OpenVMS
Computer operating system / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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OpenVMS, often referred to as just VMS,[9] is a multi-user, multiprocessing and virtual memory-based operating system. It is designed to support time-sharing, batch processing, transaction processing and workstation applications.[10] Customers using OpenVMS include banks and financial services, hospitals and healthcare, telecommunications operators, network information services, and industrial manufacturers.[11][12] During the 1990s and 2000s, there were approximately half a million VMS systems in operation worldwide.[13][14][15]
Developer | VMS Software Inc (VSI)[1] (previously Digital Equipment Corporation, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard) |
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Written in | Primarily C, BLISS, VAX MACRO, DCL.[2] Other languages also used.[3] |
Working state | Current |
Source model | Closed-source with open-source components. Formerly source available[4][5] |
Initial release | Announced: October 25, 1977; 46 years ago (1977-10-25) V1.0 / August 1978; 45 years ago (1978-08) |
Latest release | V9.2-2 / January 25, 2024; 3 months ago (2024-01-25)[6] |
Marketing target | Servers (historically Minicomputers, Workstations) |
Available in | English, Japanese.[7] Historical support for Chinese (both Traditional and Simplified characters), Korean, Thai.[8] |
Update method | Concurrent upgrades, rolling upgrades |
Package manager | PCSI and VMSINSTAL |
Platforms | VAX, Alpha, Itanium, x86-64 |
Kernel type | Monolithic kernel with loadable modules |
Influenced | VAXELN, MICA, Windows NT |
Influenced by | RSX-11M |
Default user interface | DCL CLI and DECwindows GUI |
License | Proprietary |
Official website | vmssoftware |
It was first announced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) as VAX/VMS (Virtual Address eXtension/Virtual Memory System[16]) alongside the VAX-11/780 minicomputer in 1977.[17][18][19] OpenVMS has subsequently been ported to run on DEC Alpha systems, the Itanium-based HPE Integrity Servers,[20] and select x86-64 hardware and hypervisors.[21] Since 2014, OpenVMS is developed and supported by VMS Software Inc. (VSI).[22][23] OpenVMS offers high availability through clustering—the ability to distribute the system over multiple physical machines.[24] This allows clustered applications and data to remain continuously available while operating system software and hardware maintenance and upgrades are performed,[25] or if part of the cluster is destroyed.[26] VMS cluster uptimes of 17 years have been reported.[27]