[comp.os.vms] Report on VMS V4.5 installation

MCGUIRE@GRIN2.BITNET (06/23/87)

Well, I updated to VMS V4.5, and interesting things happened! I'm running two
8600s and two 11/750s in a CI cluster. I used one of the 8600s for the update.

Summary of comments:
-  XQP Fix Kit documentation error can cause installation to go wrong.
-  BACKUP/VERIFY /NEW can report that the verify failed but the files are ok.
-  SPAWN stops working after installation of XQP Fix Kit.
-  Changed file protections do not go immediately to other cluster members.
-  STABACKIT doesn't work quite as advertised.
-  WORD-11 V3.1 queue manager doesn't work after update.

After the actual update, which was routine, I installed the XQP Fix Kit.  This
is the kit with the INIT.EXE and F11BXQP.EXE on it that correct the destructo-
disk problem on clusters.  I encountered numerous nasty problems with this kit.

-  The BACKUP command used to restore the new files doesn't include /NEW.  I
   noticed this when it failed to replace `old' INIT.EXE;1 with `new'
   INIT.EXE;1.  It _did_ put `new' F11BXQP.EXE;1 out there behind `old'
   F11BXQP.EXE;2!  Check your system if you installed the kit.

-  I started over using /NEW.  The BACKUP verify pass failed on INIT.EXE.
   BACKUP was comparing `media' INIT.EXE;1 with `old' INIT.EXE;1 though it had
   actually created `new' INIT.EXE;2.  It didn't fail on F11BXQP.EXE, because
   I'd left `new' F11BXQP.EXE;1 out there from my first attempt, so it
   compared `media' F11BXQP.EXE;1 with `new' F11BXQP.EXE;1.

-  The file protection codes were wrong on the tape.  They were set to
   (G:RE,W) instead of (G:RWED,W:RE).  The SPAWN command stopped working; the
   subprocess failed with a NOPRIV final status.  After fixing the codes,
   SPAWN worked.

-  It worked only on the one 8600, that is.  Not until I did DIR/SECURITY
   SYS$SYSTEM:F11BXQP.EXE or COPY SYS$SYSTEM:F11BXQP.EXE NL: did it start
   working on the other nodes.  Some information is not being propagated to
   other members of the cluster.

I had trouble rebuilding standalone backup on my RL02.  The documentation
doesn't say to initialize the RL02.  I took the STABACKIT default, `no'.  It
claimed that it would delete the old files in [SYS0...], but then refused to
overwrite some files.  When I reran and initialized, it worked.

My WORD-11 V3.1 queue manager doesn't work now.  (It worked fine until I
installed the XQP Fix Kit.  Wonder if it was just the protection code thingy?)

Colorado is researching the problems I've encountered.  They figured out the
protection code problem, after a long wait while we got a phone circuit so we
could talk about it.  (Last night was Father's Day.)

By the way, I ran AUTOGEN on all nodes after the update.  I'll be posting my
summary of peoples' suggestions for using AUTOGEN separately, and report what
happened when I used a new method of running AUTOGEN.  It suffices to say that
I had to enter a number of new parameters into MODPARAMS.DAT.  :-)

Ed <MCGUIRE@GRIN2.BITNET>