January 2009 - Dynamic Root Disk Release Notes

HP Dynamic Root Disk (DRD) Release Notes - September 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS
=============================================================================================================

1. Overview
2. DRD Release Information
2.1. Features for version A.1.0
2.2. Features for version A.1.1
2.3. Features for version A.2.0
2.4. Features for version A.3.0
2.5. Features for version A.3.1
2.6. Features for version A.3.2
2.7. Features for version A.3.3
2.8. Features for version A.3.4
3. System and Software Requirements
3.1. Required Patches and Software
3.2. Clone Features
3.3. Safe Command List
3.4. Installation and Removal of Patches and Products
3.5. Use of SD TUI/GUI
3.6. Installation Requirements
4. Known Problems and Workarounds

1. Overview

Dynamic Root Disk (DRD) is an HP-UX system administration toolset used to clone an HP-UX system image
to an inactive disk for software update, maintenance, recovery and rehosting. DRD is available for
download from Software Depot. System administrators use DRD to manage system images on HP PA-RISC and
Itanium®-based systems. DRD complements other parts of your total HP solution by reducing system
downtime while installing and updating patches and other software.

DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 September 2004 and all subsequent releases of HP-UX 11i v2. It is also
supported on HP-UX 11i v3 systems. DRD supports LVM or VxVM managed root volumes

2. DRD Release Information

The first release of DRD, version A.1.0 was posted to the Web in January 2007. Section 2.1 describes
the features available in the initial release of DRD. Each subsequent section describes the features
added with each release of DRD. Note that all releases are cumulative, and that all releases of DRD are
compatible with previous versions of DRD, unless otherwise noted.

2.1 Features for version A.1.0

This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 with an LVM volume manager. It provides the
following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be
viewed or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.

2.2 Features for version A.1.1

This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 with an LVM volume manager. It provides the
following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be viewed
or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• NEW! The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current
active/running system image.
• NEW! Two new options were added to the drd activate command. "-x alternate_bootdisk" sets
the alternate boot disk to the disk specified. "-x HA_alternate_bootdisk" sets the High
Availability alternate boot disk to the disk specified.

2.3 Features for version A.2.0

This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM volume manager. It
provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be
viewed or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current active/running
system image.
• Two new options were added to the drd activate command. "-x alternate_bootdisk" sets the alternate
boot disk to the disk specified. "-x HA_alternate_bootdisk" sets the High Availability alternate
boot disk to the disk specified.
• NEW! This release of DRD adds support for HP-UX 11i v3. For HP-UX 11i v2, only patch
installation is supported. Since most HP-UX 11i v3 products are DRD safe, products as well as
patches can be installed using this release of DRD. DRD support for HP-UX 11i v3 was first added
in September 2007.

2.4 Features for version A.3.0

2.5 Features for version A.3.1

This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM or a VxVM volume manager.
It provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be viewed
or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current active/running
system image.
• Two new options were added to the drd activate command. "-x alternate_bootdisk" sets the alternate
boot disk to the disk specified. "-x HA_alternate_bootdisk" sets the High Availability alternate
boot disk to the disk specified.
• This release of DRD adds support for HP-UX 11i v3. For HP-UX 11i v2, only patch installation is
supported. Since most HP-UX 11i v3 products are DRD safe, products as well as patches can be
installed using this release of DRD. DRD support for HP-UX 11i v3 was first added in September 2007.
• Support for VxVM 4.1 root volumes.
• Support for root volume groups with any name (previously, the root volume group had to be vg00).
• NEW! Support for VxVM 5.0 root volumes on HP-UX 11i v2 (note that VxVM 5.0 has not yet been
released for HP-UX 11i v3.)
• NEW Introduction of the drd status command, which allows the user to easily view clone
information on the system. The command specifies the following: which disk the clone resides on;
when the clone was created; the location of the clone's mirror (if one exists); and the original
disk that was copied to create the clone. It also specifies the state of the boot partition on the
clone, mirror, and original disks, as well as which disk is booted and which is activated (the disk
that will be booted from on the next reboot).

2.6 Features for versions A.3.2

This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM or a VxVM volume manager.
It provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system. On 11i v3, products as well
as patches can be installed and managed.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be viewed
or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current active/running
system image.
• A rich set of commands for activating and deactivating the inactive system image. This determines
what volume will be used as the root on the next system boot. This includes options to set the
alternate boot disk and the High Availability alternate boot disk.
• Support for LVM 1.0, VxVM 4.1, and VxVM 5.0 root volumes. These root volumes can have any name
(not just vg00).
• The drd status command. This allows the user to easily view clone information on the system. The
command specifies the following: which disk the clone resides on; when the clone was created; the
location of the clone's mirror (if one exists); and the original disk that was copied to create the
clone. It also specifies the state of the boot partition on the clone, mirror, and original disks,
as well as which disk is booted and which is activated (the disk that will be booted from on the
next reboot).
• NEW Rehost the clone to another system. This feature allows users to create a clone,
which can optionally be modified, then boot that clone on another system. Rehosting can be used to
quickly and efficiently provision new systems, and to simplify the setup of test systems. At initial
release rehosting is supported on HP-UX 11i v3 Integrity systems with LVM roots, for rehosting from
a blade to another blade or a VM to another VM.

2.7 Features for versions A.3.3

This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM or a VxVM volume manager.
It provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system. On 11i v3, products as well
as patches can be installed and managed.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be viewed
or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current active/running
system image.
• A rich set of commands for activating and deactivating the inactive system image. This determines
what volume will be used as the root on the next system boot. This includes options to set the
alternate boot disk and the High Availability alternate boot disk.
• Support for LVM 1.0, VxVM 4.1, and VxVM 5.0 root volumes. These root volumes can have any name
(not just vg00).
• The drd status command. This allows the user to easily view clone information on the system. The
command specifies the following: which disk the clone resides on; when the clone was created; the
location of the clone's mirror (if one exists); and the original disk that was copied to create the
clone. It also specifies the state of the boot partition on the clone, mirror, and original disks,
as well as which disk is booted and which is activated (the disk that will be booted from on the
next reboot).
• Rehost the clone to another system. This feature allows users to create a clone, which can
optionally be modified, then boot that clone on another system. Rehosting can be used to quickly
and efficiently provision new systems, and to simplify the setup of test systems. Rehosting is
supported on HP-UX 11i v3 and v2 Integrity systems with LVM roots, for rehosting from a blade to
another blade or a VM to another VM.
• NEW! At this release rehosting support for HP-UX 11i v2 systems has been added.
• NEW! This version of DRD introduces the ability to perform an OE update from an older
version of 11i v3 to HP-UX 11i v3 update 4 or later. You are able now to update your OE level on
the clone while your original system remains up and running. Once the update on the clone is done,
you can boot the clone and keep your original image as backup.

2.8 Features for versions A.3.4

This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM or a VxVM volume manager.
It provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system. On 11i v3, products as well
as patches can be installed and managed.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be viewed
or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current active/running
system image.
• A rich set of commands for activating and deactivating the inactive system image. This determines
what volume will be used as the root on the next system boot. This includes options to set the
alternate boot disk and the High Availability alternate boot disk.
• Support for LVM 1.0, VxVM 4.1, and VxVM 5.0 root volumes. These root volumes can have any name
(not just vg00).
• The drd status command. This allows the user to easily view clone information on the system.
The command specifies the following: which disk the clone resides on; when the clone was created;
the location of the clone's mirror (if one exists); and the original disk that was copied to create
the clone. It also specifies the state of the boot partition on the clone, mirror, and original
disks, as well as which disk is booted and which is activated (the disk that will be booted from on
the next reboot).
• Rehost the clone to another system. This feature allows users to create a clone, which can
optionally be modified, then boot that clone on another system. Rehosting can be used to quickly
and efficiently provision new systems, and to simplify the setup of test systems. Rehosting is
supported on HP-UX 11i v3 and v2 Integrity systems with LVM roots, for rehosting from a blade to
another blade (v3 only) or a VM to another VM (v2 and v3).
• This version of DRD introduces the ability to perform an OE update from an older version of 11i v3
to HP-UX 11i v3 update 4 or later. You are able now to update your OE level on the clone while
your original system remains up and running. Once the update on the clone is done, you can boot
the clone and keep your original image as backup.
• NEW! At this release improvements were made in the performance and accuracy of the DRD
algorithm which determines if a disk to be used as a clone is already in use or not.

3. System and Software Requirements

3.1 Required Patches and Software

In order to install and run, DRD requires the following:
• Judy-lib (Judy data structure library) version B.11.11.04.13 or greater
• HP-UX 11i v2:
o One of the following releases of SW-DIST (Software Distributor)
§ PHCO_38149 or superseding patch
§ Product version B.11.23.0803.318 or greater
• HP-UX 11i v3: SW-DIST (Software Distributor) version B.11.31.0709 or greater

When installing DRD from an OE or AR or from Software Depot, these dependencies are also installed if
your system does not already have them, which means that no special action is required on your part.

DRD has patch requirements in addition to those listed above. For up-to-date information on which
patches are required and how to acquire them along with their dependencies, please see the DRD
Downloads & Patches Web page (http://docs.hp.com/en/DRD/patch.html.)

3.2 Clone Features

The DRD clone command supports the following configurations:
• Clone target must be a single physical disk (with optional second disk for mirroring) or SAN LUN.
If an LVM root volume is spread across multiple disks, it can still be cloned, but the clone will be
on a single physical disk. A VxVM root disk group may reside on several disks, but each disk must
be an exact mirror of every other disk. The clone of a VxVM root disk group will reside on a single
physical disk.
• Root volume must be LVM (DRD versions A.1.0, A.1.1 and A.2.0); root volume can be LVM or VxVM
(DRD versions A.3.0 or later.)
• Prior to DRD version A.3.0, the root volume name must be vg00; the drd clone command will only clone
the contents of vg00, regardless of other volume groups that exist (DRD versions A.1.0, A.1.1 and
A.2.0). The root volume group may have any name when using DRD version A.3.0 or later.
• Due to system calls DRD (and many other HP-UX applications) depend on, DRD expects legacy Device
Special Files (DSFs) to be present and the legacy naming model to be enabled. Therefore HP suggests
only partial migration to persistent DSFs be performed as detailed in
http://docs.hp.com/en/dsfmigration/persistent_dsf_migration.pdf.

3.3 Safe Command List

The drd runcmd command is used to run safe commands on the clone. The safe commands listed below apply
to all DRD releases, unless otherwise noted:
• swinstall
• swremove
• swverify
• swmodify
• swlist
• swjob*
• view
• kctune (version A.1.1 and later)

* The swjob command can be used to view SD logfiles on the clone. It cannot be used to schedule
jobs for later execution on the clone.

3.4 Installation and Removal of Patches and Products

The drd runcmd command can be used in conjunction with swinstall and swremove to install or remove
patches. Use of drd runcmd to install or remove a non-patch product requires that all its filesets be
marked DRD-safe. You can determine whether a fileset has been marked DRD-safe with the following
command:

swlist –l fileset –a is_drd_safe –s depot_name product_name

Each fileset will be displayed with "true", "false", or blank. Filesets marked DRD-safe will display
"true". Filesets marked DRD-unsafe display "false. Filesets that display neither (blank) are treated
as DRD-unsafe.

3.5 Use of SD TUI/GUI

When using the SD TUI/GUI with drd runcmd, you may see messages about building a kernel or rebooting the
system. These messages are not accurate; under no circumstances will using SD under drd runcmd lead to
a reboot, nor will SD under drd runcmd lead to a kernel build on the running system.

3.6 Installation Requirements

DRD is dependent on other patches and software – refer to 3.1 Required Patches and Software (above)
for more information.

4. Known Problems and Workarounds

Known problems and workarounds for each release, if any, are described on the DRD Information Library Web
page (http://docs.hp.com/en/DRD/infolib.html.)