William Risso Named Acting Director of DCRT
On April 1, William Risso became Acting Director, after five years as Deputy Director.
Parallel Supercomputer Available to NIH Scientists in the Summer
The NIH SP, a new large-scale computer at the NIH Computer Center, is funded jointly by
the Computing Facilities Branch (CFB) and the Computational Biological and Engineering Lab.
Programs can achieve high performance by running "in parallel" on many of the 56 processors
connected by a high-performance switch network
Open System Coming Soon to the NIH Computer Center
DCRT expects the CERTAN contract that includes an open system to be awarded early
in FY97 and hardware and software to arrive early in calendar year 1997. This system will
become available for use during 1997.
Report on the Architecture Management Group's Quarterly Meeting
A new working group has been established to address Web technology. The AMG has added
desktop configuration to its architecture recommendations. See the newly created AMG
Web home page for more information.
MVS Limits Increased for Job Classes A, B, C, E, and F
Effective immediately, batch jobs run on the MVS system will have greater maximum and
default time limits for some job classes. The time-out interval for interactive WYLBUR and
TSO (including TSO/DB2) sessions has also been increased to 4 hours.
Increased Support Available for Users of ALW's Workstations
DCRT recently improved ALW system support for two popular Unix workstations. SGI
workstation users now have access to the Andrew File System—a fast, secure file system
and automatic software distribution for certain applications. Sun SPARCstation users
will get improved performance and security from a major operating system upgrade.
DCRT's Recent Software Licensing Agreement with SAS Benefits Users
Under a new contract, SAS Institute, Inc. will provide software licenses, software
products, documentation, technical support, and advanced training. The agreement covers the
mainframe, PCs, and Macintoshes. This contract enables DCRT to keep the cost of SAS
products very low and to offer advanced training by SAS.
LISTSERV Transition Continues
More than 30 heavily-used lists have already been transferred to the powerful Sun
SPARC20 server, and the remaining lists should be transferred by July 1. Already, users
are benefiting from dramatically improved processing time-distribution of mail is now
virtually immediate for smaller lists.
Control-T—An Automated Tape Management System—Is Coming
The first phase of a new automated tape management facility for the MVS system will
be implemented later this summer. Control-T will help reduce the number of tape mounts
and overall size of the current tape library. This facility will also enable the future
implementation of automated (robotic) tape libraries to be used for tape mounting.
Automatic Backup/Recovery Service—Update
This NIH-wide service will become production on October 1. DCRT is currently "tuning"
the system to further enhance performance and minimize backup and recovery times. Work
is also underway to integrate an automated tape library by the October production date.
Improved Gateway Available for Client/Server Access to DB2
CFB plans to procure Neon Inc.'s Shadow Direct for client/server access to DB2, as a
replacement for the current Sybase Net-Gateway to DB2. Sybase Gateway users should
begin to reconfigure clients and modify applications in order to use Shadow Direct.
BITNET Users Urged to Use Internet Addresses for E-Mail
If you are currently using a BITNET address for E-mail communication, CFB recommends that
you begin using your Internet address now-support for BITNET will be dropped by the end of this year.
Is Your User's Guide Up To Date?
The latest edition of the NIH Computer Center User's Guide—updated through the
December 15, 1995 issue of INTERFACE—is now available from the DCRT Technical Information
Office.
New Seminar Available for Account Sponsors
A new course, "Account Sponsor Orientation," will be offered for the first time in DCRT's summer session. Designed for both beginners and experts, the course offers helpful tips on a wide variety of topics, including effective account management and use of the software "tools" available to account sponsors.
DCRT Computer Training—Summer Session
The summer session runs from just after July 4 through August. All courses are offered without charge.
Simplified Sign-On for WYLBUR and TSO Coming October
On October 21 a simplified sign—on to WYLBUR and TSO will take effect—you will no longer be prompted for TERMINAL (WYLBUR or TSO) or for BOX (TSO). If you use
default scripts for KERMIT supplied by CFB, no change will be necessary. If you use
other terminal emulators, you may need to change your scripts before October 21.
ISPF Version 4.2 Now Production
Modifications in the production version of ISPF include: ISPALLOC (which now points
to a new CLIST library) and a new parameter, SYSP (which allows users to allocate
their own ISPF CLIST libraries through ISPALLOC). The updated preface, Using
ISPF at NIH, has information on FileAID and MVS/QuickRef.
Test Your PL/I Programs—Before the New PL/I Compiler Becomes Production on July 15
Users who have not tested their PL/I programs are strongly advised to test them as
soon as possible before the new PL/I MVS & VM compiler becomes the production
version on July 15, 1996.
Oracle's RDBMS Evaluation in Full Gear-Come Join Us!
The Oracle RDBMS server on the MVS system is being evaluated by users who are helping CFB determine the features that will be supported and maintained on this central server. If you want to be freed from setting up and maintaining your own local RDBMS server or if you want to enhance data sharing among ICDs—join the evaluation and help everyone.
New DB2 View for Accessing DB2 Disk Storage Information
We encourage you to start using the DB2.VSPACE view that provides a more efficient and, therefore less expensive way of accessing disk storage information for DB2 tablespaces and indexspaces. The new view provides information that was previously available through QMF procedures and the views underlying those procedures.
CFB to Offer Standard (IBM) Procs for the MVS System
CFB plans to make IBM-provided procedures available—in addition to the procs CFB has developed for the NIH computing environment—so that programmers from other installations can use the NIH Computer Center with minimal changes.
Microfiche Services—Revisited
Outsourcing of microfiche production has been delayed beyond June 30, 1996, the date previously announced. CFB will contact microfiche users as details become available.
Interface 196 (June 15, 1996)