OBERMAN@ICDC.LLNL.GOV ("Kevin Oberman, LLNL, 422-6955, L-156", 415) (04/22/88)
DEC announced VMS V5.0 on the 19th. It will be shipped with 6200 and 8000 mult-processor systems starting more or less immediately, but won't go to the real world for a while. The official satement is Q1 of 1989 which translates to the summer of 1988. Here is some info on V5.0. This is NOT making any commercial endorsment! And I don't promise that I didn't make errors in this. It involved a lot of typing and is based on a combination of experiance playing with V5.0 and the DEC announcement information. I have tried to avoid making this a look like a sales pitch, but since quite a bit of the info comes from DEC marketing types, it does seem a bit `pushy'. I assume the readers of this list already have VMS and are interested in V5.0 for planning or are UNIX users and don't really care. I don't work for DEC and I don't care which operating system you use. And, yes, I am tired of the OS wars! MAIN FEATURES Symmetric multiprocessing capability added--improves multistream workload performance on multiprocessor systems Local Area VAXcluster Systems Phase II--The ability to add CI-based resources to LAVc's provides more compute resources, more disk storage and more availability for work groups. Mixed mode clusters can get up to 42 nodes, only 16 of which can be CI based. Improved system management features including a new system management utility, SYSMAN, and the License Management Facility (LMF) MicroVMS merged into VMS operating system. uVMS is dead! Hooray! VMS V5.0 is a major functional enhancement. The new functional additions to VMS provide a greater capability to build networked computing systems. The key points are: o Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) o Local Area VAXcluster Systems Phase II o SMP systems complement VAXcluster systems o New internationalization features o New SYStem MANagement utility to simplify system management o Enhancements for application programmers Symmetric Multiprocessing VMS V5.0 offers full symmetric multiprocessing support for multiprocessor systems in the VAX 6200 series, VAX 8800 series, and the 83xx systems. Symmetric multiprocessing is a form of tightly coupled multiprocessing in which all processors perform operations in parallel, including all VAX access modes (user, supervisor, executive and kernel.) For example, processors in an SMP system can simultaneously execute user-mode programs, execute system services, or even initiate I/O. VMS symmetric multiprocessing configurations consist of multiple central processing units executing from a single shared memory address space. This allows users and jobs to share a single copy of VMS as well as frequently used VAX programs and subroutine libraries. It also provides simultaneous shared access to common data in global sections to all processors. VMS symmetric multiprocessing balances the execution of all jobs across all available processors on a priority-driven basis. SMP support is an integral part of VMS, and is provided transparently to the user.Since an SMP system is a single system entity, it is configured into a network and VAXcluster system as a single node. VMS asymmetric multiprocessing (ASMP) has been replaced by the much more comprehensive SMP capabilities. In addition, the VAX-11/782 (which does not have a symmetric hardware configuration) will not be supported in VMS V5.0. Local Area VAXcluster Systems Phase II Local Area VAXcluster systems Phase II allows the addition of CI resources to an Ethernet-based VAXcluster system. The resulting configuration is termed a mixed interconnect VAXcluster system and includes CI-based VAXcluster systems, Local Area VAXcluster systems and mixed interconnect VAXcluster systems. In a mixed interconnect configuration, the VAX systems, which are connected to the CI bus and HSC series controllers, perform the functions of an LAVc boot node. Any of the CI-connect VAX systems may service boot and I/O requests from the satellite systems. Access to HSC-based disks from satellite systems provides MicroVAX systems with volume shadowing for higher availability. A Local Area VAXcluster or mixed interconnect VAXcluster system may contain a maximum of 42 VAX nodes, with the total number of CI-based VAX systems not exceeding 16. Configuration rules are not yet available. NEW VAXcluster SOFTWARE LICENSING POLICY This really does not change anything, mearly clears up some existing inconsistancies in the policy. The VAXcluster functionality will now be enabled with a VAXcluster Software V5.0 license. Both a VMS and a VAXcluster Software license will be required on each node in any Local Area VAXcluster Phase II configuration. This is consistent with the licensing policy for all previous versions of Local Area VAXcluster software. Existing VAXcluster and Local Area VAXcluster customers will be granted the VAXcluster Software V5.0 license at no charge. IMPROVED SYStem MANagement FEATURES The SYStem MANagement (SYSMAN) utility centralizes the management of a VAXcluster system. Rather than logging in to different nodes and repeating a set of management tasks, SYSMAN allows customers to define their management environment as the entire VAXcluster system or any subset of VAX systems within that VAXcluster system. Prior to VMS V5.0, a command to define a logical name had to be issued once per VAX node in a VAXcluster system. With VMS V5.0, the command need only be issued once per VAXcluster system. From the point of view of a system manager, the VAXcluster system now functions much more like a single system. Take my word fo it, this is GREAT! SYSMAN also implement an object oriented approach to system startup. It is much cleaner and eliminates most modifications to the SYSTARTUP file. License Management Facility (LMF) At the moment, this looks like a nice tool for keeping track of layered products and handling licensing of products on a cluster, but it contains the ability to (should DEC so desire) make the manipulation of software on multiple systems a real pain. It has a plethora of options and hooks. The basic system is cleverly thought out and should not cause any problems in moving software to a backup system. LMF is a system management tool that allows the system manager to register, manage and track software licenses. The LMF supports new types of software licensing and prepares the way for software and documentation consolidated distribution on CDROM. Other new features added to simplify system management, in addition to SYSMAN and LMF include: BACKUP Finally an attempt to provide something that looks like tape management! It ain't perfect, but its a real start. It provides checks to prevent accidental initialization of input disk. It allows multiple operations per stand-alone backup. Passwords are no longer output in BACKUP save set listings. It provides tape label processing (which may be bypassed). AUTOGEN Feedback Option Allows user workload to determine recommended values for most memory and page/swap file parameters. VMS continuously maintains usage information; AUTOGEN snapshots the data to determine recommended values. It looks really good. With a system that has adequate memory, swapfiles may simply disappear! AUTOGEN should be used after a typical workload has been run. I try to run it about once a week. BATCH/PRINT Enhancements The whole scheme of the system has been reworked to allow for easier management of queues and MUCH improved response. Lexical access to the system is available and ACLs may now be placed on queues. New features important for system and application programmers include: DEBUG: The ability to dynamically reformat register displays, several improvement to bring MACRO debug to a level similar to that of other languages, and support for SMP. Screen Management (SMG) This area has had lots of improvements! Some of the problems discussed at great length on this list have been worked on (and maybe even fixed). There is now support for many usage modes, including block mode (VT3xx SETUP), vertical (pull-down) menus and horizontal (strip) menus, provision for up to eight programmer-defined renditions, and (in my opinion most importantly) SMG$ Subprocess Support, including both the ability to control subprocesses and I/O via virtual displays; and a method to have several concurrent subprocesses, each with its own display Parallel Processing Library (PPL) Run-Time Library Routines that allow users to implement parallel algorithms in any language. MERGE OF MicroVMS AND VMS INTO A SINGLE STYLE OF PACKAGING MicroVMS was initially created due to the limitations of system disk size and distribution media; these limitations have been removed. The MicroVMS name is no longer being used. MicroVMS systems with a service contract will receive the VMS update when it is distributed. This does not remove the user limits now in uVMS. It just moves tham to the LMF. NEW INTERNATIONALIZATION FEATURES V5.0 has many new enhancements of interest to those of you in non-English speaking countries. These internationalization features include: The Terminal Fallback Utility -- Provides terminal input and output character conversion for multinational character sets. It is enabled on a per terminal basis, and will allow such characters as an o with an umlaut or an e with an accent mark to be displayed. VMS V5.0 will provide character set tables. The National Character Set Utility -- Allows implementation of non-ASCII collating sequences, and provides a facility for implementing conversions between character sets from within programs. The user-defined collation sequences may be used by both the SORT utility and as the primary and secondary keys in RMS ISAM files. Date and Time Formatting -- Allows for specification of date and time formats other than the standard VMS format, and specification of non-English formats. For example, Date and Time Formatting provides the ability of using a format such as: Mardi, le 6 Mars 1988. IMPACT TO EXISTING CUSTOMERS All non-privileged applications that ran on any previous release of VMS will run on V5.0. In most cases, changes in VMS V5.0 will have a minor impact on privileged code. Some privileged programs will have to be re-assembled, and all privileged programs will have to be relinked. After assembly and linking, most privileged programs will run on V5.0. Exceptions to that rule: Programs which use specialized data structures formerly in the system executive. These programs will have to be modified to use a pointer to access the data structure. This change is simple and requires very little new code. Very few programs use these data structures. For multiprocessor systems only: code that synchronizes via the Interrupt Priority Level (IPL) must be modified. The changes are described in the "VMS Device Support Manual." The most common use of IPL synchronization is in device drivers. (Note: device drivers will continue to run, without code changes, on uniprocessor systems.) For multiprocessor systems only: applications that use process priority to provide synchronization to shared data in global sections must be modified to use a synchronization technique to call new macros. A rolling upgrade from VMS V4.7 to VMS V5.0 is supported in a CI-based VAXcluster system. This allows you to work with V5.0 before upgrading the entire cluster. PERFORMANCE The overall system performance for most multistream applications running on multiprocessor systems will improve. V5.0 does require approximately 1/4 MB more additional memory (500 additional pages) than VMS V4.7. DOCUMENTATION The VMS Base Documentation set is intended for system managers of smaller systems or for end users of any system. It replaces the old MicroVMS documentation. The VMS Extended Documentation Set provides detailed technical information. It is the equivalent of the old VMS kit. Existing MicroVMS customers under contract will receive the VMS Base Documentation Set. Existing VMS customers under contract will receive the VMS Extended Documentation Set. Release notes will be included in doc kits for contract customers. -------