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Newbie OpenVMS 8.3 Installation Issues - Home Block Not Found |
pnkearns
Member
Posts: 8
Joined: 11.10.10 |
| Posted on December 06 2010 19:09 |
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Hi all,
I'm running into basic setup issues trying to get OpenVMS 8.3 installed on FreeAXP on my PC.
Using the FreeAXP configuration screen, I set up DKA0 and DKA100 as 5 GB img files for 2 virtual hard drives. The virtual disks were automatically created by FreeAXP during configuration. I used the default location settings (c:/user/public/AlphaServer_dka***.img) and upped the size to 5 GB each. I set up DKA600 as a physical CDROM drive. I loaded the OpenVMS Alpha Kit CD into my PC's DVD drive (mapped to DKA600).
The problem that has me stopped is I am running into an error message for the DKA0 and DKA100 drives when I try to enter the device name for installing OpenVMS OS 8.3 target data: “%MOUNT_E_NOHOMEBLK, Filter-11 Home Block not found on volume”.
I thought maybe I needed to define the DKA0 virtual disk as a boot disk. I did that using “SET BOOTDEV_DEV DKA0”. However, it appears I have a disk format error of some kind.
Any thoughts on where in the FreeAXP or OpenVMS environment to proceed?
Best Regards,
Patrick |
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RE: You may need to INIT the disks |
VolkerHalle
Member
Posts: 104
Location: Germany
Joined: 02.04.10 |
| Posted on December 07 2010 05:18 |
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Patrick,
those 2 disks are empty and never had been INITed from OpenVMS. The installation procedure seems to expect disks with a valid ODS file system.
Before installating OpenVMS V8.3, drop to the DCL prompt using choice 7 (or is it 8) in the menue and type:
$$$ init DKA0: disk0
$$$ init DKA100: disk100
$$$ Logout
and then install OpenVMS onto one of those disks.
Volker. |
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| Author |
RE: Newbie OpenVMS 8.3 Installation Issues - Home Block Not Found |
Bruce Claremont
Moderator
Posts: 623
Joined: 07.01.10 |
| Posted on December 08 2010 04:46 |
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If you take a look at the Release Notes or Installation Guide on the VMS installation CD, it will walk you through booting the CD and initializing a disk to install on. Once you reach the DCL prompt via the CD, you can also type HELP.
There are a couple of VMS for beginners books floating around whose title escapes me at the moment. Perhaps some else can post them. |
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| Author |
RE: Newbie OpenVMS 8.3 Installation Issues - Home Block Not Found |
pnkearns
Member
Posts: 8
Joined: 11.10.10 |
| Posted on December 08 2010 15:35 |
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Hi Volker,
Bingo. That was the issue. The instructions worked like a charm.
The OpenVMS 8.3 installation guide I downloaded from HP did not include disk configuration instructions. I guess it's covered in another document.
Thank you.  |
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| Author |
RE: Newbie OpenVMS 8.3 Installation Issues - Home Block Not Found |
pnkearns
Member
Posts: 8
Joined: 11.10.10 |
| Posted on December 08 2010 15:42 |
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Hi Bruce,
I could not look at the Release Notes or Installation Guide on the installation CD since it is in ODS-2 format, which my PC DVD drive cannot read. I searched the DOC disk you allowed me to access, but ran into multiple documents. I ended up ownloading the OpenVMS 8.3 Installation guide/manual PDF from HP's OpenVMS website.
I did not see any indication that FreeAXP allowed access to ODS-2 formats on it own. Does it? It seemed that the ODS data wasn't readable until it was used as part of the Boot function. I now have the OpenVMS OS installed, so accessing the remainder of the ODS-2 CD data should no longer be a problem.
I do need a VMS for beginners, or more to the point, "An Idiot's Guide". It's been almost 2 decades since my PDP/DEC system days. I'll start googling for one, but if you have a recommendation, please make it.
Best Regards,
Patrick
Edited by pnkearns on December 08 2010 16:02 |
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| Author |
RE: Newbie OpenVMS 8.3 Installation Issues - Home Block Not Found |
Bruce Claremont
Moderator
Posts: 623
Joined: 07.01.10 |
| Posted on December 09 2010 06:05 |
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Getting Started with OpenVMS by Mike Duffy: http://books.google.com/
OpenVMS Beginners FAQ: http://alpha.mike-r.com/VMS_beginners_faq.html
OpenVMS Introduction: http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/5
OpenVMS Beginners page: http://www.openvms.org/pages.php?page=Beginner |
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| Author |
RE: Newbie OpenVMS 8.3 Installation Issues - Home Block Not Found |
Bruce Claremont
Moderator
Posts: 623
Joined: 07.01.10 |
| Posted on December 09 2010 09:13 |
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You have worked most of this out. I will post these notes for those that follow in your footsteps:
- It is important to remember when working with FreeAXP that the software emulates Alpha hardware. When FreeAXP is first started, it acts like a real Alpha system fresh out of the box with no O/S installed. From there you build your OpenVMS or Tru64 system by mounting a CD and installing the operating system, just like on real hardware.
- VMS documentation media has been available in ODS-2, Windows, and MAC compatible formats for some time. The VMS O/S and product CD's are ODS-2 only, which is to be expected. HP maintains a comprehensive collection of VMS documentation online for current versions of the O/S at http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/os82_index.html.
- If all you have available is the OpenVMS O/S installation CD, the Installation Guide and Release Notes are available on the CD. You would need to boot the CD under FreeAXP, select the "Execute DCL commands and procedures" option, then type or edit the text files in the documentation directory. On a VMS 8.3 O/S CD, they are located in [ALPHA083.DOCUMENTATION] as OVMS_V83_INSTALL.TXT and OVMS_V83_REL_NOTES.TXT. If you had defined your CD drive as DKA600, then you could issue the following command to view the installation guide:
$$$ TYPE /PAGE DKA600: [ALPHA083.DOCUMENTATION]OVMS_V83_INSTALL.TXT
Other versions of VMS will have similar file structures on the CD allowing access to the installation documentation.
- Disk container files are created as raw disk devices. They are not pre-formatted. They must be formatted for the O/S that will use them, just like a new disk on a physical CD. |
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RE: Newbie OpenVMS 8.3 Installation Issues - Home Block Not Found |
martinv2
Member
Posts: 107
Location: Goslar, Germany
Joined: 02.10.07 |
| Posted on December 11 2010 06:31 |
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Patrick,
the first question of the VMS installation procedure - even before the selection of the target disk - is whether you want to INITIALIZE or to PRESERVE. If you choose INITIALIZE, the target disk will be initialized before beginning installation. The default value of PRESERVE will only work if the target disk is already initialized (and OpenVMS already installed on it).
HTH.
Martin
http://de.openvms.org/martinv/ |
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