HP Serviceguard A.11.20.00 for Linux Release Notes, August 2012

NOTE: HP recommends you use the rolling upgrade process if possible, because it keeps your
mission-critical applications running; and also that you update the software (rather than do a cold
install) if possible, because updating preserves the current OS and cluster configuration. But make
sure you read the “Limitations ” (page 15) before you start the upgrade. The entire upgrade process
must complete successfully before you can use any Serviceguard commands.
CAUTION: If a failure occurs on one node while you are upgrading another, packages — and
the applications they contain — may not be able fail over to the node being upgraded.
Limitations
The following limitations apply to rolling upgrades:
• During rolling upgrade, you should issue Serviceguard commands (other than cmrunnode
and cmhaltnode) only on a node containing the latest revision of the software. Performing
tasks on a node containing an earlier revision of the software will not work or will cause
inconsistent results.
• You cannot modify the cluster or package configuration until the upgrade is complete. You
cannot modify the hardware configuration—including the cluster’s network
configuration—during rolling upgrade. This means that you must upgrade all nodes to the
new release before you can modify the configuration file and copy it to all nodes.
• None of the features of the newer release of Serviceguard are allowed until all nodes have
been upgraded.
• Binary configuration files may be incompatible between releases of Serviceguard. Do not
manually copy configuration files between nodes. The Serviceguard binary configuration file
(cmclconfig) must be in the correct directory or the cluster will not behave properly.
• Within a Serviceguard cluster, no more than two versions of Serviceguard can be running
while the rolling upgrade is in progress.
• All nodes must be running the same releases of Linux and Serviceguard before the upgrade.
• Rolling upgrades are not intended as a means of using mixed releases of Serviceguard or
Linux within the cluster. It is highly recommended that you upgrade all cluster nodes as quickly
as possible to the new release level.
• You cannot delete Serviceguard software (via rpm -e) from a node while the cluster is in the
process of rolling upgrade.
• This procedure depends on the upgrade or re-install keeping the same device naming
convention and general system configuration. It is possible for devices to change names or
be changed in the scan order in a way that cannot be corrected. If this happens, the cluster
needs to be re-created rather than to be upgraded.
Preparation
IMPORTANT: Make sure there is a supported upgrade path from your current Linux and
Serviceguard versions to the new versions. See the Serviceguard, Compatibility and Feature Matrix
at http://www.hp.com/go/linux-serviceguard-docs
There is no upgrade path between some Linux OS releases. In such cases you will need to do a
new OS installation (cold install).
Compatibility and Installation Requirements 15