Is Progress Explorer replacement for Procontrol?

bof

New Member
Hello!

My company want to upgrade from Progress 9.1E to OpenEdge. In OE there is no longer Procontrol available. Using Procontrol we can run custom tasks on remote machines. Can we do the same with Progress Explorer in OE?

bof
 

bof

New Member
Yes, Exploder is the replacement for Procontrol.

Thanks for answer, but i still have no clue how to migrate tasks from Procontrol to PE.
When i first started PE it opened in author mode, and i created some local batch jobs (i could not find a way to create batch job that runs on remote machine). Now i can't figure out how to start PE in author mode again.
So, my question is: can I use PE to start batch jobs on remote machines and how do i do that? Maybe OpenEdge offers other tool for this?
Any help would be appreciated.

bof
 

TomBascom

Curmudgeon
Personally I avoid Exploder. The sooner it is replaced the better.

I would think that you might have some success using Windows "scheduled tasks" tool.

But I avoid Windows almost as much as I avoid Exploder so maybe somebody has a better answer ;)
 

bof

New Member
Thanks for your answer.
Unfortunately our tasks can't be scheduled. I must be able to start and stop them at any time. I feel like avoiding Explorer is a very good choice, too.
But if you don't use it how do you start/stop/monitor your databases (manually in command line)?
 

Wossname

New Member
Bof,
Once you've got databases set up through Explorer just use dbman from the command line to start/stop them. Similarly for appservers use asbman. It allows remote admin with the -H option.

Explorer isn't that bad, and now that more and more sys admins are only interested in administering things with GUI tools its the way things are going to be for the foreseeable future. I'd recommend getting used to it.
 

Casper

ProgressTalk.com Moderator
Staff member
Explorer isn't that bad, and now that more and more sys admins are only interested in administering things with GUI tools its the way things are going to be for the foreseeable future. I'd recommend getting used to it.

Hmm, they are going to get a hard time doing some real sys admin stuff on platforms like HP/UX, AIX and even Linux.

Did you ever try using Progress explorer over a firewall?

I use it for testing purposes on windows, beside that, Progress Explorer doesn't give me the flexibility that scripting does give to me....
(Like in this post, starting a secondary broker when the database is already started..).

Even worse if you don't use windows, you still have to have a Windows machine to get the Progress Explorer...

Casper.
 

bof

New Member
There is this bug, when db is started from Explorer i can't connect to it from OE Architect. Instead i have to start db from command line using proserve. For now this makes Explorer unusable to me. If anyone knows how to workaround this issue, please let me know.
 

Wossname

New Member
Architect uses JDBC to connect to the database, so you'll need to set that up. There'll be something on the knowledge centre about this I suspect.
 

Casper

ProgressTalk.com Moderator
Staff member
There is no difference between a database started form Progress Explorer or from the command line. Progress Explorer only administers the database. So if you have a problem connecting to the database, look for error messages you get and post these here.

First thing I would check is the portnumber/servicename if the database is on a server remote from where OE architect is running or the path to the database if the database runs locally.

Casper.
 

Casper

ProgressTalk.com Moderator
Staff member
Architect uses JDBC to connect to the database, so you'll need to set that up. There'll be something on the knowledge centre about this I suspect.

Architect uses both ABL connections and JDBC connections. The JDBC connections are used for the DB navigator, the ABL connection is used for 'normal' development.

Casper.
 

bof

New Member
Thanks for answers.
I've read about this issue some time ago. Someone wrote about it (don't remember where) and the only answer he received was to use proserve instead of Explorer. So i figured there must be a bug in Explorer. But maybe it's just something wrong with the configuration. I'll try to find some other solution. Thanks again.
 

Casper

ProgressTalk.com Moderator
Staff member
Ok, I'm not aware of that, I'm using OE architect 10.1C without any problems. What version are you using?
There was some issue with SQL connections in 10.1A (KB P115775).
Do you have problems with SQL or ABL connections (or both?).

Casper.
 

bof

New Member
I'm using 10.1E. I have problems only with sql connections.
When using proserve everything is ok.
With PE it gives me:
Connection failed
[DataDirect][OpenEdge JDBC Driver][OpenEdge] Failed to create the Progress NLS handler
 

TomBascom

Curmudgeon
Bof,
Once you've got databases set up through Explorer just use dbman from the command line to start/stop them. Similarly for appservers use asbman. It allows remote admin with the -H option.

IOW the command line remains The King Of Interfaces :awink:

Explorer isn't that bad,

I was trying to be polite... Exploder isn't just bad, it's execrable. It is platform specific (it's a Windows MMC plug-in), incomplete (including many parameters that cannot be set), opaque (many actions are one-way and there is no feedback on whether or not they worked), non-standard (it follows no known UI standard), dysfunctional (cannot be used in a secure environment, cannot be used in a mixed OS environment) and functionally dangerous (the dialogs often invite disaster). And it's ugly too (which I only mention because the pretty face is supposedly a reason that people are drawn to GUI tools).

... and now that more and more sys admins are only interested in administering things with GUI tools its the way things are going to be for the foreseeable future.

GUI tools are significantly over-rated. I'll concede that there is demand for them and that it isn't likely to go away. But neither is the command line going anywhere -- it's too effective. Admins need to be comfortable with both sets of tools.

I'd recommend getting used to it.

I expect that Exploder is going to be replaced soon. It cannot happen fast enough.
 
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