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The Question is: We have a MicroVax 3100/98 equipped with Vms 6.2, Mailworks, Message Router and PMDF that is used as company Mail server. When the computer startup I can read on system console its identity as 3100/98. Once that the computer is running the operating system answer always that it is a 3100/95. I have checked on DEC System Options that the minimum VMS version for 3100/98 is 6.2. I have ask to several VMS "experts" the reason of the identity mismatch but I have received only generic answers that all is ok. I am worried about the situation because I have never seen, before today, a Vax not perfectly recognized by the proper version of VMS. I suspect that in this situation VMS don't use properly the HW and the VPA don't give a proper analysis of system load and performances. It is necessary to apply any patches to VMS or to Hw firmware ? Thank you. Salvatore Longobardo - Marconi Communications spa The Answer is : As you have been told: all is OK. The newer VAX systems are explicitly designed to closely emulate older VAX systems, systems that were supported by older OpenVMS releases. Because of this explicit emulation, the specific system type of the newer system will be misidentified as an older (and supported) system type. This is known, expected, and entirely correct behaviour when using one of these older OpenVMS VAX releases, albiet confusing. Unlike recent Alpha systems and the OpenVMS Alpha operating system, VAX systems and OpenVMS VAX software lack support for the feature known as Dynamic System Recognition (DSR). DSR allows the operating system to directly query the system for information such as the text-format system name and other necessary system-specific information. Without DSR, there is no way for an existing OpenVMS VAX release to (uniquely) identify a newer VAX system, as this knowledge must be built into the OpenVMS VAX release. Building this platform knowledge into the OpenVMS VAX release would require a new release, and would mean that you must upgrade to a more recent OpenVMS VAX version for support. Building DSR into OpenVMS VAX would require both hardware and software updates, and no support for DSR is planned for OpenVMS VAX or any VAX platforms. The alternative to requiring the OpenVMS upgrade for new hardware support, or to adding DSR into OpenVMS VAX and VAX hardware, is for the new VAX hardware to closely emulate an existing older (and supported) VAX system. This is (obviously) the particular behaviour you see. As you upgrade to newer OpenVMS VAX releases, there are generally "clues" left in the VAX hardware that allow the software to identify a particular variant of the (known) platform. These clues mean that (eventually) an OpenVMS VAX release can be altered to display the correct system type.
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