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XX-5FCD2-56

May 2000

25 pages

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Document:	Branches 3.3B Release Notes
Order Number:	XX-5FCD2-56
Revision:	0
Pages:	25
Original Filename:	brnch-release-notes.pdf

OCR Text

Branches
Release Notes
tm

Acorn Software, Inc.

Acorn Software, Inc.
Hudson, MA

Acorn Software, Inc.

Document Version:
Revision Information:
Software Version:
Operating System and Version:

2.3-4
This manual replaces version
2.3-3.
3.3B
OpenVMS/AXP 7.1 or later.

Copyright © 2002, Dick Munroe (munroe@csworks.com), All rights
reserved. This product is provided under the Open Software
Initiative licenses.
Copyright © 1992-1999, Acorn Software, Inc.
All rights reserved
Information in this document is subject to change without notice and
does not constitute a commitment on the part of Acorn Software, Inc.
The software described herein is provided subject to a license
agreement and the descriptions may include proprietary
information belonging to Acorn Software, Inc. No part of this
manual may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means,
including electronic means, without specific written permission
from Acorn Software, Inc. or as part of a specified permission
contained within a specific software license agreement. The
associated software may not be redistributed, copied, or reproduced
in any form except for specified user backup as described in the
software license agreement.
VAX, VMS, VAXStation, and VAX Cluster are registered
trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.
SCEA is a trademark of CMD Technologies, Inc.
Branches, VirtualBranches, VirtualBranches for OpenVMS,
VirtualBranches for WindowsNT, HSManager, Squash, MODISK,
the Acorn Software logo, "The data library software vendor of
choice" and "A leader in data library management software" are
trademarks of Acorn Software, Inc.
EXABYTE is a trademark of Exabyte Corporation.
LIBRA DATStacker is a trademark of Diverse Logistics,
Incorporated.
All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the properties
of their respective manufacturers.

Acorn Software, Inc.

Printed on recycled paper.

Acorn Software, Inc.

Preface

January 2003 -- Welcome to Cottage Software Works, Inc’s Branches
documentation. We at CSW are happy to add you to our worldwide group
of users who enjoy the advantages of data library management software.
In this preface, you will find the following information:
•

what information our documentation contains

•

who this manual is written for

•

what conventions we used

As you know, Acorn Software closed its doors in February of 2000. With this
closure came the loss of the Acorn Software product line, including
Branches. After much negotiation and thought, the holder of the rights to
Branches (Dick Munroe, munroe@csworks.com) has decided to release
Branches as an open software product for OpenVMS. Thus we here at
Cottage Software Works, Inc. are pleased to announce that with the 3.3B
release, Branches is now available under the Open Software Initiative
license.
Support is available for Branches from Cottage Software Works, Inc.:
Cottage Software Works, Inc.
464 Common St. PMB 361
Belmont, Ma.
617 901 9052
support@csworks.com
Support is available on a per hour charge basis. Contact Cottage Software
Works, Inc. for details.
Vendors wishing their products to be supported by Branches may either
provide the implementation themselves (after all, the source for Branches
is available) or may contract with Cottage Software Works, Inc. to provide
the implementation. Contact Cottage Software Works, Inc. directly for
details.

What information our documentation contains
Our documentation set consists of three items: the user guide, related
release notes and on-line help. The user guide contains information on

installation and use; these release notes are kept as current as printed
matter can be. The on-line help is meant to jog your memory of specific
details of operation and serves as the most up-to-date documentation.
Although we will keep you informed on new product features by reoccurring
mailings, you are welcome to take a copy of our documentation at any time
from the Internet. This, and all other Acorn documentation, is available
from our web site at http://www.acornsw.com/.

Who this manual is written for
We have written our documents with the experienced OpenVMS system
manager and application developer in mind. We have relied upon your
knowledge and experience as well as your access to the complete VMS
documentation set.
If you are taking the first steps with a data library management system, we
have included several sections of examples in the installation chapter of
the user guide. Should you experience problems, our error messages section
contains helpful information for resolution of problems or difficulties. If
you have further questions, we will be happy to address them. Feel free to
contact us on the Internet at support@acornsw.com.

What conventions we used in these release notes
Our documentation follows these conventions:
Character

Convention

italics

indicates optional items that you substitute the specific names or
numbers in Branches or DCL commands

Oloron Program
indicates OpenVMS examples, other
literal text seen by the user or program
documentation in response to Branches
shaded note

vii

commands.

indicates that we ask you to pay very strict attention to
the information contained in the gray area.

Branches Release Notes

This chapter presents, in order of their occurrence, the changes from the
previous versions of Branches to the current version of Branches. We have
included these items in the user guide and we have them here for your
quick reference.

Changes from 3.2B to 3.3B
Changes to the license system.
In keeping with the principles of Open Software, Branches no longer
maintains or enforces any form of license. People wishing to get either the
source of Branches or the latest installation kits may do so over the web at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/branches/
Support is available from Cottage Software Works, Inc. For details on
support, please contact:
Cottage Software Works, Inc.
464 Common St. PMB 361
Belmont, Ma. 02478
617 901 9052
support@csworks.com
Vendors wishing to support their products on OpenVMS may do so by either
doing the developoment themselves (after all, the sources are available) or
by contract with Cottage Software Works, Inc.

BRANCHES LICENSE
The BRANCHES LICENSE command has been removed from Branches.

OpenVMS/VAX Support
Cottage Software Works, Inc. does not have any in-house VAX systems.
Therefore support for Branches on OpenVMS/VAX has been dropped.
While we believe that Branches can still be compiled and used on
OpenVMS/VAX systems, Cottage Software Works, Inc. will not, by
default, provide support for Branches running on OpenVMS/VAX. Should a
vendor or user wish to contract for OpenVMS/VAX support this decision
will be reviewed.

Branches Release Notes

Changes from 3.1 to 3.2B
Changes to the license system.
Branches will continue to operate in the face of changes from cluster to noncluster, but does so by installing a new temporary key. You have 45 days to
apply for and receive a new key for your changed configuration.

New library support
The Spectralogic TREEFROG is now supported. The type is:
TREEFROG

New minimum system requirements
Branches has been modified to use the C++ Standard Template Library
which, in turn, requires the 6.2 C/C++ run time library patches. These
patches are only available for VMS/VAX for version 5.5-2, therefore we
will be supporting Branches on VMS/VAX with the C/C++ run time library
patches on VMS/VAX 5.5-2 or higher. A working version of these patches
is supplied with Branches for separate installation.
Similarly, since OpenVMS/AXP 6.2 is the minimum version guaranteed to
have the necessary support for the C++ Standard Template Library, the
minimum required version of OpenVMS/AXP is now 6.2.

No Unload on dismount
For reasons we haven't fully researched, some tape and disk devices
default to "no unload on dismount" as their default behavior. This makes it
impossible to correctly run Branches since the unloading of the drive makes
it possible for Branches to manage media. Branches now sets all drives used
by Branches to a default behavior of "unload on dismount" when the
Branches server is started. Note that cluster wide tape devices may not
operate correctly since the "unload on dismount" behavior is modified only
on the node on which the Branches server is started.

Hardware Initialization Control
A new configuration line:
DISABLE-HARDWARE-INITIALIZATION [0 | 1 | 2]
Has been added to the configuration file. Use this with caution.
With an argument of 0, Branches assumes that the library always
maintains correct hardware state and never issues an initialize element
status SCSI command.
With an argument of 1, Branches assumes that the library needs to be
initialized once, and will thereafter be operated in a manner which will
9

always maintain correct hardware state. No further initialize element
status SCSI commands will be issued by Branches.
With an argument of 2, Branches assumes the library will not maintain
correct hardware state. Branches issues further initialize element status
SCSI commands as necessary.
This configuration line has been added for those customers with libraries
having very long initialization times and who can manage their libraries
so that multiple initializations are not necessary.
The default for this configuration line is 2 which is consistent with the past
behavior of Branches.

Multi-Media library support
A new configuration line:
DRIVE-MEDIA-TYPE device,mediaType
Has been added to the configuration file. These lines allow you to specify
what media may be loaded into a specific drive in the library. If no media
types are specified, then a drive may accept all media types.
The Branches IMPORT, IMPORT/MAGAZINE, and IMPORT/INITIALIZE
all accept a new /MEDIA_TYPE qualifier. Media in a library that have no
media type may be loaded into any drive.
MediaType is a character string of up to 31 characters, consisting of the
letters A to Z, 0 to 9, $, _, and -.
The Branches SET SLOT command accepts a /MEDIA_TYPE qualifier.0

Branches Release Notes

Using the Branches configuration utility, select Media Type Configuration.

Media types are specified per drive. To select the proper drive, position
the arrow to the Select Drive line and use the return or enter key until the
desired drive appears.
More than one media type can be specified per drive. Once media types are
specified for a drive only media specifying those media types and media
with no specified type (the default) are loaded into that drive.
11

Media types are arbitrary character strings consisting of the letters:
•
•
•
•
•

A to Z
0 to 9
$
_
-

The string representing the media type may be up to 31 characters long.
Media types are converted to upper case when stored and are therefore case
insensitive.

Branches Release Notes

To remove media types, simply select them with the pointer and use the
return/enter key.

Branches Import
Imports media into a library. For data libraries with mailboxes, the
specified media will be placed in the mailbox and then imported. For data
libraries with magazines, the media is placed in the magazine.
This command requires:
•

OPER and TMPMBX privileges.

Media imported using the /SCRATCH qualifier remains as SCRATCH
media until it has been placed in a device in response to a Branches LOAD,
Branches MOUNT, DCL MOUNT or SYS$MOUNT request.

Format

BRANCHES IMPORT [volumelabel[, volumelabel ...]]
Qualifiers
/INITIALIZE

/MAGAZINE

/MEDIA_TYPE
/LIBRARY[=DEFAULT]
/SCRATCH
/SLOT=number

Notes
Import media into a library and initialize all volumes
with the associated media with their specific labels.
If not enough labels are provided, media with
multiple sides are initialized with the name
volumelabelA, volumelabelB, etc. The /INITIALIZE
and /MAGAZINE qualifiers are mutually exclusive.
Accept a magazine of media into a library and, for
each piece of media present, read the label on each
side of the media and place the media into the library
inventory database. The /INITIALIZE and
/MAGAZINE qualifiers are mutually exclusive.
Specifies the type of media being imported. In order
to use this media, at least one drive in the library
must be defined to use this or any media type.
The data library to which the media is to be imported.
The imported media is to be considered scratch media.
All media must, at some time, be initialized. In the
case of libraries with magazines, the /SLOT qualifier
allows a specific media in the magazine to be
initialized and placed into the library inventory
database. Slots are always numbered from 0. 0 is the
first slot in the magazine. The /SLOT and
/MAGAZINE qualifier are mutually exclusive. The
/SLOT qualifier may be used at any time to reimport
or reinitialize media that are already within a data
library. If the specified slot does not have media in it
and the data library has a mailbox, then Branches
will request that media be placed into the mailbox for
processing into inventory.

Branches Release Notes

Branches Set Slot
Modifies information about the media managed by Branches.

Format

BRANCHES SET SLOT slot-number
Qualifiers
/LIBRARY[=DEFAULT]
/MEDIA_TYPE
/NOMEDIA_TYPE
/STATE=state

/[NO]VID[=string]

Notes
Specifies the library whose contents are to be
displayed.
Specify the type of media contained in this slot. In
order to use the media, at least one drive in the library
must be defined to use this or any media type.
Specify that the media type for this slot is undefined.
Specifies one of the following:
DISABLED
The slot cannont be used.
FULL
The slot contains media.
EMPTYThe slot is empty
Specifies the volume id, if any, of this media.

Configuration Utility
When using the support parameters, the configuration utility would write
the configuration file incorrectly. This has been fixed.
The configuration utility fully supports the new multi media library
configuration capabilities.

StorageTek ACSLS support
Preliminary changes are in place to support network attached StorageTek
libraries through the StorageTek ACSLS interface. This support will be
fully implemented in the final release of Branches 3.2.

HyperTape support
HyperTape support has been modified to accommodate the planned ACSLS
support. These changes should be transparent to all customers who have not
been developing an interface to another 3rd party media manager.

Changes from 3.0 to 3.1
HyperTape support
Acorn Software, Inc. now supports BridgeHead Software’s multi-platform
archive and media management package, HyperTape. To do this, Branches
has been extended to allow “user” defined command procedures to be
executed before and after all Branches commands which manipulate the
state of the inventory table. The interfaces to these callouts are
documented in the command procedures themselves and will not be further
documented unless 3rd party developers request specific information
Branches 3.1 requires OpenMedia Manager in order to operate with
HyperTape. This requirement will be lifted in later versions of Branches.

Installing HyperTape
Branches 3.1 does not have all the ease of use features planned for
HyperTape integration. The following steps will be [largely] automated
starting with the release of Branches 3.2.
The installation requires manual modification of the OpenMedia Manager
database and editing of files to achieve full integration of HyperTape and
Branches.
1.

Install the latest version of OpenMedia Manager
and verify that it functions (this process is
described fully in documentation provided by
Bridgehead Software and will not be discussed
further here. Acorn Software, Inc. can provide

Branches Release Notes

installation services for HyperTape, OpenMedia
Manager, and Branches for additional charges).
2.

Install [as appropriate] the HyperTape Control,
Backup, and Service node software.

Install the OpenMedia client software on your
OpenVMS system. If you are using fail-over
Branches servers, make sure that the OpenMedia
client software is installed on each OpenVMS
system participating as a fail-over server.

The Branches server usually runs under the
SYSTEM user name. Add the SYSTEM user name (or
the user name under which you plan to run the
Branches server) and password to the User table of
the OpenMedia Manager database. If you are using
fail-over Branches servers (multiple host
processors connected to a single library), make sure
that the SYSTEM username and password for each
node running a Branches Server (whether fail-over
or not) is added to the OpenMedia Manager
database.

Make sure that your OpenVMS system(s) can use
MMCLI to access the OpenMedia Manager
database.

Connect your data library to your OpenVMS
systems(s). Verify that the data library is
properly connected to your OpenVMS system as
detailed in the Branches User’s Guide.

Install Branches on your OpenVMS system(s). If
you are using fail-over Branches servers (multiple
host processors connected to a single library), make
sure that Branches is installed on each OpenVMS
system running a fail-over server.

Using the Branches Configuration Utility,
configure Branches for your data library. This
process is fully documented in the Branches User’s
Guide and will not be discussed further here. Do not
enable Branches/HyperTape support at this time.

Start Branches.

10.

Verify that Branches correctly controls your data
library and that tapes are properly mounted and
dismounted by Branches.

11.

Add the necessary information to the OpenMedia
Manager database to define the following:
17

•
•
•
•
•

the host to which the data library is connected.
the data library.
the drives in the data library.
the media supported by the drives.
the physical tapes.

Most of these steps will be fully automated or
otherwise supported from OpenVMS in Branches
3.2. Otherwise refer to your OpenMedia Manager
documentation or your OpenMedia Manager support
organization.
12.

Create a template file used to update the
OpenMedia Manager database when media is
imported into your data library. Look in
BRNCH_HYPERTAPE_TEMPLATES:LIBRARYN
AME–TAPE.TEMPLATE for complete instructions on
creating a tape template file for your data library.

13.

Using the Branches Configuration Utility, enable
HyperTape integration support.

14.

Import media that does not otherwise appear in
your OpenMedia Manager database into your data
library.

15.

Using MMCLI, verify that that the new media now
appears in the OpenMedia Manager database.

You have now integrated Branches, HyperTape, and OpenMedia Manager
and are ready to begin using HyperTape.

Branches Configuration Utility
Branches now has general mechanisms for supporting 3rd party archive and
media management packages.

Branches Release Notes

A new entry has been added to the Branches Configuration Utility editing
and creating menus. If you are planning on using any of the supported 3rd
party packages, select this menu item after you have completed all other
configuration and verification tasks to make sure that your data library
operates correctly with OpenVMS and Branches as configured.

At this time, the only fully supported 3rd party package is HyperTape with
OpenMedia Management. Later versions of Branches will support
HyperTape without requiring OpenMedia Manager.
19

Branches/HyperTape Logical names
While our testing has been extensive, there may be occasions when it is
necessary to debug the interface between HyperTape/OpenMedia Manager
and Branches. Branches provides 3rd party integration by providing
command procedures executed in response to Branches DCL commands .
These command procedures maintain the 3rd party information (in this case,
OpenMedia Manager) in synchronization with the executed Branches
commands.
To find out what’s happening with these command procedures, you must
first enable SUBPROCESS tracing, either at Branches server startup time
or through use of the BRANCHES SET TRACE command. You may then set
one (or both) of the following system wide, executive mode logical names:
BRNCH_HYPERTAPE_DEBUG – If defined to any non-null value causes
“debugging” output to be captured in the Branches output log file. This
output is defined to be whatever the developers believed to be of
interested.
BRNCH_HYPERTAPE_VERIFY – Turns the DCL VERIFY state on for the
duration of the command procedure.
Under normal circumstances these logical names should not be defined and
SUBPROCESS tracing should be disabled.

Reconciling Branches and OpenMedia Manager.

Branches Release Notes

A command procedure for synchronizing Branches and OpenMedia Manager
is provided with Branches 3.1. Its name is:
RECONCILE_LIBRARY_BRANCHES.COM
And is installed in OMMHOME:[BIN] (if OpenMedia Manager is installed
and running when Branches is installed) and BRNCH_HYPERTAPE_BIN.
Simply run this command procedure with the name of your library as its
parameter in order to perform the synchronization. Whenever you have
manually altered the contents of your data library, you must either run this
command procedure, or execute the BRANCHES INITIALIZE/VERIFY
command (which will also reconcile Branches and OpenMedia Manager).

Changes resulting in 3.0
New licensing system.
The overall licensing structure has changed to allow licensing of more than
one different type of data library per system as well as license the number
of particular libraries per system.
Note:

You must apply for a new license for your system after installing Branches
3.0. You have 45 days after installing to do so.

New configuration lines.
Two new optional lines have been added to the configuration file.
LABEL [labelOption]
Valid settings of the LABEL configuration file line and their semantics are:
•

LABEL
(Default setting) The label is read from the tape and used to populate the
inventory table. If an unlabelled tape is imported, a label of “++++++++++++”
will be displayed.

•

LABEL_REQUIRED
The label is read from the tape and used to populate the inventory table. If there
is no label on the tape, the tape is rejected and placed in the mailbox or left in
the magazine without updating the inventory table.

•

BARCODE
The barcode is defined to be the tape label if there is a barcode on the media. If
there is no barcode, the label is read. The result is then used to populate the
inventory table.

•

BARCODE_REQUIRED
The barcode is defined to be the tape label. If there is no barcode the tape is
rejected and placed in the mailbox or left in the magazine without updating the
inventory table.

INITIALIZE-ELEMENT-STATUS

0 or 1
21

Can be used with some libraries to speed up initialization by suppressing
the issuing of the SCSI initialize element status command. This feature is
not fully implemented at this time, but it has been implemented for all
libraries at this time, but it has been implemented for the Pioneer 1004X.
The default is 1. Turning off this feature may result in loosing track of some
media inside the library. We haven’t seen this, but should it happen,
simply recreate the inventory table from scratch and all should be well.

New configuration utility.
The Branches Configuration Utility has been completely rewritten. It is
now menu driven and substantially more helpful the previously.
Unfortunately we don’t have screen shots or text documentation ready at
this time. If you have any problems with the utility, please contact us
immediately so that we can sort it out prior to the end of the beta test
period.

Modification to KITINSTAL
The Branches installation procedure now automatically modifies
SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT. If necessary, the Branches installation
informs you of this fact, and terminates. You must then run AUTOGEN your
system and reboot in order to install Branches.
The Branches installation procedure now automatically modifies the
quotas of the account from which you are installing if necessary. It informs
you oaf the fact and terminates. You must then log out and log back in again
in order to install Branches.

Modifications to Branches License command.

Branches License
Produces a license and key request form for Branches. Please see the section,
Branches Key Request and License Form, for an example of the output of
this command.
The command, Branches License/Install, requires:
•

SYSPRV privilege.

Each type of library connected to a system that runs a Branches server must
be licensed separately. This means that a given system may have several
licenses installed.

Branches Release Notes

Format

BRANCHES LICENSE [libraryName]

Note:

If the library name is omitted a license request form is generated for the
default library.

BRANCHES LICENSE/INSTALL licenseKey
Qualifiers
Notes
/OUTPUT[=SYS$OUTPUT:]
The file to contain the license request form. The
license request form is written to SYS$OUTPUT by
default.
/INSTALL
Cannot be used with /OUTPUT or /TEMPORARY.
Installs a license. Branches must be licensed on each
node on which it will run and for each data library on
each node. Key parameter, provided by Acorn, must
be entered.
/TEMPORARY
Cannot be used with /INSTALL. Indicates that a
license request form for a temporary license is to be
generated.

Architectural Modifications.
Lots of architectural modifications have been made to simplify in internals
of Branches and prepare for the inclusion of ACSLS support for large
StorageTek libraries. None of these affect the user interface, but the
should make Branches even more robust and somewhat easier for us to
maintain.

New Device Support
We are proud to announce support for the StorageTek 7430.
The device type is:
STK7430
And Acorn Software is the first vendor on any platform to announce support
for this entry-level library from StorageTek.

Changes from 3.0 to 3.0-1
New Device Support
We are proud to announce support for the Kubik Magneto Optical and
CDROM jukeboxes.
The device types are:
CDR240M
MO120
23

New licensing system.
A couple of bugs have been fixed in the licensing code. One was in the
server, the other in the license DCL interface.
The bug in the server code would incorrectly install a final key
automatically preventing the server from starting properly. This no longer
occurs.
The other bug was an omission in the CLD for the BRANCHES/LICENSE
command. This has been modified as follows:

SYSPRV privilege.

Each type of library connected to a system that runs a Branches server must
be licensed separately. This means that a given system may have several
licenses installed.

Format

BRANCHES LICENSE [libraryName]

Note:

If the library name is omitted a license request form is generated for the
default library.

BRANCHES LICENSE/INSTALL licenseKey
Qualifiers
Notes
/OUTPUT[=SYS$OUTPUT:]
The file to contain the license request form. The
license request form is written to SYS$OUTPUT by
default.
/INSTALL
Cannot be used with /OUTPUT or /TEMPORARY.
Installs a license. Branches must be licensed on each
node on which it will run and for each data library on
each node. Key parameter, provided by Acorn, must
be entered. See also the /LIBRARY qualifier.
/LIBRARY[=DEFAULT]
Can only be used with the /INSTALL qualifier when
installing a permanent key. To license your library
permanently, you must use this qualifier and provide
the name of your library. If omitted when using the
/INSTALL qualifier a temporary key is assumed to be
installed.

Branches Release Notes

/TEMPORARY

Cannot be used with /INSTALL. Indicates that a
license request form for a temporary license is to be
generated.

Additional Information
To provide better service, the license request form contains the version of
the operating system in use and the type of processor for our records.