PAGESWAPPER VAX/VMS Clusters The DEC presentation entitled "VAX Cluster Concept" was of particular interest to VMS users attending the Fall DECUS Symposium in Anaheim. The basic idea had been presented at Atlanta (hidden under the name "Future Directions in High Availability"), but rather than diminish this into a "repeat" session, that previous exposure seemed to heighten interest from users at Anaheim. The basic thrust is one of interconnecting nearby VAXes with a degree of association somewhat between traditional "tightly coupled" and "loosely coupled" techniques. In particular, VMS developers are looking to sharing disks (and therefore Files-11 files, and RMS and DBMS records) between VAXes, not as the special kludge some users have wanted for particular problems, but as a normal method of doing business. Like most of those DEC-presented topics that cannot just be gotten from the documentation at home, the cluster discussions in Anaheim were on a tentative basis, since there has been no official product announcement. In fact, a particular source of annoyance to VMS developers seemed to be that the Large Computer Group (PDP-10 and TOPS-20 machines) had more latitude for discussions of a similar nature, because supporting hardware had been officially "announced" for use with the LCG machines. LCG was allowed to display a mock-up of the relevant hardware connections, a CI bus between machines with an HSC-50 mass storage controller hanging off the bus for access from multiple computers. DEC offers CI bus interfaces for 780s, but the only announced software support available is DECnet, which is quite incapable of filling the 70 megabit bandwidth of the CI hardware. The CI bus for which the HSC-50 is designed meets the same electrical and protocol specifications as the CI bus you can buy for a VAX, but VMS developers were not allowed to predict that the HSC-50 would be the vehicle subsequently used for implementing VMS clusters. Seasoned observers (that's newspaperese for friends of the reporter) at Anaheim generally felt the mass storage controller DEC eventually hangs on the VAX CI bus is much more likely to be the HSC-50 than some competitive product built by IBM... 1 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 In this issue... In this issue... VAX/VMS Clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 In this issue... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Software Shipment Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Editor's Workfile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Known Serious Bugs in VMS 3.1 . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Proposed Operating Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . 6 VAX System SIG Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 VAX-UNIX Where Are You? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Top Ten SIRs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Material for publication in the Pageswapper should be sent to: Larry Kilgallen Box 81, MIT Station Cambridge, MA 02139-0901 Preference is given to material submitted as machine-readable Runoff source. Software Shipment Survey It is not always obvious when new software from DEC is released, and in some cases sites have missed a layered product version through DEC error, only to have it hold up subsequent installation of some other DEC software due to compatibility problems. If we (and the term is WE) can swing it, one possibility is to share the information about receipt of SDC shipments between various LUGs. This should be of particular assistance to sites which do not have an active LUG. For instance: Product Version LUG Meeting Date Status VMS 3.1 Boston VAX LUG 14-Dec-1982 90% of eligible sites have it (some just got it) That information is for real, if similar surveys of various VAX software products (even not from DEC if there is a large enough sample space) are taken at every LUG meeting in the country and mailed to the PAGESWAPPER, we will have ourselves a column. 2 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Editor's Workfile Editor's Workfile It is hardly front-page news, but we have changed Pageswapper editors. Jim Ebright and I met at the Symposium (as usually happens) and basically agreed to trade jobs. Now you will find Jim's deft hand editing the Network SIG newsletter, while I take care of the Pageswapper. Aside from the consideration that Jim's day-to-day work is more closely tied to communications than mine, another factor which brought us to our swap is that there is a push on to put the Pageswapper out on a Monthly basis. Jim has been through the rigors of a frequent publication schedule, and wanted to give someone else that great opportunity, while I had been handling the less-frequent Network SIG newsletter and was gung-ho to try a tougher deadline schedule. You will probably find that a monthly Pageswapper is a thinner Pageswapper, but the tradeoff is to print dated material in a timely fashion. A couple of attempts at looking for time-sensitive information are the bug reports and software shipment reports to be found elsewhere in this issue. Both of these will disappear, however, unless I hear from YOU about what you learn. If the whole Pageswapper consists of what I pick up, we might just as well switch to national publication of what happens in my home LUG. In terms of production methods, I will favor submissions that are in machine readable form. Media will be returned (no RM05s please), if your name and address is on the media (not just the package). My own deadline with the DECUS office staff is to turn in camera-ready copy on the last business day of each month. Your submissions should reach me before the last day, and extra time is always nice. I hope we will be able to emphasize journalistic quality in the Pageswapper, and minimize dry tabular material. Unfortunately that is not always possible. Included in this issue you will find a copy of the proposed Operating Procedures for the VAX Systems SIG. We are required to print these so that you can vote on them to approve them (they were printed previously, but there have been a few minor changes since them). Just from the Pageswapper Editor's point of view, I hope you don't vote to reject these, or we will get yet another version for a subsequent newsletter. Another tabular item is the listing of SIG leadership. These people can provide guidance if you write to them with a question about their area of responsibility. They can also use your help if you can spare some time to help on their working group or other SIG activity. 3 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Known Serious Bugs in VMS 3.1 Known Serious Bugs in VMS 3.1 This spot is an attempt at sharing in a timely manner user knowledge of serious problems with the latest released version of software from DEC. This first set of problems could be collected because there was an opportunity to compare notes at the Fall DECUS Symposium, but from here on out it will depend on readers mailing contributions to the Pageswapper. This is not by any means a substitute for the official cycle of SPRs, Software Dispatch responses, fixes included in maintenance updates to DEC software. With monthly publication of the Pageswapper, however, we hope to provide a bit of advance warning of potential serious (e.g. system-crashing) bugs so that other sites can take applicable precautions before the next maintenance release is available from DEC. 1. Corruption of disk structure by stand-alone BACKUP Scenario If the /RECORD qualifier is used in stand-alone backup, even with a kit generated after updating to VMS 3.1, extension file headers on the source disk will be corrupted. Technical details The minimal ACP used in the stand-alone context does not take into account the different layout of the extension file headers and clobbers map area. Work-around Leave out the /RECORD qualifier until a fix is available. (If the damage is already done, try restoring the save set just created. The save-set is not affected by this bug, just the source disk.) 2. System hang when lineprinter is accessed Scenario With just one known DEC printer (from CSS), and with many printers from other vendors, a VMS 3.0 or VMS 3.1 system will hang as soon as an attempt is made to use the printer. 4 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Known Serious Bugs in VMS 3.1 Technical details In at least some cases there is an apparent error in the order in which the printer CSR is cleared and interrupts are re-enabled when the printer does not come "ready" quite in time for immediate output of the next character. The result is a system hung going into and out of the printer driver, with simply an REI each time because the interrupt was not "expected". The timing on most DEC printer (controllers) does not bring one through this code path. Users believe there are other scenarios for which DEC is testing fixes, but the Pageswapper has no details. Work-around Avoid using the printer in question (the only other method is local patching, which would certainly conflict with eventual DEC patches). 3. Crash in IO Abort routine resulting from Remote Terminal use Scenario If a user has insufficient BYTLM quota the system may crash when that user is connected via a DECnet remote terminal. Technical details If quota is not available for allocation of a message buffer, the remote terminal driver dispatches to the IO Abort routine without restoring the address of the I/O Request Packet to its proper register. Work-around Ensure DECnet users have sufficient Buffered I/O Byte Count Quota for the largest QIO they will issue (increase the quota if the system still crashes from this bug). Leave resource-wait mode enabled. 5 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Proposed Operating Procedures Proposed Operating Procedures As outlined below, all SIG members will be receiving a ballot from the Executive Secretary of the DECUS/U.S. Chapter for ratification of these operating procedures. VAX SYSTEMS SIG SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP OPERATING PROCEDURES I. NAME The name of the organization is the VAX Systems Special Interest Group (SIG). II. PURPOSE AND AFFILIATION A. The VAX System SIG is established as a special user group under the bylaws of the DECUS/U.S. Chapter. B. The SIG is established, as empowered by the DECUS bylaws, to serve members having a common interest to: 1. Promote the interchange of information concerning the utilization of computers, computer peripheral equipment and software manufactured and marketed by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DIGITAL). 2. Establish standards and provide channels to facilitate the exchange of computer programs between SIG members. 3. Provide feedback to DIGITAL on equipment, software and other needs which may arise. III. MEMBERSHIP A. SIG membership shall be open to any DECUS installation or associate member worldwide. B. SIG membership shall be established by submission of a formal application to the DECUS/U.S. Chapter. C. The Steering Committee shall have the right to revoke SIG membership for cause. IV. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP STRUCTURE 6 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Proposed Operating Procedures A. STEERING COMMITTEE The Administration of the SIG is entrusted to a Steering Committee composed of seven elected members and three or more appointed at-large members. These members are referred to as the executive board of the Steering Committee and are the voting members of the Steering Committee. Elected members will be elected at large. The working group chairmen are non-voting members of the Steering Committee. The various DEC assigned "DEC counterparts" will be ex-officio members of the Steering Committee. A quorum of the Steering Committee is fifty (50) percent of the executive board. The officers are chairman, vice-chairman, long-range planning officer, newsletter editor, library coordinator, symposium coordinator, SIR coordinator, secretary, and LUG coordinator. At the first Steering Committee meeting following the election of the seven elected Steering Committee members, they will elect one of their group to the position of chairman. The first duty of the chairman will be to assign the remaining elected members to the various officer positions within the Steering Committee. 1. CHAIRMAN The chairman is the chief executive and operational officer of the SIG. The chairman is elected to a one-year renewable term by vote of the seven elected SIG Steering Committee members and holds the position at the pleasure of the Steering Committee. The responsibilities of the chairman are: i. To perform the normal administrative functions necessary to the accomplishment of the SIG goals. ii. To interface to DEC and DECUS as main liaison for the VAX SIG. iii. To create and adapt interim procedures and policies when necessary on behalf of the SIG as a whole. iv. To interface with VAX SIGs in other DECUS chapters. 7 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Proposed Operating Procedures 2. VICE-CHAIRMAN The vice-chairman shall, in the absence of the chairman, perform the duties of the chairman. 3. LONG-RANGE PLANNING OFFICER The long-range planning officer shall provide guidance and direction for the future activities of the organization. In addition, he shall provide the chairman with recommendations for SIG organization and goals. 4. NEWSLETTER EDITOR The newsletter editor has editorial responsiblity for the PAGESWAPPER (the SIG newsletter). 5. LIBRARY COORDINATOR The library coordinator is the main liaison between the SIG and the DECUS library committee and the DECUS library staff to insure that the needs of the SIG and its members in this area are satisfied. The library coordinator may solicit such people from the membership for any portion of his duties or areas of responsibility as he sees fit and may organize such people into a library working group. The library coordinator organizes and oversees the SIG tape copy activity. 6. SYMPOSIUM COORDINATOR The symposium coordinator coordinates the SIG's activities at the DECUS Symposia. The symposium coordinator's responsibilities include, but are not necessarily limited to: i. Serve on and represent the interests of the SIG to the Symposium Committee of DECUS. ii. Solicit input from the SIG. iii. Organize submissions received and prepare a schedule. iv. Negotiate scheduling with the Symposium Committee. v. Provide and organize such printed material as handouts, reviews and papers as may be produced in conjunction with the symposium. The symposium coordinator may solicit such people 8 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Proposed Operating Procedures from the membership for any portion of these duties as he may deem useful and expedient to their completion. 7. SIR COORDINATOR The SIR coordinator shall have responsibility for organizing the submission of and balloting on System Improvement Requests. The System Improvement Request coordinator duties are: i. Solicit suggestions for system improvements from the membership. ii. Collect and arrange suggestions to be evaluated by ballot of the membership. iii. Report to DEC and the membership of the SIG the tabulations and correlations of balloting. The SIR coordinator may solicit such people from the membership for any portion of these duties as he may deem useful and expedient to their completion. 8. AT-LARGE MEMBERS The at-large members of the Steering Committee are appointed by the chairman with the approval of the executive board and serve at his pleasure. There may be as many at-large members as the chairman may deem useful and expedient. At-large members are voting members of the Steering Committee for all Steering Committee purposes. B. WORKING GROUPS A working group is a group of users who have a common interest in a small section of the VAX community. the working group chairman controls the direction of the working group. When the interest area of the working group overlaps the charter of another SIG(s), the working group is a combined working group of the several SIGs. The working group chairmen report to the SIG executive board. the working group chairman is a member of the VAX Systems SIG Steering Committee. The working group members of combined working groups should be members of the several SIGs. The goals of the working group are: 9 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Proposed Operating Procedures 1. Interfacing between the VAX Systems SIG and the other SIG(s) to assure a complete coverage of the issues considered important. 2. Support the SIG by providing a manpower pool that can assist the various members of the Steering Committee in the exercise of their duties. This includes the generation of sessions, the generation of newsletter articles, the generation of library submissions, and the generation and review of SIR requests. C. LUGS The members of the SIG are encouraged to associate themselves with Local Users' Groups in their area, and all such groups are encouraged to maintain communications with the SIG Steering Committee. V. ELECTIONS A. NOMINATIONS The Steering Committee meets at the spring DECUS symposium in even years and nominates a slate of officers to fill the seven at-large elected positions. This slate will be announced at the symposium as well as published in the first newsletter following the spring symposium. Additional nominations will be accepted from installation and associate membership for a period of up to sixty days following the end of the spring symposium. All nominations must be in writing with the signature of fifteen installation or associate members and should be submitted to chapter executive secretary. B. ELECTIONS The chapter executive secretary compiles a ballot within two weeks following the close of nominations. the ballot will include a brief summary of the qualifications of each candidate and will be mailed to all installation and associate members. Each ballot will include instructions to vote for seven candidates. All ballots must be returned to the chapter executive secretary by the due date specified on the ballot. The ballots are counted within one week following the due date. No ballot is counted which is not received by the executive secretary by the end of the business day on the due date regardless of postmark or other such consideration. All candidates and Steering Committee 10 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Proposed Operating Procedures members are notified immediately of the results of the election. The membership will be notified at the fall symposium. C. TERM OF OFFICE The term of office of all elected officers begins at the end of the fall symposium and shall last for a period of two years. Installation of officers takes place during the last fall symposium SIG business meeting. VI. AMENDMENTS Amendments to these procedures of operation may be proposed by the Steering Committee or by the written petition of fifty (50) members of the SIG. Amendment ratification is accomplished by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast in an election carried out under the same conditions as that for an officer election. Amendments to the operating procedure shall not conflict with any provision of the DECUS bylaws or the DECUS/U.S. Chapter bylaws. VII. VACANCY IN OFFICE Should any office become vacant, it is immediately filled by the appointment of the chairman with the approval of the executive board. In the event of a vacancy in the office of the chairman, the executive board shall elect a new chairman as specified above. Such election shall be conducted of all executive board members by the chairman, or in the absence of the chairman by the vice-chairman, or in the absence of the vice-chairman by the newsletter editor. VIII. IMPLEMENTATION A. At the Spring 1982 Symposium the SIG chairman will poll the present Steering Committee to produce a slate of candidates and will call for elections under the election procedures. B. Simultaneously with this election, these proposed operating procedures will be submitted to all current members of the SIG for ratification under the procedure for amendment. C. In the event that these operating procedures are not ratified, the first order of business of the new Steering Committee elected by this vote will be to generate new operating procedures acceptable to the SIG membership. 11 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Proposed Operating Procedures D. The elected executive board will take office at the closing business meeting of the Fall 1982 Symposium. IX. INTERPRETATION Should any dispute arise fromt he interpretation of these operating guidelines, the chairman of the SIG shall be considered the final authority for any such interpretation. 12 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 VAX System SIG Leadership VAX System SIG Leadership STEERING COMMITTEE Chair - Ross W. Miller, Online Data Processing, Inc. N 637 Hamilton, Spokane, WA 99202 Assistant Chair - Art McClinton, MITRE Corporation 1820 Dolley Madison Boulevard, McLean, VA 22102 Advisor - Al Siegel, Battelle Memorial Institute 505 King Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201 Secretary - Margaret Knox, Computation Center University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 Working Group Coordinator - A. Hermes III, Seismograph Service Corp. P.O. Box 1590, Tulsa, OK 74102 System Improvement Request - Gary Grebus, Battelle Columbis Labs 505 King Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201 Librarian - Joe L. Bingham, Mantech International 2320 Mill Road, Alexandria, VA 22314 Tape Copy Coordinator - David Leonard, Advanced Data Management 15-17 Main Street, Kingston, NJ 08528 Newsletter Editor - Lawrence J. Kilgallen Box 81, MIT Station, Cambridge, MA 02139-0901 Symposium Coordinator - Jeffrey S. Jalbert Dennison University, Granville, OH 43023 LUG Coordinator - Bob Robbins, Fairchild Wescon Systems Inc. P.O. Box 3041, Sarasota, FL 33578 WORKING GROUP CHAIRS Education - Dr. Mark Hale, University of Florida 411 Weil Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611 Dan Fleury, University of Hartford West Hardford, CT 06117 Data Management SIG Interface - Doug Dickey, CTEC, Inc. 6862 Elm Street, McLean, VA 22101 Internals - Carl E. Friedberg, In House Systems 165 William Street, New York, NY 10038 13 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 VAX System SIG Leadership Hardware - James R. Cutler, Software Results Corporation 2887 Silver Drive, Columbus, OH 43211 Real Time/Process Control - Dennis Frayne, McDonnell Douglas 5301 Bolsa Avenue, Huntington Beach, CA 92646 Larry Robertson, Bear Computer Systems Inc. 5651 Case Avenue, North Hollywood, CA System Management - Rod Burr, Commercial Union Insurance Companies MIS/25th Floor, One Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108 Commercial - Stephen Gill, Ball Aerospace P.O. Box 1062, Boulder, Colorado 80306 Security - C. Doug Brown, Sandia Labs P.O. Box 2644, Albuqueque, NM 87185 Network - Mark Paulk, Systems Development Inc. 4610 Bradford Avenue, Huntsville, AL 35805 Foreign Peripheral HW/SW - A. Hermes III, Seismograph Service Corp. P.O. Box 1590, Tulsa, OK 74102 Office Automation, Douglas J. Wilson, MIT Joint Computer Facility Room 5-137, 22 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 RSX-VMS Migration - Jim Downward, KMG Fusion Inc. 3621 So State Road, P.O. Box 1567, Ann Arbor MI 48106 UNIX - Mark Bartelt, Research Development Corp 170 Elizabeth Street, Toronto, Canada, M6G 1X8 VAX-UNIX Where Are You? The SIG is officially named the VAX Systems SIG so as not to exclude sites running UNIX on their VAX. But the PAGESWAPPER generally ends up being a VMS-oriented publication because those are the articles which are submitted. If you have some VAX-UNIX related material to share, send it in. General UNIX material is better sent to the UNIX SIG, but if there is some VAX-specific UNIX material, we welcome it here. 14 PAGESWAPPER - January 1983 - Volume 4 Number 3 Top Ten SIRs Top Ten SIRs At the Fall Symposium in Anaheim, the Top 10 SIRs chosen by your votes were presented to DEC: SIR Number Description 15 Rollin/Rollout of a process 20 Better technical information on Sysgen 44 Default protection for new file same as preceding version 13 Generalized terminal support 11 Save disconnected Phone Sessions 43 Access control lists for files 116 Provide retransmittal of DCL commands 62 Log all CRT activity into a file 127 Structured programming constructs for DCL 8 Suppress extra printer offline messages Although an informal verbal response was given at the symposium, we hope to have to official DEC written response in time for the February issue of the PAGESWAPPER. Also, plans are underway for the next set of SIR balloting, so that the process can be completed in time to give the top ten to DEC in advance of the Spring Symposium. 15