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HP OpenVMS Systems Documentation

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The OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


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2.6.1 Where can I download OpenVMS and Layered Product Kits?



?HP customers with commercial licenses and support contracts canAdownload software product distribution kits from the following HPwebsite:



DYou can also find pointers to the Software Rollout Report and to the/OpenVMS SPD listings via the above SQP website.

AInformation on obtaining and transfering licenses is available inSection 2.6 and Section 2.8.4, while information on the OpenVMS<Hobbyist licensing program and on obtaining hobbyist productZdistribution kits is in Section 2.8.1.^

2.7 In what language is OpenVMS written?



2OpenVMS is written in a wide variety of languages.

GIn no particular order, OpenVMS components are implemented using Bliss,@Macro, Ada, PLI, VAX and DEC C, Fortran, UIL, VAX and Alpha SDL,GPascal, MDL, DEC C++, DCL, Message, and Document. And this is certainlyGnot a complete list. However, the rumor is NOT true that an attempt wasGmade to write pieces of OpenVMS in every supported language so that theERun-Time Libraries could not be unbundled. (APL, BASIC, COBOL and RPG0are just some of the languages NOT represented!)

AThere are a large variety of small and not-so-small tools and DCLDcommand procedures that are used as part of the OpenVMS build, and a@source code control system capable of maintaining over a hundredDthousand source files across multiple parallel development projects,and overlapping releases.l

2.8 Obtaining and Transfering OpenVMS licenses?



@The following sections describe hobbyist and educational licenseFprograms, as well as information on commercial licenses and transfers.

DFor information on the available commercial OpenVMS licenses and forvinformation on license transfers, please see Section 2.8.4. OpenVMS|Hobbyist licenses are discussed in Section 2.8.1. For information on theDlicensing implementation, troubleshooting licensing problems, on theBLicense Unit Requirements Table (LURT), and other related details,zplease see Section 5.39. For configuring and troubleshooting LMF, seeBSection 12.4.Q

2.8.1 Questions asked by Hobbyist OpenVMS licensees?



BIf you are a member of an HP-recognized user group (eg: Encompass,EEnterex, DECUS), and are considering acquiring and using a VAX, Alpha@or (soon) IA-64 system for hobbyist (non-commercial) use, (free)Blicense product authorization keys (PAKs) for OpenVMS VAX, OpenVMSHAlpha, and (reportedly) OpenVMS I64, and layered products are available.

CIn addition to the license keys, OpenVMS VAX and Alpha distributionFCD-ROM distribution kits are available with OpenVMS, DECwindows Motif,ADECnet and TCP/IP networking, compilers, and a variety of layeredGproducts. (A hobbyist distribution for OpenVMS I64 is expected.) (WhileCthe hobbyist CD-ROM distributions are intended for and tailored for@OpenVMS Hobbyists, the contents and capabilities of the HobbyistFinstallation kits included within the OpenVMS Hobbyist distribution do@not differ from the standard distribution installation kits. TheFproducts are chosen to reflect the most popular products and the spaceavailable on the media.)

?If you have questions on what else is authorized by the licenseCagreement and on what other distribution media is available to you,?well, please read the applicable software license agreement(s).

(For further information, please link to:



FOn the OpenVMS Hobbyist license registration form at the above websiteD(as of August 2005), you are offered the choice of the "OpenVMSGVAX" license(s), the "OpenVMS Alpha" license(s), and theB"Layered Products" licenses. You will want the operatingDsystem license for your particular OpenVMS platform and youEwill want the "Layered Products" licenses. You will want to8select and to acquire two sets of license PAKs.

EFor vendors wishing to license products specifically for hobbyist useE(and to not issue hobbyist PAKs), the program provides hobbyists with!the license PAK OPENVMS-HOBBYIST.

>If you plan to use a hardware emulator (eg: VAX emulator) on aFMicrosoft Windows platform, make sure you have an OpenVMS distributionDkit that can be installed and/or booted with the particular emulatorApackage you plan to use. For additional information on emulators,nplease see Section 13.12 and particularly please see theemulator-related documentation.R

2.8.1.1 Vendors offering Hobbyist Licenses



Hobbyist license product additions, and any updates for products already listed here are welcome. Please contact the FAQ Editor J

2.8.2 OpenVMS Educational and CSLG licenses?



EFor information on OpenVMS licenses for educational customers, pleaseGsee the HP Campus Software License Grant (CSLG) license program and the$OpenVMS Educational license program:

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2.8.3 What developer and partner licensing programs are available?



DCommercial software developers can join the HP DSPP program, and canD(potentially) receive discounts on various software product licenses=and software distributions, as well as on hardware purchases.



GThe DSPP program is the descendent of the DIGITAL ISVN and DIGITAL ASAPDprograms and the Compaq CSA program, and the analogous developer andpartner programs at HP.

wPlease see Section 2.15 for additional details on the DSPP program.

@For information on the OpenbVMS Hobbyist and OpenVMS Educational_license programs, please see Section 2.8.1.Q

2.8.4 How do I obtain or transfer an OpenVMS license?



FTo transfer a commercial OpenVMS license from one owner to another, orFto purchase a commercial license, you can contact HP at regional salesoffice or reseller.

;For information on the hobbyist license program, please seeBSection 2.8.1.i

2.9 Does OpenVMS support the Euro currency symbol?



BOpenVMS can generate the %xA4 character code used for theDEuro, and the DECwindows DECterm can display the glyph. Please checkDwith the vendor of your terminal or terminal emulator for additionaldetails.}

2.10 OpenVMS Ports? Itanium? Ports to IA-32, EM64T or AMD64 systems?



DOpenVMS has been ported to and is operational on four architectures:CVAX, Alpha, IA-64, and IA-32. The first three have available nativeCports of OpenVMS, the fourth is available via emulation. VAX is theColdest architecture, and limited to 32-bit virtual and up to 34-bitFphysical addressing. The Alpha and IA-64 architectures are both 64-bitFarchitectures, with 64-bit virtual addressing available. The availableGIA-32 emulation is provided for the OpenVMS VAX and other VAX operating>systems, and provides a 32-bit VAX environment. For additionalminformation on the emulation, please see Section 13.12.

AAs for (the lack of) a native port for IA-32, OpenVMS EngineeringCpresently and continues to believe that there would be insufficientEmarket (read: profit, customer interest) to justify the cost involved<in a native port of OpenVMS to systems using the Intel IA-32Farchitecture. In addition to the direct costs involved in any port andGin addition to the substantial effort involved in moving backwards fromEa 64-bit environment on Alpha and on IA-64 to a 32-bit platform (suchEas IA-32), and the exceedingly non-trivial device qualification costsEand the costs in moving backwards into older PCI and I/O environmentsC(IA-32 systems more than a few years old have equivalently aged I/OCsupport and buses), each organization and each person maintaining a?product or a package for OpenVMS will have to justify a port toE"OpenVMS IA-32", "OpenVMS EM64T" or "OpenVMSGAMD64", akin to the decisions and the effort involved in porting aFproduct from OpenVMS VAX to OpenVMS Alpha, or the port to OpenVMS I64.

GPlatform ports of many of the various products can be easy, and many of?the ports of applications using documented OpenVMS features areEexpected to require little more than a source rebuild. Other productsDcan and do depend on platform-specific or undocumented features, and?the associated ports can be more involved. Regardless, ports of;operating systems are very large and involved projects. TheFprerequisite product requirements for an OpenVMS operating system portEare also non-trivial, as well---compilers in particular are obviouslyGrequired, and the suite of compilers provided must maintain a very highFdegree of source-level compatibility across the platforms. In the caseof the HP IntegrityF port, OpenVMS I64 V8.0 used cross-compilers and cross-tools operatingC on OpenVMS Alpha systems, while V8.2 and later have various native compilers available.

CThe OpenVMS I64 port was centrally built using the existing OpenVMS@Alpha environment and around the work and the knowledge from the>OpenVMS Alpha port, and OpenVMS Engineering fully expects thatBcustomers and ISVs will use and will continue to use OpenVMS Alpha>systems to assist with their own ports to OpenVMS I64. OpenVMSCEngineering fully expects to see customers using mixed-architecture0clusters and fully shared file systems, as well.

DOpenVMS Engineering is well aware of the AMD AMD64 (64-bit) platform@and processors. (At least one of the available VAX emulators canEreportedly utilize parts of the AMD64 instruction set, please contactFthe VAX emulator vendor(s) or maintainer(s) for assistance and detailsGon their products.) OpenVMS Engineering is also well aware of the IntelEM64T platform and processors.FThere are no plans to provide a native port of HP OpenVMS forAany systems based on the AMD AMD64 nor Intel EM64T architectures.

EAs part of the work leading to the Itanium port, senior engineers hadBextensively evaluated the products and the architectures availableGacross the high-end 64-bit computing space, and chose to target ItaniumCfor 64-bit environments---this while under the Compaq organization.BThis included looking at IA-32. HP (a co-developer of Itanium withEIntel) had seperately chosen to target Intel Itanium for its high-endFcomputer products. Compaq then announced plans for the future of AlphaGthrough EV7-series products and platforms, and HP (entirely seperately)announced plans for PA-RISC? products and platforms. The Itanium target has been maintainedE consistently since the Itanium port was announced by Compaq, and hasE also been consistently maintained by HP and by the combined company.aB For those folks prefering to follow the schedules and the productH deliveries, OpenVMS Engineering had OpenVMS I64 V8.0 ready (internally)H ahead of schedule---and with more features available within the releaseF than had been originally planned for the release. (For information onE and for schedules of future OpenVMS releases, please see the roadmap+ that is available at the OpenVMS website.)p

oDOpenVMS I64 itself does not require and does not plan to utilize theEItanium IA-32 32-bit environment for the operation of OpenVMS itself.E@OpenVMS I64 V8.0 and later run natively on the Itanium processorEfamily, with no use of IA-32 instructions. While OpenVMS can and doesFsupport 32-bit OpenVMS applications and addressing on Itanium, this isDdone with sign-extension addressing techniques entirely analogous toDwhat was done with 32-bit applications operating in the 64-bit AlphaGenvironment. Both OpenVMS 32-bit and 64-bit applications operate withineGthe native Itanium instruction set and run-time environment, and do notc"use the Itanium IA-32 environment.

vFBut yes, a native IA-32 port or a native AMD AMD64 or Intel EM64T portGof OpenVMS would certainly be nice to have---this, of course, followingbFthe traditional Linux preference for having a Linux port available forGmost (all?) computer architectures known, and even for certain high-endaDrefrigerators and toasters, and similar appliance-like devices. (TheGdownside of this all-encompassing approach: this requires near-infinitelDengineering and support costs from the various vendors involved, andGthe qualification efforts and costs of most everything---everywhere. Or2Dreduced or eliminated testing and support efforts. Or an unfortunate@combination of these two. These costs are huge, and the benefitsGderived from the work are comparatively small when given the comparableDcosts of more targeted (and thus supported and supportable) hardware?configurations---the platform targets are and must be carefullylBselected and considered by each vendor. Put another way, there areDno plans to provide a native port of HP OpenVMS for systemsGbased on Intel IA-32 processors, nor for systems based on AMD AMD64 nore)Intel EM64T architectures and processors.a

gDAll this material having been written, have you looked at the systemFconfigurations and pricing of the available HP Integrity Intel Itaniumsystems?C Low-end computer hardware is clearly a commodity product, and thesI systems are priced, serviced, upgraded, and replaced accordingly. IntelaC Itanium is a commodity microprocessor presently used in platformsrI available from various hardware vendors, including (obviously) from HP.tF Further, Itanium is a microprocessor available from and supported by@ Intel, a semiconductor vendor known for exceedingly high-volume@ microprocessor fabrication process and production capabilities.

hEFor information on supported platforms and processors, please see theh.OpenVMS Software Product Description (SPD) at:

l

tlPlease see Section 14.4.5 for Intel Itanium terminology.m

2.11 Are there any network-accessible OpenVMS systems?

o

2Yes, though various restrictions can and do apply.

  • Hobbes
    EHobbes is a MicroVAX 3100 Model 40 for which free access and accounts Dare available to OpenVMS enthusiasts. This system has BASIC, Pascal,CFortran, and C compilers installed. If you would like an account onaHobbes, please see the FAQ ats .
  • OpenVMS Galaxy Test-Drivei
    DHP currently offers an OpenVMS Galaxy Test-Drive system, based on anBAlphaServer 4100 series configured as two instances of the OpenVMS,operating system. For details, please visit: 9
  • HP DSPP Test-Drive
    FThe HP DSPP program offers various test-drive systems, including an HPGIntegrity Itanium development system and an HP OpenVMS I64 installation>on an HP Integrity rx2600 server. (The DSPP program can offersCdiscount, LMF PAKGEN PAK generation support, and other benefits formBdevelopers.) For details on the DSPP program and on the test-driversystems, please see section Section 2.8.3 and please visit: iH
    The test-drive systems do require registration, though access to the systems is free.
  • Encompasserved
    9Encompasserve offers free access an OpenVMS Alpha system.f o
  • OpenECSn
    =OpenECS offers free access to a VAX 6000 model 530 system. Ifsinterested, please visit:o s
  • The Deathrow Cluster
    FThe maintainers of the Deathrow Cluster offer access to an OpenVMS VAX5and an OpenVMS Alpha system, configured in a cluster.r =+
  • The Preatorian Public OpenVMS Clusterg
    BThe maintainers of the Deathrow Cluster offer access to an OpenVMS7Alpha cluster. Details are at the website listed below:a 
a^

2.12 What version of OpenVMS do I need?



lGFor information on supported platforms, please see the OpenVMS Softwaret?Product Description (SPD) for the particular OpenVMS version ofe interest.n

"

GFor a table of the minimum and (as applicable) maximum OpenVMS versions8Erequired for various platforms, please see the hardware support charttCat HP OpenVMS website and (as available) the following (potentiallyivolatile; intra-website) link:

m

uGFor information on the Multia, related Alpha single-board computers, orcxother officially unsupported systems, please see Section 14.4.1 andGSection 14.4.2.1.h

wFThe following is a rule-of-thumb for Alpha platform support. The tablexTable 2-5 contains the earliest OpenVMS Alpha release with support5for a particular series of Alpha microprocessors:

"i h " 4 * + d < h b m l c b h s a = o c m r / t   u a t 8 n l r t r  n x  o  <  i
Table 2-5 OpenVMS Alpha Version Rule-Of-Thumb
Generic Microprocessor Generation OpenVMS Version General Comments
EV4/ 21064w V1.0 < few systems; most EV4 require later; upgrade available
EV5> 21164R V6.2 " subsequent upgrade available
EV56 21164A  V6.2-1H3 * subsequent upgrade to V7.1 and later
EV6h 21264" V7.1-2 5 subsequent upgrade typically to V7.2-1 or latern
EV67 21264A V7.1-2 5 subsequent upgrade typically to V7.2-1 or later"
EV68  21264B, C and Dv V7.2-1 = believed/probable; currently an unconfirmed expectation>
GSpecific hardware present and various system configurations can require vOpenVMS Alpha releases later than those referenced in Table 2-5.^

2.13 How can I submit OpenVMS Freeware?



h=For the guidelines and submission info, please visit the URL:d

a

nGTo order the current OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM kit (shipping and handlingq7charges apply), please request part number QA-6KZAA-H8.o\

2.14 Porting applications to OpenVMS?



sCPorting can range from simple to rather complex, and depends on them'features used on the original platform.n

BThis section covers generic porting, and porting among OpenVMS VAXCOpenVMS Alpha, and OpenVMS I64. (Porting among OpenVMS VAX, OpenVMSoDAlpha and OpenVMS I64 is often quite simple and involves little moreEthan rebuilding from source, though a few applications using featuresrFspecific to the platform or the architecture, or using undocumented orBunsupported interfaces can and likely will require some additionaleffort to port.)

r@Several manuals on porting from OpenVMS VAX to OpenVMS Alpha areDavailable in the OpenVMS documentation set, including information onEporting VAX Macro32 assembler code to the Macro32 compiler on OpenVMSiCAlpha, on management differences, on upgrading privileged code, andeapplication migration:

x

>>Documentation on porting to OpenVMS I64 is available, as well.

h:Details on the C programming environment are available at:

a

n6Details on porting VAX C to HP C are are available at:

b

e+An OpenVMS Porting Library is available at:e

r

AInformation on the Enterprise Toolkit, a Visual-based development(Eenvironment for developing applications for OpenVMS using a Microsofttplatform, is available at:

4

v>Details on DCE, CORBA, BridgeWorks, and COM/DCOM middleware is available at:e

q

t1Information on the COE standards is available at: 

1

>BA wide variety of programming development tools and middleware are;available as commercial products (eg: DECset, IBM WebSphere@MQ---formerly MQseries), and various tools are also available asDshareware or as Freeware. Please see other sections of this FAQ, and please see:p

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