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Updated: 11 December 1998

OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2 Upgrade and Installation Manual


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Chapter 5
Before Upgrading the OpenVMS Alpha Operating System

This chapter describes which tasks you should perform prior to beginning an upgrade. Tasks described in this chapter include:

In addition to reviewing the information in this chapter, you might need to refer to the following sources of information as well:

5.1 Notes, Cautions, and Restrictions

This section provides important information that can affect the success of your upgrade. Review the cautions, restrictions, and notes carefully before you begin the upgrade.

5.1.1 Spiralog File System Not Supported

The Spiralog file system will not work with OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2. If Spiralog is installed on your system, you must uninstall it before upgrading to OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2.

5.1.2 Required Operating System Version

To upgrade to Version 7.2 of the OpenVMS Alpha operating system, you must be running at least Version 6.1, 6.2--xxx, 7.0, or 7.1--xxx.

If you are upgrading in a cluster environment, also see Chapter 6 for information about the required version of the OpenVMS Alpha operating system.

5.1.3 Upgrade Paths

Upgrades are supported from Version 6.1, 6.2-xxx, 7.0, and 7.1-xxx of the OpenVMS Alpha operating system.

Rolling upgrades are supported from Version 6.2-xxx and 7.1-xxx of the OpenVMS Alpha operating system (see Chapter 6 for more information).

5.1.4 Update License

To upgrade to OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2, you must have an appropriate license. Compaq's software licenses grant the right to use the current version of a product or any previous version of the product at the time of purchase. If you have an OpenVMS Alpha license prior to Version 7.2 and are not covered by a Software Product Services agreement, which includes the right to use new versions (RTNV), you must purchase an Update License before upgrading to OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2.

If you do not have an Update License, please contact your Compaq support representative who will assist you in obtaining the correct Product Authorization Key (PAK) needed to access the OpenVMS operating system.

5.1.5 Files and Directories

If you choose not to install optional OpenVMS Alpha software during the upgrade, the upgrade procedure removes existing files for those components from the system disk.

If you have changed directory structure on your system disk, the upgrade procedure will not work correctly. Restore your system disk to a standard directory structure before you attempt an upgrade.

The OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2 upgrade procedure provides new files and directories in the directory [VMS$COMMON...]. If you had any special protections and access control lists (ACLs) before the upgrade, you need to reapply them to reestablish the security environment you had previously set up. For more information about creating and maintaining a secure environment, see the OpenVMS Guide to System Security.

5.1.6 Licenses and Layered Products

The upgrade procedure is designed so that you should not have to reinstall most layered products after the upgrade. However, you might need to reinstall certain layered products because of product-specific installation procedures.

The upgrade procedure leaves your OpenVMS Alpha license and layered product licenses intact. You do not need to reinstall these licenses after you upgrade.

5.2 Preparing to Upgrade in a Volume Shadowing Environment

Because you cannot upgrade the operating system on a shadowed system disk (the upgrade will fail), you need to disable shadowing on that disk and perform other operations before you can upgrade the operating system.

There are several methods for creating a nonshadowed target disk. This chapter describes how to change one of your existing shadowed system disks in a multimember shadow set to a nonshadowed disk that you can use as your target disk for the upgrade.

If you have a larger configuration with disks that you can physically access, you may want to use a copy of the system disk as your target disk. Volume Shadowing for OpenVMS describes two methods you can use to create this copy (using volume shadowing commands or BACKUP commands) and how to disable volume shadowing.

5.2.1 Creating a Nonshadowed Target Disk

Change one of your existing shadowed system disks to a nonshadowed disk as follows:

  1. Shut down all systems booted from the shadowed system disk.
  2. Perform a conversational boot (see Appendix A if necessary) on the system disk you have chosen for your target disk. For example:


    >>> BOOT -FLAGS 0,1 DKA100
    

  3. At the SYSBOOT> prompt, enter the following command to disable volume shadowing on the disk:


    SYSBOOT> SET SHADOW_SYS_DISK 0
    

  4. Enter the CONTINUE command to resume the boot procedure. For example:


    SYSBOOT> CONTINUE
    

  5. After the boot completes, log in to the system.

After you have created a nonshadowed system disk that you can use for the upgrade, perform the additional preupgrade procedures described in the balance of this chapter.

5.2.2 Changing the Label

If you want to change the label on the upgrade disk, use the DCL command SET VOLUME/LABEL=volume-label device-spec[:] to perform this optional task. (The SET VOLUME/LABEL command requires write access [W] to the index file on the volume. If you are not the volume owner, you must have either a system UIC or the SYSPRV privilege.)

For OpenVMS Cluster systems, be sure that the volume label is a unique name across the cluster.

If you change the volume label, you must also register that change in the POLYCENTER Software Installation utility database. To do this, use the following command:


$ PRODUCT REGISTER VOLUME old-volume-label device-name

Note that you must supply the old volume label. The new volume label is found by using the device name.

Note

If you need to change the volume label of a disk that is mounted across the cluster, be sure you change the label on all nodes in the OpenVMS Cluster system. The following example shows how you can use the SYSMAN utility to define the environment as a cluster and propagate the volume label change to all nodes in that cluster:


SYSMAN> SET ENVIRONMENT/CLUSTER
SYSMAN> DO SET VOLUME/LABEL=new-label disk-device-name:

5.2.3 Setting the Boot Device

Be sure your system is set to boot from the upgrade disk by default. Use the SHOW BOOTDEF_DEV and SET BOOTDEF_DEV console commands to accomplish this task. (See Appendix A for more information.)

5.3 Backing Up the System Disk

Compaq strongly recommends that you make a backup copy of the system disk and, if your configuration allows it, upgrade the backup copy. (If there are problems, you will still have a working system disk.)

To back up the system disk:

  1. Shut down the system (described in Appendix A).
  2. Boot the operating system CD-ROM (locally or from the InfoServer).
  3. Use the menu system to enter the DCL environment (option 7).
  4. Mount the system disk and the target device on which you will make the backup copy.
  5. Enter backup commands to back up the system disk to the target device.
  6. Log out from the DCL environment.
  7. Shut down the system by selecting option 8 from the menu.
  8. Boot from the system disk.

For complete information about backup operations, including a description of an alternate method that does not require booting from the operating system CD-ROM, see Appendix B.

5.4 Preparing the System Disk

The following sections describe how to prepare the system disk for the upgrade. The operations include the following:

5.4.1 Examining the System Disk

Examine and repair (if necessary) the system disk using the ANALYZE/DISK_STRUCTURE command. (See the OpenVMS System Management Utilities Reference Manual for more information about this command.) Use the following procedure:

  1. Analyze the system disk for inconsistencies and errors in the file structure by entering the following command:


    $ ANALYZE/DISK_STRUCTURE SYS$SYSDEVICE
    

    Ignore the following message:


    %ANALDISK-I-OPENQUOTA, error opening QUOTA.SYS 
    

  2. If you find any other errors on the system disk, repair the errors by entering the following command:


    $ ANALYZE/DISK_STRUCTURE/REPAIR SYS$SYSDEVICE
    

5.4.2 Checking the Size of the System Disk

It is difficult to determine in advance how many blocks of disk space you will need for the upgrade. It depends on how many files you have on the target disk already and on how many components you select during the upgrade procedure. However, the following information will help:

To see how much space you have on the system disk, enter the following command:


$ SHOW DEVICE SYS$SYSDEVICE

5.4.3 Verifying System Parameters

Verify (and modify if necessary) system parameters, described as follows. (If necessary, see the OpenVMS System Manager's Manual for more information about modifying system parameters.) Any system parameters that you modified and did not enter in SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT are lost during the upgrade. To retain these parameters, enter their names in SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT and the value that AUTOGEN needs to add to the default minimum value. (When AUTOGEN runs after the upgrade, it uses the values in SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT.)

For example, if you modified GBLPAGES by 128 pages above the default, add the following line to SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT:


ADD_GBLPAGES=128 

5.5 What to Do Next

Continue the preupgrade tasks as follows, depending on whether you are upgrading in a standalone or OpenVMS Cluster environment:
IF ... THEN ...
you are upgrading a standalone system, do the following:
  1. Log in to the SYSTEM account.
  2. Enter the following command and then press the Return key:
    $ @SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN
    
  3. When the procedure asks if an automatic system reboot should be performed, enter N (No) and press the Return key.
  4. Go to the checklist at the end of this chapter to verify that you have performed the necessary tasks; then go to Chapter 7 to begin the upgrade procedure.
you are upgrading an OpenVMS Cluster system, do the following:
  1. Review the checklist at the end of this chapter.
  2. Go to Chapter 6.

5.6 Preupgrade Checklist

Use the following checklist to make sure you have performed all the tasks before beginning the upgrade:


Chapter 6
Preparing to Upgrade in an OpenVMS Cluster Environment

This chapter describes how to prepare to upgrade in an OpenVMS Cluster environment, depending on the type of upgrade you perform and whether you need to add any new computers to the cluster.

Note

Be sure you have performed the preupgrade tasks described in Chapter 5 before you upgrade your OpenVMS Cluster system.

When you upgrade the operating system in an OpenVMS Cluster environment, be sure the following information is available to review:

6.1 Mixed-Version Support

OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2 and OpenVMS VAX Version 7.2 provide two levels of support for mixed-version and mixed-architecture OpenVMS Cluster systems. These two support types are warranted and migration.

Warranted support means that Compaq has fully qualified the two versions coexisting in an OpenVMS Cluster and will answer all problems identified by customers using these configurations.

Migration support is a superset of the Rolling Upgrade support provided in earlier releases of OpenVMS and is available for mixes that are not warranted. Migration support means that Compaq has qualified the versions for use together in configurations that are migrating in a staged fashion to a newer version of OpenVMS VAX or to OpenVMS Alpha. Problem reports submitted against these configurations will be answered by Compaq. However, in exceptional cases Compaq may request that you move to a warranted configuration as part of answering the problem.

Migration support will help you move to warranted OpenVMS Cluster version mixes with minimal impact on your cluster environment. Table 6-1 shows the level of support provided for all possible version pairings.

Table 6-1 OpenVMS Cluster Warranted and Migration Support for VAX and Alpha
  V6.2-xxx V7.1-xxx V7.2
V6.2 WARRANTED Migration Migration
V7.1 Migration WARRANTED Migration
V7.2 Migration Migration WARRANTED

Note

Compaq does not support the use of Version 7.1 or higher with Version 6.1 (or earlier versions) in an OpenVMS Cluster environment.

6.2 Adding a New System to the Cluster

If you need to add a new computer supported by OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2 to an existing OpenVMS Cluster configuration, Compaq supports two options, listed in the following preferred order:

  1. Upgrade the entire cluster to Version 7.2 of the OpenVMS Alpha operating system and add the new computer as a member.
  2. If you need to keep some systems in the cluster running the current version of OpenVMS Alpha, you must upgrade a system disk in the cluster to OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2 using the rolling upgrade procedure. Then boot the new computer into the cluster using that upgraded system disk.

6.3 Types of Upgrades

There are two types of cluster upgrades: concurrent and rolling. The type of upgrade you use depends on whether you want to maintain the availability of the cluster during the upgrade and whether you have more than one system disk. Review this chapter and then perform the preliminary tasks for the upgrade procedure (concurrent or rolling) that best suits your configuration.

6.4 Concurrent Upgrade

This section describes the following:

6.4.1 How a Concurrent Upgrade Works

During a concurrent upgrade, you must shut down the entire cluster and upgrade each system disk. No one can use the cluster until you upgrade each system disk and reboot each Alpha computer. When the cluster reboots, each Alpha computer will be running the upgraded version of the OpenVMS Alpha operating system.

If all Alpha systems in the OpenVMS Cluster environment are booted from one system disk, you must perform a concurrent upgrade.

6.4.2 Preparing Your System for a Concurrent Upgrade

To prepare for a concurrent upgrade:

  1. Log in locally to the SYSTEM account.
  2. Shut down all systems by entering the following command on each system (satellites first, then the boot nodes):


    $ @SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN
    

  3. When the procedure asks if an automatic system reboot should be performed, enter N (No) and press the Return key.
  4. Choose the CLUSTER_SHUTDOWN option.
  5. When the shutdown procedure is finished on all nodes, halt each system by entering Ctrl/P or by pressing the Halt button.1
  6. If you have only one system disk for your cluster, go to Chapter 7 to begin the upgrade procedure.
    If you have more than one system disk, make sure that you have performed the preupgrade tasks on each system disk that you will be upgrading. Then go to Chapter 7 and perform an upgrade on each system disk. You do not have to reboot the operating system CD-ROM for each upgrade. You only need to choose option 1 from the menu for each upgrade.
    After the upgrade is complete, you will be instructed to reboot each computer in the OpenVMS Cluster environment before beginning other postupgrade procedures.

Note

1 For more information about halting your Alpha computer, see Appendix A.

6.5 Rolling Upgrade

This section describes the following:

6.5.1 How a Rolling Upgrade Works

During a rolling upgrade, you upgrade each system disk individually, allowing old and new versions of the operating system to run together in the same cluster, creating a mixed-version cluster. Because rolling upgrades allow mixed-version clusters, the systems that you are not upgrading remain available. During a rolling upgrade, you keep some of the computers in the cluster running while you upgrade others (you must have more than one system disk).


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