Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!hslrswi.UUCP!uucp
From: uucp@hslrswi.UUCP.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: (none)
Message-ID: <8704220401.AA17100@hslrswi.hasler>
Date: Thu, 23-Apr-87 03:42:50 EST
Article-I.D.: hslrswi.8704220401.AA17100
Posted: Thu Apr 23 03:42:50 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Apr-87 03:19:29 EST
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Distribution: world
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 55

While I am still interested in finding a way to do it
Path: hslrswi!cernvax!mcvax!seismo!columbia!rutgers!ucla-cs!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!
From: tedcrane@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Ted Crane)
Newsgroups: mod.computers.vax
Subject: Identifying your VAX--what to use for a serial number
Summary: No *usable* ID number on a VAX
Message-ID: <749@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: 20 Apr 87 18:21:10 GMT
Reply-To: tedcrane@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu.UUCP (Ted Crane)
Distribution: world
Organization: Program of Computer Graphics, Cornell University
Lines: 41


A while back, I put a request for methods of identifying VAXes into
an article in mod.computers.vax.  As promised, here is a summary of
the responses:

1) Don't do it.
   Just about everyone who responded fervently denounced the idea of
   checking for a VAX system ID number as a means of protecting programs
   from unauthorized copying.  The reasons are many (especially on a VAX)
   and are listed below.  One honest soul even went so far as to point
   out that VAX (presumably VMS) owners are of the temperament to spend
   $$$ for reliable software, and shouldn't be expected to make copies.

2) It can't be done.
   VAXes have no useful serial number on the CPU.  There's a rumor that the
   2000's have a serial number on the CPU board, but it is suject to the
   same problem as the Ethernet ID, below.
   Various software manufacturers who are checking the system serial number
   via GETSYI are probably fooling themselves (or they know something we don't)

3) Don't use the Ethernet physical address as an ID.
   Some VAXes don't have Ethernet boards.
   The ID changes when field service swaps the board.  (This is not exactly
   true, since they can easily preserve the ID by moving a socketed ROM).

4) Don't use a disk serial number as an ID.
   VAX managers are fond of swapping system disks (does it make sense to
   check the ID of any other disk?).
   Field service also likes to swap HDA's and drives.

I think the casual reader of this summary will have gotten the idea by now.
While I am still interested in finding a way to do it (can anyone suggest
how to read a disk serial number?  There is a VCB$W_VOLSER you can see in
ANAL/SYS, but it is always zero!), the chance of incorrectly breaking someones
software is too high.

<Facts reported above may not really be correct, so don't use them without
 researching them yourself...>
--
- ted crane, alias (tc)
tedcrane@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu          BITNET: tedcrane@CRNLTHRY
tedcrane@squid.tn.cornell.edu            DECnet: GOPHER::THC