[Info-vax] PCI-X on VSI OpenVMS

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2016-09-09 16:36:05 +0000, Dirk Munk said:

> Stephen Hoffman wrote:
>> Listing hardware support in QuickSpecs or SPD or whatever VSI calls 
>> that is already an issue.    That's a job for a database, not a 
>> human-generated PDF.   HPE SPOCK, though HPE has seemingly been 
>> fragmenting that configuration support information.   A database 
>> particularly because the hardware support inevitably becomes — and 
>> arguably already is — more complex than what the traditional 
>> QuickSpecs/SPD/whatever can reasonably represent.
> 
> Yes you have a point there. A tool that generates a Quickspec pdf from 
> a database could also be a possibility. I still prefer reading paper 
> versions of such documents.

Certainly a way to export specific hardware configuration.    But a PDF 
listing of all data is unworkable in the extreme.   It's what happens 
with the QuickSpecs/SPD/whatever.    Too many permutations of this or 
that server and this many controllers with this widget and some other 
number with that widget.     VSI will eventually learn this, but they 
have other problems to deal with right now, and they probably haven't 
yet gotten around to really pondering the explosion of hardware and 
firmware and errata — and that much of the the hardware can have the 
shelf life of a fruit fly — that's so common in the x86-64 space.

Better still is a tool that synchronizes the configuration and support 
data across VSI and ISV and end-user devices, so the folks that are 
fond of PDFs can get a local database with data, and export or print or 
manage that themselves, and periodically re-synch that with the 
canonical source.   Past examples of distributed configuration and 
specification data for DEC/Compaq/HP/HPE servers and storage include 
Product Bulletin and Evernote.   This means you can search and sort and 
bookmark, or to annotate documents and configurations on your local 
device.

If this were the current or the next decade, then the configuration 
support and product database and related tools would include a way for 
registered and authorized and authenticated external users to upload 
configuration data and details on what  does or does not work and any 
related errata; distinct and separate and outside of the configurations 
officially supported by VSI.   Working with the community, etc.   
There's also be pricing and availability data and links to technical 
resources, to support and to the VSI online license and support 
purchase portal.   Maybe even generate quotes.   (What other vendors 
are already offering here — particularly to ease and streamline product 
and service purchases, and to integrate support and order status and 
configuration-specific options purchases — is quite impressive.   Far 
beyond what any of us have experienced with OpenVMS and related 
hardware.)

If done "right", this distributed data mechanism is also a very 
valuable product and service marketing channel.  But I digress.

TL;DR: We aren't in the stale-data era anymore.   Modern tools and 
distributed mechanisms are available that address these and other needs 
and requirements.   Learn what is available and learn to use it, or be 
doomed to reimplement the past.




-- 
Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC