topic Re: Upgrade to 8.2 in Operating System - OpenVMS

Upgrade to 8.2

Peter Zeiszler — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 13:54:07 GMT

We have a cluster of 4 alpha machines. We currently are running OpenVMS 7.3, 7.3-1 (x2) and 7.3-2.

I want to upgrade one of the 7.3-1 systems to 8.2. I know that 8.2 documents say that its not supported to work with multiple levels of OS or even being in a mixed cluster with 7.3-1.

Are there actually problems with 8.2 being in the same cluster with 7.3?

Are there problems with 8.2 being in the same cluster as multiple OS levels?

Right now I would love someone to point out that there are problems so I have more ammunition to push them to upgrade ALL systems to 8.2 or to pull one machine out of the cluster and keep it at 7.3-1 for old OS support (7.3-1 happens to be what we run everywhere).

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Jefferson Humber — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 14:35:42 GMT

Hi Peter,

It seems that 8.2 & 7.3-2 in a cluster is warranted, see link below.

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/82FINAL/ba322-90002/ba322-90002.HTMl

I'm not aware of any issues (sorry), except support from HP..... and the added cost of PVS.

The newer versions have performance improvements over 7.3-1..... this may help as ammo for you ?

Hope this helps,

Jeff

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Peter Zeiszler — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 14:53:35 GMT

Improved performance and getting to a supported OS doesn't seem to matter that much because they run 24x7 and never want a downtime. As it stands we are just finally getting a reboot schedule after 3 years of uptime.

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Jefferson Humber — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 16:11:12 GMT

Peter,

I recognise your situation only too well myself .;-)

Good luck,

Jeff

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Jorge Cocomess — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 22:04:54 GMT

Guys,

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought VMS 8.2 will only run on Itanium servers, not Alpha. Also, 8.2 is not supported on Oracle 10.3 as I heard.

Your thoughts.

Jorge

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Karl Rohwedder — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 23:39:32 GMT

Jorge,

V8.2 runs happily on Alphasystems, V8.2-1 was a special release for IA64 to support new hardware...

regards Kalle

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Ian Miller. — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 03:23:40 GMT

V8.2 does run on alphaservers, as does V8.3.

I have a cluster with VAX V7.3, alpha V7.3-2, V8.2, Itanium V8.2-1 and its fine for development. For production I would stick to the supported pairs. Get all the systems to V7.3-2 (after all V7.3, V7.3-1 are not supported) then look at V8.2. Your users may not like downtime but I guess they dont like risks (like running unsupported versions) much either.

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Peter Zeiszler — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 11:17:50 GMT

I do know that 7.3-2 required a patch to work with 8.2 in the cluster. It is that patch that scares me in making 8.2 work in a cluster with 7.3 and 7.3-1.

This is currently a test cluster I am trying to get one upgraded. But I am thinking in terms of future upgrades to the production environment.

Unsupported doesn't seem to affect my customers. I mention it every time there is a possibility of an issue or downtime for patches (that normally gets cancelled).

Oracle 10gr2 is what is needed for Itanium. I have to load the client. Still trying to get the software and the media. I think it was 10.3 that will be for 8.3.

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Stanley F Quayle — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 16:17:08 GMT

I agree with getting the pre V7.3-2 up to V7.3-2 first. That should be very painless.

If you want to go further, why stop at V8.2? V8.3 is now the current version. V8.next isn't due for 1-2 years.

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Peter Zeiszler — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 17:12:57 GMT

I never got the software OS set for 8.3. My last version was 8.2.

Plus we have already installed one new cluster on 8.2. I would really like to get them all standard at least to 8.2 (possibly with TCPIP instead of multinet) before trying to bother HP for 8.3 software.

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Jorge Cocomess — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 12:46:03 GMT

For my understanding....There's a version 8.2 that will run on the Alphas and that's a version 8.2-? will only run on Itaniums, correct? So, right now, I have two Alphas ES45 running on 7.3-2 and I could easily upgrade to 8.2 without any problems, correct? My vendor told me that the new OpenVMS 8.2 will only run on Itanium servers only.

Thanks,
Jorge

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Robert Brooks_1 — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 12:48:27 GMT

My vendor told me that the new OpenVMS 8.2 will only run on Itanium servers only

---

You need to get a more knowledgeable vendor.

V8.2 runs on Alpha and I64.
V8.2-1 runs on I64 only
V8.3 runs on Alpha and I64

-- Rob

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Peter Zeiszler — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 12:55:08 GMT

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/openvms_supportchart.html

Good spot to refer to on versions, support, release dates, and previous version support requirements.

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

Stanley F Quayle — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 15:24:31 GMT

> V8.2 runs on Alpha and I64
etc.

Yes, but it's a different kit and part number. Of course, you'd discover that when it failed to boot.

If you're a DSPP member, you can get the Itanium V8.3 kit on DVD for free.

Re: Upgrade to 8.2

james_a_wells — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 12:02:51 GMT

VMS 8.2 most definately run on the ALPHA
platform.

VMS 8.2-1 was a itanium only patch release

7.3-2 and 8.2 are a valid mixed cluster
configuration and therefore i agree with
the comments above that you should upgrade
all nodes to 7.3-2 first before upgrading
a single node to 8.2

I do not know anyone who has tried mixing
8.2 with 7.3 or 7.3-1 to see if it still
works although I can not see the point of using a configuration that might not be supported.