The OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ABSTRACT This document contains answers to many common questions on the OpenVMS operating system, and covers OpenVMS, and OpenVMS running on Itanium, Alpha, and VAX hardware. While this document is available in multiple formats, the text-format version is far and away generally the easiest format to search. Revision/Update Information OpenVMS V8.3 Revision/Update Information: Revision Date/September 2006 FAQ ________________________________________________________________ Contents __________________________________________________________ PREFACE i __________________________________________________________ OPENVMS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) iii ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1-1 __________________________________________________________ 1.1 WHAT CORE OPENVMS URLS DO YOU NEED TO KNOW? 1-1 __________________________________________________________ 1.2 WHAT ARE THE OPENVMS USENET NEWSGROUPS? 1-2 1.2.1 What is the scope of the comp.os.vms newsgroup? 1-2 1.2.2 What newsgroups carry VMS-related information? 1-2 1.2.3 What newsgroup archives are available? 1-3 1.2.4 What is the INFO-VAX mailing list? 1-3 1.2.4.1 How do I subscribe to or unsubscribe from INFO-VAX?, 1-4 __________________________________________________________ 1.3 WHAT IS [N]ETIQUETTE? 1-5 __________________________________________________________ 1.4 WHAT OPENVMS USER GROUP(S) ARE AVAILABLE? 1-5 __________________________________________________________ 1.5 OPENVMS SUPPORT, QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS? 1-6 1.5.1 Corporate contacts for OpenVMS Business Issues? 1-6 1.5.2 OpenVMS Ambassadors? 1-7 1.5.3 Contact for OpenVMS Marketing Issues and Questions? 1-7 1.5.4 Contact URLs for OpenVMS Technical Issues? 1-7 iii Contents ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 2 GENERAL INFORMATION 2-1 __________________________________________________________ 2.1 WHAT IS OPENVMS? WHAT IS ITS HISTORY? 2-1 __________________________________________________________ 2.2 WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VMS AND OPENVMS? 2-3 __________________________________________________________ 2.3 WHAT'S IN A NAME? TERMINOLOGY AND PRODUCTS? 2-4 2.3.1 How do I port from VMS to OpenVMS? 2-4 __________________________________________________________ 2.4 WHICH IS BETTER, OPENVMS OR UNIX? 2-4 __________________________________________________________ 2.5 IS HP CONTINUING FUNDING AND SUPPORT FOR OPENVMS? 2-5 __________________________________________________________ 2.6 WHAT OPENVMS DISTRIBUTION KITS ARE AVAILABLE? 2-6 2.6.1 Where can I download OpenVMS and Layered Product Kits? 2-8 __________________________________________________________ 2.7 IN WHAT LANGUAGE IS OPENVMS WRITTEN? 2-9 __________________________________________________________ 2.8 OBTAINING AND TRANSFERING OPENVMS LICENSES? 2-9 2.8.1 Questions asked by Hobbyist OpenVMS licensees? 2-10 2.8.1.1 Vendors offering Hobbyist Licenses, 2-11 2.8.2 OpenVMS Educational and CSLG licenses? 2-12 2.8.3 What developer and partner licensing programs are available? 2-12 2.8.4 How do I obtain or transfer an OpenVMS license? 2-13 __________________________________________________________ 2.9 DOES OPENVMS SUPPORT THE EURO CURRENCY SYMBOL? 2-13 __________________________________________________________ 2.10 OPENVMS PORTS? ITANIUM? PORTS TO IA-32, EM64T OR AMD64 SYSTEMS? 2-13 iv Contents __________________________________________________________ 2.11 ARE THERE ANY NETWORK-ACCESSIBLE OPENVMS SYSTEMS? 2-17 __________________________________________________________ 2.12 WHAT VERSION OF OPENVMS DO I NEED? 2-18 __________________________________________________________ 2.13 HOW CAN I SUBMIT OPENVMS FREEWARE? 2-20 __________________________________________________________ 2.14 PORTING APPLICATIONS TO OPENVMS? 2-20 __________________________________________________________ 2.15 WHAT RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE TO OPENVMS SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS? 2-21 __________________________________________________________ 2.16 MEMORY MANAGEMENT, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, PROCESS SCHEDULING, ETC? 2-22 __________________________________________________________ 2.17 BASIC UNITS OF MEASUREMENT? 2-23 2.17.1 How many bytes are in a disk block? 2-24 2.17.2 How many bytes are in a memory page? 2-25 2.17.3 How do I convert? Disk Blocks? KB, MB, GB, TB? 2-26 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 3 DOCUMENTATION 3-1 __________________________________________________________ 3.1 WHERE CAN I FIND ONLINE COPIES OF OPENVMS MANUALS? 3-1 __________________________________________________________ 3.2 WHAT ONLINE INFORMATION AND WEBSITES ARE AVAILABLE? 3-2 __________________________________________________________ 3.3 HOW DO I EXTRACT THE CONTENTS OF A HELP TOPIC TO A TEXT FILE? 3-5 __________________________________________________________ 3.4 DOES OPENVMS MARKETING HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS? 3-5 v Contents __________________________________________________________ 3.5 WHERE CAN I LEARN ABOUT OPENVMS EXECUTIVE INTERNALS? 3-5 __________________________________________________________ 3.6 WHERE CAN NEW USERS FIND TUTORIAL INFORMATION ABOUT OPENVMS? 3-6 3.6.1 Tutorial Websites? 3-6 3.6.2 Books and Tutorials? 3-8 __________________________________________________________ 3.7 WHAT OPENVMS MAILING LISTS AND FORUMS ARE AVAILABLE? 3-10 __________________________________________________________ 3.8 WHAT IS THIS ASK THE WIZARD WEBSITE I'VE HEARD ABOUT? 3-12 __________________________________________________________ 3.9 WHERE CAN I FIND THE LATEST C RUN-TIME LIBRARY MANUALS? 3-13 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 4 TIME AND TIMEKEEPING 4-1 __________________________________________________________ 4.1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF OPENVMS TIMEKEEPING, PLEASE? 4-1 4.1.1 Details of the OpenVMS system time-keeping? 4-3 4.1.1.1 VAX hardware time-keeping details..., 4-3 4.1.1.1.1 TOY clock, 4-3 4.1.1.1.2 EXE$GQ_SYSTIME, 4-3 4.1.1.1.3 EXE$GQ_TODCBASE, 4-3 4.1.1.1.4 EXE$GL_TODR, 4-4 4.1.1.2 Alpha hardware time-keeping details..., 4-5 4.1.1.2.1 Battery-Backed Watch (BB_WATCH) Chip, 4-5 4.1.1.2.2 EXE$GQ_SYSTIME, 4-6 4.1.1.2.3 EXE$GQ_SAVED_HWCLOCK, 4-6 4.1.1.3 Why does VAX need a SET TIME at least once a year?, 4-7 4.1.2 How does OpenVMS VAX maintain system time? 4-7 vi Contents __________________________________________________________ 4.2 KEEPING THE OPENVMS SYSTEM TIME SYNCHRONIZED? 4-9 __________________________________________________________ 4.3 EXTERNAL TIME-BASE HARDWARE? 4-11 4.3.1 Why do my cluster batch jobs start early? 4-11 4.3.2 Why does my OpenVMS system time drift? 4-12 4.3.3 Resetting the system time into the past? 4-13 4.3.4 How can I drift the OpenVMS system time? 4-13 4.3.5 How can I configure TCP/IP Services NTP as a time provider? 4-14 __________________________________________________________ 4.4 MANAGING TIMEZONES, TIMEKEEPING, UTC, AND DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME? 4-16 4.4.1 Creating, Updating and Managing Timezone Definitions? 4-19 4.4.1.1 Customizing or Updating your TDF (Timezone) Setting?, 4-20 4.4.1.2 US Daylight Time Changes Starting 1-Mar-2007?, 4-22 4.4.2 Timezones and Time-related Logical Names? 4-22 4.4.3 How to troubleshoot TDF problems on OpenVMS? 4-23 __________________________________________________________ 4.5 WHY DOES THE SET TIME COMMAND FAIL? HELP MANAGING DTSS? 4-25 __________________________________________________________ 4.6 SETTING TIME ON ALPHASERVER ES47, ES80, GS1280 CONSOLE? 4-27 __________________________________________________________ 4.7 UTC VS GMT VS VS UT1/UT1/UT2 TDF? WHAT ARE THESE ACRONYMS? 4-29 __________________________________________________________ 4.8 USING W32TIME OR AN SNTP AS A TIME PROVIDER? 4-31 vii Contents ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 5 SYSTEM MANAGEMENT INFORMATION 5-1 __________________________________________________________ 5.1 WHAT IS AN INSTALLED IMAGE? 5-1 __________________________________________________________ 5.2 ARE THERE ANY KNOWN VIRUSES FOR OPENVMS? 5-2 __________________________________________________________ 5.3 SOURCES OF OPENVMS SECURITY INFORMATION? 5-4 __________________________________________________________ 5.4 HOW DO I MOUNT AN ISO-9660 CD ON OPENVMS? 5-4 __________________________________________________________ 5.5 HOW DO I EXTRACT THE CONTENTS OF A PCSI KIT? 5-6 __________________________________________________________ 5.6 EMERGENCY (CONVERSATIONAL) SYSTEM STARTUP? 5-7 5.6.1 I've forgotten the SYSTEM password - what can I do? 5-11 5.6.2 My product licenses have expired - what can I do? 5-11 __________________________________________________________ 5.7 HOW DO I CHANGE THE NODE NAME OF AN OPENVMS SYSTEM? 5-12 __________________________________________________________ 5.8 WHY DOESN'T OPENVMS SEE THE NEW MEMORY I JUST ADDED? 5-14 __________________________________________________________ 5.9 HOW DO I CHANGE THE TEXT IN A USER'S UIC IDENTIFIER? 5-15 __________________________________________________________ 5.10 WHAT ARE THE OPENVMS VERSION UPGRADE PATHS? 5-16 5.10.1 OpenVMS Alpha Upgrade (or Update) Paths 5-16 5.10.2 OpenVMS I64 Upgrade Paths 5-19 5.10.3 OpenVMS VAX Release Upgrade Paths 5-20 5.10.4 OpenVMS Cluster Rolling Upgrade Paths 5-21 5.10.5 OpenVMS VAX Manual Organization 5-22 5.10.6 OpenVMS Product Version and Support Information 5-22 5.10.7 OpenVMS Alpha and I64 Upgrade Terminology 5-23 viii Contents __________________________________________________________ 5.11 WHY DO I HAVE A NEGATIVE NUMBER IN THE PAGEFILE RESERVABLE PAGES? 5-25 __________________________________________________________ 5.12 DO I HAVE TO UPDATE LAYERED PRODUCTS WHEN UPDATING OPENVMS? 5-26 __________________________________________________________ 5.13 HOW DO I CHANGE THE VOLUME LABEL OF A DISK? 5-27 __________________________________________________________ 5.14 HOW CAN I SET UP A SHARED DIRECTORY? 5-27 __________________________________________________________ 5.15 WHY DO I GET EXTRA BLANK PAGES ON MY HP PRINTER? 5-29 __________________________________________________________ 5.16 DRIVERS AND CONFIGURATION OF NEW GRAPHICS CONTROLLERS? 5-29 5.16.1 The ELSA GLoria Synergy 5-29 5.16.2 PowerStorm 300, PowerStorm 350 5-31 5.16.3 PowerStorm 3D30, PowerStorm 4D20 5-31 5.16.4 Radeon 7500 5-32 __________________________________________________________ 5.17 HOW CAN I ACQUIRE OPENVMS PATCHES, FIXES, AND ECOS? 5-32 __________________________________________________________ 5.18 HOW DO I MOVE THE QUEUE MANAGER DATABASE? 5-33 __________________________________________________________ 5.19 HOW DO I DELETE AN UNDELETABLE/UNSTOPPABLE (RWAST) PROCESS? 5-34 __________________________________________________________ 5.20 HOW DO I RESET THE ERROR COUNT(S)? 5-35 __________________________________________________________ 5.21 HOW DO I FIND OUT IF THE TAPE DRIVE SUPPORTS COMPRESSION? 5-37 __________________________________________________________ 5.22 CAN I COPY SYSUAF TO ANOTHER VERSION? TO VAX? TO ALPHA? 5-37 ix Contents __________________________________________________________ 5.23 HOW DO I DELETE (TIMEOUT) IDLE PROCESSES? 5-40 __________________________________________________________ 5.24 DO I NEED A PAK FOR THE DECEVENT (HP ANALYZE) TOOL? 5-40 __________________________________________________________ 5.25 INITIALIZE ACCVIO AND ANSI TAPE LABEL SUPPORT? 5-41 __________________________________________________________ 5.26 HOW DO I RECOVER FROM INSVIRMEM ERRORS? 5-41 __________________________________________________________ 5.27 HOW CAN I PREVENT A SERIAL TERMINAL LINE FROM INITIATING A LOGIN? 5-42 __________________________________________________________ 5.28 HOW DOES PCSI USE THE IMAGE BUILD_IDENT FIELD? 5-42 __________________________________________________________ 5.29 HOW CAN I TELL WHAT SOFTWARE (AND VERSION) IS INSTALLED? 5-44 __________________________________________________________ 5.30 WHAT FILE CHECKSUM TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE FOR OPENVMS? 5-45 __________________________________________________________ 5.31 WHAT (AND WHERE) IS THE OPENVMS MANAGEMENT STATION? 5-46 __________________________________________________________ 5.32 HOW TO DETERMINE CURRENT DISK FRAGMENTATION LEVEL? 5-46 __________________________________________________________ 5.33 SYSBOOT-I-FILENOTLOC, UNABLE TO LOCATE SYS$CPU_ROUTINES? 5-47 __________________________________________________________ 5.34 HOW CAN I CUSTOMIZE THE DCPS DEVICE CONTROL FOR A NEW PRINTER? 5-47 x Contents __________________________________________________________ 5.35 WHY DO $GETDEV MOUNTCNT AND SHOW DEVICE MOUNT COUNTS DIFFER? 5-49 __________________________________________________________ 5.36 WHAT SOFTWARE IS NEEDED FOR POSTSCRIPT PRINTERS? 5-49 __________________________________________________________ 5.37 HOW DO I REMOVE A PCSI-INSTALLED PATCH (ECO) KIT? 5-49 __________________________________________________________ 5.38 SYSINIT-E, ERROR MOUNTING SYSTEM DEVICE, STATUS=0072832C 5-50 __________________________________________________________ 5.39 RESOLVING LICENSE PAK PROBLEMS? 5-50 __________________________________________________________ 5.40 CHANGING THE OPENVMS VERSION NUMBER? 5-52 __________________________________________________________ 5.41 HOW TO PREVENT USERS FROM CHOOSING OBVIOUS PASSWORDS? 5-53 __________________________________________________________ 5.42 PLEASE HELP ME WITH THE OPENVMS BACKUP UTILITY? 5-55 5.42.1 Why isn't BACKUP/SINCE=BACKUP working? 5-55 5.42.1.1 Why has OpenVMS gone through the agony of this change?, 5-55 5.42.1.2 Can you get the old BACKUP behaviour back?, 5-55 5.42.2 What can I do to improve BACKUP performance? 5-56 5.42.3 Why is BACKUP not working as expected? 5-57 5.42.4 How do I fix a corrupt BACKUP saveset? 5-59 5.42.5 How do I write a BACKUP saveset to a remote tape? 5-60 5.42.6 How to perform a DoD security disk erasure? 5-61 5.42.7 How to enable telnet virtual terminals? 5-63 5.42.7.1 Volume Shadowing MiniCopy vs MiniMerge?, 5-64 5.42.7.1.1 Mini-Copy?, 5-64 5.42.7.1.2 Mini-Merge?, 5-65 xi Contents __________________________________________________________ 5.43 PLEASE EXPLAIN DELETE/ERASE AND FILE LOCKS? 5-66 __________________________________________________________ 5.44 MANAGING FILE VERSIONS? 5-66 __________________________________________________________ 5.45 HOST-BASED VOLUME SHADOWING AND RAID? 5-67 __________________________________________________________ 5.46 ENCRYPTION AND COMPRESSION? 5-68 __________________________________________________________ 5.47 COLLECTING PC SAMPLES BEFORE CRASH? 5-69 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 6 INFORMATION ON MAIL 6-1 __________________________________________________________ 6.1 MAIL KEEPS SAYING I HAVE NEW MESSAGES, BUT I DON'T. WHAT DO I DO? 6-1 __________________________________________________________ 6.2 HOW DO I SEND OR READ ATTACHMENTS IN VMS MAIL? 6-1 __________________________________________________________ 6.3 HOW CAN I BLOCK SMTP MAIL RELAY SPAM? 6-3 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 7 INFORMATION ON UTILITIES 7-1 __________________________________________________________ 7.1 HOW DO I PLAY AN AUDIO CD ON MY WORKSTATION? 7-1 __________________________________________________________ 7.2 HOW DO I ACCESS A MICROSOFT WINDOWS FLOPPY DISK FROM OPENVMS? 7-2 __________________________________________________________ 7.3 HOW DO I PLAY SOUND FILES ON AN ALPHASTATION? DECSOUND DOESN'T WORK. 7-3 __________________________________________________________ 7.4 HOW DO I READ IBM EBCDIC TAPES ON OPENVMS? 7-3 xii Contents __________________________________________________________ 7.5 HOW CAN I PATCH AN OPENVMS ALPHA IMAGE? 7-4 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 8 DCL DETAILS 8-1 __________________________________________________________ 8.1 DCL SYMBOLS AND OPENVMS LOGICAL NAMES? 8-1 __________________________________________________________ 8.2 HOW DO I RUN A PROGRAM WITH ARGUMENTS? 8-3 __________________________________________________________ 8.3 HOW CAN I CLEAR THE SCREEN IN DCL? 8-5 __________________________________________________________ 8.4 USING REPLY/LOG FROM DCL? DISABLING CONSOLE OPCOMS? 8-5 __________________________________________________________ 8.5 HOW DO I GENERATE A RANDOM NUMBER IN DCL? 8-6 __________________________________________________________ 8.6 WHAT DOES THE MCR COMMAND DO? 8-7 __________________________________________________________ 8.7 HOW DO I CHANGE THE OPENVMS SYSTEM PROMPT? 8-7 __________________________________________________________ 8.8 CAN I DO DECNET TASK-TO-TASK COMMUNICATION WITH DCL? 8-8 __________________________________________________________ 8.9 HOW CAN I GET THE WIDTH SETTING OF A TERMINAL? 8-9 __________________________________________________________ 8.10 WHY DOESN'T DCL SYMBOL SUBSTITUTION WORK? 8-9 __________________________________________________________ 8.11 HOW CAN I SUBSTITUTE SYMBOLS IN A PIPE? 8-10 __________________________________________________________ 8.12 USE OF RUN/DETACH, LOGINOUT, AND LOGICAL NAMES? 8-10 xiii Contents __________________________________________________________ 8.13 HOW TO USE ESCAPE AND CONTROL CHARACTERS IN DCL? 8-11 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 9 FILES 9-1 __________________________________________________________ 9.1 HOW CAN I UNDELETE A FILE? 9-1 __________________________________________________________ 9.2 WHY DOES SHOW QUOTA GIVE A DIFFERENT ANSWER THAN DIR/SIZE? 9-1 __________________________________________________________ 9.3 HOW DO I MAKE SURE THAT MY DATA IS SAFELY WRITTEN TO DISK? 9-2 __________________________________________________________ 9.4 WHAT ARE THE LIMITS ON FILE SPECIFICATIONS AND DIRECTORIES? 9-3 __________________________________________________________ 9.5 WHAT IS THE LARGEST DISK VOLUME SIZE OPENVMS CAN ACCESS? 9-4 __________________________________________________________ 9.6 WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM FILE SIZE, AND THE RMS RECORD SIZE LIMIT? 9-7 __________________________________________________________ 9.7 HOW DO I WRITE CD-RECORDABLE OR DVD MEDIA ON OPENVMS? 9-8 9.7.1 CD and DVD notation, terminology? 9-11 9.7.2 Use of RRD42 and other older (embossed-media) CD drives? 9-13 9.7.3 Creating Bootable OpenVMS I64 CD or DVD Media? SYS$SETBOOT? 9-14 __________________________________________________________ 9.8 WHAT I/O TRANSFER SIZE LIMITS EXIST IN OPENVMS? 9-15 __________________________________________________________ 9.9 CAN I USE ODBC TO CONNECT TO OPENVMS DATABASE FILES? 9-15 xiv Contents __________________________________________________________ 9.10 IF MY DISKS ARE SHOWN AS VIOC COMPATIBLE, AM I USING XFC? 9-16 __________________________________________________________ 9.11 RMS SEQUENTIAL FILES AND PLATFORM PORTABILITY? 9-16 __________________________________________________________ 9.12 HOW TO READ LOCKED FILES? 9-17 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 10 OPENVMS PROGRAMMING INFORMATION 10-1 __________________________________________________________ 10.1 MODULAR PROGRAMMING, FACILITY PREFIXES AND SYMBOL NAMING? 10-1 __________________________________________________________ 10.2 CAN I HAVE A SOURCE CODE EXAMPLE OF CALLING...? 10-2 __________________________________________________________ 10.3 HOW DO I GET THE ARGUMENTS FROM THE COMMAND LINE? 10-4 __________________________________________________________ 10.4 HOW DO I GET A FORMATTED ERROR MESSAGE IN A VARIABLE? 10-5 __________________________________________________________ 10.5 HOW DO I LINK AGAINST SYS$SYSTEM:SYS.STB ON AN ALPHA SYSTEM? 10-5 __________________________________________________________ 10.6 HOW DO I DO A SET DEFAULT FROM INSIDE A PROGRAM? 10-5 __________________________________________________________ 10.7 HOW DO I TURN MY FORTRAN COMMON INTO A SHAREABLE IMAGE ON ALPHA? 10-6 __________________________________________________________ 10.8 HOW DO I CONVERT BETWEEN IEEE AND VAX FLOATING DATA? 10-6 xv Contents __________________________________________________________ 10.9 HOW DO I GET THE ARGUMENT COUNT IN A FORTRAN ROUTINE? 10-7 __________________________________________________________ 10.10 HOW DO I GET A UNIQUE SYSTEM ID FOR LICENSING PURPOSES? 10-7 __________________________________________________________ 10.11 WHAT IS AN EXECUTABLE, SHAREABLE, SYSTEM OR UWSS IMAGE? 10-8 __________________________________________________________ 10.12 HOW DO I DO A FILE COPY FROM A PROGRAM? 10-10 __________________________________________________________ 10.13 WHAT IS A DESCRIPTOR? 10-10 __________________________________________________________ 10.14 HOW DO I CREATE A PROCESS UNDER ANOTHER USERNAME? 10-12 __________________________________________________________ 10.15 WHY DO LIB$SPAWN, LIB$SET_SYMBOL FAIL IN DETACHED PROCESSES? 10-13 __________________________________________________________ 10.16 WHERE CAN I OBTAIN BLISS, AND THE LIBRARIES AND SUPPORTING FILES? 10-14 __________________________________________________________ 10.17 HOW CAN I OPEN A FILE FOR SHARED ACCESS? 10-16 __________________________________________________________ 10.18 HOW CAN I HAVE COMMON SOURCES FOR MESSAGES, CONSTANTS? 10-16 __________________________________________________________ 10.19 HOW DO I ACTIVATE THE OPENVMS DEBUGGER FROM AN APPLICATION? 10-17 __________________________________________________________ 10.20 DEALING WITH ENDIAN-NESS? 10-17 __________________________________________________________ 10.21 HOW TO RESOLVE LINK-I-DATMISCH ERRORS? 10-18 xvi Contents __________________________________________________________ 10.22 HP C AND OTHER OPENVMS C PROGRAMMING CONSIDERATIONS? 10-18 10.22.1 Other common C issues 10-22 10.22.2 Other common C++ issues 10-24 __________________________________________________________ 10.23 STATUS OF PROGRAMMING TOOLS ON OPENVMS VAX? 10-26 __________________________________________________________ 10.24 CHOOSING A VERSION NUMBER FOR APPLICATION CODE? 10-27 __________________________________________________________ 10.25 SELECTING A PROCESS DUMP DIRECTORY? 10-28 __________________________________________________________ 10.26 ACCESS TO ITANIUM ASSEMBLER? 10-29 __________________________________________________________ 10.27 KERNEL-MODE CODING RESTRICTIONS? 10-29 __________________________________________________________ 10.28 DECODING AN ACCESS VIOLATION (ACCVIO) ERROR? 10-30 __________________________________________________________ 10.29 GENERATING AN AUTODIN-II CRC32? 10-32 __________________________________________________________ 10.30 ENABLING BUILT-IN TRACING? 10-32 __________________________________________________________ 10.31 ACCESSING A WEB SERVER FROM DCL? 10-33 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 11 DECWINDOWS 11-1 __________________________________________________________ 11.1 HOW DO I LET SOMEONE ELSE DISPLAY SOMETHING ON MY WORKSTATION? 11-1 __________________________________________________________ 11.2 HOW DO I CREATE A DISPLAY ON ANOTHER WORKSTATION? 11-3 __________________________________________________________ 11.3 HOW CAN I GET THE INFORMATION FROM SHOW DISPLAY INTO A SYMBOL? 11-3 xvii Contents __________________________________________________________ 11.4 HOW DO I GET A LOG OF A DECTERM SESSION? 11-4 __________________________________________________________ 11.5 WHY IS DECWINDOWS MOTIF NOT STARTING? 11-4 __________________________________________________________ 11.6 HOW DO I SET THE TITLE ON A DECTERM WINDOW? 11-6 __________________________________________________________ 11.7 HOW DO I CUSTOMIZE DECWINDOWS, INCLUDING THE LOGIN SCREEN? 11-7 11.7.1 How do I customize DECwindows keymapping? 11-10 11.7.2 Why does the DELETE key delete forward instead of backward? 11-10 __________________________________________________________ 11.8 WHY DOESN'T XTAPPADDINPUT() WORK ON OPENVMS? 11-12 __________________________________________________________ 11.9 WHY DO THE KEYBOARD ARROW KEYS MOVE THE DECWINDOWS CURSOR? 11-13 __________________________________________________________ 11.10 WHY DOES HALF MY DECWINDOWS DISPLAY BLANK? 11-13 __________________________________________________________ 11.11 %DECW-W-NODEVICE, NO GRAPHICS DEVICE FOUND ON THIS SYSTEM? 11-14 __________________________________________________________ 11.12 HOW CAN I RESET THE WARNING BELL VOLUME? 11-16 __________________________________________________________ 11.13 HOW CAN I ALTER THE DECWINDOWS CDE BACKDROP? 11-17 __________________________________________________________ 11.14 HOW CAN I ENABLE THE DECWINDOWS TCP/IP TRANSPORT 11-17 __________________________________________________________ 11.15 CAN I USE DECWINDOWS 1.2-* ON OPENVMS V7.3-2 OR LATER? 11-17 __________________________________________________________ 11.16 HOW TO ADD FONTS INTO DECWINDOWS? 11-18 xviii Contents ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 12 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION 12-1 __________________________________________________________ 12.1 WHERE CAN I FIND INFORMATION ON ESCAPE AND CONTROL SEQUENCES? 12-1 __________________________________________________________ 12.2 DOES DECPRINT (DCPS) WORK WITH THE LRA0 PARALLEL PORT? 12-3 __________________________________________________________ 12.3 HOW DO I CHECK FOR FREE SPACE ON A (BACKUP) TAPE? 12-3 __________________________________________________________ 12.4 CORRECTLY USING LICENSE PAKS AND LMF? 12-4 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 13 FINDING AND USING SOFTWARE 13-1 __________________________________________________________ 13.1 WHERE CAN I FIND FREEWARE/SHAREWARE/SOFTWARE FOR OPENVMS? 13-1 __________________________________________________________ 13.2 WHERE CAN I FIND UNIX TOOLS FOR OPENVMS? 13-15 13.2.1 C system and library routines 13-15 13.2.2 X Windows utilities and routines 13-16 13.2.3 TCP/IP Tools and Utilities for OpenVMS? 13-16 13.2.4 The vi text editor 13-17 13.2.5 The Emacs Text Editor 13-17 13.2.6 GNV: Various GNU tools 13-17 13.2.6.1 GCC compiler, 13-18 __________________________________________________________ 13.3 WHAT IS THE STATUS OF PL/I ON OPENVMS? 13-19 __________________________________________________________ 13.4 WHERE CAN I GET THE MOZILLA WEB BROWSER? 13-19 __________________________________________________________ 13.5 WHERE CAN I GET JAVA FOR OPENVMS? 13-20 __________________________________________________________ 13.6 OBTAINING USER INPUT IN DCL CGI SCRIPT? 13-21 xix Contents __________________________________________________________ 13.7 HOW CAN A BATCH JOB GET ITS OWN BATCH ENTRY NUMBER? 13-22 __________________________________________________________ 13.8 HOW DO I CONVERT TO NEW CMS OR DTM LIBRARIES? 13-22 __________________________________________________________ 13.9 WHERE CAN I GET PERL FOR OPENVMS? 13-23 __________________________________________________________ 13.10 OBTAINING THE DECMIGRATE (AEST OR VEST, AND TIE) TRANSLATOR? 13-25 __________________________________________________________ 13.11 WHERE CAN I GET ZIP, UNZIP, SELF-EXTRACTING ZIP, ETC? 13-26 __________________________________________________________ 13.12 ARE VAX HARDWARE EMULATORS AVAILABLE? 13-27 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 14 HARDWARE INFORMATION 14-1 __________________________________________________________ 14.1 WHAT ARE THE OPENVMS DIFFERENCES AMONG VAX, ALPHA, AND IA-64? 14-1 __________________________________________________________ 14.2 SEEKING PERFORMANCE INFORMATION FOR ALPHA (AND VAX) SYSTEMS? 14-3 __________________________________________________________ 14.3 CONSOLE COMMANDS, SERIAL LINES, AND CONTROLS? 14-3 14.3.1 What commands are available in the Alpha SRM console? 14-4 14.3.2 What does SRM mean? What is PALcode? 14-4 14.3.3 Alpha COM ports and VAX console serial line information? 14-5 14.3.3.1 Which terminal device name is assigned to the COM ports?, 14-5 14.3.3.2 Which serial port is the console on the MicroVAX 3100?, 14-5 14.3.3.3 How can I set up an alternate console on a VAXstation?, 14-6 xx Contents 14.3.3.4 Please explain the back panel of the MicroVAX II, 14-6 14.3.4 What are Alpha console environment variables? 14-8 14.3.5 What are the boot control flag values? 14-9 14.3.5.1 What are the I64 IPB boot flag values?, 14-9 14.3.5.2 What are the Alpha APB boot flag values?, 14-10 14.3.5.3 What are the VAX VMB boot flag values?, 14-12 14.3.6 How do I boot an AlphaStation without monitor or keyboard? 14-15 14.3.7 Downloading and using SRM console Firmware? 14-16 14.3.7.1 Where can I get updated console firmware for Alpha systems?, 14-16 14.3.7.2 How do I reload SRM firmware on a half-flash Alpha system?, 14-17 14.3.7.3 How do I switch between AlphaBIOS/ARC and SRM consoles?, 14-18 14.3.8 Console Management Options 14-21 14.3.9 Why do my EFI Boot Aliases Fail? 14-22 14.3.10 Can OpenVMS access the EFI console Boot Aliases? 14-22 14.3.11 Downloading and using EFI Console Firmware? 14-22 __________________________________________________________ 14.4 WHAT PLATFORMS WILL OPENVMS OPERATE ON? 14-24 14.4.1 on the Alpha Multia? 14-26 14.4.2 on AlphaPC 164LX? AlphaPC 164SX? 14-28 14.4.2.1 on the NoName AXPpci33 system?, 14-28 14.4.3 on the Alpha XL series? 14-29 14.4.4 OpenVMS on the Personal Workstation -a and -au series? 14-29 14.4.4.1 OpenVMS on the Whitebox Windows-Only series Alpha?, 14-31 14.4.4.2 OpenVMS and Personal Workstation ATA (IDE) bootstrap?, 14-32 14.4.5 On the Intel Itanium IA-64 platform? 14-32 14.4.5.1 Where can I get Intel Itanium information?, 14-33 xxi Contents __________________________________________________________ 14.5 WHAT IS THE LEAST EXPENSIVE SYSTEM THAT WILL RUN OPENVMS? 14-34 __________________________________________________________ 14.6 WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION ON ALPHA SYSTEMS? 14-35 __________________________________________________________ 14.7 DESCRIBE ALPHA INSTRUCTION EMULATION AND INSTRUCTION SUBSETS? 14-36 __________________________________________________________ 14.8 SO HOW DO I OPEN UP THE DEC 3000 CHASSIS? 14-38 __________________________________________________________ 14.9 WHAT IS BYTE SWIZZLING? 14-38 __________________________________________________________ 14.10 WHAT IS THE LAYOUT OF THE VAX FLOATING POINT FORMAT? 14-40 __________________________________________________________ 14.11 WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFO ABOUT VAX SYSTEMS? 14-41 __________________________________________________________ 14.12 WHERE CAN I FIND INFORMATION ON NETBSD FOR VAX SYSTEMS? 14-41 __________________________________________________________ 14.13 WHAT SYSTEM DISK SIZE LIMIT ON THE MICROVAX AND VAXSTATION 3100? 14-41 __________________________________________________________ 14.14 WHAT ARE THE VAX PROCESSOR (CPU) CODES? 14-43 __________________________________________________________ 14.15 WHERE CAN I GET SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE SUPPORT INFORMATION? 14-44 __________________________________________________________ 14.16 WHERE CAN I GET HARDWARE SELF-MAINTENANCE SUPPORT ASSISTANCE? 14-45 __________________________________________________________ 14.17 WHY DOES MY SYSTEM HALT WHEN I POWER-CYCLE THE CONSOLE TERMINAL? 14-46 xxii Contents __________________________________________________________ 14.18 CAN I REUSE OLD KEYBOARDS, MICE AND MONITORS WITH A PC? 14-46 __________________________________________________________ 14.19 WHICH VIDEO MONITOR WORKS WITH WHICH GRAPHICS CONTROLLER? 14-48 __________________________________________________________ 14.20 WHERE CAN I GET INFORMATION ON STORAGE HARDWARE? 14-50 __________________________________________________________ 14.21 WHY DOES MY LK401 KEYBOARD UNEXPECTEDLY AUTOREPEAT? 14-50 __________________________________________________________ 14.22 PROBLEM - MY LK411 SENDS THE WRONG KEYCODES OR SOME KEYS ARE DEAD 14-51 __________________________________________________________ 14.23 WHICH DE500 VARIANT WORKS WITH WHICH OPENVMS VERSION? 14-51 __________________________________________________________ 14.24 HOW DO I SET THE SPEED AND DUPLEX ON OPENVMS I64? 14-53 __________________________________________________________ 14.25 THIRD-PARTY OR UNSUPPORTED DISK/TAPE/CONTROLLERS/SCSI/WIDGETS? 14-54 14.25.1 Lists of third-party widgets on OpenVMS? 14-57 14.25.2 Are the 2X-KZPCA-AA and SN-KZPCA-AA LVD Ultra2 SCSI? 14-57 14.25.3 Resolving DRVERR fatal device error? 14-57 __________________________________________________________ 14.26 LOOKING FOR CONNECTOR WIRING PIN-OUTS? 14-57 __________________________________________________________ 14.27 WHAT CONNECTORS AND WIRING ADAPTERS ARE AVAILABLE? 14-61 __________________________________________________________ 14.28 WHAT IS FLOW CONTROL AND HOW DOES IT WORK? 14-63 xxiii Contents __________________________________________________________ 14.29 CD AND DVD DEVICE REQUIREMENTS? 14-65 __________________________________________________________ 14.30 OFFICE-FRIENDLY (QUIETER) INTEGRITY RX2620 SERIES? 14-66 __________________________________________________________ 14.31 KVM SWITCHES FOR ALPHASERVER AND INTEGRITY SERVERS? 14-67 __________________________________________________________ 14.32 CHANGING PROCESSOR (CPU) IDENTIFICATION CODES? 14-67 ________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 15 INFORMATION ON NETWORKS AND CLUSTERS 15-1 __________________________________________________________ 15.1 HOW TO CONNECT OPENVMS TO A MODEM? 15-1 __________________________________________________________ 15.2 OPENVMS AND IP NETWORKING? 15-1 15.2.1 How to connect OpenVMS to the Internet? 15-1 15.2.2 Connecting to an IP Printer? 15-2 15.2.3 How do I connect a PostScript printer via TCP/IP? 15-3 15.2.4 How do I set a default IP route or gateway on OpenVMS? 15-4 15.2.5 How can I set up reverse telnet (like reverse LAT)? 15-4 15.2.6 Why can't I use PPP and RAS to connect to OpenVMS Alpha? 15-4 __________________________________________________________ 15.3 OPENVMS AND DECNET NETWORKING? 15-5 15.3.1 Can DECnet-Plus operate over IP? 15-5 15.3.2 What does "failure on back translate address request" mean? 15-5 15.3.3 Performing SET HOST/MOP in DECnet-Plus? 15-6 15.3.4 How to flush the DECnet-Plus session cache? 15-6 xxiv Contents __________________________________________________________ 15.4 HOW TO DETERMINE THE NETWORK HARDWARE ADDRESS? 15-7 15.4.1 How do I reset the LAN (DECnet-Plus NCL) error counters? 15-9 15.4.2 How do I install DECnet Phase IV on VMS 7.1? 15-9 __________________________________________________________ 15.5 HOW CAN I SEND (RADIO) PAGES FROM MY OPENVMS SYSTEM? 15-11 __________________________________________________________ 15.6 OPENVMS, CLUSTERS, VOLUME SHADOWING? 15-11 15.6.1 OpenVMS Cluster Communications Protocol Details? 15-12 15.6.1.1 OpenVMS Cluster (SCS) over DECnet? Over IP?, 15-12 15.6.1.2 Configuring Cluster SCS for path load balancing?, 15-13 15.6.1.2.1 Cluster Terminology?, 15-13 15.6.1.2.2 Cluster Communications Control?, 15-14 15.6.1.2.3 Cluster Communications Control Tools and Utilities?, 15-15 15.6.2 Cluster System Parameter Settings? 15-16 15.6.2.1 What is the correct value for EXPECTED_VOTES in a VMScluster?, 15-16 15.6.2.1.1 Why no shadowing for a Quorum Disk?, 15-19 15.6.2.2 Explain disk (or tape) allocation class settings?, 15-19 15.6.2.2.1 How to configure allocation classes and Multi-Path SCSI?, 15-20 15.6.3 Tell me about SET HOST/DUP and SET HOST/HSC 15-21 15.6.4 How do I rename a DSSI disk (or tape?) 15-23 15.6.5 Where can I get Fibre Channel Storage (SAN) information? 15-24 15.6.6 Which files must be shared in an OpenVMS Cluster? 15-24 15.6.7 How can I split up an OpenVMS Cluster? 15-25 15.6.8 Details on Volume Shadowing? 15-27 15.6.8.1 Does volume shadowing require a non-zero allocation classes?, 15-27 xxv Contents ________________________________________________________________ INDEX ________________________________________________________________ TABLES 1-1 Core Websites 1-1 1-2 INFO-VAX Mail Server Commands 1-4 2-1 OpenVMS Alpha Media Kits 2-6 2-2 OpenVMS I64 Order Numbers 2-7 2-3 OpenVMS I64 Media Suffix 2-7 2-4 OpenVMS Source Listings Kits 2-8 2-5 OpenVMS Alpha Version Rule-Of-Thumb 2-19 3-1 OpenVMS Websites 3-2 3-2 OpenVMS Tutorial and Documentation Websites 3-6 3-3 DP Books 3-8 3-4 OpenVMS Mailing Lists 3-10 3-5 OpenVMS Discussion Forums 3-11 5-1 PCSI Generation Number 5-44 11-1 X Windows Display Commands 11-1 14-1 I64 Conversational Bootstrap Flags 14-10 14-2 Alpha Conversational Bootstrap Flags 14-11 14-3 VAX Conversational Bootstrap Flags 14-12 14-4 DE500 Speed and Duplex Settings 14-52 14-5 DEC MMJ Pin-out 14-58 14-6 PC DB9 Pin-out 14-59 14-7 MicroVAX DB9 Pin-out 14-59 14-8 DECconnect MMJ Connectors and Adapters 14-61 14-9 Shared/paired VAX Boards 14-68 15-1 Cluster Common Shared Files 15-24 xxvi ________________________________________________________________ Preface i ________________________________________________________________ OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) This is the OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting for the comp.os.vms and comp.sys.dec usenet newsgroups. Suggestions and Updates Welcome! Please send your suggestions for changes, additions, or corrections directly to FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam-atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam-dot}org) No Support Questions, Please Please do not send technical questions to the FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam-atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam- dot}org) . The FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam- atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam-dot}org) is not in a position to answer general questions, nor to provide general product support. Rather, please post your questions to the appropriate newsgroup, or please contact your preferred hardware and/or software support organization(s) directly. Your understanding in this matter is greatly appreciated. If you believe any particular discussion worthy of inclusion in a future edition of the FAQ and particularly once you have or know both the question and the answer, please then send the entire discussion along to the FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam- atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam-dot}org) for potential inclusion. Do note that the FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam- atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam-dot}org) takes URL link continuity seriously, and strives to maintain current links. This is, however, a large task, and it is only becoming more difficult. URL link continuity is also something that you can assist with, of course. If you should find a dead link or a stale URL iii OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pointer, please notify the FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam- atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam-dot}org) . If you have or can find the current, correct or updated URL, of course, that greatly assists the FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam- atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam-dot}org) in maintaining the most current set of links. Thank you! Post to Newsgroups With Care! Please consider reading Section 1.3 before posting to the comp.os.vms or any other newsgroups. (What you post can come back to haunt you.) _____________________________ Contributors Many people have contributed to this FAQ, directly and/or indirectly. In many cases, part or all of an answer included in the FAQ has been adapted from one or more postings from the comp.os.vms or other newsgroup-this though individual citations and specific quotations are generally not included in this FAQ. (The FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam-atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam- dot}org) wishes to thank to all of those folks who post answers to the newsgroups, and that have contributed to the contents of and to the general improvements of this FAQ.) The following is an incomplete list of the folks that have contributed directly or indirectly to the contents of the OpenVMS FAQ. Additions, corrections, and updates to this list of contributors and to the contents of the FAQ itself are welcome, and all omissions and misspellings are unintentional. Thanks to each of the contributors here, and to all of the folks that have participated in the FAQ and in the newsgroups. Jim Agnew, Paul Anderson, Jason Armistead, Zoltan Arpadffy, John AtoZ, Bailey, Gary Barclay, (The) Beav, Jeremy Begg, Colin Blake, Fabrice Blanquart, Ken Blaylock, Kenneth Block, Bol, Craig Berry, Mark Berryman, Jim Becker, Verell Boaen, Bol, Jim Brankin, Richard Brodie, Colin Butcher, Robert Alan Byer, Jeff iv OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Campbell, Scott Campbell, Antonio Carlini, Keith Cayemberg, Ken Chaney, Cristy, John Croll, David J. Dachtera, Robert Deininger, Dale Dellutri, Leo Demers, Sue Denham, Thomas Dickey, Eric Dittman, Mike Duffy, Jim Dunham, Eric, Glenn Everhart, Ken Fairfield, Yaacov Fenster, Gunther Froehlin, Harry Garonzik, Derek Garson, John Gillings, Andy Goldstein, Clair Grant, Hunter Goatley, Ruth Goldenberg, Vance Haemmerle, Ki Suk Hahn, SHarris, Rich Hearn, Fletcher Hearns, Phillip Helbig, Hein van den Heuvel, Stephen Hoffman, Eberhard Heuser-Hofmann, Sue Holt, Mark Hopkins, Horn, Jaf, Leif Jansson, Kevin Jenkins, Don R. Jones, Henry Juengst, inazu_k, Geoff Kingsmill, Fred Kleinsorge, Felix Kreisel, Veli Korkko, Ruslan R. Laishev, Peter "EPLAN" Langstoeger, Norm Lastovica, p_lee, Jerry Leichter, Richard Levitte, Tom Linden, Steve Lionel, Denis Maillard, Kerry Main, John E. Malmberg, David Mathog, Dale Miller, Ian Miller, Dick Munroe, Patrick Moreau, Morrison, otis, George Pagliarulo, Keith Parris, Guy Peleg, Plass, pvhp, David Rabahy, Stan Rabinowitz, Mike Raspuzzi, Steve Reece, Neil Rieck, Ian Ring, Aaron Sakovich, Warren Sander, Mark Schafer, Brian Schenkenberger, Atlant Schmidt, Wayne Sewell, Steven Shamlian, Sue Skonetski, Scott Snadow, Sue Sommer, Scott Squires, stfp, Dave Sweeney, Mike Thompson, Arne Vajhøj, Martin Vorländer, Peter Weaver, William Webb, Williams, Paul Winalski, Uwe Zinser. Again, any omission from this list and any errors or misspellings are entirely unintentional. Please notify the FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam-atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam- dot}org) of any omissions, corrections, or updates that might be needed within this list. And thanks to each of these individuals for their assistance and for their contributions, and particularly for sharing their expertise. v OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) __________________________________________________________ FAQ Archives and FAQ Locations The OpenVMS FAQ is archived in (at least) the following locations: o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/faq/ o ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.os.vms/ o comp.answers o news:news.answers o http://www.faqs.org/ o http://www.google.com/ o http://eisner.decus.org/vms/faq.htm o http://www.hoffmanlabs.org Other internet FAQs are generally available in these locations: o comp.answers o news:news.answers o ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/ o http://www.faqs.org/ o http://www.google.com/ __________________________________________________________ FAQ File Formats and Production Information This FAQ is available in ASCII text, Postscript, Bookreader, and HTML, and potentially in other file formats. Certain formats, such as the Adobe Acrobat PDF conversion from the Postscript format, are provided downstream from the FAQ text formatting, and are provided and maintained by others. As the HTML-format FAQ is not a single monolithic (and accordingly large) HTML file, it is the most difficult format to search using the most common standard (platform-local) tools. Accordingly, the FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam-atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam-dot}org) recommends downloading, using and searching the ASCII text FAQ format. vi OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) The OpenVMS FAQ is maintained in DECdocument SDML format and all FAQ maintenance and the primary output file format conversions are performed on OpenVMS systems. For information on the DECdocument product, please contact Touch Technologies. __________________________________________________________ Old FAQ Section Notations Available in Index For the folks that are familiar with older editions of this FAQ and specifically for those folks looking for the older section name keywords, please see the index entries located under FAQ Sections (Old). These older section names include the prefixes DCL, DECW, DOC, FILES, MISC, MGMT, INTRO, SOFT, VMS, etc., followed by the section number. __________________________________________________________ The Fine Print Corrections and suggestions are welcome. Should you believe you can provide better stewardship of this FAQ, or should you have strong feelings over the content, structure, organization or implementation of the FAQ, do realize you may be offered the editorship. The editor maintains this document as a free service to the OpenVMS community. While the information contained here is believed correct, the use of any and all information acquired from this document is entirely at the risk of the user(s). If your system should crash or your data should become corrupted or the answer(s) found here should be found erroneous, that is solely your risk and your responsibility. Though various folks that have contributed to this FAQ are or have been employees of Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), this posting and the information contained within this FAQ are not an official statement of HP, nor a commitment by HP. All information, comments or opinions included, cited or otherwise referenced here may or may not reflect the stated opinions of HP, of the FAQ editor, or of any other entity. vii OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) All trademarks, registered trademarks, servicemarks and registered servicemarks used or referenced here are the properties of their respective owner(s) or holders. Please route any corrections, requests or related updates to the FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam- atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam-dot}org) The redistribution, reposting and/or the web-serving of complete and unaltered copies of this FAQ document is permitted. Other uses only with prior permission. The master copy of this FAQ is posted at o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/faq Translations of this FAQ into various languages may be available, please contact the maintainer(s) of any translated document for assistance or feedback involving the particular translated edition of this FAQ. viii _______________________________________________________ 1 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 1.1 What core OpenVMS URLs do you need to know? If you have no other OpenVMS URLs bookmarked, you will want to be familiar with the URLs listed in Table 1-1: ________________________________________________________________ Table 1-1 Core Websites ________________________________________________________________ URL_______Contents______________________________________________ Core OpenVMS Information, including roadmaps and release schedules http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/ OpenVMS and Core Layered Product Documentation http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/ Core OpenVMS Support Search Engine URLs, the ITRC support and discussion forums, and the ITRC FTP-accessable Patch Area http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/james/CPQhome.do (formerly the NLSA Natural Language Search Assistant, and formerly AskQ.) http://www.itrc.hp.com/ ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/openvms_patches/ The OpenVMS Freeware http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/ The OpenVMS Hobbyist License Program http://www.openvmshobbyist.org/ 1-1 Introduction ________________________________________________________________ Table 1-1 (Cont.) Core Websites ________________________________________________________________ URL_______Contents______________________________________________ http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/license_software_ __________programs/index.html___________________________________ __________________________________________________________ 1.2 What are the OpenVMS Usenet Newsgroups? There are a huge number of newsgroups available, some of which discuss topics of interest to folks using OpenVMS operating system. Key among these are the comp.os.vms newsgroup and the vmsnet.* heirarchy of newsgroups. _____________________________ 1.2.1 What is the scope of the comp.os.vms newsgroup? The comp.os.vms newsgroup is the primary newsgroup for discussion of the HP OpenVMS operating system and the computer systems on which it runs. Questions about layered products which run on OpenVMS are also welcome, though many of them (in particular, language compilers and database systems) have more specific newsgroups. If a question has some relationship to OpenVMS, it belongs in comp.os.vms . _____________________________ 1.2.2 What newsgroups carry VMS-related information? The vmsnet.* hierarchy is operated by the Encompass users group (formerly known as DECUS), and contains various newsgroups of interest, including vmsnet.misc and vmsnet.alpha. Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Besuchen Sie bitte den newsgroup de.comp.os.vms. The comp.sys.dec newsgroup carries general discussions about various HP computer systems, and specifically systems that were acquired by HP as part of the acquisition of Compaq, systems which had previously been acquired by Compaq as part of the acquisition of Digital Equipment Corporation (DIGITAL). 1-2 Introduction Also of interest are resources and conferencing systems including Encompasserve (formerly known as DECUServe) and Ken Farmer's OpenVMS.Org forums: o telnet://eisner.decus.org/ o http://www.openvms.org/ _____________________________ 1.2.3 What newsgroup archives are available? Extensive archives of INFO-VAX mailings and comp.os.vms postings are archived and available at SRI International: http://mvb.saic.com/freeware/info-vax/ Google also has extensive newsgroup archives available at o http://www.google.com/ _____________________________ 1.2.4 What is the INFO-VAX mailing list? INFO-VAX is a mailing list which is bidirectionally gatewayed to the comp.os.vms newsgroup. This means that postings to comp.os.vms get automatically sent to INFO- VAX subscribers and messages sent to the INFO-VAX list are automatically posted to comp.os.vms INFO-VAX can be a useful way to participate in the newsgroup if you can't access the newsgroup directly through a newsreader. Note that INFO-VAX is a closed mailing list, which means that only subscribers may post to it. Please see Section 1.2.4.1 for information on how to subscribe, and how you can subscribe such that you can post from multiple addresses but still receive no more than one copy of the mailings. Please remember that propogation delays can and do vary, meaning that mailings and postings may be delayed or even lost. It is quite possible that postings may not be delivered for several days, and that some postings will appear out of the expected order. For details on the available archives, please see Section 1.2.3. 1-3 Introduction _____________________________ 1.2.4.1 How do I subscribe to or unsubscribe from INFO-VAX? The address for subscription requests is Info-VAX- Request[at]Mvb.Saic.Com. Subscription requests are handled automatically by a mail server. This mail server ignores the subject line and processes each line of the message as a command. The syntax for subscribing and unsubscribing, as well as setting various parameters on your subscription, is: ________________________________________________________________ Table 1-2 INFO-VAX Mail Server Commands _______________________________________________________ Command____________________Description_________________ HELP Acquire information on mail server SUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX Join to the mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX Leave the mailing list SET INFO-VAX DIGEST Select periodic omnibus mail messages from the mail server, rather than multiple individual messages for each posting. SET INFO-VAX NODIGEST Separate mail delivery of each message posted SET INFO-VAX NOMAIL Establish an email address for posting, though not for receiving, mail. SET INFO-VAX MAIL Establish an email address for both posting and for receiving mail from the ____________________________________mailing_list._______________ The mail server is not case-sensitive; case is irrelevant. Settings and policies can be retrieved from the mail server, typically using HELP. The INFO-VAX moderator can be contacted directly at the email address Mark.Berryman[at]Mvb.Saic.Com. 1-4 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 1.3 What is [n]etiquette? Before posting or emailing a question, please use the available local resources, such as the OpenVMS manuals, the HELP, and the resources and information in and referenced by this FAQ. See Section 1.1, for instance. Please (try to) use these first. When posting, please consider the etiquette/netiquette suggestions that are available in RFC 1855, a document available at various sites including: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt . Note Please do not post security holes or system crashers Rather, please report these problems directly to HP. Why? So that HP has a chance to resolve and to distribute a fix before other customer sites can be affected. Most folks in the newsgroups are honest and deserve to know about potential security problems, but a few folks can and will make nefarious use of this same information. Other sites will hopefully return the courtesy, and will not post information that will potentially compromise your site and your computer environment. __________________________________________________________ 1.4 What OpenVMS user group(s) are available? Encompass, the Enterprise Computing Association, is a user group comprised of information technology professionals that are interested in the Enterprise- oriented products, services, and technologies of Compaq and of the former DIGITAL. Encompass offers newsletters, the Encompass website, and offers various gatherings and related services, including symposia events and local users group meetings. Encompass is a descendent of the organization known as DECUS, the Digital Equipment Computer Users Society. 1-5 Introduction For more information on Encompass, please visit the Encompass web site: o http://www.encompassus.org/ The organization comprised of customers of Hewlett- Packard Company (HP) that is probably most analogous to the Encompass organization is Interex: o http://www.interex.org/ Like Encompass, Interex offers various services and events of interest to folks that presently work with and/or that wish to learn about HP products and offerings. Please see the Interex website for details. __________________________________________________________ 1.5 OpenVMS Support, Questions and Comments? The following section includes contacts for OpenVMS Feedback, and information on how to obtain technical support information. _____________________________ 1.5.1 Corporate contacts for OpenVMS Business Issues? The HP corporate contact for OpenVMS business issues is Ann McQuaid, the HP General Manager directly in charge of OpenVMS and OpenVMS Engineering, while feature requests and other related matters should be routed to MaryJane Vazquez, the OpenVMS Business Manager. Ann and MaryJane will quite obviously respond best to cogently-worded OpenVMS corporate-level business issues or requests. With all due respect to all involved, neither Ann nor MaryJane are appropriate contacts for technical support matters nor for technical support requests, nor for any other non-corporate-related, non- business-related issues-these questions are best routed to the local or regional customer support center; to the support, technical and engineering teams. To reach Ann or MaryJane via electronic mail, place a dot between the first and the surname, and append the expected HP.COM domain. 1-6 Introduction _____________________________ 1.5.2 OpenVMS Ambassadors? The OpenVMS Ambassadors are senior HP engineers with advanced technical knowledge and advanced training in OpenVMS, with detailed knowledge of current and future OpenVMS releases and product plans, and with contacts directly with the HP and ISV hardware and software engineering organizations developing OpenVMS and OpenVMS hardware platforms, as well as layered products and tools. Further, Ambassadors are experienced with integrating HP OpenVMS and application-specific products and ISV applications to solve specific business requirements. OpenVMS Ambassadors are based throughout the world. Your HP sales representative or HP reseller will be able connect you with your local OpenVMS Ambassador. _____________________________ 1.5.3 Contact for OpenVMS Marketing Issues and Questions? Please see Section 3.4. _____________________________ 1.5.4 Contact URLs for OpenVMS Technical Issues? For formal technical issues and technical support, please contact your software support organization, or your local HP Customer Support Center or HP Reseller. In North America, you can call 1-800-HP-INVENT. For informal (free) support resources, see the newsgroups including comp.os.vms ( news:comp.os.vms comp.os.vms ), see the ITRC discussion forums, the James support database search engine (search assistant tool) ( http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/james/CPQhome.do ), and see sections of this document including the platform support information in Section 14.4, sources of software and hardware support in Section 14.15, information on third-party devices and unsupported hardware in Section 14.25, and the many other sections of this document. 1-7 Introduction Please remember to review and to bookmark the following support URLs: o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/ o http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/james/CPQhome.do o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/ (reference only; use ITRC forums for new questions) o ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/openvms_patches/ 1-8 _______________________________________________________ 2 General Information __________________________________________________________ 2.1 What is OpenVMS? What is its history? OpenVMS, originally called VMS (Virtual Memory System), was first conceived in 1976 as a new operating system for the then-new, 32-bit, virtual memory line of computers, eventually named VAX (Virtual Address eXtension). The first VAX model, the 11/780, was code-named "Star", hence the code name for the VMS operating system, "Starlet", a name that remains to this day the name for the system library files (STARLET.OLB, etc.). VMS version X0.5 was the first released to customers, in support of the hardware beta test of the VAX-11/780, in 1977. VAX/VMS Version V1.0 shipped in 1978, along with the first revenue-ship 11/780s. OpenVMS was designed entirely within HP and specifically within the former Digital Equipment Corporation (DIGITAL). Two of the principal designers were Dave Cutler and Dick Hustvedt, though with a wide variety of other contributors. OpenVMS was conceived as a 32-bit, virtual memory successor to the RSX- 11M operating system for the PDP-11. Many of the original designers and programmers of OpenVMS had worked previously on RSX-11M, and many concepts from RSX-11M were carried over to OpenVMS. OpenVMS VAX is a 32-bit, multitasking, multiprocessing virtual memory operating system. Current implementations run on VAX systems from HP and other vendors, as well as on hardware emulators; for additional information on emulators, please see Section 13.12 and 2-1 General Information OpenVMS Alpha is a 64-bit multitasking, multiprocessing virtual memory operating system. Current implementations run on Alpha systems from HP, and other vendors. OpenVMS has also been ported to the Intel IA-64 architecture, and specifically to HP Integrity systems using microprocessors from the Intel Itanium Processor Family. This implementation of OpenVMS is officially known as "HP OpenVMS for Integrity Servers" and more commonly as "OpenVMS I64", and it operates in the native Itanium IA-64 architecture and 64- bit environment. OpenVMS I64 provides support for applications requiring 32- or 64-bit virtual addressing capabilities entirely within the native 64-bit Itanium execution environment. (For details on this and related terminology, please see Section 14.4.5.) For more details on OpenVMS and its features, please read the OpenVMS Software Product Description at: o http://h18000.www1.hp.com/info/spd/ OpenVMS typically uses SPD 25.01.xx, SPD 41.87.xx, and SPD 82.35.xx. Additional information on the general features of various OpenVMS releases, release dates, as well as the development project code names of specific releases, is available at: o http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/os/openvms- release-history.html Additional historical information-as well as pictures and a variety of other trivia-is available in the VAX 20th anniversary book: o http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/20th/vmsbook.pdf For information on the FreeVMS project, and on hobbyist and educational versions of OpenVMS, please see: o http://www.systella.fr/~bertrand/FreeVMS/indexGB.html o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeVMS o http://www.openvmshobbyist.org/ 2-2 General Information o http://www.openvmsedu.com/ Also please see the related software licensing topics Section 2.8.4, Section 2.8.1, and Section 2.15, and (for developers working on commercial applications for OpenVMS) Section 2.8.3. __________________________________________________________ 2.2 What is the difference between VMS and OpenVMS? VMS and OpenVMS are two names for the same operating system. Originally, the operating system was called VAX-11/VMS; it changed to VAX/VMS at around VAX/VMS V2.0. When the VMS operating system was ported to the Alpha platform, it was renamed OpenVMS, for both VAX and Alpha (and for the Itanium Processor Family), in part to signify the high degree of support for industry standards such as POSIX, which provides many features of UNIX systems. For those versions with POSIX, an OpenVMS license allows you to install and run POSIX for OpenVMS at no additional charge; all you need is the media and documentation which can be found on the Consolidated Distribution and On-Line Documentation CD-ROMs. Support for the POSIX package on more recent OpenVMS releases is not available, various parts of POSIX such as calls from the API are being integrated more directly into OpenVMS. For more information on POSIX for VMS see question SOFT2 What became confusing is that the OpenVMS name was introduced first for OpenVMS AXP V1.0 causing the widespread misimpression that OpenVMS was for Alpha AXP only, while "regular VMS" was for VAX. In fact, the official name of the VAX operating system was changed as of V5.5, though the name did not start to be actually used in the product until V6.0. 2-3 General Information __________________________________________________________ 2.3 What's in a Name? Terminology and Products? The proper names for OpenVMS on the various platforms are "OpenVMS VAX", "OpenVMS Alpha", and "OpenVMS I64". Use of "OpenVMS AXP" and of "VAX/VMS" are deprecated. The VAX and Alpha terms are largely interchangeably used as the names of platforms, of processor or microprocessor implementations, and of the respective computing architectures. Somewhat confusing to long-time OpenVMS users, Intel IA-32, IA-64, and EM64T, and AMD AMD64 are the names of various computing architectures and of architectural extensions. Only. These are not the names of any implementations, nor of any platforms. Intel Itanium is the name of a family of microprocessor implementations of the Intel IA-64 architecture, as Intel Pentium and Xeon are the names of families of microprocessor implementations of Intel IA-32 and (potentially) of the EM64T extensions. I64 is the generic name for the various HP Integrity platforms supported by HP OpenVMS for Integrity Servers (and more commonly as "OpenVMS I64"); for the platforms supported by OpenVMS I64. (For additional related terminology, please see Section 14.4.5.) _____________________________ 2.3.1 How do I port from VMS to OpenVMS? You already did. Wasn't that easy? Please see Section 2.2 for details. __________________________________________________________ 2.4 Which is better, OpenVMS or UNIX? This question comes up periodically, usually asked by new subscribers and new posters who are long-time UNIX or Linux users. Sometimes, the question is ignored totally; other times, it leads to a long series of repetitive messages that convince no one and usually carry little if any new information. Please do everyone a favor and avoid re-starting this perpetual, fruitless debate. 2-4 General Information That said, OpenVMS and the better implementations of UNIX are all fine operating systems, each with its strengths and weaknesses. If you're in a position where you need to choose, select the one that best fits your own requirements, considering, for example, whether or not the layered products or specific OS features you want are available, and considering the expected cost-of-ownership over the lifetime of the system installation. If you are asking this question, you are probably comparing OpenVMS to UNIX. It was once certainly true that OpenVMS and UNIX were quite different. In more recent times, there are tools and C APIs on OpenVMS that directly provide or that easily support porting UNIX programs and commands, and there are equivalent packages bringing various OpenVMS features and mechanisms to UNIX platforms. If you seek UNIX tools on OpenVMS rather than the more philosophical discussion found in this section, please see the GNV package and other GNU discussions in Section 13.2.6, and please see the plethora of C calls currently available in the HP C Run-Time Library documentation, briefly discussed over in Section 13.2.1. __________________________________________________________ 2.5 Is HP continuing funding and support for OpenVMS? Yes. Active development of new OpenVMS releases is underway, as well as the continuation of support. Please see the following URLs for details, roadmaps, and related information: o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/ 2-5 General Information __________________________________________________________ 2.6 What OpenVMS distribution kits are available? Various distributions are available. For the most current information on the available part numbers and current products (OpenVMS distribution kits, media, documentation, etc) and the most current associated licensing information, please see the current OpenVMS Software Product Description (SPD) document, available at: o http://h18000.www1.hp.com/info/spd/ OpenVMS typically uses SPD 25.01.xx, SPD 41.87.xx, and SPD 82.35.xx. The CD-ROMs listed in Table 2-1 contain just the OpenVMS Alpha operating system. The operating system distribution kits are bootable, and can be used to run BACKUP from the optical media, as well as performing an installation or upgrade. ________________________________________________________________ Table 2-1 OpenVMS Alpha Media Kits _______________________________________________________ Part______________Description__________________________ QA-MT1AG-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V6.2-1H3 hardware release CD-ROM; also requires QA- MT1AA-H8.6.2 QA-MT1AR-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V7.1-2 maintenance release CD-ROM QA-MT1AT-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1 maintenance release CD-ROM QA-MT1AU-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-2 maintenance release CD-ROM QA-MT3AA-H8 OpenVMS Alpha and VAX products and documentation on CD-ROM QA-MT3AE-H8 OpenVMS Alpha and VAX documentation ___________________________on_CD-ROM____________________________ OpenVMS I64 is distributed on DVD-ROM media, and is bootable. OpenVMS I64 licensing is implemented on a per-processor-socket basis, with the classic license 2-6 General Information tiers based on the numbers of processor sockets that can be present. Further, three general product and licensing groupings are optionally available with OpenVMS I64, the Foundation Operating Environment (FOE), the Enterprise Operating Environment (EOE), and (as/when/if available) the Mission Critical Operating Environment (MCOE). Seperate per-product licenses are generally also available for various of the products within the Operating Environment groups. ________________________________________________________________ Table 2-2 OpenVMS I64 Order Numbers _______________________________________________________ Part______________Description__________________________ BA322AA#??? OpenVMS I64 FOE Product BA323AA#??? OpenVMS I64 EOE Product _________BA324AA#???_______OpenVMS_I64_MCOE_Product_____________ The product suffix required for the order numbers listed in Table 2-2 can be found in Table 2-3. ________________________________________________________________ Table 2-3 OpenVMS I64 Media Suffix _______________________________________________________ Suffix____________Description__________________________ A18 OpenVMS I64 FOE V8.2 DVD media AJR OE media kit on DVD media _________0D1_______________Factory_installation_________________ The OpenVMS VAX, OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS I64 source listings sets referenced in Table 2-4 include the source listings of most of OpenVMS, and these machine- readable distributions are invaluable for any folks working directly with OpenVMS internals, as well as for folks interested in seeing examples of various OpenVMS programming interfaces. 2-7 General Information ________________________________________________________________ Table 2-4 OpenVMS Source Listings Kits _______________________________________________________ Part______________Description__________________________ QB-MT1AB-E8 OpenVMS Alpha Source Listings kit and license QT-MT1AB-Q8 OpenVMS Alpha Source Listings Updates BA422AA OpenVMS I64 Source Listings kit and license QB-001AB-E8 OpenVMS VAX Source Listings kit and license QT-001AB-Q8 OpenVMS VAX Source Listings Updates BA422AA OpenVMS I64 source listings kit and ___________________________license______________________________ Additional OpenVMS packages and technologies including NetBeans, XML, SOAP, UDDI, JDK, Perl, Tomcat, SSL and such are discussed within the OpenVMS e-Business Infrastructure Package SPD 80.58.xx. Again, please see the OpenVMS SPD and the documents and parts referenced there for the most current information. For information on non-commercial software distributions for use by and for OpenVMS Hobbyists, please see Section 2.8.1. _____________________________ 2.6.1 Where can I download OpenVMS and Layered Product Kits? HP customers with commercial licenses and support contracts can download software product distribution kits from the following HP website: o http://www1.sqp.com/ You can also find pointers to the Software Rollout Report and to the OpenVMS SPD listings via the above SQP website. 2-8 General Information Information on obtaining and transfering licenses is available in Section 2.6 and Section 2.8.4, while information on the OpenVMS Hobbyist licensing program and on obtaining hobbyist product distribution kits is in Section 2.8.1. __________________________________________________________ 2.7 In what language is OpenVMS written? OpenVMS is written in a wide variety of languages. In no particular order, OpenVMS components are implemented using Bliss, Macro, Ada, PLI, VAX and DEC C, Fortran, UIL, VAX and Alpha SDL, Pascal, MDL, DEC C++, DCL, Message, and Document. And this is certainly not a complete list. However, the rumor is NOT true that an attempt was made to write pieces of OpenVMS in every supported language so that the Run-Time Libraries could not be unbundled. (APL, BASIC, COBOL and RPG are just some of the languages NOT represented!) There are a large variety of small and not-so-small tools and DCL command procedures that are used as part of the OpenVMS build, and a source code control system capable of maintaining over a hundred thousand source files across multiple parallel development projects, and overlapping releases. __________________________________________________________ 2.8 Obtaining and Transfering OpenVMS licenses? The following sections describe hobbyist and educational license programs, as well as information on commercial licenses and transfers. For information on the available commercial OpenVMS licenses and for information on license transfers, please see Section 2.8.4. OpenVMS Hobbyist licenses are discussed in Section 2.8.1. For information on the licensing implementation, troubleshooting licensing problems, on the License Unit Requirements Table (LURT), and other related details, please see Section 5.39. For configuring and troubleshooting LMF, see Section 12.4. 2-9 General Information _____________________________ 2.8.1 Questions asked by Hobbyist OpenVMS licensees? If you are a member of an HP-recognized user group (eg: Encompass, Enterex, DECUS), and are considering acquiring and using a VAX, Alpha or (soon) IA-64 system for hobbyist (non-commercial) use, (free) license product authorization keys (PAKs) for OpenVMS VAX, OpenVMS Alpha, and (reportedly) OpenVMS I64, and layered products are available. In addition to the license keys, OpenVMS VAX and Alpha distribution CD-ROM distribution kits are available with OpenVMS, DECwindows Motif, DECnet and TCP/IP networking, compilers, and a variety of layered products. (A hobbyist distribution for OpenVMS I64 is expected.) (While the hobbyist CD- ROM distributions are intended for and tailored for OpenVMS Hobbyists, the contents and capabilities of the Hobbyist installation kits included within the OpenVMS Hobbyist distribution do not differ from the standard distribution installation kits. The products are chosen to reflect the most popular products and the space available on the media.) If you have questions on what else is authorized by the license agreement and on what other distribution media is available to you, well, please read the applicable software license agreement(s). For further information, please link to: o http://www.openvmshobbyist.org/ On the OpenVMS Hobbyist license registration form at the above website (as of August 2005), you are offered the choice of the "OpenVMS VAX" license(s), the "OpenVMS Alpha" license(s), and the "Layered Products" licenses. You will want the operating system license for your particular OpenVMS platform and you will want the "Layered Products" licenses. You will want to select and to acquire two sets of license PAKs. For vendors wishing to license products specifically for hobbyist use (and to not issue hobbyist PAKs), the program provides hobbyists with the license PAK OPENVMS-HOBBYIST. 2-10 General Information If you plan to use a hardware emulator (eg: VAX emulator) on a Microsoft Windows platform, make sure you have an OpenVMS distribution kit that can be installed and/or booted with the particular emulator package you plan to use. For additional information on emulators, please see Section 13.12 and particularly please see the emulator-related documentation. _____________________________ 2.8.1.1 Vendors offering Hobbyist Licenses o GrayMatter Software http://www.graysoft.com/GSCHobbyPR.html http://www.graysoft.com/GSCHobbyPR.html o Argent Software http://jams.argent-software.com/hobby.html o Kednos http://www.kednos.com/ o LJK http://ljk.com o Process Software http://www.process.com/openvms/hobbyist.html o Raxco http://www.raxco.com/hobbyist/ o Software Resources International (SRI) http://www.softresint.com/charon-vax/Tools_and_ tips.htm Hobbyist license product additions, and any updates for products already listed here are welcome. Please contact the FAQ Editor (hoff{NoSpam- atsign}hoffmanlabs{NoSpam-dot}org) 2-11 General Information _____________________________ 2.8.2 OpenVMS Educational and CSLG licenses? For information on OpenVMS licenses for educational customers, please see the HP Campus Software License Grant (CSLG) license program and the OpenVMS Educational license program: o http://www.openvmsedu.com/ _____________________________ 2.8.3 What developer and partner licensing programs are available? Commercial software developers can join the HP DSPP program, and can (potentially) receive discounts on various software product licenses and software distributions, as well as on hardware purchases. o http://www.hp.com/go/dspp/ The DSPP program is the descendent of the DIGITAL ISVN and DIGITAL ASAP programs and the Compaq CSA program, and the analogous developer and partner programs at HP. One of the benefits available is a (free) license product authorization key (PAK) that enables the generation of license PAKs-the so-called PAKGEN PAK generator license PAK. An example of this is available on the OpenVMS Freeware V8.0 distribution. (And no, you can't use the Freeware PAKGEN PAK to generate any license PAK you might want.) Please see Section 2.8.3 for additional details on the DSPP program. For information on the OpenbVMS Hobbyist and OpenVMS Educational license programs, please see Section 2.8.1. 2-12 General Information _____________________________ 2.8.4 How do I obtain or transfer an OpenVMS license? To transfer a commercial OpenVMS license from one owner to another, or to purchase a commercial license, you can contact HP at regional sales office or reseller. For information on the hobbyist license program, please see Section 2.8.1. __________________________________________________________ 2.9 Does OpenVMS support the Euro currency symbol? OpenVMS can generate the %xA4 character code used for the Euro, and the DECwindows DECterm can display the glyph. Please check with the vendor of your terminal or terminal emulator for additional details. __________________________________________________________ 2.10 OpenVMS Ports? Itanium? Ports to IA-32, EM64T or AMD64 systems? OpenVMS has been ported to and is operational on four architectures: VAX, Alpha, IA-64, and IA-32. The first three have available native ports of OpenVMS, the fourth is available via emulation. VAX is the oldest architecture, and limited to 32-bit virtual and up to 34-bit physical addressing. The Alpha and IA-64 architectures are both 64-bit architectures, with 64-bit virtual addressing available. The available IA-32 emulation is provided for the OpenVMS VAX and other VAX operating systems, and provides a 32-bit VAX environment. For additional information on the emulation, please see Section 13.12. As for (the lack of) a native port for IA-32, OpenVMS Engineering presently and continues to believe that there would be insufficient market (read: profit, customer interest) to justify the cost involved in a native port of OpenVMS to systems using the Intel IA-32 architecture. In addition to the direct costs involved in any port and in addition to the substantial effort involved in moving backwards from a 64-bit environment on Alpha and on IA-64 to a 32-bit platform (such as IA-32), and the exceedingly non-trivial device qualification costs and the costs in moving backwards into older PCI and I/O environments (IA-32 systems 2-13 General Information more than a few years old have equivalently aged I/O support and buses), each organization and each person maintaining a product or a package for OpenVMS will have to justify a port to "OpenVMS IA-32", "OpenVMS EM64T" or "OpenVMS AMD64", akin to the decisions and the effort involved in porting a product from OpenVMS VAX to OpenVMS Alpha, or the port to OpenVMS I64. Platform ports of many of the various products can be easy, and many of the ports of applications using documented OpenVMS features are expected to require little more than a source rebuild. Other products can and do depend on platform-specific or undocumented features, and the associated ports can be more involved. Regardless, ports of operating systems are very large and involved projects. The prerequisite product requirements for an OpenVMS operating system port are also non-trivial, as well-compilers in particular are obviously required, and the suite of compilers provided must maintain a very high degree of source-level compatibility across the platforms. In the case of the HP Integrity port, OpenVMS I64 V8.0 used cross-compilers and cross-tools operating on OpenVMS Alpha systems, while V8.2 and later have various native compilers available. The OpenVMS I64 port was centrally built using the existing OpenVMS Alpha environment and around the work and the knowledge from the OpenVMS Alpha port, and OpenVMS Engineering fully expects that customers and ISVs will use and will continue to use OpenVMS Alpha systems to assist with their own ports to OpenVMS I64. OpenVMS Engineering fully expects to see customers using mixed-architecture clusters and fully shared file systems, as well. OpenVMS Engineering is well aware of the AMD AMD64 (64-bit) platform and processors. (At least one of the available VAX emulators can reportedly utilize parts of the AMD64 instruction set, please contact the VAX emulator vendor(s) or maintainer(s) for assistance and details on their products.) OpenVMS Engineering is also well aware of the Intel EM64T platform and processors. There are no plans to provide a native port 2-14 General Information of HP OpenVMS for any systems based on the AMD AMD64 nor Intel EM64T architectures. As part of the work leading to the Itanium port, senior engineers had extensively evaluated the products and the architectures available across the high-end 64-bit computing space, and chose to target Itanium for 64-bit environments-this while under the Compaq organization. This included looking at IA-32. HP (a co-developer of Itanium with Intel) had seperately chosen to target Intel Itanium for its high-end computer products. Compaq then announced plans for the future of Alpha through EV7-series products and platforms, and HP (entirely seperately) announced plans for PA-RISC products and platforms. The Itanium target has been maintained consistently since the Itanium port was announced by Compaq, and has also been consistently maintained by HP and by the combined company. For those folks prefering to follow the schedules and the product deliveries, OpenVMS Engineering had OpenVMS I64 V8.0 ready (internally) ahead of schedule-and with more features available within the release than had been originally planned for the release. (For information on and for schedules of future OpenVMS releases, please see the roadmap that is available at the OpenVMS website.) OpenVMS I64 itself does not require and does not plan to utilize the Itanium IA-32 32-bit environment for the operation of OpenVMS itself. OpenVMS I64 V8.0 and later run natively on the Itanium processor family, with no use of IA-32 instructions. While OpenVMS can and does support 32-bit OpenVMS applications and addressing on Itanium, this is done with sign- extension addressing techniques entirely analogous to