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Archive-name: dec-faq/vms/part1
Posting-Frequency: quarterly
Last-modified: 2 Oct 2001
Version: VMS-FAQ-1.TXT(7)
Changes since last edition
==========================
Numerous URL and minor text updates, plus...
Add DOC13 What OpenVMS mailing lists are available?
Add DOC14 What is this Ask The Wizard website I've heard about?
Update INTRO8 reflect organizational changes
Add ITAN1 OpenVMS is porting to Intel IA-64?
Add ITAN2 Where can I get Intel Itanium information?
Add MAIL10 How can I block SMTP mail relay spam?
Add MISC22 How do I convert? Disk Blocks? KB, MB, GB, TB?
Update MGMT3 VMS File System Internals book reportedly out of print
Update MGMT14 sub/STS/SYS/
Update MGMT16 Add V7.3 to upgrade paths
Add MGMT61 Explain disk (or tape) allocation class settings?
Add MGMT62 How to prevent users from choosing obvious passwords?
Add MGMT63 Volume Shadowing MiniCopy vs MiniMerge?
Add MGMT64 Why is BACKUP not working as expected?
Add PROG22 Dealing with Endian-ness?
Add PROG23 How to resolve LINK-I-DATMISCH errors?
Update SOFT1 XPDF, etc
Update SOFT4 Tomcat, etc
Update SOFT5 sequence points, argument evaluation
Add TIME13 Customizing your TDF (Timezone) Setting?
Add VMS17 memory management, resource management, ...
This is part 1/5 of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting for
the comp.os.vms and comp.sys.dec newsgroups. (comp.os.vms is
bidirectionally-gatewayed to the INFO-VAX mailing list - see INTRO3
for further details.) It contains answers to frequently asked
questions about Compaq's OpenVMS operating system and the computer
systems on which it runs. (Please see INTRO5 before posting.)
Table of Contents - Part 1/5
____________________________
OVERVIEW
========================================
OV1. Overview of the OpenVMS FAQ, Updates, Editor, Contact Info
Introduction
========================================
INTRO1. What is the scope of comp.os.vms?
INTRO2. What other newsgroups carry VMS-related information?
INTRO3. What is INFO-VAX?
INTRO4. How do I subscribe to or unsubscribe from INFO-VAX?
INTRO5. How do I submit a question or a response? What is etiquette?
INTRO6. What is Encompass (DECUS)?
INTRO7. What archives of comp.os.vms/INFO-VAX are available?
INTRO8. Who are the corporate contacts for OpenVMS business issues?
General questions about OpenVMS
========================================
VMS1. What is OpenVMS? What is its history?
VMS2. What is the difference between VMS and OpenVMS?
VMS3. How do I port from VMS to OpenVMS?
VMS4. Which is better - OpenVMS or UNIX?
VMS5. Is Compaq continuing funding and support for OpenVMS?
VMS7. What OpenVMS CD-ROM products are available?
VMS8. In what language is OpenVMS written?
VMS9. How do I obtain or transfer a VMS license?
VMS10. What is OpenVMS doing about the Euro currency symbol?
VMS11. Why hasn't OpenVMS been ported to Intel (IA32) systems?
VMS12. Are there any general-access OpenVMS systems available?
VMS13. What version of OpenVMS do I need?
VMS14. How can I submit OpenVMS Freeware?
VMS15. Porting applications to OpenVMS?
VMS16. How do I join Compaq Solutions Alliance?
VMS17. memory management, resource management, process scheduling, etc?
Documentation and other resources
========================================
DOC1. Where can I find online copies of OpenVMS manuals?
DOC2. What online information is available?
DOC3. What books and publications are available?
DOC4. How do I extract a HELP topic to a text file?
DOC5. Does OpenVMS Marketing have an e-mail address?
DOC6. What OpenVMS-related WWW sites are available?
DOC8. Where can I find info about undocumented OpenVMS features?
DOC9. Where is documentation on the DECnet Phase IV protocols?
DOC10. Where can I learn about how the VMS executive works internally?
DOC11. Where can new users find tutorial information about OpenVMS?
DOC12. How to access the OpenVMS Netscape Navigator documentation?
DOC13. What OpenVMS mailing lists are available?
DOC14. What is this Ask The Wizard website I've heard about?
OpenVMS System Time
========================================
TIME1. A brief history of OpenVMS Timekeeping, please?
TIME2. How does OpenVMS VAX maintain system time?
TIME3. Why does my system time drift?
TIME4. Managing Timezones, Timekeeping, UTC, and Daylight Savings?
TIME5. How to troubleshoot TDF problems on OpenVMS?
TIME6. How can I keep the OpenVMS system time synchronized?
TIME7. How can I configure TCP/IP Services NTP as a time provider?
TIME8. How can I drift the OpenVMS system time?
TIME9. Why does VAX need a SET TIME at least once a year?
TIME10. Why can't I do a SET TIME command? Help managing DTSS?
TIME11. Details of the OpenVMS system time-keeping?
TIME12. UTC vs GMT vs vs UT1/UT1/UT2 TDF? What are these acronyms?
TIME13. Customizing your TDF (Timezone) Setting?
Table of Contents - Part 2/5
____________________________
System Management
========================================
MGMT1. What is an installed image?
MGMT2. Are there any known viruses for OpenVMS?
MGMT3. How do I mount an ISO-9660 CD on OpenVMS?
MGMT4. How do I extract the contents of a PCSI kit?
MGMT5. I've forgotten the SYSTEM password - what can I do?
MGMT6. How do I connect a PostScript printer via TCP/IP?
MGMT9. How do I change the node name of an OpenVMS System?
MGMT10. What is the correct value for EXPECTED_VOTES in a VMScluster?
MGMT11. Why doesn't OpenVMS see the new memory I just added?
MGMT12. How do I write a BACKUP saveset to a remote tape?
MGMT13. Tell me about SET HOST/DUP and SET HOST/HSC
MGMT14. How do I install DECnet Phase IV on VMS 7.1?
MGMT15. How do I change the text in a user's UIC identifier?
MGMT16. What are the OpenVMS version upgrade paths?
MGMT17. Why do I have negative number in the pagefile reservable pages?
MGMT18. Do I have to update layered products when updating OpenVMS?
MGMT19. How do I change the volume label of a disk?
MGMT20. How do I fix a corrupt BACKUP saveset?
MGMT21. How can I set up a shared directory?
MGMT23. Why do I get extra blank pages on my HP Printer?
MGMT24. How do I configure ELSA GLoria Synergy graphics on OpenVMS?
MGMT25. How do I acquire OpenVMS patches, fixes, and ECOs?
MGMT26. How do I rename a DSSI disk (or tape?)
MGMT27. How do I move the queue manager database?
MGMT28. How do I set a default IP route or gateway on OpenVMS?
MGMT30. How do I delete an undeletable/unstoppable (RWAST) process?
MGMT31. How do I reset the error count(s)?
MGMT32. How do I find out if the tape drive supports compression?
MGMT33. Can I copy SYSUAF to another version? To VAX? To Alpha?
MGMT34. How do I delete (timeout) idle processes?
MGMT35. Why isn't BACKUP/SINCE=BACKUP working?
MGMT36. How can I set up reverse telnet (like reverse LAT)?
MGMT37. Do I need a PAK for the DECevent (Compaq Analyze) tool?
MGMT38. INITIALIZE ACCVIO and ANSI tape label support?
MGMT39. How do I recover from INSVIRMEM errors?
MGMT40. How can I prevent a serial terminal line from initiating a login?
MGMT41. How does PCSI use the image BUILD_IDENT field?
MGMT42. How to configure allocation classes and Multi-Path SCSI?
MGMT43. How can I tell what software (and version) is installed?
MGMT44. Where can I get Fibre Channel Storage (SAN) information?
MGMT45. How can I split up an OpenVMS Cluster?
MGMT46. What file checksum tools are available for OpenVMS?
MGMT47. Configuring Cluster SCS for path load balancing?
MGMT48. What (and where) is the OpenVMS Management Station?
MGMT49. Determining disk fragmentation level?
MGMT50. SYSBOOT-I-FILENOTLOC, Unable to locate SYS$CPU_ROUTINES?
MGMT51. How can I customize the DCPS device control for a new printer?
MGMT52. Why do $GETDEV MOUNTCNT and SHOW DEVICE mount counts differ?
MGMT53. What software is needed for Postscript printers?
MGMT54. Does volume shadowing require a non-zero allocation classes?
MGMT56. How do I remove a PCSI-installed patch (ECO) kit?
MGMT57. SYSINIT-E, error mounting system device, status=0072832C
MGMT58. Performing SET HOST/MOP in DECnet-Plus?
MGMT59. Resolving License PAK Problems?
Table of Contents - Part 3/5
____________________________
MGMT (Continued)
========================================
MGMT60. Changing the OpenVMS Version Number?
MGMT61. Explain disk (or tape) allocation class settings?
MGMT62. How to prevent users from choosing obvious passwords?
MGMT63. Volume Shadowing MiniCopy vs MiniMerge?
MGMT64. Why is BACKUP not working as expected?
MAIL
========================================
MAIL1. How do I send Internet mail?
MAIL2. How do I get IN% or MX% added automatically to Internet addresses?
MAIL3. How do I automatically append a signature file to my mail messages?
MAIL4. Do I have to use VMS MAIL? I like my Unix mailer better.
MAIL5. How can I forward my mail? Can I forward it to an Internet address?
MAIL6. How can I forward my mail to a list of addresses?
MAIL7. MAIL keeps saying I have new messages, but I don't. What do I do?
MAIL8. How do I extract all of my mail messages to a file?
MAIL9. How do I send or read attachments in VMS MAIL?
MAIL10. How can I block SMTP mail relay spam?
Other Utilities
========================================
UTIL1. How do I play an audio CD on my workstation?
UTIL2. How do I access a MS-DOS floppy disk from OpenVMS?
UTIL3. How do I play sound files on an AlphaStation? DECsound doesn't work
UTIL4. Why is DECmigrate not working with Fortran?
UTIL5. How do I read IBM EBCDIC tapes on OpenVMS?
UTIL6. How can I patch an OpenVMS Alpha image?
DCL and command usage
========================================
DCL1. How do I run a program with arguments?
DCL2. How can I redefine control keys in DCL?
DCL3. How can I clear the screen in DCL?
DCL4. Using REPLY/LOG from DCL? Disabling Console OPCOMs?
DCL5. How do I generate a random number in DCL?
DCL6. What does the MCR command do?
DCL7. How do I change the OpenVMS system prompt?
DCL8. Can I do DECnet task-to-task communication with DCL?
DCL9. How can I get the width setting of a terminal?
DCL10. How can I substitute symbols in a PIPE?
DCL11. Use of RUN/DETACH and logical names?
DCL12. How to use escape and control characters in DCL?
File System and RMS
========================================
FILE1. How can I undelete a file?
FILE2. Why does SHOW QUOTA give a different answer than DIR/SIZE?
FILE3. How do I make sure that my data is safely written to disk?
FILE4. What are the limits on file specifications and directories?
FILE5. What is the largest disk volume size OpenVMS can access?
FILE6. What is the maximum file size, and the RMS record size limit?
FILE7. How do I write recordable CD media (CD-R) on OpenVMS?
FILE8. What I/O transfer size limits exist in OpenVMS?
FILE9. Can I use ODBC to connect to OpenVMS database files?
Programming
========================================
PROG1. How do I call <routine_name> from <language_name>?
PROG2. How do I get the arguments from the command line?
PROG3. How do I get a formatted error message in a variable?
PROG4. How do I link against SYS$SYSTEM:SYS.STB on an Alpha system?
PROG5. How do I do a SET DEFAULT from inside a program?
PROG6. How do I create a shareable image transfer vector on an Alpha system?
PROG7. How do I turn my Fortran COMMON into a shareable image on Alpha?
PROG8. How do I convert between IEEE and VAX floating data?
PROG9. How do I get the argument count in a Fortran routine?
PROG10. How do I get a unique system ID for licensing purposes?
PROG11. What is an executable, shareable, system or UWSS image?
PROG12. How do I do a file copy from a program?
PROG13. What is a descriptor?
PROG14. How many bytes are in a disk block?
PROG15. How many bytes are in a memory page?
PROG16. How do I create a process under another username?
PROG17. Why do lib$spawn, lib$set_symbol fail in detached processes?
PROG18. Where can I obtain Bliss, and the libraries and supporting files?
PROG19. How can I open a file for shared access?
PROG20. How can I have common sources for messages, constants?
PROG21. How do I activate the OpenVMS Debugger from an application?
PROG22. Dealing with Endian-ness?
PROG23. How to resolve LINK-I-DATMISCH errors?
Table of Contents - Part 4/5
____________________________
DECwindows
========================================
DECW1. How do I let someone else display something on my workstation?
DECW2. How do I create a display on another workstation?
DECW3. How can I get the information from SHOW DISPLAY into a symbol?
DECW4. How do I get a log of a DECterm session?
DECW5. Problem - the DELETE key deletes forward instead of backward!
DECW6. Why is DECwindows Motif not starting?
DECW9. How do I set the title on a DECterm window?
DECW10. How do I customize DECwindows, including the login screen?
DECW11. Why doesn't XtAppAddInput() work on OpenVMS?
DECW12. Why do the keyboard arrow keys move the DECwindows cursor?
DECW13. Why does half my DECwindows display blank?
DECW14. %DECW-W-NODEVICE, No graphics device found on this system?
DECW15. How can I reset the warning bell volume?
DECW16. How can alter the DECwindows CDE backdrop?
DECW17. How can I enable the DECwindows TCP/IP Transport
Miscellaneous
========================================
MISC2. Where can I find information on escape and control sequences?
MISC6. What does "failure on back translate address request" mean?
MISC7. How to determine the network hardware address?
MISC9. Why can't I use PPP and RAS to connect to OpenVMS Alpha?
MISC12. Does DECprint (DCPS) work with the LRA0 parallel port?
MISC13. How do I check for free space on a (BACKUP) tape?
MISC14. So what happened to sys$cmsuper?
MISC15. How can I send radio pages from my OpenVMS system?
MISC17. How do I reset the LAN (DECnet-Plus NCL) counters?
MISC18. What are the prefixes for the powers of ten?
MISC19. OpenVMS Cluster (SCS) over DECnet? Over IP?
MISC20. Correctly using license PAKs and LMF?
MISC21. Third-party disk/tape/controllers/SCSI/widgets on OpenVMS?
MISC22. How do I convert? Disk Blocks? KB, MB, GB, TB?
Software
========================================
SOFT1. Where can I find freeware/shareware/software for OpenVMS?
SOFT2. Where can I find the UNIX <whatever> tool for OpenVMS?
SOFT3. Where can I get the Netscape Navigator Mozilla.org Web Browser?
SOFT4. Where can I get Java for OpenVMS?
SOFT5. VAX C and DEC C, and other OpenVMS C Programming Considerations?
SOFT6. Obtaining user input in DCL CGI script?
SOFT7. How do I get my own batch entry number?
SOFT8. How do I convert to new CMS libraries?
SOFT9. Where can I get new certificates for Netscape Navigator?
SOFT10. Why doesn't DCL symbol substitution work?
SOFT12. Where can I get Perl for OpenVMS?
SOFT13. Where can I get DECmigrate (VEST and TIE)?
Table of Contents - Part 5/5
____________________________
Alpha and Alpha-based systems
========================================
ALPHA1. What do the letters AXP stand for?
ALPHA2. What are the OpenVMS differences between VAX and Alpha?
ALPHA5. Seeking performance information for Alpha (and VAX) systems?
ALPHA6. Where can I get updated console firmware for Alpha systems?
ALPHA7. How do I boot an AlphaStation without monitor or keyboard?
ALPHA8. Will OpenVMS run on a Multia? AlphaPC 164LX? 164SX?
ALPHA9. What is the least expensive system that will run OpenVMS?
ALPHA10. Where can I get more information on Alpha systems?
ALPHA11. What are the APB boot flag values?
ALPHA12. What are Alpha console environment variables?
ALPHA13. Will OpenVMS run on a NoName AXPpci33?
ALPHA14. How do I reload SRM firmware on a half-flash Alpha system?
ALPHA15. Will OpenVMS run on the Alpha XL series?
ALPHA16. Describe Alpha instruction emulation and instruction subsets?
ALPHA17. What is the Accuracy of the Alpha Time of Year (BB_WATCH) Clock?
ALPHA18. So how do I open up the DEC 3000 chassis?
ALPHA19. What is byte swizzling?
ALPHA20. What commands are available in the Alpha SRM console?
ALPHA21. How do I switch between AlphaBIOS/ARC and SRM consoles?
ALPHA22. OpenVMS on the Personal Workstation -a and -au series?
ALPHA23. OpenVMS and Personal Workstation IDE bootstrap?
ALPHA24. Which terminal device name is assigned to the COM ports?
VAX and VAX-based systems
========================================
VAX1. Please explain the back panel of the MicroVAX II
VAX2. What is the layout of the VAX floating point format?
VAX3. Where can I find more info on VAX systems?
VAX4. Where can I find information on NetBSD for VAX systems?
VAX5. What system disk size limit on the MicroVAX and VAXstation 3100?
VAX7. What are the VMB boot flag values?
VAX9. Which serial port is the console on the MicroVAX 3100?
VAX10. How can I set up an alternate console on a VAXstation?
VAX11. What are the VAX processor (CPU) codes?
Intel Itanium-based systems
========================================
ITAN1. OpenVMS is porting to Intel IA-64?
ITAN2. Where can I get Intel Itanium information?
Hardware and Software Support resources
========================================
SUPP1. Where can I get software and hardware support information?
SUPP2. Where can I get hardware self-maintenance support assistance?
SUPP3. Why does my system halt when I power-cycle the console terminal?
SUPP4. Can I reuse old keyboards, mice and monitors with a PC?
SUPP5. Which video monitor works with which graphics controller?
SUPP6. Where can I get information on storage hardware?
SUPP7. Problem - My LK401 keyboard unexpectedly autorepeats
SUPP8. Problem - My LK411 sends the wrong keycodes or some keys are dead
SUPP9. Which DE500 variant works with which OpenVMS version?
SCSI-related Hardware information
========================================
SCSI1. Are the 2X-KZPCA-AA and SN-KZPCA-AA LVD Ultra2 SCSI?
SCSI2. Resolving DRVERR fatal device error?
Wiring-, Adapter-, Connector-, and Pinout-related Hardware information
========================================
WIRES1. Looking for connector wiring pinouts?
WIRES2. What connectors and wiring adapters are available?
WIRES3. What is flow control and how does it work?
Networking
========================================
NET1. How to connect OpenVMS to the Internet?
NET2. How to connect OpenVMS to a Modem?
------------------------------------------------------------
OV1. Overview of the OpenVMS FAQ, Updates, Editor, Contact Info
The OpenVMS FAQ is archived in the following locations:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.os.vms/
comp.answers and news.answers newsgroups
Other internet FAQs are generally available in these locations:
comp.answers and news.answers newsgroups
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/...
User-created HTML versions of the OpenVMS FAQ are located at:
http://www.kjsl.com/vmsfaq
http://eisner.decus.org/vms/faq.htm
Please do NOT send technical questions to the Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) editor -- well, please do not email any questions that do not also
include the answer(s). Please post these questions to the appropriate
newsgroup instead -- and see INTRO5 before posting. To make suggestions
for changes or additions to this FAQ list, please send mail to the FAQ
editor at the address listed in the sig file. Again, the FAQ editor is
*not* in a position to answer general questions.
Some general notes:
The term "VMS" is synonymous with "OpenVMS". "Alpha", "AlphaGeneration" or
"AXP" generally refers to any system or product based on or related to
Compaq's Alpha processor architecture. OpenVMS manual names mentioned are
those as of V7.2 -- names may be different in other editions of the
documentation set.
World-Wide Web Universal Resource Locator (URL) notation is used for FTP
addresses.
Many people have contributed to this list, directly or indirectly. In
some cases, an answer has been adapted from one or more postings on the
comp.os.vms newsgroup. Our thanks to all of those who post answers.
The name (or names) at the end of an entry indicate that the information
was taken from postings by those individuals; the text may have been
edited for this FAQ. These citations are only given to acknowledge the
contribution.
Although the editor of this FAQ is an employee of Compaq Computer
Corporation, this posting is not an official statement of Compaq.
AlphaGeneration, AlphaServer, AlphaStation, Alpha AXP, AXP, DEC, DECstation,
DECsystem, OpenVMS, ULTRIX, VAX and VMS are trademarks of Compaq. Compaq
and the names of Compaq products are trademarks and/or registered trademarks
and/or service marks of Compaq Computer Corporation. OSF/1 is a registered
trademark of the Open Software Foundation. UNIX is a registered trademark
in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through
X/Open Company Ltd. Other names are properties of their respective owners.
------------------------------------------------------------
INTRO1. What is the scope of comp.os.vms?
The comp.os.vms newsgroup is the primary newsgroup for discussion of
Compaq's 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 here.
------------------------------------------------------------
INTRO2. What other newsgroups carry VMS-related information?
The vmsnet.* hierarchy, run by DECUS, contains several newsgroups of
interest, including vmsnet.misc and vmsnet.alpha, the latter being mostly
devoted to Alpha topics. There's also vmsnet.sources (and
vmsnet.sources.d) to which sources for or pointers to freeware are posted.
See the separate "What is VMSNET" monthly posting for further details.
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Besuchen Sie bitte den newsgroup de.comp.os.vms.
The comp.sys.dec newsgroup carries general discussions about various Compaq
computer systems, and specifically systems that were acquired by Compaq as
part of the acquisition of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).
------------------------------------------------------------
INTRO3. What is INFO-VAX?
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 group directly
through a news reader.
An important point to keep in mind is that propagation delays vary, both
within the newsgroup and with INFO-VAX mailings. It's possible that
postings may not be delivered for several days and some may appear out of
order.
------------------------------------------------------------
INTRO4. How do I subscribe to or unsubscribe from INFO-VAX?
The address for subscription requests, as well as notes intended for the
moderator, is [email protected]. Subscription requests are handled
automatically by a mail server. This mail server ignores the subject line and
processes each line of the message as a command. The syntax for subscribing
and unsubscribing and setting digest or non-digest modes is:
SUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX (ADD is a valid synonym)
UNSUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX (REMOVE, SIGNOFF, and SIGN-OFF are valid synonyms)
SET INFO-VAX DIGEST (to receive in Digest format)
SET INFO-VAX NODIGEST (to receive each message individually)
Case is irrelevant and attempts to fetch a copy of the mailing list will be
rejected (I consider the information to be confidential). Any message not
understood by the mailserver will be forwarded to a human (allegedly) for
manual processing.
[[email protected]]
If you are on Bitnet, send a mail message containing the text
"SUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX" to LISTSERV@(nearest listserv system). To unsubscribe,
send a message containing the text "SIGNOFF INFO-VAX" to the *SAME* listserv
address.
If you are on the Internet in the UK, send a message containing the
word SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) to [email protected].
------------------------------------------------------------
INTRO5. How do I submit a question or a response? What is etiquette?
If you are using a news reader, post your question to comp.os.vms. If you
want to submit through INFO-VAX, send the message to [email protected].
Before posting, please use available local resources, such as the manuals,
HELP and this FAQ first. Also make a point of reading the release notes for
the product you're using, generally placed in SYS$HELP. Often you'll find
the answer, and will save time and effort for all concerned. (And you won't
"annoy the natives"...)
When posting, please consider the following suggestions:
1. 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.
2. 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.)
3. 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.
4. 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 information are often
better sent through mail rather than posted to the newsgroup.
5. If you have a problem with Compaq (or any other vendor's) product,
please use the appropriate support channel. Don't assume that
newsgroup postings will get read, will be responded to by the
appropriate developers, or will be later followed up on...
6. 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.
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:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/usenet/primer/part1
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/usenet/faq/part1
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/usenet/emily-postnews/part1
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/usenet/writing-style/part1
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...
Please ***DO NOT POST SECURITY HOLES OR SYSTEM CRASHERS ***.
Rather, please report these problems directly to Compaq. (Why? So that
Compaq has a change 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 favor, and not post information that will potentially compromise YOUR
site and YOUR computer environment.
------------------------------------------------------------
INTRO6. What is Encompass (DECUS)?
Encompass, the Enterprise Computing Association, is a Compaq user group
consisting of information technology professionals interested in the
products, services, and technologies of Compaq Computer Corporation and
related vendors. Encompass reaches out to experts and engineers alike, and
brings them together to promote awareness of and provide solutions for the
real IT problems and challenges your business faces every day. The Encompass
mission is to help you and your organization be more successful by providing
an open, objective knowledge exchange network.
For more information on Encompass, please visit the Encompass web site:
http://www.encompassus.org/
[Jim Becker]
Encompass is a descendent of the organization known as DECUS, the Digital
Equipment Computer Users Society.
------------------------------------------------------------
INTRO7. What archives of comp.os.vms/INFO-VAX are available?
Everything posted since 1990 is archived and available at:
ftp://crvax.sri.com/info-vax/
[Arne Vajhøj]
------------------------------------------------------------
INTRO8. Who are the corporate contacts for OpenVMS business issues?
The following folks are the Compaq corporate contacts for
OpenVMS business issues, listed in descending order from the
Comoaq Corporate President to the OpenVMS Vice President (VP).
Michael Capellas Compaq President and CEO
Michael.Capellas[-at-]Compaq.Com
Mike Winkler VP, Global Business Units
Mike.Winkler[-at-]Compaq.Com
Howard Elias VP, Business Critical Solution Group
Howard.Elias[-at-]Compaq.Com
Rich Marcello VP, High Performance Server Division
Richard.Marcello[-at-]Compaq.Com
Mark Gorham VP, Open Systems Software Group
Mark.Gorham[-at-]Compaq.Com
These folks will obviously respond best to cogently-worded OpenVMS
corporate-level business issues. These folks are NOT appropriate
contacts for any OpenVMS technical support issues nor for any OpenVMS
technical support requests, nor for any other non-corporate-related,
non-business-related issues. (For technical issues, please contact
the local Compaq Customer Support Center or your Compaq Reseller.)
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS1. 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 Compaq (Digital Equipment Corporation).
The principal designers were Dave Cutler and Dick Hustvedt, 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 Compaq
and other vendors.
OpenVMS Alpha is a 64-bit multitasking, multiprocessing virtual memory
operating system. Current implementations run on Alpha systems from
Compaq, and other vendors.
Work to port OpenVMS to systems based on the Intel IA-64 architecture
(specifically to the Itanium Processor Family) is presently underway.
[Paul Winalski]
[Arne Vajhøj]
For more details on OpenVMS and its features, read the OpenVMS Software
Product Description at:
http://www.compaq.com/info/spd/
OpenVMS typically uses SPD 25.01.xx and/or SPD 41.87.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:
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:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/20th/vmsbook.pdf
For information on the FreeVMS project (also see the related software
licensing topics VMS9, ALPHA4), see:
http://www.free-vms.org/
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS2. 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.
The proper names for OpenVMS on the two platforms are now "OpenVMS VAX"
and "OpenVMS Alpha", the latter having superseded "OpenVMS AXP".
[Arne Vajhøj]
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS3. How do I port from VMS to OpenVMS?
You already did. Wasn't that easy? (See question VMS2.)
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS4. Which is better - OpenVMS or UNIX?
This question comes up periodically, usually asked by new subscribers who are
long-time UNIX users. Sometimes, it 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.
[[email protected]]
Seriously, OpenVMS and the better implementations of UNIX are all fine
operating systems, each with its strengths and weaknesses. If you're
in a position where you need to choose, select the one that best fits
your own requirements, considering, for example, whether or not the
layered products or specific OS features you want are available.
[Steve Lionel]
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS5. Is Compaq 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:
http://www.compaq.com/openvms/
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/OPENVMS/strategy.html
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/roadmap/openvms_roadmaps.htm
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvmstimes/
http://www.compaq.com/inform/
------------------------------------------------------------
[VMS6 removed, replaced by Y2K section]
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS7. What OpenVMS CD-ROM products are available?
Various distributions are available.
For information on the available part numbers and current products
(OpenVMS distribution kits, media, documentation, etc) and associated
licensing information, please see the OpenVMS Software Product Description
(SPD), available at:
http://www.compaq.com/info/spd/
OpenVMS typically uses SPD 25.01.xx and/or SPD 41.87.xx.
The following CD-ROMs contain just the OpenVMS Alpha operating system.
These are bootable, and can be used to run BACKUP from CD-ROM.
QA-MT1AP-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V6.1-1H2 hardware release CD-ROM
QA-MT1AG-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V6.2-1H3 hardware release CD-ROM
QA-MT1AD-H8 OpenVMS Alpha V7.1-1H1 hardware release CD-ROM
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 V7.2-1H1 hardware release CD-ROM
The following are the consolidated ECO distribution kit subscriptions, and
these provide sites with eight updates of the current ECO kits per year:
QT-3CQAA-C8 OpenVMS Alpha
QT-3CRAA-C8 OpenVMS VAX
OpenVMS VAX and OpenVMS Alpha source listings CD-ROM sets include the
source listings of most of OpenVMS, and these CD-ROM sets are invaluable
for any folks working directly with OpenVMS internals, as well as folks
interested in seeing examples of various programming interfaces.
QB-MT1AB-E8 OpenVMS Alpha Source Listings CD-ROM
QT-MT1AB-Q8 OpenVMS Alpha Source Listings CD-ROM Updates
QB-001AB-E8 OpenVMS VAX Source Listings CD-ROM
QT-001AB-Q8 OpenVMS VAX Source Listings CD-ROM Updates
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS8. In what language is OpenVMS written?
OpenVMS is written in a wide variety of languages.
In no particular order, OpenVMS components are implemented using Bliss,
Macro, Ada, PLI, VAX and DEC C, Fortran, UIL, VAX and Alpha SDL, Pascal,
MDL, DEC C++, DCL, Message, and Document. And this is certainly not a
complete list. However, the rumor is NOT true that an attempt was made
to write pieces of OpenVMS in every supported language so that the
Run-Time Libraries could not be unbundled. (APL, BASIC, COBOL and RPG
are just some of the languages NOT represented!)
There are a large variety of small and not-so-small tools and DCL command
procedures that are used as part of the OpenVMS build, and a source code
control system capable of maintaining over a hundred thousand source files
across multiple parallel development projects, and overlapping releases.
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS9. How do I obtain or transfer a VMS license?
If you are a DECUS member and are considering acquiring and using a VAX
or Alpha system for hobbyist (non-commercial) use, (free) licenses for
OpenVMS VAX and OpenVMS Alpha are available to DECUS members. In
addition to the license, VAX and Alpha distribution CD-ROM kits are
available with OpenVMS, DECwindows Motif, DECnet and TCP/IP networking,
compilers, and a variety of layered products.
For further information, link to:
http://www.montagar.com/hobbyist/
On the hobbyist license registration form (as of August 2001), 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.
For information on licenses for educational customers, see the Compaq
CSLG license program and the OpenVMS Educational license program:
http://www.openvmsedu.com/
To transfer a commercial OpenVMS license from one owner to another,
or to purchase a commercial license, you can contact Compaq Computer
Corporation at 1-800-DIGITAL (in North America), or your local or
regional sales office.
Commercial developers can join the CSA program, and can (potentially)
receive discounts on various software product licenses and software
distributions, as well as on hardware purchases. Please see ALPHA4.
[Stephen Hoffman]
[Scott Snadow]
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS10. What is OpenVMS doing about the Euro currency symbol?
For information on the current status and plans for support of the
European Monetary Union's Euro currency symbol in OpenVMS, see:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/euro/
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS11. Why hasn't OpenVMS been ported to Intel (IA32) systems?
Why? Business reasons...
Because there is a belief that there would be no market to justify
the effort and the expense involved in porting OpenVMS to systems
using the Intel IA32 architecture. (Each maintainer of a product
or package for OpenVMS would have to justify the port to "OpenVMS
IA32", akin to a port from OpenVMS VAX to OpenVMS Alpha. The effort
involved in porting OpenVMS from VAX to Alpha was huge.)
Because every one of the core applications would have to be ported
from Alpha to IA32, and then customer and third-party applications
would also have to be ported.
Because there are design features that required by OpenVMS that are
not available on IA32, features that would require redesigning OpenVMS
to operate in the environment, making ports rather more difficult.
ASTs and interlocked operators are obvious prerequirements.
Because Alpha is faster than Intel IA32 systems -- if OpenVMS is to
be ported, a port to a slower system is more difficult to sell.
Because Intel is expecting to replace IA32 processors with IA64.
Because hobbyists have been easily able to acquire OpenVMS systems
and the DECUS hobbyist OpenVMS licenses.
Because OpenVMS already operates on Compaq and third-party Alpha
systems; specific features in support of third-party vendor-customized
bootstrap capabilities for use on third-party systems are present in
OpenVMS Alpha V7.1-2 and later releases.
Because there are assumptions that some of the stability of OpenVMS
arises from the stability of the underlying VAX and Alpha hardware,
and systems based on components such as ISA and random memory SIMMs
might not be as stable.
But yes, it would be nice to have.
[Stephen Hoffman]
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS12. Are there any general-access OpenVMS systems available?
Yes.
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:
http://www.hobbesthevax.com/
This system is strictly for non-commercial use.
[Scott Squires, Steven Shamlian]
o OpenVMS Galaxy Test Drive
Compaq 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 see:
http://www.testdrive.compaq.com/galaxy/
o Compaq CSA Test Drive:
http://www.testdrive.compaq.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS13. 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.
http://www.compaq.com/info/spd/
OpenVMS typically uses SPD 25.01.xx and/or SPD 41.87.xx.
For a table of OpenVMS versions for various platforms,
please see:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/supportchart.html
For information on the Multia, related Alpha single-board
computers, or other officially unsupported systems, please
see ALPHA8 and ALPHA13.
The following is a rule-of-thumb for Alpha platform support.
The table contains the earliest OpenVMS Alpha release with
support for a particular series of Alpha microprocessors:
Microprocessor | OpenVMS | General
Generation | Version | Comments
21064 EV4 : V1.0 : few systems; most EV4 req later; upg avail
21164 EV5 : V6.2 : subsequent upg available
21164A EV56 : V6.2-1H3 : subsequent upg to V7.1 and later
21264 EV6 : V7.1-2 : subsequent upg typically to V7.2-1 or later
21264A EV67 : V7.1-2 : subsequent upg typically to V7.2-1 or later
xxxxxx EV68 : V7.2-1 : believed/probable; currently expectation
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS14. How can I submit OpenVMS Freeware?
For the guidelines and submission info, please visit the URL:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/freeware/cd_guide.html
To order a Freeware CD-ROM kit, request part number QA-6KZAA-H8.
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS15. 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 from OpenVMS VAX
to OpenVMS Alpha. (Porting from OpenVMS VAX to OpenVMS Alpha is
often quite simple and involves little more than rebuilding from
source, though a few applications using features specific to VAX 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:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com:8000/
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/doc/
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/
Details on the C programming environment are available at:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/c/c_index.html
Details on porting VAX C to Compaq C are are available at:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/c/index_vax.htm
An OpenVMS Porting Library is available at:
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:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/et/et_index.html
Details on DCE, CORBA, BridgeWorks, and COM/DCOM middleware is available at:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/middleware.html
Information on the COE standards is available at:
http://diicoe.disa.mil/coe/
A wide variety of programming development tools and middleware are
available as commercial products (eg: DECset, IBM MQseries), and
various tools are also available as shareware or Freeware. Please
see other sections of this FAQ, and please see:
http://www.compaq.com/csa/directory/
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS16. How do I join Compaq Solutions Alliance?
The Compaq Solutions Alliance (CSA) is a (free) program that is open to
and that supports software partners, consultants, and service providers:
http://www.compaq.com/csa/
CSA provides members with discounts on hardware, porting assistance, and
many other benefits.
For those familiar with the program, the DIGITAL Association of Software
and Application Parterns (ASAP) program has been incorporated into CSA.
The Compaq Solutions Alliance Technical Journal (CTJ) is "web-published"
monthly, and available at:
http://csa.compaq.com/CompaqTechnicalJournal.html
------------------------------------------------------------
VMS17. 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 Compaq OpenVMS
o History of Compaq and/or of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
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 low-level (more technical) details on OpenVMS, 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
low-level details of the Alpha microprocessor are available in the Alpha
Architecture Reference Manual documentation that is available for download.
(A pointer to the Alpha technical documentation is elsewhere in the FAQ.)
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.
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC1. Where can I find online copies of OpenVMS manuals?
The Compaq OpenVMS and layered product documentation is copyrighted
material.
HTML format on-line product documentation sets for specific Compaq
OpenVMS products are presently available at:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com:8000/
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/doc/
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/
Documentation is offered on separately orderable CD-ROM media through
a subscription to the Consolidated On-Line Documentation (ConOLD) product
(see VMS7.) 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 SOFT1 for details.
[Steve Lionel]
[Stephen Hoffman]
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC2. What online information is 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 WWW server at http://www.compaq.com/openvms/
(http://www.openvms.compaq.com/). Here, you will find product information,
strategy documents, the contents of the latest OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM and
much more.
Software Product Descriptions (SPDs) for most every OpenVMS-related product
Compaq sells is available via:
http://www.compaq.com/info/spd/
System performance data (see ALPHA5), product infosheets, release notes and
much more are also available.
In addition,
http://search.compaq.com/
provides a handy method to search all of Compaq's public web servers for
information of any kind.
Compaq's Customer Services organization also hosts an Internet server.
Various contract-access and non-contract access ECO (patch) kits are
available, see section MGMT25.
The Compaq Systems and Options Catalog (SOC) archive is available at:
http://www.compaq.com/products/quickspecs/soc_archives/SOC_Archives.html
The Systems and Options Catalog has been replaced by Compaq QuickSpecs:
http://www.compaq.com/products/quickspecs/productbulletin.html
The Compaq DSNlink electronic product support network (a good source for
reporting problems, obtaining patches and ECOs, scanning Compaq support
databases, searching for example programs, etc) is available at:
http://www.support.compaq.com/dsnlink/
Compaq's Business Link provides product information, prices and permits
online ordering:
http://www.businesslink.compaq.com/
The services provided by BusinessLink are being replaced by other and
country-specific mechanisms, please see the above URL for details.
Information on Compaq hardware, software, products and services is
available through various telephone numbers:
1-800-AT-COMPAQ : voice : Compaq (including DIGITAL and Tandem)
products and services
1-800-DIGITAL : voice : DIGITAL products and services
1-800-DEC-2717 : voice : The DECchip Hotline
1-508-568-6868 : voice : (alternate number for above)
1-800-STORWORK : voice : The Compaq StorageWorks team
David Mathog offers two HTML documents which contain useful information
about OpenVMS.
http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/soft_doc.html
The VAXarchive (hardware and software information) is at:
http://vax.sevensages.org/index.html
Useful OpenVMS information and an extensive set of links is available at:
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/
A wide variety of Compaq VAX, Alpha, platform and other product
documentation (some introductory, some technical) is available at:
http://www.digital.com/lists/master-index.html
http://www.compaq.com/support/techpubs/qrg/index.html
The Compaq inFORM magazine and OpenVMS Times newsletters have email
subscriptions available, see:
http://www.compaq.com/inFORM/
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvmstimes/
Also see the DFWCUG Longwords newsletter:
http://www.dfwcug.org/
Back issues of the old Digital Technical Journals (DTJs) are at:
http://www.research.compaq.com/wrl/DECarchives/DTJ/
----
An OpenVMS Programming FAQ is available at:
http://www.pdv-systeme.de/users/martinv/VMS_Programming_FAQ.html
[Martin Vorländer]
----
A Customer VAX to Alpha upgrade diary:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/alpha_diary.html
----
Scanned versions of old DIGITAL hardware manuals are available at:
http://www.montagar.com/~patj/dec/hcps.htm
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC3. What books and publications are available?
A bibliography of current and recent OpenVMS books is available at:
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_book.htmlx
The Butterworth-Heinemann Digital Press imprint offers a number of
OpenVMS books. A website is available at:
http://www.bh.com/
Information on specific OpenVMS books is also available at:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/books.html
Also see DOC10.
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC4. 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.
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC5. Does OpenVMS Marketing have an e-mail address?
Yes - if you can't get the answers to questions elsewhere, if you have
comments or complaints about OpenVMS, send mail to [email protected]
(This address is NOT a support channel, and is solely intended to provide
informal method to communicate directly with members of OpenVMS Marketing.)
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC6. What OpenVMS-related WWW sites are available?
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/ (Sponsored by OpenVMS Marketing)
http://www.montagar.com/ (Sponsored by DECUS - DFWLUG)
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/ (Sponsored by Arne Vajhøj)
http://www.saiga.com/ (Sponsored by Saiga Systems)
http://www.tachysoft.com/ (Sponsored by Wayne Sewell)
http://www.progis.de/openvms.htm (Sponsored by proGIS Software)
http://www.jcameron.com/vms/ (Sponsored by Jeff Cameron)
The following web site is sponsored by "The Beave", and provides
information that is directly relevent to system managers, security
managers, and others interested in ensuring the continued security
of OpenVMS systems:
http://www.vistech.net/users/beave/hack-vms-faq
Suggestions (indirectly) provided by the above include disabling the
port 11 and 15 stats provided by IP packages such as Multinet.
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC7. removed. See MGMT25.
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC8. Where can I find info about undocumented OpenVMS features?
After all this discussion about undocumented VMS features I started a
collection of some documentation :-)) about them on
http://www.decus.de:8080/www/vms/qaa/undoc.htmlx
[[email protected]]
[[email protected]]
Also see the following:
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_tip.htmlx
[Arne Vajhøj]
Various examples of undocumented features are also available on the
OpenVMS Freeware:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC9. Where is documentation on the DECnet Phase IV protocols?
Documentation and Specifications for DECnet Phase IV can be found at:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/wizard/decnet/
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC10. Where can I learn about how the VMS executive works internally?
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.
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, an imprint of
Butterworth-Heinemann. You can order by phone (from US and Canada,
1-800-366-2655, or from elsewhere, 781-904-2500). You can also fax an
order to 1-800-446-6520 or 781-933-6333. The order form and additional
information are available on their web site www.bh.com .
ISBN Title
1 55558 156 0 OpenVMS Alpha Internals: Scheduling and Process Control
1 55558 120 X OpenVMS AXP Internals and Data Structures: Version 1.5
1 55558 059 9 VAX/VMS Internals and Data Structures: Version 5.2
[Ruth Goldenberg]
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC11. 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.
Various introductory manuals are available in the OpenVMS documentation set,
including the OpenVMS User's Guide. The OpenVMS manuals -- including the
OpenVMS User's Guide -- are available at:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com:8000/
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/doc/
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/
Some of the OpenVMS books available from the Butterworth-Heinemann
Digital Press imprint (http://www.bh.com) include:
Introduction to OpenVMS, 5th Edition,
Lesley Ogilvie Rice
ISBN 1 55558 194 3
The OpenVMS User's Guide, Second Edition
Patrick Holmay
ISBN 1 55558 203 6
Introduction to OpenVMS
David W Bynon
ISBN 1 878956 61 2
OpenVMS System Management Guide
Richard Berry
ISBN 1 55558 143 9
Using DECwindows Motif for OpenVMS
Margie Sherlock
ISBN 1 55558 114 5
Writing Real Programs in DCL, Second Edition
Hoffman and Anagnostopoulos
ISBN 1 55558 191 9
For various features OpenVMS books, please see:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/books.html
Various user-maintained websites are also available, including a
beginner's FAQ, various user-written FAQs, a bibliography of books
on OpenVMS, and information on various other hardware and software
topics:
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_faq.htmlx
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_book.htmlx
http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_sheet.html
http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_beginners_faq.html
Members of the DECUS DFWLUG 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, and can be downloaded from:
http://www.montagar.com/openvms_class/
Compaq offers training information and Technical Resource Kits
(TRKs) and other Training for OpenVMS at:
http://www.compaq.com/training/home.html
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/wbt/index.html
An OpenVMS certification (testing) program is also available.
The following URL has an OpenVMS Quiz:
http://www.jcameron.com/vms/
CCSS Interactive Learning has OpenVMS training materials available:
http://www.CCSScorp.com/
AcerSoft Training information:
http://www.acersoft.com/
MindIQ training information:
http://www.mindiq.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC12. Access to the OpenVMS Netscape Navigator documentation?
The documentation URLs embedded into the browser itself may
not operate correctly in all cases, and (for reasons not
worthy of repeating here) redirects may not be available.
You can manually access the documentation via:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com:88/netscape/help/
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC13. What OpenVMS mailing lists are available?
See:
http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_forum.htmlx
OpenVMS Freeware archive announcement list
[email protected]
Two-way echo of vmsnet.internals:
[email protected]
OpenVMS Alpha Internals discussions:
[email protected] (*)
BLISS discussions
[email protected] (*)
Process Software MultiNet mailing list (news gateway):
[email protected]
Process Software TCPware mailing list (news gateway):
[email protected]
Process Software PMDF mailing list (news gateway):
[email protected] PMDF mailing list (news gateway)
Discussion list for SRI's CHARON-VAX VAX emulator package:
[email protected]
Info-Zip's Zip & UnZip discussion list:
[email protected]
To subscribe to any of the lists, the command SUBSCRIBE should be sent in
the body of a mail message to the -request address like so:
list-request@host
For example:
[email protected]
(*) The Alpha-IDS and BLISSters lists have been dormant for some time, but
they do still exist.
[Hunter Goatley]
RADIUS-VMS, a RADIUS server for OpenVMS discussion forum:
[email protected]
Send subscription requests to (MadGoat MX-List processor):
[email protected]
Forum for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) running OpenVMS:
[email protected]
Send subscription requests to (MadGoat MX-List processor):
[email protected]
[Ruslan R. Laishev]
An Info-WASD mailing list for users of Mark Daniel's WASD web server
for OpenVMS VAX and Alpha exists. Information about this list server
and details on how to subscribe to the list can be found at:
http://wasd.vsm.com.au/
[Jeremy Begg]
------------------------------------------------------------
DOC14. What is this Ask The Wizard website I've heard about?
The Compaq OpenVMS Ask The Wizard (ATW) website is available at:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/wizard/
A zip archive of questions and answers can be downloaded at:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/wizard/wizard.zip
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME1. A brief history of OpenVMS Timekeeping, please?
Why does OpenVMS regards November 17, 1858 as the beginning
of time...
The modified Julian date adopted by the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory (SAO) for satellite tracking is Julian Day 2400000.5,
which turns out to be midnight on November 17, 1858.
SAO started tracking satellites with an 8K (nonvirtual) 36-bit
IBM 704 in 1957 when Sputnik went into orbit. The Julian day
was 2435839 on January 1, 1957. This is 11225377 octal, which
was too big to fit into an 18-bit field. With only 8K of memory,
the 14 bits left over by keeping the Julian date in its own 36-bit
word would have been wasted. SAO also needed the fraction of the
current day (for which 18 bits gave enough accuracy), so it was
decided to keep the number of days in the left 18 bits and the
fraction of a day in the right 18 bits of one word.
Eighteen bits allows the truncated Julian day (the SAO day) to
grow as large as 262143, which from November 17, 1858, allowed
for 7 centuries. Possibly, the date could only grow as large as
131071 (using 17 bits), but this still covers 3 centuries and
leaves the possibility of representing negative time. The 1858
date preceded the oldest star catalogue in use at SAO, which also
avoided having to use negative time in any of the satellite tracking
calculations.
The original Julian Day (JD) is used by astronomers and expressed
in days since noon January 1, 4713 B.C. This measure of time was
introduced by Joseph Scaliger in the 16th century. It is named in
honor of his father, Julius Caesar Scaliger (note that this Julian
Day is different from the Julian calendar that is named for the
Roman Emperor Julius Caesar!).
Why 4713 BC? Scaliger traced three time cycles and found that they
were all in the first year of their cyle in 4713 B.C. The three
cycles are 15, 19, and 28 years long. By multiplying these three
numbers (15 * 19 * 28 = 7980), he was able to represent any date
from 4713 B.C. through 3267 A.D.
The starting year was before any historical event known to him. In
fact, the Jewish calendar marks the start of the world as 3761 B.C.
Today his numbering scheme is still used by astronomers to avoid the
difficulties of converting the months of different calendars in use
during different eras.
The following web sites:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/products/year-2000/leap.html
http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/
http://www.nist.gov/
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/
http://www.tondering.dk/claus/calendar.html
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Things/gregorian_calendar.html
are all good time-related resources, some general and some specific
to OpenVMS.
[Stephen Hoffman, Dale Dellutri]
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME2. How does OpenVMS VAX maintain system time?
VAX systems maintain an interval clock, and a hardware clock.
The VAX hardware clock is called the TOY ("Time Of Year") clock. The
register associated with the clock is called the TODR ("Time Of Day
Register").
The TOY clock -- as used -- stores time relative to January first of the
current year, starting at at 00:00:00.00. It is a 100 Hz, 32-bit counter,
incremented every 10ms, and thus has a capacity of circa 497 days.
OpenVMS (on the VAX platform) stores system date information -- and in
particular, the current year -- in the system image, SYS$SYSTEM:SYS.EXE.
The TOY is used, in conjunction with the base date that is stored and
retrieved from the system image, to initialize the interval clock value
that is stored in EXE$GQ_SYSTIME.
Once the interval clock is loaded, the system does not typically reference
the TOY again, unless a SET TIME (with no parameters) is issued. The
interval clock value is updated by a periodic IPL22 or IPL24 (depending
on the specific implementation) interrupt. (When these interrupts are
blocked as a result of the activity of higher-IPL code -- such as
extensive driver interrupt activity or a hardware error or a correctable
(soft) memory error -- the clock will "loose" time, and the time value
reported to the user with appear to have slowed down.)
On most (all?) VAX systems, the battery that is associated with the TOY
clock can be disconnected and replaced if (when) it fails -- TOY clock
problems in VAX systems do regularly get tracked back to a failed nicad
or lithium battery pack.
[Stephen Hoffman]
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME3. Why does my system time drift?
Memory errors, hardware problems, or most anything operating at or
above IPL 22 or IPL 24 (clock IPL is system family dependent; code
executing at or above the clock IPL will block the processing of
clock interrupts), can cause the loss of system time. Clock drift
can also be caused by normal (thermal) clock variations and even by
the expected level of clock drift.
When clock interrupts are blocked as a result of the activity of
high-IPL code -- such as extensive driver interrupt activity or a
hardware error or a correctable (soft) memory error -- the clock
will "loose" time, and the time value reported to the user with
appear to have slowed down. Correctable memory errors can be a
common cause of system time loss, in other words.
Clock drift can also be (deliberately) caused by the activity of the
DTSS or NTP packages.
Also see ALPHA17, VAX8, and TIME8.
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME4. Managing Timezones, Timekeeping, UTC, and Daylight Savings?
You will want to use the command procedure:
SYS$MANAGER:UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM
to configure the OpenVMS Timezone Differential Factor (TDF) on OpenVMS
V6.0 and later. Select the BOTH option. This configures the OpenVMS
TDF settings, though it may or may not configure the TDF and the
timezone rules needed or used by other software packages.
Please do NOT directly invoke the following command procedures:
SYS$MANAGER:UTC$CONFIGURE_TDF.COM ! do not directly use
SYS$MANAGER:UTC$TIMEZONE_SETUP.COM ! do not directly use
TCP/IP Services V5.0 and later use the OpenVMS TDF, UTC, and timezone
support. Earlier versions use a TDF mechanism and timezone database
that is internal to the TCP/IP Services package. Also on the earlier
versions, the TDF must be manually configured within TCP/IP Services,
in addition to the OpenVMS configuration of the TDF.
DECnet-Plus in V7.3 and later uses the OpenVMS TDF, UTC, and timezone
support, and displays its timezone prompts using UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM.
Earlier versions use a TDF TDF mechanism, timezone database, and
automatic switch-over that is internal to the DECnet-Plus package.
Also on earlier versions, the TDF must be configured within the
DECnet-Plus DECdtss package, in addition to the OpenVMS configuration
of the TDF.
Application code using Compaq C (formerly DEC C) will use the OpenVMS
UTC and TDF mechanisms when the C code is compiled on OpenVMS V7.0 and
later (and when the macro _VMS_V6_SOURCE is NOT defined). Compaq C does
NOT use the OpenVMS UTC and TDF mechanisms when the C code is compiled
on OpenVMS releases prior to V7.0, or when the preprocessor declaration
_VMS_V6_SOURCE is declared.
DCE DTSS TDF details TDB.
In OpenVMS Alpha V6.1, V6.2, and V6.2-1Hx, the TDF value is written
to SYS$BASE_IMAGE.EXE. With OpenVMS Alpha V7.0 and later and with
OpenVMS VAX V6.0 and later, SYS$SYSTEM:SYS$TIMEZONE.DAT contains the
TDF. This means that OpenVMS Alpha systems will need to have the TDF
value reset manually on reboots prior to V7.0.
During OpenVMS Bootstrap, the SYSINIT module reads SYS$TIMEZONE.DAT to
acquire the TDF for use in the system global cell EXE$GQ_TDF. This is
done to ensure that the system boots with a valid TDF (a value which
may be zero). The UTC system services get the TDF from this cell. These
services, as well as the Compaq C RTL, must have a valid TDF. (Prior to
OpenVMS V7.3, if either DECnet-Plus or DECnet/VAX Extensions is configured
and run, the image DTSS$SET_TIMEZONE.EXE is invoked and can override the
TDF and timezone rule settings from SYSINIT or from UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM --
this image runs even if DTSS is disabled. If the settings do not match
(due to inconsistencies in timezone specification in UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM
and NET$CONFIGURE.COM), DTSS will reset the values to match its
definitions.)
Prior to OpenVMS V7.3, daylight savings time switchover is handled
automatically only when DCE DTSS or DECnet-Plus DTSS is in use. In
V7.3, OpenVMS can be configured to automatically switch over to
daylight savings time, and also generates an event that interested
applications can use to detect the switch-over between standard time
and daylight time.
The manual switchover between daylight savings time and standard time
is correctly accomplished via the SYS$EXAMPLES:DAYLIGHT_SAVINGS.COM
command procedure procedure.
If you switch the TDF or daylight savings time setting, you will also
want to restart or reconfigure any time-sensitive applications (those
not using the time differential factor (TDF) change event available in
V7.3 and later). Examples of these applications include the need to
restart the NFS client and (yes) NTP. (NTP will want to try to "drift"
the time (see TIME6), and will find the daylight savings time switch-over
to be far too large to "drift". Hence the NTP restart.) You can also use
the (undocumented) TCP/IP Services (prior to V5.0) commands:
SET TIME/DIFF=[positive or negative TDF integer]
GENERATE TIME
to reset the value of the logical name UCX$TDF.
Prior to V7.3, the command:
MCR DTSS$SET_TIMEZONE MODIFY
can be used to modify the settings of the SYS$TIMEZONE_DAYLIGHT_SAVING,
SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL, and SYS$TIMEZONE_NAME system logical names
based on the SYS$TIMEZONE_RULE.
The following are other TDF-related logical names used/available on
OpenVMS systems, with typical Daylight Savings and Standard Settings
for the US Eastern Time (ET) timezone.
$daylight_time:
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE MAIL$TIMEZONE EDT
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE NOTES$TIMEZONE "-0400 EDT"
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE LISP$DAYLIGHT_SAVING_TIME_P true ! Not 'EDT'
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE LISP$TIME_ZONE 05 ! Constant
$standard_time:
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE MAIL$TIMEZONE EST
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE NOTES$TIMEZONE "-0500 EST"
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE LISP$DAYLIGHT_SAVING_TIME_P false ! Not 'EST'
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE LISP$TIME_ZONE 05 ! Constant
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE UCX$NFS_TIME_DIFFERENTIAL -
'f$integer(f$element(0," ",f$logical("notes$timezone"))/-100)'
For information on ZIC and related tools used to manage the OpenVMS
Timezone database, please see the DEC C Run-time Library Utilities
Reference Manual -- though the title would imply otherwise, this
particular manual is part of the OpenVMS documentation set, and not
part of the Compaq C (formerly DEC C) documentation set.
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME5. How to troubleshoot TDF problems on OpenVMS?
This is an OpenVMS Alpha system prior to V7.0 and the startup is not
invoking the procedure:
SYS$MANAGER:UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM
This is an OpenVMS system prior to V6.0, where there is no OpenVMS
TDF nor UTC available.
The version of the application does not use the OpenVMS TDF. This
includes TCP/IP Services prior to V5.0, applications using Compaq C
built on or targeting OpenVMS prior to V7.0, and systems using the
DECnet-Plus DTSS mechanisms prior to the release associated with
OpenVMS V7.3. (DCE TDF TBD.)
If you should find either of the following two timezone-related database
files located in SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE]:
- SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE]SYS$TIMEZONE.DAT
- SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE]SYS$TIMEZONE_SRC.DAT
These two files are in an erroneous location and must be recreated in
the correct directory:
SYS$COMMON:[SYSEXE].
If the DCL command:
DIRECTORY SYS$SYSTEM:SYS$TIMEZONE*.DAT
shows these files in SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE], then delete them and use
SYS$MANAGER:UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM to recreate them.
On OpenVMS versions prior to V7.3, if the file:
SYS$STARTUP:DTSS$UTC_STARTUP.COM
is present on your system, then you may need to invoke:
SYS$UPDATE:DTSS$INSTALL_TIMEZONE_RULE.COM
to recreate the timezone files correctly. Invoke this command
immediately after [re]executing SYS$MANAGER:UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM.)
If SYS$UPDATE:DTSS$INSTALL_TIMEZONE_RULE.COM is not present on your
system, then you may need to execute the following commands:
DELETE SYS$STARTUP:DTSS$UTC_STARTUP.COM
DEASSIGN/SYSTEM/EXEC SYS$TIMEZONE_RULE.
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME6. How can I keep the OpenVMS system time synchronized?
To help keep more accurate system time or to keep your system clocks
synchronized, TCP/IP Services NTP, DECnet-Plus DECdtss, DCE DTSS, and
other techniques are commonly used. If you do not have IP access to
a time-base, then you could use dial-up access to NIST or other
authoritative site.
There exists code around that processes the digital (ie: binary)
format time that is available via a modem call into the NIST clock
(the Automated Computer Telephone Service (ACTS)), and code that
grabs the time off a GPS receiver digital link, or a receiver
(effectively a radio and a codec) that processes the time signals
from radio station WWV, WWVH, WWVB, or similar. (Processing these
time protocols often involves little more than reading from an
EIA232 (RS232) serial line from the receiver, something that is
possible from most any language as well as directly from DCL.)
One example of acquring a time-base involves the IRIG time format
(IRIG-A, -B, -G), a binary signal containing the current time in
hours, minutes, seconds and days since the start of the current year.
IRIG can also contain the time of day as the number of seconds since
midnight. Compaq Custom Systems and third-party vendors offer various
IRIG-based reader/generator modules for OpenVMS systems.
Differing time servers (DECnet-Plus DTSS, DCE DTSS, NTP, etc) do not
coexist particularly well, particularly if you try to use all these
together on the same node. Please pick and use just one. (If needed,
you can sometimes configure one package to acquire its timebase from
another protocol, but one and only one time server package should have
direct control over the management of and drifting of the local OpenVMS
system time.)
Useful URLs:
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/service/nts.htm
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/service/acts.htm
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/
http://www.time.gov/
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME7. How can I configure TCP/IP Services NTP as a time provider?
An NTP time provider provides its idea of the current time to NTP
clients via the NTP protocol. Most systems are NTP clients, but...
NTP has a heirarchy of layers, called strata. The further away from
the actual NTP time source (Internet time servers are at stratum 1),
the lower the strata (and the larger the number assigned the statum).
NTP explicity configured at stratum one provides time to NTP operating
at lower strata, and the provided time is acquired based on the local
system time or via some locally-accessable external time source.
NTP at other (lower) strata both receive time from higher strata and can
provide time to lower strata, and automatically adjust the local stratum.
The highest stratum is one, and the lowest available stratum is fifteen.
The TCP/IP Services NTP package can operate at any stratum, and can be
configured as a peer, as a client, or as a broadcast server.
With TCP/IP Services V5.0 and later, the only supported reference clock
is the LCL (local system clock). If your system has an excellent clock
or if the system time is being controlled by some other time service
(such as DTSS or GPS), you can configure NTP to use the system clock as
its reference source. This will mimic the master-clock functionality,
and will configre NTP as a stratum 1 time server. To do this, enter
the following commands in TCPIP$NTP.CONF:
server 127.127.1.0 prefer
fudge 127.127.1.0 stratum 0
For local-master functionality, the commands are very similiar. Use:
server 127.127.1.0
fudge 127.127.1.0 stratum 8
The difference between these two is the stratum, and the omission of
the prefer keyword. Specifying a higher stratum allows the node to
act as a backup NTP server, or potentially as the sole time server on
an isolated network. The server will become active only when all other
normal synchronization sources are unavailable. The use of "prefer"
causes NTP to always use the specified clock as the time synchronization
source.
With the TCP/IP Services versions prior to V5.0, the NTP management is
rather more primitive. To configure the local OpenVMS system from an
NTP client to an NTP server (on TCP/IP Services versions prior to V5.0),
add the following line to the sys$specific:[ucx$ntp]ucx$ntp.conf file:
master-clock 1
Also, for TCP/IP Services prior to V5.0, see the NTP template file:
SYS$SPECIFIC:[UCX$NTP]UCX$NTP.TEMPLATE
For current TCP/IP Services documentation, please see:
http://www.openvms.compaq.com:8000/
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/doc/
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME8. How can I drift the OpenVMS system time?
With DECdts and TCP/IP Services NTP, the system time value is "drifted"
(rather than changed), to avoid the obvious problems that would arise
with "negative time changes". The same basic clock drifting technique
is used by most (all?) time servers operating on OpenVMS, typically using
the support for this provided directly within OpenVMS.
An example of the technique used (on OpenVMS VAX) to drift the system
time is the SETCLOCK tool on the OpenVMS Freeware.
For information on the use of the EXE$GL_TIMEADJUST and EXE$GL_TICKLENGTH
cells on OpenVMS Alpha, see _OpenVMS AXP Internal and Data Structures",
located on page 348.
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME9. Why does VAX need a SET TIME at least once a year?
Because the VAX Time Of Year (TOY) has a resolution of 497 days, the VAX
system time is stored using both the TOY and the OpenVMS VAX system image
SYS.EXE. Because of the use of the combination of the TOY and SYS.EXE,
you need to issue a SET TIME command (with no parameters) at least once
between January 1st and about April 11th of each year, and whenever you
change system images (due to booting another OpenVMS VAX system, booting
the standalone BACKUP image, an ECO that replaces SYS.EXE, etc).
The SET TIME command is automatically issued during various standard
OpenVMS procedures such as SHUTDOWN, and it can also obviously be issued
directly by a suitably privileged user. Issuing the SET TIME command
resets the value stored in the TOY, and (if necessary) also updates the
portion of the time (the current year) saved in the SYS.EXE system image.
This VAX TOY limit is the reason why OpenVMS VAX installation kits and
standalone BACKUP explicitly prompt for the time during bootstrap, and
why the time value can "get weird" if the system crashes outside the
497 day window (if no SET TIME was issued to update the saved values),
and why the time value can "get weird" if a different SYS$SYSTEM:SYS.EXE
is used (alternate system disk, standalone BACKUP, etc).
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME10. Why can't I do a SET TIME command? Help managing DTSS?
If you try to set the system time with the SET TIME command, and see
one of the following messages:
%SET-E-NOTSET, error modifying time
-SYSTEM-F-IVSSRQ, invalid system service request
%SET-E-NOTSET, error modifying time
-SYSTEM-E-TIMENOTSET, time service enabled; enter a time service command to
update the time
A: This occurs if the time on the local system is controlled by a time service
software, for example the distributed time service software (DTSS) provided as
part of the DECnet/OSI installation. The DTSS software communicates with one or
more time servers to obtain the current time. It entirely controls the local
system time (for DECnet/OSI, there is a process named DTSS$CLERK for this);
therefore, the usage of the SET TIME command (and the underlying $SETTIM system
service) is disabled.
The first message is displayed on systems running DECnet/OSI V6.1 and earlier.
On systems with newer DECnet/OSI (DECnet-Plus) software, the second (and more
informative) message is given.
You shouldn't have to change the time manually - you should be doing this
through the time server - but if you insist... you'll have to shutdown DTSS:
$ MCR NCL
NCL> DISABLE DTSS
NCL> DELETE DTSS
This will shutdown DTSS$CLERK. You may then change the system time as usual.
To restart the DTSS software, type
@SYS$STARTUP:DTSS$STARTUP
You'll need a lot of privs : (CMKRNL,SYSPRV,OPER,SYSNAM,PRMMBX,NETMBX,LOG_IO,
ALTPRI) and must be granted the NET$MANAGE identifer to shutdown and
restart DTSS.
[[email protected]]
If you wish to "permanently" disable DTSS on a system running DECnet-Plus, the
above NCL sequence must be performed each time the system is bootstrapped.
If DTSS is running and no time servers are configured, you can (and will) see
the following messages at regular intervals:
%%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 2-SEP-1999 19:41:20.29 %%%%%%%%%%%
Message from user SYSTEM on UNHEDI
Event: Too Few Servers Detected from: Node LOCAL:.mynode DTSS,
at: 1999-09-02-19:41:20.296-04:00Iinf
Number Detected=0,
Number Required=1
eventUid 5FA70F4F-616E-11D3-A80E-08002BBEDB0F
entityUid DE9E97DE-6135-11D3-8004-AA000400BD1B
streamUid D6513A46-6135-11D3-8003-AA000400BD1B
You can either configure the appropriate number of time servers, or you can
disable DTSS, or you can ignore it and (if OPCOM is set to write to the
log via via the logical names in SYLOGICALS.COM/SYLOGICALS.TEMPLATE) clean
out OPERATOR.LOG regularly.
You can also simply disable the display of these messages:
$ mcr ncl block event dispatcher outbound stream local_stream global filter -
((Node, DTSS), Too Few Servers Detected)
[Wayne Sewell]
If you wish to disable the automatic TDF adjustment for daylight savings
time (on OpenVMS versions prior to V7.3), you can use the command:
ncl> set dtss automatic TDF change = false
or alternatively, you can set the local timezone to one that does not
include the automatic daylight savings time change-over.
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME11. Details of the OpenVMS system time-keeping?
VAX hardware time-keeping details...
TOY clock
---------
This is battery backed up hardware timing circuitry used to keep the
correct time of year during rebooting, power failures, and system
shutdown. This clock only keeps track of months, days, and time.
The time is kept relative to January 1st, at 00:00:00.00 of the year
the clock was initiailized.
EXE$GQ_SYSTIME
--------------
This is the OpenVMS VAX system time cell. This cell contains the number
of 100ns intervals since a known reference. This cell is incremented by
100000 every 10ms by an hardware interval timer.
EXE$GQ_TODCBASE
---------------
This cell contains the time and date the system time was last adjusted
by EXE$SETTIME. It uses the same format as EXE$GQ_SYSTIME. On adjustment
of the system time a copy of EXE$GQ_SYSTIME is stored in this cell in both
memory and on disk. This cell is used to get the year for the system time.
EXE$GL_TODR
-----------
This cell contains the time and date the system time was last adjusted by
EXE$SETTIME. It uses the same format as the time of year clock. On adjustment
of the system time this cell gets saved back to both memory and disk. The
contents of this cell are used to test the validity of the TOY clock.
The system parameters SETTIME and TIMEPROMPTWAIT determine how the system
time will be set.
IF SETTIME = 0
THEN the contents of the TOY clock are compared to those of EXE$GL_TODR.
IF the TOY clock is more than a day behind EXE$GL_TODR
THEN the TOY clock is presumed invalid.
IF the TOY clock is within a day of EXE$GL_TODR
THEN the system time is calculated as follows:
EXE$GQ_SYSTIME = EXE$GQ_TODCBASE + ((TOY_CLOCK - EXE$GL_TODR) * 100000)
IF SETTIME = 1 or the TOY clock is invalid
THEN the value of TIMEPROMPTWAIT determines how to reset the time of year.
IF TIMEPROMPTWAIT > 0
THEN the user is prompted for the time and date, for a length of time
equal to TIMEPROMPTWAIT microfortnights.
IF TIMEPROMPTWAIT = 0
THEN the time of year is the value of EXE$GL_TODR + 10ms.
IF TIMEPROMPTWAIT < 0to proceed
until they do so.
THEN the user is prompted for the time and date and unable
When booting a CD-ROM containing an OpenVMS VAX system, the system will
typically be deliberately configured prompt the user to input the time
-- this is necessary in order to boot with the correct time.
If either TIMEPROMPTWAIT or SETTIME are set to zero, OpenVMS VAX will
use the TOY clock to get the time of year, and the year will be fetched
from the CD-ROM. The value of the year on the CD-ROM media (saved in
the SYS.EXE image) will most likely be that of when the CD-ROM was made,
and cannot be changed. Unless the current year happens to be the same
year as that on the CD-ROM, most likely the year will be off. (Further,
with the calculation of Leap Year also being dependent on the current
year, there is a possibility that the date could be off too.)
Alpha hardware time-keeping details...
Battery-Backed Watch (BB_WATCH) Chip
------------------------------------
This is battery backed up hardware timing circuitry used to keep the
correct time of year during rebooting, power failures, and system
shutdown. This clock keeps track of date and time in 24 hour binary
format.
EXE$GQ_SYSTIME
--------------
This is the OpenVMS Alpha system time cell. This cell contains the number
of 100ns intervals since November 17, 1858 00:00:00.00. This cell is
incremented by 100000 every 10ms by an hardware interval timer.
EXE$GQ_SAVED_HWCLOCK
--------------------
This cell is used by OpenVMS Alpha to keep track of the last time and date
that EXE$GQ_SYSTIME was adjusted. It keeps the same time format as
EXE$GQ_SYSTIME. The value in this cell gets updated in memory and on
disk, every time EXE$GQ_SYSTIME gets adjusted.
- The system parameters SETTIME and TIMEPROMPTWAIT determine how the
system time will be set.
- If SETTIME = 0 then EXE$INIT_HWCLOCK reads the hardware clock to set
the system time.
- IF TIMEPROMPTWAIT > 0
THEN the value of TIMEPROMPTWAIT determines how long the user is
prompted to enter the time and date. If time expires and no time
has been entered the system acts as if TIMEPROMPTWAIT = 0.
- IF TIMEPROMPTWAIT = 0
THEN the system time is calculated from the contents of
EXE$GQ_SAVED_HWCLOCK + 1.
- IF TIMEPROMPTWAIT < 0
THEN the user is prompted for the time and date and unable to
continue until the information is entered.
Unlike the VAX, the Alpha hardware clock tracks the full date and time,
not just the time of year. This means it is possible to boot from the
CD-ROM media without entering the time at the CD-ROM bootstrap. (This
provided that the time and date have been initialized, of course.)
IA-64 (Itanium) hardware time-keeping details to be added...
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME12. UTC vs GMT vs vs UT1/UT1/UT2 TDF? What are these acronyms?
The results of an international compromise -- though some would say
an international attempt to increase confusion -- UTC is refered to
as "Coordinated Universal Time" (though not as CUT) in English and as
"Temps Universel Coordinné" (though not as TUC) in French.
Universal Time UT0 is solar time, UT1 is solar time corrected for a
wobble in the Earth's orbit, and UT2 is UT1 corrected for seasonal
rotational variations in rotation due to the Earth's solar orbit.
GMT -- Greenwich Mean Time -- is UT1. GMT is the time at the (old)
Royal Greenwich Observatory (in Greenwich), not to be confused with
the Royal Greenwich Observatory located at Herstmonceux Castle in
Sussex, England.
UTC is based on an average across multiple atomic clocks, and is kept
within 0.9 seconds of GMT, through the insertion (or removal) of seconds.
In other words, UTC matches GMT plus or minus up to 0.9 seconds, but
UTC is not GMT.
TDF is the Timezone Differential Factor, the interval of time between
the local time and UTC. Areas that celebrate daylight savings time
(DST) will see periodic changes to the TDF value, when the switch-over
between daylight savings time and standard time occurs. The switch-over
itself is entirely left to local governmental folks, and can and has
varied by political entity and politics, and the switch-over has varied
over the years even at the same location.
If your local OpenVMS system time is off by one hour (or whatever the
local DST change) for some or all applications, you probably need to
reset your local TDF.
Further discussions of history and politics, the Royal Observers'
outbuildings, and the compromise that left the English with the Time
Standard (the Prime Meridian) and the French with the standards for
Distance and Weight (the Metric System) are left to other sources.
Some of these sources:
ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/
http://physics.nist.gov/GenInt/Time/time.html
http://nist.time.gov/
------------------------------------------------------------
TIME13. Customizing your TDF (Timezone) Setting?
Individual, local, and regional differences on the use (or the lack of
use) of Daylight Savings Time (DST) are quite common.
If you need to add (or remove) daylight savings time for your area or
otherwise alter the rules for your local area, you will probably end
up creating a variation to an existing timezone rule.
The necessary zone line to add for WhereEverLand will probably look
something like this:
# Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES/SAVE FORMAT [UNTIL]
Zone WhereEver 2:00 - WhereEver
The OpenVMS source file for the timezone rules here:
SYS$COMMON:[SYS$ZONEINFO.SYSTEM.SOURCES]
You'll then want to ZIC this to create your own timezone definiton.
ZIC is documented in the OpenVMS Documentation Set, in the Compaq C
Run-Time Library Reference Manual. (Despite the name of the manual,
it is part of the OpenVMS documentation set and not the C manuals.)
Once you have created the new rule, use SYS$MANAGER:UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM
to select the new timezone -- with V7.3 and later, this tool will
notice the new timezone and will offer it, on earlier releases, you
may/will have to hack the tool somewhat. (Don't even think of trying
to define the TZ or other time-related logical names directly yourself.)
For various timezone rules, see the tar.gz files (these are gzipped tar
archives) available at:
ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/
[End of Part 1/5]
--------------------------- pure personal opinion ---------------------------
Hoff (Stephen) Hoffman OpenVMS Engineering hoffman#xdelta.zko.dec.com
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