Not Quite!  This used to be true before 4.2.2.0, not any longer.  They must
match right down to the patch level.  I was bitten by 4.2.2.12 and 4.2.2.13.
However, TSM Development is promising to make this issue go away.
Hopefully, in V5.2.  You will have to upgrade all at once then, probably,
but after that we pray not.

Paul D. Seay, Jr.
Technical Specialist
Northrop Grumman Information Technology
757-688-8180


-----Original Message-----
From: Eliza Lau [mailto:lau AT VTCAT.CC.VT DOT EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 10:51 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: TSM Upgrade frequency


Todd,

>From talking to a TSM Level 2 consultant, only the first 3 numbers of a
release have to match between the server and the storage agent.  If all your
storage agents are at 4.2.1.7, upgrading the server to 4.2.1.9 should be ok.

Eliza Lau
Virginia Tech Computing Center


>
> For you folks that patch your TSM server frequently (like the
> individual from Oxford University who upgraded from some version to
> 5.1.6.0 on Feb3, then to 5.1.6.1 on Feb7, and now planning to upgrade
> to 5.1.6.2 within a couple weeks), how many of you have Storage Agent
> nodes? I am still on 4.2.1.7 simply because of the Storage Agent
> issue.  We have a problem with TSM server crashes that is supposed to
> be fixed in 4.2.1.9+, but I find it hard to justify upgrading to
> 4.2.1.9+ when I know I will have to upgrade to 5.x soon after.
> According to the documentation I have read, the TSM Server version and
> the Storage Agent version must be at the same level. We have several
> Storage Agent nodes, and all of them are considered 24x7 servers,
> mission critical.  It is like pulling teeth to get downtime for any
> one of them just for normal OS or Application type maint.  I dread the
> time where I have to take them all down at once.  Even more so, I
> dread having to take all of them down at the same time several times a
> month just to keep updating TSM Storage Agent versions because the TSM
> Server needed a patch. How do you folks with several mission critical,
> 24x7 servers go about doing TSM Server upgrades and TSM Storage Agent
> upgrades?  Especially considering that TSM Server outages are best
> done during the day when no backups are occurring, and TSM Client Node
> outages are done during the night to reduce impact on the users of
> those Client Nodes.
>