AlphaServer ES47 partitioning

[Huw Davies]

It’s been a very long time since I partitioned an ES47/GS80 (would have been whilst I worked for Compaq prior to the HP takeover) but ISTR that the reason for the 2P rule was that you couldn’t partition the memory subsystems within a dynamic duo. It’s been a long time and I no longer have access to the appropriate documentation so I could be recalling incorrectly. I don’t even have an ES47 at work anymore to play around with :-(

Huw

> On 14 Feb 2022, at 16:24, cctalk at classiccmp.org wrote:
> 
> Hey guys-
>   Anyone on here know much about the Marvel boxes?  I've had one for years but never had much time to fiddle with it.  I'm looking at the partitioning features.  In particular, the manual says:
> 
> Hard partitions must be on 2P boundaries
> Tru64 only supports hard partitions
> 
>   However, I can confirm that you can definitely create a hard partition with a single CPU.  This got me thinking, and I dug a little deeper into the MBM CLI.  The manual seems to suggest that this is the case, but says that the operating system won't work correctly in that configuration.  Anyone know why not?
> 
>   When you create a hard partition, you specify what type of subpartition the hard partition can contain.  The manual says that only "soft" partitions are officially supported, but the CLI also allows you to create subpartitions of type "firm" and "semi-firm".  Does anyone know what "firm" and "semi-firm" partitions do differently than soft partitions?  And does Tru64 work with any of that, or is all of that OpenVMS-specific stuff?
> 
>   Also, on a side note, I don't suppose anyone here has a rail kit for an ES47 or ES80 they'd like to sell, or an I/O drawer...
> 
> Many thanks in advance!
> 
> -Ben
> 
>