Error in deleting file ESS$LAST_STARTUP.TMP

[deana_2]

Hi
I have a VAX system that has been running good for long time but today I got some problems as described below.
When system was rebooted, the Vax did not come up properly. There were several error messages:


% delete - W- file not deleted. It was indicating that the file:
SYS$SYSROOT:[SYS$STARTUP]ESS$LAST_STARTUP.TMP could not be deleted.

I understand that this file is used by pathwork according to the flow given below.

SYSTARTUP_V5.COM
-> LAD_STARTUP.COM
->ESS$LAD_STARTUP.COM ->ESS$LAST_STARTUP.COM -> create/delete ESS$LAST_STARTUP.TMP

-> PCFS.COM
->ESS$LAST_STARTUP.COM -> create/delete ESS$LAST_STARTUP.TMP

So when the secocnd time ESS$LAST_STARTUP.TMP file is deleted it creates the problem .

I couldn't be able to figure out the what causes the system to delete the file ?

[Robert Gezelter]

Deana,

Welcome to the ITRC OpenVMS Forum.

First, what version of OpenVMS are you running? Among other ways, the SHOW SYSTEM command will display the version.

Also as a precaution, check the amount of free space on your system drive. The command SHOW DEVICE SYS$SYSDEVICE will display the amount of free space on the system drive.

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

[Karl Rohwedder]

The ESS$LAST_STARTUP.TMP is created during the startup of ESS and contains some sitespecfic settings used in the startup.
The failing deletion should not cause any problems, so I assume, that there were other error messages before. Are there accompanying messages to the delete message?
What does happen, if you call the precedure manually?

regards Kalle

[Joseph Huber_1]

In a comp.os.vms thread the same question (under Your second persona ?) was discussed with no real conclusion, but with the information that the reason for no delete was a protection issue.
Tell us the result of
directory/owner/security ESS$LAST_STARTUP.TMP

My suspicion is the owner of the file created by systartup is SYSTEM, and that of PCFS is some pathwork account, right ?

So, since a system does not suddenly change its behaviour in such a way, there must have been a change in the system boot sequence, or a service have been added which is executing PCFS , and now conflicts with ess$lad/last_startup,
Or the ESS startup has been executed "by hand" and was abortet, leaving the .TMP file with the wrong protection.
If PCFS is conflicting with LAD_startup, then simply remove LAD_STARTUP from systartup.

Anyhow, delete the temporary file(s) by hand, and the next startup should succeed normally.

And a tip: if the error causes the startup to end prematurely: add a SET NOON at the beginning, or an "ON ERROR then continue" before each call of a procedure to avaoid it.

[deana_2]

Hi
Thanks for your suggesstion.
Actually the tmp file is created,used & deleted by Pathwork during the boot process.When the problem occurred first time, I noticed that the protection of the file :ESS$LAST_STARTUP.TMP was (RWED,RWED,RE,RE).I changed it to (RWED,RWED,RWED,RWED).On the next reboot, the Vax system came up normally.

So still I am trying to understand why only changing protection resolved it?

Any way I will apply the SET NOON option for future.

[Joseph Huber_1]

And by the way, ess$lad_startup should not be called directly from systartup, but rather sys$startup:ess$startup CLIENT (or DISK or TAPE).

ess$startup does a check if the _last driver is already started, and calls ess$last_startup only if necessary.