Installation and Upgrade Guide

• Enter numeric values as integers without commas (for example, 10000). Enter alphabetic
characters in lower or uppercase.
• HP recommends that you include comments in the MODPARAMS.DAT file indicating who
changed the value, when it was done, and why it was done. An exclamation point (!) serves
as a comment starter and can appear anywhere on a line. The following example illustrates
the modifications recommended in the preceding bulleted items:
! the following changes made by K.Newcomb on 9/20/03
!
SWAPFILE=0 ! don’t re-size the SWAPFILE on AUTOGEN runs
MIN_gblsections=750 ! required for DECwindows MOTIF
MIN_NPAGEDYN=2750000 ! set npagedyn to a min of 2.75 million
For more information about the MODPARAMS.DAT file and about using AUTOGEN in general,
see the HP OpenVMS System Manager's Manual, Volume 2: Tuning, Monitoring, and Complex Systems.
7.23.2 Modifying System Parameters After an Upgrade
Review the file SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT. The upgrade procedure created a new version
of this file. The old version is named SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT_OLD. The new
MODPARAMS.DAT file contains all the parameters in the old file, plus various parameters that
the upgrade procedure added to ensure that all necessary system parameters are properly
propagated from the earlier version of OpenVMS. The upgrade procedure also adds comment
lines to explain the source of the parameters in each section of the new MODPARAMS.DAT file.
Note that the old MODPARAMS.DAT is included in the new MODPARAMS.DAT each time an
upgrade is performed. Because of this, if MODPARAMS.DAT is not reviewed and cleaned up
after each upgrade, it might eventually contain many levels of duplicated parameters. For this
reason, you should review MODPARAMS.DAT after each upgrade. This enables you to eliminate
any duplication. You can also take this opportunity to modify any parameters, if necessary.
Based on your examination of AGEN$PARAMS.REPORT, you might need to modify parameter
values in MODPARAMS.DAT.
The following subsections are examples of instances where you need to modify parameters in
MODPARAMS.DAT.
7.23.2.1 System File Sizes
AUTOGEN sets the following files at sizes appropriate for your system:
• [SYSEXE]SYSDUMP.DMP
• [SYSEXE]PAGEFILE.SYS
• [SYSEXE]SWAPFILE.SYS
If you have special workloads or configurations, you can specify different sizes for these files by
performing the following steps:
1. Log in to the SYSTEM account.
2. Enter the following command:
$ @SYS$UPDATE:AUTOGEN SAVPARAMS TESTFILES
3. If the file sizes displayed need to be adjusted, add symbols to the MODPARAMS.DAT file
(described in detail in the HP OpenVMS System Manager's Manual, Volume 2: Tuning,
Monitoring, and Complex Systems), and repeat step 2 until you are satisfied with the file sizes.
4. When you are satisfied with the file sizes, enter the following command to ensure that the
modified system files are installed when the system is rebooted:
$ @SYS$UPDATE:AUTOGEN GENPARAMS SETPARAMS
7.23.2.2 OpenVMS Cluster Parameters
If you are upgrading an OpenVMS Cluster system, note the following:
146 After Installing or Upgrading the OpenVMS Operating System