Rename the Open VMS server

[Narayana S Bhat]

How do I change VMS server name ?

Version: 7.2-1

[Dieter Rossbach]

This depends on the subsystems you are running.

Let us assume you want to change the name but not the decnet-address. You should do this from the system console ...

1.
Changing the basic server name is simple:
$ set def sys$system
-> edit modparams.dat and change
SCSNODE="newname"
then do
@sys$system:autogen ...

(you could do a
mc sysgen
sysgen> set scsnode newname
sysgen> write current

as well ...)

Don't forget to change any assignments of licenses in the license database attached to the system name!

$lic list /full

gives you a list of all licenses on you system. If you find lines like:

include: oldname

chance this license:

lic mod license productname /include=newname

2.
Next step is changing the decnet-adress.

Decnet Phase IV:

$ mc ncp define executor nonde_name "newname"

Decnet/OSI: i would wait until reboot and do a
@sys$manager:net$configure
as this sets the right checksums on the Ncl-Configuration files

3. TCPIP

After roboot: do
@sys$manager:tcpiP$config

option 1 (core)
option 2 (interfaces)

an set the new system name.

4. Look where you mount your disks. The diskname changes, if your system ist set to
ALLOCATION CLASS 0 in SYSGEN. You might have to change your mounting commands.

5. There might be additional stuff like LAT ..

Everybody else: What did I forget?

Dieter

[Åge Rønning]

Change the SYSGEN parameter SCSNODE by edit sys$system:modparams.dat to reflect the change and run sys$update:autogen.com. A reboot is needed for the change to take effect.

Also remember to reconfigure DECnet and TCPIP if used.

[Willem Grooters]

I've done that once, and ran into some issues.

Best you can do: use the 'modparams' path, and run autogen, like specified. This will change the system parameters automatically.

Beware of DECNet. SCSNODE parameter is used in DECNet as it is, so once rebooted, the new name can be used, but how other systems will react...I don't think you need to change the system ID, but you may (will) need to update the Decnet host table(s).
Keep in mind that a DECNet name is limited to 6 characters (with double colon, adds up to the max 8)

For TCPIP, there is no formal link between SCSNODE and the host's name in TCPIP (HOSTfile or DNS), so you can keep it as it is, but in terms of system (and network-) management, it's clearer if there is a clear link.

If your system is in a cluster, and the allocation class didn't change, no changes are required in any procedure or program if you use these. If you don't use allocation class, it _might_, depending what has been specified in there.
Anyway: be prepared for strange behaviour...

There is a rights-identifier connected with the system name. If access to resources depend on that, it might be required to take a look there as well. You may want to actually remove the identifier of the old name (please forgive me, I don't know the name of this identifier by heart, just know it's there. I ran into problems that were caused by this identifier)

If you are running packages that use the nodename, you should take care as well.

[Scott Belviso]

In addition to what all has been said so far you will need to start the que manager with the /new qualifier:

$ start/que/manager/new

This command will wipe out all que information, forms and jobs so make sure you are prepared to resubmit any lost jobs and are able to rebuild all the queues and forms from scratch. At least do the following commands and save the output for future reference:

$ show que/full/all

$ show que/form/full


Scott Belviso

[Thomas Schick]

Hello
Rough, without knowledge and with many workload for your box but can get an idea where other changes could be neccessary;
seek on the system disk for files:
- with old nodename in filename
$dir sys$sysdevice:[000000...]*old-nodname*.* /outp=tmp.tmp
- with old node entries in it
$search sys$sysdevice:[000000...]*.* /exclu=(*.DIR) old-nodename /outp=tmp.tmp

Have a look in both tmp's and decide what and why

[Martin P.J. Zinser]

One more thing to check: Many sites have queue names that contain the nodename (like sys$_batch) and generic queues to distribute the load (e.g sys$batch = sys$node1_batch,sys$node2_batch). If this is the case for you you need to change both the local and generic queues to match the new name.

[Antoniov.]

...
and adding more Martin said, you can find some problem if any command file (.com) use $ format (it's unusual but may be).
Bye
Antoniov