topic Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk in Operating System - OpenVMS

Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Art_Hallberg — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:30:06 GMT

For disaster recovery I'd like to build an OpenVMS 8.3 1H1 disk with a small OpenVMS Backup image on it. The image may be location specific or generic capable of running the IP stack and FTP.

Any thoughts on how to build an OpenVMS bootable DVD with an installable image on it.
Trying to create a single DVD remote recovery tool for complete system failures. Thought to start with the Installation DVD and add a directory with a .BCK in it but not getting very far.

Environment is *many* Integrity 2600 series world wide and low bandwidth WAN.

Any assistance or pointers to tools would be appreciated.

Regards,
Art Hallberg
AHallberg@Netstar-Corp.com
+1-248-310-7161

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

tsgdavid — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:11:31 GMT

What would you put in the backup image?

I wonder if you could put a minimal version of VMS on an LDA device using SYS$SYSTEM:I64VMS$PCSI_INSTALL_MIN.COM and then write this to a DVD? I have not tried this. If this works, I would think you could add some customizations before writing to the DVD.

Another possibility would be to create a small system disk and strip off anything that is not necessary and do an image backup to the LDA device. I guess it would have to take up less than about 9180416 blocks in order to fit on a DVD. Again, I have not tried this. I have successfully written to a DVD from an RX2620 on OpenVMS 8.3.

Dave Williams

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

tsgdavid — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:24:46 GMT

I just tried to put a minimal version of VMS on an LDA device and it looks like it failed. The results are below.

...executing @SYS$SYSTEM:I64VMS$PCSI_INSTALL_MIN.COM

This procedure will allow you to install OpenVMS I64 with no options
on a disk other than your regular system disk. You can then boot
from the other disk to backup your system disk.

You must enter the device name for the target disk. Before this
procedure is run, the target disk must be mounted privately to this
process. This means that it must not be mounted with /SYSTEM,
/CLUSTER, /GROUP or /SHARE qualifiers. It also must not be mounted
with the /FOREIGN qualifier. If any of these qualifiers were used
when the disk was mounted, dismount it and re-mount it without them.

(If you need to MOUNT enter Ctrl/Y to exit.)

Enter device name for target disk: (? for choices) lda1

Boot options in the EFI Boot Manager boot option menu can provide a
convenient way to boot your system. The installation procedure can
automatically create a new boot option (if none exists) or validate
existing boot options.

Do you want to create or validate boot options? (Yes/No) [Yes]

Performing product kit validation of signed kits ...
%PCSI-I-CANNOTVAL, cannot validate CCSDI$DKC0:[VMS$COMMON]HP-I64VMS-DWMOTIF_SUPP
ORT-V0803--1.PCSI;1
-PCSI-I-NOTSIGNED, product kit is not signed and therefore has no manifest file

Configuration phase starting ...

You will be asked to choose options, if any, for each selected product and for
any products that may be installed to satisfy software dependency requirements.

Configuring HP I64VMS VMS V8.3: OpenVMS Operating System

COPYRIGHT 1976, 14-JUL-2006

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

* This product does not have any configuration options.

Execution phase starting ...
%PCSI-W-SFTREF, product HP I64VMS VMS V8.3 references product HP I64VMS DWMOTIF_
SUPPORT

The referenced product is not installed and a kit for it was not found
in the source directory.

It is not yet known if this reference is a "hard" or a "soft" dependency.
If the product you are installing identifies the referenced product as a
prerequisite, the PCSI utility will terminate the installation after the
configuration phase, but before the execution phase begins. However, if
the software dependency is expressed as part of a configuration option
of the product, the PCSI utility will mark the option as unselectable
during the configuration phase so that the product can be installed.

The following product will be installed to destination:
HP I64VMS VMS V8.3 DISK$DVD_4600_MB:[VMS$COMMON.]
%PCSI-E-INSVOLSPC, insufficient space on volume DISK$DVD_4600_MB
-PCSI-E-REQVOLSPC, 142664 blocks required; 20 blocks free; -142644 blocks net

Portion done: 0%
%PCSI-E-OPENOUT, error opening DISK$DVD_4600_MB:[VMS$COMMON.][SYS$LDR]SYS$BASE_I
MAGE.EXE; as output
-RMS-F-FUL, device full (insufficient space for allocation)
%PCSI-E-OPFAILED, operation failed
Portion done: 10%...20%...30%...40%...50%
%PCSI-E-OPENOUT, error opening DISK$DVD_4600_MB:[VMS$COMMON.][SYSHLP]HELPLIB.HLB
; as output
-RMS-F-FUL, device full (insufficient space for allocation)
%PCSI-E-OPFAILED, operation failed
Portion done: 60%...70%...80%...90%
%PCSI-E-OPENOUT, error opening DISK$DVD_4600_MB:[VMS$COMMON.][SYSLIB]STARLET.OLB
; as output
-RMS-F-FUL, device full (insufficient space for allocation)
%PCSI-E-OPFAILED, operation failed

This procedure marks certain critical system files with the NOMOVE
attribute. This "anchors" these files to the disk; any attempt to
relocate them using the XQP MOVEFILE function will fail.

Portion done: 100%

The following product has been installed:
HP I64VMS VMS V8.3 Operating System
%SYSGEN-W-SETMIN, value set to minimum for parameter PQL_MWSDEFAULT
%SYSGEN-W-SETMIN, value set to minimum for parameter PQL_MWSQUOTA
%SYSGEN-W-SETMIN, value set to minimum for parameter PQL_MWSEXTENT

efi$bcfg: LDA1 Unknown Device.
efi$bcfg: Unable to execute the Add Option. Status = 3

The Boot Option is called Min VMS on LDA1:;
it is in the Boot Options menu just before the "EFI Shell"
Boot Option and is configured to boot from SYSE.

The installation of minimum OpenVMS I64 is now complete.

Use EFI or the boot option you just created or vaidated (if any)
to boot minimum OpenVMS. If you use EFI remember to set VMS_FLAGS
to E,0 before booting, and to reset VMS_FLAGS to 0,0 (or as
required by your system).

(Some configurations may require a boot option to boot.)

$ sho dev/fu lda1

Disk CCSDI$LDA1:, device type Foreign disk type 1, is online, allocated,
deallocate on dismount, mounted, file-oriented device, shareable.

Error count 0 Operations completed 73073
Owner process "DWILLIAMS" Owner UIC [SYSTEM]
Owner process ID 0000266F Dev Prot S:RWPL,O:RWPL,G:R,W
Reference count 2 Default buffer size 512
Total blocks 9180412 Sectors per track 55
Total cylinders 3035 Tracks per cylinder 55
Logical Volume Size 9180412 Expansion Size Limit 9224192

Volume label "DVD_4600_MB" Relative volume number 0
Cluster size 4 Transaction count 1
Free blocks 2212 Maximum files allowed 918041
Extend quantity 5 Mount count 1
Mount status Process Cache name "_CCSDI$DKC0:XQPCACHE"
Extent cache size 64 Maximum blocks in extent cache 221
File ID cache size 64 Blocks in extent cache 164
Quota cache size 0 Maximum buffers in FCP cache 3434
Min ret. period 10-00:00:00.00 Max ret. period 10-00:00:00.00
Volume owner UIC [1,1] Vol Prot S:RWCD,O:RWCD,G:RWCD,W:RWCD

Volume Status: ODS-2, subject to mount verification, erase on delete, file
high-water marking, write-back caching enabled.

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Art_Hallberg — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:30:00 GMT

The OpenVMS image I want to add is a minimal live OpenVMS with IP configured and FTP client enabled.
Just enough to get a recent backup from an FTP server and restore it.
Its easy enough to create the minimal OpenVMS but I need to get the bootable image from the Installation DVD and the Backup on ONE DVD.
Can't change DVDs once you select the DCL choice from the menu.

Re: "do an image backup to the LDA device"
How do I make the written DVD bootable?

Regards,
Art

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

tsgdavid — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:37:24 GMT

Sorry, Art. I have not tried this. I assumed that if you had a bootable disk and you create an image backup to an LDA device and then write that to a DVD that the DVD would therefore be bootable.

I actually don't know. May be someone else knows that answer.

Dave

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

John Gillings — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:16:53 GMT

Art,

An OpenVMS Integrity boot disk has some oddities to make an ODS disk look enough like something Intel recognises (FAT like) to get it to boot. The mechanism was designed by Hoff. That he hasn't responded already suggests to me that he's on vacation, so if you can't work it out with advice so far, best bet would be to wait for him. On the other hand, you could log a case with HP.

BACKUP knows all about boot disks, for all architectures, so a BACKUP/IMAGE will preserve all the required magic. You should be able to BACKUP/IMAGE a boot disk, to a real disk, or a large enough LD device. Once it's on a read/write device, you can add whatever files or directories you want, and even edit startup procedures to change what happens at boot time. Once you've done your changes, use COPY/RECORD to master your new DVD (another of Hoff's babies)

I've done this with VAX and Alpha bootable CDs, but not (yet) with Itanium DVDs. It's not rocket science.

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

tsgdavid — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:36:09 GMT

Another option that you could consider is to put your saveset on an external USB disk drive. If you know the right commands, you can boot from the DVD drive and restore a saveset from the USB disk. It might be possible to use a flash drive, but the one I tried did not seem to work. Not all flash drives are the same.

I have backed up my RX2620 systems to a saveset on a USB drive and successfully restored the image. I have a 1TB disk that works fine with VMS and can store multiple savesets.

Dave

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Hoff — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:26:31 GMT

Everything you need to know about doing this is here:

http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/28

Pull the PDF, and start reading.

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Hoff — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:31:33 GMT

ps: If you want to implement the full and official El Torito boot path for EFI (and which wasn't strictly necessary, when last I checked the bootstrap), you'll have to specifically process the disk to overlay the ISO-9660 and El Torito volume structures. (I have some tools around that provide that, though they're part of the local services and are not available for download.)

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Art_Hallberg — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:50:08 GMT

Hoff,
Absolutely what I needed.
I don't need anything on the DVD except the current OpenVMS install image with an extra directory with a Backup image in it.

Pulled the .pdf and will be trying to parse the OpenVMS Install DVD and then rebuild it with my .BCK added.

Regards,

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Art_Hallberg — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:54:08 GMT

Dave,
I have restored from USB on Integrity systems in the lab but I am looking for a 1-DVD Solution. Trying to keep a DVD safe in a plant environment is hard enough. Trying to keep a USB disk or thumb drive from walking away is an issue!!

Regards,

topic Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk in Operating System - OpenVMS

Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I *add* files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

topic Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk in Operating System - OpenVMS

Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk

Re: Can I add files to an OpenVMS Installation/bootable DVD disk