announcing OpenVMS Alpha version 7.2-1H1 operating system |
Compaq is pleased to introduce the OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1H1 operating system, which provides support for Compaq's new high-end GS
series AlphaServers, as well as several enhancements to existing OpenVMS features. The primary purpose of OpenVMS Alpha Version
7.2-1H1 is to support Compaq's AlphaServer GS160 and GS320 systems.
OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1H1 contains all of the features that were available in OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1, as well as the following new
features and enhancements:
- OpenVMS support for AlphaServer GS160 and GS320 systems
- OpenVMS support for hard and soft partitions (Galaxy) on AlphaServer GS160 and GS320 systems
- OpenVMS Resource Affinity Domain (RAD) support for applications
- New Spinlock Tracking Utility in SDA
- RMS locking enhancements
- Remedial fixes from May, 1999 to mid-March, 2000.
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OpenVMS support for hard and soft partitions |
OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2-1H1 provides support for hard and soft partitions on AlphaServer GS160 and GS320 systems.
Hard partitioning is a physical separation of computing resources by hardware-enforced access barriers. It is impossible to read or
write across a hard partition boundary. There is no resource sharing between hard partitions.
Soft partitioning is a separation of computing resources by software-controlled access barriers. Read and write access across a
soft partition boundary is controlled by the operating system. OpenVMS Galaxy is an implementation of soft partitioning.
The way customers choose to partition their systems depends on their computing environments and application requirements. For more
information about using hard partitions and OpenVMS Galaxy, see the OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2-1H1 New Features and Release
Notes.
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OpenVMS resource affinity domain (RAD) support for applications |
OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1H1 provides non-uniform memory awareness (NUMA) in OpenVMS memory management and process scheduling. This
capability provides application support for resource affinity domains (RADs), to ensure that applications running on a single
instance of OpenVMS on multiple quad building blocks (QBBs) can execute as efficiently as possible in a NUMA environment. A RAD is
a set of hardware components (CPU, memory, IO) with common access characteristics, and corresponds to a QBB in an AlphaServer GS160
or GS320 system.
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new spinlock tracking utility in SDA |
The Spinlock Tracing Utility provides a mechanism for characterizing spinlock usage, and can collect performance data for a given
spinlock on a per-CPU basis.
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RMS locking enhancements |
New RMS locking performance enhancements include the introduction of read-mode bucket locking that minimizes locking for shared
access to global buffers. This release also introduces the capability to minimize record locking for read accesses to shared
files, thereby avoiding the processing associated with record locking calls to the lock manager. Additionally, options are now
provided for RMS to set record locking options to control deadlock detection.
For additional information about OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1H1 support for the above features, refer to the most recent version of OpenVMS
Alpha Version 7.2-1H1 New Features and Release Notes. To access this manual, use the Documentation Quick Link at the following
location: http://h71000.www7.hp.com/
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ordering information |
OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1H1 will be supplied with all OpenVMS AlphaServer GS 160 and 320 series systems and can also be ordered
separately via the following OpenVMS part number: QA-MT1AU-H8.
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