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John, I've eaten some strange things in San Antonio, but not toad.... I did like my stay in Texas a few years ago, though. It was boom times in the oil industry and a wild place. Houston was exploding in all directions, food was great, lots to do, more work than you can imagine. The only draw-back is that it's full of Texans (running for cover). I had a seriously good time. Now, I wonder how I'm going to wiggle out of this toad thing.... Patrick John Earl wrote: > > Patrick, > > This sounds like a great success for everyone invloved: > > * The Customer is up and running quicker than they thought possible, > * Nina enhances her relationship by teaming up with a real pro, > * You get a successfull install under difficult conditions, > * We all get to watch you eat toad :~) > > >From where I sit, 6 days represents the best possible outcome! > > jte > > P.S. I hear they serve good toad in San Antonio <g> > > Patrick Townsend wrote: > > > That sound is toad sizzling on the BBQ... > > > > It took a little longer than five days, but we are up and running now. > > Here's the play-by-play for anyone who's interested: > > > > TUE 6-15: We got the go ahead from Nina to ship her customer > > the software and hardware today. She is going to be on > > site on Thursday and will get it installed. The > > PC technician there wants to load the IP address on > > the serial interface unit, so we give him > > instructions on how to do it. We would normally do > > this before we ship the unit, but he doesn't have > > an IP address for it and wants to do it himself. > > It's easy - I'm not expecting any delays because > > of this. The bets around here are split evenly on > > my having to eat toad. But I'm confident, what could > > go wrong? > > > > THU 6-17: The customer gets the software, it gets installed on > > the AS/400, the hardware gets an IP address, we can > > ping it from the AS/400. The serial unit gets > > connected to the DSU/CSU and the link is up to > > GM. By the end of the day things are looking > > goooood. I smell victory. I'm starting to gloat. > > I am not going to have to eat toad. Tomorrow I'm > > expecting to capture GM Sequencing transactions > > and wrap it up. > > > > FRI 6-18: Argh... We are getting data from GM but it is > > garbage. Just strings of binary data. I fiddle > > with the configuration on the AS/400 thinking > > the set up isn't right. Calls to the customer > > to verify the serial connection parameters. > > The PC technician hooks up a PC and sees garbarge, > > too! Now I'm sure there is a set up issue on the > > GM side. More calls to GM. They've got their side > > set up for EBCDIC data. That's a new one! Weird, > > but we should be able to handle it. I make changes > > in our configuration and now we are starting > > to get some meaningful data, but it is chopped > > up. We aren't getting complete transactions. Will > > try again on Monday. > > > > MON 6-21: Fresh, ready to go at this again. We continue > > to receive partial records. We re-check the > > serial parameters with GM again. They insist > > 8N1, 19200, Xon/Xoff. More fiddling, calls > > to our hardware supplier. No answers. Those > > who bet I would eat toad are smiling again. > > At the end of the day we decide to ask GM to > > use ASCII data instead of EBCDIC. My thought > > is that they might be sending control codes > > in the data stream that cause problems. We'll > > go at this again on Tuesday. > > > > TUE 6-22: GM switches to ASCII data. We change our > > configuration on the AS/400 to match. Restart > > the environment. We are getting data, but it > > is still garbage. But it is interesting garbage > > this time. Hex shows strings like B0B3B6. Hmmm, > > this looks like ASCII numbers with even parity. > > Or 7-bit data with a stop bit. Very curious. > > If you turn the high bit off of the charcters you > > get 303336. Real numbers! Hope is rekindled. Now I > > am convinced that the connection is not what > > we thought. More calls to GM. > > > > WED 6-23: Lost day for us. We get involved in a rescue > > for another customer. But GM reports that the > > serial parameters are not what they told us! > > This is good news! GM changes the interface and > > we start getting complete transactions in our > > log. But Nina reports that the data is not going > > to our inbound data queue. This should be easy > > to figure out. The rescue is successful, but > > we lose a day. > > > > THU 6-24: Yes, our C program is not writing the data to > > the queue correctly. The problem is only in our > > one-way receive module. Easy fix. Migrate the > > code and Voila! Complete sequencing transactions > > arrive in the file. Success! Great sigh of relief > > at the customer site as they have to pass a > > test with GM on Saturday. Nina's breathing again, > > too. > > > > If you start counting on Thursday when the software arrived and got > > installed, it took 6 days to get everything working. One more than the 5 > > days I bet. But things are looking good and the customer is happy. We > > all realize that we would have been up and running on Friday if the link > > had been defined correctly. And it's been great working with Nina. Her > > customer is lucky to have her on their team! > > > > What kind of sauce do you put on toad....? > > > > Patrick > > -- > > IBM AS/400 communications, FTP automation, and network security > > software and consulting services. > > > > http://www.patownsend.com > > > > Jeffrey Silberberg wrote: > > > > > > Well, is it done or roast T........ > > > > > > JMS... > > > > > > +--- > > > | This is the Midrange System Mailing List! > > > | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com. > > > | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com. > > > | To unsubscribe from this list send email to >MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com. > > > | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: >david@midrange.com > > > +--- > > +--- > > | This is the Midrange System Mailing List! > > | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com. > > | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com. > > | To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com. > > | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: >david@midrange.com > > +--- > > -- > John Earl johnearl@toolnet.com > PowerTech Toolworks 206-575-0711 > PowerLock Network Security www.400security.com > The 400 School www.400school.com > -- > > +--- > | This is the Midrange System Mailing List! > | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com. > | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com. > | To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com. > | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com > +--- -- IBM AS/400 communications, FTP automation, and network security software and consulting services. http://www.patownsend.com +--- | This is the Midrange System Mailing List! | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com. | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com. | To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com. | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com +---
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