Are the Availability Manager collector and VMS patch recovery data mutually exclusive?

[Dana Conroy]

I attempted a cluster install of the Availability Manager collector on VMS 7.3-2 AXP, but aborted the attempt upon discovering that the recovery data for installed patches would be deleted (output appended below).

I have never installed any version of Availability Manager in the past - I reviewed the installation guide and the release notes, but do not recall seeing any mention regarding the patch recovery data.

Is the removal of recovery data required by Availability Manager, or is this a normal function of PCSI? Is there a way to install the collector on all cluster nodes without sacrificing the patch recovery data?

Thanks!
Dana
==========================================

$ product install avail_man_col/config=(output=am_config.pcf)

The following product has been selected:
HP VMS AVAIL_MAN_COL V2.5-BAV Layered Product

Do you want to continue? [YES] Y

Information has been saved to allow you to uninstall the following patches:

RECOVERY DATA SET 001 created 1-MAY-2006 17:09:37.07
.
.
.
RECOVERY DATA SET 008 created 25-APR-2006 16:04:16.40

* If you continue, recovery data for the patches listed above will be deleted.
* The deletion of recovery data does not affect the installation status of
* patches applied to products that are not participating in this operation.
* However, continuing with this operation prevents you from uninstalling
* these patches at a future time by use of the PRODUCT UNDO PATCH command.

Do you want to continue? [NO] N
%PCSIUI-I-USERABORT, operation terminated by user request

[Steven Schweda]

It's not specific to this product, but is a
consequence of the (goofy?) defaults in
PRODUCT INSTALL. As the help (VMS V7.3-2)
reveals:

PRODUCT

INSTALL

/SAVE_RECOVERY_DATA

/SAVE_RECOVERY_DATA
/NOSAVE_RECOVERY_DATA (default)

I believe that if you fail to say /SAVE when
you install the patches, that you're doomed
like this when you next install any non-patch
product. (Someone else may know better, of
course.)

Having learned this the hard way, I figured
that I'd start doing it all right after I
upgrade to VMS V8.x. Assuming that I can
remember, every time.

If there's a way out of this situation which
does not involve flushing all the RECOVERY
DATA SETs, I've missed it. But you _do_ feel
good when the installer asks if you'd like to
save the stuff when you install the patches.
More's the pity that you now need to discard
the whole mess of saved stuff.

But, perhaps I'm just a dope, and the
situation is really better than I think.

[Phillip Thayer]

If you want to use /SAVE as a "default" qualifier for the PRODUCT command why not set a global symbol at login to:

PRODUCT == "PRODUCT/SAVE"

That way if you use PRODUCT it will automatically use PRODUCT/SAVE.

Phil

[Dana Conroy]

I receive the same response (i.e. recovery data will be deleted), whether I use "$ product install/save avail_man_col /config=(output=am_config.pcf)" or "$ product install/nosave avail_man_col /config=(output=am_config.pcf)".

Also, a Google search of some of the message text pointed me to the HP WEBES installation manual. The manual indicates that the reader should note that patches previously installed with /SAVE will become unremoveable, but one should proceed with the installation.

[John Gillings · Accepted solution]

Dana,

Recovery data sets apply to patches only. Full products use the PRODUCT REMOVE command. Unfortunately, PCSI isn't smart enough to figure out how to roll back patches past a full product installation.

The rationale is that PRODUCT UNDO PATCH would only be used within (say) a week of installation, after which there would be no need to roll back.

So, when you install a product (any product), you are effectively accepting all previously installed patches as permanent.

(apologies for the rather clumsy implementation, but the original design was going to only allow ONE patch rollback, so be thankful for what you've got!)

[Dana Conroy]

Thanks for the explanation.