HP OpenVMS Management Station Overview and Release Notes

This document, "OpenVMS Management Station Overview and Release Notes," dated September 2003, provides an overview, getting started guide, and release notes for OpenVMS Management Station Version 3.2-B.

Key Features and Purpose:

• Management Tool: It's a Microsoft Windows-based tool, implemented as an MMC snap-in, designed for system managers and operators to manage OpenVMS systems.

• Core Management Areas: Provides a comprehensive user interface for:

  • User Account Management: Create, modify, delete user accounts, manage UAF entries, rights identifiers, directories, disk quotas, and mail settings across multiple OpenVMS systems.
  • Printer Management: Create, delete, modify, and monitor printers, print queues, and jobs across multiple OpenVMS Cluster systems and nodes.
  • Storage Management: Manage disk storage devices, monitor configuration, modify attributes, create volumes, and control configuration over system reboots from an easy-to-use Windows interface. It can automatically configure storage at startup.

• Multi-System Management: Facilitates managing user accounts, printers, and storage across multiple OpenVMS systems, including clusters and non-clustered nodes, organized into "OpenVMS Management Domains."

• Remote Management: Supports remote management of OpenVMS systems via TCP/IP dialup connections.
• Flexibility: Allows coexistence with existing DCL procedures, offers configuration control over reboots (e.g., automatically mounting volumes), and generates an emergency mount command procedure.
• User Interface: Offers features like multiple management windows and the ability to save management domain configurations to console files (.MSC).

Technical Requirements and Compatibility:

• Software Version: OpenVMS Management Station Version 3.2-B, superseding 3.2-A.
• Client Platforms: Windows NT 4.0 (SP3+), Windows 95, 98, 2000, Me, requiring Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher.
• Server Platforms: OpenVMS Alpha/VAX Version 6.2 or higher (specifically 6.2, 7.2, 7.3, 7.3-2 Alpha).
• Network Protocols: The client exclusively uses TCP/IP for primary servers (requiring at least one OpenVMS system to run TCP/IP), while the server supports both DECnet and TCP/IP.
• Compatibility: Version 3.2-B is compatible with management domains created in Version 3.0 or later. Domains from versions prior to 3.0 must be re-created. Upgrading a Version 2.1 server database to 3.2-B is irreversible.

Key Restrictions and Known Problems:

• Limited Device Management: Manages only cluster-unique disks (visible to all nodes); does not manage privately mounted, foreign volumes, InfoServer devices, or SCSI disks connected to VAX systems.
• Shadow Sets: Does not support write-locked shadow sets or Dissimilar Device Shadowing (DDS) introduced in OpenVMS V7.3-2.
• Bound Volumes: Limitations on the number of members in bound volumes (28 for shadow sets, 42 for non-shadowed disks).
• User Accounts: Does not support the OpenVMS V7.3-2 mixed-case password (PWDMIX) flag feature. Renaming users resets mail count. Manual UIC group number edits don't update "Next Available/Highest Member" fields.
• Printer Management: TCPware print symbiont queues (TCPWARE_TSSYM) cannot be autostartable or used as reference printers. Printer rename operations can fail for reconciled printers with multiple DQS queues from the same node. Duplicate queue names can occur during creation with DQS reference printers.
• DECnet Proxies: Does not update the DECnet Phase IV NETPROXY.DAT file; users needing proxy access for applications like DFS or FAL must use the AUTHORIZE utility.
• Other: "Retrieving information" operations can sometimes lead to "TNT-F-Writelock Locked" errors if interrupted. The EXTAUTH flag for external authentication is propagated but not directly displayed or controlled by the Management Station.

Problems Fixed in Version 3.2-B:

• Resolved TNT$SERVER looping issues.
• Fixed broken links and improved the look and feel of online help files.
• Added support for the new OpenVMS feature Dynamic Volume Expansion (DVE), considering "Logical Volume Size" for disk utilization.