User manual

Legal information notice B
PLEASE DO READ CAREFULLY
VAX MP is a simulator that provides virtual multiprocessor capability and allows execution of VAX/VMS (OpenVMS
VAX) operating system in symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) mode.
OpenVMS VAX is a legacy operating system and, according to the present writer’s best knowledge, all VAX-related
products had been classified by Hewlett-Packard as obsolete as of April 2011, and regular sales of these products
had been discontinued by HP at that time.
At the time VAX/VMS (OpenVMS VAX) was sold by DEC, Compaq and HP, exact licensing terms for OpenVMS VAX
SMP systems varied depending on particular CPU model. All systems required OpenVMS VAX base license (VAX-
VMS). Some systems in addition required separate SMP extension license (BASE-VMS-250136) per each additional
processor in an SMP system beyond first processor. Other VAX SMP systems entirely lack SMP licenses, i.e. the
base VAX-VMS license would license the platform regardless of the number of the processors.
VAX MP does not constrain the user on a purely technical level from executing OpenVMS in symmetric
multiprocessor mode, whether proper license is installed or not. Likewise, OpenVMS when executed on VAX MP
does not constrain the user on a purely technical level from executing the system in SMP mode, logging into it and
using it.
Regardless of the absence of technical constraints, legality of using OpenVMS in SMP mode is altogether another
issue.
DEC/Compaq/HP have provided easily obtainable hobbyist licenses for most of OpenVMS VAX and OpenVMS Alpha
products. Unfortunately, OpenVMS VAX SMP license was not among the licenses released for hobbyist use.
Whether it was the intention of OpenVMS owners to release SMP capability for free hobbyist use on legacy
systems is arguable: it was done on OpenVMS Alpha version, where the technical names of the base VMS license
and SMP extension license coincide (OPENVMS-ALPHA) and SMP extension license simply adds units required to
execute VMS on a system with multiple processors. OpenVMS Alpha hobbyist license comes with zero units,
meaning unlimited number of units thus covering any Alpha configuration with any number of processors.
OpenVMS VAX base hobbyist license (VAX-VMS) comes with zero units too, however in the VAX case technical
name for the SMP extension license (BASE-VMS-250136) is different from the base license, therefore unlimited
number of units on the hobbyist base license, strictly speaking, might be considered as not covering SMP use.
While one might attempt to speculate on the ground of above (and also given that VAX is even older legacy system
than Alpha) whether DEC/Compaq/HP did intend to permit unlimited hobbyist use of OpenVMS on any legacy
configuration and cover hobbyist use of OpenVMS VAX on system of any capacity, just the same as for OpenVMS
Alpha, there is a lack of clear-cut statement by OpenVMS owners on this matter.
Termination of sales of VAX-related products by HP also means that new BASE-VMS-250136 licenses are probably
not easily obtainable from HP anymore on a commercial basis, at least not through regular sales channels. To
complicate the matters, VAX MP simulates multiprocessor version of MicroVAX 3900 (or VAXserver 3900) – a
machine that never historically existed in a multiprocessor configuration, and hence SMP licenses for which never
existed too.