[Info-vax] New installment in The OpenVMS Consultant: Shutdowns using STARTUP.COM

[Chris Townley]

On 28/12/2020 12:15, geze... at rlgsc.com wrote:
> On Monday, December 28, 2020 at 5:10:04 AM UTC-5, Chris Townley wrote:
>> On 27/12/2020 15:30, David Jones wrote:
>>> On Sunday, December 27, 2020 at 9:26:25 AM UTC-5, geze... at rlgsc.com wrote:
>>>> The latest installment of The OpenVMS Consultant has been posted.
>>>>
>>>> OpenVMS STARTUP.COM is far more than a tool for controlling system startup. It can also be used to accomplish a phased Shutdown of a complex environment.
>>>>
>>>> See http://www.rlgsc.com/blog/openvms-consultant/shutdown-using-startup.html
>>>>
>>>
>>> The biggest hazard to an orderly shutdown is that you terminal session goes when the network is shut off, leaving your system in a partially shutdown state.
>>> I changed my shutdown symbol from "@sys$system:shutdown ..." to "$SYSMAN SHUTDOWN NODE /minutes=..." (appending /auto/save as needed).
>>>
>> That is a good idea. I had this problem at work on development VAX and
>> Alpha, where the serial console terminals barely worked, so we had to
>> shutdown etc from terminal sessions (LAT or TCP/IP)
>>
>> Now, at home I will use this on my physical alpha - no need on the
>> virtual ones - they have a console courtesy of Putty
>>
>> Chris
> Chris,
> 
> Quite. Console access is less of an issue on Itanium and x64, where there is always access through the console subsystem.
> 
> An alternative approach on VAX/Alpha is to not shutdown the network service, but shutdown individual services.
> 
> - Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com
> 

I still remember fondly the VAX8530 or 8550 consoles - I believe they 
were repurposed PDPs with their 3 modes of operation.

Chris