Migrating an Environment from OpenVMS VAX to OpenVMS Alpha

This manual serves as a guide for experienced software engineers and system/VMScluster managers on migrating computing environments from OpenVMS VAX to OpenVMS Alpha systems or mixed-architecture clusters. Published in December 1995, it focuses on detailing the similarities and differences between these two operating systems across various environments.

The document is structured into ten chapters covering:

• Overview: Introduces the lineage of OpenVMS Alpha, outlining its functional equivalence with OpenVMS VAX and discussing general similarities and differences for end-users, system managers, and programming environments.
• User Issues: Addresses user-facing topics such as the Help Message utility, online documentation, Digital Command Language (DCL) differences, password generation, default editors, run-time libraries, and mathematics library compatibility.
• System Management Issues: Explains the underlying reasons for system management differences, such as varying page sizes, and provides an overview of tasks that are similar or different.
• System Setup Tasks: Details identical and different setup tasks, including backing up system disks, installation procedures (VMSINSTAL vs. POLYCENTER), managing file extensions, BOOT console commands, License Management Facility (LMF) usage, PAK name differences for DECnet and VMSclusters, SYSGEN and system parameters, I/O subsystem configuration with SYSMAN, Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) on Alpha, startup command procedures, device support, and driver file naming.
• Maintenance Tasks: Compares routine maintenance tasks, emphasizing differences in dump file management, the DECevent utility, batch and print queuing, and the lack of Patch utility support on OpenVMS Alpha.
• Security Tasks: Highlights that security features are largely identical, with exceptions like DECnet connection auditing.
• Performance Optimization Tasks: Discusses performance tuning on Alpha systems, focusing on the impact of larger page size on system parameters, adaptive pool management, and granularity hint regions (GHRs).
• Network Management Tasks: Covers DECnet and TCP/IP interoperability, supported network interfaces, buses, interconnects, and unsupported DECnet (Phase IV) features.
• Interoperability of OpenVMS VAX and OpenVMS Alpha: Explores how VAX and Alpha systems can work together in networks and VMSclusters, including booting and upgrading mixed-architecture VMSclusters, and restrictions on features in mixed-version environments.
• Guidelines for Developing Applications for Mixed-Architecture VMScluster Systems: Offers advice for application developers on user interfaces, system management, file format compatibility, data packing, data-type selection, buffer sizing, data access, locking, and addressing missing features.

The manual also provides information on migration support services and training offered by Digital to assist in the transition process.