Purge system files in [SYSEXE]

[Barry Alford]

I have multiple versions of these files in [SYSEXE]:

PAGEFILE.SYS;2 139300 3-APR-2000 10:31:44.12
PAGEFILE.SYS;1 532500 4-AUG-1999 13:54:57.46
SWAPFILE.SYS;2 9700 3-APR-2000 10:31:56.82
SWAPFILE.SYS;1 26600 4-AUG-1999 13:54:58.55
SYSDUMP.DMP;2 83649 3-APR-2000 10:31:57.89
SYSDUMP.DMP;1 121294 4-AUG-1999 14:25:12.78

Can I safely purge them?
Can I delete SYSDUMP.DMP;* completely?
Why would these files have multiple versions?

[Barry Alford]

(Sorry, posted in wrong thread!)

[Jan van den Ende]

Barry,

If you look at
$ Sho sys/files
and you see the lower versions there, you CAN NOT.
By default they are not, but there are several ways to get them active.
Else, you can purge.

You can PURGE DUMPFILE.SYS, but deleting is a little more complicated.
If you want that, you must first enable dumping to the pagefile (see system management manual for exact instructions).
Next, you must REMAME the dumpfile, so that it still keeps its blocks allocated, but under another name.
Then --REBOOT-- that node, and ONLY THEN delete the (renamed) file.
-- and you better have a DUMPFILE.SYS of some blocks (last I remember was 60 blocks, IIRC) for saving errorlogbuffers in case of system failure.

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Barry Alford]

$ Sho sys/files
%DCL-W-IVQUAL, unrecognized qualifier - check validity, spelling, and placement
\FILES\

$ sho sys
OpenVMS V8.3 on node ...

[Richard Brodie_1]

Given that the latest versions were created over a decade ago, I would be surprised if they weren't the ones in use. As Jan says, you can do a show memory/files to be sure.

If you run AUTOGEN to tune the system it tends to tinker with the file sizes. If the current pagefile & swapfile sizes are adequate, you can lose the earlier ones.

SYSDUMP.DMP is mapped at boot time; this is to simplify the dump process. The system doesn't hunt around looking for space and creating a file during a crash, just blasts the dump to the blocks it already has mapped. Unless you're really tight on space, best left.

[Barry Alford]

SYSEXE> sh mem /files
System Memory Resources on 25-FEB-2011 12:22:25.48

Paging File Usage (blocks): Free Reservable Total
DISK$ALPHA:[SYS0.SYSEXE]SWAPFILE.SYS
9600 9600 9600
DISK$ALPHA:[SYS0.SYSEXE]PAGEFILE.SYS
106448 -28288 139264

Does not show versions but I could tentatively match the Total size with the blocksizes of the version 2 files...

But, this is where the magic happens!
Repeating the directory listing:

$ dir/siz/dat *.sys;*,*.dmp;*

Directory SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSEXE]

PAGEFILE.SYS;2 139300 3-APR-2000 10:31:44.12
SWAPFILE.SYS;2 9700 3-APR-2000 10:31:56.82
SYS$ERRLOG.DMP;1 34 4-AUG-1999 14:10:06.02
SYSDUMP.DMP;2 83649 3-APR-2000 10:31:57.89

Total of 4 files, 232683 blocks.

...my version 1 files have gone!!!
I swear I did not purge them!

Has the SHOW MEMORY/FILES command done some tidying up???

[tsgdavid]

I am pretty sure that there are NO "SHOW" commands that would delete files on your system.

If the files are gone, someone (or some command procedure or program) must have either purged or deleted those files.

If you rebooted your system, there could be something in your startup procedures that does this (However, you probably have rebooted sometime in the last 10 years and nothing in the startup procedures has changed?)

Dave

[Barry Alford]

I did not believe that SHOW would do that either!

On investigation, someone else had issued a:

$ PURGE [000000...]*.*

in order to gain some disk space on this machine which had filled the system disk (which was why I was searching and discovered these files in the first place).

Well, the Alpha is still running so I guess the answer *in this case* was that it was safe to purge these files.

10 points to anyone who can explain why the version 2 files would have been created (back in the year 2000 when I did not work here!)

[Jan van den Ende · Accepted solution]

Barry,

>>>
explain why the version 2 files would have been created
<<<

Well, certainly one way to achieve that is running AUTOGEN (without explicitly blocking it in MODPARAMS!)

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Richard Brodie_1]

...when it wants to shrink the files it can't easily do that in place, so it makes new, smaller ones. (Other way round is easier).