Description

Using Install Bundles to Simplify Storage Foundation (SF) and Storage Foundation HA (SFHA) Install and Upgrades for 6.0.x and 6.1.x
 

A new Install feature called Install Bundles has been introduced with the 6.0.5 and 6.1 Storage Foundation HA releases on Unix/Linux.  This feature makes it possible to install combinations of SFHA Base, Maintenance and Patch releases in one operation. 

This article describes three scenarios in which Install Bundles can be used to simplify the SFHA installation and upgrade process:
 

• Installing or upgrading SFHA directly to a Maintenance Release (MR) level
• Installing or upgrading SFHA with one or more Patch releases
• Expanding OS Minor version support for existing SFHA releases
   

Installing or upgrading SFHA directly to a Maintenance Release level


Many Storage Foundation (SF) users prefer to have Maintenance Release (MR) levels running on their production systems for added stability.  However, nobody wants the burden of having to perform two separate operations (Base release, then the MR release) to install or upgrade systems to their desired level. 

Now, using Install Bundles, SF/SFHA can be installed or upgraded directly to MR level release versions in a single operation.  Installing or upgrading directly to an MR level is performed by executing the installmr script of the Maintenance Release (MR) with an argument that points to the path of the Base Release software.  The following 6.0.5 example demonstrates the use of the –base_path argument to install or upgrade systems directly to SFHA version 6.0.5 in one step:
 

#./installmr system1 system2 -base_path />


If the designated systems do not have Storage Foundation HA software installed, the script will allow the user to select the product, package set, and configuration options and SFHA 6.0.1 and 6.0.5 software will be installed in a single operation. 
If the designated systems have a prior version of Storage Foundation HA software installed, the product will be upgraded to 6.0.5 and the Storage Foundation software stack is stopped and started only once.

The same procedure can be used to install or upgrade the SFHA 6.1 and 6.1.1 releases together.


Installing or upgrading SFHA with one or more Patch releases


Users may qualify SFHA in their environment at a release level which includes one or more Patch releases.  Once this software level is qualified for production, these users are also burdened with multiple install operations to deploy the software.

Using the –hotfix_path arguments, Install Bundles can be used to install one or more Patch releases along with a Base or Maintenance release (MR):

#./installer system1 system2  -hotfix_path /   -hotfix2_path /   -hotfix3_path / >


In the above example, the 6.1 release will be installed or upgraded along with the three designated Patch releases.   Up to five patches can be included in a single Install Bundles operation.  All bundled Patch releases must be applicable to the same Base or Maintenance release (MR) version and same platform.  

The –base_path and –hotfix_path arguments can be used in combination to install or upgrade to the desired patched Maintenance Release (MR) level.

Please note on 6.0.5 the argument is  –patchpath

Expanding OS Minor version support for existing SFHA releases

Storage Foundation HA can only be tested and supported on operating system levels distributed before the time of its release.  New OS minor versions will inevitably be released shortly after.  
The SFHA installer would block installation on this version assuming the software is not supported.

For example, when SFHA 6.1 was released, the most current RHEL version was 6.4. When RHEL 6.5 was later released, it was discovered that patches were required in order for SFHA 6.1 to be supported on RHEL 6.5.   The sfha-rhel6.5_x86_64-6.1.0.200 patch was created for this purpose.  

Install Bundles can be used to install the initial release and the required patch in one operation in order to deploy SFHA on new OS minor versions.

In the following example, the SFHA 6.1 installer is executed with a pointer to the expanded sfha-rhel6.5_x86_64-6.1.0.200 Patch release image.   When executed using Install Bundles, the block on RHEL 6.5 does not occur:

#./installer system1 system2 -hotfix_path / >
 

Using Install Bundles with Patch Releases allows Veritas to enable new OS minor version support much more quickly and easily than creating and delivering a full Platform Release.

Install Bundles Support Summary

To summarize, the benefits of using Install Bundles to install or upgrade SFHA software include:

1. A combination of Base Release, Maintenance Release, and Patch Release levels can be installed in a single operation
2. The SFHA software stack is stopped and started only once during an upgrade
3. Expanded   support for new OS Minor Versions

Install Bundles can be used to install the 6.0.1 and 6.0.5 releases together, however incorporating Patch releases with Install Bundles is not supported with version 6.0.5.  

From SFHA version 6.1 forward, Install Bundles is supported with the following release level combinations:

1. Base + MR
2. Base + Patch
3. MR + Patch
4. Base + MR + Patch
5. Multiple Patches

Other Install Bundles support items include:

• Up to five patches can be included in a single Install Bundle operation 
• Install Bundles also can be executed in an automated manner using the -responsefile option
• Install Bundles is supported with Rolling Upgrade functionality
• Install Bundles functionality is supported with the SFHA Web Installer