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

[Craig A. Berry]

On 12/30/20 5:39 PM, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:
> Den 2020-12-30 kl. 20:27, skrev Stephen Hoffman:
> 
>> OpenVMS can't reliably shut down using default tooling...
> 
> Sure it can. It is just a 10 lines a DCL script needed.

If that.  I have routinely shut down multiple different VMS systems over
a period of years from IP-connected terminal sessions using both
SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN.COM and MCR SYSMAN SHUTDOWN NODE. The only time I
have ever seen a problem with doing so was when I forgot what I was
doing and logged out of the terminal session immediately after
initiating the shutdown.  Otherwise the shutdown (and, if requested,
restart or power off) sequence seems to know what it needs to do to
complete.

Now, maybe I am a blind person who routinely steps off the curb into the
street and have just never happened to do so when there was a car
coming. Or maybe the state of the VMS shutdown code is not quite as
derelict as many believe it to be based on decades-old memories of what
used to happen.