Upgrading HPUX 10.20 to 11.00

[Preet Dhillon]

Dear Colleagues,

I need to upgrade two Unix servers running 10.20 to 11.00. Has anyone out there done this kind of work? How easy/difficult was it and are there any issues to be aware of? Is there a recommended upgrade path?

Many thanks, people.

Best Regards,
Preet

[G. Vrijhoeven · Accepted solution]

Hi Preet,

check out this URL

http://docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/fsearch/framedisplay?top=/hpux/onlinedocs/5185-6511/5185-6511_top.html&con=/hpux/onlinedocs/5185-6511/00/00/20-con.html&toc=/hpux/onlinedocs/5185-6511/00/00/20-toc.html&searchterms=upgrade%7c10.20%7c11&queryid=20011116-055016

Gideon

[Krishna Prasad]

First you have to find out if your Servers can even run 11.00. Not all the older servers can.
If you have K's you should be able to.

However, you will have to install patches and check your firmware revisions to start.

We tried it on a few machines and ran into error after error....When I called the response center on the issues they never came out and said it was impossible but they strongly recomended to do a fresh install if possible.

We got a little lucky in the fact that our K's were also at the point were they needed an upgrade so we purchased new L's and N's.

[Carlos Fernandez Riera]

I prefer reinstall not update.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Preet:

There are a hugh number of threads in this Forum on this subject. The principal echo is that cold installation is virtually guarenteed to be successful whereas an upgrade often leads to problems during and after.

Consider that a cold installation gives you the opportunity to resize your vg00 filesystems.

Consider that with a cold installation you merely need to cold install to your boot disk and 'vgimport' your non-vg00 volume groups to regain visibility to your data.

Consider that with a cold installation you start with your Core OS, add your Application CDROM products, diagnostic software (STM, Predictive Support, and EMS) and then apply a current Support Plus patch bundle (QPK). You end up with an up-to-date system in a short time.

Start your installation by making an Ignite recovery tape of your existing vg00. In this way, should anything fail, you can rapidly restore your system.

Capture your key configuration files before you start. I like to 'diff' these files to those provided by a new release and "marry' my local needs to any enhanced features. Otherwise, many of them can be loaded as is.

Here's the basic list I tranfer to safe-keeping for reference, reuse, and comparing against new configurations (via 'diff') during a cold installation process:

# /.forward
# /.profile
# /etc/profile
# /etc/group
# /etc/hosts
# /etc/inetd.conf
# /etc/inittab
# /etc/nsswitch
# /etc/ntp.conf
# /etc/passwd
# /etc/rc.config.d/netconf
# /etc/rc.config.d/netdaemons
# /etc/rc.config.d/nfsconf
# /etc/resolv.conf
# /etc/sendmail.cf
# /etc/services
# /etc/shells
# /etc/shutdown.allow
# /var/adm/cron/*.allow
# /var/adm/fbackupfiles/*
# /var/spool/cron/crontabs/*
# /sbin/init.d/

Don't forget to add your volume group 'vgexport' mapfiles too.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Roger Baptiste]

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Some points to consider:

What version of 11.00 are you planning to install??
is it 32-bit or 64-bit?? (if possible go for 64-bit)
Can the system support 64-bit??
(Some old kmodels do not support 64-bit,
if they are running PARisc1)

Next,
INstall or upgrade??
- From my experience, i would definitely prefer a Fresh install of 11.00
rather than an upgrade. Upgrade is simply too tedious and there is no guarantee what can be missed out. So, if you have the choice, go for fresh install.

Before you do anything, take a make_recovery of the system. Take a backup of the non-vg00 filesystems.

Make vgexport maps of all the non-vg00 volumegroups. (vgexport -p -v -f ..)
Take a copy of your important system files:
/etc/hosts , /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/rc.config.d/* /sbin/init.d/*
Do not forget /etc/passwd!! /etc/group ;-)

Keep these files on tape or a easily accessbile place.

After you install 11.00, get the system back
to shape, by doing vgimport , copying /etc/passwd, /etc/group.. setting network , startup scripts.

Give yourself good amount of downtime to do this.

-raj

[Marcin Wicinski]

Hi,
Upgrade 10.20 - 11.0 is not a sipmple operation and you have to be be very careful. Use forum threads mentioned above and backup everything: data and system. A good idea is to remove mirror (if you have boot disk mirrored) from boot disk (without removing data from mirror disk) beform installing 11.00. If something goes wrong it will be very simple to recover 10.20 configuration by booting from mirror.
Good luck,

[Craig Rants]

Phreet,
If you can, I would reinstall. The HP process to upgrade works, but there are a few bugs and it just is not as clean as a reinstall.

Just my opinion,
C

[Sanjay_6]

Hi Preet,

Most of the forum members would advise you to do a fresh install inplace of a upgrade. Upgrade of OS are never easy and you land up with more problem then it is worth. Morever you always have to carry that extra baggage from the last os to carry. Doing a clean install should be the best solution. Saves a lot of pain and headache.

If ou still want to do a upgrade, keep this link handy,

http://docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/5971-0642/5971-0642.html

Hope this helps.

Regds

[Mark Vollmers]

Preet-

As mentioned before, be sure to look at the other threads and get copies of all the files (both hard copies and a version on tape or disk, so you don't have to retype everything). The actual install should go very smoothly, but the reconfiguring is where you will have to spend time. The only main problem that I had was that the driver for the network card didn't install itself, and so I spent a whole lot of time getting that set up. So, my $0.02 would be to figure out what network card you have and how it is set (full-duplex, etc) and be sure the drivers are installed. Don't worry, I know people have had problems, but it should be painless. and don't hesitate to pop off a question if you hit a snag; it beats pounding your head against the server for an hour.

Mark

[Scott_14]

Hello:

Well, I went through the upgrade, because of the clients direction.
We ran into some problems, and it would be better for you to if you can, do a cold install.

Problems we ran into was printers, and some oracle issues, which turned out on the oracle part that some lib files were missing.

We ran in to some little problems with users and such, but they all created one big head ache.

I would back up the key files mentioned, do a cold install.

best of luck.

scott