[HECnet] DECnet-VAX V3.0, VMS V3.5 (Was Re: Oldest VAX/VMS for VAX-11/730 on HECNET) --> Supratim:vms/decnet 3.5 poisoned?

Thu Dec 16 15:56:03 PST 2021

Hi Supratim,

These tapes can be attached to the simh tdc# devices, read on Vms as Dda0: etc, and behave as disk as expected. Functioning on simh Rq (Vms Dua/b) is kind of a fluke.

It looks like the decnet on vms 3.5 is poisoned by phase-IV pieces as Ethernet components are present and component versions in sh exec are not on phase-III levels.  Is there an original distro for Vms 3.5 with original Decnet 3.5?

Analyse/image on the netacp reveals a lot of patching been done on that program and more then netrtg31 itself does and as it carries version 2 the original is likely not there anymore.

Reindert

From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On Behalf Of Supratim Sanyal
Sent: Thursday, 16 December, 2021 19:52
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: Re: DECnet-VAX V3.0, VMS V3.5 (Was Re: [HECnet] Oldest VAX/VMS for VAX-11/730 on HECNET) --> retract

BTW, the "BE-X083A-BE - DECNET-VAX FULL FUNCTION" thing is not a tape; after failing  to mount  it as a tape numerous times, a  "od -a" dump looked like a disk to me, and guess  what,  it  mounted  as  a RD54.

That is the license  I used and looks like it patched to DECnet v3.5. I may have a pretty  unique installation then, to be preserved.

http://iamvirtual.ca/VAX11/VAX-11-software.html

Session log:
^M$ @sys$update:vmsinstal.com NETRTG031.A^M
^M
^M
        VAX/VMS Software Product Installation Procedure^M
^M
^M
It is 14-DEC-1984 at 22:33.^M
Enter a question mark (?) at any time for help.^M
^M
* Are you satisfied with the backup of your system disk [YES]? ^M
* Where will the distribution volumes be mounted: sys$manager:^M
^M
%VMSINSTAL-E-NOPRODS, None of the specified products were found.^M
^M
Enter the products to be installed from the next distribution volume set.^M
* Products [EXIT]: *^M
^M
The following products will be installed:^M
^M
  NETRTG V3.1^M
  NETRTG V4.0^M
^M
^M
        Beginning installation of NETRTG V3.1 at 22:33^M
^M
%VMSINSTAL-I-RESTORE, Restoring product saveset A...^M
^M
    DECnet-VAX Full Function Key installation^M
^M
%PATCH-I-NOLCL, image does not contain local symbols^M
%PATCH-I-NOGBL, some or all global symbols not accessible^M
%PATCH-I-WRTFIL, updating image file VMI$ROOT:[SYSUPD.NETRTG031]NETACP.EXE;1^M
%VMSINSTAL-I-MOVEFILES, Files will now be moved to their target directories...^M
^M
        Successful installation of NETRTG V3.1 at 22:33^M
^M
^M
^M
        Beginning installation of NETRTG V4.0 at 22:33^M
^M
%VMSINSTAL-I-RESTORE, Restoring product saveset A...^M
%NETRTG-E-BADVMS, This kit requires version 4.0 of VMS.^M
%VMSINSTAL-E-STEP8FAIL, The installation of NETRTG V4.0 has failed.^M
^M
Enter the products to be installed from the next distribution volume set.^M
* Products [EXIT]: ^M
^M
        VMSINSTAL procedure done at 22:33^M
^M

On 12/16/2021 12:54, Paul Koning wrote:

You may have a license problem.

If you have a DECnet that supports Ethernet, it must be Phase IV (or V, of course).  That means it is required to know about areas.  If you have a version that doesn't deal with areas, either it is terminally broken or it is crippled in a way that disables multi-area configurations.  You'll need to fix that in order to use it on HECnet.  While it's certainly possible to put a Phase III node anywhere in HECnet, with the reachability limitations that Phase III has, it isn't possible to use a "broken areas" Phase "IV" node at all.  (Well, unless you can connect it into area 1, I suppose.)

  paul

On Dec 16, 2021, at 11:08 AM, Supratim Sanyal  <mailto:supratim at riseup.net> <supratim at riseup.net> wrote:

On 12/16/2021 05:41, R. Voorhorst wrote:

Question  remains, how did you get Decnet 3.0 running and did you obtain the necessary patch.

Yes, applied the license. I  chose VAX/VMS 3.5 because in  March of 2020 you had gone as far as getting a license error on VMS3.0 that said it needed VMS3.4+. I also tried to use the licensed NETACP.EXE on vms3.0, does not look promising, says it has problems loading. At this point, Cisco may be  the answer with the nifty feature for DECnet NAT, I will explore it sometime. Anyway, my experiments are here if you or anyone is interested: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x4e6ie4lrwi9wns/AABMogcguAcL8xPwMIDxOtNva?dl=0

On 12/16/2021 04:55, Johnny Billquist wrote:

Uh? The mac address AA-00-04-00-2A-7C means it has address 31.42. Just sayin...

It's forced at the Linux/SimH level.

On 12/15/2021 20:05, Paul Koning wrote:

You've got to set MAX AREA large enough; 63 is the obvious value.  With it not set, the system apparently is defaulting it to 1, so when you gave it a node address without area number it defaulted the area number to 1, which of course can't work.

There is no option, at least in NCP, for any Area parameters.

NCP>help set exec

SET

  EXECUTOR

    Use the SET EXECUTOR command to create or modify parameters in the
    volatile database which controls the network on the executor node. Use
    the DEFINE EXECUTOR command to create or modify parameters in the
    volatile database which controls the network on the executor node.

    SET     EXECUTOR        (parameters ...)

    Additional information available:

    ALL        ADDRESS node-address  BROADCAST ROUTING TIMER
    BUFFER SIZE number    COUNTER TIMER seconds DEFAULT ACCESS
    DELAY FACTOR          DELAY WEIGHT          IDENTIFICATION
    INACTIVITY TIMER      INCOMING TIMER        MAXIMUM ADDRESS
    MAXIMUM BROADCAST NONROUTERS     MAXIMUM BROADCAST ROUTERS
    MAXIMUM BUFFERS       MAXIMUM CIRCUITS      MAXIMUM COST
    MAXIMUM HOPS          MAXIMUM LINKS         MAXIMUM VISITS
    NONPRIVILEGED         OUTGOING TIMER        PIPELINE QUOTA
    PRIVILEGED RETRANSMIT FACTOR     ROUTING TIMER
    SEGMENT BUFFER SIZE   STATE      SUBADDRESS range      TYPE
    Examples   NODE

SET EXECUTOR Subtopic?

SET EXECUTOR Subtopic? ex

SET

  EXECUTOR

    Examples

           NCP>SET EXECUTOR ADDRESS 11 BUFFER SIZE 576

               This command sets the executor node's address to 11 and buffer
               size to 576 bytes.

           NCP>SET EXECUTOR STATE ON

               This command sets the executor node's operational state to ON.

SET EXECUTOR Subtopic? ^Z
NCP>exit
$

-- 
Supratim Sanyal, W1XMT
39.19151 N, 77.23432 W
QCOCAL::SANYAL via HECnet
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