VMS 8.3 Backup Command...

[MJ26]

I need some guidence from the Forum here.   I have an OpenVMS 8.3 AlphaServer and am trying to "restore" an image of a VAX 6.2 to a local disk.   This used to be a common action we did when we were using AXP VMS Version 6.2.   Never had any issues restoring a VAX system disk.     However when we migrated to 8.3 we could restore files, but when it came to the VAX system disk, when we would take that disk to another VAX it would not boot and stated there was no valid boot block.   Upon further investigation, I noticed that the VMS$COMMON directory was not getting restored to the disk.   Has anyone seen this before?  If so, I'll take any advice at this point.   Thanks in advance.

[RBrown_1]

Are you using /IMAGE on your backup command line?  If not, then try it. If you are using /IMAGE, then show us the command line you are using.

[MJ26]

We use a utility named SLS for our backups.   The qualifiers that we are passing in are:

$ qualifiers :== /IMAGE/RECORD/IGNORE=INTERLOCK/BLOCK=32256

I am trying to hunt through the log files to see if I can come up with the exact command that is used for the full disk backups.

[Duncan Morris]

For a restore of such an ancient image you probably need to use the /ALIAS option of BACKUP.

There were a number of changes in backup behaviour in that era!

  Use the /ALIAS qualifier only when you are restoring very
        old save sets (from OpenVMS Version 6.2 or earlier). The
        current default behavior is correct in nearly every other
        situation. If you are in doubt about using this qualifier,
        contact your HP support representative.

Duncan

[MJ26]

Here is an example output.  I only included 1 file out of many.

SYSTST$ mount/for/noassist lma3:
%MOUNT-I-WRITELOCK, volume is write locked
%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED, VR0001 mounted on _$1$LMA3: (SYSTST)
SYSTST$ mount/for dkb500:
%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED, VAXVMS062 mounted on _$1$DKB500: (SYSTST)
SYSTST$ backup/image/noinit/alias lma3:0022C940624.FUL dkb500:/log

....

%BACKUP-S-CREATED, created DKB500:[SYS0.SYSCOMMON.VUE$LIBRARY.SYSTEM]VUE$NOTEPAD.COM;1

....

After restore was completed:

SYSTST$ dir DKB500:[SYS0.SYSCOMMON.VUE$LIBRARY.SYSTEM]VUE$NOTEPAD.COM;1
%DIRECT-E-OPENIN, error opening DKB500:[SYS0.SYSCOMMON.VUE$LIBRARY.SYSTEM]VUE$NOTEPAD.COM;1 as input
-RMS-E-DNF, directory not found

[Duncan Morris]

It looks as though the structure of the system root aliases is incorrect.

I see that you are using /NOINIT on the restore, which may not be helping.

There is a good discussion of the VMS$COMMON alias issues in the thread

"Backup /image does not backup VMS$COMMON"

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/System-Management/Backup-image-does-not-backup-VMS-COMMON/m-p/4044140/highlight/true#M18178

Duncan

[MJ26]

I'll read through the link you posted.   Just passing an "FYI" along, but I am getting the same results with /init or /noinit.    So i didn't think the /noinit was causing the issue.   Again, thanks for the link and I'll post any results for any testing I do. 

[MJ26]

SYSTST$ dir/file dkb500:[000000]*common.dir,dkb500:[sys0]*common.dir

Directory DKB500:[000000]

VMS$COMMON.DIR;1     (12,1,0)             

Total of 1 file.

Directory DKB500:[SYS0]

SYSCOMMON.DIR;1      (12,1,0)             

Total of 1 file.

Grand total of 2 directories, 2 files.

SYSTST$ dump/head/block=count:0 dkb500:[000000]vms$common.dir
%DUMP-E-OPENIN, error opening DKB500:[000000]VMS$COMMON.DIR;1 as input
-RMS-E-FNF, file not found

[RBrown_1]

---

@MJ26 wrote:

SYSTST$ dir/file dkb500:[000000]*common.dir,dkb500:[sys0]*common.dir

Directory DKB500:[000000]

VMS$COMMON.DIR;1     (12,1,0)             

Total of 1 file.

SYSTST$ dump/head/block=count:0 dkb500:[000000]vms$common.dir
%DUMP-E-OPENIN, error opening DKB500:[000000]VMS$COMMON.DIR;1 as input
-RMS-E-FNF, file not found

---

How about DUMP/HEADER/BLOCK=COUNT=0 DKB500:[000000]000000.DIR

?

After that, I would DUMP DKB500:[000000]INDEXF.SYS/FILE_HEADER/BLOCK=(START=n,COUNT=1), choosing "n" to display the file header for VMS$COMMON.DIR.

[GuentherF]

I bet it's his old BACKUP bug where BACKUP saved filename SYSCOMMON.DIR in the file header (12,1,1).

The DUMP command does a reverse lookup using the directory back link which - when looking for VMS$COMMON.DIR - finds the filename as SYSCOMMON.DIR. Hence 'no such file'.

If this works:

$ DUMP/BLOCK=COUNT:0/HEADER DKB500:[SYS0]SYSCOMMON.DIR

...and show SYSCOMMON.DIR as the filename in the header then it is this twisted situation.

Here's how to fix it:

$ SET FILE/REMOVE DBK500:[000000]VMS$COMMON.DIR

$ RENAME DBK500:[SYS0]SYSCOMMON.DIR [000000]VMS$COMMON.DIR

$ SET FILE/ENTER=[SYS0]SYSCOMMON.DIR DKB500:[000000]VMS$COMMON.DIR

This is from memory so I hope it works.

/Guenther