Version 6.5 of DSM for OpenVMS is an update to DSM for Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX and Alpha processors. To run Version 6.5 of DSM for OpenVMS VAX, you need to be operating OpenVMS VAX Version 6.1, Version 6.2, or Version 7.0. To run Version 6.5 of DSM for OpenVMS Alpha, you need to be operating OpenVMS Alpha Version 6.1, Version 6.2, or Version 7.0.The following sections provide a summary of new features in Version 6.5 of DSM for OpenVMS.
Version 6.5 introduces a mountable database set facility that allows you to mount or dismount database sets while a configuration is running. The mountable database set facility reduces scheduled system down time for such activities as:
- Extending volume sets
- Adding volumes to a volume set
- Adding of new applications and volume sets to a running configuration
Version 6.5 of DSM for OpenVMS has made the following changes to the global translation table facility:Subscript Range Translation
Version 6.5 of DSM for OpenVMS provides a new translation type, subscript range translation. Subscript range translation lets you map globals across any number of UCIs and volume sets. You can use subscript range translation to split a large global across multiple volume sets mounted locally or on remote nodes in a DDP network.The benefits of subscript range translation are:
- You can have a single global span multiple volume sets. This extends the size of a single global beyond the 16-gigabyte maximum volume set size.
- You can reduce database access contention for very large globals by mapping portions of the global across multiple volume sets.
Named Translation Tables
DSM now separates translation tables from configuration definitions. Each translation table has a name. You use the name when you define a configuration to specify which translation table to load at configuration startup and use as the default for processes logging in. Because translation tables have names, you can now use the same translation table as the default translation table for different configurations within a cluster.Reloadable Translation Tables
DSM Version 6.5 lets you modify and reload named global translation tables on a running configuration. You can modify translation tables either through DSM utilities or by extracting the translation table, editing it at the OpenVMS level, and reimporting the translation table into DSM./TRANSLATION_TABLE Command Line Qualifier
DSM has a new command-line qualifier, /TRANSLATION_TABLE. You can use /TRANSLATION_TABLE to:
- Specify a version of the translation table other than the configuration default
- Specify how the process starts using any new version of the translation table that may be loaded during the life of the process
Volume Set Aliasing
Version 6.5 implements volume set aliasing for configurations. Volume set aliasing allows you to substitute a local volume set name for a volume set name found in a translation table. This feature lets you use the same translation table for multiple configurations in a cluster.
DSM includes a new performance monitoring facility (^PMF). The ^PMF Utility replaces the existing routing histogram utility set, ^RTH. The ^PMF Utility is a complete set of performance monitoring tools that is capable of measuring DSM performance across multiple nodes in a cluster.
Version 6.5 of DSM for OpenVMS lets you modify any DDP communications characteristic, except for the DDP node name, in a running configuration. Modifications you make to DDP communications characteristics become active after you stop and restart DDP. You do not have to shut down and restart the configuration to implement the modifications.
The $DEVICE special variable contains either:
- Status/error information about the current device
- A value you set
The $KEY special variable contains either:
- The character sequence that terminated the last READ command on the current device
- A value you set
Version 6.5 of DSM for OpenVMS has increased the maximum possible string length for local variables to 32767 characters. (The maximum global string data length and DSM routine line length remain at 512 characters.)You can implement a new local data string size for your process by using the /LOCAL_DATA_SIZE command-line qualifier when you invoke DSM. You can implement this for an entire configuration by using the ^CONFIG or ^CONCLQ Utilities.
You can also specify a maximum string length of up to 32767 for string data passed between DSM and external routines.
DSM for OpenVMS no longer automatically returns canonic subscripts of string collating globals enclosed in quotes. However, you can specify that DSM return canonic subscripts in quotes by using the /EXTENSION=KEEPQUOTES command line qualifier.
DSM has several important changes to the Configuration Option File Utility (^OPTMAN):
- Global Translation has been given its own global translation facility separate from ^OPTMAN .
- A new definition keyword has been added for the Visual M server. New data keywords have been added to define the TCP/IP port numbers for the Visual M server.
- A new definition keyword has been added for volume set aliasing. New data keywords have been added to specify the name of volume set and its alias.
- The DEFINE SCHEMA definition keyword is now obsolete.
- Several data keywords are now obsolete. See the DSM for OpenVMS Release Notes for a list of the obsolete data keywords.
DSM for OpenVMS includes modifications to the DSM interpreter to enhance DSM performance on Digital Alpha processors.
The DDP configuration utility (^CONDDP) no longer prompts for the the DDP transmit delay buffer parameter. If the value was set in a configuration under a previous release, DSM now ignores this value and sets the delay to zero.
You can now run the utility routines ^UCIADD and ^UCIGAM on cluster-mounted volume sets.
In previous DSM releases, the %BOOLEAN external call returned a negative integer result with some unsigned integer operands. Version 6.5 of DSM for OpenVMS corrects this behavior. %BOOLEAN now always returns unsigned integer results when operating with unsigned integers.
When starting a configuration, DSM for OpenVMS now checks whether all configurations running in the same environment on a cluster are using the same cluster-mounted system volume set. If all other configurations in the cluster are running with the same cluster-mounted system volume set, DSM proceeds with start-up. If any configuration is running with a different cluster-mounted system volume set or has mounted that system volume set as a non-system volume set, DSM does not permit the current configuration to start.DSM does not perform the check on a configuration that has a locally mounted system volume set.
- The Language Pocket Reference is now called the DSM Quick Reference
- The X and Motif Reference and Programming Guide and the Windowing Application Programming Interface Guide for DSM are being removed from the printed DSM documentation set. These two manuals will still be available in the Bookreader documentation set distributed through Digital Equipment Corporation on CD-ROM. Printed versions of these manuals are also available on request from InterSystems Corporation.
- The DASL manuals are being reprinted. Because DASL has not been updated since Version 6.3 of DSM for OpenVMS, the DASL manuals do not contain any new technical information. However, the manuals have been revised to reflect the change in ownership from Digital Equipment Corporation to InterSystems Corporation, to update references to other DSM and OpenVMS documentation, and to correct typographical errors.