How to upgrade VMS7.3-2 to V8.3 without reinstall the system

[John-Wu_1]

Hi all:
I am now working with openvms7.3-2 on alpha es45, and I want to upgrade my system from the current version to V8.3, without reinstall system, But I can not find the appropriate pathces. Any one can tell me how to implement. Thank you in advance!

[labadie_1]

Read the doc

HP OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.3-2 Upgrade and Installation Manual

http://www.openvms.compaq.com/doc/732final/aa-rv8za-te/aa-rv8za-te.html

and follow the instructions.

[Bhadresh]

Hi,

Please refer the HP OpenVMS Version 8.3 Upgrade and Installation Manual:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/83final/ba322_90045/index.html

Regards,
Bhadresh

[Bhadresh]

>>>I am now working with openvms7.3-2 on alpha es45, and I want to upgrade >>>my system from the current version to V8.3, without reinstall system, But >>>I can not find the appropriate pathces.

you can choose PRESERVE option while installing.

PRESERVE option installs or upgrades OpenVMS I64 on the target disk and retains all other contents of the target disk.

Regards,
Bhadresh

[Shriniketan Bhagwat]

Hi,

Select PRESERVE option for the below question during upgrade.

Do you want to INITIALIZE or to PRESERVE? [PRESERVE]

Please refer the below link which explains the steps to upgrade the machine from lower version to higher.

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/83final/ba322_90045/ch01s05.html

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ketan

[Hoff]

Others have provided the immediate upgrade, and direct (volatile) links to the documentation URLs for the OpenVMS Alpha V8.3 upgrade:

The primary documentation page link for HP OpenVMS:

http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc

This is the central documentation link for OpenVMS; for OpenVMS itself and for various HP layered products.

In addition to what has been posted earlier, ensure that you have a full system disk backup and a full backup of any other local data that's critical to your operations before you start the upgrade; a booted CD copy of your system disk via BACKUP /IMAGE, or other analogous means. If you're running production, you'll need a test environment, and a way to recover if the upgrade fails or if V8.3 fails.

You can then get a list of patches with this DCL command:

$ DIRECTORY/FTP/ANONYMOUS -
ftp.itrc.hp.com::"/openvms_patches/alpha/V8.3"

You'll want the PCSI patch, the current UPDATE patch, and potentially a few others.

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] But I can not find the appropriate
> pathces. [...]

Are you looking for _patches_ which will let
you upgrade the OS? Patches don't do that.
You need the (V8.3) VMS installation kit, not
a set of patches.

(After you've done the OS upgrade, _then_ you
can worry about the patches for VMS V8.3.)

[Andy Bustamante]

As pointed out, you need a bootable VMS 8.3 cd for this upgrade. Before proceeding, you need to ensure that you have created a reliable backup of the system disk. You can do this with a disk to disk backup on a scratch disk and or with a disk to tape backup. Once you have the backup, review the options from the bootable CD to upgrade your current operating system. Following hte upgrade, apply patches.

You may also wish to review VMS 8.4 which is now available.

[Bob Blunt]

Ah, I beg to differ with regard to patches. There are patches which ARE mandatory if you're running an iteration of OpenVMS V7.3-2 without any patches installed. The latest PCSI patch for V7.3-2 is DEFINITELY required. While few others are as critical as the PCSI patch I think I'd want to have my O/S ducks in a row and would make the time to install, at least, the most recent UPDATE kit and anything that came after it. UPDATE is usually the quarterly catch-all so will contain most of the latest patches in one. I'd still check the patch site for this O/S version just to be sure that nothing else crucial came along since the last UPDATE.

Once you get to V8.3 the same holds true. I'd load any available PCSI patch first, then UPDATE and check the Master Index file saved at the Alpha O/S-specific patch location to see what's newer and apply what makes sense for your site.

As far as 'what makes sense' for your site? None of the patch evaluation tools check configuration for those specifics. Both Propatch and it's replacement base their analysis on image information alone. It would still be the system manager's decision what gets loaded and not based on their configuration knowledge.

bob

[John-Wu_1]

got it! Thank you!