dtj v06-04 1994

This "Digital Technical Journal, Volume 6 Number 4, Fall 1994" presents a collection of technical papers from Digital Equipment Corporation, focusing on advancements in storage, workflow management, and PC/LAN system tools.

The journal covers three main themes:

1. RAID Array Controllers:

   • "The Architecture and Design of HS-series StorageWorks Array Controllers" by Stephen J. Sicola details Digital's new HS-series controllers, designed for open systems with SCSI-2, CI, and DSSI interconnects. The controllers prioritize high availability through a dual-redundant configuration, hot-swappable components, and controller-based Parity RAID (levels 3 & 5) with automatic sparing and reconstruction. High performance is achieved via write-back caching and hardware-assisted parity computations, all built upon a cost-effective, common hardware core using the Intel i960CA microprocessor, ensuring over 85% firmware commonality across platforms.

2. Workflow Models:

   • "Policy Resolution in Workflow Management Systems" by Christoph J. Bußier addresses the limitations of traditional role-based task assignment in complex, large-scale workflow management systems (WFMS). It introduces the Policy Resolution Architecture (PRA), which uses a flexible "organization schema" and "organizational policies" defined in a "Policy Definition Language (PDL)." PRA's design principles emphasize reusability, security, generality, dynamics, and distribution to enable precise and adaptable task assignments across diverse and geographically dispersed business environments.
   • "The Design of DECmodel for Windows" by Stewart V. Hoover and Gary L. Kratkiewicz describes DECmodel, a software tool for rapidly developing and graphically representing business process models. Its core innovation is the separation of the business process model from its presentation, allowing multiple views and interactive simulation ("test-driving"). Built on a knowledge-based simulation engine (ROCK) and a Microsoft Windows-based graphical user interface, DECmodel aims to make business process reengineering more accessible and reduce associated IT investment risks.

3. PC LAN and System Management Tools:

   • "The Design of ManageWORKS: A User Interface Framework" by Dennis G. Giokas and John C. Rokicki introduces ManageWORKS Workgroup Administrator, Digital's platform for managing heterogeneous LANs from a single Windows PC. Designed with a user-centric approach, it provides an object-oriented, graphical view of managed entities. Its extensible framework leverages plug-in Object Navigation Modules (ONMs) for diverse views and Object Management Modules (OMMs) for entity management, supported by an internal object database for flexible data storage and access.
   • "The Structure of the OpenVMS Management Station" by James E. Johnson details a robust, scalable, and secure client-server application for managing OpenVMS user accounts and systems from a Windows PC. It addresses the limitations of traditional OpenVMS tools by supporting parallel operations across VMSclusters, leveraging cluster-wide attributes, and enabling remote management. The system uses the ManageWORKS framework on the client and a multi-threaded server architecture on OpenVMS, employing a secure, private request-response protocol.
   • "Automatic, Network-directed Operating System Software Upgrades: A Platform-independent Approach" by John R. Lawson, Jr. presents the POLYCENTER Software Distribution product, which automates initial system load (ISL) and operating system upgrades over a network. It significantly improves upon traditional manual upgrades by enabling simultaneous, centralized deployments with minimal user intervention. The modular ISL process is designed for extensibility, allowing it to support various non-Digital operating systems and hardware platforms, aiming to establish a standardized approach for enterprise-wide OS deployments.

In summary, the journal showcases Digital's ongoing commitment to developing advanced solutions for high-performance and highly available storage, flexible and scalable workflow management, and comprehensive, user-friendly tools for managing complex, distributed computing environments in an increasingly open-systems landscape.