Risk in running different VCS firmware versions on CA

[Ian Dennison_1]

Have been asked what would the impact be on running different VCS versions on different EVAs for more than the 7 days recommended. Could not really give an answer - does anyone know? We are talking VCS 3.028 to 3.110.

I imagine it could range from EVA stopping working, to a picture of Carly popping up on the Management Appliance with a speech bubble saying "Tut tut!". Has anyone tried this?

Share and Enjoy! Ian

[IBaltay]

Hi,
here is the vcs 3110 updating software guide:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01052409/c01052409.pdf?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

here you shoul find all the info

[Ian Dennison_1]

IBaltay

Thanks, I already have that document. It does say what to do and what not to do, but not why I should not do it. I need to know what will happen if I donlt follow their recommendations.

Does HP withold support if this 7 day period is exceeded or if the system config is modified while at different versions of VCS?

Share and Enjoy! Ian

[IBaltay]

Hi,
and is there any reason for the upgrade not being commited within the 7 days period? Because there is another thing which should be considered, the 3028 was officialy deactivated (not supported) since March 2008...

[Ian Dennison_1]

We are looking at this because we need to evaluate the outage time and effort of reversion of both EVA firmware vs the risk / impact of running outside of HP recommended config.

If its just a "tut-tut" then we can potentially live with it, but if HP support would be refused then we have to invesigate other reversion options.

Share and Enjoy! Ian

[IBaltay]

You can nicely commit the online firmware upgrades with no downtime if you choose the upgrade date in off-peak hours (HP recommended)... The main prerequisite is to check all hosts disk io timeout values (usually 60 seconds) to survive the parallel warm resync of both EVA controllers at the end of the firmware upgrade (which takes less then 60 seconds)

[Dennis L W Thury]

Just a testamonial that I have successfully done the online VCS upgrade of an EVA8100 (to XCS 6.200). I coordinated a time for very low IO to the EVA with my DBAs and other application administrators (Sunday afternoon between Christmas and New Years). Some servers/apps generated events reporting disks not available, but nothing crashed or became corrupted.

No problems for me!!

BTW, I also took this opportunity to upgrade SAN Switch firmware!