Help For The HP-UX 9.04-Lorn
From HP Professional November, 1998
I'm running HP-UX 9.04. Is it true that HP-UX 9.04 willnot be made Year 2000 compliant?
HP's Support Life Policy for HP-UX provides full support for the current release and lastmajor release. In accordance with this policy, HP-UX 9.04 will not be Year 2000 compliant.
Will 9.04 still be supported in the future?
Because HP-UX 9.04 was discontinued, it will no longer be supported as of November 1998.
Was 9.04 at least tested for Year 2000 compliance?
No, version 9.04 was not tested. HP-UX 9.04 software products were not tested either.Therefore, an exhaustive list of HP-UX 9.04 libraries, commands or associated softwareproducts affected by Year 2000 can not be provided.
Did HP test all its other OS versions and products?
HP tested all of its active and supported products to one of the most stringent Year2000-compliance standards in the industry. HP remains committed to the goal of enablingits HP-UX customers to achieve their Year 2000 readiness objectives in a timely manner.
How do I make sure I have a Year 2000-compliant versionof HP-UX?
Upgrading to a compliant version of HP-UX is the only way for customers using HP-UX 9.04to ensure their HP 9000 servers will continue to operate properly in the Year 2000.
What are the recommended upgrade paths?
The recommended upgrade paths are to either HP-UX 10.20 or HP-UX 11.0.
Are there any alternative paths?
Customers may also upgrade to HP-UX 10.10 or 10.01, which are also Year 2000 compliant.However, these earlier HP-UX releases do not provide all of the advantages of large filesystem support or 64-bit features introduced in the later HP-UX releases.
Will I need OS patches?
Yes. All HP-UX 10.x and 11.0 releases require customers to install patches to becompliant.
How do I get to HP-UX 10.20?
A comprehensive upgrade program was made available to all HP customers in September 1998.Please refer to www.hp.com/go/year2000.
What if I need more help than that?
There is a three-day HP Year 2000 Planning and Methodology Course ($4,800). The coursecovers planning and implementation of Year 2000 procedures based on Data Dimensions' Ardes2K automation tool, in addition to material pertinent to the HP 9000, HP 3000, HPNetServers and HP Openview. Course fee includes a free license to use Ardes 2K.
Anything for HP-UX 11.0 users?
There is a Hands On with HP-UX 11.0 Workshop ($450 per single-user license).
Editor's Note: At least there's no shortage of information about the Year 2000,likely the most anticipated, yet already dreaded year in human history. Every aspect ofthe Year 2000, the Millennium Bug, the Y2K Bug, or whatever you like to call it has beenreported, explored or investigated.
There are books by the hundreds, daily newspaper stories, thousands of industry trademagazine articles and of course, an infinite variety of Web sites. In case you missed someof it, we offer a short summary:
Books
Solving the Year 2000 Crisis by Patrick McDermott (1998,Artech House, Inc.)
The Year 2000 Software Problem: Quantifying the Costs and Assessing theConsequences by Capers Jones (1998, Addison-Wesley)
HP Y2K Web Sites
HP Year 2000 Program
www.hp.com/year2000/info.html
HP Y2K FAQs
www.hp.com/year2000/y2kfaq.html
HP Computer Product Status
www.hp.com/year2000/products.html
HP NetServer Y2K Status
www.hp.com/netserver/newsrm/y2k.htm
HP Information Storage Group Y2K Status
www.hp.com/isgsupport/cms/year2000.html
General Y2K Sites
Y2K For Women Only
www.y2kwomen.com
Microsoft Year 2000 Resource Center
www.microsoft.com/technet/topics/year2k/default.htm
Year 2000 Information Center
www.year2000.com
President's Council On Year 2000 Conversion
www.y2k.gov
| HP-UX 9.04-WARNED IS FOREARMED The currently known HP-UX 9.04 Year 2000 issues fall into several basic categories: The program generates three-digit years. This is a common problem caused by calculating a year as the number of years since 1900. This method worked correctly for twentieth century dates, but after the year 2000 this method results in a three-digit number. For example, the year 2020 would be displayed as 120. The program does not perform year comparisons correctly. Often, functionality is based on a comparison of two dates. For example, copying a file only if it is newer than the existing file. When a two-digit year in the twenty-first century is compared to a two-digit year in the twentieth century, the twentieth century year is considered the most current since its two-digit value is larger. The program displays years incorrectly but functions correctly. This category is the least harmful since the program exhibits normal behavior beyond the year 2000. The only danger lies in how the program's output is used. For example, if the program outputs years with two digits, a custom script may not correctly interpret the two-digit year and misbehave. The program only uses two-digit years, creating behavior problems. Some programs' functionality depend upon data that contains years that are only stored and/or represented with two digits. This can create a number of problems including formatting and sorting data. For example, when sorting mail messages by date, messages with a twenty-first century time stamp will appear older than messages from the twentieth century. The program will not accept dates from the twenty-first century as input. The program either rejects such input or accepts it but then converts the date back to the twentieth century. For example, if you are prompted for a year and you enter 2020, your input may either be rejected or accepted as 1920. The program restricts the number of years since 1900 to 99. Many programs internally calculate years as the number of years since 1900. For example, the year 2020 is 120 years after the year 1900. Some programs restrict this value to 99, in effect restricting the maximum year supported to 1999 and disallowing twenty-first century dates. The program has years hard-coded as 19xy. The century portion of a year will always be displayed as 19. For example, the year may be 2020 but it is displayed as 1920. The information about the Year 2000 status of HP-UX 9.04 is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. Because much remains unknown about other potential Year 2000 issues with HP-UX 9.04, the only way for HP-UX 9.04 customers to ensure that systems will continue to operate properly in the Year 2000 is to upgrade to a Y2K-compliant version of the HP-UX operating system. |