G This document contains answers to many common questions on the OpenVMS F operating system, and covers OpenVMS, and OpenVMS running on Itanium, Alpha, and VAX hardware.
, Revision/Update Information OpenVMS V7.3-1
. Revision/Update Information: Revision Date/June 2002
| @ Contents | 4: Index |
E This is the OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting for the / comp.os.vms and comp.sys.dec usenet newsgroups.
B The OpenVMS FAQ is archived in (at least) the following locations:
? Other internet FAQs are generally available in these locations:
G Please send suggestions for changes or for additions to the FAQ to the FAQ Editor: G Please do not send technical questions to the FAQ Editor. The F FAQ editor is not in a position to answer general questions, B nor to provide support. Rather, please post your questions to the D appropriate newsgroup, or please contact your support organization. ` Please also consider reading Section 1.3 before posting to the newsgroups. : Your understanding in this is greatly appreciated. |
@ Many people have contributed to this FAQ document, directly and E indirectly. In many cases, part or all of an answer has been adapted H from one or more postings from the comp.os.vms or other newsgroup. (The E FAQ editor wishes to thank to all of those folks who post answers to G the newsgroups, and that have contributed to the contents of this FAQ.)
G The following is an incomplete list of the folks that have contributed F directly or indirectly to the contents of the OpenVMS FAQ. Additions, A corrections, and updates to this list of contributors and to the > contents of the FAQ itself are welcome, and all omissions and C misspellings are unintentional. Thanks to each of the contributors G here, and to all of the folks that have participated in the FAQ and in the newsgroups.
D Paul Anderson, Jason Armistead, Zoltan Arpadffy, John AtoZ, Bailey, ? Jeremy Begg, Colin Blake, Ken Blaylock, Bol, Craig Berry, Mark E Berryman, Jim Becker, Verell Boaen, Bol, Richard Brodie, Robert Alan F Byer, Jeff Campbell, Antonio Carlini, Ken Chaney, Cristy, John Croll, D David J. Dachtera, Robert Deininger, Dale Dellutri, Leo Demers, Sue G Denham, Thomas Dickey, Eric Dittman, Jim Dunham, Eric, Glenn Everhart, G Ken Fairfield, Yaacov Fenster, Gunther Froehlin, Harry Garonzik, Derek G Garson, Clair Grant, Hunter Goatley, Ruth Goldenberg, Vance Haemmerle, H Ki Suk Hahn, SHarris, Fletcher Hearns, Phillip Helbig, Stephen Hoffman, F Horn, Jaf, Leif Jansson, Kevin Jenkins, Henry Juengst, inazu_k, Geoff B Kingsmill, Fred Kleinsorge, Felix Kreisel, Veli Korkko, Ruslan R. G Laishev, Norm Lastovica, p_lee, Jerry Leichter, Richard Levitte, Steve F Lionel, Kerry Main, John E. Malmberg, David Mathog, Dale Miller, Dick C Munroe, Patrick Moreau, Morrison, otis, Keith Parris, Plass, pvhp, A David Rabahy, Stan Rabinowitz, Mike Raspuzzi, Steve Reece, Aaron E Sakovich, Brian Schenkenberger, Atlant Schmidt, Wayne Sewell, Steven @ Shamlian, Scott Snadow, Scott Squires, stfp, Dave Sweeney, Mike C Thompson, Arne Vajhøj, Martin Vorländer, Peter Weaver, 2 William Webb, Williams, Paul Winalski, Uwe Zinser.
H Again, thanks to each of these individuals for their assistance and for B their contributions, and particularly for sharing their expertise. 1
H All trademarks, all registered trademarks, and all servicemarks used or C referenced here are the properties of their respective owner(s) or holders.
E The redistribution, reposting and/or the web-serving of complete and D unaltered copies of this FAQ document is permitted. Other uses only with prior permission.
E While the information contained here is believed correct, the use of G any and all information acquired from this document is entirely at the risk of the user(s).
H Though the editor of this FAQ is an employee of Hewlett-Packard Company @ (HP), this posting and the information contained within are not official statements of HP.
B If you have no other OpenVMS URLs bookmarked, you will want to be [ familiar with the URLs listed in Table 1-1:
| URL | #Contents |
|---|---|
| $ http://www.openvms.compaq.com/ | |
| Core OpenVMS Information | |
| H http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/roadmap/openvms_roadmaps.htm | |
| 0 OpenVMS Future Release Contents, Schedules | |
| ( http://www.openvms.compaq.com/doc/. http://www.openvms.compaq.com:8000/4 http://www.openvms.compaq.com/commercial/ | |
| 4 OpenVMS and Core Layered Product Documentation | |
| http://askq.compaq.com/ 1 http://ftp.digital.com.au/pub/ecoinfo/ ; ftp://ftp.service.digital.com/public/vms/vax/... ; ftp://ftp.service.digital.com/public/vms/axp/... | |
| = Core OpenVMS Support Search Engine URLs, FTP Patch Area | |
| - http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/ | |
| The OpenVMS Freeware | |
G There are a huge number of newsgroups available, some of which discuss F topics of interest to folks using OpenVMS operating system. Key among B these are the comp.os.vms newsgroup and the vmsnet.* heirarchy of newsgroups. S 1.2.1 What is the scope of the comp.os.vms newsgroup?
E The comp.os.vms newsgroup is the primary newsgroup for discussion of E the HP OpenVMS operating system and the computer systems on which it E runs. Questions about layered products which run on OpenVMS are also D welcome, though many of them (in particular, language compilers and H database systems) have more specific newsgroups. If a question has some 3 relationship to OpenVMS, it belongs in comp.os.vms. R 1.2.2 What newsgroups carry VMS-related information?
@ The vmsnet.* hierarchy is operated by the Encompass users group H (formerly known as DECUS), and contains various newsgroups of interest, ' including vmsnet.misc and vmsnet.alpha.
F Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Besuchen Sie bitte den newsgroup de.comp.os.vms.
H The comp.sys.dec newsgroup carries general discussions about various HP G computer systems, and specifically systems that were acquired by HP as F part of the acquisition of Compaq, which had previously been acquired F by Compaq as part of the acquisition of Digital Equipment Corporation (DIGITAL).
B Also of interest are resources and conferencing systems including E Encompasserve (formerly known as DECUServe), the OpenVMS.Org forums, # and the Compaq Working Group folks:
E Extensive archives of INFO-VAX mailings and comp.os.vms postings are E archived and available at ftp://crvax.sri.com/info-vax/. Google also F has extensive newsgroup arechives available at http://www.google.com/. 5 1.2.4 What is INFO-VAX?
E INFO-VAX is a mailing list which is bidirectionally gatewayed to the C comp.os.vms newsgroup. This means that postings to comp.os.vms get D automatically sent to INFO-VAX subscribers and messages sent to the 6 INFO-VAX list are automatically posted to comp.os.vms.
F Please remember that propogation delays can and do vary, meaning that H mailings and postings may be delayed or even lost. It is quite possible C that postings may not be delivered for several days, and that some / postings will appear out of the expected order.
a For details on the available archives, please see Section 1.2.3. Y 1.2.4.1 How do I subscribe to or unsubscribe from INFO-VAX?
E The address for subscription requests, as well as notes intended for G the moderator, is Info-VAX-Request@Mvb.Saic.Com. Subscription requests E are handled automatically by a mail server. This mail server ignores F the subject line and processes each line of the message as a command. C The syntax for subscribing and unsubscribing and setting digest or non-digest modes is:
|
" 1 SUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX (ADD is a valid synonym) H UNSUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX (REMOVE, SIGNOFF, and SIGN-OFF are valid synonyms) 6 SET INFO-VAX DIGEST (to receive in Digest format) ? SET INFO-VAX NODIGEST (to receive each message individually) |
G The mail server is not case-sensitive; case is irrelevant. Attempts to = fetch copies of the mailing list are rejected for reasons of F confidentiality. Any message not understood by the mailserver will be 7 forwarded to a human (allegedly) for manual processing. N 1.3 What is etiquette?
F Before posting or emailing a question, please use the available local H resources, such as the OpenVMS manuals, the HELP, and the resources and H information in and referenced by this FAQ. Please use these first. Also D please specifically read the release notes and (if appropriate) the C cover letter for the product you are using. (The release notes are E generally placed in SYS$HELP:.) Quite often, these simple steps will E allow you to quickly find the answer to your own question---and more G quickly than waiting for a response to question posted to a newsgroup, H too. These steps will save you time, and will also help ensure you have F a good reputation with the folks that might be included to answer one E of your future questions, a question not covered in these resources. H Put another way, if you do not want your questions to be ignored in the A future---and please remember that the folks in the newsgroups do ? not have to answer your questions---you won't want to D "annoy the natives" by asking a question that has already E been answered far more times more than you might have realized, or a G question whose answer is readily available had you made a small effort.
8 When posting, please consider the following suggestions:
E Before posting your question to the comp.os.vms newsgroup or sending G your message to the INFO-VAX list, also please take the time to review H available etiquette information, such as that included in the following documents:
G This information will document the etiquette of newsgroups, as well as F providing you with the knowledge the vast amount of newsgroup-related E information that is readily available to you, and where to find it...
= Please do not post security holes or system crashers E Rather, please report these problems directly to HP. Why? So that HP C has a change to resolve and distribute a fix before other customer C sites can be affected. Most folks in the newsgroups are honest and G deserve to know about potential security problems, but a few folks can G and will make nefarious use of this same information. Other sites will B hopefully return the courtesy, and not post information that will G potentially compromise your site and your computer environment. |
A Encompass, the Enterprise Computing Association, is a user group F comprised of information technology professionals that are interested C in the Enterprise-oriented products, services, and technologies of D Compaq and of the former DIGITAL. Encompass offers newsletters, the G Encompass website, and offers various gatherings and related services, 9 including symposia events and local users group meetings.
B Encompass is a descendent of the organization known as DECUS, the ) Digital Equipment Computer Users Society.
G For more information on Encompass, please visit the Encompass web site:
H The organization comprised of customers of Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) A that is probably most analogous to the Encompass organization is Interex:
G Like Encompass, Interex offers various services and events of interest E to folks that presently work with and/or that wish to learn about HP C products and offerings. Please see the Interex website for details. f 1.5 OpenVMS Support, Questions and Comments?
B The following section includes contacts for OpenVMS Feedback, and ; information on how to obtain technical support information. S 1.5.1 Corporate contacts for OpenVMS Business Issues?
G The following folks are the HP corporate contacts for OpenVMS business F issues, listed in descending order from Carlton Fiorina, President of B Hewlett-Packard Company to Mark Gorham, the Vice President of the ! OpenVMS Engineering organization:
A These folks will quite obviously respond best to cogently-worded = OpenVMS corporate-level business issues. These folks are NOT F appropriate contacts for any OpenVMS technical support issues nor for : any OpenVMS technical support requests, nor for any other 3 non-corporate-related, non-business-related issues. Z 1.5.2 Contact for OpenVMS Marketing Issues and Questions?
: Please see Section 3.5. S 1.5.3 Contact URLs for OpenVMS Technical Issues?
@ For technical issues and technical support, please contact your H software support organization, or your local HP Customer Support Center ? or HP Reseller. In North America, you can call 1-800-OK-COMPAQ.
< Please remember to review the following useful support URLs:
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