I have moved my cluster to running under VMware Fusion and W7 64 bit.
So the configuration now is:
Two VMware Fusion VMs on a MacBook Pro.
1. Windows 7 64 bit VM with 4 NICs. Two NICs dedicated to Windows,
and two NICs dedicated to VMS.
1. Ubuntu Linux VM with 4 NICS. Again, two NICs dedicated to SimH.
One of the Windows NICs is set to NAT or can be set to bridged to allow external access to the windows system. The other is set to "HOST" only for a private LAN.
One of the LINUX NICs is set to bridged and the other to "HOST" only.
And the VMS systems are configured the same way, so that all four systems can communicate on a private bus. At least that was the theory.
The actual fun is that since Microsoft windows could not reach the public internet on the "host" only network, it basically put up some sort of block on all network traffic. I could ping out, but not ping in to either the Windows system or the VMS emulated system.
Windows Help and knowledge base said to just click on the network to change the type. However that option is disabled for that unknown network type. So you can only override the network types of networks that Windows was able to guess the type.
A Google search showed a several options starting with a registry hack and to delete the devices and let windows re-discover them. That wasted a lot of time, as the registry keys mentioned do not exist in 64 bit windows 7, and nothing worked.
It turns out that you need to use the local security policy editor to change the classification of unidentified networks from public to private.
Apparently the default is now that networks that do not have access to the Internet are secured more tightly than office networks.
I have noticed that when I close the Macbook, and open it in a new location, that I usually have to shutdown the FreeAXP program and restart it, or VMS will not communicate over one or both of the NICs that have been dedicated to it.
I also have noticed messages on the console overnight that cluster communications were lost and restored.
And today, I saw one of those messages on the VAX console, yet it did not immediately recover. It occurred when the W7 VM blanked its screen.
The rest of the VM should have stayed powered up. On clicking on that VM, I found the FreeAXP system generating a machine dump.
The file machinechk.dmp is in my scratch directory on Encompasserve for a short period of time if anyone wants to look at it.
malmberg August 04 2022 No more VAX hobbyist licenses. Community licenses for Alpha/IA64/X86_64 VMS Software Inc. Commercial VMS software licenses for VAX available from HPE.
ozboomer July 20 2022 Just re-visiting.. No more hobbyist licenses? Is that from vmssoftware.com, no 'community' licenses?
valdirfranco July 01 2022 No more hobbyist license...sad
mister_wavey February 12 2022 I recall that the disks failed on the public access VMS systems that included Fafner
parwezw January 03 2022 Anyone know what happened to FAFNER.DYNDS.ORG? I had a hobbyist account here but can longer access the site.
gtackett October 27 2021 Make that DECdfs _2.1A_ for Vax
gtackett October 27 2021 I'm looking for DECdfs V2.4A kit for VAX. Asking here just in case anyone is still listening.
MarkRLV September 17 2021 At one time, didn't this web site have a job board? I would love to use my legacy skills one last time in my career.
malmberg January 18 2021 New Hobbyist PAKs for VAX/VMS are no longer available according to reports. Only commercial licenses are reported to be for sale from HPE
dfilip January 16 2021 Can someone please point me to hobbyist license pak? I'm looking for VAX/VMS 7.1, DECnet Phase IV, and UCX/TCPIP ... have the 7.1 media, need the license paks ... thanks!
