All right, let me update everyone on our NSM Upgrade Experience. This one was POSITIVE!!! Once we got past the bad media problem, the ECA-017 (EC-H27946a) upgrade of our 3466-C00 from AIX 4.3.3 and TSM 4.1.1.0 to AIX 5.1 and TSM 4.2.1.9 was well worth the effort.
First, a word about the bad media problem. The 4MM tape that installs AIX and TSM may be bad. We found that by using the AIX command 'Restore -s4 -Tvqf /dev/rmt0.1' to read the tape we could verify that it is bad or good. Note: This command is documented in GA32-0396-03, "IBM 3466 Network Storage Manager Startup Guide" and deals with reading your MKSYSB backup to verify it is valid. Do this with your ECA-017 upgrade tape but don't interrupt the process. Be sure it can read all the way to the end!!!! IF not, you could experience what I/we experienced and I wouldn't wish that on anyone!!!! Our CE/SSR received a FLASH this past weekend concerning this. So, your CE should be aware. Next, why has it been well worth it? The performance enhancements have proved AWESOME on our system. You name it, it runs quicker and with fewer errors than before the upgrade. Wow!!!! If you aren't there yet, I encourage you to get there. You will sleep better!!! Well, O.K. We've only been running TSM 4.2.1.9 for about 24 hours, but I like it already!!! One last thing. I am currently working with support to upgrade the MOVE.SSA script. It still doesn't permit recovery log expansion beyond 5130MB. What's with that? TSM 4.2 provides 13GB log size and I need it. NOW!!!! I'm tired of the server crashing 3 or 4 times a week at 5AM. Please, let's get it fixed. Stay tuned, John G. Talafous IS Technical Principal The Timken Company Global Software Support P.O. Box 6927 Data Management 1835 Dueber Ave. S.W. Phone: (330)-471-3390 Canton, Ohio USA 44706-0927 Fax : (330)-471-4034 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.timken.com -----Original Message----- From: Talafous, John G. Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 3:25 PM To: 'ADSM: Dist Stor Manager' Subject: RE: NSM Upgrade Experience As I understand, support for TSM 4.1 expires June 30, 2002. So if you want to be supported, you have no choice but to upgrade to TSM 4.2. We too have been trying to implement EC017 on our NSM, and have had two failed attempts at the upgrade. The upgrade to AIX 5 and TSM 4.2.1.9 requires an AIX load from 4mm tape. We got a bad 4mm tape. You know, WORN technology (Write Once, Read Never). About 10% of the way into the upgrade to AIX 5 we couldn't read the tape. Tried and tried and tried. But it was bad. We had to recover from the MKSYSB we did that morning. That's why we take MKSYSB's. The second time we tried the EC script failed because \dbaa1dk31\db has on HDISK2. Huh? How did that happen. It turned out that when the recover was done from the MKSYSB all the HDISKS were renumbered by AIX. It took us a couple days with Level II support to get that straightened around. Took Level II about 4 hours dialed in running AIX commands to re-do things and put \dbaa1dk31\db back on HDISK31. We have scheduled our third attempt at EC017 for Sunday, June 30. I've also been told by Level II that anyone preparing to install EC017 should open a PMR prior to the upgrade so support can track the activity. I was also told that not very many NSM sites have done this upgrade, so many will be out of support. And what's this about OS patch 5100-02. Where do I get it and where do I find these kinds of patches? Is there some piece of documentation I've missed or did I just not catch something? Good luck to all!!! John G. Talafous Information Systems Technical Principal Global Software Support - Data Management telephone: (330)-471-3390 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ctnvm.inside.tkr/~talafous/ http://www.cis.corp.inside.tkr/networkstorage/ ********************************************************************** This message and any attachments are intended for the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not forward, copy, print, use or disclose this communication to others; also please notify the sender by replying to this message, and then delete it from your system. The Timken Company **********************************************************************
