Folks,

Would anyone be willing to share their wisdom/experience with
us regarding our server upgrade plans?

We are about to use 'dsmserv upgradedb' as part of the process of
moving from an existing AIX V2 server to another AIX (4.2.1) machine
running the V3R1 Level 0.2 (with IX74458) server. The new server will
inherit the 3590 tape drives and 3494 library used by this V2 server,
but is a completely separate machine with its own DASD allocated for
ADSM recovery log, database and disk volume use. Our existing tape library
contains a large amount of data, all of which has to be accessible from the
new V3 server.

I have already configured and done some amount of testing on the new V3
server. My upgrade plan involves the following general steps:

        1- Flush V2 server disk pools; backup V2 ADSM database to tape

        2- Halt/shutdown V2 server

        3- Copy volhistory file from V2 to V3 server (possibly merge
           with existing volhistory on V3 server).

        4- Recable tape drives to V3 server (remove from V2 server)
           and define new tape drives on V3 server

        5- Halt V3 server and restore/upgrade the V2 database, as follows:

                (a) dsmserv restore db (preview=yes, the first time through)

                (b) dsmserv upgradedb

        There isn't much documentation on the upgradedb command, so I
        am not clear about exactly what it is designed to do. I assume
        that prior to running 'dsmserv upgradedb', I have to run
        'dsmserv restore db'.  Can anyone confirm/dispute this?

The V3 server currently is using a small number of tape volumes. Will the
metadata for these volumes be wiped out by the restore db process? Or,
is there some other way to merge the two databases particularly if
I merge the two volhistory files?

I'd appreciate any feedback regarding this plan, particularly if I'm missing
any vital steps. Thanks in advance for your insight.

--Ruth Mitchell
  Cornell Theory Center
  Cornell Theory Center