Ethan,
yes, there were separate kits for VAX and Alpha, and for each hardware,
you could order three different kits:
- VMS itself (usually a small box with 2 or 3 CDs)
- layered products (install kits for compilers, TCP/IP, ...)
- On-Line Documentation (OLD).
In the actual VMS kit, the actual VMS CD is bootable, and upon firing
up, it will present you with a menu from where you can start your very
own VMS installation.