Hewlett-Packard


          Cover Letter for HP DECram for OpenVMS Version 3.2

          October 2003

          Dear DECram Customer:

          HP is pleased to provide HP DECram for OpenVMS Version 3.2 to
          our customers.

          DECram for OpenVMS Version 3.2 is fully supported when installed
          on any valid and licensed standalone or clustered system running
          OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2-2 or higher. The main benefits of
          Version 3.2 are significant performance enhancements for users
          running OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.3 and higher.

                                        NOTE

             OpenVMS customers running Version 7.3-1 or higher must in-
             stall or upgrade to DECram Version 3.2. DECram for OpenVMS
             Version 3.2 cannot be installed on a VAX system. VAX users
             can install DECram for OpenVMS Version 2.5.

             OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.3-2 is the last version to support
             DECram Version 2.5. In future releases of OpenVMS Alpha,
             DECram will be included as a System Integrated Product
             (SIP), and will continue to require a unique license.
             DECram Version 2.5 will continue to be supported on VAX
             systems only.

          The DECram for OpenVMS software allows a system manager to
          create psuedo disks (RAMdisks), which reside in the main memory
          of OpenVMS systems and improve I/O performance. The operating
          system can read from and write to the RAMdisk using standard
          OpenVMS disk I/O operations. This provides high-speed access to
          read-only data such as libraries, fonts, databases, and command
          files.

          There are no special hardware requirements to install DECram for
          OpenVMS.

          DECram for OpenVMS Version 3.2 supports operation in an Adaptive
          Partitioned Multiprocessing (APMP) environment, also known as HP
          Galaxy Software Architecture on OpenVMS Alpha.

          Cluster Considerations

          DECram for OpenVMS Version 3.2 is fully compatible with Versions
          3.1, 3.0, and Version 2.5, and any combination of these versions
          can be used in an OpenVMS Cluster.

          If your first installation of the DECram product in a clustered
          environment is Version 3.0 or higher (on nodes running OpenVMS
          Alpha Version 7.2-2 or higher), you can install the DECram
          software just once if all nodes in the cluster share a common


 






          disk. However, you must install a license key for each node in
          the cluster that will use the DECram product. When you install
          DECram in a cluster, be sure only one installation is active at
          once.

          If you install the DECram software in a clustered environment
          where there is no common system disk, the DECram software must
          be installed on each node.

          If you want to upgrade nodes in a cluster from DECram for Open-
          VMS Version 2.5, the DECram for OpenVMS Version 3.2 software
          must be installed over Version 2.5. You cannot remove Ver-
          sion 2.5 except by installing DECram for OpenVMS Version 3.0
          or higher over it. Note that if you subsequently remove DECram
          for OpenVMS, the older version will automatically be removed
          too. If you later want to run an earlier version of DECram, you
          must reinstall it.

          Multiple DECram devices can be members of a Volume Shadowing
          for OpenVMS shadow set and can be served by mass storage control
          protocol (MSCP) in an OpenVMS Cluster configuration.

          Documentation

          During the DECram for OpenVMS installation, the DECram for
          OpenVMS User's Manual and the DECram for OpenVMS Installation
          Guide are copied in PostScript (.PS) and ASCII (.TXT) format
          to the SYS$HELP directory. Look for the following files in
          [SYS$HELP]:

             DECRAM_INSTALL_GUIDE.PS
             DECRAM_INSTALL_GUIDE.TXT

             DECRAM_USERS_MANUAL.PS
             DECRAM_USERS_MANUAL.TXT

                                        NOTE

             The DECram Version 3.1 documentation is being shipped with
             DECram Version 3.2. There are no functional changes in
             DECram Version 3.2 that require new documentation.

          These manuals are also shipped in Adobe Portable Document For-
          mat (.PDF) and HyperText Markup Language (.HTML) in the OpenVMS
          Alpha Online Documentation Library (available by subscription).
          If you plan to view the HTML files using a browser, all HTML
          files associated with the Installation Guide (DECRAM_INSTALL_
          GUIDE*.HTML) or User's Manual (DECRAM_USERS_MANUAL*.HTML) must
          be copied to the directory from which you will view the docu-
          ments.

          Installation

          Please read the DECram for OpenVMS Installation Guide carefully
          before starting your installation. Appendix A of that manual
          provides a sample installation of the software.

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