VAX-11 Software Installation Guide

This document, the VAX-11 Software Installation Guide (Order No. AA-D021C-TE), published by Digital Equipment Corporation in March 1980, provides detailed instructions for installing, upgrading, and maintaining the VAX/VMS Version 02 operating system on a VAX-11 processor.

Primarily aimed at VAX/VMS system managers, the guide covers three main scenarios:

1. Initial System Installation: Explains how to bootstrap a newly purchased VAX/VMS system, including copying the software distribution kit to disk using the stand-alone Disk Save and Compress Utility (DSC-2), and then bootstrapping and configuring system parameters using the System Bootstrap Program (SYSBOOT) and System Generation Utility (SYSGEN).
2. System Upgrading: Provides a complete procedure for updating an existing VAX/VMS Version 1.x system to Version 2.0, detailing pre-upgrade preparations (e.g., freeing disk space, recording parameters, backing up), the use of the VMSUPDATE.COM command procedure, and post-upgrade finalization.
3. Maintenance Updates and Optional Software Installation: Describes how to apply system software updates and install optional products, leveraging the VMSUPDATE.COM utility, often involving floppy diskettes for distribution.

The guide emphasizes the use of the VAX-11/780 console subsystem for all these operations and provides comprehensive details on SYSBOOT commands (e.g., SET, SHOW, USE, CONTINUE), management of system parameter files, altering sizes of paging, swapping, and system dump files, and various bootstrap command procedures. Appendices list system files, error messages, and delve into the technical boot process.