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$ HELP PING or HELP TCPIP PING shows nothing
Posted: Thu Feb 29, 2024 1:35 pm
by starlet
On my OpenVMS V8.4-2L1 / Alpha, it seems impossible to find info on PING, although the command works fine.
$ HELP PING or HELP TCPIP_Services PING shows nothing
Some commands are available on both levels, but the help text is not identical:
$ HELP FINGER or HELP TCPIP_Services FINGER - OK
$ HELP TELNET or HELP TCPIP_Services TELNET - OK
Some commands are shown only with HELP TCPIP_Services prefix, I see no consistency...
The version shown with SHOW NET/FULL is HP TCP/IP V5.7 - ECO 5,
but PRODUCT SHOW HISTORY shows: VSI AXPVMS TCPIP v5.7-13ECOF
I guess my system isn't quite clean, but I can't remember the history of installs and upgrades.
Re: $ HELP PING or HELP TCPIP PING shows nothing
Posted: Thu Feb 29, 2024 1:41 pm
by amuir
Actually, that information is available as follows:
$ TCPIP HELP PING
Re: $ HELP PING or HELP TCPIP PING shows nothing
Posted: Thu Feb 29, 2024 2:10 pm
by starlet
Thanks. So, the standard discovery and learning is no longer necessarily using the HELP utility.
Are there any other known exceptions?
So why is there also HELP TCPIP *, which differs, at least when it comes to PING? Shouldn't
there be a single .HLB -- or is it just my installation that is corrupt?
Re: $ HELP PING or HELP TCPIP PING shows nothing
Posted: Thu Feb 29, 2024 2:21 pm
by amuir
I can see where you might think it seems inconsistent. HELP generally displays information on DCL commands. FINGER (which you gave as an example) is a DCL command, whereas PING is not. If you're able to issue the PING command at the DCL prompt, that's only because you presumably defined a symbol such as:
PING :== TCPIP PING
Help on commands for a specific utility, such as AUTHORIZE, SYSMAN, TCPIP, etc., is always found within that utility itself.
Re: $ HELP PING or HELP TCPIP PING shows nothing
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2024 11:18 am
by m_detommaso
The "TCP/IP Service for OpenVMS" stack has evolved in recent years and many tools are now defined as symbols.
system_dirac_opa0 > @sys$manager:tcpip$define_commands
system_dirac_opa0 > sho sym ping
PING == "$SYS$SYSTEM:TCPIP$PING.EXE"
system_dirac_opa0 > ping
usage: ping [-RdfLnqruv] [-c count] [-i wait] [-I interface] [-l preload]
[-p pattern] [-s packetsize] [-V ipversion]
[-G [!]@addr1@addr2@...] [-t timeout] [-b recvsize] host
Although not very up to date, you can find a description of the ping command and its flags in the manual "VSI TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Tuning and Troubleshooting" manual, in the "Appendix A - Troubleshooting Utilities Reference", starting from Pag. 79:
https://docs.vmssoftware.com/docs/vsi-t ... ooting.pdf
/Maurizio
Re: $ HELP PING or HELP TCPIP PING shows nothing
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2024 12:53 pm
by cct
There is also help within the tcpip:
Code: Select all
$ tcpip
TCPIP> help ping
PING
Sends ICMP ECHO packets to hosts to determine whether they are
active. Same as the LOOP command.
Format
PING [ host ]
[ /ADDRESS=xx.xx.xx.xx ]
[ /ALL ]
[ /FULL ]
[ /NUMBER_PACKETS=n ]
[ /PACKET_SIZE=n ]
[ /PATTERN="hexadecimal-string" ]
[ /[NO]ROUTE ]
[ /WAIT=n ]
Additional information available:
Parameters Qualifiers
/ADDRESS /ALL /FULL /NUMBER_PACKETS /PACKET_SIZE
/PATTERN /ROUTE /WAIT
Examples
PING Subtopic?