The collected works of sgi_mark

I would love to see OpenVMS on a well-built Integrity-class system running on the AMD64 architecture. Frankly, if HP-UX died tomorrow, it wouldn't really be that much of a loss - sure, there are some nice features, but nothing that makes it truly unique given the competition. VMS is a wonderful system that really is totally different to anything else out there. It'll never happen, but a VMS renaissance would make me very happy

Anyone in the UK have any OpenVMS capable workstation hardware ? I'm after an Alpha or Itanium, e.g. Alphastation, PWS, ZX2000/6000 etc.

If it helps, I also have a 600Mhz Fuel (V12/2Gb) and a 2x400Mhz Octane 2 (V10/1Gb) in great condition. I'd consider trading one or both of them (or adding them to an offer), depending on what turns up.

Ta!

-Mark

Only problem with going down the "small server" route is noise. Most of the time it won't bother me, but the system will have to be located in the same room as my "music room", so I really need it to be quiet as possible. I appreciate total silence is just never going to happen on an Alpha or Itanium system, but if I could avoid the "Jet taking off" effect, it'd be much more pleasant

Interested - but shipping from Australia to the UK would probably be prohibitive

See http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/23 - follow the links to pointers on Alpha and Integrity kit. For Alpha, the DS10L seemed to be a popular choice a few years ago. Vax is not really worth bothering with given the ease with which you can run OpenVMS under SimH on x86. Unless of course, you really want the experience of running it on the real kit, but an emulated Vax is going to be much more flexible, not to mention better performing.

-Mark

Just gotta chime in here. Depending on what you are doing, they can make for amazing webservers. If it's purely static content (or reverse proxying / SSL offloading), and you use a properly multi-threaded webserver, even the T1000 and T2000 can eat requests like there's no tomorrow. I had a couple of T1000s (booting from a SAN) fronting a bunch of V240s on some very busy websites; the T1000s barely broke a sweat, and they could handle an insane amount of traffic. Another great niche we found was as LDAP servers - a pair of T2000s ran iPlanet/SunOne/whatever-they-were-calling-it-back-then really well.

Of course, anything dynamic and they started to choke[1] but for their niche, they were amazing. It's a real shame what happened with Oracle, otherwise I'd have no hesitation recommending a similar architecture again.

-Mark

[1] An interesting demonstration of where you could see how even the poor single-threaded performance of a T1 could scale up, was to compile Apache alongside an AMD64 box. The AMD64 box got through the "./configure" step minutes before the T2000, but as soon as you got to doing a parallel make ("gmake -j64"), it ripped through the compilation and left the quad-core AMD64 in the dust.

Hi all,

I've just got myself an Intellistation 285, and am having trouble with the service processor. When I got the system, I cabled the SP to my network, and could access it over the default 192.168.2.147 and 192.168.3.147 addresses.

I logged into the ASMI webpage, and changed the IP address details so it would obtain a static IP. From this point on, I cannot communicate with it at all. It appeared to be listening on the new IP address (I could ping it), but telnet and https connections timed out.

I have tried with both a straight-through and null modem cables at 19200 baud; nothing happens there either. However, if I connect using a straight through connection at 19200-8N1, I get regular "garbage" displayed on my terminal (the diamond-question mark and left square bracket) at 1 second intervals. I have tried all the usual baud rates I can think of, and no joy.

I have also removed the service processor and removed the battery for a minute before re-installing it. It now comes back on, and grabs an address from DHCP but again I cannot connect to it using telnet, serial or https.

One oddity is that when I attempt a connection using openssl, it does respond but I get the following :



So there is something there and listening, but for whatever reason it's not responding correctly.

Had anyone seen anything like this before, or have any ideas on what to do next ? All of the documentation I have seen indicates that this *should* just work (and indeed, it did for a short while before I changed the IP address). It's also worth pointing out that the rest if the system is fine and powers on with no trouble; it's just the SP that I can't use...

Thanks,

-Mark

Nevermind; fixed it. Seems like you have to let the firmware come up and the green light is flashing on the front panel *before* you plug a network cable in. Counter-intuitive, I know, but there you have it. Found this out here : https://sites.google.com/site/rhdisk0/u ... are/ibm285

That's a great resource, thanks for writing up your finds! I would have been stuck for days without that guide to the tricky SP. One thing you might know the answer to (sorry for the derail, but it's my own thread ) - what is there in the way of environmental monitoring on the 285 ?

I can't find *anything* to monitor temperature, fan speeds and so on. The closest I got was the "missing hard disk" ODM notification hack in the AIX LVM documentation. From what I gather, I might be out of luck, but I just find that a little hard to believe considering the cheapest PoS x86 Dell server is chock full of sensors...

Thanks,

-Mark

No flash (unless some of the free alterneratives such as Gnash etc. can build and run what you need. VPN software you would likewise need to investigate and see if there is a client or something that would build on AIX. For virtualization, you can always use WPARS, which are like the AIX equivalent of Solaris Zones or BSD jails. Essentially gives you compartmentalized instances of AIX that have their own IP address, LVM volumes and so on.

Note that you can always install Linux with a suitable graphics card, which would solve some of these problems, but if you're going to run Linux you may as well go x86 anyway.

One thing I would add, after having mine for a week - the 285 is *Loud*. Even with the baffle on the back, you are not going to want to run this as a regular desktop (deskside?) system; it will drive you mad. Fortunately, mine is in a location that it doesn't bother me but you sound like you'd like to use it as a PowerPC "desktop" system.

So, I'm biting the bullet and downsizing some of my collection. Specs are in the subject title, it's a very nice SPARC machine running Solaris 10. I'll also chuck in a Sony flat screen monitor with it if you're interested (specs and picture to follow). It's in good condition, although there are some scratches on the red plastic; see pictures for detail.

I'm based in Surrey in the UK, and really don't want the hassle of arranging shipping. I therefore need someone to either pick it up, or for me to deliver it. I can reach pretty much anywhere around the M25 most evenings with no difficulty; if you're further afield then we might be able to work something out as I do a fair amount of travelling and could probably drop it off or meet on one of my trips.

PM me with any offers, or reply below with any questions/comments etc.

Update : This is now going for free, otherwise it's going to scrap. Pickup only...

Update 2 : Collection arranged, thanks for everyone's offers.

HELL YES. Just sent you a PM.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/10/openvms_death_notice/

A sad day indeed. Although not entirely unexpected... I wonder how many VMS customers will take HP up on their suggestion that they port to NSK or HP-UX ? And will those two platforms last much longer ?

Quick bump. I've had no interest in this, so I'm offering it for free. Otherwise, it's going to go to scrap...