Installation and Upgrade Guide

NOTE: If the target OpenVMS I64 system disk has an incorrectly-placed [000000]GPT.SYS file,
the disk cannot be used reliably as an OpenVMS I64 system disk. Typically, the file gets incorrectly
placed due to the use of an older version of BACKUP/IMAGE, a file-based BACKUP disk
restoration, or an errant disk defragmentation tool (the file is set with /NOMOVE to disable move
operations; defragmentation tools that do not honor this setting will corrupt the file). A
correctly-located GPT.SYS file will have at least two file extents, the first beginning at LBN 0 and
the last at the disk capacity minus the size of the last extent (an extent is one or more adjacent
clusters allocated to a file). The size of each of the two extents varies according to the disk cluster
factor on the target disk. The first extent size is currently 34 or more blocks, and the last extent
33 or more blocks. For example:
$ DUMP/HEADER/BLOCK=END=0 SYS$SYSDEVICE:[000000]GPT.SYS ...
Map area
Retrieval pointers:
Count: 36 LBN: 0
Count: 36 LBN: 71132925
This example is from a disk with 71132960 blocks. The placement of the final extent is 71132924,
which is calculated by subtracting 36 (the size of the last extent) from the disk capacity (71132960).
You may be able to temporarily recover from this condition and attempt to bootstrap the target
OpenVMS I64 system disk by renaming GPT.SYS to GPT.BAD, and then entering the SET
BOOTBLOCK command. To correctly recover from this condition, you must INITIALIZE the
target disk and then reload the disk contents using a file-based BACKUP restoration or a file-based
COPY operation. No supported means exists for adding a GPT.SYS file onto an existing disk nor
for adding the file during a BACKUP/IMAGE restoration operation.
To write the boot block structures onto an OpenVMS I64 system disk, enter the SET BOOTBLOCK
command using the following format:
$ SET BOOTBLOCK [/PRESERVE=SIGNATURES] [/I64] [boot-partition-name]
You can specify the file name for the boot partition (boot-partition-name). If you do not specify a
file or device name, the command defaults to the following file for the boot partition:
SYS$SYSDEVICE:[VMS$COMMON.SYS$LDR]SYS$EFI.SYS
The command also assumes the current architecture. To specify OpenVMS I64, include /I64 in
the command line.
Use the /PRESERVE=SIGNATURES qualifier to preserve the existing GUID disk signature value
and the associated root aliases. Note that using the OpenVMS Backup utility creates a new disk
signature when restoring a bootable disk image.
If you reset the boot block structures, you might need to remove any EFI boot aliases that reference
the disk, and then add them back again. You can use the EFI alias command to remove and
add aliases; HP recommends using the OpenVMS I64 Boot Manager utility
(SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM) to maintain EFI console boot aliases.
NOTE: The boot partition file must be contiguous and movefile operations on the file must be
disabled. If the file is not contiguous, use the DCL command COPY/CONTIGUOUS (or equivalent)
to re-create a contiguous version of the file. To disable movefile operations, use the DCL command
SET FILE/NOMOVE. This prevents bootstrap failures that could result from the normal and
expected operations of disk defragmentation tools.
Alternatively, you can write a boot block by entering the following command:
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:SYS$SETBOOT
The utility prompts you for the required input (in a way similar to the operation of the OpenVMS
Alpha Writeboot utility).
A.5 Configuring and Managing OpenVMS Booting on Integrity Servers 171