OpenVMS Version 7.3 New Features and Documentation Overview Manual

This document, published in April 2001, provides an overview of the new features and documentation for OpenVMS Version 7.3, available for both Alpha and VAX operating systems (though many features are Alpha-specific).

The core purpose of OpenVMS Version 7.3 is to enhance availability, scalability, flexibility, performance, and security for e-Business. Key new features and improvements include:

New Features and Enhancements:

• e-Business Technologies: Inclusion of Compaq Secure Web Server (Apache-based), Compaq COM, Java 2 SDK, Fast Virtual Machine for Java, XML Technology, Attunity Connect, Enterprise Directory Services (X.500/LDAPv3), Reliable Transaction Router (RTR), and Compaq BridgeWorks.

• System Management:

  • Support for new AlphaServer GS Series Systems, including hard/soft partitions (Galaxy), Resource Affinity Domain (RAD) support, and CPU Online Replace.
  • Automatic setting of Daylight Savings Time.
  • A new Class Scheduler for CPU scheduling on both VAX and Alpha.
  • Dedicated CPU Lock Manager (Alpha) for improved SMP performance.
  • Extended File Cache (XFC) (Alpha) as a replacement for Virtual I/O Cache, offering read-ahead caching, automatic resizing, and larger cache sizes.
  • Enhanced INSTALL and MONITOR utilities with new qualifiers and parameters.
  • OpenVMS Cluster Systems: Clusterwide intrusion detection, Fast Path for SCSI and Fibre Channel (Alpha), floppy disk serving, new Fibre Channel support (including tape via Modular Data Router), and improved LANs as cluster interconnects (ATM, Gigabit Ethernet) with the SCA Control Program (SCACP).
  • Volume Shadowing enhancements, including minicopy operations and new qualifiers for disaster-tolerant support.

• Programming:

  • 3D graphics support (OpenGL 1.1) for Alpha systems.
  • New ATM LAN adapters (Alpha).
  • Compaq COBOL and C Run-Time Library enhancements (e.g., C RTL support for case preservation in file names, long file names, lifted directory level limitation, new functions).
  • Fortran 64-bit address support (Alpha).
  • Extended limits for Large Page-File sections (Alpha).
  • New Multipath System Services for I/O path management.
  • Overhauled Multiprocess Debugging (Alpha).
  • Performance Application Programming Interface (API) via $GETRMI.
  • New Process Dump tools and analysis (Alpha).
  • RMS Locking enhancements for performance, including global buffer read-mode locking and no query record locking (Alpha).
  • OpenVMS Registry enhancements with ICC protocol and timeout arguments.
  • New Alpha System Dump Analyzer (SDA) commands, parameters, and qualifiers, including a Spinlock Tracing utility.
  • Visual Threads Version 2.1 (Alpha) for multithreaded application debugging and analysis.

• Associated Products: Updates to Availability Manager (V1.4/2.0), Advanced Server V7.3, DECwindows Motif V1.2-6, DCE, DECram V3.0, Enterprise Capacity and Performance (ECP), Kerberos V1.0, Universal LDAPv3 API, PATHWORKS V6.0D, Compaq Service Tools (WEBES), and TCP/IP Services V5.1 (IPv6, DHCP, SMTP enhancements, NFS V3 support).

Documentation Overview: The manual also details changes to OpenVMS documentation, which is now available on a single ISO9660 Level 2 CD-ROM (readable on OpenVMS, Windows, Macintosh) in HTML and PDF formats. Online help topics for utility routines have been expanded, several manual titles have been revised, and some manuals have been archived to the CD-ROM and web site.