[Info-vax] VSI OpenVMS Alpha V8.4-2L1 Layered Product Subset Available

Sun Jul 9 19:04:45 EDT 2017

On Sunday, July 9, 2017 at 4:45:53 PM UTC-4, Jan-Erik Soderholm wrote:
> Den 2017-07-09 kl. 14:29, skrev Jan-Erik Soderholm:
> > Den 2017-07-08 kl. 14:03, skrev Jan-Erik Soderholm:
> >> Den 2017-04-26 kl. 23:31, skrev Jan-Erik Soderholm:
> >>> Den 2017-04-26 kl. 17:50, skrev Stephen Hoffman:
> >>>>
> >>>> Haven't seen it posted here yet, and it's not posted on the VSI web 
> >>>> site...
> >>>>
> >>>> VSI have announced the availability of a subset of the layered products 
> >>>> for
> >>>> the VSI OpenVMS Alpha V8.4-2L1 release.
> >>>>
> >>>> The following products are included:
> >>>>
> >>>> ACMS, AvailMan, BASIC, C, C++. COBOL, CXML, DTR, DECdfs, DECforms, DCPS,
> >>>> DECset, DFO, DCE, DQS, Enterprise Directory LDAP, FMS. Fortran, I18N, MRU,
> >>>> Pascal, SSM, T4, TDMS
> >>>>
> >>>> Licensing changes announced, too.   One VSI ALPHA-SYSTEM PAK for OpenVMS,
> >>>> one VSI ALPHA-LP PAK for the layered products.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> Yes, I have been asking VSI for that list. The quote we got in early
> >>> January refered to some "LP list" but it was not included with the
> >>> quote.  Now, I was not worried since I had supplied VSI with a
> >>> list of the used SW on our systems and got an "OK" on that.
> >>>
> >>> We now (today) agreed on to go on the 3-year offer from VSI...
> >>
> >> And last week, finaly, the order was sent to VSI and I have received
> >> the 6 PAKs, one "ALPHA-SYSTEM" and one "ALPHA-LP" for each of the
> >> three systems). Now waiting for the details around the ISO downloads
> >> and planning to have at least our test system upgraded during the
> >> summer holiday. The customer is closed down for the next 4 weeks.
> >>
> >> The delay from April until now is totaly due to internal issues at
> >> our side, it has nothing to do with VSI.
> >>
> >> In the PAK document (sent as PDFs), apart from the traditional table
> >> with PAK details, there is also a "LICENSE REGISTER" command.
> >>
> >> Jan-Erik.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>   (that
> >>> includes the prods above, and the free x86 migration) for our systems.
> >>> It was actually cheaper then the offer from HP (MPS w/o SE) with
> >>> only TCPIP included.
> >>>
> >>> Note also that, besides of the LPs above, other "extras" as Cluster,
> >>> HBVS, multi-process support and so on are also inluded. So, of needed,
> >>> we can replace our single CPU DS20e with dual CPU DS25s, using the
> >>> same PAKs and same cost.
> >>>
> >>> One could always hope that this is a model for the licensing for
> >>> the upcomming x86-64 version, but we'll see...
> >>>
> >>> I'm also taking for granted that the "VSI ALPHA-SYSTEM" PAK also
> >>> includes unlimited interactive users, so no "USER" PAKs.
> >>>
> >>> As soon as the deal on the licence/support package can go through,
> >>> and the availablity/download of the media kit has been sorted out,
> >>> I might come back with some first impressions from our test system.
> >>>
> >>> B.t.w, when you quote a 5-digit support contract, why add a extra
> >>> line with "Media Kit for OpenVMS" at $278 when it is stated that
> >>> it will be an online ISO download? No big deal, but...
> >>>
> >>> Jan-Erik.
> >>>
> >>
> > 
> > ISO files downloaded to our VMS test system. One for the OS and two
> > for the LP1 and LP2 kits. Looks OK. Can be mounted with LD. The OS
> > ISO will be copied to a SAN disk so that it can be booted. Next task...
> > 
> > The download was through a sftp link, b.t.w. Worked just OK.
> > 
> 
> Note (and as the subject of this thread says) that all year it has
> been talks about a 8.4-2L1 Alpha version. More or less a recompile
> of the current 8.4-2L1 for Itanium. I noticed now that what was
> downloaded earlier today was ALpha 8.4-2L2. The cover letter (dated
> June-2017) says:
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> "VMS Software, Inc. (VSI) is pleased to introduce the VSI OpenVMS
> Alpha Performance Release Version 8.4-2L2 operating system (hereafter
> referred to as VSI OpenVMS Alpha Version 8.4-2L2) and associated
> layered products. VSI OpenVMS Alpha V8.4-2L2 (a modified release of
> VSI OpenVMS Alpha V8.4-2L1) has been optimized to take advantage of
> architectural features such as byte and word memory reference instructions,
> and floating-point improvements, which are available only in AlphaServer
> EV6 or later processors. This optimized release improves performance by
> taking advantage of faster hardware-based instructions that were previously
> emulated in software. NOTE: VSI OpenVMS Alpha V8.4-2L2 will not work on,
> and is not supported on, AlphaServer pre-EV6 systems."
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Our boxes uses EV67, so that is fine for us.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> The "8.4-2L2 New Feat and Rel Notes", in section "3.1.4 Considerations When
> Building Software to Run on VSI OpenVMS Alpha Versions", also says:
> 
> "VSI has created two versions of the VSI OpenVMS Alpha operating system.
> 
> • VSI OpenVMS Alpha V8.4-2L1. This is a general purpose VSI OpenVMS Alpha
> release that runs on all supported HPE AlphaServer platforms regardless
> of chip architecture.
> 
> • VSI OpenVMS Alpha V8.4-2L2. This is a rebuild of the VSI OpenVMS Alpha
> operating system with compilers that produce specially tuned instructions
> to take advantage of later features in the Alpha architecture. These can
> provide a performance benefit for some workloads. This release will only
> run on, and is only supported on, EV6 and later HPE AlphaServer systems.
> 
> If you build software to run on VSI releases of OpenVMS for Alpha systems,
> you should carefully choose which version of VSI OpenVMS Alpha to use when
> building your product:
> 
> • If you intend to use the product on any VSI OpenVMS Alpha release and
> all supported target platforms, VSI strongly recommends that you build the
> software on VSI OpenVMS V8.4-2L1. This will ensure that any precompiled
> system code that is included within the images will run on all systems,
> regardless of chip architecture level.
> 
> • If you are building tuned code already and only support EV6 or later
> processors, you may build on either version of the operating system with
> no issues."
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> Still fine for us, but can be useful information for someone else looking
> at the Alpha offer from VSI...
> 
> Regards.
> 
> One question... Are those "compilers that produce specially tuned
> instructions" the same as compiling with the /ARCH=EV6 switch? Or has
> VSI made special versions of the compilers to build VMS itself? Not that
> it matters much or that I need (or expect) an answer, but anyway... :-)
> 
> And a second question... How large parts of VMS has been recompiled
> in this way and is that a reason to run more tests then otherwise?

We did not create special versions of the compilers. We just did a build with C, MACRO, and BLISS using the architecture-specific switches. This was for the entire operating system build, not just selected pieces.