  System configuration information? 
 The Question is:
 
Dear Wizard:
I am currently trying to put together some in depth documentation on our
Alpha 4000/OpenVMS 7.1-1H1.  Has Digital/Compaq prepared a system analysis
documentation template that can be used to document all system settings.
Any advise you can give would be
appreciated.
 
 
 The Answer is:
 
  The documentation of all settings is interesting, but a recent valid
  BACKUP/IMAGE of the disk(s) is usually far more practical, particularly
  when rapid recovery is required.
 
  If the purpose of this documentation is a product installation, the
  list of logical names, files, and system parameters for inclusion
  into SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT is usually more appropriate.
 
  If the task is strictly configuration documentation, tools such as CLUE
  CONFIG, CLUE SCSI/SUMMARY, and (on V7.2 and later) SHOW PARAMETER/ALL can
  be used to gather system configuration information.  These commands are
  part of the ANALYZE/SYSTEM (SDA) CLUE subsystem available on recent OpenVMS
  Alpha versions.  In addition to SHOW PARAMETER/ALL in SDA, you can also
  acquire the current parameter settings using the SYSMAN PARAMETER SHOW/ALL
  command.
 
  PRODUCT SHOW PRODUCT can show the currently installed packages, with
  better ECO coverage particularly on OpenVMS Alpha V7.1-2 and later.
 
  Files such as SYS$SYSTEM:AGEN$PARAMS.REPORT can be used to determine
  settings created by the last AUTOGEN pass.
 
  The contents of SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT should be included in this
  documentation, as should the output from SHOW LOGICAL/FULL, a copy of
  all site-specific configuration files, and any other site-specific
  customizations that might be around.
 
  As should become obvious, full documentation of the system configuration
  is difficult, and recovery from documentation would be tedious at best.
  (Assuming that all necessary configuration information is archived.)
  BACKUP/IMAGE makes for a far faster recovery, and is far less prone
  to various errors and omissions.
 
