I'm bringing up z/VM 5.3 and came across a couple of items that aren't exactly plainly stated in the SDO doc. Both have to do with RACF. Also both are related to or caused by the fact that I really don't like to do a "big bang" type of upgrade. I build a new system on a 2nd level guest and then like to move it piece meal to my "test" lpar. In this case I am putting 5.3 in on the test system running z/VM 4.4.
The first item or assist is one that I got from Colin Allison. I knew about the new database templates for RACF and, I guess, in recalling the trauma of having to convert the RACF DB to the structured format 10-15 years ago when you were making an irreversible change to the DB, I was nervous about doing it. Colin told me, however, that you can do the RACFCONV to add the new templates to the DB and then still use that DB running the older RACF. I did that and it worked just fine. I've been running the RACF that came with 4.4 with the 5.3 templates for a month or so with no problems. The only hint in the RACF prog. dir. is that if you are using a shared DB, you "must convert the templates from the system with the highest level of RACF". The 2nd item that caught me is that today I decided to put CP 5.3 and the new RACF on the test lpar. RACF woudn't run. I had ipled with NOAUTOLOG and then logged onto RACFVM using the directory pw in order to switch to the new 490 and 305 disks. RACSTART would end with the rather crytpic message "RACF is not defined to the Z/VM system". The problem is that the SYSTEM CONFIG file didn't have the new character string in it containing 5VMRAC30 that was inserted with the ENABLE command when I installed on the 2nd level system. It only had the old ENABLE statement containing the PRODID of 5767002P. I added the line containing 5VMRAC30 and it worked just fine. I just thought I'd pass on these tips for anyone who likes to upgrade a system in a little more granular manner than all at once. Jim Jim Bohnsack Cornell University (607) 255-1760 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
