Switching Over to New System

[James LaRue]

I am working on getting a copy to be able to run it on the Test Server. That way I can find out if it will work or not.

[Robert Gezelter]

James,

Straight FORTRAN code should not be much of a problem. FORTRAN is one of the easier cases. You do need to identify if any of the code does anything that is highly device dependent (read that as mapped to IO page or anything like that, this is HIGHLY unlikely on a 3100 but could be relevant if any of your systems are based on one of the standard buses and somebody did not use a standard driver, not likely, but it needs to be checked).

There is also a question of which windowing is being used. Most VMS systems for the past twenty years or so have used the X-Windows implementation. Some earlier systems used a DEC only windowing package [VWS, if memory serves).

DEC Windows should not be a problem. VWS is more or a problem.

You are correct, this can be a bit of a challenge to describe "in a couple of paragraphs on the Internet". However, as noted in my presentation (referenced earlier), the difficulty of porting from one hardware architecture to another within the same OS (VMS on VAX -> VMS on IA64) is perhaps an order of magnitude simpler than reimplementation on another hardware platform. In particular, the emulation and clustering capabilities of OpenVMS provide a options not available in the other scenarios. These options are particularly relevant when changing hardware on a system that is mission critical and has service commitments to customers.

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

[comarow]

I would consider the reward. I remember an early conversion the Oracle DBA went from a 6640 to an early Alpha, said it was faster than a pig in ****. He was amazed.

As far as licenses, HP offers generous trade ins, if you take your 4000 licenses, they are enterprise, the delta should not be significant.

Most DCL will work, except for highly specialized stuff.

Most Fortran will recompile, unless you use special features.

You'll get to move to XFC, eXtended File Cache, which will really help I/O. If you can, going to SAN disks versus SCSI is a tremendous improvement. In fact, customers say it is comparable to going from VAX to Alpha.

Alpha of course has more of a future in terms of futures and support. The road map for alpha goes well into the future. An alternative would be to make the jump to Itanium now.

You will need to either re-compile your software or use the VEST utility. Native code is much faster and cleaner. If you have the source code recompiling is the way to go.

If you have any issues, you certainly can call the support center, 1-800-633-3600 and get VAST assistance to insure your transistion. They do a lot of that, and of course have a tremendous support staff behind them.

I've never heard anyone regret going to Alpha.

The only thing faster on VAXes is compiling COBOL code.

Best of luck.

Bob