RE: side-by-side upgrade

[Jerry Adams <Jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John,

Thanks.  Done both types of upgrades, just never gave them (or knew they had) a name.  Well, except parallel testing; done that, got the wounds.

To the OPS original question, then, I don't know of any manual.  The last one that I did was when the 520's came in a few years ago (well, they were actually in the next room).  Didn't use a manual, but I built a checklist that included our primary business functions.  Connected the machines to the network; restored the application libraries; ran a set of tests.  Ours is not a very complicated operation so there wasn't much to test.  The most vexing thing that I had to test was our remote order entry apparatus (modems, handhelds, etc.).  

I did not have any third-party software (at the time), but that would be a candidate for testing now.  

Again, ours is a simple operation, but I think that one could make a checklist of the business functions/applications (30,000' view) and break it out into components.  In this kind of parallel test one just wants to be sure that things don't break.  That is, it's not like a parallel test for, say, an order entry system where one wants to verify that things some out with the same $-amounts on the new system as on the old system.  Actually, the last time I did one of those kinds of parallel tests, we found that the old system was buggy.

Jerry C. Adams
IBM System i Programmer/Analyst
--
B&W Wholesale
office: 615-995-7024
email:  jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Jones
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 12:34 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: side-by-side upgrade

Your new machine sits beside your old machine.  They run in parallel for a
bit, allowing you to test/verify the new environment before you do your
actual cutover/upgrade.  This is doable when the mew machine has all-new or
mostly-new hardware or what you're carrying over isn't needed to validate
the new environment.  And you have the floorspace, power, and HVAC to
support it.

Contrast that with a push/pull where the old machine is "pushed" aside to
make room for the new machine, or the old machine is gutted to have it's
internals replaced with new components.

In a side-by-side you can validate the new stuff works before putting it in
production.  In a push/pull you cannot and thus you trust that the new stuff
will work.

On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 11:28 AM, Jerry Adams <Jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a "side-by-side upgrade"?  Possibly
> something of which I am familiar under a different term.
>
> Jerry C. Adams
> IBM System i Programmer/Analyst
> --
> B&W Wholesale
> office: 615-995-7024
> email:  jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of fbocch2595@xxxxxxx
> Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 10:09 AM
> To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: side-by-side upgrade
>
>
> Hi, is there a published step by step procedure for the side-by-side
> upgrade in any manual?
> Frank
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Evan Harris <spanner@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion' <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tue, Nov 3, 2009 3:15 pm
> Subject: RE: side-by-side upgrade
>
>
> Hi Mike
> Did the BP actually just do a restore or did they do a mixed release
> igration ? Your description of the process seems to have some gaps to me
> hich might explain why the BP wants to go this route.
> What release are you currently on ?
> Regards
> van Harris
>
> ----Original Message-----
> rom: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mike Cunningham
> ent: Wednesday, 4 November 2009 8:16 a.m.
> o: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
> ubject: side-by-side upgrade
> We purchased a new power 6 system as an upgrade and are able to run both
> the
> ld and new systems side by side. Our BP installed V5R4M5 on the new system
> nd then we did a full save (option 21) on the current system and a full
> estore to the new. They the BP installed the most recent PFTs. Total time
> o backup was about 4 hours, total time to restore was about 4 hours. Adding
> n the PFTs added another 6. 14 hours total downtime to make the switch. We
> re going to check out the new system to be sure everything is there and
> unning and looks good and then schedule a weekend to make the final
> utover.  Since the only thing that is going to change is our data could we
> afely do a save (option 21) and then just restore userprofiles and our
> ibraries? BP would like to blow away everything and start from installing
> 5R4M5 again, then a full restore and all the PFTs again. Looking to save
> hat extra 6 hours of downtime.
> -
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