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Organization: HP
Subject: OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Part 2/11
Summary: This posting contains answers to frequently asked questions about
the HP OpenVMS operating system, and the computer systems on which
it runs.
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Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.os.vms:449755 comp.sys.dec:102375 comp.answers:61548 news.answers:296113
Archive-name: dec-faq/vms/part2
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Last-modified: 02 Sep 2005
Version: VMSFAQ_20050902-02.TXT
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.
1-7
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.
1-8
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:
wid
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/
news.answers/usenet/primer/part1
wid
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/
news.answers/usenet/faq/part1
wid
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/
news.answers/usenet/emily-postnews/part1
1-9
Introduction
wid
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/
news.answers/usenet/writing-style/part1
wid
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/
news.answers/usenet/posting-rules/part1
This information will document the etiquette of
newsgroups, as well as providing you with the knowledge
the vast amount of newsgroup-related information that
is readily available to you, and where to find it...
Note
Please do not post security holes or system
crashers
Rather, please report these problems directly to
HP. Why? So that HP has a chance to resolve and
distribute a fix before other customer sites can
be affected.
Most folks in the newsgroups are honest and
deserve to know about potential security
problems, but a few folks can and will make
nefarious use of this same information. Other
sites will hopefully return the courtesy,
and will not post information that will
potentially compromise your site and your
computer environment.
__________________________________________________________
1.4 What OpenVMS user group(s) are available?
Encompass, the Enterprise Computing Association,
is a user group comprised of information technology
professionals that are interested in the Enterprise-
oriented products, services, and technologies of
Compaq and of the former DIGITAL. Encompass offers
newsletters, the Encompass website, and offers various
gatherings and related services, including symposia
events and local users group meetings.
Encompass is a descendent of the organization known as
DECUS, the Digital Equipment Computer Users Society.
1-10
Introduction
For more information on Encompass, please visit the
Encompass web site:
o
http://www.encompassus.org/
The organization comprised of customers of Hewlett-
Packard Company (HP) that is probably most analogous to
the Encompass organization is Interex:
o
http://www.interex.org/
Like Encompass, Interex offers various services
and events of interest to folks that presently work
with and/or that wish to learn about HP products and
offerings. Please see the Interex website for details.
__________________________________________________________
1.5 OpenVMS Support, Questions and Comments?
The following section includes contacts for OpenVMS
Feedback, and information on how to obtain technical
support information.
_____________________________
1.5.1 Corporate contacts for OpenVMS Business Issues?
The HP corporate contact for OpenVMS business issues is
Ann McQuaid, the HP General Manager directly in charge
of OpenVMS and OpenVMS Engineering, while feature
requests and other related matters should be routed
to MaryJane Vazquez, the OpenVMS Business Manager.
Ann and MaryJane will quite obviously respond best to
cogently-worded OpenVMS corporate-level business issues
or requests. With all due respect to all involved,
neither Ann nor MaryJane are appropriate contacts for
technical support matters nor for technical support
requests, nor for any other non-corporate-related, non-
business-related issues-these questions are best routed
to the local or regional customer support center; to
the support, technical and engineering teams.
To reach Ann or MaryJane via electronic mail, place a
dot between the first and the surname, and append the
expected HP.COM domain.
1-11
Introduction
_____________________________
1.5.2 OpenVMS Ambassadors?
The OpenVMS Ambassadors are senior HP engineers with
advanced technical knowledge and advanced training in
OpenVMS, with detailed knowledge of current and future
OpenVMS releases and product plans, and with contacts
directly with the HP and ISV hardware and software
engineering organizations developing OpenVMS and
OpenVMS hardware platforms, as well as layered products
and tools. Further, Ambassadors are experienced with
integrating HP OpenVMS and application-specific
products and ISV applications to solve specific
business requirements.
OpenVMS Ambassadors are based throughout the world.
Your HP sales representative or HP reseller will be
able connect you with your local OpenVMS Ambassador.
_____________________________
1.5.3 Contact for OpenVMS Marketing Issues and Questions?
Please see Section 3.4.
_____________________________
1.5.4 Contact URLs for OpenVMS Technical Issues?
For technical issues and technical support, please
contact your software support organization, or your
local HP Customer Support Center or HP Reseller. In
North America, you can call 1-800-HP-INVENT.
Please remember to review and to bookmark the following
support URLs:
o
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/
o
http://askq.compaq.com/
o
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/
o
ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/openvms_patches/
1-12
_______________________________________________________
2 General Information
__________________________________________________________
2.1 What is OpenVMS? What is its history?
OpenVMS, originally called VMS (Virtual Memory System),
was first conceived in 1976 as a new operating system
for the then-new, 32-bit, virtual memory line of
computers, eventually named VAX (Virtual Address
eXtension).
The first VAX model, the 11/780, was code-named "Star",
hence the code name for the VMS operating system,
"Starlet", a name that remains to this day the name
for the system library files (STARLET.OLB, etc.).
VMS version X0.5 was the first released to customers,
in support of the hardware beta test of the VAX-11/780,
in 1977. VAX/VMS Version V1.0 shipped in 1978, along
with the first revenue-ship 11/780s.
OpenVMS was designed entirely within HP and
specifically within the former Digital Equipment
Corporation (DIGITAL). Two of the principal designers
were Dave Cutler and Dick Hustvedt, though with a wide
variety of other contributors. OpenVMS was conceived
as a 32-bit, virtual memory successor to the RSX-
11M operating system for the PDP-11. Many of the
original designers and programmers of OpenVMS had
worked previously on RSX-11M, and many concepts from
RSX-11M were carried over to OpenVMS.
OpenVMS VAX is a 32-bit, multitasking, multiprocessing
virtual memory operating system. Current
implementations run on VAX systems from HP and
other vendors, as well as on hardware emulators;
for additional information on emulators, please see
Section 13.12 and
2-1
General Information
OpenVMS Alpha is a 64-bit multitasking, multiprocessing
virtual memory operating system. Current
implementations run on Alpha systems from HP, and other
vendors.
OpenVMS has also been ported to the Intel IA-64
architecture, and specifically to HP Integrity
systems using microprocessors from the Intel Itanium
Processor Family. This implementation of OpenVMS is
officially known as "HP OpenVMS for Integrity Servers"
and more commonly as "OpenVMS I64", and it operates
in the native Itanium IA-64 architecture and 64-
bit environment. OpenVMS I64 provides support for
applications requiring 32- or 64-bit virtual addressing
capabilities entirely within the native 64-bit Itanium
execution environment. (For details on this and related
terminology, please see Section 14.4.5.)
For more details on OpenVMS and its features, please
read the OpenVMS Software Product Description at:
o
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/info/spd/
OpenVMS typically uses SPD 25.01.xx, SPD 41.87.xx,
and SPD 82.35.xx.
Additional information on the general features of
various OpenVMS releases, release dates, as well as the
development project code names of specific releases, is
available at:
o
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/os/openvms-
release-history.html
Additional historical information-as well as pictures
and a variety of other trivia-is available in the VAX
20th anniversary book:
o
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/20th/vmsbook.pdf
For information on the FreeVMS project, and on hobbyist
and educational versions of OpenVMS, please see:
o
http://www.free-vms.org/
o
http://www.openvmshobbyist.org/
2-2
General Information
o
http://www.openvmsedu.com/
Also please see the related software licensing topics
Section 2.8.4, Section 2.8.1, and Section 2.15.
__________________________________________________________
2.2 What is the difference between VMS and OpenVMS?
VMS and OpenVMS are two names for the same operating
system. Originally, the operating system was called
VAX-11/VMS; it changed to VAX/VMS at around VAX/VMS
V2.0. When the VMS operating system was ported to the
Alpha platform, it was renamed OpenVMS, for both VAX
and Alpha (and for the Itanium Processor Family), in
part to signify the high degree of support for industry
standards such as POSIX, which provides many features
of UNIX systems.
For those versions with POSIX, an OpenVMS license
allows you to install and run POSIX for OpenVMS at
no additional charge; all you need is the media and
documentation which can be found on the Consolidated
Distribution and On-Line Documentation CD-ROMs. Support
for the POSIX package on more recent OpenVMS releases
is not available, various parts of POSIX such as calls
from the API are being integrated more directly into
OpenVMS. For more information on POSIX for VMS see
question SOFT2
What became confusing is that the OpenVMS name was
introduced first for OpenVMS AXP V1.0 causing the
widespread misimpression that OpenVMS was for Alpha
AXP only, while "regular VMS" was for VAX. In fact,
the official name of the VAX operating system was
changed as of V5.5, though the name did not start to be
actually used in the product until V6.0.
__________________________________________________________
2.3 What's in a Name? Terminology and Products?
The proper names for OpenVMS on the various platforms
are "OpenVMS VAX", "OpenVMS Alpha", and "OpenVMS I64".
Use of "OpenVMS AXP" and of "VAX/VMS" are deprecated.
2-3
General Information
The VAX and Alpha terms are largely interchangeably
used as the names of platforms, of processor or
microprocessor implementations, and of the respective
computing architectures.
Somewhat confusing to long-time OpenVMS users, Intel
IA-32, IA-64, and EM64T, and AMD AMD64 are the names of
various computing architectures and of architectural
extensions. Only. These are not the names of any
implementations, nor of any platforms.
Intel Itanium is the name of a family of microprocessor
implementations of the Intel IA-64 architecture, as
Intel Pentium and Xeon are the names of families of
microprocessor implementations of Intel IA-32 and
(potentially) of the EM64T extensions.
I64 is the generic name for the various HP Integrity
platforms supported by HP OpenVMS for Integrity Servers
(and more commonly as "OpenVMS I64"); for the platforms
supported by OpenVMS I64. (For additional related
terminology, please see Section 14.4.5.)
_____________________________
2.3.1 How do I port from VMS to OpenVMS?
You already did. Wasn't that easy? Please see
Section 2.2 for details.
__________________________________________________________
2.4 Which is better, OpenVMS or UNIX?
This question comes up periodically, usually asked by
new subscribers and new posters who are long-time UNIX
or Linux users. Sometimes, the question is ignored
totally; other times, it leads to a long series of
repetitive messages that convince no one and usually
carry little if any new information. Please do everyone
a favor and avoid re-starting this perpetual, fruitless
debate.
That said, OpenVMS and the better implementations of
UNIX are all fine operating systems, each with its
strengths and weaknesses. If you're in a position
where you need to choose, select the one that best
fits your own requirements, considering, for example,
2-4
General Information
whether or not the layered products or specific OS
features you want are available, and considering the
expected cost-of-ownership over the lifetime of the
system installation.
If you are asking this question, you are probably
comparing OpenVMS to UNIX. It was once certainly
true that OpenVMS and UNIX were quite different.
In more recent times, there are tools and C APIs on
OpenVMS that directly provide or that easily support
porting UNIX programs and commands, and there are
equivalent packages bringing various OpenVMS features
and mechanisms to UNIX platforms.
If you seek UNIX tools on OpenVMS rather than the
more philosophical discussion found in this section,
please see the GNV package and other GNU discussions
in Section 13.2.6, and please see the plethora of
C calls currently available in the HP C Run-Time
Library documentation, briefly discussed over in
Section 13.2.1.
__________________________________________________________
2.5 Is HP continuing funding and support for OpenVMS?
Yes.
Active development of new OpenVMS releases is underway,
as well as the continuation of support.
Please see the following URLs for details, roadmaps,
and related information:
o
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/
__________________________________________________________
2.6 What OpenVMS distribution kits are available?
Various distributions are available.
For the most current information on the available part
numbers and current products (OpenVMS distribution
kits, media, documentation, etc) and the most current
associated licensing information, please see the
current OpenVMS Software Product Description (SPD)
document, available at:
o
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/info/spd/
2-5
General Information
OpenVMS typically uses SPD 25.01.xx, SPD 41.87.xx,
and SPD 82.35.xx.
The CD-ROMs listed in Table 2-1 contain just the
OpenVMS Alpha operating system. The operating system
distribution kits are bootable, and can be used to run
BACKUP from the optical media, as well as performing an
installation or upgrade.
________________________________________________________________
Table 2-1 OpenVMS Alpha Media Kits
_______________________________________________________
Part______________Description__________________________
QA-MT1AG-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V6.2-1H3 hardware
release CD-ROM; also requires QA-
MT1AA-H8.6.2
QA-MT1AR-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V7.1-2 maintenance
release CD-ROM
QA-MT1AT-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1 maintenance
release CD-ROM
QA-MT1AU-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-2 maintenance
release CD-ROM
QA-MT3AA-H8 OpenVMS Alpha and VAX products and
documentation on CD-ROM
QA-MT3AE-H8 OpenVMS Alpha and VAX documentation
___________________________on_CD-ROM____________________________
OpenVMS I64 is distributed on DVD-ROM media, and is
bootable. OpenVMS I64 licensing is implemented on a
per-processor-socket basis, with the classic license
tiers based on the numbers of processor sockets that
can be present. Further, three general product and
licensing groupings are optionally available with
OpenVMS I64, the Foundation Operating Environment
(FOE), the Enterprise Operating Environment (EOE), and
(as/when/if available) the Mission Critical Operating
Environment (MCOE). Seperate per-product licenses are
generally also available for various of the products
within the Operating Environment groups.
2-6
General Information
________________________________________________________________
Table 2-2 OpenVMS I64 Order Numbers
_______________________________________________________
Part______________Description__________________________
BA322AA#??? OpenVMS I64 FOE Product
BA323AA#??? OpenVMS I64 EOE Product
_________BA324AA#???_______OpenVMS_I64_MCOE_Product_____________
The product suffix required for the order numbers
listed in Table 2-2 can be found in Table 2-3.
________________________________________________________________
Table 2-3 OpenVMS I64 Media Suffix
_______________________________________________________
Suffix____________Description__________________________
A18 OpenVMS I64 FOE V8.2 DVD media
AJR OE media kit on DVD media
_________0D1_______________Factory_installation_________________
The OpenVMS VAX, OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS I64 source
listings sets referenced in Table 2-4 include the
source listings of most of OpenVMS, and these machine-
readable distributions are invaluable for any folks
working directly with OpenVMS internals, as well as for
folks interested in seeing examples of various OpenVMS
programming interfaces.
________________________________________________________________
Table 2-4 OpenVMS Source Listings Kits
_______________________________________________________
Part______________Description__________________________
QB-MT1AB-E8 OpenVMS Alpha Source Listings kit and
license
QT-MT1AB-Q8 OpenVMS Alpha Source Listings Updates
BA422AA OpenVMS I64 Source Listings kit and
license
QB-001AB-E8 OpenVMS VAX Source Listings kit and
license
2-7
General Information
________________________________________________________________
Table 2-4 (Cont.) OpenVMS Source Listings Kits
_______________________________________________________
Part______________Description__________________________
QT-001AB-Q8 OpenVMS VAX Source Listings Updates
BA422AA OpenVMS I64 source listings kit and
___________________________license______________________________
Additional OpenVMS packages and technologies including
NetBeans, XML, SOAP, UDDI, JDK, Perl, Tomcat, SSL
and such are discussed within the OpenVMS e-Business
Infrastructure Package SPD 80.58.xx. Again, please see
the OpenVMS SPD and the documents and parts referenced
there for the most current information.
_____________________________
2.6.1 Where can I download OpenVMS and Layered Product Kits?
HP customers with commercial licenses and support
contracts can download software product distribution
kits from the following HP website:
o
http://www1.sqp.com/
You can also find pointers to the Software Rollout
Report and to the OpenVMS SPD listings via the above
SQP website.
Information on obtaining and transfering licenses
is available in Section 2.6 and Section 2.8.4, while
information on the OpenVMS Hobbyist licensing program
and on obtaining hobbyist product distribution kits is
in Section 2.8.1.
__________________________________________________________
2.7 In what language is OpenVMS written?
OpenVMS is written in a wide variety of languages.
In no particular order, OpenVMS components are
implemented using Bliss, Macro, Ada, PLI, VAX and DEC
C, Fortran, UIL, VAX and Alpha SDL, Pascal, MDL, DEC
C++, DCL, Message, and Document. And this is certainly
not a complete list. However, the rumor is NOT true
that an attempt was made to write pieces of OpenVMS in
every supported language so that the Run-Time Libraries
2-8
General Information
could not be unbundled. (APL, BASIC, COBOL and RPG are
just some of the languages NOT represented!)
There are a large variety of small and not-so-small
tools and DCL command procedures that are used as part
of the OpenVMS build, and a source code control system
capable of maintaining over a hundred thousand source
files across multiple parallel development projects,
and overlapping releases.
__________________________________________________________
2.8 Obtaining and Transfering OpenVMS licenses?
The following sections describe hobbyist and
educational license programs, as well as information on
commercial licenses and transfers.
For information on the available commercial OpenVMS
licenses and for information on license transfers,
please see Section 2.8.4. OpenVMS Hobbyist licenses
are discussed in Section 2.8.1. For information
on the licensing implementation, troubleshooting
licensing problems, on the License Unit Requirements
Table (LURT), and other related details, please see
Section 5.39. For configuring and troubleshooting LMF,
see Section 12.4.
_____________________________
2.8.1 Questions asked by Hobbyist OpenVMS licensees?
If you are a member of an HP-recognized user group
(eg: Encompass, Enterex, DECUS), and are considering
acquiring and using a VAX, Alpha or (soon) IA-64 system
for hobbyist (non-commercial) use, (free) license
product authorization keys (PAKs) for OpenVMS VAX,
OpenVMS Alpha, and (reportedly) OpenVMS I64, and
layered products are available.
In addition to the license keys, OpenVMS VAX and
Alpha distribution CD-ROM distribution kits are
available with OpenVMS, DECwindows Motif, DECnet
and TCP/IP networking, compilers, and a variety
of layered products. (A hobbyist distribution for
OpenVMS I64 is expected.) (While the hobbyist CD-
ROM distributions are intended for and tailored for
OpenVMS Hobbyists, the contents and capabilities of the
2-9
General Information
Hobbyist installation kits included within the OpenVMS
Hobbyist distribution do not differ from the standard
distribution installation kits. The products are chosen
to reflect the most popular products and the space
available on the media.)
If you have questions on what else is authorized by the
license agreement and on what other distribution media
is available to you, well, please read the applicable
software license agreement(s).
For further information, please link to:
o
http://www.openvmshobbyist.org/
On the OpenVMS Hobbyist license registration form
at the above website (as of August 2005), you are
offered the choice of the "OpenVMS VAX" license(s), the
"OpenVMS Alpha" license(s), and the "Layered Products"
licenses. You will want the operating system license
for your particular OpenVMS platform and you will
want the "Layered Products" licenses. You will want
to select and to acquire two sets of license PAKs.
For vendors wishing to license products specifically
for hobbyist use (and to not issue hobbyist PAKs),
the program provides hobbyists with the license PAK
OPENVMS-HOBBYIST.
If you plan to use a hardware emulator (eg: VAX
emulator) on a Microsoft Windows platform, make sure
you have an OpenVMS distribution kit that can be
installed and/or booted with the particular emulator
package you plan to use. For additional information on
emulators, please see Section 13.12 and particularly
please see the emulator-related documentation.
_____________________________
2.8.1.1 Vendors offering Hobbyist Licenses
o GrayMatter Software
http://www.graysoft.com/GSCHobbyPR.html
http://www.graysoft.com/GSCHobbyPR.html
o Argent Software
http://jams.argent-software.com/hobby.html
2-10
General Information
o Kednos
http://www.kednos.com/
o LJK
http://ljk.com
o Process Software
http://www.process.com/openvms/hobbyist.html
o Raxco
http://www.raxco.com/hobbyist/
o Software Resources International (SRI)
http://www.softresint.com/charon-vax/Tools_and_
tips.htm
Hobbyist license product additions, and any updates
for products already listed here are welcome. Please
contact the FAQ Editor (hoff{atsign}hp{period}com)
_____________________________
2.8.2 OpenVMS Educational and CSLG licenses?
For information on OpenVMS licenses for educational
customers, please see the HP Campus Software
License Grant (CSLG) license program and the OpenVMS
Educational license program:
o
http://www.openvmsedu.com/
_____________________________
2.8.3 What developer and partner licensing programs are
available?
Commercial software developers can join the HP DSPP
program, and can (potentially) receive discounts
on various software product licenses and software
distributions, as well as on hardware purchases.
o
http://www.hp.com/go/dspp/
The DSPP program is the descendent of the DIGITAL ISVN
and DIGITAL ASAP programs and the Compaq CSA program,
and the analogous developer and partner programs at HP.
Please see Section 2.15 for additional details on the
DSPP program.
2-11
General Information
For information on the OpenbVMS Hobbyist and
OpenVMS Educational license programs, please see
Section 2.8.1.
_____________________________
2.8.4 How do I obtain or transfer an OpenVMS license?
To transfer a commercial OpenVMS license from one owner
to another, or to purchase a commercial license, you
can contact HP at regional sales office or reseller.
For information on the hobbyist license program, please
see Section 2.8.1.
__________________________________________________________
2.9 Does OpenVMS support the Euro currency symbol?
OpenVMS can generate the %xA4 character code used for
the Euro, and the DECwindows DECterm can display the
glyph. Please check with the vendor of your terminal or
terminal emulator for additional details.
__________________________________________________________
2.10 OpenVMS Ports? Itanium? Ports to IA-32, EM64T or AMD64
systems?
OpenVMS has been ported to and is operational on four
architectures: VAX, Alpha, IA-64, and IA-32. The first
three have available native ports of OpenVMS, the
fourth is available via emulation. VAX is the oldest
architecture, and limited to 32-bit virtual and up
to 34-bit physical addressing. The Alpha and IA-64
architectures are both 64-bit architectures, with
64-bit virtual addressing available. The available
IA-32 emulation is provided for the OpenVMS VAX and
other VAX operating systems, and provides a 32-bit
VAX environment. For additional information on the
emulation, please see Section 13.12.
As for (the lack of) a native port for IA-32, OpenVMS
Engineering presently and continues to believe that
there would be insufficient market (read: profit,
customer interest) to justify the cost involved in
a native port of OpenVMS to systems using the Intel
IA-32 architecture. In addition to the direct costs
involved in any port and in addition to the substantial
effort involved in moving backwards from a 64-bit
2-12
General Information
environment on Alpha and on IA-64 to a 32-bit platform
(such as IA-32), and the exceedingly non-trivial device
qualification costs and the costs in moving backwards
into older PCI and I/O environments (IA-32 systems
more than a few years old have equivalently aged I/O
support and buses), each organization and each person
maintaining a product or a package for OpenVMS will
have to justify a port to "OpenVMS IA-32", "OpenVMS
EM64T" or "OpenVMS AMD64", akin to the decisions and
the effort involved in porting a product from OpenVMS
VAX to OpenVMS Alpha, or the port to OpenVMS I64.
Platform ports of many of the various products can
be easy, and many of the ports of applications using
documented OpenVMS features are expected to require
little more than a source rebuild. Other products can
and do depend on platform-specific or undocumented
features, and the associated ports can be more
involved. Regardless, ports of operating systems are
very large and involved projects. The prerequisite
product requirements for an OpenVMS operating system
port are also non-trivial, as well-compilers in
particular are obviously required, and the suite of
compilers provided must maintain a very high degree of
source-level compatibility across the platforms. In the
case of the HP Integrity port, OpenVMS I64 V8.0 used
cross-compilers and cross-tools operating on OpenVMS
Alpha systems, while V8.2 and later have various native
compilers available.
The OpenVMS I64 port was centrally built using the
existing OpenVMS Alpha environment and around the work
and the knowledge from the OpenVMS Alpha port, and
OpenVMS Engineering fully expects that customers and
ISVs will use and will continue to use OpenVMS Alpha
systems to assist with their own ports to OpenVMS I64.
OpenVMS Engineering fully expects to see customers
using mixed-architecture clusters and fully shared file
systems, as well.
OpenVMS Engineering is well aware of the AMD AMD64
(64-bit) platform and processors. (At least one of the
available VAX emulators can reportedly utilize parts
of the AMD64 instruction set, please contact the VAX
2-13
General Information
emulator vendor(s) or maintainer(s) for assistance
and details on their products.) OpenVMS Engineering
is also well aware of the Intel EM64T platform and
processors. There are no plans to provide a native port
of HP OpenVMS for any systems based on the AMD AMD64
nor Intel EM64T architectures.
As part of the work leading to the Itanium port, senior
engineers had extensively evaluated the products and
the architectures available across the high-end 64-bit
computing space, and chose to target Itanium for 64-bit
environments-this while under the Compaq organization.
This included looking at IA-32. HP (a co-developer of
Itanium with Intel) had seperately chosen to target
Intel Itanium for its high-end computer products.
Compaq then announced plans for the future of Alpha
through EV7-series products and platforms, and HP
(entirely seperately) announced plans for PA-RISC
products and platforms. The Itanium target has been
maintained consistently since the Itanium port was
announced by Compaq, and has also been consistently
maintained by HP and by the combined company. For those
folks prefering to follow the schedules and the product
deliveries, OpenVMS Engineering had OpenVMS I64 V8.0
ready (internally) ahead of schedule-and with more
features available within the release than had been
originally planned for the release. (For information
on and for schedules of future OpenVMS releases,
please see the roadmap that is available at the OpenVMS
website.)
OpenVMS I64 itself does not require and does not plan
to utilize the Itanium IA-32 32-bit environment for
the operation of OpenVMS itself. OpenVMS I64 V8.0 and
later run natively on the Itanium processor family,
with no use of IA-32 instructions. While OpenVMS
can and does support 32-bit OpenVMS applications
and addressing on Itanium, this is done with sign-
extension addressing techniques entirely analogous to
what was done with 32-bit applications operating in
the 64-bit Alpha environment. Both OpenVMS 32-bit and
64-bit applications operate within the native Itanium
instruction set and run-time environment, and do not
use the Itanium IA-32 environment.
2-14
General Information
But yes, a native IA-32 port or a native AMD AMD64 or
Intel EM64T port of OpenVMS would certainly be nice
to have-this, of course, following the traditional
Linux preference for having a Linux port available for
most (all?) computer architectures known, and even
for certain high-end refrigerators and toasters,
and similar appliance-like devices. (The downside
of this all-encompassing approach: this requires
near-infinite engineering and support costs from
the various vendors involved, and the qualification
efforts and costs of most everything-everywhere. Or
reduced or eliminated testing and support efforts. Or
an unfortunate combination of these two. These costs
are huge, and the benefits derived from the work are
comparatively small when given the comparable costs
of more targeted (and thus supported and supportable)
hardware configurations-the platform targets are and
must be carefully selected and considered by each
vendor. Put another way, there are no plans to provide
a native port of HP OpenVMS for systems based on Intel
IA-32 processors, nor for systems based on AMD AMD64
nor Intel EM64T architectures and processors.
All this material having been written, have you
looked at the system configurations and pricing of
the available HP Integrity Intel Itanium systems? Low-
end computer hardware is clearly a commodity product,
and the systems are priced, serviced, upgraded, and
replaced accordingly. Intel Itanium is a commodity
microprocessor presently used in platforms available
from various hardware vendors, including (obviously)
from HP. Further, Itanium is a microprocessor available
from and supported by Intel, a semiconductor vendor
known for exceedingly high-volume microprocessor
fabrication process and production capabilities.
For information on supported platforms and processors,
please see the OpenVMS Software Product Description
(SPD) at:
o
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/info/spd/
OpenVMS typically uses SPD 25.01.xx, SPD 41.87.xx,
and SPD 82.35.xx.
2-15
General Information
Please see Section 14.4.5 for Intel Itanium
terminology.
__________________________________________________________
2.11 Are there any network-accessible OpenVMS systems?
Yes, though various restrictions can and do apply.
o Hobbes
Hobbes is a MicroVAX 3100 Model 40 for which
free access and accounts are available to OpenVMS
enthusiasts. This system has BASIC, Pascal, Fortran,
and C compilers installed. If you would like an
account on Hobbes, please see the FAQ at
o
http://www.hobbesthevax.com/
o OpenVMS Galaxy Test-Drive
HP currently offers an OpenVMS Galaxy Test-Drive
system, based on an AlphaServer 4100 series
configured as two instances of the OpenVMS operating
system. For details, please visit:
o
http://www.testdrive.hp.com/
o HP DSPP Test-Drive
The HP DSPP program offers various test-drive
systems, including an HP Integrity Itanium
development system and an HP OpenVMS I64
installation on an HP Integrity rx2600 server.
(The DSPP program can offers discount, LMF PAKGEN
PAK generation support, and other benefits for
developers.) For details on the DSPP program and
on the test-drive systems, please see section
Section 2.8.3 and please visit:
o
http://www.testdrive.hp.com/
o
http://www.hp.com/dspp/
The test-drive systems do require registration,
though access to the systems is free.
o Encompasserve
Encompasserve offers free access an OpenVMS Alpha
system.
o telnet://eisner.decus.org/
2-16
General Information
o OpenECS
OpenECS offers free access to a VAX 6000 model 530
system. If interested, please visit:
o
http://vax6k.openecs.org/
o The Deathrow Cluster
The maintainers of the Deathrow Cluster offer access
to an OpenVMS VAX and an OpenVMS Alpha system,
configured in a cluster.
o telnet://deathrow.vistech.net
o The Preatorian Public OpenVMS Cluster
The maintainers of the Deathrow Cluster offer access
to an OpenVMS Alpha cluster. Details are at the
website listed below:
o
http://www.preatorian.net
__________________________________________________________
2.12 What version of OpenVMS do I need?
For information on supported platforms, please see
the OpenVMS Software Product Description (SPD) for the
particular OpenVMS version of interest.
o
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/info/spd/
OpenVMS typically uses SPD 25.01.xx, SPD 41.87.xx,
and SPD 82.35.xx.
For a table of the minimum and (as applicable) maximum
OpenVMS versions required for various platforms, please
see the hardware support chart at HP OpenVMS website
and (as available) the following (potentially volatile;
intra-website) link:
o
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/hw_
supportchart.html
For information on the Multia, related Alpha
single-board computers, or other officially
unsupported systems, please see Section 14.4.1 and
Section 14.4.2.1.
2-17
General Information
The following is a rule-of-thumb for Alpha platform
support. The table Table 2-5 contains the earliest
OpenVMS Alpha release with support for a particular
series of Alpha microprocessors:
________________________________________________________________
Table 2-5 OpenVMS Alpha Version Rule-Of-Thumb
_______________________________________________________
MicroprocessorOpenVMS
Generic_____Generation____Version_____General_Comments_
EV4 21064 V1.0 few systems;
most EV4 require
later; upgrade
available
EV5 21164 V6.2 subsequent
upgrade available
EV56 21164A V6.2-1H3 subsequent
upgrade to V7.1
and later
EV6 21264 V7.1-2 subsequent
upgrade typically
to V7.2-1 or
later
EV67 21264A V7.1-2 subsequent
upgrade typically
to V7.2-1 or
later
EV68 21264B, C V7.2-1 believed/probable;
and D currently an
unconfirmed
_______________________________________________expectation______
Specific hardware present and various system
configurations can require OpenVMS Alpha releases later
than those referenced in Table 2-5.
2-18
General Information
__________________________________________________________
2.13 How can I submit OpenVMS Freeware?
For the guidelines and submission info, please visit
the URL:
o
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
To order the current OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM kit
(shipping and handling charges apply), please request
part number QA-6KZAA-H8.
__________________________________________________________
2.14 Porting applications to OpenVMS?
Porting can range from simple to rather complex, and
depends on the features used on the original platform.
This section covers generic porting, and porting among
OpenVMS VAX OpenVMS Alpha, and OpenVMS I64. (Porting
among OpenVMS VAX, OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS I64
is often quite simple and involves little more than
rebuilding from source, though a few applications using
features specific to the platform or the architecture,
or using undocumented or unsupported interfaces can and
likely will require some additional effort to port.)
Several manuals on porting from OpenVMS VAX to OpenVMS
Alpha are available in the OpenVMS documentation set,
including information on porting VAX Macro32 assembler
code to the Macro32 compiler on OpenVMS Alpha, on
management differences, on upgrading privileged code,
and application migration:
o
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/
Documentation on porting to OpenVMS I64 is available,
as well.
Details on the C programming environment are available
at:
o
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/c/c_
index.html
2-19
General Information
Details on porting VAX C to HP C are are available at:
o
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/c/index_
vax.htm
An OpenVMS Porting Library is available at:
o
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/ebusiness/Technology.html
Information on the Enterprise Toolkit, a Visual-based
development environment for developing applications for
OpenVMS using a Microsoft platform, is available at:
o
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/et/et_
index.html
Details on DCE, CORBA, BridgeWorks, and COM/DCOM
middleware is available at:
o
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/middleware.html
Information on the COE standards is available at:
o
http://diicoe.disa.mil/coe/
A wide variety of programming development tools and
middleware are available as commercial products (eg:
DECset, IBM WebSphere MQ-formerly MQseries), and
various tools are also available as shareware or as
Freeware. Please see other sections of this FAQ, and
please see:
o
http://www.hp.com/go/dspp_catalog
__________________________________________________________
2.15 What resources are available to OpenVMS software
developers?
The HP Developer and Software Product Partner (DSPP)
program is open to and intended to support and to
assist HP OpenVMS software partners, consultants, and
service providers:
o
http://www.hp.com/dspp/
DSPP provides members with various benefits, please see
the website for details.
2-20
General Information
For those not familiar with the DSPP program or with
its history, the DIGITAL Association of Software and
Application Partners (ASAP) program and the DIGITAL
Independent Software Vendors Network (ISVN) program
were incorporated into the Compaq CSA program, and the
CSA program has subsequently been incorporated into the
HP DSPP program.
Please see Section 2.8.3 for additional details on the
DSPP program.
__________________________________________________________
2.16 memory management, resource management, process
scheduling, etc?
So you have been instructed to write a school research
paper on OpenVMS, and you need technical content
on the OpenVMS Virtual Memory System, on any memory
segmentation, on OpenVMS Resource Management, on the
OpenVMS File System, on the OpenVMS user interface,
etc.
Invariably, your professor/instructor/teacher will
ask you a series of questions. Most commonly, the
questions will request descriptions of one or more of
the following items, and at varying levels of detail:
o process scheduling algorithm(s)
o Interprocess comunications
o Process or system synchronization constructs
o Memory management and/or virtual memory
implementation
o RMS or XQP file structures
o Resource management
o History of HP OpenVMS
o History of Compaq and/or of Digital Equipment
Corporation (DEC)
2-21
General Information
Any particular presentation or research paper, and
particularly a scholastic presentation, can have
many different potential target audiences, and very
different presentation levels. Further, the usual
underlying reason for scholastic presentations and
scholastic research projects really has little to do
with the subject matter, it is a task specifically
intended to teach the student(s) (eg: you) how to
perform the research. The instructor already knows
most of (all of?) the information that you have been
asked to collect.
For very technical details on OpenVMS and OpenVMS
internals, the book you want is the Internals and Data
Structures Manual (IDSM), available in your school
or computing center library, and the IDSM can also be
purchased. Additional technical details of the Alpha
microprocessor are available in the Alpha Architecture
Reference Manual documentation that is available for
download. (Pointers to Alpha technical documentation
are available in Section 14.6, and elsewhere.)
For higher-level (less technical) details, the OpenVMS
documentation set is available on-line. The Programming
Concepts and the File Systems manual are probably the
best manuals to start with, depending on the particular
level of detail the research requires.
And please understand the hesitation of various folks
to provide you with a completely-written research
report on your topic. Why? We might have to work with
you after you graduate-you need to know how to perform
at least basic research on your own, regardless of the
topic.
__________________________________________________________
2.17 Basic Units of Measurement?
OpenVMS and the underlying hardware use various units
of measurement for disk and memory storage, and related
abbreviations also typically exist. This section
covers the most common units, and the associated
abbreviations.
2-22
General Information
_____________________________
2.17.1 How many bytes are in a disk block?
A disk block is the minimum unit of disk storage
allocation in OpenVMS.
Under OpenVMS VAX and OpenVMS Alpha, the disk volume
block size is consistent, with each block containing
512 bytes.
The minimum disk allocation granularity actually
permissible (in the ODS-2 and ODS-5 volume structures
commonly used on OpenVMS) is determined on a per-volume
basis, and is typically based on a combination of the
total number blocks on the disk volume and the total
size of the volume storage bitmap. The allocation
granularity is known as the volume cluster factor-
the cluster factor is the number of blocks in a disk
cluster, and it is the smallest number of blocks that
can be allocated on a particular disk volume.
Prior to OpenVMS V7.2, the maximum permissible size of
the bitmap requires larger cluster factors as volume
sizes increase. Starting with V7.2, the bitmap can be
larger, and cluster factors as small as one block can
be used.
The number of bytes in a file can be determined by
multiplying the number of blocks allocated for the file
times the number of bytes in a block. For sequential
files (only), the FFB (XAB$W_FFB, in the File Header
XAB) value can be used to find out how much of the
last (XAB$L_EBK) block is used. FFB and EBK are
meaningful only for sequential files, and only in
a limited context-partial block allocations are not
permitted. For other file formats, the EOF marker is
not meaningful.
Disk allocations always occur only in units of the
cluster factors, which can be from one block up to
(potentially) clusters of eighteen blocks or more,
depending on the volume cluster factor. (OpenVMS V7.2
and later optionally provide for a cluster factor of
one up to volumes of approximately 137 gigabytes.)
2-23
General Information
OpenVMS assumes that the device driver and the
underlying storage device will present the file system
with addressable units of storage of 512 bytes in size,
or the appearance of same. Various third-party CD-ROM
devices, for instance, support only 2048 byte blocks,
and such devices are incompatible with the standard
OpenVMS device drivers.
To determine the number of bytes required for a file
from DCL, one option uses the f$file_attributes item
EOF, multiplied by the size of a block in bytes (512).
This does not account for the unused space in the last
block of a sequential file, but it also does not have
to differentiate sequential files from other files.
_____________________________
2.17.2 How many bytes are in a memory page?
A memory page is the minimum unit of memory allocation
in OpenVMS. With OpenVMS VAX, the memory page size
matches the disk block size: it is always 512 bytes.
With OpenVMS Alpha, the memory page size is variable,
and it can range from 8192 bytes (8 kilobytes) up
to 64 kilobytes. The current system page size can be
determined using the sys$getsyi or f$getsyi PAGE_SIZE
item. Programs with hardcoded constants for the memory
page size (or page alignment) should always assume a
page size of 64 kilobytes.
On OpenVMS I64, the memory page size is also variable,
ranging from 4096 bytes (4 kilobytes) up to 256
megabytes (MB) and potentially up to 4 gigabytes (GB).
As with OpenVMS Alpha, sys$getsyi and f$getsyi and the
PAGE_SIZE itemcode can and should be used to determine
the current system page size. In general, OpenVMS I64
will use a page size of 8 kilobytes, or larger.
On OpenVMS Alpha and on OpenVMS I64, a 512 byte area
of memory- equivalent in size to an OpenVMS VAX memory
page-is often refered to as a "pagelet".
2-24
General Information
_____________________________
2.17.3 How do I convert? Disk Blocks? KB, MB, GB, TB?
The smallest granularity of disk storage addressing is
called a disk block, or sometimes a disk sector. Groups
of disk blocks are usually organized together into
the smallest unit of storage that can be allocated,
and this unit is called a disk cluster. The number
of blocks in a cluster is the cluster factor, and is
established when the disk volume is initialized.
Each individual disk block is composed of five hundred
twelve (512) bytes, or one-half kilobyte. Each byte is
comprised of eight bits. A bit represents the smallest
unit of information, typically refered to as a one or a
zero.
OpenVMS tends to uses base two notation for disk
storage, while disk storage capacity specifications
from most storage vendors will generally use base ten
notation.
An OpenVMS disk block is 512 bytes in size; this is
one-half kilobyte in base two notation.
The following table describes the prefix, the
abbreviation, and the associated base ten (as used by
marketing and by storage vendors) and base two (OpenVMS
and various other operating systems) values.
Base Ten Base Two
-------------------------------- -------------------------
Kilobyte (KB) 10**3 1000 2**10 1024
Megabyte (MB) 10**6 1000000 2**20 1048576
Gigabyte (GB) 10**9 1000000000 2**30 1073741824
Terabyte (TB) 10**12 1000000000000 2**40 1099511627776
Petabyte (PB) 10**15 1000000000000000 2**50 1125899906842624
Exabyte (EB) 10**18 1000000000000000000 2**60 1152921504606846976
The base ten representation of the 2**40 value is
1099511627776, which is obviously rather ugly. When
viewed as a base eight or base sixteen (octal or
hexadecimal, respectively) value, the value is far
nicer. Specifically, the value is 10000000000 and
40000000 when represented in octal and hexadecimal,
respectively.
2-25
General Information
FAQ Notation
Within the OpenVMS FAQ, a thousand bits (either
assuming base two or base ten, as determined by
the context) is refered to as a kilobit, and is
always represented by the appreviation Kb, while
a thousand bytes is refered to as a kilobyte and
is always abbreviated as KB. Similar notational
usage also holds for Megabits (Mb) and Megabytes
(MB), and for the various other units.
OpenVMS operating system references to system and
storage are generally to the base-two version (eg:
1024, in the case of a kilobyte or kilobit) while
storage hardware references and hardware specifications
are generally to the base-ten version (eg: 1000).
To convert OpenVMS disk blocks to (base two) kilobytes
(KB; 1024 bytes), simply divide by two. To convert
blocks to (base two) megabytes, divide by 2048. Blocks
to (base two) gigabytes (GB), divide by 2097152.
These particular divisions can also be performed using
bitshifts: to divide a value by two, shift the binary
value rightward by one bit position.
To convert OpenVMS disk blocks to (base ten) kilobytes,
divide by approximately 1.953125.
For those folks with an interest in odd applications
for prefixes, and particularly for those folks also
rummaging around deep within the OpenVMS operating
system, a microfortnight is approximately one second.
2-26
_______________________________________________________
3 Documentation
__________________________________________________________
3.1 Where can I find online copies of OpenVMS manuals?
The HP OpenVMS and HP Layered Product documentation is
copyrighted material.
HTML format on-line product documentation sets for
specific HP OpenVMS products are presently available
at:
o
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/
Documentation is offered on separately orderable CD-ROM
media through a subscription to the Consolidated On-
Line Documentation (ConOLD) product (see Section 2.6.)
ConOLD manuals are readable with BNU, a viewer that is
supplied with the documentation distribution. BNU can
display HTML, Bookreader, and documentation in other
formats.
MGBOOK, a viewer for Bookreader-format documentation
is available for character-cell terminals (eg. VTxxx)
via the WKU VMS Freeware file server - see question
Section 13.1 for details.
Information on the XPDF DECwindows PDF viewer for
OpenVMS is available in Section 13.1, and XPDF kits
are available on various Freeware distributions. An
alternative on OpenVMS Alpha uses the Adobe Java PDF
viewer, though this viewer is generally considered
to be both slower and more resource-intensive when
compared to the XPDF viewer.
3-1
Documentation
__________________________________________________________
3.2 What online information and websites are available?
On your OpenVMS system, the HELP command can provide
a wealth of information, not only on DCL commands
but on system services (HELP System_Services) and
Run-Time Library routines (HELP RTL_Routines). The
introduction displayed when you type the HELP command
with no additional keywords provides further pointers.
OpenVMS Marketing runs a web server at
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/
Here, you will find product information, strategy
documents, product roadmaps, the contents of the latest
OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM and more.
________________________________________________________________
Table 3-1 OpenVMS Websites
________________________________________________________________
URL_______Sponsor_______________________________________________
HP OpenVMS Marketing
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/
Encompass DFWCUG
http://www.openvmshobbyist.org/
Arne Vajh�j
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/
Saiga Systems
http://www.saiga.com/
Wayne Sewell
http://www.tachysoft.com/
proGIS Software
http://www.progis.de/openvms.htm
Jeff Cameron
http://www.jcameron.com/vms/
David Mathog's (quite useful) information about OpenVMS.
http://saf.bio.caltech.edu/soft_doc.html
Cracking
3-2
Documentation
________________________________________________________________
Table 3-1 (Cont.) OpenVMS Websites
________________________________________________________________
URL_______Sponsor_______________________________________________
"The Beave"
Includes system cracking information that can be of interest
to OpenVMS System Managers, and to OpenVMS Network and Security
Managers. This information is available at the Deathrow cluster.
http://manson.vistech.net/ht_root/Hack-VMS-faq
Undocumented Features
DECUS Deutschland
http://zinser.no-ip.info/www/eng/vms/qaa/undoc.htmlx
Arne Vajh�j
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_tip.htmlx
The OpenVMS Freeware contains various examples of undocumented
features and interfaces
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
Comparisons of UNIX and Linux shell commands and DCL Commands
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/unixhelp/VMStoUNIX.html
http://wwwvms.mppmu.mpg.de/vmsdoc/UNIX_VMS_CMD_
XREF.HTML
Comparisons of emacs and OpenVMS text editor commands
http://www.unh.edu/cis/docs/vms-to-unix/Emacs/cheat-
sheet.html
Bibliographies
http://www.openvms.org/pages.php?page=Books
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_book.htmlx
Introductory
Please see Table 3-2 for listings of introductory web
sites and related materials.
Programming
An OpenVMS Programming FAQ
http://www.pdv-systeme.de/users/martinv/VMS_
Programming_FAQ.html
Networking
3-3
Documentation
________________________________________________________________
Table 3-1 (Cont.) OpenVMS Websites
________________________________________________________________
URL_______Sponsor_______________________________________________
Tutorial information and tips for connecting OpenVMS systems to
the Internet
http://www.tmesis.com/internet/
Documentation and Specifications for DECnet Phase IV, DECnet
task-to-task DCL examples, and a whole lot more.
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/
HP OpenVMS Documentation
Please see Table 3-2 for listings of documentation web
sites and related materials.
System Performance
See Section 14.2.
Patch (ECO) Kits
For the HP Services FTP server hosting Various
contract-access and non-contract access ECO (patch)
kits, see section Section 5.17.
Catalogs and Pricing
HP Product QuickSpecs and product information
http://www.hp.com/go/productbulletin/
The HP Systems and Options Catalog (SOC) archive
http://www.compaq.com/products/
quickspecs/soc_archives/SOC_Archives.html
Hardware and Software Archives
The VAXarchive, including hardware and software information
http://vax.sevensages.org/index.html
A VAX to Alpha upgrade diary
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/alpha_diary.html
Scanned versions of old DIGITAL manuals from DFWCUG
http://www.montagar.com/~patj/dec/hcps.htm
A wide variety of HP VAX, Alpha, platform and other product
documentation. Some introductory, some technical.
http://www.compaq.com/support/techpubs/qrg/index.html
3-4
Documentation
________________________________________________________________
Table 3-1 (Cont.) OpenVMS Websites
________________________________________________________________
URL_______Sponsor_______________________________________________
dtrwiz's Datatrieve website
__________
http://dtrwiz.home.netcom.com/________________________
__________________________________________________________
3.3 How do I extract the contents of a HELP topic to a text
file?
To extract all the text of a HELP topic (and its
subtopics) to a text file for perusal with a text
editor, printing out, etc., use the following command:
$ HELP/OUT=filename.txt help-topic [help-subtopic]
If the help text you want is not in the standard
help library (for example, it's help for a utility
such as MAIL that has its own help library), add
/LIBRARY=libname after the HELP verb. To see the
names of help library files, do a directory of
SYS$HELP:*.HLB.
__________________________________________________________
3.4 Does OpenVMS Marketing have an e-mail address?
Yes - if you can't get the answers to marketing
questions elsewhere, if you have comments or complaints
about OpenVMS, send mail to openvms-info{atsign}hp.com.
This address is not a support channel, and is solely
intended to provide informal method to communicate
directly with members of OpenVMS Marketing.
__________________________________________________________
3.5 Where can I learn about OpenVMS executive internals?
The OpenVMS Internals and Data Structure manual
(IDSM) explains how the OpenVMS executive works.
The book covers the operating system kernel: process
management; memory management; the I/O subsystem; and
the mechanisms that transfer control to, from, and
among these. It gives an overview of a particular area
of the system, followed by descriptions of the data
structures related to that area and details of the code
that implements the area.
3-5
Documentation
The first edition of the OpenVMS Alpha internals book
describes Version 1.5. Although there have been several
releases of OpenVMS Alpha since Version 1.5 (V6.1,
V6.2, V7.0, V7.1, etc) and many details in the book are
no longer accurate, it continues to provide a strong
conceptual description of OpenVMS internals.
This book has been split into five pieces, each to be
updated separately. The first such volume, published
in early 1997, was "OpenVMS Alpha Internals and
Data Structures: Scheduling and Process Control,"
which covers the Version 7.0 implementation of true
multithreading and the changed scheduling model it
implies.
The internals books are available through Digital
Press, see Section 3.6
__________________________________________________________
3.6 Where can new users find tutorial information about
OpenVMS?
First, see if your local site has information on this
topic. Each site can have site-specific features and
configuration. Some sites will have site-specific new
user's documentation, covering various site-specific
things that are difficult or impossible for the general
OpenVMS documentation to cover.
_____________________________
3.6.1 Tutorial Websites?
Various websites with OpenVMS information are
available; Table 3-2 contains some suggested URLs.
________________________________________________________________
Table 3-2 OpenVMS Tutorial and Documentation Websites
_______________________________________________________
URL_______Sponsor______________________________________
Introductory
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_faq.htmlx
http://saf.bio.caltech.edu/vms_sheet.html
3-6
Documentation
________________________________________________________________
Table 3-2 (Cont.) OpenVMS Tutorial and Documentation Websites
_______________________________________________________
URL_______Sponsor______________________________________
http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_beginners_
faq.html
Various introductory materials
http://www.montagar.com/openvms_class/
Members of the Encompass DFWCUG maintain
a website with many materials available,
including an Overview of OpenVMS, an
Introduction to DCL and the TPU Editor,
Advanced DCL Command Procedures, OpenVMS
Operations: Batch, Print, Tape, an
Introduction to OpenVMS Management, to
OpenVMS User Management, to OpenVMS
Network Management, and to OpenVMS Cluster
Management. These training materials have
been presented at various DECUS symposia.
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/unixhelp/VMStoUNIX.html
A comparison table of various command-level
tasks, with information on the UNIX and Linux
shell command(s), and on the OpenVMS DCL
command(s).
HP OpenVMS Documentation
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/
Various introductory guides as well as more
advanced manuals are available in the OpenVMS
and layered product documentation set.
HP OpenVMS Training
http://www.compaq.com/training/home.html
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/wbt/index.html
HP offers training information and Technical
Resource Kits (TRKs) and other Training for
OpenVMS. An OpenVMS certification (testing)
program is also available.
http://www.jcameron.com/vms/
3-7
---------------------------- #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
