[Info-vax] Tier3 for VMS/IA64 Beta testers wanted please!

[Richard Maher]

Hi,

We are very pleased to announce the availability of the Beta version of
"Tier3 for OpenVMS/IA64". If you are running VMS 8.3 on Itanium and would be
willing to test and/or trial Tier3 on your system then contact us via the
email address: - "tier3 (at) aapt (dot) net (dot) au" for your free
[hobbyist's version] copy of the Tier3 V3.1 installation kit. Please include
the word "beta" in the subject title, and specify whether you would like the
VAX, Alpha, or IA64 versions of the kit.

The Tier3 Client/Server Development manual has also been revamped to reflect
the fact that there are now over 30 separate source files contained in the
T3$EXAMPLES directory. These examples range in complexity from: -

o Three fully functional Tier3 Application Servers
o Bullet-proof 2PC functionality: Windows SQL Server <-> VMS/Rdb
o Complete source code for Java Applet Web-Browser clients
o Adobe MXML Flex-Charting client
o Heaps of JavaScript and HTML
o DCL Build Procedures,
o INETd (Auxiliary Server)
o Server-Push technology

Now also included in the manual is a chapter on Tier3 Applet Uploaders and
how they can be deployed so as to equip your VMS servers with a lightweight
and extremely fast HTTP server capability.

Please note that there will be no hard-sell or follow-up phone calls. All we
ask is if you find a bug, or have difficulty during the trial, that you'll
be kind enough to let us know so that the problem can be rectified. Free
support to get you up and running will also be available on a limited basis.

Had enough of green-screens and FTP? Thanks for your participation!

Regards Tier3 Software

About Tier3: -
==============

Tier3 is the client/server system that enables remote client access to your
server system resources. As the middleware residing between the client and
server components of your application, Tier3 regulates and schedules client
requests, allocates the resources necessary to satisfy those requests, and
channels the resulting output back to the requesting client.

Similar to a Remote Procedure Call, Tier3 allows a remote client (e.g. a
Visual Basic program on a Windows PC) to access your 3GL routine running on
a VMS server. But unlike other RPC implementations, Tier3 offers the
following benefits: -

Ø Transparent Multi-Threading. Tier3 provides an independent multi-threaded
communication server for each application. This relieves your server code
from the need to perform its own threading and mutexing.

Ø Application Based Tuning & Configuration. Because every Tier3 application
has its own communication server, inter-application resource contention is
reduced, and each application on a given node can be tuned/configured
independently.

Ø Persistent Network Connection. Once accepted, the network connection
between client and communication server is maintained until either your
client or your server code asks specifically for it to be dropped. This
removes the overhead of having to obtain a channel, request a connection,
and pass authorization, each time a client needs to access your server
application.

Ø Secure Client/Server Applications. In addition to ensuring that only
authorized clients can access your application, Tier3 also identifies the
username that the client is entitled to assume on the server node. This
allows your server application to perform additional security checks,
perform charge-back accounting, or maintain an audit trail of who has been
modifying a database.

Ø Transactional Data Integrity. Tier3 incorporates hotTIP, a Transaction
Internet Protocol  (TIP) compliant Transaction Manager for VMS. hotTIP
allows any DECdtm controlled Resource Manager, such as Rdb, to participate
in a distributed transaction with a cooperating process, controlled by
MTS/DTC on a Windows2000 environment, with the full ACID properties of a
true two-phase commit transaction, regardless of the middleware product of
choice! In case you are unaware, the beauty of TIP's "Two-Pipe" strategy is
it's application-pipe (or middleware) neutrality. Whereas most XA
implementations mandate homogenous Transaction Monitor deployments (such as
Tuxedo everywhere, Encina everywhere, MQSeries everywhere, ACMSxp everywhere
and so on  . . .), hotTIP from TIER3 Software gives you complete freedom to
choose the middleware product(s) that best suite your particular application
and heterogeneous network needs.

Ø Re-usable Execution Servers. Tier3 execution servers are re-usable on a
transactional basis, with your development team controlling how long a
transaction, or server affinity, will be maintained. This is achieved by
effectively supplying your 3GL RECEIVE routine with a full-duplex, or
conversational, pipe as its only parameter.

Ø Dynamic Execution Server Creation. As client demand dictates, each
applications communication server will grow/shrink the execution server
processing pool, in accordance with the parameters specified by your system
manager in the Tier3 Configuration File.

Ø Preservation of Existing Investment. Tier3 server development is as simple
as creating a shareable image containing the six subroutines or User Action
Routines that Tier3 will activate on your behalf during the life of an
execution server. Your UARs can be written in any 3GL, and have the complete
VMS execution environment at their disposal. You are free to spawn a
sub-process, perform inter-process communication, or your server application
can become a client of another Tier3 application on a different node. This
ability to re-use/incorporate existing 3GL code into your new Tier3
applications, coupled with the fact that your development staff will find
very little difference between developing Tier3 server applications and
developing any other VMS application, means that your existing IT investment
is preserved.

Ø No Tier3 Specific Client Software Required. By not layering another API on
top of the standard Socket or System Service interface, Tier3 allows your
client developers unrestricted access to the underlying network protocol.
Performance features such as asynchronous SENDs and Interrupt/Out-of-Band
functionality are all available to you.

In summary, once your organization has decided it needs the security,
performance, scalability and functionality of a three-tiered client/server
architecture, then your organization will need TIER3.