Updated: 24-SEP-2003 (Use your browsers' Reload button to ensure you're viewing the most recent version)
VMS721_RMS-V0500 Alpha V7.2-1 RMS ECO Summary
*OpenVMS] VMS721_RMS-V0500 Alpha V7.2-1 RMS ECO Summary
New Kit Date: 26-JUL-2002
Modification Date: Not Applicable
Modification Type: NEW KIT
Copyright (c) Compaq Computer Corporation 2001,2002. All rights reserved.
OP/SYS: OpenVMS Alpha
COMPONENT: RMS
SOURCE: Compaq Computer Corporation
ECO INFORMATION:
ECO Kit Name: VMS721_RMS-V0500
DEC-AXPVMS-VMS721_RMS-V0500--4.PCSI
ECO Kits Superseded by This ECO Kit: VMS721_RMS-V0400
ECO Kit Approximate Size: 3152 Blocks
Kit Applies To: OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1
System/Cluster Reboot Necessary: Yes
Rolling Re-boot Supported: Yes
Installation Rating: INSTALL_1
1 - To be installed on all systems running
the listed version(s) of OpenVMS.
Kit Dependencies:
The following remedial kit(s), or later, must be installed BEFORE
installation of this, or any required kit:
VMS721_PCSI-V0100
VMS721_UPDATE-V0300
In order to receive all the corrections listed in this
kit, the following remedial kits, or later, should also be installed:
None
ECO KIT SUMMARY:
An ECO kit exists for RMS on OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1. This kit addresses the
following problems:
PROBLEMS ADDRESSED IN VMS721_RMS-V0500 KIT
o RMS: Avoid an exec-mode infinite loop if RMS ever attempts to
add a duplicate key value to a compressed index bucket.
An index bucket should never have a duplicate key value.
There is the potential, however, some inconsistency
(corruption) in a lower level could result in such an attempt
in the case of a compressed key. A correction has been added
to issue a nonfatal RMS bugcheck (ISAM) and avoid the loop.
Images Affected:[SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o RMS: Fix for some records being potentially skipped over in a
reverse key search.
If the very last bucket in the data bucket chain for a
particular key-of-reference is empty (no valid records), the
potential exists for any valid records in the next-to-the-last
bucket (and only this bucket) being skipped over in the
backwards scan done by a reverse key search.
This problem is restricted to a reverse key search.
Images Affected:[SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o RMS: Correction for circumflex returned in resultant string
for search error cases.
When a one-character wildcard % is used in a search, if no
file is found (an error is returned), the resultant string
returned in the user NAM[L] structure has a circumflex (^)
character inappropriately inserted just before the %. This
affects a number of DCL utilities which display the resultant
string with their error messages (e.g., DELETE, TYPE, RENAME
and COPY). For example:
$ delete %.jnk;*
%DELETE-W-SEARCHFAIL, error searching for SYS$COMMON:[FOO]^%.JNK;*
-RMS-E-FNF, file not found
Images Affected:[SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o CONVERT: Fix for remote file DAP protocol regression.
The convert utility fails with the following error when the
input file is a sequential file on a remote foreign (non-VMS)
system and the output file is a sequential file on a VMS
system if and only if /SORT is explicitly specified or implied
by /FDL:
%CONV-F-READERR, Error reading (IBM_filename)
-RMS-F-BUG_DAP, Data Access Protocol error detected;
DAP code = 0001A008
The problem is not reproducable using a remote VMS system.
Images Affected:[SYSEXE]CONVERT.EXE
[SYSLIB]CONVSHR.EXE
PROBLEMS ADDRESSED IN VMS721_RMS-V0400 KIT:
o Avoid possibility of exec-mode accvio due to a (very rare)
Alpha image activation problem, with RMS being a potential
victim. The process may either:
- Terminate with an access violation (ACCVIO) if the SYSGEN
parameter BUGCHECKFATAL is not enabled; or
- Crash the system with a SSRVEXCEPT ACCVIO if the SYSGEN
parameter BUGCHECKFATAL is enabled.
This problem is fixed in the image activation (SSB) image for
OpenVMS V7.2-1H1.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o RMS fix for inconsistent secondary key index structure.
Any application that does a lot of deleting or does updates
that change a no duplicate secondary key value to another
value in an indexed file is a potential candidate for this
problem.
An ANALYZE/RMS_FILE of the indexed file reports the following
error for a secondary key:
"Index bucket references missing data bucket with VBN nnn"
The problem may be that the secondary index structure has
duplicate index value entries and there should never be
duplicates in the index structure. If the secondary index
allows a binary search (is uncompressed), records could be
hidden using an exact secondary key lookup.
This problem results from the entire space being
inappropriately reclaimed for the physically last SIDR record
in some secondary data bucket which contains only deleted
entries.
This problem is restricted to an indexed file with a secondary
key that allows no duplicates. The primary key contents will
be intact and correct, and a convert of the file will rebuild
the secondary indexes and leave the file in a consistent
state.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o Fix to prevent the CONVERT/RECLAIM utility from producing an
inconsistent index structure in an indexed file during a
reclamation.
An ANALYZE/RMS_FILE reports the following error:
"Index bucket references missing data bucket with VBN nnn"
A level 1 index record associated with a data (level 0) bucket
that was reclaimed was not removed from the index bucket, as
it should have been.
It is extremely difficult to detect in advance of doing a
convert/reclaim whether an indexed file is vulnerable if a
reclaim were applied to it. For example, one condition is
that one of the initial level 1 index buckets associated with
data buckets eligible for reclamation has some condition (for
example, only one index record) that will cause a rollback of
a removed index record during a reclamation.
Without the fix, doing a full convert (without the /RECLAIM
qualifier) ensures avoiding this problem.
Images Affected: [SYSEXE]RECLAIM.EXE
[SYSEXE]CONVERT.EXE
[SYSLIB]CONVSHR.EXE
o Fix to the CONVERT utility to prevent the signal of a fatal
read error (CONV-F-READERR) with an RMS-S-NORMAL secondary
status when callable convert is invoked within a threaded
application. This correction prevents the erroneous error
signal when the end of the input file is reached.
Although callable convert is not a thread safe application, it
is possible to invoke the callable interface from within a
single instance within a single thread.
Images Affected: [SYSEXE]CONVERT.EXE
[SYSLIB]CONVSHR.EXE
o Fix to the CONVERT utility to prevent a convert which uses
either network or tape input from creating an empty output
indexed file.
Images Affected: [SYSEXE]CONVERT.EXE
[SYSLIB]CONVSHR.EXE
o Fix to the CONVERT utility to avoid an access violation
converting a sequential file when the input file has a zero
maximum record size (MRS).
Images Affected: [SYSEXE]CONVERT.EXE
[SYSLIB]CONVSHR.EXE
PROBLEMS ADDRESSED IN VMS721_RMS-V0300 KIT:
o Fix to increase the directory path cache size to accommodate
larger directories.
A threaded process may deplete the RMS directory path cache
when multiple process threads are performing simultaneous
directory lookups. This can result in a race condition in
which the threads end up in an infinite loop attempting to
traverse their respective paths while the cache is being
frequently flushed. This problem is aggravated when the
directory paths contain long names and/or deep structures.
The directory path cache size has been increased to prevent
this behavior.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o Fix to increase the size of RMS's internal ASB stack.
RMS's internal ASB stack boundaries may be exceeded due to
unanticipated third party EXEC mode activity such as an AST
delivery while RMS is operating on its internal stack.
Because the stack was initially sized for exclusive RMS use,
the stack limits can overflow causing adjacent RMS data
structures to become corrupted. This can result in various
aberrant RMS conditions including non-fatal EXEC mode System
Service Exceptions.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o Fix to prevent EXEC mode hangs with EXEC ASTs disabled.
Under rare circumstances, non-atomic access to an RMS process
global data cell could result in status bits being lost during
concurrent cell access. A status bit to indicate whether RMS
currently has ASTs disabled could inadvertently be cleared
through this access resulting in an infinite hang within RMS
waiting for an AST delivery, but with EXEC mode ASTs disabled.
Atomic access to this cell prevents this from occurring.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o Enhance minimum process quotas that the RMSREC_SERVER detached
process is created with. This server is dedicated to RMS RU
journaling detached recovery.
ENQLM and PGFLQUOTA are the process quotas that some
applications have found it necessary to override the minimum
on their system or cluster by increasing the associated
PQL_Mxxxx sysgen parameter (e.g. PQL_MENQLM). The defaults
for these quotas are now 1 million for ENQLM and 100 thousand
for PGFLQUOTA. The enhancement also sets WSEXTENT at runtime
to the WSMAX sysgen parameter.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o Rollback of a remote file transfer change made in V7.2 to its
day 1 behavior in order to restore prior performance metrics
for remote file transfers that request file transfer mode by
setting the SQO (FAB$L_FOP) option. The change was made to
ignore the file transfer mode (FTM) request if the remote file
was write shared.
This has led to a number of reports of applications that
previously had SQO specified for remote files that are
experiencing significant performance degradations in their
remote applications with the V7.2 family and V7.3. We have
reviewed the previous behavior for file transfer mode and
found that while there is the appearance of locking
inconsistencies for readers when FTM is used, there is no
potential for data corruption. We have concluded that when
users set the FTM (SQO) option, they are in effect giving
permission for the same kind of inconsistencies that a user
allows when the read-regardless (RRL) option is set.
This change restores the pre-V7.2 behavior for the file
transfer mode for remote files. If SQO is set, file transfer
mode will be used regardless of the sharing specified for the
remote file. Users should expect to see the same kind of
inconsistencies in reading data as they see when the
read-regardless (RRL) option is set. The SQO option should be
disabled if this is not acceptable for some application. In
addition, to avoid the possibility of a hang that may be
induced by retrying remote accesses after a record lock error,
users should consider setting both the no-lock (NLK) and
read-regardless (RRL) options in the RAB$L_ROP in applications
that use the file transfer mode (SQO) option for remote file
accesses. (Note: The new NQL (no query locking) option
introduced in V7.2-1H1 is not supported by the DAP protocol
for remote files.)
An application should continue to work with the restored
behavior without a new change even if a change has been made
to an existing application to restore the file transfer mode
behavior since the SQO fix was made in V7.2 (e.g., adding the
UPI sharing option).
There is just one potential problem that we need to point out.
For new applications designed and implemented in V7.2 or later
that may allow remote accesses to write shared files, they
should check whether SQO (FAB$L_FOP) is enabled. Currently
the SQO option is being ignored (unless the UPI sharing option
is specified), and the file transfer mode is not being used
for any remote accesses. With the restore of pre-V7.2 SQO
behavior, it will start being used and so the behavior of the
application could change. Anyone with a new application that
has SQO set and the possibility of write shared files being
remotely accessed by the application should consider whether
the SQO option needs to be disabled.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
PROBLEMS ADDRESSED IN VMS721_RMS-V0200 KIT
o Fix to prevent a non-fatal SSRVEXCEPT bugcheck when a wildcard
network copy completes.
Attempts to perform wild card file copy operations across the
network may fail with a non-fatal SSRVEXCEPT bugcheck upon
completion when a third party event notification software
package is installed. Stale information contained within a
recycled DAP message buffer could cause an invalid path to be
executed during the implicit $DISPLAY of a file during RMS
rundown.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o Fix for remote file transfer performance degradation if UPI
enabled.
As a side-effect of a DAP/FAL change made to the OpenVMS Alpha
Version 7.2 family, the SQO (sequential only) option was
inappropriately disabled in a record stream when the UPI (user
provided interlock) option was enabled if RMS detected any
form of write sharing. This resulted in reducing the
performance of a remote file transfer that had the UPI option
enabled due to the overhead of sending the file
record-by-record rather than using the more efficient block
mode transfer supported by the SQO option.
This problem is fixed in OpenVMS Alpha V7.3.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o Fix to prevent an RMS$_IOP error when more than 16383 files
are accessed.
An image which issues more than 16383 $OPEN calls or $CONNECT
calls may receive an RMS$_IOP (Invalid Operation) error on a
subsequent RMS call. The Internal File and Stream Identifier
(IFI/ISI) values are limited to 14 bits. Prior to this
change, RMS failed to enforce this limit resulting in the
inadvertent setting of some extraneous bits when more than
16383 files were opened or streams connected by a process.
RMS has been modified to return a RMS$_DME error status and
not continue when this limit is exceeded for an $OPEN or
$CONNECT.
This problem is fixed in OpenVMS Alpha V7.3.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o Fix to prevent a hang on EFN 29 with missing upcall from
threaded application.
A user application that is threaded may have a thread hang
waiting on event flag 29. The IOSB of the thread has been
filled in, but the thread continues to be stalled. This fix
ensures that an upcall is always made when RMS activity
completes.
This problem is fixed in OpenVMS Alpha V7.3.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
o RMS support for new qualifier /SHARE added to SET FILE, which
is dependent on the VMS721_CLIUTL-V0100 kit being installed.
The /SHARE qualifier allows you to enable or disable global
buffers or statistics on a file currently being accessed by
other users. Only new accessors of the file will acquire the
new settings. This qualifier requires SYSPRV (system
privilege).
The /SHARE qualifier is only valid with the following
qualifiers:
/[NO]GLOBAL_BUFFER=count/SHARE
/[NO]STATISTICS/SHARE
If other qualifiers are needed, they must be entered in a
separate SET FILE command.
/[NO]GLOBAL_BUFFER=count/SHARE
The /SHARE qualifier can be used to enable or disable global
buffers on a file currently being accessed. However, any new
global buffer settings will only be applied to new accessors
of the file. And if a file is already opened with global
buffers, any new number of global buffers will not take effect
until the file is closed by all accessors of the file.
/[NO]STATISTICS/SHARE
The /SHARE qualifier can be used to enable or disable
statistics on a file currently being accessed. However, only
statistics of new accessors of the file will be measured.
EXAMPLE:
$ SET FILE/SHARE/GLOBAL_BUFFER=5000/STATISTICS INVENTORY.IDX
This example sets 5000 global buffers on the INVENTORY.IDX
file and enables statistics. Without the /SHARE qualifier, if
the file was open when the SET FILE command was issued, the
following error would be returned: SYSTEM-W-ACCONFLICT (file
access conflict). The /SHARE qualifier allows the global
buffers and statistics to be enabled on an open file.
However, these settings only apply to new accessors of the
file.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
[SYSEXE]SET.EXE
[SYSLIB]DCLTABLES.EXE with modified SET.CLD
The latter two images require the installation of the
VMS721_CLIUTL-V0100 kit.
o Fix to prevent accvio when repeated calls are made to Convert
callable interface.
When making repeated calls to the Convert callable interface
from within a user application, an access violation or various
sort errors may be returned. The following conditions must
exist for this error to occur:
o An application must be making repeated calls to the
callable CONVERT interface.
o The current file being converted must have more than 3
keys.
o At least one of the previously converted files must have
had all compressions disabled.
o The current file being converted must have some
compression enabled.
Images Affected: [SYSLIB]CONVSHR.EXE
o Fix for SQO error on CONVERT/NOSORT with collated key.
Producing an indexed file with a collated key using the
qualifier /NOSORT with the CONVERT utility may fail with the
following error:
%CONV-F-READERR, error reading <filename>
-RMS-F-SQO, operation not sequential (SQO set)
This problem is fixed in OpenVMS Alpha V7.3.
Images Affected: [SYSEXE]CONVERT.EXE
[SYSLIB]CONVSHR.EXE
o Fix to correct the bucket size calculation for values that are
evenly divisible by the cluster size.
The Edit/fdl Design Facility (EDF) may calculate a larger than
necessary bucket size when the bucket size is evenly divisible
by the cluster size of the disk.
This problem is fixed in OpenVMS Alpha V7.3.
Images Affected: [SYSEXE]EDF.EXE
o A GEM compiler related problem is corrected. There are two
ways the user may see the effect of this problem:
1. ORA-482 crashes on Oracle 8.1.6 OPS.
2. A process can exit with an unhandled exception with the PC
in SYS$PUT.
Images Affected: [SYS$LDR]RMS.EXE
RELATED ARTICLES:
Detailed articles describing the problems listed above may exist in the
OPENVMS database(s). To view these articles, open the appropriate product
database and perform a query using either of the following search strings:
'VMS721_RMS-V0500' or 'VMS721_RMS'.
ECO KIT ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS:
If after an evaluation you wish to obtain this kit, request it
electronically using the appropriate Advanced Electronic Services
(AES) Service Tool. If you are not familiar with how to request
kits electronically, open the DIA, WIS or DSNLINK database and
review the article entitled:
[AES] How To Electronically Request ECO Kits Using Service Tools
INSTALLATION NOTES:
This kit requires a system reboot. Compaq strongly recommends that
a reboot is performed immediately after kit installation to avoid
system instability
If you have other nodes in your OpenVMS cluster, they must also be
rebooted in order to make use of the new image(s). If it is not
possible or convenient to reboot the entire cluster at this time, a
rolling re-boot may be performed.
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Install this kit with the POLYCENTER Software installation utility
by logging into the SYSTEM account, and typing the following at the
DCL prompt:
PRODUCT INSTALL VMS721_RMS /SOURCE=[location of Kit]
The kit location may be a tape drive, CD, or a disk directory that
contains the kit.
Additional help on installing PCSI kits can be found by typing
HELP PRODUCT INSTALL at the system prompt
SPECIAL INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
o Scripting of Answers to Installation Questions
During installation, this kit will ask and require user
response to several questions. If you wish to automate the
installation of this kit and avoid having to provide responses
to these questions, you must create a DCL command procedure
that includes the following definitions and commands:
- $ DEFINE/SYS NO_ASK$BACKUP TRUE
- $ DEFINE/SYS NO_ASK$REBOOT TRUE
- Add the following qualifiers to the PRODUCT INSTALL
command and add that command to the DCL procedure.
/PROD=DEC/BASE=AXPVMS/VER=V5.0
- De-assign the logicals assigned
For example, a sample command file to install the
VMS721_RMS-V0400 kit would be:
$
$ DEFINE/SYS NO_ASK$BACKUP TRUE
$ DEFINE/SYS NO_ASK$REBOOT TRUE
$!
$ PROD INSTALL VMS721_RMS/PROD=DEC/BASE=AXPVMS/VER=V5.0
$!
$ DEASSIGN/SYS NO_ASK$BACKUP
$ DEASSIGN/SYS NO_ASK$REBOOT
$!
$ exit
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==========================================================================
| Table of Kit Image Information |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| | Overall | Image File | Image Link |
| Image Name | Checksum | Identification | Date/Time |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| CONVERT.EXE | 47D16759 | X-8 | 11-JUN-2002 |
| | | 17:53:05.21 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| CONVSHR.EXE | 23CFE60C | X1-012 | 11-JUN-2002 |
| | | 17:52:52.54 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| DDIF$RMS_EXTENSION.EXE | EA41E25A | X-3 | 4-OCT-2000 |
| | | 05:03:30.78 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| EDF.EXE | 41884F2C | X-02 | 15-MAR-2001 |
| | | 07:02:12.00 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| RECLAIM.EXE | 5CB2DEA0 | X-6 | 11-JUN-2002 |
| | | 17:53:08.75 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| RMS.EXE | 065659B7 | V1.0 | 12-JUL-2002 |
| | | 22:13:44.13 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| SDARMS$SHARE.EXE | A7401459 | X-9 | 12-JUL-2002 |
| | | 22:19:17.55 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
|
