booting i64vms from dvd

[Paul Whapshott]

I have an itanium system and I need to install VMS 8.3 Integrity.

Can someone please tell me what I need to do to boot from the dvd?

I am stuck. There is vms built on an internal disk and i have set up dqa0 as a boot device using boot_options.com but when I try this it fails.


Regards,

paul

[EdgarZamora_1]

Can you provide more details about what "it fails" means? Do you mean that boot_options.com gives you an error, or are you able to successfully use it but you aren't seeing the option afterwards? Is the dvd drive newly installed or it was there originally (because if it's newly added you probably need to do an EFI reconnect.

Please provide more info.

[Paul Whapshott]

Hi,

I have ran BOOT_OPTIONS.COM on the internal system disk and selected DQA0 (CD DRIVE). I do not select any flags and give it a label of VMS DVD BOOT.
This immediately failes with NOT FOUND message when selecting from EFI menu.

I have never used the DVD so this may need configuring, but if so I would not of expected it to show as an available option in boot_options.com

Regards,

Paul

[EdgarZamora_1]

Paul,

Sorry I have more questions than answers right now.

What class server do you have?

Wasn't there already an existing "Internal Bootable DVD" option in the EFI Boot Manager menu? If not, go to the Removable Media boot option. Another option would be to get to the EFI shell and boot manually (similar to below depending on your hardware, check your list of mapped devices):

shell> fs0:\efi\boot\bootia64.efi

If you aren't able to shut down your system, can you do a DISPLAY (all entries) and a VALIDATE from the BOOT_OPTIONS.COM and post the output here?

[EdgarZamora_1]

Also need to consider a hardware problem... bad dvd media or bad drive (since you stated you never used it before).

[Hoff · Accepted solution]

Ok; the disk structures between magnetic disks and external disks are different. You can't just replicate the distro media from DVD to disk and boot it. (It can be done, but it's not a block-level copy like it used to be on Alpha and VAX.)

Boot Aliases? You do not need that. That's like setting a default boot name in the older consoles; convenient, but not necessary.

EFI
Select the Shell at the menu
Now that you are at the shell prompt. you can enter the target file system now:
fs0:

or you can go directly to the default DVD boot name for OpenVMS I64:

fs0:\efi\boot\BOOTIA64.EFI

disk boots are slightly different here, as the filename and directory for disks is as follows:

fs0:\efi\vms\vms_loader.efi

Once you invoke this image, the DVD will boot.

fs0: is usually the name of the DVD. If you've got more than one DVD in the box, you might have to use a DIR command to explore the disks, looking for the disk with the boot path. (There's not a good mapping between fs file systems and physical disks, and -- for better or worse -- the order of the fs devices can vary as devices or disk partitions are added or removed.)

What has almost certainly happened here is an incorrect internal disk replication. There are several changes involved here, and it would not surprise me that there are differences in however the media has been replicated. First, the disk boot file name is different from the DVD boot file name. Second, the block size is different, and this requires a different set bootblock command. (Disks use 512-byte sectors, DVDs use 2048 byte sectors.)

For details on this stuff (including the set bootblock command, and building bootable disks), read the document referenced here:

http://64.223.189.234/node/28

For minimal boot command intro, see this:

http://64.223.189.234/node/204

Stephen Hoffman
HoffmanLabs LLC

[Robert Brooks_1]

Sanity check -- is the DVD with which you're having problems the actual distribution DVD that HP sent, or is it a copy that was made from the HP DVD?


-- Rob

[Colin Butcher]

Hello Paul,

Use the EFI boot option for "Internal DVD" in the EFI boot list that's presented at power-up / restart. You can also bring it up off the console by finding the correct FS device in EFI shell (probably fs0:), then get to the /efi/boot folder and run the vms_loader.efi script.

Depends what kind of machine it is - but the DVD might be a USB one. Whatever, use the internal DVD boot choice.

You might find this useful: http://www.downloads.xdelta.co.uk/decus%20uk%202005/rx2600%20bare%20metal%20install%2001mar2005%20issue%201%2028feb2005.pdf

You'll probably find some of the stuff at http://www.xdelta.co.uk/seminars useful too - it's a collection of slides sets from various user group type sessions.

Have fun.

Cheers, Colin (http://www.xdelta.co.uk).

[Hoff]

>>> Sanity check -- is the DVD with which you're having problems the actual distribution DVD that HP sent, or is it a copy that was made from the HP DVD? <<<

FWIW, the classic HP DVD distro format is dual-format, with the requisite El Torito records patched onto a classic disk ODS-2/ODS-5 structure. (Using the INITIALIZE /ERROR "disk block reservation mechanism.")

A typical BACKUP /IMAGE from the DVD over to else-disk will drop the El Torito stuff onto the floor, and the remaining structures should be bootable. (Possibly with a few tweaks with a setboot command.)

If you use CDDVD /COPY or such, you'll get a disk image.

The EFI boot filename and directory structure used does differ from DVD to disk. bootia64.efi versus vms_loader.efi.

[Paul Whapshott]

Thankyou very much Gentlemen,

It was indeed Stephen the copy I was using that was taken and I was trying to boot from this.

I swapped this for the "real mccoy" and selected internal dvd boot and hey presto.


So once again thanks very much for all your help.


Best Regards,

Paul