Migrating data from HPUX 11i v1 to HPUX 11i v3

[Venkat_11]

We are planning to upgrade one of our HPUX 11iV1 server to v3 by replacing pa-risc server with Itanium. I just want to know what are the options of upgrade?

Can I move SAN volumes to new environment with out performing backup and restore..can i import SAN vg's on HPUX V3 by using map files from HPUX v1?

Please let me know the options..

Thanks in Advance

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Absolutely no good upgrade processes.

There are upgrade kits for the hardware, but you are better off as follows:

1) New hardware, Install the 11.31 OS cold.
2) Migrate the SAN volumes and present them to new system
3) Install application software that matches and is certified to be able to read data from the old format.
4) Perform data migration as recommended by the software maker.

SEP

[Pete Randall]

Upgrade? Nope - cold install 11.31, then use vgimport to introduce the data on the SAN to your new server (with or without map files - which are really only required with non-standard lvol names).


Pete

[Raj D. · Accepted solution]

Venkat,

Also checkout the below details:
And run the 1iv2 to v3 upgrade assesment script (msv2v3check) and check the Storage compatibilty matrix for your SAN ::

-HP-UX 11i v3 runs on all currently supported systems that have shipped since 2003, and some currently supported systems that first shipped as far back as 2001. All currently supported HP Superdome systems run HP-UX 11i v3.


What matters to you is your own system, so:

-Determine exactly what system, processor and chipset you have using the HP-UX command machinfo :
-Look for your system and processor in the HP-UX Server Support Matrix, and confirm thereâ s a â Yesâ for HP-UX 11i v3 support.
If your system is not listed in the HP Server Support Matrix, your system is no longer supported, and HP-UX 11i v3 is not supported on your system.

-If your system is listed with HP-UX 11i v3 support, proceed! If itâ s not, please discuss new system options with your HP or channel partner sales rep. HP offers trade-in credit worldwide for old equipment and software, as well as eco-friendly system disposal.

-If you are deploying new hardware, follow the steps outlined in the HP-UX 11i v3 hardware & application sofware change and HP-UX 11i v3 hardware change sheets





- Verify firmware level, storage, drivers and I/O card support

HP invests in supporting our customersâ existing storage, as well as supporting new devices as quickly as possible, with HP-UX 11i v3.

-If your system is running HP-UX 11i v2, retrieve the msv2v3check script from the HP Software Depot.

Run the msv2v3check script to validate whether the firmware, drivers, mass storage I/O cards, and mass storage devices installed on your HP-UX 11i v2 system are supported on 11i v3. This script will report if any unsupported drivers, mass storage I/O cards, and mass storage devices are found on your system.
This script also checks the minimum firmware versions required for cards or devices on your system to run properly on HP-UX 11i v3.
For more details on the msv2v3check script, refer to HP-UX 11i v2 to 11i v3 Mass Storage Stack Update Guide.

If your system is running HP-UX 11i v1, determine exactly what host bus adapters and storage devices you have using the HP-UX command ioscan. Compare your system I/O device list to the supported devices in the matrices below.

» HP-UX 11i v3 mass storage support â HP products
» Ethernet System Driver Matrix
» Fibre-Channel (td) Support Matrix
» HP-UX Fibre Channel (fcd and fclp) Host Bus Adapter Support Matrix
» Smart Array RAID Controllers Support Matrix

Determine what firmware revision your system is running using the HP-UX command machinfo and compare it to the minimum level required for the servers listed in the minimum firmware table.

If a firmware upgrade is indicated, visit the BizCenter to download the firmware. Update the firmware on an HP 9000 and Integrity system using the HP Firmware Manager (HP FM). HP FM is packaged with the firmware and distributed via the Web. Download the firmware with HP FM as required.

HP FM provides two methods of updating firmware. The method to use depends on whether or not the operating system is running on the system:


Use HP OS-Initiated Firmware Manager (HP OSIFM) if the HP-UX operating system is running. HP OSIFM provides a firmware package in a patch or product file for HP-UX. You download the patch or product, then use the operating system to update the firmware.
Use HP Offline Firmware Manager (HP OFM) if the operating system is not running or to update the firmware for a device in the boot path. HP OFM provides a firmware package as an .ISO image that you download to a system to create a CD. You then use the CD to boot the system and update the firmware. HP OFM is available only for HP Integrity systems.
If you plan to use HP-UX 11i v3 Dynamic nPartitions (nPars), please review the minimum firmware levels required to support that feature.

When your firmware level is sufficient and your devices are supported, proceed!





- Verify that your system meets HP-UX 11i v3 memory requirements

HP-UX 11i v3 requires 1.5 GB of memory for the HP-UX 11i v3 Base Operating Environment and minimal applications. Additional memory is required for optimal performance and additional software and applications including higher level OEs: check application specifications for additional memory requirements.

This is true for the base system as well as for each vPar or Virtual Machine guest where HP-UX 11i v3 is installed.

Determine how much memory you have using the HP-UX command top or glance-m if you have GlancePlus installed..

Memory sufficient? â ¦ proceed!





- Confirm that your 3rd party application suppliers support their apps on HP-UX 11i v3

Applications that run on HP-UX 11i v1 will run on HP-UX 11i v3 without modification, due to HP-UX 11i forward compatibility1. In short, an application built to run on HP-UX 11i v1 or v2 will run on v3. That said, it is critical that your application suppliers know that you are running their applications on v3.

-Identify the software products on your system with the HP-UX 11i command swlist. Here is an example command that writes the resulting list into a file called software_list.

/usr/sbin/swlist -l bundle-l product> /tmp/software_list
Confirm that your applications are available for HP-UX 11i v3 by searching the ISV (Independent Software Vendor) Availability Lookup Database2 for preliminary information. Contact your software supplier directly to ensure you have the latest version of the applications as appropriate â ISVs who build applications on HP-UX 11i v3 may increase application performance significantly, depending on how recent the compiler versions were for their previous application build.





-Ensure there is enough free disk space for the update

-Determine how much free disk space you have for the update using the bdf( 1M) command.

-Compare to the minimum disk space required for the HP-UX 11i v3 OE you plan to install to ensure you have enough space for each partition.

-For complete advice on how to plan for disk space needs, please review â How to Plan Your Disk Space Needsâ in the Installation and Upgrade Guide for HP-UX 11i v3.




-Cold-install or update your system to HP-UX 11i v3? (Cold install is recomended and tested and I have done many cold install upgrade and it works fine ..)

Determine whether to cold-install or update your system to HP-UX 11i v3.

â Updateâ here means using the tool update-ux to selectively overwrite the operating system and application software from a media or network source depot. An advantage of performing an update is that it leaves user data, configuration, and applications in place.

You can update to HP-UX 11i v3 from HP-UX 11i v2 (B.11.23), as long as you are updating to the same or higher level Operating Environment. The diagram below reviews the process for updating your operating system. For more information, refer to chapter 6 of the HP-UX 11i v3 Installation and Update Guide.







From any HP-UX release older than HP-UX 11i v2, you must perform a cold-install.

Even when you are running HP-UX 11i v2, you may choose to cold-install under certain conditionsâ please compare the characteristics of your environment to the distinctions identified in the most recent version of the HP-UX 11i v3 Installation and Update Guide, â Deciding Which Method to Useâ .



Also check ,HP-UX 11i v2 to 11i v3 Mass Storage Stack Update Guide:
http://docs.hp.com/en/v2v3MassStorageUpdate/HP-UX11iv2tov3MassStorageUpdateGuide.pdf



hth,
Raj.

[Raj D.]

Venkat,
It seems you have to upgrade 11iv1 to 11iv2 , then to run msv2v3 check script and to go ahead with 11iv3 upgrade with cold install.

Further details: 11iv3 Install and Update guide:
http://docs.hp.com/en/5992-5795/5992-5795.pdf

Hth,
Raj.

[Torsten.]

Well, he said he will replace the servers, so he will do the cold install anyway.


You should check the SAN compat. and the same for the filesystem version. If needed, backup the data, create new file systems and restore.

[Venkat_11]

Thanks every for giving valuable suggestions

We are going to physically replace the servers with Itanium and for OS i will go with cold install..My main concern is about migrating the SAN data.

[Pete Randall]

The process for handling the SAN data is really quite simple. Get the devices hooked up to the new server and identify them through ioscan. Once you have the device files, create the LVM definitions:

mkdir /dev/vg01
mknod /dev/vg01/group c 64 0x010000
vgimport (-s) /dev/vg01 /dev/dsk/________
vgchange -a y /dev/vg01

Obviously you may wish to use something other than vg01, but be aware that it does not have to match whatever the VG used to be.


Pete

[Raj D.]

Venkat,
To migrate the SAN data to 11iv3 you have to check the Mass storage interoperability matrix & the compatibility of the SAN frame to hp-ux 11iv3.

http://www.hp.com/products1/serverconnectivity/mass_storage_devices.html

In some cases if you running some EMC clariion CX700 series you may need to upgrade the flare code for 11iv3.


- Next after OS install create map file and import the vgs using -N (Agile) format with vgimport. Thus you will have /dev/disk/ format to 11iv3 server. For any issue during import,if any you have to work with storage team.

hth,
Raj.

[Bill Hassell]

Migrating the volume groups to the new server is actually quite easy. This first assumes that the SAN disks are compatible with the Itanium box. Once this has been confirmed, on your old PA-RISC machine, run the vgexport command like this:

vgexport -spv /etc/lvmconf/vgtest.mapfile vgtest

Repeat for every volume that will be moved to the new server. The above example is for vgtest -- replace vgtest with the actual name of the VG.

On the new server, when the disks are hooked up, you create the new VG directory (does not have to be the same name as in vgtest) and group file. Then use vgimport as in:

/usr/sbin/vgimport -m vgtest.mapfile -s -v vgtest

The vgimport command will search all disks, looking for the serial number specified in the mapfile. When the import is complete, use vgchange -a y vgtest to activate the VG and start mounting your filesystems.