OpenVMS or not?

[ngoht20]

At work, we are connected to a host system that may be using a OpenVMS OS. I just want to confirm this. Because at login, I am familiar with the login screen which is like this below:

Username:
Password:

Last interactive login at Friday, 07:30:01.60

But then after, it takes me to a menu screen similar like this here below:

01-Integrated Screens
02-Security
03-Accounting
04-System Maintenance

And so forth...Is this host really running an OpenVMS operating system even when after logging in it shows a menu option screen like the one above??

My guess that it is because of the familiar logon banner. But I just want to confirm this please.

Thanks.

[Hoff]

Though technically this could be a system spoofing the appearance of OpenVMS, yes, this looks like OpenVMS with a menu system. Specifically, this looks like an OpenVMS system that has been configured to drop a specific logged-in user directly into a (usually CAPTIVE or a RESTRICTED) menu system.

Also consider asking some folks organizationally closer to the particular box than those here in ITRC.

[ngoht20]

Yes your right, it does drop me down to a menu option screen after when I logon from that banner.

So could this be an OpenVMS system? Amd also, if does have a menu system like I use at work, then what was it codes with? COBOL? Fortran?

Thanks

[Hoff]

Yes. This could be -- and probably is -- an OpenVMS system.

Menu systems can be coded with (and most commonly) DCL, and in Perl, PHP, Fortran, Bliss, C, Macro assembler, or most any other language available on OpenVMS. There are full application environments and commercial menu packages, as well.

Most -- but far from all -- menu systems involve CAPTIVE or RESTRICTED DCL command procedures and DCL programming. For details on these, find a copy of the Writing Real Programs in DCL book (that book I wrote) for detailed information. There are details on CAPTIVE and RESTRICTED command procedures and security and menu systems scattered across the User's Guide, the Security Manual, the DCL dictionary and other books. (The book pulls all these details together.)

I'd encourage you to ask whomever is maintaining and managing the box for you for assistance. (Yes, that person could be you. I've certainly had that "here, it's yours!" happen to me, too.) If this system were my box now and assuming I had inherited the box and was now managing it with little information, I'd look around for documentation and related materials I could find, and for a login that bypasses the menu. For whatever information was available.

I might well next schedule some downtime, and crack open the environment for a look and for a complete system BACKUP /IMAGE (complete, offline, everything), as well as to (re)create or (re)enable a direct (non-MENU) login. There are documented ways to break into an OpenVMS system given physical console access, should it comes to that. One such sequence is listed in the OpenVMS FAQ.

If you are looking for them, the OpenVMS manuals are available at: http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/


Stephen Hoffman
HoffmanLabs

[Martin Hughes]

Once you have logged in, hit CTRL-T, do you see something similar to this?

GONDOR::TSG_MKH 10:15:01 (DCL) CPU=00:00:00.36 PF=527 IO=702 MEM=112

If so, then yes, your system is running VMS. Note that if you get no response, this proves nothing, CTRL-T might simply be disabled.

[ngoht20]

I can do a UNAME -A command but like I said, this system does not have any command shell on it except when I log on to that logon banner.

It is most likely a OpenVMS system because the time were it says Last interactive logon are measured in TENTHS or NANO-SECONDS. All I know that most OpenVMS ssytems measure time in this format.

So, like I said, once after I logon from that command logon prompt, it takes me right down to a MENU SCREEN. It is colorful with a purple backround with white fonts but it is still a text-based looking system...

So would this mean that it is running OpenVMS?

[Martin Hughes]

Just to clarify, what I mean is hold down the ctrl key and press T. This is a control key function, not an interpreted command, you don't need command line access.

[Hoff]

The system is likely running OpenVMS.

[Robert Gezelter]

ngoht20,

It is not unusual for regular users on an OpenVMS system to be restricted to a menu-based interaction with the system. This is particular true where the user is only authorized to use a limited set of applications.

The "menu" system could be implemented in any way that is convenient. It could be written in DCL, it could be handcoded in some higher-level language, or it could be one of many packages.

It is often the case in that such accounts have all Control keys (including CNTRL-T) disabled. For security reasons, such accounts are often marked as CAPTIVE in their UAF entry (which among other things, means that if the command file that is automatically invoked ever exits, the user is automatically logged off).

All of the facts that you have mentioned are highly suggestive of an OpenVMS system, but none of the information that you have mentioned completely proves that the system is running OpenVMS. The only sure way is to ask the system owner.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com

[Terry Lykens]

You could also try logging in with the qualifier /nolog after your username. If this isn't a captive account you should get to the command prompt.

-Terry