Migration to CHARON-VAX and CHARON-PDP for Windows

Introduction

This section describes how to migrate your VAX system to CHARON-VAX. We will use a sample MicroVAX 3600 system to demonstrate the migration procedure. The process is similar for all CHARON-VAX models.

CHARON-PDP/11 migration is done in similar way except for the step of acquiring the QBUS addresses and vectors directly from console. Instead this information should be collected directly from the RSX11/RT11 operating system installed on the host to be migrated. Please refer to the RSX11/RT11 User's Guide for guidelines.

If CHARON-VAX based virtual system needs to be created from scratch, refer to this Application Note describing how to find proper Qbus addresses and Vectors for each virtul device.

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Creating CHARON Virtual Machine

As a first step it is required to create a CHARON Virtual Machine (VM) using CHARON Virtual Machines Manager in the following way:

Press the "Create VM from Template" button:

Specify the HP Alpha model to be emulated and the name of the VM, press the "Create" button:

The VM will be created:

Select the VM and switch to the "VM Configuration" tab.

Press the "Edit Configuration file" button:

The VM configuration file will be opened in Windows default text editor. Now we are ready to update this file to reprocude the target HP Alpha configuration.

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Collecting information about the source VAX system

The first step is to determine the exact configuration of your VAX hardware in order to create the CHARON-VAX configuration file.

Turn on your source VAX system. At the ">>>" prompt, issue "show qbus" and "show device" commands:

>>>show qbus
Scan of Qbus I/O Space
-200000DC (760334) = FFFF (300) RQDX3/KDA50/RRD50/RQC25/KFQSA-DISK
-200000DE (760336) = 0B40
-20000124 (760444) = FFFF (304) TQK50/TQK70/TU81E/RV20/KFQSA-TAPE
-20000126 (760446) = 0BC0
-20000140 (760500) = 0080 (310) DHQ11/DHV11/CXA16/CXB16/CXY08
-20000142 (760502) = F081
-20000144 (760504) = DD18
-20000146 (760506) = 0140
-20000148 (760510) = 0000
-2000014A (760512) = 0000
-2000014C (760514) = 8000
-2000014E (760516) = 0000
-20000150 (760520) = 0080 (320) DHQ11/DHV11/CXA16/CXB16/CXY08
-20000152 (760522) = F081
-20000154 (760524) = DD18
-20000156 (760526) = 0140
-20000158 (760530) = 0000
-2000015A (760532) = 0000
-2000015C (760534) = 8000
-2000015E (760536) = 0000
-20001468 (772150) = FFFF (154) RQDX3/KDA50/RRD50/RQC25/KFQSA-DISK
-2000146A (772152) = 0B40
-20001920 (774440) = FF08 (120) DELQA/DEQNA/DESQA
-20001922 (774442) = FF00
-20001924 (774444) = FF01
-20001926 (774446) = FF02
-20001928 (774450) = FFD2
-2000192A (774452) = FF14
-2000192C (774454) = C000
-2000192E (774456) = 1030
-20001940 (774500) = FFFF (260) TQK50/TQK70/TU81E/RV20/KFQSA-TAPE
-20001942 (774502) = 0BC0
-20001F40 (777500) = 0020 (004) IPCR

Scan of Qbus Memory Space
>>>

>>>show device
UQSSP Disk Controller 0 (772150)
-DUA0 (RZ23)
-DUA1 (RZ24)

UQSSP Disk Controller 1 (760334)
-DUB2 (RZ25)
-DUB3 (RZ26)

UQSSP Tape Controller 0 (774500)
-MUA0 (TK50)

UQSSP Tape Controller 1 (760444)
-MUB3 (TK50)

Ethernet Adapter 0 (774440)
-XQA0 (08-00-01-02-D3-CC)

The source VAX configuration in this example is:

Controller	Address	Devices on controller
RQDX3	772150	-DUA0 (RZ23) -DUA1 (RZ24)
RQDX3	760334	-DUB2 (RZ25) -DUB3 (RZ26)
TQK50	774500	-MUA0 (TK50)
TQK50	760444	-MUB3 (TK50)
DHQ11	760520
DHQ11	760500
DESQA	774440	-XQA0

To find out the exact types of controllers please refer to the source VAX system documentation.

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Creation of CHARON-VAX configuration file

Using the above info, the following configuration can be created:

...

#
# First RQDX3 controller on address 772150
#
load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUA address=017772150
set DUA container[0]="C:\My disks\rz23.vdisk"
set DUA container[1]="C:\My disks\rz24.vdisk"

#
# Second RQDX3 controller on address 760334
#
load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUB address=017760334
set DUB container[2]="C:\My disks\rz25.vdisk"
set DUB container[3]="C:\My disks\rz26.vdisk"

#
# First TQK50 controller on address 774500
#
load TQK50/TQK50 MUA address=017774500
set MUA container[0]="C:\My tapes\tape1.vtape"

#
# Second TQK50 controller on address 760444
#
load TQK50/TQK50 MUB address=017760444
set MUB container[3]="C:\My tapes\tape2.vtape"

#
# First DHQ11 controller on address 760500
#
load DHQ11/DHV11 TXA address=017760500
load virtual_serial_line/chserial TXA0 port=10010
set TXA line[0]=TXA0

#
# Second DHQ11 controller on address 760520
#
load DHQ11/DHV11 TXB address=017760520
load virtual_serial_line/chserial TXB0 port=10011
set TXB line[0]=TXB0

#
# DESQA controller on address 774440
#
load DESQA/DEQNA XQA address=017774440 interface=XQA0 load packet_port/chnetwrk XQA0 interface="connection:Charon"

...

Note the Qbus addresses specification: The number is prefixed with "0", meaning it is an octal value. The number of digits reflects the 22 bit Qbus architecture.

Additional DHQ11 serial lines can be mapped later. For now, only 2 lines are configured. They are mapped to IP ports 10010 and 10011.

DESQA is mapped to a network interface having the name "Charon". This interface will be used for CHARON-VAX (see the Installation section for more details) on this particular host.

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Making disk images

In our example, possible mappings of RQDX3 and TQK50 tapes include physical devices and disk and tape images. Tape images should not be manually created, whereas you have to provision disk images, as described below.

Our example creates disk images of the original physical type. In reality, this step is the best opportunity in the migration to provision bigger disks to get extra storage space.

Create special directories for storing disk and tape images, as needed. Created directories are referenced in the sample configuration file above.

...> cd C:

\
C:\> mkdir "My disks"

C:\> mkdir "My tapes"

This operation can also be done using Windows Explorer.

Next, create disk images using the "MkDisk" utility.

Start the "MkDisk" utility from the "Start" menu:

The main dialog of the utility will appear:

Select "VAX" in the "Select System" drop-down menu, "MSCP" in the "All Controllers" drop-down menu and "RZ24" (for example) in the "Select Disk Type" drop-down menu, then press "Create Disk Image" button:

The utility will ask you to specify the output file name. Select the "C:\My disks" directory created just before (or create it directly in the dialog) and press "Save" button:

The "MkDisk" utility will create the requested disk image:

Repeat this sequence for the disks "RZ23.vdisk", "RZ25.vdisk" and "RZ26.vdisk". Put them in the same "C:\My disks" folder.

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Installation of VAX operating system

The next step is to transfer the data from the source VAX system to CHARON-VAX. The easiest way to do this is via backup over the network. But for this operation we need a bootable, network-enabled operating system on a CHARON-VAX disk image or physical disk.

The example configures the CHARON-VAX MicroVAX 3600 system for installation of VAX/VMS from a distribution CD-ROM (usually it is "\\.\CdRom0" if the host has only one CD-ROM drive):

#
# First RQDX3 controller on address 772150 with addition of 3 units: a disk for VAX/VMS, storage disk and CD-ROM drive
#
load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUA address=017772150
set DUA container[0]="C:\My disks\rz23.vdisk"
set DUA container[1]="C:\My disks\rz24.vdisk"set DUA container[2]="C:\My disks\new_vms_system.vdisk"
set DUA container[3]="C:\My disks\backup_storage.vdisk"
set DUA container[4]="\\.\CdRom0"

DUA3 will be the disk where all the source disks will be copied, so its size needs to be big enough to store all the disk backup images

Create an empty disk image for installation of VAX/VMS and another one for storing backups from the source VAX system as it is shown in the section above.

Run CHARON-VAX and boot from "dua4" ("migration.cfg" is the configuration file we use in this example):

...> mv3k6 migration.cfg
KA650-A V5.3, VMB 2.7
Performing normal system tests.
40..39..38..37..36..35..34..33..32..31..30..29..28..27..26..25..
24..23..22..21..20..19..18..17..16..15..14..13..12..11..10..09..
08..07..06..05..04..03..
Tests completed.
>>>boot dua4

Install VAX/VMS including DECnet on "dua2". DECnet address must belong to the same area as the source VAX system.

Login to the newly installed VMS system and initialize the disk intended for backups storage. Let's assume it's prompt is "newvms$ "

newvms$ INIT DUA3: SCRATCH
newvms$ MOUNT/SYSTEM/NOASSIST DUA3: SCRATCH

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Making remote backups

Now we are ready to create disk backups from the source VAX system to CHARON-VAX.

Boot CHARON-VAX and make sure that the source VAX system is available via DECnet.

Login to the source VAX system. Stop all the batch queues, kick off the users, stop all application and close databases if any. The commands listed in SYS$MANAGER:SYSHUTDWN.COM may be helpful. The goal is to close as many files as possible. The system disk will have several files opened (pagefile, swapfile, etc.), but this is normal.

The use of the "SHOW DEVICE /FILES" command would be of help to know files opened on a disk

Issue (let's assume that the CHARON-VAX system is node 1.400 in this example) the following commands from the source VAX. Let's assume it's login is "source$ "

source$ BACKUP/IMAGE/IGNORE=INTERLOCK DUA0: 1.400"username password"::DUA3:[000000]DUA0.BCK/SAVE
source$ BACKUP/IMAGE/IGNORE=INTERLOCK DUA1: 1.400"username password"::DUA3:[000000]DUA1.BCK/SAVE

Once the backup procedure completes, the disk "DUA3" of CHARON-VAX will contain 2 savesets: "DUA0.BCK" and "DUA1.BCK"

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Restore backups to CHARON-VAX disks

Next, restore the new savesets to their corresponding virtual disks. Login to CHARON-VAX and issue this sequence of commands to restore all the savesets created on the previous step:

newvms$ MOUNT/FOREIGN DUA0:
newvms$ BACKUP/IMAGE DUA3:[000000]DUA0.BCK/SAVE DUA0:
newvms$ DISMOUNT DUA0:

newvms$ MOUNT/FOREIGN DUA1:
newvms$ BACKUP/IMAGE DUA3:[000000]DUA1.BCK/SAVE DUA1:
newvms$ DISMOUNT DUA1:

If you are going to have CHARON-VAX and the original physical VAX on the network at the same time, you must change the network identity

of one (usually the CHARON-VAX). The easiest way is to boot the CHARON-VAX on the restored system disk with the network Disabled and

configure new addresses, as needed. The NIC can be disabled with a "connection:disabled" statement in the CHARON cfg file.

Then Enable the network and reboot.

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Alternative ways of data transfer

Some alternative methods of data transfer are also possible. For example:

Connect a SCSI tape drive to CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP host via a PCI card
- Map the tape drive in the CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP configuration file
  a. Restore source VAX system backups from tape to disk images via VMS/RSX11/RT11 running on CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP
  b. Boot from standalone backups and restore its content to CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP virtual disks
- Dump source VAX/PDP11 system backups to tape images with "mtd" utility and:
  a. Boot from freshly installed VMS/RSX11/RT11 system and restore the tape images to CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP virtual disks
  b. Boot from standalone backups and restore its content to CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP virtual disks
Create a network cluster between the source VAX/PDP11 system and CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP (it is possible to use the source system as boot server); then simple backup from one disk to another:
$ BACKUP/IMAGE/IGNORE=INTERLOCK REAL$DUA0: DUA0:

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