[Info-vax] VSI software

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2020-08-06 10:42:43 +0000, David Goodwin said:

> On Thursday, August 6, 2020 at 3:36:20 PM UTC+12, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
>> I've been assuming that support for Alpha systems with processors prior 
>> to EV6 will be omitted from the upcoming OpenVMS Alpha releases 
>> (V8.4-2L2 requires EV6 or later), but I don't know if that's been 
>> announced by VSI.
> 
> I've been wondering about this. I do have a dual-processor DS20 but the 
> thing is so big, heavy and power hungry (plus IIRC there is something 
> wrong with it) that I just use an AlphaServer 800 instead. But if an 
> EV5 and an x86 can't exist in the same cluster then I guess I'll have 
> to sort out the DS20 and just run it on special occasions.

Here are the the AlphaServer systems supported for V8.4-2L1, the first 
VSI OpenVMS Alpha release:

... AlphaServer DS10, AlphaServer DS15, AlphaServer DS20, AlphaServer 
DS20E, AlphaServer DS25, AlphaServer ES45, and AlphaServer ES47.

Those are all EV6 or later. And that list obviously does not include 
the older EV6 servers, nor the bigger ES-class AlphaServer servers, nor 
the GS-class AlphaServer servers.

Irrespective of support, the only available VSI OpenVMS version that 
can boot Alpha processors prior to EV6 is V8.4-2L1, and that is also an 
upgrade-only OpenVMS release: "VSI supports operating system upgrades 
only; fresh installations are not supported." For V8.4-2L1, you must 
have or upgrade to one of three HPE release configurations, and upgrade 
from that to V8.4-2L1. The three configurations are HPE Version v8.4 
U900, U1000, U1100, or U1200, or HPE Version v8.3, or HPE Version 
v7.3-2.

VSI OpenVMS V8.4-2L2 can be directly installed. And V8.4-2L2 requires 
EV6 or later.

And V8.4-2L2 costs more than V8.4-2L1, too.

If VSI doesn't miss the market with the OpenVMS x86-64 features, 
support, pricing and/or availability, OpenVMS x86-64 is going to 
replace a whole lot of the existing Alpha and Integrity servers, too. 
Probably fairly quickly, within the usual OpenVMS porting timescales.

What OpenVMS V9.2 may require for upgrades and for rolling upgrades and 
for cluster compatibility, we shall learn. That written, VSI was 
discussing the expectation of a cluster compatibility kit for mixed 
clusters with OpenVMS x86-64 servers at Boot Camp, and that kit was 
only going to be available for VSI OpenVMS releases. Not for the HPE 
OpenVMS releases. Which was part of what Phillip was asking about, with 
cluster compatibility and rolling upgrades.

TL;DR: if you want to use VSI OpenVMS Alpha configurations, you'll 
probably need to acquire and use a mid-vintage or newer EV6 server or 
later, if you don't already have that hardware. This if you're not 
going to wait and go directly to OpenVMS x86-64, and then retire the 
older Alpha and Integrity Itanium servers.



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