Appendix I Alternative Ways to Initialize the System Disk

Table of Contents

I.1 Alternative Method of Initialization
I.2 Removing the Diagnostic Partition File

The usual way to create a new OpenVMS system disk is to install OpenVMS with the INITIALIZE option. When you do this, the installation process responds as follows:

On OpenVMS I64 systems only, a diagnostic partition is created.
The diagnostic partition is visible only from the console; it corresponds to the contents of SYS$MAINTENANCE:SYS$DIAGNOSTICS.SYS on the system disk. The partition is intended and reserved for use by HP Services (it is used with the HP IPF Offline Diagnostics and Utilities CD provided with the purchase of your Integrity server). For more information about offline diagnostics, see your hardware documentation and the following website:
http://docs.hp.com/hpux/diag
HP recommends creating the system disk with this partition and not removing it. However, it is not required for operation of OpenVMS.
If you do not want the diagnostic partition, you can prevent its creation by initializing the disk before installing OpenVMS, performing the steps in Section I.1. Alternatively, if you have already created the system disk and the partition, you can remove it by performing the steps in Section I.2.
The disk is initialized with volume expansion (INITIALIZE/LIMIT).
This method of initialization (using the /LIMIT qualifier) might make your target system disk incompatible with versions of OpenVMS prior to 7.2. HP recommends that you create your system disk in the default manner unless you need to mount the disk on a version of OpenVMS prior to 7.2.
You can avoid use of the /LIMIT qualifier by initializing your target system disk before you install OpenVMS, performing the steps in Section I.1. Note that as a result of this alternate method, your new system disk might include a relatively large minimum allocation size (as defined by /CLUSTER_SIZE). Small files will use more space than would be used otherwise. Therefore, perform these steps only for system disks that must be mounted on versions of OpenVMS prior to Version 7.2.

I.1 Alternative Method of Initialization

Use the following initialization method to avoid use of the /LIMIT qualifier or, for OpenVMS I64, to prevent creation of the diagnostic partition.




	NOTE: When you initialize your target disk using the following method, you must use the PRESERVE option during the installation of OpenVMS on the disk. If you use the INITIALIZE option, the disk is reinitialized using the defaults.

After booting the operating system media, and before installing the operating system, select option 8 (“Execute DCL commands and procedures”) on the main menu.
Initialize the intended target disk with the following command:
$ INITIALIZE /SYSTEM /HEADERS=150000 /STRUCTURE=ods-level target-disk target-label
where:
- ods-level is 2 (for ODS-2) or 5 (for ODS-5).
- target-disk is the device for the target disk (such as DKA100:).
- target-label is the label for the target disk (you can change the label later).
If you specified ODS-5 and you want support for hard links, include the /VOLUME_CHARACTERISTICS=HARDLINKS qualifier with the INITIALIZE command.
If you are using this method of initialization to prevent creation of a diagnostic partition, and you do not intend to mount the disk on an OpenVMS system prior to version 7.2, include the /LIMIT qualifier with the INITIALIZE command. If you do not use the /LIMIT qualifier, your new system disk might be initialized with a relatively large minimum allocation size. This can cause small files to use more space than necessary.
Exit DCL (log off), and then select option 1 (“Upgrade, install or reconfigure OpenVMS”) on the main menu.
When you are asked whether to initialize or preserve the target disk, choose PRESERVE (the default).
Continue with the installation.

I.2 Removing the Diagnostic Partition File

To remove the diagnostic partition on an OpenVMS I64 system disk and to recover the disk space occupied, delete the file SYS$MAINTENANCE:SYS$DIAGNOSTICS.SYS and then reset the boot block. This file can contain hardware diagnostics but is not essential for operations. To delete the file, enter the following command:

$ DELETE SYS$MAINTENANCE:SYS$DIAGNOSTICS.SYS;*/LOG

Reset the boot block by entering the SET BOOTBLOCK command at the DCL prompt, as in the following example, where target-disk is the device on which your target system disk is mounted:

$ SET BOOTBLOCK /PRESERVE=SIGNATURE target-disk:[VMS$COMMON.SYS$LDR]SYS$EFI.SYS