                                Adding a new
                                 Node to a
                                VMS Cluster

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     Here are some instructions for adding a new satellite node to a
     VMS Cluster. Some of these instructions are not reflected in the
     normal documentation, however I believe they make the addition of
     new nodes as well as the management of the new nodes much easier.
     Before you continue to add a node or nodes, first sit down and
     decide how each new node is to be configured into your cluster.
     For each node you should decide on these items :

            1. The node name.
            2. Which disk/system it is going to boot from.
            3. The boot root number.
            4. The DECNet address
            5. It's disk & Tape allocation class (if necessary or
               desired*).

          * Note : I recommend always choosing a tape and disk
          allocation class, regardless of the fact that your
          workstation will not be serving disks or tapes. Also,
          for clarity sake and ease of management, try and keep
          all of the numbers the same. For example : DECNet
          number 10.33, boot root [sys33], and disk and
          allocation class of 33.

     Now before you start hooking up your new node to the network, you
     should take any license PAKs associated with this node, and add
     them to the license database. Be sure to follow the instructions
     on adding licenses. For every license that yo add that is
     specifically for this node, you should modify the license after
     entry to use the /INCLUDE=node name option, to make sure no other
     node grabs it during a reboot.

     Once the hardware of the new VAXStation has been set up and
     attached to the appropriate network interface, you must first
     gather some information from the workstation. At the three carrot
     prompt enter in the command :

     >>> SHOW ETHER

     This will show you the Ethernet address. Write this address down.
     It will be a set of six , two-digit hexadecimal numbers separated
     by commas. For example : 08-00-2B-F8-7D-C1. Then Enter in the
     command :

     >>> SHOW DEV

     This will show you all the devices on the station including the
     Ethernet controller which is usually ESA0:, the tape drives (if
     any) starting with MK, and the disk drives, starting with DK.
     Typically there is at least one disk drive on workstations, which
     is to be used as a local page and swap disk. Sometimes the
     workstations we order have a secondary disk which is much larger
     for other storage requirements. Typically, the smaller of the two
     drives is designed for a local page and swap disk, and the larger
     is for other storage requirements.

     Write down both disk addresses, and the address of any tape drive
     local to the workstation. Now it's time to go to the Cluster
     server node to add the new workstation. Before you do anything
     here you should have chosen the root number, the allocation
     classes, the DECNET address and name of your new workstation. The
     DECNET address consists of the area number and the node number.
     The area number must be the same as the area number of the boot
     node. Although it's not documented, as mentioned above, for
     clarity's sake it is best to assign an allocation class, root
     number and node number the same for any given workstation. Due to
     the restrictions on root numbers for workstations these numbers
     should all be two digits between 10 and 99. For example, on my
     cluster I number all 3000 class workstations from 30 to 39, and
     4000 class workstations from 40 to 49, etc.

     So if I give a workstation the DECNET address of 10.33, then it's
     allocation class for disk and tape are both 30, and it's root
     number is [sys30.].

     Once you have determined the DECNET address you must also
     determine the SCS ID number. To do this take the area number
     (number before the decimal point), multiply it by 1024, then add
     the node number. So for example, with a DECNET address of 10.33,
     the SCS ID number would be (10 x 1024) + 33 or 10273.

     Now it's time to add the new station to the cluster. On the boot
     server node (the one that has also booted off the same disk that
     you have chosen to be your boot disk), from the SYSTEM manager's
     account, run the cluster config command procedure as per the
     documentation. If you haven't read the documentation, do so now.
     The name of the appropriate manual is "Open VMS Cluster Systems"
     Sections 8.1 and 8.2 specifically. It will prompt you for all of
     the information you have just determined.

                           *** VERY IMPORTANT ***

     When the procedure is executing, it will ask you : "Will a local
     disk be used for paging and swapping?" To this response, you must
     answer "NO", even if you are planning to use a local disk for
     paging and swapping. The reason is that if you answer "YES" to
     this, the disk and page and swap files are out of your control,
     and is determined by defaults for a workstation with minimal
     memory, and not what your workstation has.

     Instead, you must always answer this question with a "NO". This
     will cause a temporary page and swap file to be created on the
     boot disk, which is fine for the time being.

     At the end of the cluster config command procedure, you will be
     asked to boot the workstation. Go ahead and do this. The firs
     time the workstation boots, it will automatically generate a new
     MODPARAMS.DAT file in the specific root on the boot disk, and
     reboot using an autogen.

     When the workstation comes up after the autogen, you still have
     work to do. First log on under the SYSTEM account from the server
     and initialize the the local page and swap disk with the
     following command :

$INIT/INDEX=BEG node name$diskaddr node name$PGSWP

     substituting "node name" with the name you chose for the new
     workstation, and "diskaddr" with the device disk address such as
     DKA100. It is very important that you use the qualifier
     /INDEX=BEG or /INDEX=END so that the index file is placed at the
     beginning or end of the disk volume, because the default is to
     create it in the middle of the volume, which would fragment the
     page and/or swap file.

     Now mount the disk using the command :

$MOUNT node name$diskaddr node name$PGSWP node name$PGSWP

     Then do the command :

$SHOW DEVICE/FULL node name$PGSWP

     and determine the number of free disk blocks on the device. Take
     this number and divide it by 3,and round down to the nearest 100
     blocks. This number should be size of the SWAPFILE. Take the size
     of the SWAPFILE and multiply it by 2, and this should be the size
     of the PAGEFILE. Take the number of blocks in the PAGEFILE and
     divide it by 2000. This will yield the size in Megabytes. This
     number should be at least 8 times the size of main memory for the
     workstation. If it is not, then we should be using another larger
     disk for paging and swapping, or another disk in conjunction with
     this disk. If the size of the page file is greater than 8 times
     the memory, everything is fine.

     Now create the page and swap files. First enter in the command :

$CREATE/DIR node name$PGSWP:[SYSEXE]/OWN=[SYSTEM]

     Then activate SYSGEN and create the page and swap files :

$MCR SYSGEN
SYSGEN>CREATE/CONT/SIZE=pagefilesize node name$PGSWP:[SYSEXE]PAGEFILE.SYS
SYSGEN>CREATE/CONT/SIZE=swapfilesize node name$PGSWP:[SYSEXE]SWAPFILE.SYS
SYSGEN>EXIT

     Now it's time to modify the command procedure that mounts the
     page and swap disks. To do this set your default to SYS$MANAGER
     and edit the command procedure that DEC provides called
     SYPGSWPFILES.COM. In that file, at the appropriate place, enter
     in these command lines :

$IF (F$GETSYI("NODENAME") .EQS. "node name")
$THEN
$    MOUNT/SYSTEM node name$diskaddr node name$PGSWP node name$PGSWP
$    MCR SYSGEN
INSTALL node name$PGSWP:[SYSEXE]PAGEFILE.SYS/PAGEFILE
INSTALL node name$PGSWP:[SYSEXE]SWAPFILE.SYS/SWAPFILE
EXIT
$ELSE
$ENDIF

     Remember to substitute all lowercase letters with your "node
     name" and "diskaddr". Now go to the specific root on the system
     disk for this new node, ie:

$SET DEFAULT SYS$SYSDEVICE:[SYSnn.SYSEXE]

     where "nn" is the root number for the node you are adding. Once
     there enter in the commands :

$RENAME PAGEFILE.SYS PAGEFILE.OLD
$RENAME SWAPFILE.SYS SWAPFILE.OLD

     and then :

$EDIT MODPARAMS.DAT

     and set up the desired SYSGEN parameters for this node. When this
     is completed, make all the changes needed for the system wide
     startup command procedure SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM for the new node,
     then autogen the new node by logging onto the SYSTEM account on
     the new node and entering the command :

$@SYS$UPDATE:AUTOGEN SAVPARAMS REBOOT

     When the new node has rebooted, you can go to the specific
     [SYSEXE] directory and delete the temporary PAGEFILE.OLD and
     SWAPFILE.OLD files. Once this has been completed, you can
     configure DECNET as per the DECNET configuration instructions.
     (Remember : If you use NETCONFIG.COM never ever answer "YES" to
     the prompt "Do you want to run these commands now". It will screw
     up your network objects. Instead, read my pages on "The Perils of
     using NETCONFIG.COM")

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     If you have any questions or problems with the above procedure,
     please feel free to eMail me with the specifics of your problem
     or question.

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