CCIT phasing out one operating system

A plan has been implemented to eliminate the VAX/VMS cluster, an aged operating system created predominantly for research and statistical data transfer.

But VAX/VMS was also used for e-mail, which leaves some people at the University of Arizona having to transfer their accounts before the May 31 deadline.

VAX/VMS users need to begin the transition process by instructing the system to forward their mail to their new address and clean out their personal mail folders.

People who will be affected by the change have accounts on machines known as VMS, VMSPLUS, VMSA, VIOLET, MILORI, SKYBLU, WOAD and MADDER.

Even after the more-than-10-year old VAX/VMS is dismembered, a machine will continue to forward messages for six months, after which senders will have their mail returned with a letter of explanation.

The U-cluster, which contains 25 multi-functional machines, has been updated to prepare for the changes.

Workers at the Center for Computing and Information Technology added mail and file servers and more disk space to u.arizona.edu to accommodate the growing usage by students, faculty and staff at the UA.

Dan Roman, network operations manager for CCIT telecommunications, said the system is undergoing changes to boost efficiency.

"We tweaked the existing system to maximize performance," Roman said.

Viji Muralidharan, principal computing manager for CCIT computer operations, said the adjustments are also happening for practical, financial reasons.

"We're trying to be efficient and not have to manage two systems," Muralidharan said. "We are saving money by reallocating existing personnel."

Muralidharan added that expected questions from users of the soon-extinct system are flowing into CCIT, since about 6,000 users took advantage of the VAX/VMS system.

"The first questions people ask are how to get another account and how to get mail to the new address," she said.

Muralidharan recommended that users visit the "VMS Migration" Web page, at http://www.u.arizona.edu/vms_migration, which answers questions and explains the plan.