What's the difference between s700 and s800 software ?

[Artyom Voronchihin]

Hello !
There are the same software depots for s700 and s800. Both depots can be succesfully installed on my C200 machine. So what's the difference between s700 and s800 software and what depot is prefered to install ? I know that s700 is for workstations and s800 for servers platforms, but don't see a fundamental difference.

[Pete Randall]

What version of the O/S are we talking about. In the old days of 10.20 and earlier and even a little bit in 11.0, there were substantial differences in the kernel for workstations and the kernel for servers and all the software was therefore different. As we've moved on into 11i, the two have converged and there is little, if any difference left.


Pete

[Artyom Voronchihin]

I'm talking about HPUX 11.0. I'm still not understanding, why HP produces different depots for servers if they can succesfuly work on workstations as well and vice-versa ?

[Steven E. Protter]

Almost everything today is interchangable.

It can get confusing. You'd think a workstation can't be a CIFS/9000 server because its a workstation. Wrong.

With enough memory you can bulk up a workstation and even use it as an Oracle server.

What you'll find is the server class boxes have SCSI for internal hardware and SCSI software and patches will apply. I'm told workstations use IDE CD-ROM's and such so there are probably IDE patches for them.

In the end software management is handled nicely by SD-UX. If you try to install a patch or software thats not compatible with the box, you get a terse but understandable message and move on.

SEP

[Pete Randall]

The architectural differences between servers and workstations required different drivers and different kernels. Both the hardware and software have improved in this regard. HP has made a concerted effort to eliminate the differences and have pretty much succeeded in 11i. In your case, with 11.0, there are still going to be separate file sets - that's just the way it is (or was).

You might want to think about upgrading to 11i - 11.0 is quite old at this point, and the upgrade would eliminate any worries about platform dependant software depots.


Pete

[Artyom Voronchihin]

As i understand it is not matter what depot to install if both depots are able to work on the same system, and i can choose depot by my own taste. Am i right ?

[Pete Randall]

If there are separate depots for 700 and 800, you need to choose the correct one for your platform, otherwise Software Distributor will not install it.


Pete

[Artyom Voronchihin]

There are separate depots for s700 and s800 as it shows in swinstall's comment, but Software Distributor installs both of them on the same machine without a problem. Thats why i've begun this thread.

[Pete Randall]

Hmmm, that's interesting. I probably never tried that because I was so used to having to use the correct one back in 10.20.

I would still be concerned about installing an 800 depot on a 700 machine, though (or vice-versa). While it might work, the little bit of time you save not downloading the correct depot is just not worth the risk of breaking something.

My recommendation would be: if there are separate bundles, use the correct one for the platform you're installing on.


Pete

[Bill McNAMARA_1]

my guess is that it's firmware and graphic/audio card related. I recall installing a C class 700 QPK and ending up with upgraded PDC.
Without verification, I assume that the Xserver delivered with the s700 bundle has more hooks to device dependent graphics and audio.

Bill

[Helen French]

Which specific software depot are you talking about?

[Kent Ostby]

Going back in time, you had HP servers (Series 800 boxes) and then they came up with Workstations (Series 700 boxes).

Then they sort of abandoned the HP workstations and sucked up Apollo and their workstation technology and continued to create two OS releases because (as someone else mentioned) there was a need for different drivers.

The other issue for a while was memory on the workstations was quite a bit smaller so they tore a lot of stuff out of the kernel for the S700 boxes so there would be more free memory.

The journey towards oneness has been acheived because memory is cheaper and more prevelant and the move towards similar types of I/O cards and more generic drivers has removed the differences in the HW that the OS serves.

Best regards,

Kent M. Ostby

[Alan Turner]

Even on 10.20 there was a lot of commonality between s700 and s800. Therefore, although I'd use the appropriate Support Plus media for the "base load" of patches, I used to swcopy all of my interim update patches into a single depot, both s800 and s700. Since each patch identifies the hardware platform to which it applies, swinstall sorts it out fine (generally, only the PHKL and a few PHNE patches were platform-specific).

I haven't yet noticed any 11i patches specific to any one architecture, even PHKLs, but isn't it the case that ServiceGuard only operates on s800 architecture? (I've now stopped checking s800, because we're switching to entirely s700 machines)

[Artyom Voronchihin]

Shiju, that is not specific software, just Glance Plus. B3691AA is for s700 and B3693AA is for s800. Both are installed and work fine on my C-class machine.

[Pete Randall]

Artyom,

I would be particularly concerned with a product like GlancePlus that needs to interface with the kernel. It may appear to be working fine on the surface, but I suspect that the kernel hooks would be different between platforms, giving you compromised, or, at the very lease, suspect, performance measurement.


Pete

[Scot Bean]

Even tho Glance is bundled into two seemingly seperate "700" and "800" named bundles, I believe the actual binaries are the same.

This is likely just a carry over from earlier 10.20 days when it mattered.

To convince yourself that they are the same, here is an experiment:

- swcopy the 800 bundle into a new depot
- now swcopy the 700 bundle
- did SD really copy anything, beside a possible bundle wrapper?

If SD did not copy over any different filesets, you can be assured that the 2 bundles differ in bundle name only.

[Steven E. Protter]

Off topic: Congratulations on your new hat. 250 points on the nose.

SEP

[Ted Buis]

Both workstations and servers can function as software depots to each other, so HP expects customers with both systems to be able to create both 700 and 800 Series (Workstation and Server) depots on a single system. However, there are differences in the hardware and support for different software modules. For example, an HP-PB driver wouldn't make sense for a workstation, since no workstations have had HP-PB since 1991. Also, no current servers support 3D graphics, so those drivers don't make sense for a server or therefore in a server depot. It should helps simply things . Other examples of software not being supported on workstations are vpars (Virtual Partioning), iCOD (Instant Capacity on Demand) and MC/ServiceGuard. Workstation software may have different part numbers and different prices. The TCOE Bundle (Technical Computer Operating Environmet) is supported on workstations only. The Enterprise Operating Environment, and Mission Critical Operating Environment are only supported on servers. Some software is licensed for workstations (2 processors max) and for server it is licensed on a per CPU basis.