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Subject: OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Part 10/11
Summary: This posting contains answers to frequently asked questions about
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Archive-name: dec-faq/vms/part10
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Last-modified: 02 Sep 2005
Version: VMSFAQ_20050902-10.TXT

Hardware Information

of a new or replacement server. You may or may
not have some success looking for this or of any
other now-unavailable sites using the world-wide
web archives at:

o http://www.archive.org/

__________________________________________________________
14.21 Why does my LK401 keyboard unexpectedly autorepeat?

There are several modes of failure:

o Pressing 2 and 3 keys at the same time causes
one key to autorepeat when released. Check the
hardware revision level printed on the bottom of
the keyboard. If the revision level is C01, the
keyboard firmware is broken. Call field service to
replace the keyboard with any revision level other
than C01.

o Pressing certain keys is always broken. Typical
symptoms are: delete always causes a autorepeat,
return needs to be pressed twice, etc. This is
frequently caused by having keys depressed while
the keyboard is being initialized. Pressing ^F2
several times or unplugging and replugging the
keyboard frequently fix this problem. (Ensure you
have current ECO kits applied; there is a patch
available to fix this problem.)

o A key that was working spontaneously stops working
correctly. This may be either of the two previous
cases, or it may be bad console firmware. Ensure
that you have the most recent firmware installed
on your Alpha system. In particular, an old version
of the DEC 3000 SRM firmware is known to have a bug
that can cause this keyboard misbehaviour.

14-50

Hardware Information

__________________________________________________________
14.22 Problem - My LK411 sends the wrong keycodes or some keys
are dead

Check the firmware revision on the keyboard. Hardware
revision B01 introduced an incompatability with the
device driver which causes the keyboard to not be
recognized correctly. There is a patch available to
fix this problem: [AXPDRIV06_061] - the fix is also
included in OpenVMS V6.2. The rev A01 keyboard, and the
LK450 should work without problems.

If you are working from another operating system
platform, please see the DECxterm tool and related
information on OpenVMS Freeware V5.0.

__________________________________________________________
14.23 Which DE500 variant works with which OpenVMS version?

Ensure you have a version of the Alpha SRM console
with support for the DE500 series device. Apply ALL
mandatory ECO kits for the OpenVMS version in use, and
also apply the CLUSIO, ALPBOOT, and ALPLAN kits, and
apply any available ALPCPU ECO kit for the platform.

o DE500-XA
auto-detection, no auto-negotiation,
OpenVMS V6.2-1H1 and ALPBOOT ECO, also V7.0 and
later and ECO.
Device hardware id 02000011 and 02000012.
Component part number 54-24187-01

o DE500-AA
auto-detection, auto-negotiation,
OpenVMS V6.2 and ALPBOOT and ALPLAN ECOs, or V7.1
and later and ECO.
Device hardware id 02000020 and 20000022.
Component part number 54-24502-01

o DE500-BA
auto-detection, auto-negotiation,
OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 and CLUSIO, ALPBOOT, ALPLAN and
ALPCPU ECOs, or V7.1-1H1 or later and ECO.
Device hardware id 02000030 (check connector, vs
DE500-FA) (other values on old Alpha SRM firmware)
Component part number 54-24602-01

14-51

Hardware Information

o DE500-FA (100 megabit fibre optic Ethernet)
OpenVMS V7.1-1H1 and later
Device hardware id 02000030 (check connector, vs
DE500-BA) (other values possible on old Alpha SRM
firmware)
Component part number 54-24899-01

To check the DE500 device hardware id from OpenVMS, use
the following command:

$ ANALYZE/SYSTEM
SDA> SHOW LAN/DEVICE=EWc:

The "hardware version" will be displayed.

To set the DE500 speed and duplex settings via the
associated Alpha SRM console environment variable, see
Table 14-4.

________________________________________________________________
Table 14-4 DE500 Speed and Duplex Settings

________________________________________________________________
EWx0_MODE_setting_________________Meaning_______________________

Twisted-Pair 10 Mbit/sec, nofull_duplex

Full Duplex, Twisted-Pair 10 Mbit/sec, full_duplex

AUI 10 Mbit/sec, nofull_duplex

BNC 10 Mbit/sec, nofull_duplex

Fast 100 Mbit/sec, nofull_duplex

FastFD (Full Duplex) 100 Mbit/sec, full_duplex

Auto-Negotiate____________________Negotiation_with_remote_device

To override the console setting and use LANCP:

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:LANCP
LANCP> SET DEVICE EWA0/SPEED=10
LANCP> DEFINE DEVICE EWA0/SPEED=10
LANCP> SET DEVICE EWA0/SPEED=100/full_duplex
LANCP> DEFINE DEVICE EWA0/SPEED=100/full_duplex

14-52

Hardware Information

Fast Ethernet (100Base, 100 megabit) controllers
such as the DE500 series have a pair of connections
available-while traditional Ethernet (10Base, 10
megabit) is inherently a half-duplex protocol, Fast
Ethernet can be configured to use one or both of the
available connections, depending on the controller.
Fast Ethernet can thus be half- or full-duplex
depending on the configuration and the capabilities
of the network controller and the Ethernet network
plant. Some Fast Ethernet controllers can also operate
at traditional Ethernet speeds, these controllers are
thus often refered to as 10/100 Ethernet controllers.

__________________________________________________________
14.24 How do I set the speed and duplex on OpenVMS I64?

OpenVMS I64 on Integrity servers does not provide a
console-level environment variable akin to the SRM
console variables used to manage the network speed and
duplex settings on OpenVMS Alpha and Alpha systems.
On OpenVMS I64 on Integrity servers, LANCP is used to
manage the speed and the duplex setting of the network
controllers.

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:LANCP
LANCP> SET DEVICE EWA0/SPEED=10
LANCP> DEFINE DEVICE EWA0/SPEED=10
LANCP> SET DEVICE EWA0/SPEED=100/full_duplex
LANCP> DEFINE DEVICE EWA0/SPEED=100/full_duplex

The EFI-level network bootstrap operations for a
network-based upgrade or a network-based installation
of OpenVMS I64 require the use of autonegotiation and a
switch capable of supporting it.

See Section 14.23 for a related discussion.

__________________________________________________________
14.25 Third-party or Unsupported
disk/tape/controllers/SCSI/widgets?

A wide variety of third-party and formally-unsupported
widgets-SCSI and ATA/ATAPI (IDE) disks and tapes,
graphics controllers, etc-are obviously widely
available, and are used on various platforms.

14-53

Hardware Information

If you purchase third-party or unsupported or generic
SCSI, ATA/ATAPI (IDE) storage devices, you and your
device vendor will be responsible for the testing and
the support of the devices. In general, you can expect
that HP will address non-standards-compliance problems
within OpenVMS (changes that will also not prevent
operations with other supported devices, of course),
but you and/or the device vendor and/or the device
manufacturer are responsible for finding and fixing
problems in the particular third-party device and or
controller involved.

In particular, realize that neither SCSI nor ATA/ATAPI
(IDE) is a particularly standard interface, these
interfaces tend to be a collection of optionally-
implemented and standardized interface features. You
should not and can not simply assume that all SCSI nor
ATA/ATAPI (IDE) storage devices are interchangeable.
If you want to try to use a generic SCSI device, use
V6.2 or later, or (better) V7.1-2 or later. If you wish
to try to use ATA/ATAPI (IDE), use OpenVMS V7.1-2 or
later.

On older OpenVMS releases, see the disk capacity limits
(Section 9.5).

With SCSI disks on releases prior to V6.2, ensure
that you have the ARRE and ARWE settings configured
correctly (disabled). (If not, you will see DRVERR
fatal drive errors and error log entries.)

Some SCSI disks set the medium type byte as part of
the SCSI size field-this is a SET CAPACITY extension to
SCSI specs. This problem also applies to VAX V7.1 and
later.

Disks with SCSI disk sizes past 8.58 GB and/or with
the SET CAPACITY extension require ALPSCSI07 ECO or the
OpenVMS Alpha V7.1-2 or later release. (See Section 9.5
for further details.)

Based on the displays of the (undocumented)
SYS$ETC:SCSI_INFO tool; this tool is present in OpenVMS
V6.2 and later:

14-54

Hardware Information

Issuing 6-byte MODE SENSE QIOW to get current values for page 01h
Page Code ................. 01h
Page Name ................. Read-Write Error Recovery
Saveable .................. Yes
Size ...................... 10
Hex Data .................. E6 08 50 00 00 00 08 00
00 00

The E6 shown indicates that the AWRE and ARRE bits are
set, and this is incompatible with OpenVMS versions
prior to V6.2. Further along in the same SCSI_INFO
display, if you also see:

Issuing 6-byte MODE SENSE QIOW to get changeable values for page 81h
Page Code ................. 01h
Page Name ................. Read-Write Error Recovery
Saveable .................. Yes
Size ...................... 10
Hex Data .................. C0 08 50 00 00 00 08 00
00 00

The C0 value means that the AWRE and ARRE values can
be changed on this particular SCSI device. (This is
not always the case.) If the bits are set, you can use
RZDISK from the OpenVMS Freeware, and can reset the E6
flag byte to hexadecimal 26 (or whatever the remaining
mask when you remove bits C0) on page one.

Each SCSI and ATA/ATAPI (IDE) host contains non-trivial
SCSI and IDE driver software, and each device contains
equally non-trivial firmware- taken together with the
mechanical and electronic components, this software
and firmware will determine whether or not a particular
device will function as expected.

Also note that various devices-such as various SCSI
CD-R devices -can implement and can require vendor-
specific protocol extensions, and these extensions
can require modifications to OpenVMS or the addition
of various utilities. In various of these cases,
these devices perform functions that will require
them to use SCSI or ATA/ATAPI (IDE) commands that
are (hopefully) architecturally-compatible SCSI
or ATA/ATAPI (IDE) command extensions. (Also see
Section 7.1 and Section 9.7.)

14-55

Hardware Information

Some SCSI tapes lack odd-byte transfer support, making
operations with OpenVMS problematic at best, as OpenVMS
expects odd-byte support. Examples of such include
LTO-1 devices such as the HP Ultrium 230 series tape,
and the DLT VS80 series tapes. Due to the lack of odd-
byte transfer support, LTO-1 devices are not supported
by OpenVMS. LTO devices in the LTO-2 and later series
do reportedly presently all have odd-byte transfer
support, and operations are reportedly rather easier.
Do check for formal support, of course.

In order for OpenVMS to officially support a particular
device, integration and testing work is mandated. There
can be no certainty that any particular device will
operate as expected in any particular configuration
without first performing this (non-trivial) work.

It is quite possible to find two devices-both entirely
compliant with applicable standards or interface
documents-that will not interoperate.

The same general statement holds for OpenVMS
bootstrapping on an unsupported VAX or Alpha platform.
It might or might not work. In particular, please see
the OpenVMS Software Product Description (SPD) for
the list of platforms supported by OpenVMS. OpenVMS
is not supported on the Personal Workstation -a
series, on the Digital Server series platforms, on
the AlphaServer 2100 series 5/375 CPU, on the Multia,
on the AlphaServer DS20L, and on a variety of other
platforms. (You might or might not see success booting
OpenVMS on any of these platforms.)

_____________________________
14.25.1 Lists of third-party widgets on OpenVMS?

Various folks have successfully used common third-party
disk disk devices with OpenVMS, such as the ATA (IDE)
and SCSI variants of the Iomega Zip250 removable disk
device.

Common SCSI CD-R/CD-RW devices such as the Plextor
PlexWriter 12/10/32S SCSI series and the HP DVD200i
series (recording CD-R) have also been successfully
utilized with various AlphaStation and VAXstation

14-56

Hardware Information

systems, and with tools such as CDRECORD. (A Plextor
PlexWriter burn of 614400000 bytes (300000 sectors)
requires just over six minutes at 12x, using an
AlphaStation XP1000 666 MHz EV67 system UltraSCSI
host.) (See Section 9.7 for detailed discussions of
recording optical media on OpenVMS, and the available
tools.)

If you choose to attempt to use third-party devices,
ensure that you have the most current OpenVMS version
and the most current ECO kit(s) applied. In the
specific case of the ATA (IDE) Iomega Zip250 drive,
ensure that you have the most current revision of
SYS$DQDRIVER installed.

_____________________________
14.25.2 Are the 2X-KZPCA-AA and SN-KZPCA-AA LVD Ultra2 SCSI?

Yes. Both of these controllers are Ultra2 low-voltage
_________differential_(LVD)_SCSI controllers.

14.25.3 Resolving DRVERR fatal device error?

If this is on an OpenVMS version prior to V6.2, please
see the AWRE and ARRE information included in section
Section 14.25.

__________________________________________________________
14.26 Looking for connector wiring pin-outs?

The DECconnect DEC-423 Modified Modular Jack (MMJ)
appears similar to a telphone or network modular jac,
though with the key offset to one side. The DECconnect
MMJ connector pin-out is listed in Table 14-5, with an
end-on view of the connector pins and the connector key
shown below.

________________________________________________________________
Table 14-5 DEC MMJ Pin-out

_______________________________________________________
Pin_____Description____________________________________

1 Data Terminal Ready (DTR)

2 Transmit (TXD)

3 Transmit Ground (TXD-)

14-57

Hardware Information

________________________________________________________________
Table 14-5 (Cont.) DEC MMJ Pin-out

_______________________________________________________
Pin_____Description____________________________________

4 Receive Ground (RXD-)

5 Receive (RXD)

_________6_______Data_Set_Ready_(DSR)___________________________

+------------------+
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
+------------+ ++
+____+

The BC16E-nn (where the "-nn" indicates the cable
length) cabling and keying "flips over" or "crosses-
over" the signal wires, and this allows all DECconnect
MMJ connections to be wired identically; the ends of
the BC16E are symmetrical and fully interchangeable,
and allows either end of the cable to be connected
either to the terminal or to the host. Specifically,
the BC16E-nn cross-over wiring looks like this:

Terminal Host
MMJ MMJ

DTR 1 --->---------->----------->--- 6 DSR
TXD 2 --->---------->----------->--- 5 RXD
3 ------------------------------ 4
4 ------------------------------ 3
RXD 5 ---<----------<-----------<--- 2 TXD
DSR 6 ---<----------<-----------<--- 1 DTR

DECconnect parts and connections are available from
HP, and MMJ crimping dies for use in typical telco-
style crimping tools, and MMJ connectors, are available
from Blackbox and from other communications equipment
vendors.

The PC-compatible DB9 connector pin-out found on Alpha
and Integrity COM serial ports-and on most PC systems
is listed in Table 14-6.

14-58

Hardware Information

________________________________________________________________
Table 14-6 PC DB9 Pin-out

_______________________________________________________
Pin_____Description____________________________________

1 Data Carrier Detect (DCD)

2 Received Data

3 Transmit Data

4 Data Terminal Ready (DTR)

5 Ground

6 Data Set Ready (DSR)

7 Request To Send (RTS)

8 Clear To Send

_________9_______floating_______________________________________

The MicroVAX DB9 console connector pin-out predates
the PC-style DB9 pin-out (adapters discussed in
Section 14.27), and uses a then-common (and older)
standard pin-out, and uses the EIA-232 series standard
signals shown in Table 14-7.

________________________________________________________________
Table 14-7 MicroVAX DB9 Pin-out

_______________________________________________________
Pin_____Description____________________________________

1 Protective Ground

2 Transmited Data

3 Received Data

4 Request To Send (RTS)

5 Data Terminal Ready (DTR)

6 Data Set Ready (DSR)

7 Signal Ground

8 Shorted to pin 9 on MicroVAX and VAXstation
2000...

_________9_______...series_systems,_otherwise_left_floating.____

When pin 8 is shorted to pin 9, this is a BCC08 (or
variant) cable, most commonly used as a console cable

14-59

Hardware Information

on the MicroVAX 2000 and VAXstation 2000 series. (Other
systems may or may not tolerate connecting pin 8 to pin
9.)

The BN24H looks like this:

MMJ RJ45

1---------8
2---------2
3---------1
4---------3
5---------6
6---------7

The BN24J looks like this:

MMJ RJ45

1---------7
2---------6
3---------3
4---------1
5---------2
6---------8

Also see:

o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/

o http://www.airborn.com.au/rs232.html

o http://www.stanq.com/cable.html

o For adapters and connectors, see Section 14.27.

__________________________________________________________
14.27 What connectors and wiring adapters are available?

The H8571-B and H8575-B convert the (non-2000-series)
MicroVAX DB9 to the DECconnect DEC-423 Modified
Modular Jack (MMJ) pin-out; to the MMJ DECconnect
wiring system. The MicroVAX 2000 and VAXstation 2000
requires a BCC08 cable (which has the 8-9 short, see
Section 14.26) and the H8571-C or the H8571-D DB25-to-
MMJ adapter for use with DECconnect. (For a discussion
of the console bulkhead on the MicroVAX II series and
on other closely-related series systems, please see
Section 14.3.3.4.)

14-60

Hardware Information

Somewhat less ancient HP (HP, Compaq or DIGITAL logo)
systems will use either the DECconnect MMJ wiring
directly or-on most (all?) recent system designs-
the PC-compatible DB9 9-pin pin-out; the PC-style COM
serial port interface and connection.

There are two DB9 9-pin pin-outs, that of the H8571-
B and similar for the MicroVAX and other and older
systems, and that of the H8571-J for the PC-style COM
port, AlphaStation, Integrity, and other newer systems.
The older MicroVAX DB9 and the PC-style DB9 pin-outs
are not compatible.

________________________________________________________________
Table 14-8 DECconnect MMJ Connectors and Adapters

_______________________________________________________
Part________Converts_BC16E_MMJ_male_to_fit_into________

H8571-A EIA232 DB25 25-pin female (common).
Functionally similar to the H8575-A, though
the H8575-A has better ESD shielding.

H8571-B Older MicroVAX (other than the MicroVAX
2000) DB9 EIA232 serial port. Functionally
similar to the H8575-B, though the H8575-B
has better ESD shielding. Note: Cannot be
used on a PC, Alpha nor Integrity DB9 9-pin
connector.

H8571-C 25 pin DSUB Female to MMJ, Unfiltered

H8571-D EIA232 25 pin male (modem-wired)

H8571-E 25 pin DSUB Female to MMJ, Filtered

H8571-J PC, Alpha, Integrity 9 pin (DB9) male (PC-
style COM serial port) Note: Cannot be used
on the older MicroVAX DB9 9-pin connector

H8572-0 BC16E MMJ double-female (MMJ extender)

H8575-A EIA232 DB25 25-pin female (common).
Functionally similar to the H8571-A, though
the H8575-A has better ESD shielding.

14-61

Hardware Information

________________________________________________________________
Table 14-8 (Cont.) DECconnect MMJ Connectors and Adapters

_______________________________________________________
Part________Converts_BC16E_MMJ_male_to_fit_into________

H8575-B Older MicroVAX (other than the MicroVAX
2000) DB9 EIA232 serial port. Functionally
similar to the H8571-B, though the H8575-B
has better ESD shielding. Note: Cannot be
used on a PC, Alpha nor Integrity DB9 9-pin
connector

H8575-D 25 Pin to MMJ with better ESD Protection

H8575-D 25 Pin to MMJ with better and ESD
Protection

H8575-E 25 Pin Integrity rx2600 Management
Processor (MP) port to MMJ, with ESD
Protection

H8577-AA 6 pin Female MMJ to 8 pin MJ

BC16E-** MMJ cable with connectors, available in
_____________________various_lengths____________________________

Numerous additional adapters and cables are available
from the (now out of print) OPEN DECconnect Building
Wiring Components and Applications Catalog, as well as
descriptions of the above-listed parts.

The DECconnect wiring system has insufficient signaling
for modems, and particularly lacks support for modem
control signals.

The H8571-A and H8575-A are MMJ to DB25 (female) and
other connector wiring diagrams and adapter-, cable-
and pin-out-related discussions are available at:

o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/

Jameco has offered a USB-A to PS/2 Mini DIN 6 Adapter
(as part 168751), for those folks wishing to (try to)
use PS/2 Keyboards via USB-A connections.

The LK463 USB keyboard is also a potential option, for
those wishing to connect an OpenVMS keyboard to USB
systems or (via the provided adapter) to PS/2 systems.
The LK463 provides the classic OpenVMS keyboard and

14-62

Hardware Information

keyboard layout on USB-based system configurations,
including operations with the USB connection on
specific Alpha systems (and specifically on those with
supported USB connections) and on Integrity servers.

For information on the Alpha console COM port(s) or on
the VAX console port, please see Section 14.3.

__________________________________________________________
14.28 What is flow control and how does it work?

XON/XOFF is one kind of flow control.

In ASCII, XON is the <CTRL/Q> character, and XOFF is
the <CTRL/S>.

XON/XOFF flow control is typically associated with
asynchronous serial line communications. XON/XOFF is an
in-band flow control, meaning that the flow control is
mixed in with the data.

CTS/RTS is another type of flow control, and is
sometimes called hardware flow control. Out-of-band
means that seperate lines/pins from the data lines
(pins) are used to carry the CTS/RTS signals.

Both kinds of flow control are triggered when a
threshold is reached in the incoming buffer. The flow
control is suppose to reach the transmitter in time to
have it stop transmitting before the receiver buffer is
full and data is lost. Later, after a sufficient amount
of the receiver's buffer is freed up, the resume flow
control signal is sent to get the transmitter going
again.

DECnet Phase IV on OpenVMS VAX supports the use of
asynchronous serial communications as a network
line; of asynch DECnet. The communication devices
(eg. modems, and drivers) must not be configured
for XON/XOFF flow control. The incidence of these
(unexpected) in-band characters will corrupt data
packets. Further, the serial line device drivers
might normally remove the XON and XOFF characters
from the stream for terminal applications, but DECnet
configures the driver to pass all characters through
and requires that all characters be permitted. (The
communication devices must pass through not only the

14-63

Hardware Information

XON and XOFF characters, they must pass all characters
including the 8-bit characters. If data compression is
happening, it must reproduce the source stream exactly.
No addition or elimination of null characters, and full
data transparency.

An Ethernet network is rather different than an
asynchronous serial line. Ethernet specifies the
control of data flow on a shared segment using CSMA/CD
(Carrier Sense Multiple Access, with Collision Detect)
An Ethernet station that is ready to transmit listens
for a clear channel (Carrier Sense). When the channel
is clear, the station begins to transmit by asserting
a carrier and encoding the packet appropriately. The
station concurrently listens to its own signal, to
permit the station to detect if another station began
to transmit at the same time-this is called collision
detection. (The collision corrupts the signal in a
way that can reliably be detected.) Upon detecting the
collision, both stations will stop transmitting, and
will back off and try again a little later. (You can
see a log of this activity in the DECnet NCP network
counters.)

DECnet provides its own flow control, above and beyond
the flow control of the physical layer (if any). The
end nodes handshake at the beginning to establish
a transmit window size-and a transmitter will only
send that much data before stopping and waiting for
an acknowledgement. The acknowledgement is only sent
when the receiver has confirmed the packet is valid. (A
well-configured DECnet generally avoids triggering any
underlying (out-of-band) flow control mechanism.)

__________________________________________________________
14.29 CD and DVD device requirements?

Read access to DVD-ROM, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD-ROM, and
CD-R/RW devices on ATAPI (IDE) connections is generally
handled transparently by SYS$DQDRIVER, and SYS$DQDRIVER
will transparently de-block the media-native 2048
byte disk blocks with the 512-byte blocks expected
by OpenVMS and by native OpenVMS software.

14-64

Hardware Information

Read access to DVD-ROM, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD-ROM, and
CD-R/RW devices on SCSI is handled by DKDRIVER, though
SYS$DKDRIVER will not transparently de-block the native
2048-byte disk blocks into the 512-byte blocks expected
by OpenVMS. The drive or external software is expected
to provide this de-blocking, thus either a 512-byte
block capable drive (such as all RRD-series SCSI CD-ROM
drives) is required, or host software is required for
a 2048-byte block drive. Third-party SCSI drives with
UNIX references in their support documentation or with
explicit 512-byte selectors or swiches will generally
(but not always, of course) operate with OpenVMS.

At least some of the Plextor PlexWriter SCSI drives
can be successfully accessed (for read and write) from
OpenVMS, as can at least one Pioneer SCSI DVD drive
(for CD media). The Pioneer SCSI DVD drive switches
to 2048 byte blocks for DVD media, and a block-size
conversion tool (written by Glenn Everhart) or other
similar tool can be applied.

OpenVMS also has supported HP DVD drives for the ATAPI
(IDE) bus.

For some related information (and details on a
commercial DVDwrite package), please see:

o http://home.tiscali.de/dvd4openvms/supported_
hardware.html

No device driver currently presently permits direct
block-oriented recording on DVD-RAM nor DVD+RW media,
nor other recordable or rewritable media.

Recording (writing) of CD and DVD optical media
requires a recording or media mastering application
or tool, and both commercial and non-commercial options
are available. See Section 9.7 for related details on
CDRECORD (both non-DVD and DVD versions are available,
and at least one commercial version is available),
and also see DVDwrite (commercial) or DVDRECORD (open
source).

14-65

Hardware Information

For information on the GKDRIVER (SYS$GKDRIVER)
generic SCSI device driver and of the the IO$_DIAGNOSE
$qio[w] interfaces (of SYS$DKDRIVER, SYS$DNDRIVER and
SYS$DQDRIVER) that are utilized by most CD and DVD
recording tools to send commands to SCSI, USB or ATAPI
devices (most USB and ATA devices-or more correctly,
most ATAPI devices-can use SCSI-like command packets),
please see the SYS$EXAMPLES:GKTEST.C example, and see
DECW$EXAMPLES:DECW$CDPLAYER.C example and please see
the various associated sections of the OpenVMS I/O
User's Reference Manual.

For information on creating bootable optical media on
OpenVMS, please see Section 9.7.3.

14-66

_______________________________________________________

15 Information on Networks and Clusters

The following sections contain information on OpenVMS
Networking with IP and DECnet, and on clustering and
volume shadowing, on Fibre Channel, and on related
products and configurations.

__________________________________________________________
15.1 How to connect OpenVMS to a Modem?

Please see the Ask The Wizard area topics starting with
(81), (1839), (2177), (3605), etc.

o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/

For additional information on the OpenVMS Ask The
Wizard (ATW) area and for a pointer to the available
ATW Wizard.zip archive, please see Section 3.8.

__________________________________________________________
15.2 OpenVMS and IP Networking?

The following sections contain information on OpenVMS
and IP networking, as well as IP printing topics.

_____________________________
15.2.1 How to connect OpenVMS to the Internet?

Some tutorial information and tips for connecting
OpenVMS systems to the Internet are available at:

o http://www.tmesis.com/internet/

_____________________________
15.2.2 Connecting to an IP Printer?

To connect a printer via the IP telnet or lpr/lpd
protocols, you will need to install and configure an IP
stack on OpenVMS, and configure the appropriate print
queue.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

With current OpenVMS IP implementations, the choice
of telnet or lpr/lpd really amounts to determining
which of these works better with the particular printer
involved.

To support network printing, the printer must include
an internal or external NIC or JetDirect; an adapter
connecting the network and the printer.

While it is normally possible to use a host-connected
printer-when the host supports an LPD or telnet daemon,
and OpenVMS and most other operating systems have the
ability to serve locally-attached printers to other
hosts on the network-it is generally far easier and
far more effective to use a printer that is directly
attached to the network. If your present printer does
not have a NIC or a JetDirect, acquire an internal (if
available) or external NIC or JetDirect. Or replace the
printer. And obviously, most any operating system that
can serve its local printers usually also provides
a client that can access remote network-connected
printers.

Please see the Ask The Wizard (ATW) area topics-
starting with topic (1020)-for additional information
on IP-based network printing.

o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/

For additional information on the OpenVMS Ask The
Wizard (ATW) area and for a pointer to the available
ATW Wizard.zip archive, please see Section 3.8.

Please see Section 15.2.3 for information on Postscript
printing.

_____________________________
15.2.3 How do I connect a PostScript printer via TCP/IP?

Using TCP/IP Services (UCX) as the TCP/IP stack, it is
possible to configure queues using the UCX$TELNETSYM
(TCP/IP Services prior to V5.0) or TCPIP$TELNETSYM
(with V5.0 and later) in order to print to Postscript
printers. This assumes however that the printer itself
can convert whatever is passed to it into something
intelligible. As an example, if the printer has an IP

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Information on Networks and Clusters

address of 123.456.789.101 and jobs should be passed to
port 9100 then :

$ INITIALIZE/QUEUE/ON="123.456.789.101:9100" -
/PROCESSOR=UCX$TELNETSYM -
my_ip_queue

$ INITIALIZE/QUEUE/ON="123.456.789.101:9100" -
/PROCESSOR=TCPIP$TELNETSYM -
my_ip_queue

The port number of 9100 is typical of HP JetDirect
cards but may be different for other manufacturers
cards.

As a better alternative, DCPS Version 1.4 and later
support IP queues using either HP TCP/IP Services
for OpenVMS software or Process Software Multinet
for OpenVMS. The usage of this type of interface is
documented in the DCPS documentation or release notes,
and the DCPS$STARTUP.TEMPLATE startup template file.

For general and additional (non-Postscript) IP printing
information, please see topic (1020) and other topics
referenced in that topic elsewhere within the Ask The
Wizard area.

o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/

For additional information on the OpenVMS Ask The
Wizard (ATW) area and for a pointer to the available
ATW Wizard.zip archive, please see Section 3.8. Also
see:

o http://www.wotsit.org/

Please see Section 15.2.2 for pointers to an
introduction to IP printing.

_____________________________
15.2.4 How do I set a default IP route or gateway on OpenVMS?

If you have TCP/IP Services, then use the command for
TCP/IP Services V5.0 and later:

$ TCPIP
SET ROUTE/GATE=x.x.x.x/DEFAULT/PERMANENT

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Information on Networks and Clusters

And for earlier TCP/IP Services versions, use the
command:

$ UCX
SET ROUTE/GATE=x.x.x.x/DEFAULT/PERMANENT

_____________________________
15.2.5 How can I set up reverse telnet (like reverse LAT)?

Though it may seem obvious, Telnet and LAT are quite
different-with differing capabilities and design goals.

Please see the documentation around the TCP/IP Services
for OpenVMS TELNET command CREATE_SESSION. This command
is the equivilent of the operations performed in
LTLOAD.COM or LAT$SYSTARTUP.COM. There is no TELNET
equivilent to the sys$qio[w] control interface for
LTDRIVER (as documented in the I/O User's Reference
Manual) available, though standard sys$qio[w] calls
referencing the created TN device would likely operate
as expected.

_____________________________
15.2.6 Why can't I use PPP and RAS to connect to OpenVMS Alpha?

OpenVMS Alpha IP PPP does not presently support
authentication, and the Microsoft Windows NT option
to disable authentication during a RAS connection
apparently doesn't currently work-RAS connections will
require authentication-and this will thus prevent RAS
connections.

Future versions of OpenVMS and TCP/IP Services may
add this, and future versions of Microsoft Windows may
permit operations with authentication disabled.

__________________________________________________________
15.3 OpenVMS and DECnet Networking?

The following sections contain information on OpenVMS
and DECnet networking.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

_____________________________
15.3.1 Can DECnet-Plus operate over IP?

Yes. To configure DECnet-Plus to operate over IP
transport and over IP backbone networks, install and
configure DECnet-Plus, and install and configure the
PWIP mechanism available within the currently-installed
IP stack. Within TCP/IP Services, this is a PWIPDRIVER
configuration option within the UCX$CONFIG (versions
prior to V5.0) or TCPIP$CONFIG (with V5.0 and later)
configuration tool.

_____________________________
15.3.2 What does "failure on back translate address request"
mean?

The error message:

BCKTRNSFAIL, failure on the back translate address request

indicates that the destination node is running DECnet-
Plus, and that its naming service (DECnet-Plus DECdns,
LOCAL node database, etc) cannot locate a name to
associate with the source node's address. In other
words, the destination node cannot determine the node
name for the node that is the source of the incoming
connection.

Use the DECNET_REGISTER mechanism (on the destination
node) to register or modify the name(s) and the
address(es) of the source node. Check the namespace
on the source node, as well.

Typically, the nodes involved are using a LOCAL
namespace, and the node name and address settings are
not coherent across all nodes. Also check to make sure
that the node is entered into its own LOCAL namespace.
This can be a problem elsewhere, however. Very rarely,
a cache corruption has been known to cause this error.
To flush the cache, use the command:

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:NCL
flush session control naming cache entry "*"

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Information on Networks and Clusters

Also check to see that you are using the latest ECO for
DECnet-Plus for the version you are running. DECnet-
Plus can use the following namespaces:

o DECdns: DECnet-Plus distributed name services.

o LocalFile: a local file containing names and
addresses.

o DNS/BIND: the TCP/IP distributed name services
mechanism.

o The TCP/IP Services (UCX) local host file.

Of these, searching DNS/BIND and LocalFile,
respectively, is often the most appropriate
configuration.

_____________________________
15.3.3 Performing SET HOST/MOP in DECnet-Plus?

First, issue the NCL command SHOW MOP CIRCUIT *

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:NCL
SHOW MOP CIRCUIT *

Assume that you have a circuit known as FDDI-0
displayed. Here is an example of the SET HOST/MOP
command syntax utilized for this circuit:

$ SET HOST/MOP/ADDRESS=08-00-2B-2C-5A-23/CIRCUIT=FDDI-0

Also see Section 15.6.3.

_____________________________
15.3.4 How to flush the DECnet-Plus session cache?

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:NCL
FLUSH SESSION CONTROL NAMING CACHE ENTRY "*"

__________________________________________________________
15.4 How to determine the network hardware address?

Most Alpha and most VAX systems have a console command
that displays the network hardware address. Many
systems will also have a sticker identifying the
address, either on the enclosure or on the network
controller itself.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

The system console power-up messages on a number of VAX
and Alpha systems will display the hardware address,
particularly on those systems with an integrated
Ethernet network adapter present.

If you cannot locate a sticker on the system, if
the system powerup message is unavailable or does
not display the address, and if the system is at the
console prompt, start with the console command:

HELP

A console command similar to one of the following is
typically used to display the hardware address:

SHOW DEVICE
SHOW ETHERNET
SHOW CONFIG

On the oldest VAX Q-bus systems, the following console
command can be used to read the address directly off
the (DELQA, DESQA, or the not-supported-in-V5.5-and-
later DEQNA) Ethernet controller:

E/P/W/N:5 20001920

Look at the low byte of the six words displayed by
the above command. (The oldest VAX Q-bus systems-such
as the KA630 processor module used on the MicroVAX II
and VAXstation II series-lack a console HELP command,
and these systems typically have the primary network
controller installed such that the hardware address
value is located at the system physical address
20001920.)

If the system is a VAX system, and another VAX system
on the network is configured to answer Maintenance
and Operations Protocol (MOP) bootstrap requests
(via DECnet Phase IV, DECnet-Plus, or LANCP), the
MOM$SYSTEM:READ_ADDR.EXE tool can be requested:

B/R5:100 ddcu
Bootfile: READ_ADDR

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Information on Networks and Clusters

Where ddcu is the name of the Ethernet controller in
the above command. The primarly local DELQA, DESQA,
and DEQNA Q-bus controllers are usually named XQA0.
An attempt to MOP download the READ_ADDR program will
ensue, and (if the download is successful) READ_ADDR
will display the hardware address.

If the system is running, you can use DECnet or
TCP/IP to display the hardware address with one of
the following commands.

$! DECnet Phase IV
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:NCP
SHOW KNOWN LINE CHARACTERISTICS

$! DECnet-Plus
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:NCL
SHOW CSMA-CD STATION * ALL STATUS

$! TCP/IP versions prior to V5.0
$ UCX
SHOW INTERFACE/FULL

$! TCP/IP versions V5.0 and later
$ TCPIP
SHOW INTERFACE/FULL

A program can be created to display the hardware
address, reading the necessary information from
the network device drivers. A complete example C
program for reading the Ethernet or IEEE 802.3 network
controller hardware address (via sys$qio calls to the
OpenVMS network device driver(s)) is available at the
following URL:

o http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/

To use the DECnet Phase IV configurator tool to watch
for MOP SYSID activity on the local area network:

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:NCP
SET MODULE CONFIGURATOR KNOWN CIRCUIT SURVEILLANCE ENABLED

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Information on Networks and Clusters

Let the DECnet Phase IV configurator run for at least
20 minutes, and preferably longer. Then issue the
following commands:

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:NCP
SHOW MODULE CONFIGURATOR KNOWN CIRCUIT STATUS TO filename.txt
SET MODULE CONFIGURATOR KNOWN CIRCUIT SURVEILLANCE DISABLED

The resulting file (named filename.txt) can now be
searched for the information of interest. Most DECnet
systems will generate MOP SYSID messages identifying
items such as the controller hardware address and the
controller type, and these messages are generated and
multicast roughly every ten minutes.

Information on the DECnet MOP SYSID messages and other
parts of the maintenance protocols is included in the
DECnet network architecture specifications referenced
in section DOC9.

_____________________________
15.4.1 How do I reset the LAN (DECnet-Plus NCL) error counters?

On recent OpenVMS releases:

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:LANCP
SET DEVICE/DEVICE_SPECIFIC=FUNCTION="CCOU" devname

_____________________________
15.4.2 How do I install DECnet Phase IV on VMS 7.1?

On OpenVMS V7.1, all DECnet binaries were relocated
into separate installation kits-you can selectively
install the appropriate network: DECnet-Plus (formerly
known as DECnet OSI), DECnet Phase IV, and HP TCP/IP
Services (often known as UCX).

On OpenVMS versions prior to V7.1, DECnet Phase IV was
integrated, and there was no installation question. You
had to install the DECnet-Plus (DECnet/OSI) package on
the system, after the OpenVMS upgrade or installation
completed.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

During an OpenVMS V7.1 installation or upgrade, the
installation procedure will query you to learn if
DECnet-Plus should be installed. If you are upgrading
to V7.1 from an earlier release or are installing V7.1
from a distribution kit, simply answer "NO" to the
question asking you if you want DECnet-Plus. Then-after
the OpenVMS upgrade or installation completes - use
the PCSI PRODUCT INSTALL command to install the DECnet
Phase IV binaries from the kit provided on the OpenVMS
software distribution kit.

If you already have DECnet-Plus installed and wish
to revert, you must reconfigure OpenVMS. You cannot
reconfigure the "live" system, hence you must reboot
the system using the V7.1 distribution CD-ROM. Then
select the DCL ($$$ prompt) option. Then issue the
commands:

$$$ DEFINE/SYSTEM PCSI$SYSDEVICE DKA0:
$$$ DEFINE/SYSTEM PCSI$SPECIFIC DKA0:[SYS0.]
$$$ PRODUCT RECONFIGURE VMS /REMOTE/SOURCE=DKA0:[VMS$COMMON]

The above commands assume that the target system device
and system root are "DKA0:[SYS0.]". Replace this with
the actual target device and root, as appropriate.
The RECONFIGURE command will then issue a series of
prompts. You will want to reconfigure DECnet-Plus off
the system, obviously. You will then want to use the
PCSI command PRODUCT INSTALL to install the DECnet
Phase IV kit from the OpenVMS distribution media.

Information on DECnet support, and on the kit names, is
included in the OpenVMS V7.1 installation and upgrade
documentation.

Subsequent OpenVMS upgrade and installation procedures
can and do offer both DECnet Phase IV and DECnet-Plus
installations.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

__________________________________________________________
15.5 How can I send (radio) pages from my OpenVMS system?

There are third-party products available to
send messages to radio paging devices (pagers),
communicating via various protocols such as TAP
(Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol); paging packages.

RamPage (Ergonomic Solutions) is one of the available
packages that can generate and transmit messages to
radio pagers. Target Alert (Target Systems; formerly
the DECalert product) is another. Networking Dynamics
Corp has a product called Pager Plus. The System
Watchdog package can also send pages. The Process
Software package PMDF can route specific email
addresses to a paging service, as well.

Many commercial paging services provide email contact
addresses for their paging customers-you can simply
send or forward email directly to the email address
assigned to the pager.

Some people implement the sending of pages to radio
pagers by sending commands to a modem to take the
"phone" off the "hook", and then the paging sequence,
followed by a delay, and then the same number that a
human would dial to send a numeric page. (This is not
entirely reliable, as the modem lacks "call progress
detection", and the program could simply send the
dial sequence when not really connected to the paging
company's telephone-based dial-up receiver.)

See Section 13.1 for information on the available
catalog of products.

__________________________________________________________
15.6 OpenVMS, Clusters, Volume Shadowing?

The following sections contain information on OpenVMS
and Clusters, Volume Shadowing, and Cluster-related
system parameters.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

_____________________________
15.6.1 OpenVMS Cluster Communications Protocol Details?

The following sections contain information on the
OpenVMS System Communications Services (SCS) Protocol.
Cluster terminology is available in Section 15.6.1.2.1.

_____________________________
15.6.1.1 OpenVMS Cluster (SCS) over DECnet? Over IP?

The OpenVMS Cluster environment operates over various
network protocols, but the core of clustering uses
the System Communications Services (SCS) protocols,
and SCS-specific network datagrams. Direct (full)
connectivity is assumed.

An OpenVMS Cluster does not operate over DECnet, nor
over IP.

No SCS protocol routers are available.

Many folks have suggested operating SCS over DECnet
or IP over the years, but SCS is too far down in
the layers, and any such project would entail a
major or complete rewrite of SCS and of the DECnet
or IP drivers. Further, the current DECnet and IP
implementations have large tracts of code that operate
at the application level, while SCS must operate in
the rather more primitive contexts of the system and
particularly the bootstrap-to get SCS to operate over a
DECnet or IP connection would require relocating major
portions of the DECnet or IP stack into the kernel.
(And it is not clear that the result would even meet
the bandwidth and latency expectations.)

The usual approach for multi-site OpenVMS Cluster
configurations involves FDDI, Memory Channel (MC2), or
a point-to-point remote bridge, brouter, or switch. The
connection must be transparent, and it must operate at
10 megabits per second or better (Ethernet speed), with
latency characteristics similar to that of Ethernet or
better. Various sites use FDDI, MC2, ATM, or point-to-
point T3 link.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

_____________________________
15.6.1.2 Configuring Cluster SCS for path load balancing?

This section discusses OpenVMS Cluster communications,
cluster terminology, related utilities, and command and
control interfaces.

_____________________________
15.6.1.2.1 Cluster Terminology?

SCS: Systems Communication Services. The protocol used
to communicate between VMSCluster systems and between
OpenVMS systems and SCS-based storage controllers.
(SCSI-based storage controllers do not use SCS.)

PORT: A communications device, such as DSSI, CI,
Ethernet or FDDI. Each CI or DSSI bus is a different
local port, named PAA0, PAB0, PAC0 etc. All Ethernet
and FDDI busses make up a single PEA0 port.

VIRTUAL CIRCUIT: A reliable communications path
established between a pair of ports. Each port in a
VMScluster establishes a virtual circuit with every
other port in that cluster.

All systems and storage controllers establish "Virtual
Circuits" to enable communications between all
available pairs of ports.

SYSAP: A "system application" that communicates using
SCS. Each SYSAP communicates with a particular remote
SYSAP. Example SYSAPs include:

VMS$DISK_CL_DRIVER connects to MSCP$DISK
The disk class driver is on every VMSCluster system.
MSCP$DISK is on all disk controllers and all VMSCluster
systems that have SYSGEN parameter MSCP_LOAD set to 1

VMS$TAPE_CL_DRIVER connects to MSCP$TAPE
The tape class driver is on every VMSCluster system.
MSCP$TAPE is on all tape controllers and all VMSCluster
systems that have SYSGEN parameter TMSCP_LOAD set to 1

VMS$VAXCLUSTER connects to VMS$VAXCLUSTER
This SYSAP contains the connection manager, which
manages cluster connectivity, runs the cluster state
transition algorithm, and implements the cluster quorum

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Information on Networks and Clusters

algorithm. This SYSAP also handles lock traffic, and
various other cluster communications functions.

SCS$DIR_LOOKUP connects to SCS$DIRECTORY
This SYSAP is used to find SYSAPs on remote systems

MSCP and TMSCP
The Mass Storage Control Protocol and the Tape MSCP
servers are SYSAPs that provide access to disk and
tape storage, typically operating over SCS protocols.
MSCP and TMSCP SYSAPs exist within OpenVMS (for OpenVMS
hosts serving disks and tapes), within CI- and DSSI-
based storage controllers, and within host-based MSCP-
or TMSCP storage controllers. MSCP and TMSCP can be
used to serve MSCP and TMSCP storage devices, and can
also be used to serve SCSI and other non-MSCP/non-TMSCP
storage devices.

SCS CONNECTION: A SYSAP on one node establishes an SCS
connection to its counterpart on another node. This
connection will be on ONE AND ONLY ONE of the available
virtual circuits.

_____________________________
15.6.1.2.2 Cluster Communications Control?

When there are multiple virtual circuits between two
OpenVMS systems it is possible for the VMS$VAXCLUSTER
to VMS$VAXCLUSTER connection to use any one of these
circuits. All lock traffic between the two systems will
then travel on the selected virtual circuit.

Each port has a "LOAD CLASS" associated with it. This
load class helps to determine which virtual circuit
a connection will use. If one port has a higher load
class than all others then this port will be used. If
two or more ports have equally high load classes then
the connection will use the first of these that it
finds. Prior to enhancements found in V7.3-1 and later,
the load class is static and normally all CI and DSSI
ports have a load class of 14(hex), while the Ethernet
and FDDI ports will have a load class of A(hex). With
V7.3-1 and later, the load class values are dynamic.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

For instance, if you have multiple DSSI busses and
an FDDI, the VMS$VAXCLUSTER connection will chose the
DSSI bus as this path has the system disk, and thus
will always be the first DSSI bus discovered when the
OpenVMS system boots.

To force all lock traffic off the DSSI and on to
the FDDI, for instance, an adjustment to the load
class value is required, or the DSSI SCS port must
be disabled.

In addition to the load class mechanisms, you can
also use the "preferred path" mechanisms of MSCP
and TMSCP services. This allows you to control the
SCS connections used for serving remote disk and tape
storage. The preferred path mechanism is most commonly
used to explicitly spread cluster I/O activity over
hosts and/or storage controllers serving disk or tape
storage in parallel. This can be particularly useful if
your hosts or storage controllers individually lack the
necessary I/O bandwidth for the current I/O load, and
must thus aggregate bandwidth to serve the cluster I/O
load.

For related tools, see various utilities including
LAVC$STOP_BUS and LAVC$START_BUS, and see DCL commands
including SET PREFERRED_PATH.

_____________________________
15.6.1.2.3 Cluster Communications Control Tools and Utilities?

In most OpenVMS versions, you can use the tools:

o SYS$EXAMPLES:LAVC$STOP_BUS

o SYS$EXAMPLES:LAVC$START_BUS

These tools permit you to disable or enable all SCS
traffic on the on the specified paths.

You can also use a preferred path mechanism that tells
the local MSCP disk class driver (DUDRIVER) which path
to a disk should be used. Generally, this is used with
dual-pathed disks, forcing I/O traffic through one of
the controllers instead of the other. This can be used

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Information on Networks and Clusters

to implement a crude form of I/O load balancing at the
disk I/O level.

Prior to V7.2, the preferred path feature uses the
tool:

o SYS$EXAMPLES:PREFER.MAR

In OpenVMS V7.2 and later, you can use the following
DCL command:

$ SET PREFERRED_PATH

The preferred path mechanism does not disable nor
affect SCS operations on the non-preferred path.

With OpenVMS V7.3 and later, please see the SCACP
utility for control over cluster communications, SCS
virtual circuit control, port selection, and related.

_____________________________
15.6.2 Cluster System Parameter Settings?

The following sections contain details of configuring
cluster-related system parameters.

_____________________________
15.6.2.1 What is the correct value for EXPECTED_VOTES in a
VMScluster?

The VMScluster connection manager uses the concept
of votes and quorum to prevent disk and memory data
corruptions-when sufficient votes are present for
quorum, then access to resources is permitted. When
sufficient votes are not present, user activity will be
blocked. The act of blocking user activity is called
a "quorum hang", and is better thought of as a "user
data integrity interlock". This mechanism is designed
to prevent a partitioned VMScluster, and the resultant
massive disk data corruptions. The quorum mechanism is
expressly intended to prevent your data from becoming
severely corrupted.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

On each OpenVMS node in a VMScluster, one sets two
values in SYSGEN: VOTES, and EXPECTED_VOTES. The
former is how many votes the node contributes to the
VMScluster. The latter is the total number of votes
expected when the full VMScluster is bootstrapped.

Some sites erroneously attempt to set EXPECTED_VOTES
too low, believing that this will allow when only a
subset of voting nodes are present in a VMScluster. It
does not. Further, an erroneous setting in EXPECTED_
VOTES is automatically corrected once VMScluster
connections to other nodes are established; user data
is at risk of severe corruptions during the earliest
and most vulnerable portion of the system bootstrap,
before the connections have been established.

One can operate a VMScluster with one, two, or many
voting nodes. With any but the two-node configuration,
keeping a subset of the nodes active when some nodes
fail can be easily configured. With the two-node
configuration, one must use a primary-secondary
configuration (where the primary has all the votes), a
peer configuration (where when either node is down, the
other hangs), or (preferable) a shared quorum disk.

Use of a quorum disk does slow down VMScluster
transitions somewhat - the addition of a third
voting node that contributes the vote(s) that would
be assigned to the quorum disk makes for faster
transitions-but the use of a quorum disk does mean
that either node in a two-node VMScluster configuration
can operate when the other node is down.

Note

The quorum disk must be on a non-host-based
shadowed disk, though it can be protected
with controller-based RAID. Because host-based
volume shadowing depends on the lock manager
and the lock manager depends on the connection
manager and the connection manager depends on
quorum, it is not technically feasible (nor
even particularly reliable) to permit host-based
volume shadowing to protect the quorum disk.

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Information on Networks and Clusters

If you choose to use a quoum disk, a QUORUM.DAT file
will be automatically created when OpenVMS first
boots and when a quorum disk is specified - well, the
QUORUM.DAT file will be created when OpenVMS is booted
without also needing the votes from the quorum disk.

In a two-node VMScluster with a shared storage
interconnect, typically each node has one vote, and
the quorum disk also has one vote. EXPECTED_VOTES is
set to three.

Using a quorum disk on a non-shared interconnect is
unnecessary-the use of a quorum disk does not provide
any value, and the votes assigned to the quorum disk
should be assigned to the OpenVMS host serving access
to the disk.

For information on quorum hangs, see the OpenVMS
documentation. For information on changing the
EXPECTED_VOTES value on a running system, see the
SET CLUSTER/EXPECTED_VOTES command, and see the
documentation for the AMDS and Availability Manager
tools. Also of potential interest is the OpenVMS
system console documentation for the processor-specific
console commands used to trigger the IPC (Interrrupt
Priority Level %x0C; IPL C) handler. (IPC is not
available on OpenVMS I64 V8.2.) AMDS, Availability
Manager, and the IPC handler can each be used to
clear a quorum hang. Use of AMDS and Availability
Manager is generally recommended over IPC, particularly
because IPC can cause CLUEXIT bugchecks if the system
should remain halted beyond the cluster sanity timer
limits, and because some Alpha consoles and most (all?)
Integrity consoles do not permit a restart after a
halt.

The quorum scheme is a set of "blade guards"
deliberately implemented by OpenVMS Engineering to
provide data integrity-remove these blade guards at
your peril. OpenVMS Engineering did not implement
the quorum mechanism to make a system manager's life
more difficult- the quorum mechanism was specifically
implemented to keep your data from getting scrambled.

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_____________________________
15.6.2.1.1 Why no shadowing for a Quorum Disk?

Stated simply, Host-Based Volume Shadowing uses the
Distributed Lock Manager (DLM) to coordinate changes to
membership of a shadowset (e.g. removing a member).
The DLM depends in turn on the Connection Manager
enforcing the Quorum Scheme and deciding which node(s)
(and quorum disk) are participating in the cluster, and
telling the DLM when it needs to do things like a lock
database rebuild operation. So you can't introduce a
dependency of the Connection Manager on Shadowing to
try to pick proper shadowset member(s) to use as the
Quorum Disk when Shadowing itself is using the DLM and
thus indirectly depending on the Connection Manager to
keep the cluster membership straight-it's a circular
dependency.

So in practice, folks simply depend on controller-
based mirroring (or controller-based RAID) to protect
the Quorum Disk against disk failures (and dual-
redundant controllers to protect against most cases
of controller and interconnect failures). Since this
disk unit appears to be a single disk up at the VMS
level, there's no chance of ambiguity.

_____________________________
15.6.2.2 Explain disk (or tape) allocation class settings?

The allocation class mechanism provides the system
manager with a way to configure and resolve served and
direct paths to storage devices within a cluster. Any
served device that provides multiple paths should be
configured using a non-zero allocation class, either
at the MSCP (or TMSCP) storage controllers, at the
port (for port allocation classes), or at the OpenVMS
MSCP (or TMSCP) server. All controllers or servers
providing a path to the same device should have the
same allocation class (at the port, controller, or
server level).

Each disk (or tape) unit number used within a non-
zero disk (or tape) allocation class must be unique,
regardless of the particular device prefix. For the
purposes of multi-path device path determination, any
disk (or tape) device with the same unit number and the

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same disk (or tape) allocation class configuration is
assumed to be the same device.

If you are reconfiguring disk device allocation
classes, you will want to avoid the use of allocation
class one ($1$) until/unless you have Fibre Channel
storage configured. (Fibre Channel storage specifically
requires the use of allocation class $1$. eg:
$1$DGA0:.)

_____________________________
15.6.2.2.1 How to configure allocation classes and Multi-Path
SCSI?

The HSZ allocation class is applied to devices,
starting with OpenVMS V7.2. It is considered a port
allocation class (PAC), and all device names with a PAC
have their controller letter forced to "A". (You might
infer from the the text in the "Guidelines for OpenVMS
Cluster Configurations" that this is something you have
to do, though OpenVMS will thoughtfully handle this
renaming for you.)

You can force the device names back to DKB by setting
the HSZ allocation class to zero, and setting the PKB
PAC to -1. This will use the host allocation class, and
will leave the controller letter alone (that is, the
DK controller letter will be the same as the SCSI port
(PK) controller). Note that this won't work if the HSZ
is configured in multibus failover mode. In this case,
OpenVMS requires that you use an allocation class for
the HSZ.

When your configuration gets even moderately complex,
you must pay careful attention to how you assign
the three kinds of allocation class: node, port and
HSZ/HSJ, as otherwise you could wind up with device
naming conflicts that can be painful to resolve.

The display-able path information is for SCSI
multi-path, and permits the multi-path software to
distinguish between different paths to the same device.
If you have two paths to $1$DKA100, for example by
having two KZPBA controllers and two SCSI buses to the
HSZ, you would have two UCBs in a multi-path set. The

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path information is used by the multi-path software to
distinguish between these two UCBs.

The displayable path information describes the path;
in this case, the SCSI port. If port is PKB, that's
the path name you get. The device name is no longer
completely tied to the port name; the device name now
depends on the various allocation class settings of the
controller, SCSI port or node.

The reason the device name's controller letter is
forced to "A" when you use PACs is because a shared
SCSI bus may be configured via different ports on the
various nodes connected to the bus. The port may be PKB
on one node, and PKC on the other. Rather obviously,
you will want to have the shared devices use the same
device names on all nodes. To establish this, you
will assign the same PAC on each node, and OpenVMS
will force the controller letter to be the same on
each node. Simply choosing "A" was easier and more
deterministic than negotiating the controller letter
between the nodes, and also parallels the solution used
for this situation when DSSI or SDI/STI storage was
used.

To enable port allocation classes, see the SYSBOOT
command SET/BOOT, and see the DEVICE_NAMING system
parameter.

This information is also described in the Cluster
Systems and Guidelines for OpenVMS Cluster
Configurations manuals.

_____________________________
15.6.3 Tell me about SET HOST/DUP and SET HOST/HSC

The OpenVMS DCL commands SET HOST/DUP and SET HOST/HSC
are used to connect to storage controllers via the
Diagnostics and Utility Protocol (DUP). These commands
require that the FYDRIVER device driver be connected.
This device driver connection is typically performed by
adding the following command(s) into the system startup
command procedure:

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On OpenVMS Alpha:

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:SYSMAN
SYSMAN> IO CONNECT FYA0/NOADAPTER/DRIVER=SYS$FYDRIVER

On OpenVMS VAX:

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:SYSGEN
SYSGEN> CONNECT FYA0/NOADAPTER

Alternatives to the DCL SET HOST/DUP command include
the console SET HOST command available on various mid-
to recent-vintage VAX consoles:

Access to Parameters on an Embedded DSSI controller:

SET HOST/DUP/DSSI[/BUS:{0:1}] dssi_node_number PARAMS

Access to Directory of tools on an Embedded DSSI
controller:

SET HOST/DUP/DSSI[/BUS:{0:1}] dssi_node_number DIRECT

Access to Parameters on a KFQSA DSSI controller:

SHOW UQSSP ! to get port_controller_number PARAMS
SET HOST/DUP/UQSSP port_controller_number PARAMS

These console commands are available on most MicroVAX
and VAXstation 3xxx series systems, and most (all?) VAX
4xxx series systems. For further information, see the
system documentation and-on most VAX systems-see the
console HELP text.

EK-410AB-MG, _DSSI VAXcluster Installation and
Troubleshooting_, is a good resource for setting
up a DSSI VMScluster on OpenVMS VAX nodes. (This
manual predates coverage of OpenVMS Alpha systems,
but gives good coverage to all hardware and software
aspects of setting up a DSSI-based VMScluster-and most
of the concepts covered are directly applicable to
OpenVMS Alpha systems. This manual specifically covers
the hardware, which is something not covered by the
standard OpenVMS VMScluster documentation.)

Also see Section 15.3.3, and for the SCS name of the
OpenVMS host see Section 5.7.

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_____________________________
15.6.4 How do I rename a DSSI disk (or tape?)

If you want to renumber or rename DSSI disks or DSSI
tapes, it's easy-if you know the secret incantation...

From OpenVMS:

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:SYSGEN
SYSGEN> CONNECT FYA0/NOADAPTER
SYSGEN> ^Z
$ SET HOST/DUP/SERV=MSCP$DUP/TASK=PARAMS <DSSI-NODE-NAME>
...
PARAMS> STAT CONF
<The software version is normally near the top of the display.>
PARAMS> EXIT
...

From the console on most 3000- and 4000-class VAX
system consoles... (Obviously, the system must be
halted for these commands...)

Integrated DSSI:

SET HOST/DUP/DSSI[/BUS:[0:1]] dssi_node_number PARAMS

KFQSA:

SET HOST/DUP/UQSSP port_controller_number PARAMS

For information on how to get out into the PARAMS
subsystem, also see the HELP at the console prompt
for the SET HOST syntax, or see the HELP on SET HOST
/DUP (once you've connected FYDRIVER under OpenVMS).

Once you are out into the PARAMS subsystem, you can
use the FORCEUNI option to force the use of the UNITNUM
value and then set a unique UNITNUM inside each DSSI
ISE-this causes each DSSI ISE to use the specfied unit
number and not use the DSSI node as the unit number.
Other parameters of interest are NODENAME and ALLCLASS,
the node name and the (disk or tape) cluster allocation
class.

Ensure that all disk unit numbers used within an
OpenVMS Cluster disk allocation class are unique, and
all tape unit numbers used within an OpenVMS Cluster
tape allocation class are also unique. For details on

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---------------------------- #include <rtfaq.h> -----------------------------
For additional, please see the OpenVMS FAQ -- www.hp.com/go/openvms/faq
--------------------------- pure personal opinion ---------------------------
Hoff (Stephen) Hoffman OpenVMS Engineering hoff[at]hp.com