FASTService is not required to enable the technology in IBM
products; however, the generic alert support in conjunction with the
FASTService Customer Services for MVS Automated Service Interface
(See Marketing Announcements 390-114, dated August 21, 1990; and
391-030, dated March 26, 1991) enables automated software support at
the customer location.
CUSTINFO EDUCATION SUPPORT
Education on this new technology, especially for the user in
the stand-alone environment, is recommended since use of the product
software according to traditional techniques may not provide results
that meet expectations. Online help is available with the
FASTService for OS/2 product. In addition, education, consisting of
a tutorial and a workshop, is available for a fee by ordering
FASTService Customer Services through the FASTService attachment
(Z125-8287) by selecting one of the following options:
o Option 1 -- $3,000
On-Site Education and Implementation Workshop
(per session of up to 20 students)
o Option 2 -- $900 per student
Education and Implementation Workshop at an IBM facility.
This education provides information on the FASTService
technology and provides instruction on utilizing the FASTService
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tools to construct probe statements and data definitions. Students
are encouraged to bring appropriate nonconfidential and
nonproprietary sample code to the workshop for implementation of the
FASTService technology. Customers with FASTService for any operating
environment should send their programmers to this class; the
education is the same for all FASTService products. (See Marketing
Announcement 392-204, dated September 15, 1992.).
TECHINFO TECHNICAL INFORMATION
SPECIFIED OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
MACHINE REQUIREMENTS: FASTService supports application software that
runs on all models of the IBM OS/2 hardware environment. Refer to
the media features to determine hardware requirements for
installation and maintenance media. FASTService requires minimum
additional system resources beyond those required for the operating
system and its programs of 1MB for virtual storage and 1MB for
auxiliary storage.
Virtual storage is required for the FASTService program and
working storage. Auxiliary file storage is required for a load
library, a macro library, command lists, dump datasets, and panel
libraries. Additional resources are necessary for user tables,
application program source files, and dump data sets. Refer to the
features section to determine the peripheral device requirements.
PROGRAMMING REQUIREMENTS: FASTService requires the OS/2 (OS/2
Version 1 Release 3 or any subsequent release) operating system
unless otherwise stated.
FASTService for OS/2 supports the following SAA languages:
o C
o COBOL
o FORTRAN.
PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS: FASTService and its prerequisite First
Failure Support Technology/2 (TM) (FFST/2 (TM)), available for the
OS/2 Version 1 Release 3 operating system or higher and shipped with
the FASTService for OS/2 product, can provide significant performance
improvements compared to the current process of identifying failures
and obtaining the required documentation for problem resolution:
o The probe statements are built using panel-driven interfaces.
The probe statement interfaces to the FFST/2 code (the problem
source identifier code) through a call statement.
o FASTService for OS/2 Release 2 provides 32-bit addressing
support.
PLANNING INFORMATION
SECURITY, AUDITABILITY AND CONTROL
The announced FASTService for OS/2 uses the security and
auditability features of the OS/2 software.
User management is responsible for evaluation, selection, and
implementation of security features, administrative procedures, and
appropriate controls in application systems and communication
facilities.
ORDERING ORDERING INFORMATION
NEW LICENSEES
Orders for new licenses will be accepted now. Unless a later date is
specified, orders entered prior to September 25, 1992, will be
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assigned an AAS schedule date of one week following general
availability. Shipment of backlogged orders will commence on the
availability date. Orders entered after the planned availability
date will be scheduled for shipment in AAS on the Friday following
the week of order entry or as soon thereafter as supply permits.
New users of FASTService for OS/2 should specify:
TYPE MODEL
5621 134
BASIC LICENSE: To order a basic license specify the program number
and feature number 9001 for asset registration. Specify feature
number 1621 for a one-time charge. Specify the feature number of the
desired distribution medium shown below.
BASIC MACHINE-READABLE MATERIAL: To order, select the feature number
of the desired distribution medium:
FEATURE
NUMBER MEDIUM
5838 5.25-inch HD diskette
5848 3.5-inch HD diskette
To suppress initial shipment of machine-readable materials,
for serial number assignment only, use initial order suppress feature
number 3444.
CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS: Select the appropriate feature number(s) to
customize your order to specify the delivery options desired. These
features can be specified on the initial or MES orders.
Example: If publications are not desired for the initial
order, and for future updates, specify feature numbers 3470 to ship
media only, and 3480 to ship media updates only. In the future if
publication updates were required, order an MES to remove feature
number 3480, and the publications will ship with the next release for
the program.
INITIAL SHIPMENTS
FEATURE
NUMBER DESCRIPTION
3444 Serial Number Only (suppresses shipment of
media and documentation)
3470 Ship Media Only (suppresses initial shipment
of documentation)
3471 Ship Documentation Only (suppresses initial
shipment of media)
UPDATE SHIPMENTS
FEATURE
NUMBER DESCRIPTION
3480 Ship Media Updates Only (suppresses update
shipment of documentation)
3481 Ship Documentation Only (suppresses update
shipment of media)
3482 Suppress Updates (suppresses update
shipment of media and documentation)
UNLICENSED DOCUMENTATION: A memo, a program directory, and one copy
of the publication, LICENSED PROGRAM SPECIFICATIONS (GC38-7056) are
supplied automatically with the basic machine-readable material.
The optional publication FASTSERVICE GENERAL INFORMATION
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MANUAL (GC38-7030) will be available on September 25, 1992, at
product availability.
Copies of unlicensed publications will be available for a fee
on September 25, 1992, at product availability. These copies may be
ordered from your IBM marketing representative, through the System
Library Subscription Service (SLSS).
LICENSED DOCUMENTATION: The licensed material listed below will be
available from IBM by September 25, 1992.
If you select the education option available through the
Attachment to the ICA (Z125-8287), the customer will receive 20
copies of these publications as part of the education. To order
additional copies, contact an IBM marketing representative.
o FASTService for OS/2 User's Guide (LC33-1015)
o FASTService for OS/2 Probe Definition Tool User's Guide
(LC33-1019)*.
* Available February 15, 1993.
Subsequent updates (technical newsletters or revisions between
releases) to the publications shipped with the product will be
distributed to the user of record for as long as a license for this
software remains in effect. A separate publication order or
subscription is not needed.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
LICENSING: The program in this announcement is licensed under the
terms of the IBM Customer Agreement.
DESIGNATED MACHINE IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED: No.
VARIABLE CHARGES APPLY: No.
INSTALLATION LICENSE OR LOCATION LICENSE APPLIES: No. A separate
license is required for each machine on which the licensed program
materials will be used.
EDUCATIONAL ALLOWANCE: A 15% educational allowance is applicable
toward eligible license charges and is available to qualifying
institutions in accordance with the Educational Allowance Attachment.
The educational allowance may not be added to any other discount or
allowance.
VOLUME DISCOUNT: Volume discounting is available under the IBM
Customer Agreement and the revised Volume Discount Exhibit -- IBM
Selected Application Programs attachment (Z125-8294). FASTService
for OS/2 (5621-134) is in a new Category F.
The discount applies for licenses obtained under the one-time
charge option.
WARRANTED: Yes.
LICENSED PROGRAM MATERIALS AVAILABILITY: Restricted Materials -- No.
This licensed program will be available without source licensed
program materials. It will be available in object code.
TESTING PERIOD: None.
PROGRAM SERVICES: Central Service, including the IBM Support Center,
will be available until discontinued by IBM upon six months' written
notice.
CHARGES
One-Time Charge: $40
ONE-TIME CHARGE: Customers who pay a one-time charge for a licensed
program receive enhancements and future releases, if any, at no
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additional charge. Significant new function may be offered as an
optional feature and charged for separately. If a replacement
program is announced and the customer elects to license the
replacement program for a one-time charge and replace the prior
program, an upgrade charge may apply.
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Technical Details
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Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.programmer Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!destroyer!news.iastate.edu!isucard.card.iastate.edu!MLONG From: MLONG@isucard.card.iastate.edu Subject: Graphics Interface Kit /2 Message-ID: <168638572.MLONG@isucard.card.iastate.edu> Sender: news@news.iastate.edu (USENET News System) Organization: CARD Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 15:29:21 GMT Lines: 432