1483 Quayle

© 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

Getting Started with Alpha Virtualization

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?

• Operating system dependency?−Middleware? (COM, Advanced Server, Rally)

• Hardware dependency?

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

• Can you validate the result?

6 July 14, 2006

Why Virtualize?• Alpha last order date: October 25, 2006

• Smaller boxes

• Use modern hardware

• Reduce power consumption

• Reduce hardware maintenance costs

• “Encapsulate” applications

7 July 14, 2006

Virtualization Overview

AlphaHardware

CHARN-Alpha

Host OS CPU(s)

Application

Layered softwareSystem libraries

Operating System

Application

Layered softwareSystem libraries

Operating System

Host OS

Alpha Emulator

Host CPU(s)

8 July 14, 2006

Alpha Emulator

Alpha CPUEmulator

Disk controller

Virtual disk

Tape image

Tape controller

System businterface

Serial ports

AlphaConsole

EthernetMemory

Host system diskAlpha CPUEmulator

Disk controller

Virtual disk

SCSI disk

Tape image

Tape controller

System businterface

Serial ports

AlphaConsole

SystemConsole

EthernetMemory

SCSI Tape

Host system disk

9 July 14, 2006

Virtualize to What?

• Open Source−Working on it, but nothing yet

• CHARON-AXP−Commercial product−Support available from VARs−Current platform: 64-bit Windows

10 July 14, 2006

OpenVMS Licensing

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

−$ 2,000 total

11 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

12 July 14, 2006

Missing In Action

• Some software vendors no longer exist

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

• CPU• HW_MODEL• SID• XCPU

13 July 14, 2006

Software Support

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

-emulator.html

• Oracle software support available for CHARON-AXP

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

• Other ISV’s support virtual systems less formally

14 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 Alpha−All the old Alpha tools and tricks still apply−HP OpenVMS Guide to System Security

15 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!

16 July 14, 2006

Software Installation

• Insert CD

• Run install.exe, follow prompts

17 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 in Notepad

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

• Save the changes, and exit Notepad

18 July 14, 2006

Virtual Alpha Startup

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

• Browse to your configuration file

• Run it

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

• You now have a Alpha on your computer!

• At the >>> prompt, type “B/1 DUA0”

19 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

20 July 14, 2006

Our Source Alpha Today

• Workgroup-size Alpha−VMS V7.3-2−VMSCLUSTER, 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 1.573

• TCP/IP address 192.168.1.5

21 July 14, 2006

Tape Migration

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

• There are disadvantages−Tape is slow−Reliable tapes for older formats (TK-70, etc.) are

hard to find−Reading the tape on the virtual system requires a

SCSI tape drive

22 July 14, 2006

Tape Migration – Procedure

• On the Alpha, 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 Alpha

23 July 14, 2006

Disk Migration

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

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

• DSSI and CI 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 Alpha permanently−Not highest-performance solution, but migration

is almost zero time and low risk

24 July 14, 2006

Disk Migration – Procedure

• Shut down the Alpha 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

25 July 14, 2006

DECnet Migration

• DECnet migration has the following advantages−Pretty fast (faster than tape)−Almost every Alpha has DECnet installed−BACKUP can write savesets to DECnet nodes

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

adapter

26 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

27 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

28 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

29 July 14, 2006

CD Migration

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

RRD-series Alpha drives

• There are disadvantages−Creating ODS 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

30 July 14, 2006

CD Migration – Procedure

• If the CD is not in ODS-2 or ODS-5 format, follow FTP procedure

• Change virtual Alpha 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 Alpha

• Use COPY or BACKUP to copy files as necessary

31 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−Some Alpha systems do not have a TCP/IP stack−Some Alpha systems don’t have a network

adapter−FTP doesn’t preserve VMS file characteristics or

boot blocks

32 July 14, 2006

FTP Migration – Procedure

• Configure and start FTP Server on virtual Alpha

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

• 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/

33 July 14, 2006

Post-Migration Tasks

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

physical Alpha

• 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

34 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 Alpha and sell on eBay−Or donate to a local VMS Hobbyist