[HECnet] Issues booting a satellite VAX/SIMH instance off AlphaVM-Free

[Mark Pizzolato]

You don't mention the host OS??

On Dec 11, 2015 10:04 AM, Mark Wickens <mark at wickensonline.co.uk> wrote:
Just thought I'd try and pick the brains of the collective wisdom if possible.
I had a networking performance issue with AlphaVM-Free (poor ping rates and sluggish network performance) that has kindly been solved by Artem in the latest release and therefore my attention turns to the issue with a VAX satellite node network booting off the AlphaVM-Free instances (which I can no longer attribute to the same performance issue).

Back in the 'real world' the boxes that supported this configuration were an AlphaServer 1000/A and a VAXstation 4000/60. In the emulated world they are now an AlphaVM-Free instance and a SIMH instance, both running on an HP DL380 Gen 5 with 6 x GB network adapters. Each of the emulated instances is mapped to a different physical network card.

When I attempt to boot the emulated VAX from its' network adapter I get the following console messages. Boot appears to proceed but it is glacial. In the past I've given up long before ever receiving a login prompt on the VAX instance.

Does anyone have experience with this kind of issue? It doesn't look like the emulated Alpha network adapter on the AlphaVM instance thinks that it is experiencing errors based on the output below.

Thanks, Mark.

%<------------------------- VAX console log

Connected to the MicroVAX 3900 simulator CON-TEL device



KA655X-B 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
(BOOT/R5:0 XQA0



  2..
-XQA0
  1..0..


%VAXcluster, system loaded from node SLAVE (AA-00-04-00-F9-10)
%VAXcluster, no connection to disk server
%VAXcluster, no connection to disk server
%VAXcluster, no connection to disk server
%VAXcluster, no connection to disk server
%VAXcluster, no connection to disk server
%VAXcluster, no connection to disk server

%SYSBOOT-I-SYSBOOT Mapping the SYSDUMP.DMP on the System Disk
%SYSBOOT-I-SYSBOOT SYSDUMP.DMP on System Disk successfully mapped
%SYSBOOT-I-SYSBOOT Mapping PAGEFILE.SYS on the System Disk
%SYSBOOT-I-SYSBOOT SAVEDUMP parameter not set to protect the PAGEFILE.SYS
   OpenVMS (TM) VAX Version V7.3     Major version id = 1 Minor version id = 0
%VAXcluster, no connection to disk server
%VAXcluster, no connection to disk server SLAVE
%VAXcluster, attempting to reconnect to a disk server
%VAXcluster, no connection to disk server
%VAXcluster, attempting to reconnect to a disk server
%VAXcluster, connected to disk server SLAVE
%WBM-I-WBMINFO Write Bitmap has successfully completed initialization.



%<------------------------- Alpha console log

%%%%%%%%%%%  OPCOM  11-DEC-2015 17:45:34.47  %%%%%%%%%%%
Message from user DECNET on SLAVE
DECnet event 0.3, automatic line service
From node 4.249 (SLAVE), 11-DEC-2015 17:45:34.47
Circuit EWA-0, Load, Requested, Node = 4.259 (ALEPH)
File = ALEPHSYSTEM$:[SYS0.], Operating system, Ethernet address = 08-00-2B-2C-20
-6E


%%%%%%%%%%%  OPCOM  11-DEC-2015 17:46:01.70  %%%%%%%%%%%
Message from user DECNET on SLAVE
DECnet event 0.3, automatic line service
From node 4.249 (SLAVE), 11-DEC-2015 17:46:01.70
Circuit EWA-0, Load, Successful, Node = 4.259 (ALEPH)
File = ALEPHSYSTEM$:[SYS0.], Operating system, Ethernet address = 08-00-2B-2C-20
-6E


Username:
%PEA0, Port has Closed Virtual Circuit - REMOTE NODE ALEPH

Username:
%PEA0, Port has Closed Virtual Circuit - REMOTE NODE ALEPH

Username:
%PEA0, Port has Closed Virtual Circuit - REMOTE NODE ALEPH

Username: system
Password:

01010011 01001100 01000001 01010110 01000101

+-+-+-+-+-+
|S|L|A|V|E|
+-+-+-+-+-+

    Welcome to SLAVE running OpenVMS AXP 8.3
    SLAVE is a member of the HALO Cluster
    Strictly non-commercial use only
    Documentation is available at http://hpm.hecnet.eu/wiki/

    Last interactive login on Friday, 11-DEC-2015 17:38:17.57
    Last non-interactive login on Friday, 11-DEC-2015 17:44:08.37
SLAVE$$ show device pea0:/full

Device PEA0:, device type NI_SCA, is online, shareable, error logging is
    enabled.

    Error count                  576    Operations completed                  0
    Owner process                 ""    Owner UIC                      [SYSTEM]
    Owner process ID        00000000    Dev Prot              S:RWPL,O:RWPL,G,W
    Reference count                0    Default buffer size                   0
    Current preferred CPU Id       0    Fastpath                              1

SLAVE$$ mcr ncp show known lines count


Known Line Counters as of 11-DEC-2015 17:51:28

Line = EWA-0

         654  Seconds since last zeroed
        6522  Data blocks received
        2589  Multicast blocks received
           0  Receive failure
      655620  Bytes received
      372627  Multicast bytes received
           0  Data overrun
        3341  Data blocks sent
         335  Multicast blocks sent
           0  Blocks sent, multiple collisions
           0  Blocks sent, single collision
           0  Blocks sent, initially deferred
     1529780  Bytes sent
       42723  Multicast bytes sent
           0  Send failure
           0  Collision detect check failure
           0  Unrecognized frame destination
           0  System buffer unavailable
           5  User buffer unavailable


SLAVE$$

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