S211KENO@HTIKUB5.BITNET (06/13/88)
On the very first page of the VMS Local Area VAXcluster manual is stated that a Microvax II bootnode must have a RD54 or larger system disk. And the VMS 4.6 KITINSTAL.COM refuses to install VMS 4.6 on a RD52 or RD53 systemdisk if the Microvax II is a LAVC bootnode. Why ? Is it just a performance issue, is it just Digital trying to sell more expensive disk-units or is there a serious reason like Satellite nodes not being able to boot from a remote RD53 ? Any comments on or experiences with Microvax/RD53 serving as LACV bootnode are welcome. Thanks, Kees Noyens Computing Centre Tilburg University P.O. Box 90153 5000 LE Tilburg The Netherlands Surfnet : KUBVX1::S211KENO Bitnet : S211KENO@HTIKUB5.BITNET Internet: S211KENO%HTIKUB5.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
mhg@MITRE-BEDFORD.ARPA (Mark H. Granoff) (06/20/88)
>On the very first page of the VMS Local Area VAXcluster manual >is stated that a Microvax II bootnode must have a RD54 or larger system >disk. >And the VMS 4.6 KITINSTAL.COM refuses to install VMS 4.6 on a RD52 or RD53 >systemdisk if the Microvax II is a LAVC bootnode. >Why ? >Is it just a performance issue, is it just Digital trying to sell more >expensive disk-units or is there a serious reason like Satellite nodes >not being able to boot from a remote RD53 ? >Any comments on or experiences with Microvax/RD53 serving as LACV bootnode >are welcome. We have several LAVc's here. In general, the system disk of the boot node in a LAVc will contain n+1 system directory trees for n satellites. (There's a root for the boot node, of course; that's where n+1 comes from). In a generic configuration, each satellite will have a system dump file located on the boot node. In addition, if the satellites are diskless, their page and swap files will be on the boot node system disk. Add it all up and your talking 20000 to 30000 blocks (roughly) per satellite plus system directory tree plus boot node sys dir tree and page/swap files. With anything less than an RD54, you'll run out of disk space fast. There may be more complex reasons too, but common sense in this case seems to answer the question. Hope this helps. +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Mark H. Granoff Member of the Technical Staff | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | USMAIL: The MITRE Corporation | ARPAnet: mhg @ mitre-bedford.ARPA | | Burlington Rd. | UUCP : linus!mbunix!mhg | | M/S B015 |-----------------------------------| | Bedford, MA 01730 | A T & T: (617) 271 - 7506 | +--------------------------- Disclaimer -----------------------------+ | The views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily | | reflect those of my employer. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
opal@utastro.UUCP (Chet Opal) (06/21/88)
In article <8806201951.AA14806@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, S211KENO@HTIKUB5.BITNET writes: > On the very first page of the VMS Local Area VAXcluster manual > is stated that a Microvax II bootnode must have a RD54 or larger system > disk. > And the VMS 4.6 KITINSTAL.COM refuses to install VMS 4.6 on a RD52 or RD53 > systemdisk if the Microvax II is a LAVC bootnode. > Why ? > Is it just a performance issue, is it just Digital trying to sell more > expensive disk-units or is there a serious reason like Satellite nodes > not being able to boot from a remote RD53 ? > Any comments on or experiences with Microvax/RD53 serving as LACV bootnode > are welcome. > I have successfully installed VMS 4.6 over MicroVMS 4.7 on an RD53 with two satellite nodes. Performance is not an issue; disk space is. You will need to either put the paging/swapping files for the satellites on their own disks (if they have them) or on a second disk on the boot node. My procedure was the following: 1) Break down the installation tape by $ COPYing the save_sets to a disk, then restore the first save_set to a disk directory. You will find the file KITINSTAL.COM, which you will need to edit. 2) Search for the section containing a reference to "RD54", and comment out the lines which test for it. 3) Search for the section referring to VMS4.6, and if you are running 4.7, add that to the logical statement (or comment the whole thing out) 4) There was one more thing involving a file which it wanted which would only have been there if you had already installed clusters. I will try to find a DIFFERENCES file on KITINSTAL.COM; I know I made one...and will post it to the net. Anyway, you comment that check out also. 5) Reassemble the first saveset by backing it up to a disk file. 6) Recopy the bunch of modified savesets to a new TK50, or if there is room, you can copy they to DUA0:[0,0] and run VMSINSTAL on them from there (much, much faster than a TK50). Voila' Chet Opal, ascendant VMS guru. (MUCHO faster).
thompson@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Steve Thompson) (06/26/88)
A number of messages recently have pointed out that you can't run a MicroVAX II with an RD53 as a boot node in an LAVC because the dump files etc take up too much space. However, this is not absoultely true. As long as you have local paging and swapping files on the satellites (so that they're not on the system disk), you can put ONE dump file in sys$common:[sysexe]; just make sure it's large enough for the biggest system. Of course, if all your machines crash at once and you want to analyze the dumps, you're out of luck....