9 Dec
2021
9 Dec
'21
1 a.m.
On Thu, Dec 9, 2021 at 10:25 AM Mark J. Blair <nf6x at nf6x.net> wrote:
I'm trying to find the oldest VAX/VMS version
which:
* Supports DECnet Phase IV over ethernet
* Supports the VAX-11/730
* I can get my hands on images of the OS installation and anything
(licenses?) needed for DECnet Phase IV
[snip]
I have not found any scans of the DECnet-VAX Software
Installation Guide
or the DECnet-VAX System Manager's Guide yet, and I don't know what needs
to be done to install and/or configure DECnet in such an old VMS version. I
see that stuff related to DECnet is present after installation, such as
STARTNET.COM and NCP.EXE, but DECnet-VAX is referred to as an optional
component which must be licensed separately. I gather from discussions
elsewhere that there may be at least one critical file missing that serves
as the "license" for DECnet-VAX?
The VAX/VMS DECnet license "key" for old versions (V4.7 and prior) came in
the form of a saveset (on a TK50 or magtap) that you installed. It did a
binary patch on the NETACP.EXE image to enable things. There are separate
versions for routing and end-node configurations.
The thing that bothers me running old versions of VAX/VMS is the lack of
Y2K updates. You will probably need to boot with a date last century
(subtract 28 years to get matching calendar days) to avoid some gotchas.
For VAX/VMS V3.0 there may have been some mandatory upgrade patches too.
I have the VAX/VMS V4.7 mandatory patches and DECnet "key" for a routing
node should you need them.
Tony