MPE to HP-UX (and Linux)a Case Study
Rick Gilligan
Sr. Software Specialist at CASE since 1980
Tools Developer from 1980-1983
Architect and Product Manager for ABLE from 1983-2001
Migration Manager for MPE to HP-UX Project 2001-2007
ABLE - the Asset-Based Lending Environment
Initial design started in 1983
Ran exclusively on MPE until 2002
First production use on HP-UX in October 2007
Goals
Minimize impact on client operationsMinimize cost of migrationMinimize distractions to ABLE
developersEffectively manage the time
available for conversion
Risks
HP COBOL support by non-HP vendors either minimal or buggy (still in development and shake-out)
ScreenJet converter still in development
Software Tools
HP COBOL/IIVPlusSPL/Splash!TurboIMAGE/3000Qedit for MPESuprtool for MPEInternally developed tools in Splash!
and COBOL
User Interface
Vplus using terminals (historically) and Reflection terminal emulator Maintenance functions Report and Processing function selection
Batch reporting and processing producing HP PCL5-formatted spooled output and RightFAX
Limited intranet/Internet HTML output selected from HTML forms (Apache 1.3)
Migration Target
Original: HP-UX on PA-RISCFinal: HP-UX on ItaniumCaveat: ALL tools to also support Linux
and WindowsCaveat: FEWEST third party toolsAll reporting and processing functions
web-based with PDF outputNo spooler or batch job support
Third Party Migration Tools
ACUCOBOL-GT, Acubench and AcuConnect Thin Client best HP COBOL support, including macros lower run time costs than MF
Eloquence TurboIMAGE plus more
ScreenJet Vplus emulation
Open Source Migration Tools
JavascriptGnu bashGnuPGApache 2.0OpenSSL
Internally Developed Tools
PDF output directly in COBOLauto font scalingline drawingshadinglogo imagesfont color, style
Migration Process
Migration occurred first on MPE - remove MPE-specific code
Start with frozen version of ABLECOBOL dialect converter that migrates
code to ACUCOBOL runs nightlyParallel development of enhancements to
ABLE product on MPERetrofit four years of enhancements to
MPE product to HP-UX product
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