I have a running VMS-Machine (AlphaStation200). The system is startet with dka0 (OpenVMS). Now, i will reboot the machine into the ewa0-device (diskless NetBSD) from OpenVMS. But i dont now how. At the moment i shutdown the system manually and on the SRM-console i enter the comands: > boot dka0 (for OpenVMS) or > boot ewa0 (for diskless NetBSD) How can i reboot from dka0: to ewa0: ?
As far as I know, there is no possibility to write console variables from VMS. If it would by possible, you could write the variable BOOTDEF_DEV to setup the next boot.
as Kalle said, there is no 'supported' way of rebooting from a device other than BOOT_DEV, i.e. the last device the system has booted from (typically same as BOOTDEF_DEV).
I've found an unsupported program called DEFAULT_BOOT.C at:
A word of caution regarding the UNSUPPORTED stuff by Steven H. It has crashed a dual CPU DS25. I'm still investigating why. On a single CPU system it seems to work.
Regards, Kris (aka Qkcl)
I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram on a silver-black phantom bike...
feel free to mail me the CLUE file from the crash.
According to the Alpha ARM, some console callback routines must only be invoked from the primary CPU, but GET_ENV and SET_ENV do not seem to be affected by this restriction.
feel free to mail me the CLUE file from the crash.
Unfortunately, shortly after the crash we experienced another one (in DECnet) that has overwritten the one caused by default_boot.
According to the Alpha ARM, some console callback routines must only be invoked from the primary CPU, but GET_ENV and SET_ENV do not seem to be affected by this restriction.
I'm currently adapting the program so it can run on the primary CPU only. Still have to find a window for testing it (do not want to crash that system again in the middle of the day (development system)).
Regards, Kris (aka Qkcl)
I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram on a silver-black phantom bike...
CLUE files won't be overwritten, you'll find the most recent of them in CLUE$COLLECT:CLUE$*.LIS. As the CLUE file is automatically created from the dump during startup, the crash information will only be lost, if there is a crash during startup before the CLUE$SDA detached process created by @SYS$STARTUP:CLUE$STARTUP has completed.
... thanx a lot! But i am not a developer and i dont have a c-compiler. Can any body manipulate and compile the "default_boot.c" for me, so that i can reboot temporarely like the src-command: "boot -fl a ewa0" (this boots my NetBSD-System)? My default-boot-device and flag (dka0: -fl 0,1) must be untouched, so when i power ON the maschine she boots like the src-command: "boot -fl 0,1 dka0:". Thats my problem. On my Sparc-machines its very simple, i can reboot with options, ex. "reboot -- net". A portserver for all 84 Alphas is not a good option.
making modifications to the example program and testing these modifications may be a non-trivial task.
Temporarily changing BOOT_OSFLAGS without affecting the nonvolatile value may be impossible, as this environment variable is both Nonvolatile and Warm nonvolatile (according to the Alpha Architecture Reference Manual).
initial tests have shown, that this could be done:
- re-write BOOT_DEV with 'EWA0' string - reboot
If you need BOOT_OSFLAGS to be set to 'A' for your NetBSD system and you still want your OpenVMS Alpha system to automatically boot into OpenVMS after power-up, you'll have to change your system root from [SYS0] to [SYSA] (just use SET FILE/ENTER).
If you're interested, send me mail (look at my ITRC profile).
