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The smallest granularity of disk storage addressing is called a disk block, or sometimes a disk sector. Groups of disk blocks are usually organized together into the smallest unit of storage that can be allocated, and this unit is called a disk cluster. The number of blocks in a cluster is the cluster factor, and is established when the disk volume is initialized.
Each individual disk block is composed of five hundred twelve (512) bytes, or one-half kilobyte. Each byte is comprised of eight bits. A bit represents the smallest unit of information, typically refered to as a one or a zero.
OpenVMS tends to uses base two notation for disk storage, while disk storage capacity specifications from most storage vendors (including Compaq) will generally use base ten notation.
An OpenVMS disk block is 512 bytes in size; this is one-half kilobyte in base two notation.
The following table describes the prefix, the abbreviation, and the associated base ten (as used by marketing and by storage vendors) and base two (OpenVMS and various other operating systems) values.
Base Ten Base Two
-------------------------------- ----------------------
Kilobyte (KB) 10**3 1000 2**10 1024
Megabyte (MB) 10**6 1000000 2**20 1048576
Gigabyte (GB) 10**9 1000000000 2**30 1073741824
Terabyte (TB) 10**12 1000000000000 2**40 1099511627776
Petabyte (PB) 10**15 1000000000000000 2**50 1125899906842624
Exabyte (EB) 10**18 1000000000000000000 2**60 ****************
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The base ten representation of the 2**40 value is 1099511627776, which is obviously rather ugly. When viewed as a base eight or base sixteen (octal or hexadecimal, respectively) value, the value is far nicer. Specifically, the value is 10000000000 and 40000000 when represented in octal and hexadecimal, respectively.
OpenVMS operating system references to system and storage are generally to the base-two version (eg: 1024, in the case of a kilobyte or kilobit) while storage hardware references and hardware specifications are generally to the base-ten version (eg: 1000).
To convert OpenVMS disk blocks to (base two) kilobytes (KB; 1024 bytes), simply divide by two. To convert blocks to (base two) megabytes, divide by 2048. Blocks to (base two) gigabytes (GB), divide by 2097152. These particular divisions can also be performed using bitshifts: to divide a value by two, shift the binary value rightward by one bit position.
To convert OpenVMS disk blocks to (base ten) kilobytes, divide by approximately 1.953125.
For those folks with an interest in odd applications for prefixes, and particularly for those folks also rummaging around deep within the OpenVMS operating system, a microfortnight is approximately one second.
The HP OpenVMS and HP Layered Product documentation is copyrighted material.
HTML format on-line product documentation sets for specific HP OpenVMS products are presently available at:
Documentation is offered on separately orderable CD-ROM media through a subscription to the Consolidated On-Line Documentation (ConOLD) product (see Section 2.6.) ConOLD manuals are readable with BNU, a viewer that is supplied with the documentation distribution. BNU can display HTML, Bookreader, and documentation in other formats.
MGBOOK, a viewer for Bookreader-format documentation is available for character-cell terminals (eg. VTxxx) via the WKU VMS Freeware file server -- see question Section 13.1 for details.
Information on the XPDF DECwindows PDF viewer for OpenVMS is available
in Section 13.1, and XPDF kits are available on various Freeware
distributions. An alternative on OpenVMS Alpha uses the Adobe Java PDF
viewer, though this viewer is generally considered to be both slower
and more resource-intensive when compared to the XPDF viewer.
3.2 What online information and websites are available?
On your OpenVMS system, the HELP command can provide a wealth of information, not only on DCL commands but on system services (HELP System_Services) and Run-Time Library routines (HELP RTL_Routines). The introduction displayed when you type the HELP command with no additional keywords provides further pointers.
OpenVMS Marketing runs a web server at http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/
Here, you will find product information, strategy documents, product roadmaps, the contents of the latest OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM and more.
| URL | Sponsor |
|---|---|
| http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/ | |
| HP OpenVMS Marketing | |
| http://www.openvmshobbyist.org/ | |
| Encompass DFWCUG | |
| http://www.levitte.org/~ava/ | |
| Arne Vajhøj | |
| http://www.saiga.com/ | |
| Saiga Systems | |
| http://www.tachysoft.com/ | |
| Wayne Sewel | |
| http://www.progis.de/openvms.htm | |
| Sponsored by proGIS Software | |
| http://www.jcameron.com/vms/ | |
| Jeff Cameron | |
| http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/soft_doc.html | |
| David Mathog's (quite useful) information about OpenVMS. | |
| Cracking | |
| http://www.vistech.net/users/beave/hack-vms-faq | |
|
"The Beave"
Includes system cracking information that can be of interest to OpenVMS System Managers, and to OpenVMS Network and Security Managers. |
|
| Undocumented Features | |
| http://www.decus.de:8080/www/vms/qaa/undoc.htmlx | |
| DECUS Deutchland | |
| http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_tip.htmlx | |
| Arne Vajhøj | |
| http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/ | |
| The OpenVMS Freeware contains various examples of undocumented features and interfaces | |
| Bibliographies | |
| http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_book.htmlx | |
| Introductory | |
| http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_faq.htmlx | |
| http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_sheet.html | |
| http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_beginners_faq.html | |
| Programming | |
| http://www.pdv-systeme.de/users/martinv/VMS_Programming_FAQ.html | |
| An OpenVMS Programming FAQ | |
| Networking | |
| http://www.tmesis.com/internet/ | |
| Tutorial information and tips for connecting OpenVMS systems to the Internet | |
| http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/ | |
| Documentation and Specifications for DECnet Phase IV | |
| HP OpenVMS Documentation | |
| http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/ | |
| Various introductory guides as well as more advanced manuals are available in the OpenVMS and layered product documentation set. | |
| http://www.compaq.com/info/spd/ | |
| Software Product Descriptions (SPDs) for most every OpenVMS-related product HP sells. | |
| System Performance | |
| See Section 14.2. | |
| Patch (ECO) Kits | |
| For the HP Services FTP server hosting Various contract-access and non-contract access ECO (patch) kits, see section Section 5.17. | |
| Catalogs and Pricing | |
| http://www.compaq.com/products/quickspecs/productbulletin.html | |
| HP Product QuickSpecs and product information | |
| http://www.compaq.com/products/quickspecs/soc_archives/SOC_Archives.html | |
| The HP Systems and Options Catalog (SOC) archive | |
| Hardware and Software Archives | |
| http://vax.sevensages.org/index.html | |
| The VAXarchive, including hardware and software information | |
| http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/alpha_diary.html | |
| A VAX to Alpha upgrade diary | |
| http://www.montagar.com/~patj/dec/hcps.htm | |
| Scanned versions of old DIGITAL manuals from DFWCUG | |
| http://www.digital.com/lists/master-index.html | |
| http://www.compaq.com/support/techpubs/qrg/index.html | |
| A wide variety of HP VAX, Alpha, platform and other product documentation. Some introductory, some technical. | |
| http://dtrwiz.home.netcom.com/ | |
| dtrwiz's Datatrieve website | |
Information on HP hardware, software, products and services is available through telephone numbers listed in Table 3-2:
| Telephone | Description |
|---|---|
| 1-800-AT-COMPAQ | HP (Compaq, including DIGITAL and Tandem) products and services |
| 1-800-STORWORK | The HP StorageWorks team |
To extract all the text of a HELP topic (and its subtopics) to a text file for perusal with a text editor, printing out, etc., use the following command:
$ HELP/OUT=filename.txt help-topic [help-subtopic] |
If the help text you want is not in the standard help library (for
example, it's help for a utility such as MAIL that has its own help
library), add /LIBRARY=libname after the HELP verb. To see the names of
help library files, do a directory of SYS$HELP:*.HLB.
3.5 Does OpenVMS Marketing have an e-mail address?
Yes - if you can't get the answers to marketing questions elsewhere, if
you have comments or complaints about OpenVMS, send mail to
openvms-info@compaq.com. This address is not a support
channel, and is solely intended to provide informal method to
communicate directly with members of OpenVMS Marketing.
3.6 Where can I learn about OpenVMS executive internals?
The OpenVMS Internals and Data Structure manual (IDSM) explains how the OpenVMS executive works. The book covers the operating system kernel: process management; memory management; the I/O subsystem; and the mechanisms that transfer control to, from, and among these. It gives an overview of a particular area of the system, followed by descriptions of the data structures related to that area and details of the code that implements the area.
The first edition of the OpenVMS Alpha internals book describes Version 1.5. Although there have been several releases of OpenVMS Alpha since Version 1.5 (V6.1, V6.2, V7.0, V7.1, etc) and many details in the book are no longer accurate, it continues to provide a strong conceptual description of OpenVMS internals.
This book has been split into five pieces, each to be updated separately. The first such volume, published in early 1997, was "OpenVMS Alpha Internals and Data Structures: Scheduling and Process Control," which covers the Version 7.0 implementation of true multithreading and the changed scheduling model it implies.
The internals books are available through Digital Press, see
Section 3.7
3.7 Where can new users find tutorial information about OpenVMS?
First, see if your local site has information on this topic. Each site
can have site-specific features and configuration. Some sites will have
site-specific new user's documentation, covering various site-specific
things that are difficult or impossible for the general OpenVMS
documentation to cover.
3.7.1 Tutorial Websites?
Various websites with OpenVMS information are available; Table 3-3 contains some suggested URLs.
| URL | Sponsor |
|---|---|
| Introductory | |
| http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_faq.htmlx | |
| http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_sheet.html | |
| http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_beginners_faq.html | |
| Various introductory materials | |
| http://www.montagar.com/openvms_class/ | |
| Members of the Encompass DFWCUG maintain a website with many materials available, including an Overview of OpenVMS, an Introduction to DCL and the TPU Editor, Advanced DCL Command Procedures, OpenVMS Operations: Batch, Print, Tape, an Introduction to OpenVMS Management, to OpenVMS User Management, to OpenVMS Network Management, and to OpenVMS Cluster Management. These training materials have been presented at various DECUS symposia. | |
| HP OpenVMS Documentation | |
| http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/ | |
| Various introductory guides as well as more advanced manuals are available in the OpenVMS and layered product documentation set. | |
| HP OpenVMS Training | |
|
http://www.compaq.com/training/home.html
http://www.openvms.compaq.com/wbt/index.html |
|
| HP offers training information and Technical Resource Kits (TRKs) and other Training for OpenVMS. An OpenVMS certification (testing) program is also available. | |
| http://www.jcameron.com/vms/ | |
| An OpenVMS Quiz | |
| http://www.CCSScorp.com/ | |
| CCSS Interactive Learning has OpenVMS training materials | |
| http://www.acersoft.com/ | |
| AcerSoft Training information, and Shannon Knows Punditry | |
| http://www.mindiq.com/ | |
| MindIQ training information | |
| http://www.quadratrix.be/ | |
| Quadratrix; OpenVMS training, products and services; affiliated with Global Knowledge and KeyJob | |
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