[Info-vax] Reloading device drivers on x86-64 VMS

[JF Mezei]

If we're going to be asking for me the moon, might as well ask for the moon:

VMS should be able to reload itself, dynamically updating all running
images with pointers to updated shareable images, drivers etc.

In essence, you should be able to do a rolling upgrade of VMS without
quitting any processes.


Seriously though, there needs to be a paradigm consideration. In the
past, rolling upgrades meant using clustering capabilities with dual
boot nodes and enough nodes to maintain service as you progressively
reboot all nodes into the upgraded system disk from one of 2 boot nodes
and eventually upgrade the other boot node and do load balancing by
rebooting a few nodes.

The ability to reboot a node, shut it off for hardware maintenance etc
is something that is necessary in a large data centre with hundreds of
nodes.

But for VMS's remaining niche market, is that still the case ?  Or are
we looking at much smaller systems with single nodes etc ? With single
nodes or non clustered nodes (because clustering is so expensive), then
in-situ upgrades without reboot become interesting. But if most
customers are on clusters and have the ability to reboot individual
nodes easily, then in-situ upgrades are less important.