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Subject: OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Part 1/11
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Archive-name: dec-faq/vms/part1
Posting-Frequency: quarterly
Last-modified: 11 Apr 2005
Version: VMSFAQ_20050411-01.TXT

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.

This document is available in various formats, and
the text-format version of this FAQ is generally the
easiest format to search.

Revision/Update Information OpenVMS V8.2

Revision/Update Information: Revision Date/April 2005

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?, 1-3

__________________________________________________________
1.3 WHAT IS [N]ETIQUETTE? 1-5

__________________________________________________________
1.4 WHAT OPENVMS USER GROUP(S) ARE AVAILABLE? 1-8

__________________________________________________________
1.5 OPENVMS SUPPORT, QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS? 1-9
1.5.1 Corporate contacts for OpenVMS Business
Issues? 1-9
1.5.2 OpenVMS Ambassadors? 1-10
1.5.3 Contact for OpenVMS Marketing Issues and
Questions? 1-10
1.5.4 Contact URLs for OpenVMS Technical
Issues? 1-10

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? 2-3
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? 2-5
2.6.1 Where can I download OpenVMS and Layered
Product Kits? 2-8

__________________________________________________________
2.7 IN WHAT LANGUAGE IS OPENVMS WRITTEN? 2-8

__________________________________________________________
2.8 OBTAINING AND TRANSFERING OPENVMS LICENSES? 2-9
2.8.1 Questions asked by Hobbyist OpenVMS
licensees? 2-9
2.8.2 OpenVMS Educational and CSLG licenses? 2-10
2.8.3 What developer and partner licensing
programs are available? 2-10
2.8.4 How do I obtain or transfer an OpenVMS
license? 2-11

__________________________________________________________
2.9 DOES OPENVMS SUPPORT THE EURO CURRENCY
SYMBOL? 2-11

__________________________________________________________
2.10 OPENVMS PORTS? ITANIUM? PORTS TO IA-32, EM64T OR
AMD64 SYSTEMS? 2-11

iv

Contents

__________________________________________________________
2.11 ARE THERE ANY NETWORK-ACCESSIBLE OPENVMS
SYSTEMS? 2-15

__________________________________________________________
2.12 WHAT VERSION OF OPENVMS DO I NEED? 2-16

__________________________________________________________
2.13 HOW CAN I SUBMIT OPENVMS FREEWARE? 2-18

__________________________________________________________
2.14 PORTING APPLICATIONS TO OPENVMS? 2-18

__________________________________________________________
2.15 WHAT RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE TO OPENVMS SOFTWARE
DEVELOPERS? 2-19

__________________________________________________________
2.16 MEMORY MANAGEMENT, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, PROCESS
SCHEDULING, ETC? 2-20

__________________________________________________________
2.17 BASIC UNITS OF MEASUREMENT? 2-21
2.17.1 How many bytes are in a disk block? 2-22
2.17.2 How many bytes are in a memory page? 2-23
2.17.3 How do I convert? Disk Blocks? KB, MB,
GB, TB? 2-24

________________________________________________________________
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 ARE AVAILABLE? 3-9

__________________________________________________________
3.8 WHAT IS THIS ASK THE WIZARD WEBSITE I'VE HEARD
ABOUT? 3-11

__________________________________________________________
3.9 WHERE CAN I FIND THE LATEST C RUN-TIME LIBRARY
MANUALS? 3-12

________________________________________________________________
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? 4-2
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
4.2.1 Why do my cluster batch jobs start
early? 4-10
4.2.2 Why does my OpenVMS system time drift? 4-11
4.2.3 Resetting the system time into the
past? 4-12
4.2.4 How can I drift the OpenVMS system
time? 4-12
4.2.5 How can I configure TCP/IP Services NTP
as a time provider? 4-13

__________________________________________________________
4.3 MANAGING TIMEZONES, TIMEKEEPING, UTC, AND DAYLIGHT
SAVINGS? 4-15
4.3.1 Creating and Managing Timezone
Definitions? 4-17
4.3.2 Timezones and Time-related Logical
Names? 4-18
4.3.3 How to troubleshoot TDF problems on
OpenVMS? 4-20
4.3.4 Customizing your TDF (Timezone)
Setting? 4-21

__________________________________________________________
4.4 WHY DOES THE SET TIME COMMAND FAIL? HELP MANAGING
DTSS? 4-22

__________________________________________________________
4.5 SETTING TIME ON ALPHASERVER ES47, ES80, GS1280
CONSOLE? 4-24

__________________________________________________________
4.6 UTC VS GMT VS VS UT1/UT1/UT2 TDF? WHAT ARE THESE
ACRONYMS? 4-26

________________________________________________________________
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

vii

Contents

__________________________________________________________
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 5-19
5.10.4 OpenVMS Cluster Rolling Upgrade Paths 5-20
5.10.5 OpenVMS Product Version and Support
Information 5-21
5.10.6 OpenVMS Alpha and I64 Upgrade
Terminology 5-22

__________________________________________________________
5.11 WHY DO I HAVE A NEGATIVE NUMBER IN THE PAGEFILE
RESERVABLE PAGES? 5-23

__________________________________________________________
5.12 DO I HAVE TO UPDATE LAYERED PRODUCTS WHEN UPDATING
OPENVMS? 5-24

viii

Contents

__________________________________________________________
5.13 HOW DO I CHANGE THE VOLUME LABEL OF A DISK? 5-25

__________________________________________________________
5.14 HOW CAN I SET UP A SHARED DIRECTORY? 5-26

__________________________________________________________
5.15 WHY DO I GET EXTRA BLANK PAGES ON MY HP
PRINTER? 5-27

__________________________________________________________
5.16 DRIVERS AND CONFIGURATION OF NEW GRAPHICS
CONTROLLERS? 5-28
5.16.1 The ELSA GLoria Synergy 5-28
5.16.2 PowerStorm 300, PowerStorm 350 5-29
5.16.3 PowerStorm 3D30, PowerStorm 4D20 5-29
5.16.4 Radeon 7500 5-30

__________________________________________________________
5.17 HOW CAN I ACQUIRE OPENVMS PATCHES, FIXES, AND
ECOS? 5-30

__________________________________________________________
5.18 HOW DO I MOVE THE QUEUE MANAGER DATABASE? 5-31

__________________________________________________________
5.19 HOW DO I DELETE AN UNDELETABLE/UNSTOPPABLE (RWAST)
PROCESS? 5-32

__________________________________________________________
5.20 HOW DO I RESET THE ERROR COUNT(S)? 5-33

__________________________________________________________
5.21 HOW DO I FIND OUT IF THE TAPE DRIVE SUPPORTS
COMPRESSION? 5-35

__________________________________________________________
5.22 CAN I COPY SYSUAF TO ANOTHER VERSION? TO VAX? TO
ALPHA? 5-35

__________________________________________________________
5.23 HOW DO I DELETE (TIMEOUT) IDLE PROCESSES? 5-38

__________________________________________________________
5.24 DO I NEED A PAK FOR THE DECEVENT (HP ANALYZE)
TOOL? 5-38

ix

Contents

__________________________________________________________
5.25 INITIALIZE ACCVIO AND ANSI TAPE LABEL
SUPPORT? 5-39

__________________________________________________________
5.26 HOW DO I RECOVER FROM INSVIRMEM ERRORS? 5-39

__________________________________________________________
5.27 HOW CAN I PREVENT A SERIAL TERMINAL LINE FROM
INITIATING A LOGIN? 5-40

__________________________________________________________
5.28 HOW DOES PCSI USE THE IMAGE BUILD_IDENT
FIELD? 5-40

__________________________________________________________
5.29 HOW CAN I TELL WHAT SOFTWARE (AND VERSION) IS
INSTALLED? 5-42

__________________________________________________________
5.30 WHAT FILE CHECKSUM TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE FOR
OPENVMS? 5-43

__________________________________________________________
5.31 WHAT (AND WHERE) IS THE OPENVMS MANAGEMENT
STATION? 5-43

__________________________________________________________
5.32 HOW TO DETERMINE CURRENT DISK FRAGMENTATION
LEVEL? 5-43

__________________________________________________________
5.33 SYSBOOT-I-FILENOTLOC, UNABLE TO LOCATE
SYS$CPU_ROUTINES? 5-44

__________________________________________________________
5.34 HOW CAN I CUSTOMIZE THE DCPS DEVICE CONTROL FOR A
NEW PRINTER? 5-45

__________________________________________________________
5.35 WHY DO $GETDEV MOUNTCNT AND SHOW DEVICE MOUNT COUNTS
DIFFER? 5-46

__________________________________________________________
5.36 WHAT SOFTWARE IS NEEDED FOR POSTSCRIPT
PRINTERS? 5-46

x

Contents

__________________________________________________________
5.37 HOW DO I REMOVE A PCSI-INSTALLED PATCH (ECO)
KIT? 5-46

__________________________________________________________
5.38 SYSINIT-E, ERROR MOUNTING SYSTEM DEVICE,
STATUS=0072832C 5-47

__________________________________________________________
5.39 RESOLVING LICENSE PAK PROBLEMS? 5-47

__________________________________________________________
5.40 CHANGING THE OPENVMS VERSION NUMBER? 5-49

__________________________________________________________
5.41 HOW TO PREVENT USERS FROM CHOOSING OBVIOUS
PASSWORDS? 5-50

__________________________________________________________
5.42 PLEASE HELP ME WITH THE OPENVMS BACKUP
UTILITY? 5-52
5.42.1 Why isn't BACKUP/SINCE=BACKUP working? 5-52
5.42.1.1 Why has OpenVMS gone through the agony of
this change?, 5-52
5.42.1.2 Can you get the old BACKUP behaviour
back?, 5-52
5.42.2 What can I do to improve BACKUP
performance? 5-53
5.42.3 Why is BACKUP not working as expected? 5-53
5.42.4 How do I fix a corrupt BACKUP saveset? 5-55
5.42.5 How do I write a BACKUP saveset to a
remote tape? 5-56
5.42.6 How to perform a DoD security disk
erasure? 5-57
5.42.7 How to enable telnet virtual terminals? 5-59
5.42.7.1 Volume Shadowing MiniCopy vs MiniMerge?, 5-59
5.42.7.1.1 Mini-Copy?, 5-60
5.42.7.1.2 Mini-Merge?, 5-61

__________________________________________________________
5.43 PLEASE EXPLAIN DELETE/ERASE AND FILE LOCKS? 5-61

__________________________________________________________
5.44 MANAGING FILE VERSIONS? 5-62

xi

Contents

________________________________________________________________
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

__________________________________________________________
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

xii

Contents

__________________________________________________________
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

__________________________________________________________
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

xiii

Contents

__________________________________________________________
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? 9-7
9.7.1 CD and DVD notation, terminology? 9-10
9.7.2 Use of RRD42 and other older
(embossed-media) CD drives? 9-12
9.7.3 Creating Bootable OpenVMS I64 CD or DVD
Media? SYS$SETBOOT? 9-13

__________________________________________________________
9.8 WHAT I/O TRANSFER SIZE LIMITS EXIST IN
OPENVMS? 9-14

__________________________________________________________
9.9 CAN I USE ODBC TO CONNECT TO OPENVMS DATABASE
FILES? 9-14

__________________________________________________________
9.10 IF MY DISKS ARE SHOWN AS VIOC COMPATIBLE, AM I USING
XFC? 9-15

__________________________________________________________
9.11 RMS SEQUENTIAL FILES AND PLATFORM
PORTABILITY? 9-15

________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 10 OPENVMS PROGRAMMING INFORMATION 10-1

__________________________________________________________
10.1 MODULAR PROGRAMMING, FACILITY PREFIXES AND SYMBOL
NAMING? 10-1

xiv

Contents

__________________________________________________________
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? 10-5

__________________________________________________________
10.8 HOW DO I CONVERT BETWEEN IEEE AND VAX FLOATING
DATA? 10-6

__________________________________________________________
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? 10-9

__________________________________________________________
10.13 WHAT IS A DESCRIPTOR? 10-10

xv

Contents

__________________________________________________________
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? 10-15

__________________________________________________________
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? 10-16

__________________________________________________________
10.20 DEALING WITH ENDIAN-NESS? 10-17

__________________________________________________________
10.21 HOW TO RESOLVE LINK-I-DATMISCH ERRORS? 10-17

__________________________________________________________
10.22 HP C AND OTHER OPENVMS C PROGRAMMING
CONSIDERATIONS? 10-18
10.22.1 Other common C issues 10-21
10.22.2 Other common C++ issues 10-23

__________________________________________________________
10.23 STATUS OF PROGRAMMING TOOLS ON OPENVMS VAX? 10-25

__________________________________________________________
10.24 CHOOSING A VERSION NUMBER FOR APPLICATION
CODE? 10-26

__________________________________________________________
10.25 SELECTING A PROCESS DUMP DIRECTORY? 10-27

__________________________________________________________
10.26 ACCESS TO ITANIUM ASSEMBLER? 10-28

xvi

Contents

________________________________________________________________
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

__________________________________________________________
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

xvii

Contents

__________________________________________________________
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

________________________________________________________________
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

xviii

Contents

__________________________________________________________
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 13-15
13.2.3 TCP/IP Tools and Utilities for OpenVMS? 13-16
13.2.4 The vi text editor 13-16
13.2.5 The Emacs Text Editor 13-16
13.2.6 Various GNU tools 13-17
13.2.6.1 GCC compiler, 13-17

__________________________________________________________
13.3 WHAT IS THE STATUS OF PL/I ON OPENVMS? 13-18

__________________________________________________________
13.4 WHERE CAN I GET THE MOZILLA WEB BROWSER? 13-18

__________________________________________________________
13.5 WHERE CAN I GET JAVA FOR OPENVMS? 13-19

__________________________________________________________
13.6 OBTAINING USER INPUT IN DCL CGI SCRIPT? 13-20

__________________________________________________________
13.7 HOW CAN A BATCH JOB GET ITS OWN BATCH ENTRY
NUMBER? 13-21

__________________________________________________________
13.8 HOW DO I CONVERT TO NEW CMS OR DTM LIBRARIES? 13-21

__________________________________________________________
13.9 WHERE CAN I GET PERL FOR OPENVMS? 13-22

__________________________________________________________
13.10 OBTAINING THE DECMIGRATE (AEST OR VEST, AND TIE)
TRANSLATOR? 13-24

__________________________________________________________
13.11 WHERE CAN I GET ZIP, UNZIP, SELF-EXTRACTING ZIP,
ETC? 13-25

__________________________________________________________
13.12 ARE VAX HARDWARE EMULATORS AVAILABLE? 13-26

xix

Contents

________________________________________________________________
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
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

xx

Contents

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

__________________________________________________________
14.5 WHAT IS THE LEAST EXPENSIVE SYSTEM THAT WILL RUN
OPENVMS? 14-33

__________________________________________________________
14.6 WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION ON ALPHA
SYSTEMS? 14-34

__________________________________________________________
14.7 DESCRIBE ALPHA INSTRUCTION EMULATION AND INSTRUCTION
SUBSETS? 14-35

__________________________________________________________
14.8 SO HOW DO I OPEN UP THE DEC 3000 CHASSIS? 14-37

__________________________________________________________
14.9 WHAT IS BYTE SWIZZLING? 14-37

__________________________________________________________
14.10 WHAT IS THE LAYOUT OF THE VAX FLOATING POINT
FORMAT? 14-39

xxi

Contents

__________________________________________________________
14.11 WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFO ABOUT VAX SYSTEMS? 14-40

__________________________________________________________
14.12 WHERE CAN I FIND INFORMATION ON NETBSD FOR VAX
SYSTEMS? 14-40

__________________________________________________________
14.13 WHAT SYSTEM DISK SIZE LIMIT ON THE MICROVAX AND
VAXSTATION 3100? 14-40

__________________________________________________________
14.14 WHAT ARE THE VAX PROCESSOR (CPU) CODES? 14-42

__________________________________________________________
14.15 WHERE CAN I GET SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE SUPPORT
INFORMATION? 14-43

__________________________________________________________
14.16 WHERE CAN I GET HARDWARE SELF-MAINTENANCE SUPPORT
ASSISTANCE? 14-44

__________________________________________________________
14.17 WHY DOES MY SYSTEM HALT WHEN I POWER-CYCLE THE
CONSOLE TERMINAL? 14-45

__________________________________________________________
14.18 CAN I REUSE OLD KEYBOARDS, MICE AND MONITORS WITH A
PC? 14-45

__________________________________________________________
14.19 WHICH VIDEO MONITOR WORKS WITH WHICH GRAPHICS
CONTROLLER? 14-47

__________________________________________________________
14.20 WHERE CAN I GET INFORMATION ON STORAGE
HARDWARE? 14-49

__________________________________________________________
14.21 WHY DOES MY LK401 KEYBOARD UNEXPECTEDLY
AUTOREPEAT? 14-49

__________________________________________________________
14.22 PROBLEM - MY LK411 SENDS THE WRONG KEYCODES OR SOME
KEYS ARE DEAD 14-50

xxii

Contents

__________________________________________________________
14.23 WHICH DE500 VARIANT WORKS WITH WHICH OPENVMS
VERSION? 14-50

__________________________________________________________
14.24 THIRD-PARTY OR UNSUPPORTED
DISK/TAPE/CONTROLLERS/SCSI/WIDGETS? 14-52
14.24.1 Lists of third-party widgets on
OpenVMS? 14-55
14.24.2 Are the 2X-KZPCA-AA and SN-KZPCA-AA LVD
Ultra2 SCSI? 14-55
14.24.3 Resolving DRVERR fatal device error? 14-56

__________________________________________________________
14.25 LOOKING FOR CONNECTOR WIRING PIN-OUTS? 14-56

__________________________________________________________
14.26 WHAT CONNECTORS AND WIRING ADAPTERS ARE
AVAILABLE? 14-59

__________________________________________________________
14.27 WHAT IS FLOW CONTROL AND HOW DOES IT WORK? 14-61

__________________________________________________________
14.28 CD AND DVD DEVICE REQUIREMENTS? 14-63

________________________________________________________________
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? 15-1
15.2.3 How do I connect a PostScript printer via
TCP/IP? 15-2
15.2.4 How do I set a default IP route or
gateway on OpenVMS? 15-3
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

xxiii

Contents

__________________________________________________________
15.3 OPENVMS AND DECNET NETWORKING? 15-4
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

__________________________________________________________
15.4 HOW TO DETERMINE THE NETWORK HARDWARE
ADDRESS? 15-6
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? 15-10

__________________________________________________________
15.6 OPENVMS, CLUSTERS, VOLUME SHADOWING? 15-11
15.6.1 OpenVMS Cluster Communications Protocol
Details? 15-11
15.6.1.1 OpenVMS Cluster (SCS) over DECnet? Over
IP?, 15-11
15.6.1.2 Configuring Cluster SCS for path load
balancing?, 15-12
15.6.1.2.1 Cluster Terminology?, 15-12
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
15.6.2.2 Explain disk (or tape) allocation class
settings?, 15-18
15.6.2.2.1 How to configure allocation classes and
Multi-Path SCSI?, 15-19
15.6.3 Tell me about SET HOST/DUP and SET
HOST/HSC 15-20
15.6.4 How do I rename a DSSI disk (or tape?) 15-22
15.6.5 Where can I get Fibre Channel Storage
(SAN) information? 15-23

xxiv

Contents

15.6.6 Which files must be shared in an OpenVMS
Cluster? 15-23
15.6.7 How can I split up an OpenVMS Cluster? 15-24
15.6.8 Details on Volume Shadowing? 15-26
15.6.8.1 Does volume shadowing require a non-zero
allocation classes?, 15-26

________________________________________________________________
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 2-6

2-3 OpenVMS I64 Media Suffix 2-7

2-4 OpenVMS Source Listings Kits 2-7

2-5 OpenVMS Alpha Version Rule-Of-Thumb 2-17

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

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 14-51

14-5 DEC MMJ Pin-out 14-56

14-6 PC DB9 Pin-out 14-57

14-7 MicroVAX DB9 Pin-out 14-58

14-8 DECconnect MMJ Connectors and Adapters 14-59

15-1 Cluster Common Shared Files 15-23

xxv

________________________________________________________________

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{atsign}hp{period}com)

No Support Questions, Please

Please do not send technical questions to the
FAQ Editor (hoff{atsign}hp{period}com) . The FAQ
Editor (hoff{atsign}hp{period}com) 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{atsign}hp{period}com) for
potential inclusion.

Do note that the FAQ Editor (hoff{atsign}hp{period}com)
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 pointer, please notify the FAQ
Editor (hoff{atsign}hp{period}com) . If you have
or can find the current, correct or updated URL,
of course, that greatly assists the FAQ Editor

iii

OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

(hoff{atsign}hp{period}com) 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{atsign}hp{period}com) wishes to
thank to all of those folks who post answers to the
newsgroups, and that have contributed to the contents
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.

Paul Anderson, Jason Armistead, Zoltan Arpadffy,
John AtoZ, Bailey, Jeremy Begg, Colin Blake, Ken
Blaylock, Kenneth Block, Bol, Craig Berry, Mark
Berryman, Jim Becker, Verell Boaen, Bol, Jim Brankin,
Richard Brodie, Robert Alan Byer, Jeff 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, Jim Dunham,
Eric, Glenn Everhart, Ken Fairfield, Yaacov Fenster,
Gunther Froehlin, Harry Garonzik, Derek Garson,

iv

OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

John Gillings, Andy Goldstein, Clair Grant, Hunter
Goatley, Ruth Goldenberg, Vance Haemmerle, Ki Suk Hahn,
SHarris, Fletcher Hearns, Phillip Helbig, Hein van
den Heuvel, Stephen Hoffman, Eberhard Heuser-Hofmann,
Sue Holt, Horn, Jaf, Leif Jansson, Kevin Jenkins,
Don Jones, Henry Juengst, inazu_k, Geoff Kingsmill,
Fred Kleinsorge, Felix Kreisel, Veli Korkko, Ruslan R.
Laishev, Norm Lastovica, p_lee, Jerry Leichter, Richard
Levitte, Steve Lionel, Kerry Main, John E. Malmberg,
David Mathog, Dale Miller, Dick Munroe, Patrick Moreau,
Morrison, otis, George Pagliarulo, Keith Parris, Plass,
pvhp, David Rabahy, Stan Rabinowitz, Mike Raspuzzi,
Steve Reece, Ian Ring, Aaron Sakovich, Warren Sander,
Mark Schafer, Brian Schenkenberger, Atlant Schmidt,
Wayne Sewell, Steven Shamlian, Sue Skonetski, Scott
Snadow, Scott Squires, stfp, Dave Sweeney, Mike
Thompson, Arne Vajh�j, Martin Vorl�nder, 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{atsign}hp{period}com) 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.

__________________________________________________________
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 news://comp.answers

o news://news.answers

o http://www.faqs.org/

o http://www.google.com/

o http://www.kjsl.com/vmsfaq

v

OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

o http://eisner.decus.org/vms/faq.htm

o http://www.hoffmanlabs.org

Other internet FAQs are generally available in these
locations:

o news://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{atsign}hp{period}com) recommends downloading,
using and searching the ASCII text FAQ format.

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.

vi

OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

__________________________________________________________
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 the editor of this FAQ is an employee of
Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), this posting and the
information contained within this FAQ are is 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 editor, or of any other
entity.

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{atsign}hp{period}com)

vii

OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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://askq.compaq.com/ (Natural Language Search
Assistant)

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

__________________________________________________________
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).

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

Introduction

_____________________________
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: ftp://crvax.sri.com/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.

_____________________________
1.2.4.1 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.

1-3

Introduction

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. Please use these first.
Also please specifically read the release notes and
(if appropriate) the cover letter for the product you
are using. (The release notes are generally placed in
SYS$HELP:.) Quite often, these simple steps will allow
you to quickly find the answer to your own question-and
more quickly than waiting for a response to question
posted to a newsgroup, too. These steps will save
you time, and will also help ensure you have a good
reputation with the folks that might be included to
answer one of your future questions, a question not
covered in these resources. Put another way, if you do
not want your questions to be ignored in the future-
and please remember that the folks in the newsgroups
do not have to answer your questions-you won't want
to "annoy the natives" by asking a question that has
already been answered far more times more than you
might have realized, or a question whose answer is
readily available had you made a small effort.

When posting, please consider the following
suggestions:

o There is no particularly reliable way to recall,
erase, delete, or otherwise hide a message once it
is emailed or once posted. Once your message has
reached an external email server or multiple news
servers, the entire text is effectively a permanent
fixture of the network. And using the available
search engines, a fixture that is easy to locate
and to correlate. (Do not assume that all tools or
archives will honor the do-not-cache attributes,
either-postings marked as such can be among the most
interesting ones to cache, after all.)

For details on some of the many available archives,
please see Section 1.2.3.

1-5

Introduction

o Include a valid e-mail address in the text of your
posting or in a "signature" appended to the end.
Reply-to addresses in headers often get garbled.
Anonymous addresses can also simply be ignored, as
fake addresses are regularly used by folks that are
"trolling" and by folks that are spamming. (Though
to avoid spam-harvesting of your email address,
consider adding characters or a field into the
address-but remember to include details around which
characters or fields should be removed or altered if
you decide to be particularly clever here.)

o If you are submitting a question, please be as
specific as you can. Include relevant information
such as processor type, product versions (OpenVMS
and layered products that apply), error message(s),
DCL command(s) used, and a short, reproducible
example of problems. Say what you've tried so
far, so that effort isn't duplicated. Keep in mind
that there's not yet a telepathy protocol for the
Internet. (The more detailed your description, the
better that people can help you with your question.)

o If responding to a posting, include in your reply
only as much of the original posting as is necessary
to establish context. As a guideline, consider that
if you've included more text than you've added,
you've possibly included too much. Never include
signatures and other irrelevant material.

o Please be polite. If the question isn't worded
the way you think is correct or doesn't include
the information you want, try to imagine what
the problem might be if viewed from the poster's
perspective. Requests for additional detailed
information are often better sent through mail
rather than posted to the newsgroup.

o If you have a problem with HP (or any other
vendor's) product, please use the appropriate
support channel. Do not assume that newsgroup
postings will get read, will be responded to by the
appropriate developers, or will be later followed up
upon.

1-6

Introduction

o If you are posting from a web browser, news reader
or if you are posting via email sent to INFO-VAX,
please turn off MIME, vcard, attachments, and other
mechanisms that assume anyone reading the post
has the corresponding capability-use the text-only
option of your web browser, news reader, or mailer.
Usenet is traditionally a text-only medium, and
many comp.os.vms participants will use tools that
have this support disabled, or that do not have this
support. If the message uses MIME or attachments or
such, the text of your message will be buried in a
large pile of gibberish, and some tools will send
multiple copies of the text within a single posting.

o If you find that the postings of a particular user
are uninteresting, annoying, or off-topic, most
newsreaders include a filter or killfile mechanism,
and many mail clients have similar filtering
capabilities. Please do not "flame"-to email or
to post vitriol - any individual that might annoy
you, please enable and filter all of that user's
postings. Posting of vitriol and of "flames" will
eventually come back to haunt you; netizens and the
net itself have a very large and a very long memory.
Similarly, readers that decide that your postings
are not worthy of reading will similarly tend to
filter or to killfile all of your postings. Please
play nice, in other words.

Before posting your question to the comp.os.vms
newsgroup or sending your message to the INFO-VAX list,
also please take the time to review available etiquette
information, such as that included in the following
documents:

widftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/
news.answers/usenet/primer/part1

widftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/
news.answers/usenet/faq/part1

widftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/
news.answers/usenet/emily-postnews/part1

1-7

--

---------------------------- #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