Re: VIO Server Upgrade - Best Practice Questions



On Feb 5, 8:07 pm, sharp.d...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

Our current VIO level is 1.2 and the upgrade will be 1.5.1. I've read
about the backup and restore precautions and have tested copying
metadata such as lsmap output to /home/padmin before making a
backupios to nim. I've just finished a test upgrade on a small p510
with a single VIO server and test AIX lpar and it went ok, but the
process leaves me wondering about a few things:

This page describe steps for upgrade:
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/vios/download/FPinstall.html

1. The APV Best Practices Redbook suggests running updateios with -
install, but the updateios man page implies that -install should not
be used. Running without -install on my small test seemed to work,
but have I missed anything by doing that?

Be sure to check date on that redbook you have, sometimes they are out
of date :(
Our upgrade path was with -install flag

2. What is a good way to manage service and commits? For example, do
you install VIO service, test a week or two, and then run updateios -
commit when it looks good? Or, is it sufficient to just use the -f
flag when doing an updateios to commit any service that was applied
the last time? Or, something else?

We have same setup as you have (2 redudant vios'es and P570's), we did
upgrade from 1.3.0.0 to 1.5.1.1-FP-10.1 without problems

3. On a dual VIO server configuration, is it OK to update just one VIO
server and run with one of them at 1.2 and the other at the new level
for a week or so, or is it better to update both in the same
maintenance window?

Don't know if the 1.2 version has problems (it shouldn't have) but we
did
upgrade of VIOS1 to 1.5.1.1-FP-10.1 then the second one VIOS2, there
was
a time window when we had both 1.3.0.0 and 1.5.1.1-FP-10.1
operational,
and there where no problems, i would suggest you to do upgrade in same
maintenance window.

4. Do you perform your VIO maintenance with the clients active, as the
IBM docs I've seen suggest is safe to do if you take precautions such
as verifying MPIO status, etc.?

Yes, we did while client DLPAR's where active and operational in
production
environment. Precautions where that we had mksysb/spot backups rdy on
NIM for immidiate restore if needed, and lsmap, lspath, lsdev, lspv
aswell as
the output configuration of HMC on backup (hmc backup data aswell).
Working in dynamic virtual environment is much easyer if you keep good
documentation and logs of what you have and what you did in that env.

5. Any gotchas that anyone has seen with dual VIO service that wasn't
found in the IBM docs?

Be sure to add sufficient disk space on VIOS that you are going to
upgrade,
i would recommend to check size of the following partittions:

/
/usr
/tmp

Also, check the log of updatevios command before you say "Y/n" and
actually
apply patches/upgrades. For example both VIOS servers should have
same
(identical) log entry's. For example:

FILESET STATISTICS
------------------
992 Selected to be installed, of which:
1 Passed pre-installation verification
1 Replaced by superseding updates
116 Already installed (directly or via superseding filesets)
874 Deferred (see *NOTE below)

And also i would recommend you to check status of the VIOS1 and VIOS2
with errpt -c so you track in real time if your VIOS are switching
PRIMARY/BACKUP
state on time. O yea, i forgot, remember to shutdown -Fr after you
finish 1'st
reboot becouse VIOS might be confused about SEA, after reboot all
should be
fine.

Best regards,
Luka Z. Gerzic


.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: Major Version Upgrade - 4.11 to 5.x
    ... support) for you to upgrade? ... It is a general rule of thumb to do a clean install between ... > Other than the obvious advice to start with a good backup, ... leave the production system running and begin the ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: Windows Media Player BLINDSIDE update!
    ... WMP10 that was actually an "upgrade" to WMP11. ... machine without having a complete Ghost Backup before starting ... computer industry - and nobody inside the industry is taking ... assume that every update you install is suspect until proven otherwise. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: New MBP: Now or October
    ... then upgrade when it is at 10.5.2 or so for free by re-installing from ... A bootable backup. ... and clone back to the internal disk. ... Read it cover to cover, on the train, ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: Windows 2003 Server hangs at splash screen / acpitabl.dat afte
    ... By far the best method to restore your server is to ... If you failed to make a backup prior to ther upgrade, ... Remove the primary disk from your mirror set. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.general)
  • Re: Windows 2003 Server hangs at splash screen / acpitabl.dat afte
    ... By far the best method to restore your server is to ... If you failed to make a backup prior to ther upgrade, ... Remove the primary disk from your mirror set. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.general)