HPOC study guide
HPOC · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The HP OpenVMS Certified Professional (often shortened to HPOC) is a vendor-style credential for IT professionals who administer or support OpenVMS systems. It signals that a candidate can reason about the operating system at the level a working system manager needs: how the boot chain and system parameters fit together, how accounts and privileges are governed, how volumes and file systems are laid out, and how clusters, networking, and backups behave under real operational pressure. The HPOC study guide has 9 sections and about 2,491 words.
01OpenVMS System Concepts and Architecture
OpenVMS is a multiuser, multiprocessing operating system built around a privileged kernel, a layered set of system services, and a command interface (DCL). The candidate must know the privilege modes - user, supervisor, executive, and kernel - and that each higher mode grants access to more of the address space and to privileged instructions.
316 words, about 2 min02Installation, Configuration, and Booting
Installation of OpenVMS proceeds from the distribution media (CD/DVD or an info-server/network boot) using the platform-specific boot command; the candidate should recognize the sequence: boot the installation media, run the menu-driven or conversational procedure, choose the system disk, set the cluster and SCSNODE/SCSSYSTEMID parameters, and let the procedure lay down the system files. Know that SCSNODE (the node name) and SCSSYSTEMID (a numeric identifier, historically derived from DECnet address) must be consistent; mismatches are a frequent exam trap.
299 words, about 1 min03System Management and Startup/Shutdown
Day-to-day system management centers on SYSMAN, SYSGEN, and the startup/shutdown command procedures. SYSMAN provides environment-based management (SET ENVIRONMENT) and commands such as CONFIGURATION SHOW, DO (execute a DCL command across nodes), and SET PASSWORD/SET TIMEOUT for security settings.
271 words, about 1 min04User Account and Security Management
User accounts are managed with AUTHORIZE (in SYS$SYSTEM:). Each UAF record carries a username, UIC (group,member), password, account privileges, quotas, and flags.
273 words, about 1 min05Storage, Volumes, and File Systems
OpenVMS storage is organized into volumes formatted with the Files-11 On-Disk Structure (ODS-2 and ODS-5). A volume has a home block, a file header index (INDEXF.SYS), and directories; each file is described by a file header (FH) that contains the file's extents and protection.
264 words, about 1 min06Processes, Scheduling, and Performance
Processes are created with RUN (new process) or SPAWN (subprocess), and controlled with STOP, SUSPEND, RESUME, and SET PROCESS. Each process has a priority (0-15 base, with real-time priorities available to privileged users), a quantum, a working set, and quotas (e.g., BIOLM, DIOLM, ASTLM, FILLM, PGFLQUOTA).
263 words, about 1 min07Networking and DECnet/IP Services
OpenVMS networking spans DECnet (Phase IV and Phase V/OSI) and TCP/IP services. For DECnet, know the node address (area.node) and that SCSNODE/SCSSYSTEMID relate to node identity; DECnet Phase IV uses a 16-bit address, while Phase V uses NSAP addresses and can interoperate with IP.
261 words, about 1 min08Clusters and High Availability
An OpenVMS cluster is a set of nodes sharing storage and communicating over a System Communications Services (SCS) interconnect. Candidates must understand the cluster components: the cluster alias, the quorum disk, and the quorum algorithm.
270 words, about 1 min09Backup, Recovery, and Troubleshooting
Backup and recovery on OpenVMS centers on BACKUP and the save-set format. Know the difference between an image backup (saves the entire volume, preserving file structure) and a file-level backup (saves selected files).
274 words, about 1 min