NEC Express5800/320Ma User manual

NEC Solutions (America), Inc.
NR017W
Express5800/320Ma:
Active Upgrade™User’s Guide

Manual Name: Express5800/320Ma: Active Upgrade™ User’s Guide
Part Number: NR017W
Express5800/320Ma Software Release Number: 4.1.0
Publication Date: January 2006
NEC Solutions (America), Inc.
10850 Gold Center Drive, Suite 200
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
© 2006 NEC Solutions (America), Inc. All rights reserved.
Notice
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.
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OF NEC, NEC MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN, INCLUDING WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PURPOSE. NEC assumes no responsibility or obligation of any kind for any errors contained herein or in connection with
the furnishing, performance, or use of this document.
Software described in NEC (a) is the property of NEC and/or its licensees, (b) is furnished only under license, and (c) may
be copied or used only as expressly permitted under the terms of the license.
NEC documentation describes all supported features of the user interfaces and the application programming interfaces
(API) developed by NEC and/or its licensees. Any undocumented features of these interfaces are intended solely for use
by NEC personnel and are subject to change without warning.
This document is protected by copyright. All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be copied, reproduced, or
translated, either mechanically or electronically, without the prior written consent of NEC Solutions (America), Inc.
The NEC Solutions (America), Inc. logo, Express5800/320Ma, and the Express5800/320Ma logo, are trademarks of NEC
Solutions (America), Inc. ActiveService Network and Active Upgrade are trademarks of Stratus Technologies Bermuda,
Ltd. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

Contents iii
Contents
Preface vii
1. Overview 1-1
Features 1-1
Overview of the Active Upgrade Process 1-2
Aborting the Active Upgrade Process 1-6
Active Upgrade State Model 1-8
2. Preparing for the Active Upgrade Process 2-1
Software Upgrade Support 2-1
System Prerequisites 2-2
Recommendations 2-5
Managing Critical Applications During the Upgrade Process 2-6
Pre-Upgrade Tasks 2-7
Installing the Active Upgrade Software 2-9
Configuring Windows Firewall for the Active Upgrade
Process 2-10
Configuring a UPS-Protected System for the Active
Upgrade Process 2-11
Gathering Information 2-13
Copying Software Installation Packages to the System 2-16
Configuring Windows Automatic Updates 2-16
Starting and Exiting the Active Upgrade Console 2-19
Understanding the Active Upgrade Console Interface 2-20
Title Bar 2-20
Navigation Bar 2-21
Main Window 2-24
Status Bar 2-25
3. Configuring the Active Upgrade Process 3-1
Creating and Managing Configuration Files 3-1

Contents
iv Express5800/320Ma: Active Upgrade™ User’s Guide
Creating a Configuration File 3-2
Loading a Configuration File 3-3
Editing an Existing Configuration File 3-4
Performing an Upgrade with No Configuration File 3-4
Saving a Configuration File 3-5
Selecting Disks to Upgrade 3-5
Selecting Other Configurations to Include 3-7
Selecting Application Services to Control 3-9
Selecting Event Log Files to Back Up 3-10
Configuring Custom Actions 3-12
Programming Notes for Custom Actions 3-15
Starting and Stopping Applications 3-15
Using Active Upgrade Environment Variables 3-16
Generating Exit Values 3-17
Viewing Standard Output and Error Stream 3-17
Executing Visual Basic Scripts and Other
Types of Executable Files 3-18
Providing a Description for a Configuration File 3-19
Displaying the Upgrade Summary 3-19
4. Performing the Upgrade 4-1
Performing a Readiness Check 4-1
Splitting the System 4-3
Managing Upgrade Tasks on the Upgrade Side 4-5
Connecting to the Desktop on the Upgrade Side 4-6
Running Software Installation Programs 4-10
Restarting the Upgrade Side 4-12
Managing Your Applications on the Production Side 4-14
Verifying the Upgrade Side Before Merging the System 4-15
Merging the System 4-15
Verifying the Upgrade Side Before Committing the
Upgrade 4-17
Committing the Upgrade 4-18
Aborting the Upgrade 4-19
Finishing the Upgrade 4-20
Viewing Active Upgrade Process Status 4-21
Activity Log 4-21
Status Bar 4-25
5. Troubleshooting 5-1
Saving the Activity Log to a File 5-1
Verifying the Status of Application Services 5-2

Contents
Contents v
Verifying the Status of Installed Software 5-3
Verifying If RDR Disks Are Resynchronizing 5-5
General Problems and Solutions 5-6
Glossary Glossary-1
Index Index-1

Figures
iv Express5800/320Ma: Active Upgrade™ User’s Guide
Figures
Figure 1-1. Duplexed System 1-3
Figure 1-2. Splitting the System 1-3
Figure 1-3. Merged System 1-5
Figure 1-4. Committing the Upgrade 1-6
Figure 1-5. Aborting the Upgrade 1-7
Figure 1-6. Active Upgrade State Model 1-8
Figure 2-1. Windows Firewall Exceptions 2-11
Figure 2-2. Automatic Updates Control Panel 2-17
Figure 2-3. Automatic Updates Icon in System Tray 2-18
Figure 2-4. Active Upgrade console 2-20
Figure 2-5. Navigation Bar: Configuration 2-21
Figure 2-6. Navigation Bar: Active Upgrade 2-22
Figure 2-7. Navigation Bar: Links 2-23
Figure 2-8. Main Window: Configuring the Active Upgrade Process 2-24
Figure 2-9. Main Window: Activity Log 2-25
Figure 2-10. Status Bar 2-26
Figure 4-1. Links for Connecting to Upgrade Side 4-7
Figure 4-2. Remote Desktop Title Bar 4-9
Figure 4-3. Automatic Updates Icon in System Tray 4-10
Figure 4-4. Activity Log (in Active Upgrade Console) 4-22
Figure 4-5. Remote Activity Log 4-22
Figure 4-6. Activity Log Detail 4-24
Figure 4-7. Status Bar 4-25
Figure 5-1. Service Control Manager 5-3
Figure 5-2. Add or Remove Programs Control Panel 5-4

Tables v
Tables
Table 2-1. Active Upgrade Process Worksheet 2-14
Table 3-1. Hard Disk Color Coding 3-6
Table 3-2. Selection of Application Services 3-10
Table 3-3. Control Types for Custom Actions 3-13
Table 3-4. Timing for the Advanced Control Type 3-14
Table 3-5. Environment Variables for Custom Actions 3-16
Table 4-1. Activity Log Entries 4-2
Table 4-2. Activity Log Entries 4-23
Table 4-3. Status: Hardware State 4-25
Table 4-4. Status: Upgrade State 4-26
Table 4-5. Status: Operational State 4-26
Table 4-6. Status: Partner State 4-27
Table 5-1. Troubleshooting: Readiness Check 5-6
Table 5-2. Troubleshooting: Custom Actions 5-8
Table 5-3. Troubleshooting: Miscellaneous Problems 5-8

Tables
vi Express5800/320Ma: Active Upgrade™ User’s Guide

Preface vii
Preface
Purpose of This Manual
The Express5800/320Ma: Active Upgrade™ User’s Guide describes the Active
Upgrade process, which allows you to upgrade system software and applications on
an Express5800/320Ma system while its critical applications remain online and
accessible to users.
The manual provides an overview of the Active Upgrade process, specifies the
requirements and procedures necessary to prepare the system for the upgrade
process, and explains how to configure and execute the upgrade process using the
Active Upgrade console. It also provides information about troubleshooting the Active
Upgrade process if a problem occurs.
NOTES
1. Theinformation inthismanualisalso containedinthe
Active Upgrade Help file, which is available in the
ActiveUpgrade console and in the Start menu of your
system in the Express5800/320Ma folder (after you
install the Active Upgrade software).
2. For the latest information about Active Upgrade
technology, includinganyissues that werediscovered
after this release, see the Express5800/320Ma:
Active Upgrade User’s Guide online at
http://suport.necsam.com/servers/.
Audience
This manual is intended for system administrators who will prepare for and execute an
Active Upgrade on an Express5800/320Ma system. It assumes that you are familiar
with administering Express5800/320Ma systems.
Notation Conventions
This document uses the notation conventions described in this section.
Warnings, Cautions, and Notes
Warnings, cautions, and notes provide special information and have the following
meanings:

Preface
viii Express5800/320Ma: Active Upgrade™ User’s Guide
WARNING
!A warning indicates a situation where failure to take
oravoid a specifiedactioncouldcausebodilyharmor
loss of life.
CAUTION
!A caution indicates a situation where failure to take or
avoida specifiedaction could damageahardwaredevice,
program, system, or data.
NOTE
Anoteprovidesimportantinformationabouttheoperation
of a system.
Typographical Conventions
The following typographical conventions are used in Express5800/320Ma system
documents:
•The bold font emphasizes words in text or indicates text that you type, the name of
a screen object, or the name of a programming element. For example:
Before handling or replacing system components, make sure that you are
properly grounded by using a grounded wrist strap.
In the System Properties dialog box, click the Hardware tab.
Call the RegisterDeviceNotification function.
•Theitalicfont introducesnew terms andindicatesprogrammingand command-line
arguments that the user defines. For example:
Many hardware components are customer-replaceable units (CRUs), which
can be replaced on-site by system administrators with minimal training or tools.
copy filename1 filename2
Pass a pointer for the NotificationFilter parameter
•The monospace font indicates sample program code and output, including
message text. For example:
#include <iostream.h>
The operation completed successfully.