Upgrade from 11.00 to 11.11?

[Adrian Sobers2]

Hi,

I would like some guidance on an upgrade scenario. We would like to create an environment as close as possible to production for our database servers.

We want to upgrade from 11.00 to 11.11 on the following machine. It is an:

HP 9000, D-CLASS, PA-RISC server
Model: D350/1
Product No: A3344A
RAM: 287MB
Disk Space: See text file attachment containing output from bdf command

I do not think we should upgrade this to 11.11 but rather, upgrade the Oracle from 8.0.5 to 8.1.7.4, but other opinions are always welcomed. I do not think this poor machine can handle HP-UX 11.11 AND Oracle 8i.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

[Pete Randall · Accepted solution]

Adrian,

First, a D350 will run 11i, but only in 32 bit mode.

Second, 287MB RAM seems terribly small for an Oracle server and I think 11i would put even more pressure on such a limited amount of memory.


Pete

[Steven E. Protter]

I'm running 11i very nicely on a D320 with 768 MB of RAM.

Your issues of course are disk space and memory.

If you are running Oracle 8.1.7.4 and no other nasty memory hungry Oracle products you can squeeze reasonable performance from the system.

You need to have as much memory as you can stuff in the box.

Long term, you are better off getting a rp2400 series server, but this upgrade is possible as long as your expectations are limited.

SEP

[Geoff Wild]

Your server is not really capable of running 11i and Oracle with good performance. I suggest you look at migrating to a new server, entry server like a rp3410.

http://www.hp.com/products1/servers/entry_level/index.html

Rgds...Geoff

[Fred Ruffet]

it depends on what you expect to do with this environment.

Regarding Oracle part, 8.1.7.4 will act the same on 11.00 and 11i. You will be able to develop ore run the same queries on both, etc.

For OS and DB interaction it is not the same. If you really want an integration server, with same OS/DB and patch level, you will be able to reproduce bugs and so troubleshoot...

Now you're right that this poor D Class will painfully run a 11i. But it all depends on how many users will act and how big are the queries they're going to launch.

Regards,

Fred

[Bernhard Mueller]

Adrian,

you should definitely have more memory and disk space in vg00 to enlarge /, /stand, /var, /usr, /opt filesystems as required.

you can download install guides with requirements from http://docs.hp.com

However, basically I would seriously doubt that an investment in a D350 could be justified if it is a production box, which should be under HW maintenance.

i.e. get a quote for a new machine, pre-installed with a current HP-UX, make your tests with Oracle 8.1 (or 9) then migrate your DB.

If there is no money to fund HW, the only low-cost option is to upgrade oracle...

Regards,
Bernhard

[Adrian Sobers2]

We had recently migrated from this ancient beast to a new HP Server, so this is all we have available for testing. New server, even entry level is out of question, that would involve too much run-a-round now...Government here...enough said.

Is there a possibilty of purchasing and installing additional memory?

Let's say we upgrade only the memory, leave 11.00 on and upgrade the Oracle 8 to 8i. Would running Oracle 8i on 11.00 be comparable for testing purposes? We will need to run in a parallel environment before fully migrating the revised part of the application into production.

[Steven E. Protter]

I'm attaching a script to display memory installed.

I believe memory chips are installed in pairs.

After looking at this report, shut down the server open the case and visually inspect for open memory slots.

Or you can compare the report output to the specs for the D class server on http://docs.hp.com

Memory is available on the used market for these servers. Prices vary greatly.

SEP

[Geoff Wild]

For a test environment - you really want to have it as close as possible to production. I would add memory - and upgrade to 11i - that way, when patches come out, you put them first on the test server, test your app, then put on production.

Same goes for Oracle - make it the same as test and prod.

Rgds...Geoff

[Pete Randall]

On the D class boxes, you don't even need to shut down - just swing open the side panel and the memory carrier should be right in front of you.


Pete

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Hi Adrian,
You should go and look for upgrading your RAM, Since I dont know when your box was in service you may have to (I did for a D220 of Dec 1997) update your firmware in order to install greater RAM in slots... We have a few D220-D230 with 1GB of RAM and they perform quite well...

All the best
Victor

[Fred Ruffet]

Problem will be "How many Ram will it support ?". It seems to go for 1.5GB but it may depend on exact model. I have here a D330 with 640MB RAM. I wouldn't go for 11i Oracle 8i with less, but 1GB should be good.
You may have problems to find RAM (second-hand ?)

Second problem will be disks speed. The same D330 here have old disks (4GB, 8GB...) and these are very slow.

Regards,

Fred

[Victor BERRIDGE]

What disks do you have connected to the boxe?

Do you have more than one scsi device?
And your main root disk are they the optional hotswap ?

This may help to see whats best...

[Adrian Sobers2]

Victor,

How would I check/know for sure if I have to update my firmware before purchasing and installing more RAM?

Also the machine is not under warranty. It was under warranty from 1996-1999. I talked to HP Support on the phone and was informed that I would have to email: crc.mca@hp.com for infomation on extended support.

[Adrian Sobers2]

Victor,

There is one DAT tape drive attached to this machine.

The machine has 5 disk drives: 4.3, 2.0, 9.1, 2.0 and 2.0.

It also has a storage enclosure attached which contains 4 disk drives: 4.3, 4.3, 9.1 and 18.2

I see those printed on the physical drives and I'm assuming (duhhh??) they are the GB storage capacity for the particular drive.

[Victor BERRIDGE]

About memory extension Im quite sure you will need some firmware update, I will look if I can find in my archives to see what was done...
About your disks:
this is the output of an old D210:
# ioscan -funC disk|more
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
===================================================================
disk 0 16/5.2.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-5401TA
/dev/cdrom /dev/dsk/c1t2d0 /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0
disk 1 16/5.5.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE SEAGATE ST39173N
/dev/dsk/c1t5d0 /dev/rdsk/c1t5d0
disk 2 16/5.6.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE SEAGATE ST39173N
/dev/dsk/c1t6d0 /dev/rdsk/c1t6d0
---------
And this, the one of a D230 (HPUX11 with optional hotswap) I checked on a D220 10.20 and had almost the same output:
# /usr/sbin/ioscan -funC disk|more
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
=====================================================================
disk 7 8/12.0.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HITACHI DF350
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0
disk 3 8/12.1.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HITACHI DF350
/dev/dsk/c0t1d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0
disk 8 8/12.2.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HITACHI DF350
/dev/dsk/c0t2d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t2d0
disk 9 8/12.3.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HITACHI DF350
/dev/dsk/c0t3d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0
disk 0 8/12.5.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE SEAGATE ST34572WC
/dev/dsk/c0t5d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t5d0
disk 1 8/12.8.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE SEAGATE ST34371W
/dev/dsk/c0t8d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t8d0
disk 2 8/16/5.2.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-5701TA
/dev/cdrom /dev/dsk/c1t2d0 /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0
-----------

So what does yours give: 8/12 or 16/5 ?

Do you have mirrorux installed?

[Steven E. Protter]

You have enough disk for the job.

You can even do raid 1 mirroring on the operating system binaries and data should you choose and have mirror/ux installed.

Just make sure you make your mirror copies on a different controller, ie one on local disk, mirror on the external enclosure.

I missed your memmory figure. That is completely inadequate for the job. If this box is expected to stay in production as a test box for long I'd max it out on memory.

I personally don't open D boxes when they are running. I once did and picked up a nickname I'd rather forget. "Sparky"

SEP

[Adrian Sobers2]

Attached output from:

# ioscan -funC disk | more > disk.txt

[Adrian Sobers2]

I am browsing in the available firmware updates in the patch/firmware database but I see nothing related to the D350. What do I have to look for in this list for the relevant firmware update, should I need one?

[Adrian Sobers2]

I came across this site searching for memory:

http://www.memoryx.net/a3564a.html

Would this be the correct type of memory for the D350 server?

[Pete Randall]

Adrian,

I think that memory probably won't work in the D350 - it's for a C-class workstation. The part number you need to look for is A3398-60014 or A3398-69014.

I'll take a look and see what I can find for firmware updates.


Pete

[Pete Randall]

Here's your firmware (or one of them, anyway):

http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/patch/patchDetail.do?BC=patch.breadcrumb.main|patch.breadcrumb.pdb|patch.breadcrumb.search|&patchid=PF_CULT3634&context=firmware:cpu


Pete

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Adrian I lost the pdf of the D210 memory upgrade but I remember hearing for all D class they use the same...
I suppose you have 16MB and 32MB (x2= 32 and 64 MB board)
You can replace them with or complet with 256MBboard (2x128)product was A3564A
or 512MB board (2x256) product was A3717A

These were the part number of the product in Europe (same for all the world?)

All the best
Victor

[Pete Randall]

The only other firmware you *might* need is this Fast/Wide SCSI Interface firmware:

http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/patch/patchDetail.do?BC=patch.breadcrumb.main|patch.breadcrumb.pdb|patch.breadcrumb.search|&patchid=PF_ISFW3944&context=firmware:io


Pete

[Pete Randall]

I don't think you need that last SCSI firmware - it's for a HP 28696A card and I believe your D350 has a HP A4107A card.


Pete