Reset reboot device remotely

[Richard W Hunt]

I seem to recall this from my days as a VAX admin: There was a command available to reset the selected boot device from a running OpenVMS without having to type ^P to the console to do a console SET command. However, I'm now on an Alpha ES40, currently (but don't wannabe) at OVMS 7.2-1. First, I don't recall the exact command. Second, is there a corresponding command for an Alpha?

The problem is that we have a primary site and a (very distant; 500 miles+) backup site. After too many budget cuts, I now manage both sites, but since I don't yet have a split personality, I can't be both places at once.

This is a military personnel system, so we are not allowed to run KVM (Keyboard/Video/Mouse) switching through the firewalls. That rules out doing it via networking operations and a KVM connection, not that we had one set up anyway. So either I have to be there or I have to figure out how to do it remotely. The site manager is good about this but his staff has also been cut so that he has no regular operations staff. And he gets called to meetings a LOT. So I can't always rely on him to be there when I need him.

We are in the process of trying to upgrade to OVMS 7.3-2. I have made bootable copies of our system disk during our last trip (due to hurricane Dennis), but now I'm back at the primary site. Rather than having to travel 550 miles+ just to do an alternate-device reboot, is there a way to just reset the selected reboot device while still talking to a running copy of OpenVMS?

I'm thinking of SYSGEN or SYSMAN commands, if I recall the event correctly. But like I said, it has been years since I had to use this. Can anyone help me or has this incredibly useful feature been removed since the last time I used it?

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Simply do control-p and then fast
"set bootdef_dev ..."
and then "c" for continue.

Never did it on production because of possible time-outs.

Know no other ways on alpha (shame that they didn't implement that yet, Sun has).

Wim

[Richard W Hunt]

Regarding fast ^P and set bootdef_dev - ... I am not at the console device. I'm using either DECnet (PWIP) or TELNET connections. No KVM switch. No access to console device.

That is the command I would use if I were at the console. I need something when I am 550 miles away from the console.

[David B Sneddon · Accepted solution]

Richard,

Attached is a program that will set various console
environment variables. I haven't tried it and I
don't recall exactly from where I got it (probably
on comp.os.vms somewhere). I rember there was another
very similar program also. You will likely have to
modify it to do exactly what you want.
Good luck.

Dave.

[Richard W Hunt]

David, your link leads to something that has nothing to do with OpenVMS.

I'll try the web search of the site you named.

[David B Sneddon]

Richard,

The attachement was a C program...
When you say it had nothing to do with VMS, what
exactly were you getting?
I have attached a ZIPped version here.

Dave

[Richard W Hunt]

David,

When I downloaded the file and unzipped it on my Windows workstation, it gave me a .C file, but when I tried to read the file, it is all special characters. Nothing comes through that is readable.

The previous site looked like a health-food advertisement or dietary supplement site.

Thanks for trying, but I still don't know what is going on here. I'll search some more.

[David B Sneddon]

Richard,

I access this site using VMS 8.2, Mozilla 1.7-8
and DO NOT have or use Windows. If you transfer
the ZIP file to a VMS box and unzip on VMS you
should get what you are after.

Dave

[Richard W Hunt]

Finally got it work so I could read it. So, basically, you are writing something to the hardware reboot parameter block. Makes sense, I guess.

Now if I only had a C compiler... Ada can probably do this. Look out, Alpha, here I come!

[Ian Miller.]

its using the HWRPB to find the console callback routines setenv and getenv.

[Antoniov.]

Richard,
just for precision, David attachment it unix format (LF without CR). These files can't be read be windows editors like notepad but you can always read them using wordpad.

Antonio Vigliotti

[Jan van den Ende]

Richard,

since you are at a militairy site:

the $setenv functionalities are ALPHA functionalities. As such, they will function under VMS. But, although they ARE supported under Tru64, they are UNsupported under VMS :-(

(Maybe Engeneering can be goaded into qualifying them? "Military" would be just the right argument to create a business case.)

You have to decide whether they can be used at your site, but now it can be an informed decision.

hth,

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Richard W Hunt]

Thanks, folks. Got some research to do and I'll have to look for some documentation. My language choices at this site are Ada and BASIC. That's going to make life interesting for a while.

[Richard W Hunt]

Follow-up:

I found, after much research on the web and some poking around in various STARLET libraries and LIB.MLB, that there is not only a $GETENV system service call, but there is an undocumented $SETENV system service call. The params for $SETENV seem to be the same as the ones for $GETENV, but it is difficult to be absolutely sure.

I will note in passing for users of Ada that the STARLET_.ADC reference to this routine is flat WRONG. This is how you call it in Ada.

sample begins:

-- data structures

type ILQE is record -- quad-item-list entry
ITEM_CODE : UNSIGNED_LONGWORD ; -- longword integer
BUF_LEN : UNSIGNED_LONGWORD ; -- longword integer
BUF_ADDRESS : UNSIGNED_QUADWORD ; -- funky address
RET_ADDRESS : UNSIGNED_QUADWORD ; -- another funky address
end record ;

type ILQ is array ( integer range <> ) of ILQE ;
-- partly unconstrained array

-- *** WARNING: WE ARE OVERLOADING A DEFINITION FROM STARLET ***

procedure SYS_GETENV( RSTAT : out UNSIGNED_LONGWORD ; ITMBUF : in ILQ ) ;
pragma INTERFACE( EXTERNAL, SYS_GETENV ) ;
pragma IMPORT_VALUED_PROCEDURE(
INTERNAL => SYS_GETENV,
EXTERNAL => "SYS$GETENV",
PARAMETER_TYPES => ( UNSIGNED_LONGWORD, ILQ ),
MECHANISM => (VALUE, REFERENCE ) ) ;


then you just load up the item code and buffer pointers. Of course, Ada wants to give you 32-bit addresses, but as they are all on the program stack, the high-order bit is clear and you can just load 0 in the high longword of the Ada quadword structures.

The same concept seems to be correct for the SETENV call except I'm still having a bit of a bother with that one.

[Robert_Boyd]

For some DCL code that will display a few of the items from GETENV check out:

http://dcl.openvms.org/stories.php?story=05/04/04/7482362

Robert

[Robert_Boyd]

David Sneddon,

Where did you find the hwrpb include module?

I tried compiling this program on a couple of V7.3-2 systems and that module doesn't seem to be in the standard set.

Thanks,

Robert