[Info-vax] New Hardware (rx2800) Compatibility

[Bob Gezelter]

On Monday, February 15, 2016 at 4:36:22 AM UTC-5, serf... at gmail.com wrote:
> We are looking to upgrade our existing Itanium hardware (rx6600, Itanium 9000 series) with a newer, supported platform, namely: rx2800, Itanium 9520.
> 
> The operating system we currently run is OpenVMS 8.4, the new server will be running VSI V841H1.
> 
> I would like to know:
> 
> 1. Assuming that the equivalent, latest layered products are installed on the new environment, will binaries compiled on the old platform be able to execute without incident on the new platform?
> 
> 2. Will binaries compiled on the new platform be able to execute on the old platform?
> 
> 3. What sorts of things should be on the radar to ensure that a migration of our present system to the new system will go smoothly?

Serf,

1. Old binaries should work. Of course, old binaries will not have access to new elements of 8.41H1 (e.g., if an item code was added to a system service).

2. Subject to a similar caveat, new binaries should, for the most part, run on the 8.4 systems. However, testing that new binaries work on the older release can be an ongoing pain. It is generally far better to look at upgrading all nodes to 8.41H1, preferably before adding new hardware.

3. Consider sequencing and testing carefully. 

I have dealt with this type of situation for clients in the past, it is not difficult, but some of the steps can be tedious.

I hope that the above is clear, if I have been unclear, or there are further questions, please feel free to contact me (on or off list).

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com