Month: December 2006

One new server booted

The newly obtained AlphaServer400 has the following hardware configuration:

>>>sho conf
Firmware

SRM Console:    V6.9-4
ARC Console:    4.57
PALcode:        VMS PALcode V5.56-2, OSF PALcode X1.46-2
Serial Rom:     V4.6
Diag Rom:       V1.7

Processor

DECchip ™ 21064A-2   233Mhz 512KB Cache

MEMORY

     160 Meg of System Memory
     Bank 0 = 128 Mbytes(64 MB Per Simm) Starting at 0x0
     Bank 1 = 32 Mbytes(16 MB Per Simm) Starting at 0x8000000
     Bank 2 = No Memory Detected

PCI Bus

     Bus 00  Slot 06: NCR     810 Scsi Controller
                                   pka0.7.0.6.0          SCSI Bus ID 7
                                   dka100.1.0.6.0         RZ28M
                                   dka200.2.0.6.0         RZ26N
                                   dka400.4.0.6.0         RRD45
     Bus 00  Slot 07: Intel SIO 82378
     Bus 00  Slot 11: NCR     810 Scsi Controller
                                   pkb0.7.0.11.0         SCSI Bus ID 7
     Bus 00  Slot 12: NCR     810 Scsi Controller
                                   pkc0.7.0.12.0         SCSI Bus ID 7
     Bus 00  Slot 13: DECchip 21040 Network Controller
                                   ewa0.0.0.13.0         08-00-2B-E7-D6-14

ISA
Slot    Device  Name            Type         Enabled  BaseAddr  IRQ     DMA
0
        0       MOUSE           Embedded        Yes     60      12
        1       KBD               Embedded        Yes     60      1
        2       COM1             Embedded        Yes     3f8     4
        3       COM2             Embedded        Yes     2f8     3
        4       LPT1              Embedded        Yes     3bc     7
        5       FLOPPY          Embedded        Yes     3f0     6       2
 

Good enough.

This machine has been named AS400 when standalone, it will get a different name when booted in the cluster. I installed VMS 8.2 on it and has done a very basic configuration.

Problem getting it into the cluster is that it needs a KZPBA-CY card installed, the box is secured and I don’t have a key number 34… 

It has been set up as a cluster member, so with it’s own system disk, I can load the licences from Diana. That is : I hope.

Configuration

of the terminal server (DECServer90M) finally got on the way: I succeeded to reset it to factory defaults and now I can actually enter the configuration phase. So I could give it a name, set the IP address, and I can use ALL ports on it.

But there still are quite a number of questions left to be answered:

• How do I get the UTP connection to work? SHOW CABLE – as shown in HELP – is not supported, and there is no SET, or DEFINE CABLE command.
• How can I connect to it using the ethernet connection? I could access it with Telnet but the only thing that happens is the prompt “#” and that’s it. There is no echo, no reply…. and that’s onbe thing I like to use it for: Access a system connected to a port. Ny feeling is I need to enable something, or define something on OpenVMS, to read other system’s console (if attached). However, I changed something and now access is denied….

I restarted the server to look what’s on – and that made it possible to telnet again. But there’s no difference (I guess I’ll need no enable remote access over the Ethernet connection. It IS a requirement since THAT is what it will be used for, one day…

I wish I had ALL the manuals!

New hardware

Friday, I collected some new hardware for the cluster: an AlphaServer 400 and an AlphaServer 1000, a number of terminal servers, extra cards (including FDDI what I won’t use), two modems and cableware. An AlpaServer2100 is still to be transported, I could get it in the car by myself, nor would it be a simple task to get it upstairs.

I started with testing the AS400 – using my laptop that doesn’t have a D9 serial interface but I could try it with a USB-RS232 converter. Alas, that didn’t work. But the machine does start properly, it seems.

Next, I tried the AS1000 – but nope. I guess the power supply is not functioning, really NOTHING happens if the p;ower switch is pushed….

Of the terminal servers, there is one DECServer 90L , a model that I already have and that cannot be used directly since it requires the software to be downloaded over the network. And I don’t have it! So using that one is out-of-the-question – for now. The other one with “proper” connectors is a DECServer 90M – and that one has it’s software in flash – and that oen works. However, I tried to reeset it to factory defaults, but it seems not to work tjhat way since the name is still what it is, and ports 1, 2 and 8 cannot be used for some reason. It all works great but after selftest, the network connection is broken. To change this, I need to login and set my session to “privileged”, it asks for a password (fine): but what password??? Too little information on this hardware at the moment…

The OpenVMS forums are now unlocked, so you can access them and post your questions and answers – In DUTCH this thime. But I’m not fully satisfied yet with the look-and-feel.