Imaging DEC uVAX MFM drives

>
>Subject: Re: Imaging DEC uVAX MFM drives
>   From: J Blaser <oldcpurogerwilco.org>
>   Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:14:52 -0600
>     To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
Posts <cctalkclassiccmp.org>
>
>Hmm...let's see.
>
>The RD53 is from uVAX II with a RQDX3.
>The RD54 is from a VAXstation 3200 with a RQDX3.
>The RD23 is from a uVAX I with a RQDX3.

No such thing as RD23.  Is that a typo?



Allison

Allison wrote:
> No such thing as RD23. Is that a typo?

(Yup, a typo...really it's a RD53.)

So, with all of the good advice from so many that are much
smarter than 
me (thanks to all!), I'm off to see if the VAXstation 3100
has VMS 
installed.  Now that it's disk (SCSI) is imaged, I'm not
worried about 
doing something non-recoverable to the software setup.

If it does have VMS, I'll try to remote boot the other
uVAXen and then 
image their drives to the Vs3100, and then take them from
there to 
long-term media.

If the 3100 doesn't have VMS but Ultrix, I'll have to
think about what's 
next.  I don't know if Ultrix can support netboot
capabilities ala BOOTP 
or RARP.

If that's a no go, then I'll take Pat's suggestion and
try the NetBSD 
remote boot option.  I'm familiar with Linux (just enough
to shoot a toe 
or two), but I'll have to figure out the NetBSD device
nomenclature.  
Shouldn't be too hard.  Overnight I downloaded NetBSD
version 1.5.0, 
1.5.3, and 3.0.1 for i386 and vax architectures, hoping that
at least 
one of those versions has the mopd stuff that works.  Still,
I've never 
used mopd, and that'll be an education in it's own right.

More to come, but first I've got to figure out how to reach
that little 
DIP switch on the 3100 so that I can use a character
terminal.    My 
back panel bezel doesn't have the cutout for accessing the
switch.  I 
guess I have an early model.

Here goes....!

Jared

J Blaser wrote:
> If the 3100 doesn't have VMS but Ultrix, I'll have to
think about what's 
> next.  I don't know if Ultrix can support netboot
capabilities ala BOOTP 
> or RARP.

Not only can Ultrix mopboot a VAX, but NetBSD can too! 
I've even used 
mopd on NetBSD/i386 to netboot a VAX.

Peace...  Sridhar

Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
> J Blaser wrote:
> 
>> If the 3100 doesn't have VMS but Ultrix, I'll
have to think about 
>> what's next.  I don't know if Ultrix can support
netboot capabilities 
>> ala BOOTP or RARP.
> 
> 
> Not only can Ultrix mopboot a VAX, but NetBSD can too! 
I've even used 
> mopd on NetBSD/i386 to netboot a VAX.

   My MOPD server is an Athlon running Debian.  The only
system I have 
that won't boot from it is my DEC5000, which has a known
bug (quirk?) in 
its firmware.


	Doc

Doc Shipley wrote:

> (snip)
>   My MOPD server is an Athlon running Debian.  The only
system I have 
> that won't boot from it is my DEC5000, which has a
known bug (quirk?) 
> in its firmware.
>
Well, I do have some familiarity with Debian, with a couple
of boxes 
around here currently running it, so that sounds like an
option...

But let me offer just a quick update to everyone that was
kind enough to 
respond to my dilemma:

Since I already have an image of the VAXstation 3100-m38's
SCSI (RZ23) 
drive, I figured I'd take the big leap, power it up, and
see what 
happens, hoping for VMS so that I could borrow a page from
Allison, and 
do some remote booting of VMS systems.

Turn out (after I learned a wee little bit about the Console
System --- 
boy this is going to be a steep learning curve!) that the
hard drive is 
setup with Ultrix 4.1, *but* in the end it won't fully
boot.  It gets 
partially through the boot sequence (how far I don't know
with zero 
experience with Ultrix) and then hangs.  Here's the output
I see:

++++begin++++

 >>>BOOT DKA300
Ultrixboot - V4.1  Tue Aug 28 09:23:58 EDT 1990

Loading (a)vmunix ...

Sizes:
text = 630736
data = 100864
bss  = 484856
Starting at 0x2b31

ULTRIX V4.1 (Rev. 40) System #1: Wed Jul 24 09:22:22 MDT
1991
real mem  = 8269824
avail mem = 5427200
using 201 buffers containing 826368 bytes of memory
KA420 processor with an FPU
sdc0 at uba0 csr 0x200c0000 vec 0x1fc, ipl 0x14
rx2 at sdc0 slave 2
scsi0 at uba0 csr 0x200c0000 vec 0x1fc, ipl 0x14
rz3 at scsi0 slave 3 (RZ23)
sg0 at uba0 csr 0x3c000000 vec 0x44, ipl 0x14
ss0 at uba0 csr 0x200a0000 vec 0xc0, ipl 0x14
ln0 at ibus0 csr 0x200e0000 vec 0x50, ipl 0x14
ln0: DEC LANCE Ethernet interface, hardware address:
08:00:2b:0e:44:22
Wed Nov 6 15:20:35 MST 1996
Automatic reboot in progress...
/dev/rz3a: 565 files, 8562 used, 6761 free (209 frags, 819
blocks, 1.4% 
fragmen)
/dev/rrz3g: 3112 files, 41965 used, 7314 free (1234 frags,
760 blocks, 
2.5% fra)
check quotas: done.
savecore: checking for dump...dump does not exist
routed
RPC port mapper: portmap.
NFS daemons: biod
mounting NFS directories:nfs_mount: mod:/mode/users server
not 
responding: port
nfs_mount: backgrounding /mode/users
nfs_mount: wave:/export/wave server not responding: port
mapper failure 
- rpc tt
nfs_mount: backgrounding /wave
 done.
local daemons: syslog sendmail ntpd
.
preserving editor files
clearing /tmp
standard daemons: update cron accounting network snmpd
printer.
start errlog daemon - elcsd
Wed Nov  6 :27 MST 1996

/usr/lib/lpd: slate: cannot chdir to
/usr/spool/printers/slate

/usr/lib/lpd: hobbes: cannot chdir to
/usr/spool/priners/hobbes

+++end+++

At this point the system just hangs right there.  I never
get any kind 
of login prompt or any other messages.  Looks like it's
really wanting 
some NFS volumes that no longer are available.

I can enter ^C on the keyboard and get back to the console,
and even 
CONTINUE but nothing else happens.  I think the hardware is
good, 
though, after getting this far.

I think at this point that I'll replace the RZ23 with a
scratch 1GB 
drive that I have hanging around, and try to get NetBSD
installed.  I'm 
hoping that from that point I'll be able to netboot the
other uVAXen 
from this system, and then use dd to get the drive images
before trying 
to boot them.

Maybe, back to Doc's comment, I can remote boot NetBSD from
a Debian 
box, and get the NetBSD installed that way.  More
reading/research to do 
tonight!

Thanks to all, and all further suggestions are welcome.

Jared