On Tue, 24 Nov 2009, Steve Davidson wrote:
The cluster/satellite connection is always an option and I have
suggested it to Fred more than a few times (sorry Fred), but it still
doesn't explain the problem. We though we had an answer late last night
but to no avail.
That's OK, a colleague of mine suggested the same thing too, but I was determined to get the Infoserver to work ... (still am as I like the concept)
I do like Gerry's idea of using a SIMH VAX to get things up and running, booting the physical VAX as a satellite which would then pose no risk to MISER.
FRUGAL:: is now turned on and you can access the console if you wish.
Fred
Gerry,
I have looked at this first hand. We are still missing something. For
some reason the ISL is unable to find what it needs to complete the
process. The other thing that bothers me is how slow the whole
environment responds to this. Fred and I have been trying to find where
the bottleneck is. I will be testing this on my network later today to
see what he may be running into.
The cluster/satellite connection is always an option and I have
suggested it to Fred more than a few times (sorry Fred), but it still
doesn't explain the problem. We though we had an answer late last night
but to no avail.
One of the problems is that the InfoServer system on VMS is *not* the
same as the InfoServer hardware. The documentation for the hardware
platform was/is much superior to that of the software solution. I
suspect that we are missing something in the software scenario that
isn't even an issue in the hardware one.
-Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of gerry77 at mail.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 04:45
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: Re: [HECnet] Boot VAX from Alpha host Infoserver?
On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:32:28 -0500 (EST), you wrote:
%ISL-F-BADOPEN, unable to locate SYSBOOT
?06 HLT INST
PC= 000067C4 PSL= 041F0000
So at this point it eliminates LDDRIVER being part of the problem.
I'm starting to think that either the host-based Infoserver does not
support
VAX network installation or the service is somehow not properly
configured.
Please, excuse me if I'll write obvious things, but...
The Infoserver help says that the volume to be served has to be mounted
/SYSTEM and either /NOWRITE or /FOREIGN, have you done that?
You can see the connected clients by useing the Infoserver management
command:
Infoserver> show last
This command does not work on my host-based Infoserver.
On the host-based thing you have to do something like (I suppose):
$ LASTCP == "$SYS$SYSTEM:ESS$LASTCP"
$ LASTCP SHOW CLIENTS
See also:
$ HELP @ESS$LASTCPHELP
$ HELP @ESS$INFOSERVER
Another option would be to turn MISER into a cluster (temporarily) and
satellite boot the VAX, but I'd want to take an /IMAGE backup of MISER
first as I don't want to wreck him ... I'd cry if I lost all of my
customizations ... :)
For this purpose you may also want to use a SIMH emulated VAX or create
an
image of the installation CD-ROM volume into another hard disk and
install
the latter into the target machine, then boot from it. :-)
HTH,
G.
On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:32:28 -0500 (EST), you wrote:
%ISL-F-BADOPEN, unable to locate SYSBOOT
?06 HLT INST
PC= 000067C4 PSL= 041F0000
So at this point it eliminates LDDRIVER being part of the problem.
I'm starting to think that either the host-based Infoserver does not support
VAX network installation or the service is somehow not properly configured.
Please, excuse me if I'll write obvious things, but...
The Infoserver help says that the volume to be served has to be mounted
/SYSTEM and either /NOWRITE or /FOREIGN, have you done that?
You can see the connected clients by useing the Infoserver management
command:
Infoserver> show last
This command does not work on my host-based Infoserver.
On the host-based thing you have to do something like (I suppose):
$ LASTCP == "$SYS$SYSTEM:ESS$LASTCP"
$ LASTCP SHOW CLIENTS
See also:
$ HELP @ESS$LASTCPHELP
$ HELP @ESS$INFOSERVER
Another option would be to turn MISER into a cluster (temporarily) and
satellite boot the VAX, but I'd want to take an /IMAGE backup of MISER
first as I don't want to wreck him ... I'd cry if I lost all of my
customizations ... :)
For this purpose you may also want to use a SIMH emulated VAX or create an
image of the installation CD-ROM volume into another hard disk and install
the latter into the target machine, then boot from it. :-)
HTH,
G.
On Mon, 23 Nov 2009, Kari Uusim ki wrote:
Hi Kari, all ...
Here is the latest update:
Removed old broken CDROM from MISER, replaced with a known good one. Mounted VAX distribution in CDROM drive, created Infoserver service pointing to this physical drive.
MOP booted the VAX, looked for this service, tried to select this service ...
Still:
%ISL-F-BADOPEN, unable to locate SYSBOOT
?06 HLT INST
PC= 000067C4 PSL= 041F0000
So at this point it eliminates LDDRIVER being part of the problem.
When you have selected the Infoserver service where you have the distribution, does is show up as a (LAST) connection on the Infoserver?
I do not believe so. After selecting the service (it does find it if you make it look)
InfoServer> show sessions/ALL
VAXVMS073 [ODS-2] _MISER$DKA100:
According to the doc, it should say [1 Connection] to the right of the device name.
Have you checked that the SYSBOOT.EXE is continuous?
It is on the CD - I am guessing this is moot now since I'm now using a physical CD being served by my Alpha.
You can see the connected clients by useing the Infoserver management
command:
Infoserver> show last
This command does not work on my host-based Infoserver.
Another option would be to turn MISER into a cluster (temporarily) and satellite boot the VAX, but I'd want to take an /IMAGE backup of MISER first as I don't want to wreck him ... I'd cry if I lost all of my customizations ... :)
Thanks,
Fred
----
Lets call it for what it is - "legacy" is a term that people use in a
polite but derogatory manner to imply that the future direction they
prefer is not that which they view as the current direction.
Fred wrote:
On Mon, 23 Nov 2009, Kari Uusim ki wrote:
When you have selected the Infoserver service where you have the distribution, does is show up as a (LAST) connection on the Infoserver?
You can see the connected clients by useing the Infoserver management command:
Infoserver> show last
I am not sure how to determine this. When I boot the VAX and give it the ISL boot file, make it look for services, it comes back with something similar to: (the VAX is off and I'm ssh'ed in from somewhere at the moment so this is from memory)
Services on MISER 00-xx-xx-xx-xx <-phy MAC of MISER
# 1 VAXVMS073
Choose:
I choose #1, and then it just sits.
Have you checked that the SYSBOOT.EXE is continuous?
Directory LDA3:[000000.SYS0.SYSEXE]
SYSBOOT.EXE;1 File ID: (935,1,0)
Size: 137/144 Owner: [SYSTEM]
Created: 16-MAR-2001 03:09:12.56
Revised: 2-APR-2001 16:07:46.06 (2)
Expires: <None specified>
Backup: <No backup recorded>
Effective: <None specified>
Recording: <None specified>
Accessed: <None specified>
Attributes: <None specified>
Modified: <None specified>
Linkcount: 1
File organization: Sequential
Shelved state: Online
Caching attribute: Writethrough
File attributes: Allocation: 144, Extend: 0, Global buffer count: 0
No version limit, Contiguous
Record format: Fixed length 512 byte records
Record attributes: None
RMS attributes: None
Journaling enabled: None
File protection: System:RWED, Owner:RWED, Group:RWED, World:
Access Cntrl List: None
Client attributes: None
Total of 1 file, 137/144 blocks.
Fred
Well, I'm not sure if you need to do it in this case, but it doesn't hurt if you do the following on the LD disk
$ mc writeboot
Select to update the VAX bootblock on the LD disk.
If you have already done it, please ignore this.
Regards,
Kari
On Mon, 23 Nov 2009, Kari Uusim ki wrote:
When you have selected the Infoserver service where you have the distribution, does is show up as a (LAST) connection on the Infoserver?
I am not sure how to determine this. When I boot the VAX and give it the ISL boot file, make it look for services, it comes back with something similar to: (the VAX is off and I'm ssh'ed in from somewhere at the moment so this is from memory)
Services on MISER 00-xx-xx-xx-xx <-phy MAC of MISER
# 1 VAXVMS073
Choose:
I choose #1, and then it just sits.
Have you checked that the SYSBOOT.EXE is continuous?
Directory LDA3:[000000.SYS0.SYSEXE]
SYSBOOT.EXE;1 File ID: (935,1,0)
Size: 137/144 Owner: [SYSTEM]
Created: 16-MAR-2001 03:09:12.56
Revised: 2-APR-2001 16:07:46.06 (2)
Expires: <None specified>
Backup: <No backup recorded>
Effective: <None specified>
Recording: <None specified>
Accessed: <None specified>
Attributes: <None specified>
Modified: <None specified>
Linkcount: 1
File organization: Sequential
Shelved state: Online
Caching attribute: Writethrough
File attributes: Allocation: 144, Extend: 0, Global buffer count: 0
No version limit, Contiguous
Record format: Fixed length 512 byte records
Record attributes: None
RMS attributes: None
Journaling enabled: None
File protection: System:RWED, Owner:RWED, Group:RWED, World:
Access Cntrl List: None
Client attributes: None
Total of 1 file, 137/144 blocks.
Fred
On Mon, 23 Nov 2009, gerry77 at mail.com wrote:
Do you have a working CR-ROM drive at least on the Alpha system? Have you
tried serving a real CD-ROM and not a LD device?
I *had* a working CDROM on the Alpha, but for whatever reason it is now broke. :( I have plenty of IDE drives laying around, and that is going to be my project tonight - install a new IDE CDROM, and try to serve the CD from there instead of an LD device.
Just out of my curiosity: does Wireshark dissect the LAD/LAST protocol or
just identifies it (by its Ethertype)?
It just detects the Ethertype. It doesn't claim to know anything other than that ...
If you have another system around (VAX or Alpha doesn't matter), you may
want to try to connect to the Infoserver with the LAD client to ensure that
Chicken and egg: I many two other VAXen around, but they are all in the same situation as my 4000, no OS.
Type something like the following:
[cut]
I tried this *locally* from MISER (which is serving the disk) and it works. Not sure if this is a fair test.
Tonight when I get home after getting finished with $dayjob I'm going to continue banging on this ... I had a nice conversation with Steve Davidson yesterday he's also attempting to get me straightened out. I always find it amazing on (most) mailing lists how quickly help comes when someone needs it!
I'll keep the list posted on my progress.
Fred
On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:03:50 -0500 (EST), you wrote:
The VAX boots to this file fine.( "b /r5:100 eza0" ) If I make it search
for Infoserver services, it finds the 7.3 distribution service that I set
up using LDDRIVER on the Alpha. However, when I try to select it (and
hopefully make it "boot" from it) it just sits there for a long time,
eventually saying:
%ISL-F-BADOPEN, unable to locate SYSBOOT
Do you have a working CR-ROM drive at least on the Alpha system? Have you
tried serving a real CD-ROM and not a LD device?
Running wireshark doesn't reveal much - I see the "DEC LAST" protocol
running on the wire, but that's about it. At this point it *has* to be
something simple.
Just out of my curiosity: does Wireshark dissect the LAD/LAST protocol or
just identifies it (by its Ethertype)?
Would anyone have anything obvious I should be checking? I have a
feeling I'm *this* close ... :)
If you have another system around (VAX or Alpha doesn't matter), you may
want to try to connect to the Infoserver with the LAD client to ensure that
the service is really working and not just appearing on the network.
Type something like the following:
$ @SYS$STARTUP:ESS$STARTUP DISK
$ LADCP = "$SYS$SYSTEM:ESS$LADCP"
$ LADCP BIND <service_name>
$ MOUNT <DAD$service_name> <served_volume_label>
Then try to do some DIR and such, to see if the disk is remotely readable...
HTH,
G.
Hi Fred,
When you have selected the Infoserver service where you have the distribution, does is show up as a (LAST) connection on the Infoserver?
Have you checked that the SYSBOOT.EXE is continuous?
Regards,
Kari
Fred wrote:
Good evening everyone:
This weekend I have been trying to make my VAXStation 4000-90A come to life. It won't boot off the CD (an NEC Multispin 4X, perhaps it doesn't speak 512/2048?) so I took the next route of trying to make it boot of my Alpha's (MISER) host base Infoserver. I copied the ISL_SVAX_073.SYS file off of my 7.3 distribution from Montagar (it was in [sys0.sysexe]) to mom$load and did all the NCP statements to make MISER aware of the new soon-to-be-node, FRUGAL.
The VAX boots to this file fine.( "b /r5:100 eza0" ) If I make it search for Infoserver services, it finds the 7.3 distribution service that I set up using LDDRIVER on the Alpha. However, when I try to select it (and hopefully make it "boot" from it) it just sits there for a long time, eventually saying:
%ISL-F-BADOPEN, unable to locate SYSBOOT
Running wireshark doesn't reveal much - I see the "DEC LAST" protocol running on the wire, but that's about it. At this point it *has* to be something simple.
Would anyone have anything obvious I should be checking? I have a feeling I'm *this* close ... :)
Cheers,
Fred
----
Lets call it for what it is - "legacy" is a term that people use in a
polite but derogatory manner to imply that the future direction they
prefer is not that which they view as the current direction.
.
Fred,
Send me the MAC address of your ethernet adapter (on the VAX). I can
enable remote boot from my end. It will be slower than local, but you
will be able to do whatever you need to the system and its disks. Using
VMS phone I can walk you thru it in pseudo-real-time... :-) I will be
on STARS2::
-Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of Fred
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 21:52
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: RE: [HECnet] Boot VAX from Alpha host Infoserver?
On Sun, 22 Nov 2009, Steve Davidson wrote:
Which model are you using? I may have one here to check.
NEC Multispin 4X model CDR-601 (it's external).
Re: number of drives in the 90A. There's just one at the moment, but I
have a BA3xx shelf that I've been sacrificing drives out of. It's just
a
screwdriver away to get more (it was fully populated).
Re #2: login to MISER. If the above two ideas fail, I'll whip together
an
account for you to look around.
Fred
