[HECnet] Boot VAX from Alpha host Infoserver?

[Steve Davidson]

Fred,

I'm not sure what's going on here but...

I may still be able to help you.   You could try booting into my
VAXcluster (as a satellite) and do the installation from that if you
wish.   If you are interested, let me know offline.

If this fails then you could try booting off my "real" InfoServer just
for grins :-)

Oh, the NEC Multispin 4x may just work.   I use these.   You will have to
set one of the dip switches that changes it from 2048 bytes to 512
bytes.   A search on the web should be able to give you the correct
switch.

-Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of Fred
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 21:04
To: hecnet at update.uu.se
Subject: [HECnet] Boot VAX from Alpha host Infoserver?

Good evening everyone:

This weekend I have been trying to make my VAXStation 4000-90A come to 
life.   It won't boot off the CD (an NEC Multispin 4X, perhaps it doesn't

speak 512/2048?) so I took the next route of trying to make it boot of
my 
Alpha's (MISER) host base Infoserver.     I copied the ISL_SVAX_073.SYS
file 
off of my 7.3 distribution from Montagar (it was in [sys0.sysexe]) to 
mom$load and did all the NCP statements to make MISER aware of the new 
soon-to-be-node, FRUGAL.

The VAX boots to this file fine.( "b /r5:100 eza0" )   If I make it
search 
for Infoserver services, it finds the 7.3 distribution service that I
set 
up using LDDRIVER on the Alpha.   However, when I try to select it (and 
hopefully make it "boot" from it) it just sits there for a long time, 
eventually saying:

%ISL-F-BADOPEN, unable to locate SYSBOOT

Running wireshark doesn't reveal much - I see the "DEC LAST" protocol 
running on the wire, but that's about it.   At this point it *has* to be 
something simple.

Would anyone have anything obvious I should be checking?     I have a 
feeling I'm *this* close ... :)

Cheers,

Fred


----
Lets call it for what it is - "legacy" is a term that people use in a
polite but derogatory manner to imply that the future direction they
prefer is not that which they view as the current direction.