[Info-vax] Multi-site OpenVMS field upgrade options?

[Rod Regier]

I’m investigating to see if I have missed out on a practical technical  alternative.

Background:
I have a North American multi-site installed base of Alpha and Integrity servers
running HPE OpenVMS to support the application package my organization supplies
for those customers.  The OpenVMS systems are supplied on a turnkey basis,
so my organization is responsible for providing remote OpenVMS first-tier support
from a central location.  The sites are usually provisioned with IT technical staff
who can provide limited hardware support.  My organization is responsible
for the rest of the hardware support.

One of the options I’m considering is upgrading all of those systems
from HPE to VSI OpenVMS.

Question:

Is there an approach I have missed in the following list to accomplish that goal:

“Consultant approach”
Fly in a consultant to perform an onsite upgrade at each separate site
Comments:
Very long outage
Very expensive in consulting hours and travel, lodging, meals charges

“Pseudo hardware upgrade approach”
Ship a second similar architecture system to the site
-	w/loaded and patches OS
-	w/networking client configuration preloaded
-	Migrate applications and client-specific data over LAN
Comments:
Shortest outage
Shipping costs
Needs float machine hardware pool for several different models


“Drycleaner laundry approach”
Make a backup of the client-specific data and applications.
Freeze client operations
Transfer over Internet to central support site
Create OS image at central site
Network configure the image to client site details
Load client-specific data into the image
Create bootable media with build system
Priority ship media to customer site
Walk client thru image load overwriting existing OS+data
Comments:
Lowest consulting costs
minimal shipping costs
intermediate outage
No float hardware required
Highest risk for unforeseen extended outage