VMS x86-64 E9.2-1 Intel/AMD CPU Requirements:
Intel or AMD x86 CPU
64-bit Instruction set
NX processor bit (NX)
Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.1 (SSE4.1)
Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
XSAVE instructions
Time Stamp Counter (TSC)
Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC)
Memory Type Range Registers (MTRR)
Most Intel CPUs from 2016/AMD (Zen) CPUs from 2017 and later support these processor features.
Optional Features:
Process-Context Identifier feature (PCID)
Extended Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (x2APIC)
XSAVEOPT instruction
FSGSBASE instructions
Microarchitectural Data Sampling Mitigation (MD_CLEAR)
Host System Check
Before downloading the VSI OpenVMS x86-64 E9.2-1 installation kit, VSI recommends that you determine whether your host system has the required CPU features to run VSI OpenVMS x86-64. For this purpose, execute a Python script called vmscheck.py on your host system. This script, along with the accompanying PDF document entitled VMS CPUID Feature Check, can be downloaded from
https://vmssoftware.com/openkits/alpope ... scheck.zip.
The VMS CPUID Feature Check document contains instructions on how to run the script and interpret the results and also describes script limitations.
Guest Virtual Machine Check
The OpenVMS Boot Manager performs the CPU feature check on the guest virtual machine. The CPU feature check is performed automatically every time the Boot Manager is launched. If the check has passed successfully, the following message is displayed:
Checking Required Processor Features: PASSED
In addition, before booting VSI OpenVMS x86-64 E9.2-1, you can issue the following Boot Manager command to list the compatibility details:
BOOTMGR> DEVICE CPU
Important
VSI OpenVMS x86-64 will not boot on the system that fails either of the following CPU feature checks:
• The host system check (via the vmscheck.py script)
• The guest virtual machine check (via the OpenVMS Boot Manager).
Note:
In case the system has the required CPU features but lacks some of the optional CPU features,
the OpenVMS operating system may have noticeably lower performance.
For more information,
refer to the E9.2-1 Release Notes.
/Maurizio