Installing OpenVMS on a MicroVAX without CD-ROM, tape or spare HDD

[onre]

I thought I might just as well document this here, as the information might be useful for someone stuck in a similar situation.

Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about OpenVMS. My skills are pretty much limited to basic dabbling.

My scenario: a MicroVAX 3100-30 with one hard disk, no CD-ROM or tape drive. Also, no other systems with SCSI adapters easily available. I wanted to install OpenVMS 7.3.

First I installed simh on my laptop, giving it access to the Ethernet port on the laptop. Then, I installed OpenVMS 7.3 on that, which was rather straightforward. I used hostname VVAX, which will appear later in this instruction. After installation, I ran @CLUSTER_CONFIG and added the MicroVAX as a node in my new cluster. When giving machines addresses, one must adhere to this rule:

SCSSYSTEMID = (DECnet area *1024) + node number; thus, DECnet address 1.1 = SCSSYSTEMID 1025.

Then I connected the machines together with an Ethernet cable and told the MicroVAX to boot off the network and it Just Worked on first try, generated itself a new system image, rebooted and rejoined the cluster. To share the installation media, on the simh VVAX I did:

MOUNT /CLUSTER DUA2 VAXVMS073

A short walk to the MicroVAX console, logged in as SYSTEM (same password as on VVAX) and ran this:

DIR VVAX$DUA2:[000000]

The CD contents were displayed. Yay!

Next I mounted the MicroVAX local disk as "foreign" - I think this means that the disk device can be accessed, but accessing the filesystem is not attempted. The HDD device name on my system is DKA300. I restored the VMS073.B save set and did a cool trick someone suggested on Usenet a long time ago - copied the other installation savesets to the local disk so that they can be found directly from there. This allows you to use the same drive as both installation source media and destination. Commands executed were:

MOUNT /FOREIGN DKA300:
BACKUP VMS073.B/SAVE_SET DKA300:/IMAGE
$! let's mount it again so that we can actually read the filesystem
DISMOUNT DKA300:
MOUNT /OV=ID DKA300: 
$! copy stuff as described
COPY VVAX$DUA2:[000000]VMS073.* DKA300:[000000]
$! you could copy the DECnet stuff as well now, if you want - I just copied TCP/IP
COPY VVAX$DUA2:[TCPIP_VAX051.KIT]*.* DKA300:[000000]
$! finish and reboot from local hard disk
DISMOUNT DKA300:
SHUTDOWN

At the chevron prompt I issued B DKA300 and was instantly greeted by the OpenVMS 7.3 installer. I told the installer to use DKA300: as installation source when prompted, and everything just worked. After installation I ran the license PAK file and installed the TCP/IP protocol suite.

A bonus picture of the system running AUTOGEN:

I know, I really should clean up the VT220.

 

[Dare]

Thank you for the instructions! I've been wanting to explore OpenVMS on my make-shift 3500 (essentially a KA650 plus mem/ethernet/scsi in an open QBus cage). I have a SCSI2SD card, but this way sounds like more fun.

 

[g4ugm]

That looks great. My 3100 has 5.5 and it would I think be better with 7.3..
... Just been sorting out a SCSI CD drive with the proper sector size, but I am not tempted to copy your method...

 

[tradde]

Pretty neat. Congrats on that.

 

[onre]

Thanks!

I typed the instructions based on my notes, so can't guarantee 100% accuracy. I first tried this on two SIMH emulator instances and have that setup available as well, so if you run into problems, I can try to help.

Couple of additional things:

To get anything to work, you need the hobbyist licenses. Easiest way of installing these: if on Windows, configure simh to use telnet console and use a terminal emulator such as PuTTY to connect, so you get proper VT terminal emulation. On a Unix-style system you already have a proper terminal emulation. Login to the virtual VAX as SYSTEM, then just EDIT LICENSES.COM (or whatever you like to call the file) and paste the license file contents you got from the hobbyist program. After that, press Ctrl-Z to save the file, then execute it by typing @LICENSES.COM. You can also copy this file to the target drive to avoid another round of copy-pasting over the VAX console.

If EDIT just spits control codes at you instead of drawing the screen nicely, press Ctrl-Z to immediately quit it and try this command: SET TERM/DEV=VT200/NOEI

If TCPIP fails to start with an error about insufficient INTSTKPAGES, do this:

- EDIT SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT
- add a line with: MIN_INTSTKPAGES=12
- Ctrl-Z to save and quit
- run @SYS$UPDATE:AUTOGEN SAVPARAMS REBOOT NOFEEDBACK

If you can't even install TCPIP because of insufficient global page count, do the same thing with MIN_GBLPAGES=25000. My system has 24 megabytes of memory and this provided large enough contiguous page region for the installation to succeed.

To configure and start TCPIP run: @SYS$MANAGER:TCPIP$CONFIG

 

[DECtechGuy]

Did this myself and discovered that what may seem daunting is actually an amazingly easy process! At the moment my VAXserver 3100 is running my VAXstation 3100 as a satellite in my small VMScluster with local storage for page files.

That looks great. My 3100 has 5.5 and it would I think be better with 7.3..
... Just been sorting out a SCSI CD drive with the proper sector size, but I am not tempted to copy your method...

I'm using a Toshiba XM-5301B in my VAXstation 3100, installed 7.3, 6.1, and even 5.5 along with plenty of DEC software from an official consolidated software library. I can recommend it!