> The overall problem is getting from z/4.3 on the MP3000 to > At Z/800/890/900/990 with out any user interruption. > Ok I have 20 minutes at midnight. > [edit,edit...] > Oh, just because, it looks like I have a DASD (EMC Symmetrix) > upgrade too.
Definitely worth considering running 4.3 as a guest, then -- particularly if you can get the new system cabled to the new disk in advance and do the 5.1 install in advance on the new disk. Hopefully you don't have/aren't using internal disk on the MP3000 -- if you are, then there's no way you're gonna do this without some longer outage, or some *very* creative uses of ISFC and a CTC or two between the machines. Assuming you do have external disk on the current system, can you afford to lose one path to the disk for a short period? If so, then you could take one path offline from the disk to the current system, cable it up to the new system and keep it offline until you're ready to switch over. When you're ready, you shut down the old box, go to the new box, vary the single path and devices online and bring up your 2nd level guest id running 4.3. You should be able to IPL the 4.3 system (albeit with somewhat degraded performance) 2nd level and get your users back on the air easily within the 20 minute window. You can then start moving additional paths from the disk over to the new CPU and bringing them online as they're cabled up. The newer boxes are more tolerant about cabling problems than the old ones were; they just take the problem path back offline unless it's the only one to the device. > I am thinking do z/VM 4.3 to z/VM 4.4 upgrade. Now I should be > able to run on whatever box they throw at me. That's another option, but personally, I'd put the effort into going directly to 5.1 _after_ you get the box swapped. There's more benefit in 5.1 (especially on a real Z box), and it's not throw-away work. It also changes the least number of things all at once. > I am using SFS right now for all the UltraQuest/Nomad2 (4gl) > stuff. > I am thinking easy move of that stuff. > Then on to z/VM 5.x. Make sure you save a couple channels for ISFC or TSAF connections from 1st to 2nd level. You'll like your next upgrade a lot if you can just go over ISFC to get to SFS stuff.
