Booting from CD

[Andrij CAde]

I have an Alpha running OpenVMS that ran out of memory. It is asking to free up 210 blocks. How DO I boot to the operating CD to get the system to a prompt so I can purge log files?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Steven Schweda]

It's so bad that you can't log in as SYSTEM
and do it the easy way?

> It is asking [...]

Who is asking when?

At the SRM console (">>>") prompt, try SHOW
DEVICE, and see if you can spot the CD-ROM
drive. ("[A]n Alpha" is not very specific.)
Then "BOOT DKA400", or whatever the CD-ROM
drive device name seems to be.

[Heinz W Genhart · Accepted solution]

Hi Andrij

First of all, welcome to the ITRC OpenVMS Forum

I think, your machine did not run ot of memory, but the Systemdisk may be full.
If the system is stil running, then you should be able to delete logfiles on the systemdisk. There are several possibilities, depending on how much you need the Logfiles.

If you know exactly which file you want to delete then do it by

$ delete sys$sysdevice:[directory.subdirectory]file.log;*

You could also use Purge, to delete older Versions of Logfiles.

$ PURGE SYS$SYSDEVICE:[000000...]*.log

If you need the older Versions of the logfiles, you could also move them to another disk

$ BACKUP/DELETE sys$sysdevice:[000000...]*.log/Excl=*.log;0 new_device:[directory]logfiles.bck/sav

Sometimes its a File like OPERATOR.LOG which fills up the systemdisk. Then you should first get some free space on the systemdisk and then you should see what's filling up the Operator logfile. (REPL/ENABLE to see the new messages), (REPL/LOG to crreate a new Version of operator.log, but this needs free space on the systemdisk)

To answer your original question:

In Console Mode do a SHOW DEVICE and identify your CD-ROM
Then boot the CD for examples with

b 'cd-rom'

Finnaly you will see a menu on your screen and there is the possibility to 'execute a DCL command'. If you select 'execute a DCL Command' then you will get the $ prompt and you can delete unwanted logfiles.

hope that gives some input to you

regards
geni

[Andrij CAde]

I can't even get to the >>> prompt. IT just get stuck in the blue screen during boot up with the errors:

Message from user SYSTEM on DEP100
QMAN-I-NODISKSPACE, Disc space not available for qeue manager to continue.

Message from user SYSTEM on DEP100
QMAN-E-FREEDISK, Free up 210 blocks on disk _DEP100$DKA0

[Jan van den Ende]

Andrij,


Let me join Geni in wlcoming you.

Geni gave a pretty complete advise.

Just one thing to add
>>>
Finnaly you will see a menu on your screen and there is the possibility to 'execute a DCL command'. If you select 'execute a DCL Command' then you will get the $ prompt and you can delete unwanted logfiles.
<<<

After you go into "Execute DCL" mode, _NO_ devices ae mounted yet.
You will need to identify your system disk, and mount it, before you can access it.

Also, now it is the CD-rom that acts as your system disk, so, you will need to address your normal system disk through its hardware name.

hth

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Andrij CAde]

I thank all of you for the info. One last item. How do I get to Console Mode so I can access the CD?

[Heinz W Genhart]

Hi Andrij

press ctrl

on the console or press the restart button. If your systems auto_action is boot, then you need to press ctrl

after the console has initialized until you get the >>> prompt

regards

Geni

[Andrij CAde]

Thank you all for the very useful info. Just as a continuation. Once I boot to the CD. I then need to mount the hard drive correct. I know that is it dka0. But where do I find the label? What would be the correct syntax to mount the drive?

Thank you

[Volker Halle]

MOUNT/OVER=ID DKA0:

Volker.

[The Brit]

Just a couple of things. The "QMAN" messages you are getting indicate that the system is still up. You might be able to log in to an account which has a root directory which is NOT on the system disk. You could then 'purge' the system disk as described above.

The second point is that if DKA0 is a member of a shadowset, then Volker's command will be insufficient since the drive will be "write-locked" when it mounts. You will need to

$ mount/over=(ID,shad) DKA0:

Using a different approach, it seems to me that you should be able to boot "MIN" and purge the drive. This would avoid any issues related to modifying a shadow set unit.

Dave.

[Andrij CAde]

How do you boot "MIN" ?

[Volker Halle]

Andrij,

>>> show boot_osflags

will give r,n

>>> B r,1
SYSBOOT> set startup_p1 "MIN"
SYSBOOT> C

login and purge the system disk

To reset the system for a full boot:

$ MC SYSGEN
SYSGEN> USE CURRENT
SYSGEN> SET STARTUP_P1 ""
SYSGEN> WRITE CURRENT
SYSGEN> exit

Reboot

Volker.

[Hoff]

You don't need to use the CD to free up disk storage space on the system disk. (That approach does work, however.) You should be able to do this disk clean-up with a standard conversational bootstrap.

Shutdown and/or halt the system. Use ^P or BREAK, depending on the box.

Boot conversationally and minimally, setting STARTUP_P1 to "MIN" and SET/STARTUP=OPA0: and then set WRITESYSPARAMS to 0 at the SYSBOOT prompt.

PURGE or DELETE as appropriate.

Reboot.

Off you go.

Details:
http://64.223.189.234/node/204

[Andrij CAde]

Volker,

I tried the boot_osflags.

It returned just 0??

[Jan van den Ende]

Andrij,

>>>
I tried the boot_osflags.

It returned just 0??
<<<

So it is not set. Defaults to 0,0

To boot conversational, boot

>>>b -fl 0,1

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Andrij CAde]

So the saga continues,

I did the b -flags 0,1

and then it started to boot and still said that there was not enough memory to continue

[Volker Halle]

Andrij,

please provide the full error messages and the commands you've entered. This will make troubleshooting much simpler...

Volker.

[Hoff]

>>>
I did the b -flags 0,1

and then it started to boot and still said that there was not enough memory to continue
<<<

What commands did you enter at SYSBOOT (the ones I cited or the ones Volker mentioned?), and what is the text of the error that you received from the bootstrap?

"not enough memory to continue" is not an error text typical of the bootstrap itself, and there are a number of errors with slightly different wording that could be the trigger here. Having the exact text seems a little fussy, but it really helps figure out the particular memory constraint here. (The original question reference blocks, which implies disk storage and not a physical nor virtual memory error.)

[Andrij CAde]

The exact messages are:

Message from user SYSTEM on DEP100
ERRFMT - Error Accessing Log File
%RMS-F-Ful, Device Full(Insufficient Space for Allocations

Message from User System on DEP100
ERRFMT - Deleteing ERRFMT Process
Error Log File Unwritable
To Restart ERRFMT Process, Use "@SYS$SYSTEM:Startup ERRFMT"

[Heinz W Genhart]

Hi Andrij

your system disk ist full!
Do a
$SHO DEV SYS$SYSDEVICE

and you will see the system disk has 0 or near 0 blocks of free space.

In previous articels, you can find many suggestions, what you can do now.

- Purge sys$sysdevice:[000000...]
- Delete sys$sysdevice:[000000...]*.log.*
- Reply/enable
Reply/log
Purge sys$startup:

etc. etc.

Regrads

Geni

[Jan van den Ende]

Geni,

No way to get in a position to do that, it would seem!

Andrij,

You really got those messages, after using
SYSBOOT> set startup_p1 "MIN"
cont
??

If so, look a few answers back about booting from CD.
It seems like you are down to that solution.

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Andrij CAde]

I can boot to the CD and get to enter DCL commands. when I enter show devices, it only comes back with the CD drive. I then did mount/over=ID DKA0. It still not in Show Devices. Then I try to mount it again and it says:

Device already mounted
No operator to service request

What commands do I need to get into the HD of the machine so I can purge the necessary files?

[Hoff]

If your system disk is DKA0: and you are booted from your distro CD, then you can use SET DEFAULT DKA0:[000000] or such and look around. You can issue DIRECTORY, PURGE and DELETE commands, as appropriate for your environment.

I'd probably look to find bigger files with:
DIRECTORY/SIZE/SELECT=SIZE=MINIMUM=1000 DKA0:[*...]*.*

And see which ones to delete of all those that are listed from the command -- the command will list any file of 1000 blocks or more in size. Some of these will probably be (big) junk files. Various of the files shown will not be "junk" files, so don't delete them all.

Also start the process around purchasing more and/or bigger disks, as I'm going to wager this configuration is using fewer and older and correspondingly tiny disks.

[Steven Schweda]

> I can boot to the CD and get to enter DCL
> commands. when I enter show devices, it
> only comes back with the CD drive.

Actual commands with actual output would be
nice here.

> I then did mount/over=ID DKA0.

Error message?

> It still not in Show Devices. Then I try
> to mount it again and it says:
>
> Device already mounted

I don't see how the disk can _not_ appear in
a SHOW DEVICES report, and also be "already
mounted". And because I can't see what you
do or what you see, it's not easy to figure
out what's happening.

> [...] How do I get to Console Mode [...]

> [...]correct syntax to mount the drive?

> [...] How do you boot "MIN" ?

Just a suggestion: If you know very little
about VMS, it would help everyone if you say
so at the beginning, rather than getting a
lot of good answers which don't have all the
detail you seem to need.

Similarly, showing the actual commands you
use, and their actual output, would help more
than your vague descriptions of what you did
and what happened.

[Willem Grooters]

(It is usual (AFAIK) that the prompt is shown for clarity if you have to enter data - for console that is ">>>", for plain DCL "$" - don't type it when you enter a command on instruction. Options to commands are within "[" and "]". I use to put parameters between < and > (like if you have to enter a device, for instance)

Follow these footsteps:

1. Start the machine (don't boot VMS. If it does, Use CTRL-P to get to the console prompt: >>>)
2. in console mode, enter:
>>> SHO *boot*
This will (hopefully, I have no console at hand AND it can differ per system) tell you what the USUAL boot-device is. (it doesn't have to be DKA0:) Keep that in mind. If this is not set up, you'll have to look later on.
3. Boot from CD - that seemed to work.
4. Select the option to enter DCL commands. This will lead to a prompt '$$$'
5. $$$ SHOW DEVICE D
will show all disks known to VMS at that point. The disk you found in 2 should show up. If it's missing, or none was mentioned there, you'll have to check all disks in this list (steps 6 and on)
6. Mount the disk to examine (the one found in (2) or the next in search according the list in (5):
$$$ MOUNT/OVER=ID
7. To see if this is the system disk, examine it the Q & D way (not failsafe, but usually correct):
$$$ DIR :[000000]VMS$COMMON.DIR
If there is no error, it's likely to actually be a system disk.
If so, proceed with the next step, otherwise you may skip these for other disk, but my recommendation is to execute the commands on ALL disks)
7. Check the disk for free space:
$$$ SHOW DEVICE : /FULL
There is an entry "free blocks". If this is (very) low, it's time to clean up:
8. Purge the whole disk:
$$$ PURGE [/LOG] :[000000...]
That will leave just the highest versions of the file intact and remove everything else.
Check size as above.
If still to little room available, you'll have to remove some files; logfiles are often a good target (Don't tell the system manager):

$$$ DELETE :[000000...]*.log;* [/BEFORE=]

Use option /BEFORE to limit removal to "old" files and leave "new" files alone - to please system management ;))

9. Dismount the disk
$$$ DISMOUNT
If you dind't find the system disk, repeat from step 6.
10. When done, logout, and you'll return to the setup menu. Reboot the machine, or, if (2) did not reveal the system disk, shutdown the system and boot manualy, using the device you found to be the system disk.

If this fails with the same error, it might be that your pagefile(s) are on a different disk than the system disk (not uncommon...)
That's why I recommend purging ALL disks).

Another way to see if the disk is a system disk - and very useful if {2} didn't reveal the bootflags:
$$$ DIR :[000000]SYS%.DIR
$$$ DIR :[000000]SYS%%.DIR
This will tell you the possible first number in the "-flags n,m" parameter on boot: Which system root to use. On a standalone machine, this is ussually 0 - so you would have found a 'SYS0.DIR'. Odds are you may find more (I do have several for different environments).

Once up and running, find out if you can free up some space on ALL disks. It used to be a good practice to have at least 20% of free space, though current disks may allow for a smaller amount.

HTH

WG