make_recovery from old server to new

[Kieran Wareing]

Hi
I have a 6 year old two node cluster (2 x rp7400 PA-RISC) running HP-UX 11.00 with serviceguard and two old Oracle databases (Oracle 7 and 8). Everything runs on one node with the other idle.

If I had a new server (current hardware) for DR, would a make_recovery tape from the old server be able to restore onto the new one?

Would new hardware be able to run the old Oracle databases?
We are going to upgrade to Oracle 9 (we are always short of money!!) but probably not until the end of the year.

In any case, what server would you recommend for DR in this situation?

Thanks.
Kieran

[Torsten.]

I think your current server (what is the model?) won't run with the old and unsupported HP-UX version 11.00 - it will probably need 11.23 or 11.11.
So you cannot use ignite.

[gigiz]

what is the new server model's?
If it doesn't work with 11.00 you can do upgrade your old system from 11.00 to 11.11, and then migrate with make_tape_recovery (if it work) ...
:-)

[Kieran Wareing]

I have already investigated upgrading the OS on our existing servers and they haven't got enough root disc space so would require a lot of work and new root discs.

We have no new server yet because I didn't know if any would work with our existing old software.

So, since you say ignite will not work, I guess we would either have to source an old server that could run 11.00 or get a new one and install our software from scratch. But would new hardware run Oracle 7/8?

Thanks
Kieran

[gigiz]

For increase root file system you can do a make_tape_recovery and in RESTORE, adjust the file system size for following upgrade ....

[Kieran Wareing]

Unfortunately the existing system only has a 9Gb root disk. Here is PVDISP and VGDISP for it.

root> vgdisplay /dev/vg00
--- Volume groups ---
VG Name /dev/vg00
VG Write Access read/write
VG Status available
Max LV 255
Cur LV 11
Open LV 11
Max PV 16
Cur PV 2
Act PV 2
Max PE per PV 2500
VGDA 4
PE Size (Mbytes) 4
Total PE 4338
Alloc PE 4334
Free PE 4
Total PVG 2
Total Spare PVs 0
Total Spare PVs in use 0


Tue 24 Apr 07 [service1] /
root> pvdisplay /dev/dsk/c1t6d0
--- Physical volumes ---
PV Name /dev/dsk/c1t6d0
VG Name /dev/vg00
PV Status available
Allocatable yes
VGDA 2
Cur LV 11
PE Size (Mbytes) 4
Total PE 2169
Free PE 2
Allocated PE 2167
Stale PE 0
IO Timeout (Seconds) default
Autoswitch On

According to the 11i upgrade doc, /stand needs 100Mb free space and we only have 35Mb and /var needs 160Mb free and we only have 124Mb.

Kieran

[Patrick Wallek]

I know that Oracle 8i (8.1.7.4) will run under HP-UX 11.11. I don't know about Oracle 7 (that is getting pretty old). I would think that it *SHOULD* run, but the only way to find out is to test it.

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

There are a number of ways to fixup the vg00 disk space issues. Naturally, your new server won't have 9Gb disks because they aren't manufactured any more (36Gb or 72Gb are typical). But the real question before you start is: what do you mean by "current hardware"? If you are talking about an Itanium Superdome, then the answer is no, you cannot restore the PA-RISC backup onto any Itanium server (anything with "rx" in the name). You also cannot restore onto really new models such as the rp8420 or rp7420 since these may need drivers installed on your old machine before you take the Ignite backup. Similarly, if you are using different I/O (SCSI vs. fibre) or different models of fibre cards, you may need to install the needed drivers before you take the bacakup.

As far as Oracle 7 or 8, you have to check with Oracle. 7 and 8 will never run on Itanium and support for 11.11 may be in question. For sure, 7 and 8 won't run on 11.23 or 11.31 OS versions.

[Kieran Wareing]

Thanks Bill.

So, forget make_recovery. Let's say we start with a PA-RISC server running 11.11 and let's assume for a moment that it will run Oracle 7 and 8.

How much memory does the OS need?

We would need 2 Gb memory for the databases and 2 73Gb disks. It would also need a DDS tape and a DLT tape for DataProtector 5.50.
All users will connect over the network with PC clients.

Can anyone recommend a server model?

Thanks
Kieran

[Mike Shilladay]

Hi Kieran,

Is it absolutely imperative that you have a new server? If you aquired a second user rp7400, (which will probably not cost much - most likely less than an annual DR policy and the asset is yours to keep) you will save yourself loads of hassle as the machine will run what you have currently with mimimal problems. However, if your plan is to drift/migrate toward Itanium then the other posts are more significant.

Mike.