A Comparison of System Management on OpenVMS AXP and OpenVMS VAX

This document serves as a guide for experienced OpenVMS VAX system managers transitioning to or managing OpenVMS AXP systems. It compares system management tasks and features between OpenVMS AXP Version 1.5 and OpenVMS VAX Versions 5.4, 5.5, and 6.0, aiming to ease the migration process by detailing both similarities and significant differences.

Key differences highlighted across various management domains include:

• System Setup: OpenVMS AXP utilizes a larger page size (typically 8KB) compared to VAX (512 bytes), which impacts system parameter values and process quotas, often expressed in "pagelets" (equivalent to VAX pages). I/O subsystem configuration functions, previously managed by SYSGEN on VAX, are handled by SYSMAN on AXP. VMSclusters are supported but with specific configuration limitations, and several components like Volume Shadowing, RMS Journaling, user-written device drivers, and Distributed Name Service (DNS) are not supported on AXP 1.5. The BOOT command format and local Digital Storage Architecture (DSA) device naming also differ.
• Maintenance: OpenVMS AXP 1.5 features an enhanced clusterwide batch and print queuing system (similar to VAX 5.5). However, the BACKUP /EXACT_ORDER qualifier and the Patch utility are not supported. System dump files are typically larger, and the MONITOR POOL command is replaced by adaptive pool management features and System Dump Analyzer (SDA) commands.
• Security: OpenVMS AXP 1.5 implements security features comparable to VAX VMS versions prior to 6.0. VAX VMS 6.0 introduced C2-level security enhancements, including broader object protection, expanded auditing, and new security interfaces, which are not present in AXP 1.5.
• Performance Optimization: AXP introduces "Granularity Hint Regions" (GHRs) and "image slicing" to optimize memory usage and reduce Translation Buffer (TB) miss rates for executive and user images. Adaptive pool management replaces older pool monitoring methods, and a virtual I/O cache is available for single-node systems.
• Network Management: DECnet for OpenVMS AXP Version 1.5 primarily supports Ethernet and FDDI for network connections, excluding CI and DDCMP lines. Level 2 routing and the Distributed Name Service (DNS) node name interface are not supported, and several Network Control Program (NCP) command parameters related to these unsupported features will have no effect.

The document also delves into AXP's RISC architecture and its performance implications, provides detailed SYSMAN I/O configuration commands, and offers additional considerations for supporting general users and programmers on AXP systems.