© 2006 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.The information contained herein is subject to change without notice

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HP Technology Forum 2006

Migrating to a Virtual VAX: An Introduction

Stanley F. QuaylePresident, Quayle Consulting Inc.

3 July 14, 2006

Session Goals• Understand virtualization

• Learn about issues raised by virtualization

• Experience migration with:−Magnetic tape−Disk−DECnet−OpenVMS Cluster−CD-ROM−FTP

4 July 14, 2006

Required Experience• Working knowledge of HP OpenVMS system

administration

• If you brought your application, experience in your application

5 July 14, 2006

Can It Be Ported?• Do you have the design documentation?

• Do you have all the source code?−What about DECmigrate (OMSVA)?−VAX SCAN, Dibol, LISP, OPS5, RPG

• Operating system dependency?

• Hardware dependency?

• Target platform−Can your code really be reused?−What about stability?

• Can you validate the result?

6 July 14, 2006

Why Virtualize?• Smaller boxes

• Use modern hardware

• Use corporate SAN

• Reduce power consumption

• Reduce hardware maintenance costs

• “Encapsulate” applications

7 July 14, 2006

Virtualization Overview

VAXHardware

CHARN-VAX

Host OS CPU(s)

Application

Layered softwareSystem libraries

Operating System

Application

Layered softwareSystem libraries

Operating System

Host OS

VAX Emulator

Host CPU(s)

8 July 14, 2006

VAX Emulator

VAX CPUEmulator

Disk controller

Virtual disk

SCSI VAX disk

Tape image

Tape controller

System businterface

Serial ports

VAXConsole

VTxxxTerminal, etc

EthernetMemory

SCSI VAX tape

Host system diskVAX CPUEmulator

Disk controller

Virtual disk

SCSI VAX disk

Tape image

Tape controller

System businterface

Serial ports

VAXConsole

VAXConsole

VTxxxTerminal, etc

VTTerminal, etc

EthernetMemory

SCSI VAX tape

Host system disk

9 July 14, 2006

Virtualize to What?

• SIMH−Open source (“free”)−Support mailing list−Runs on almost any platform

• CHARON-VAX−Commercial product−Support available from VARs−Current platforms: Alpha OpenVMS, Windows−QNX for Q-bus embedded solutions−Future platforms include Linux

10 July 14, 2006

OpenVMS Licensing

• HP will transfer existing licenses to CHARON-VAXhttp://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/sri-charon-vax-emulator.html

−$ 2,000 total for Intel platform−$ 1,000 total for Alpha platform

• New licenses must be purchased for other virtual solutions

11 July 14, 2006

Oracle Licensing

• Oracle will transfer existing Rdb and CODASYL licenses to CHARON-VAX

www.oracle.com/technology/products/rdb/htdocs/rdb7/charon_vax.html

−“In most cases, Oracle license and service agreements are transferred to the same number of CHARON-VAX processors at no charge.”

• New licenses must be purchased for other virtual solutions

12 July 14, 2006

MultiNet & TCPware Licensing

• Process Software will transfer existing MultiNet and TCPware licenses to virtual solutions

• Fee depends on emulated system−$ 350 for workgroup-size systems−More for enterprise-size systems

13 July 14, 2006

Missing In Action

• Some software vendors no longer exist

• VAX systems do not have a hardware serial number

• Licensing methods:−LMF license PAK−MAC address of Ethernet card−Hardware values of VAX

• CPU• HW_MODEL• SID• XCPU

14 July 14, 2006

Software Support

• HP software support (OpenVMS, layered products) is available for CHARON-VAX on HP hardwarehttp://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/sri-charon-vax

-emulator.html

• Oracle Rdb and CODASYL software support available for CHARON-VAX

www.oracle.com/technology/products/rdb/htdocs/rdb7/charon_vax.html

• Other ISV’s support virtual systems less formally

15 July 14, 2006

Security Concerns

• How to secure your host−Keep host patch-current−Shut down unnecessary services−Remove unnecessary software−Don’t connect to the network

• How to secure your virtual VAX−All the old VAX tools and tricks still apply−HP OpenVMS Guide to System Security

16 July 14, 2006

Let’s Get Started!

• You have the following items:−PC−USB dongle−Install CD−A “bootstrap” VMS system image

• Do not insert the dongle into the USB port yet!

17 July 14, 2006

Software Installation

• Insert CD

• Run hldrv32.exe from directory \Hardlock

• Now insert the dongle

• Run \setup.exe

• From Start -> Settings -> Network, install a new protocol on one interface. Select “Have Disk”, and browse to sripacket.inf in directory:C:\Program Files\CHARON-VAX\Drivers\Network\

Ndis5

• Disable all other protocols on this adapter

• Disable the protocol on all other adapters

18 July 14, 2006

Software Configuration

• Create a directory C:\DISKS

• Copy \DISKS\*.* from the CD to C:\DISKS

• Remove the “read only” property from the files in C:\DISKS

• Open the configuration file (VAX4106.cfg) in Notepad

• Change the network interface name (near the end of the file) to the device which is to be used for the emulated VAX

• Save the changes, and exit Notepad

19 July 14, 2006

Virtual VAX Startup

• From the Start button, select CHARON-VAX, then CHARON-VAX Launcher

• Browse to your configuration file

• Run it

• A Hyperterminal window will appear, which is the VAX console

• You now have a VAX on your computer!

• At the >>> prompt, type “B/1 DUA0”

20 July 14, 2006

Student Configuration

IPDECnetSystem

192.168.1.108 ...

1.108 ...LAB8 ...

192.168.1.1071.107LAB7

192.168.1.1061.106LAB6

192.168.1.1051.105LAB5

192.168.1.1041.104LAB4

192.168.1.1031.103LAB3

192.168.1.1021.102LAB2

192.168.1.1011.101LAB1

21 July 14, 2006

Our Source VAX Today

• Workgroup-size VAX−VMS V5.5-2H4−VAXCLUSTER, 1 vote−No SYSTEM password−1 RZ-29 disk, device name DKA0−8 mm tape drive, device name MKA300−RRD42 CD drive, device name MKA400

• DECnet address 1.500

• TCP/IP address 192.168.1.15

22 July 14, 2006

Tape Migration

• Tape has the following advantages−Tried-and-true technology−Most VAX systems have tape backup−Doesn’t require a network adapter on the VAX−Very familiar system management tasks

• There are disadvantages−Tape is slow−Reliable tapes for older formats (9-track, TK-50,

etc.) are hard to find−Reading the tape on the virtual system requires a

SCSI tape drive

23 July 14, 2006

Tape Migration – Procedure

• On the VAX, do backups of all disks−The system disk requires /IMAGE

• Once the backups are done, move the tape drive to the virtual system−The configuration file has to change to use the

tape drive

• Do an image restore to new container files on the virtual VAX

24 July 14, 2006

Disk Migration

• Disk has the following advantages−Very fast−Doesn’t require a network adapter on the VAX

• There are disadvantages−Only SCSI disks can be migrated this way

• DSSI, CI, MFM disks have no equivalent hardware today

−Handling a disk, especially a very old one, can cause it to fail

• If there’s an external disk array, it could be connected to the virtual VAX permanently−Not highest-performance solution, but migration

is almost zero time and low risk

25 July 14, 2006

Disk Migration – Procedure

• Shut down the VAX cleanly

• Connect the disk drives to the virtual system−The configuration file has to change to use the

drives

• Do a /IMAGE backup from the physical disks to the container files

26 July 14, 2006

DECnet Migration

• DECnet migration has the following advantages−Pretty fast (faster than tape)−Almost every VAX has DECnet installed

• Was required up to V6.x

−BACKUP can write savesets to DECnet nodes

• There are disadvantages−Some VAX systems don’t have a network adapter

27 July 14, 2006

DECnet Migration – Procedure

• For each physical disk−BAC/IMG <p>: <vn>”system”::<vd>:

[000000]A.BCK/save• <p> is physical disk name• <vn> is virtual system DECnet address• <vd> is virtual system “scratch” container file

• Then, on virtual system−MOUNT/FOREIGN <vt>:−BAC/IMG <vd>:[000000]A.BCK/save <vt>:

• <vt> is the virtual disk to which to restore

• For multiple disks, these steps can be overlapped if the “<vd>” container file is big enough

28 July 14, 2006

Cluster Migration

• Cluster migration has the following advantages−Pretty fast (faster than tape)−All disks to be migrated appear to be local−Migration can be incremental, with mixed

physical and virtual cluster members

• There are disadvantages−Virtual system must be able to join cluster as NI

member−The cluster must MSCP-serve all needed disks−Frequently, no one remembers the cluster

password

29 July 14, 2006

Cluster Migration – Procedure

• On the virtual system, for each physical disk−MOUNT/FOREIGN <vt>:−BACKUP/IMAGE <p>: <vt>:

• <p> is physical disk name• <vt> is the virtual disk to which to restore

30 July 14, 2006

CD Migration

• CD has the following advantages−Usually faster than tape−CD drives on virtual VAX are lots faster than RRD-

series VAX drives

• There are disadvantages−Creating ODS-2 CD-ROM’s on VMS was not

generally possible until V7.x−CD’s have a limited size (700 MB max)

• It’s possible to install VMS from scratch using CONDIST disks

31 July 14, 2006

CD Migration – Procedure

• If the CD is not in ODS-2 format, follow FTP procedure

• Change virtual VAX configuration file to use PC’s CD drive as a VMS CD drive−Note: Windows must be rebooted if any

Windows-format CD was inserted in drive before starting virtual VAX

• Use COPY or BACKUP to copy files as necessary

32 July 14, 2006

FTP Migration

• FTP migration has the following advantages−No use of “DEC proprietary” protocols−Pretty fast−You can FTP files from the host system, which is

always present

• There are disadvantages−Many VAX systems do not have a TCP/IP stack−Some VAX systems don’t have a network adapter−FTP doesn’t preserve VMS file characteristics or

boot blocks

33 July 14, 2006

FTP Migration – Procedure

• Configure and start FTP Server on virtual VAX

• Using FTP, transfer files to appropriate locations on virtual VAX

• Be sure to use binary transfers for all but text files

• BACKUP savesets require a fix before restore:−http://www.stanq.com/reset-backup.txt

• Use Info-ZIP with the “-V” option−http://vms.process.com/ftp/vms-freeware/

34 July 14, 2006

Post-Migration Tasks

• Before booting the virtual VAX−Make copies of disks as migrated, just in case−Disconnect from network to prevent conflicts with

physical VAX

• Analyze boot messages−Complex cases may need a minimum boot first to

sort out problems−Logical names in SYLOGICALS.COM might be

needed for some hard-coded disk references−Mount commands may be incorrect in startup

files

• Re-configure DECnet and TCP/IP

35 July 14, 2006

More Post-Migration Tasks

• Regression-test application(s) completely!

• Re-evaluate backup strategy – tape might not be necessary anymore

• Is there a tape archive to be converted?

• License transfers

• Update service contracts

• Shut down VAX and sell on eBay−Or donate to a local VMS Hobbyist