[Info-vax] Time to turn DECUServe into a mixed VMScluster?

[Simon Clubley]

On 2023-05-31, MG <em_geeNO at SPAMxs4all.nl> wrote:
> As an almost daily user of the EISNER:: node of DECUServe,
> I began to wonder: Couldn't DECUServe serve as a cost-
> effective method for VSI to demonstrate both OpenVMS for
> x86-64 and its cross-architecture clustering capabilities
> to a wider audience?  Since VSI operates this physical
> hardware and adding a modestly configured x86-64 virtual
> machine would probably not add too much to the existing
> operating and maintenance costs of DECUServe.
>
> It could thereby also save a lot of potentially interested
> users the time and effort of having to apply for a suitable
> evaluation license and having to prepare, install and
> configure a (virtual) system, especially those who are
> entirely new and unfamiliar to OpenVMS and simply wish to
> have an end-user experience.
>
> It's been long since a capable public access VMScluster
> system has been available (especially since "Deathrow"
> shut down, already quite some years ago).
>
> I realize that I could have posted this in the DEC Notes
> of EISNER, but it doesn't appear to be very actively used
> these days.
>

I suspect that a lot more people read Notes than post to it,
so I suspect your message would have been read by a lot more people
than it would first appear.

BTW, I also suspect there are a lot more people _reading_ comp.os.vms
than posting to it.

As for your proposal, I think it's a good idea. There would have to
be some restrictions (for example, no security research on what would
be a public server[*] unless VSI explicitly authorise this and researchers
stay within the constraints imposed in advance by VSI), but it would be
a really good way of allowing people to easily try out the x86-64 versions
of the layered products.

[*] When doing security research, it's really the kind of thing that
should be done on your own equipment running your own operating system
instances when possible.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.