[Info-vax] OpenVMS in a virtual machine?

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2013-12-08 13:18:15 +0000, Durga Prasad said:

> i have open vms alpha versions
>   SOFTWARE───────────VMS V7.3-2  prod server 1VMS V7.3    prod server 
> 2VMS V7.3-2  prod server 3
> Now if i want to go virtulization what is the benefits i will get?is 
> there hardware need to be added what is the cost?
> after virtulization if i want to boot i  need to both go vmsserver and 
> windows server?
> can you please explain?

OpenVMS Alpha cannot be virtualized.

Virtualization, VMware and Xen, and OpenVMS?  
<http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/640>

OpenVMS Hardware Intro: Hardware Emulation  
<http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/70>

Also read through the years-old newsgroup thread that you've replied to 
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.os.vms/XXr12jKPskE/CIWKHcrP_0sJ>, 
and please try to explain what in that thread you might find confusing. 
  That'll help speed an answer.

If you have questions on the thread or on the above links, please do 
ask.  Again, specifics help.

As for whether you will see any benefits from emulation or from a 
virtualized emulator, that is only something you can answer, and 
probably only after testing to see whether your applications work, and 
whether the emulation has sufficient performance.  Depending on the 
environment and on the dependencies, porting to OpenVMS I64 can have 
good or potentially better results, too.  Trade-offs and applications 
and the local system loading will all differ; there's no 
one-size-fits-all answer here.

Some terms...

Emulation: different computing architectures.  Alpha executables 
running on x86-64 systems require both instruction emulation and system 
simulation; they won't run natively, so you'll need an emulator to run 
the binaries and the operating system.   An emulator requires an 
operating system; either a home-grown operating system that was 
custom-written for the emulator and that provides basic OS-related 
functions, and some emulators are packaged with a generic operating 
system, while others are treated as layered products and are installed 
onto the end-user's own hardware and operating system.   Emulators can 
often be virtualized.

Virtualization: the binary is executing on the same underlying 
architecture as it was built for.   x86-64 binaries running on an 
x86-64 system can run more-or-less directly, and there's no difference 
in the instruction sets.

And entirely FWIW, please don't dredge up an ancient posting.  If you 
do feel oblicated to dredge up an ancient newsgroup posting, then 
please explain why your question is different from what was discussed 
in the previous thread; what you don't understand about what was 
posted.  You've clearly used a search engine, so the least you can do 
to better reach your goal of an answer is explain why the question 
you're asking differs from the answers and the discussion you've 
clearly already found.

If you'd like to read and post to the newsgroups directly, here's a 
site that offers free NNTP news accounts 
<http://www.eternal-september.org>.  Get yourself an NNTP news reader, 
and connect directly to what Google is reposting in their web forums.


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