Question

Value for parm RMTSYS not a valid name but ping is successful

Asked by: MsDeveloper

I am using STRTCPIPS command and keep getting this error whether I do the command from the command line or in a clp:
Message ID . . . . . . :   CPD0078                                            
Date sent  . . . . . . :   09/09/09      Time sent  . . . . . . :   13:19:53  
Message . . . . :   Value '111.111.11' for parameter RMTSYS not a valid name.  

My IP Address is like this: 111.111.111.111.   I can ping the IP address from the iSeries command line and it is successful:
Message . . . . :   PING reply 1 from 111.111.111.111 took 9 ms. 256 bytes.   TTL 120.
 
We have upgraded out OS on the test box to V5R4.  Does this have anything to do with it?
Why would the value shown in the CPD0078 message be truncated at 10 bytes?  Does anyone out there know how I can get past this please?

More of the CPD0078 message:
Cause . . . . . :   Value '111.111.11' contains characters that are not valid
  in a name or is a single value that was specified as part of a qualifier. A
  name must begin with an alphabetic character followed by alphanumeric      
  characters, or if the value is a string of characters, it must be enclosed 
  in quotation marks.                                                        
Recovery  . . . :   Correct the name or specify the single value alone, then 
  try the command again. More information on names can be found in the CL    
  Reference manual.

                                  
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Asked On
2009-09-09 at 11:34:28ID24719117
Tags

iSeries FTP Question

Topics

Programming for iSeries / AS400

,

AS / 400

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: LewisPowerPosted on 2009-09-09 at 13:29:13ID: 25295234

Hi MsDeveloper,

Are you sure about the command ? I never seen STRTCPIPS  command... Are you sure you're not talking about STRTCPIFC or another one ?

Lewis

 

by: MsDeveloperPosted on 2009-09-09 at 14:02:37ID: 25295522

Yes, I'm digging more and we've created a command in-house of STRTCPIPS.  It eventually calls and calls and calls to a pgm that is using STRTCPFTP  RMTSYS(&RMTSYS) SECCNN(*SSL)  command.  I am having to check out a super user id to debug the process all the way down to the actual STRTCPFTP  command to see where the &RMTSYS parm is defined as 10 instead of 20, or something larger than 10.  So far, just going through the code, I see we've defined &RMTSYS as this:
PARM       KWD(RMTSYS) TYPE(*NAME) LEN(255) MIN(1)
and in subsequent calls, we've defined it as this:
DCL        VAR(&RMTSYS  ) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN( 255)...  

I will need the super id to see the actual values being passed and passed down to the actual command.  I will have to do this tomorrow since our super user id process is about 2 hours from request to approval... stay tuned :-)

 

by: MsDeveloperPosted on 2009-09-09 at 14:14:32ID: 25295630

Follow-on to my comment above:
Could the &RMTSYS parm being defined as TYPE(*NAME) cause a problem if my IP address is 111.111.111.111 or all numeric?  The help text for TYPE of *NAME says first character must be alphabetic and can be then followed by alphanumeric... is a 1 (or 2 or 3, etc) considered alphabetic?  I thought a 1 (or any number) would be alphanumeric... could this be my problem??

*NAME                                                    
    The parameter value is a character string that        
    represents a name.  The maximum length of the name is
    256 characters. The first character must be alphabetic
    or one of the special characters, $, @, or #.  The    
    remaining characters can be alphanumeric, a period, an
    underscore, or one of special characters, $, @, or #.  
    The name can also be a string of characters starting  
    and ending with double quotation marks (") or enclosed
    in parentheses.  If a special value is used (as in    
    *LIBL or *NONE), it should be specified on the Special
    values (SPCVAL) parameter.                            

 

by: LewisPowerPosted on 2009-09-09 at 17:45:27ID: 25296737

Hi MsDeveloper,

Can you switch this variable to *char and force the IP adresses you need (maybe as a constant defined at the begining of the program or passed on you call as a parameter ?

Can we see the code to help you more ?

Lewis

 

by: _b_hPosted on 2009-09-09 at 18:24:31ID: 25296837

The problem is that the IP address is being passed as a name. The remote system name is expecting a name that is resolved by DNS or host table entry, like this:
STRTCPFTP RMTSYS(*INTNETADR) INTNETADR('111.111.111.111')
or
STRTCPFTP RMTSYS(FTPSERVER1)  
If using a name instead of an address does not solve it, I agree with Lewis' idea to show us the code behind the command
Barry
                                       

 

by: Gary_The_IT_ProPosted on 2009-09-10 at 07:56:24ID: 25300836

The 10-character truncation that you see here is just a result of the CPD0078 message only having a 10-character field defined for the message field.  It does not mean that the actual variable in the program is being truncated.

I agree with Barry - the problem is that your program is expecting a name, not an IP address.  Just specify a valid system name instead of an IP address.

If the system that you are trying to contact does not have a valid DNS entry in your network, you can add a host table entry for the system on the AS/400 with CFGTCP, Option 10.  This will allow you to assign a meaningful name that will resolve to the IP address.

- Gary Patterson

Check out my EE profile: http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_4382324.html

 

by: MsDeveloperPosted on 2009-09-10 at 14:16:01ID: 31626757

All three comments actually helped me get to the final solution.  I changed to *char, it worked, but I can't promote that code to production because it is widely used and I can't afford the impact analysis / retesting time in this project...  I executed the command with the dns name and it worked.  I will most likely implement this solution and it won't require a coding change.  Thanks to everyone - very helpful website, very useful information!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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