All quiet on the [western] front
Nothing new on the Alpha front. Even mail:
PMAS statistics for April
Total messages : 2763 = 100.0 o/o
DNS Blacklisted : 0 = .0 o/o (Files: 0)
Relay attempts : 127 = 4.5 o/o (Files: 30)
Accepted by PMAS : 2636 = 95.4 o/o (Files: 30)
Handled by explicit rule
Rejected : 1606 = 60.9 o/o (processed), 58.1 o/o (all)
Accepted : 152 = 5.7 o/o (processed), 5.5 o/o (all)
Handled by content
Discarded : 284 = 10.7 o/o (processed), 10.2 o/o (all)
Quarantained : 281 = 10.6 o/o (processed), 10.1 o/o (all)
Delivered : 313 = 11.8 o/o (processed), 11.3 o/o (all)
Stopping any PMAS detached processes....
Well, just that the antirelay log of 21-Apr-2023 was 800 blocks in size but apparently, EOF was less than 4 blocks. So it was deleted in the job. I guess it was still o-pen at that time.
Also, today I found that the BIND service wasn’t active. At least, not in $ SHOW SYSTEM but Outlook didn’t find the designated server in the network. $ @SYS$STARTUP:TCPIP$BIND_STARTUP noted the service was active. So starting with $ @SYS$STARTUP:TCPIP$BIND_SHUTDOWN cleared that condition, and after $ @SYS$STARTUP:TCPIP$BIND_STARTUP the server could indeed be found. The fact that the service didn’t response could be the reason that any internet access was slow on any system on the LAN…
“Quiet” doesn’t mean “no new”. Since VSI opened commu8nity access to VMS on X86-64, I requested a community license but since demand seems to be high, it will take some time. If that comes, I’ll need to set up a server to replace (in due time) the Alpha and Itanium systems. I’ll keep them for some time, though, just to have at least one system that works. Currently, it is Diana only, since the RAID controller of Dione is still non-functional: I found out that it is the cache module that broke down and a replacement is still not available. Contacting IslandCo via their gmail address is a problem – since VMS mail has no facility to connect securely (no TLS…) so I have to take another turn: Using either my gmail address, or my ISP mail facility. I still want to switch systems though, so I’ll have to do some more work: Read all mail from Diana, stop the mail front-end (so I won’t get new mail), dump the MySQL database and save it elsewhere, do all maintenance tasks (that is normally done in the maintenance job on the first of each month…), shutdown, move the cache module (of the whole RAID controller) to Dione and start that one; next update the database….
Quite an exercise… So hopefully, the X86-64 license will be received soon, so I can get that system up and running.
Also, on the hardware front, there is news.
As stated last month, the ASUS TUF Mark1 needed to be replaced for the majority of work: Since this at times requires a lot of CPU power, it was anticipated a more recent system would be an advantage. So I purchased an ASUS TUG Gaming Z790Plus motherboard, Intel 13900F processor and 64 Gb of DDR5 memory; installed 2 4Gb hard drives and 2 2Gb M2 boards (still 2 slots open); Used the original 1Gb SSD that was the Windows 10 system disk of my previous machine (even older) and left the 2Gb HDD that was installed in the case. This system was upgraded to Windows 11 and I installed all software I needed. This worked fine, until I removed the Windows.old directory, after which sound din’t work anymore – and there were issues with some other stuff. After re-installing Windows 11 from scratch on one of the M2 boards, and installing all software a second time, it now works as intended.
But I didn;t get rid of the TUF Mar1 board: It is still complete, so I installed it in the original case, including DVD and Blueray drives (that cannot be installed in the LianLi case) and two HDD;s that I had on shelf. This system is to be used as local file- and media server – and will host the VMS X86 installation.