Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[David Wagoner <dwagoner AT arsenaldigital.com>]

Title: RE: [internetworkers] Hardware Upgrade Gotcha's

A few comments from the Oracle perspective...

If the OS brand is not changing (i.e., only the version), I would recommend cloning the DB over an export/import b/c cloning would likely be faster.  There are documented procedures for cloning an Oracle DB manually and using RMAN.  In general, your DBA (you DO have a DBA, don't you? :-) would take a cold backup of the DB and move the files to the new machine.  You can then startup the DB, alter the memory parameters to take advantage of the additional memory on the new box, and begin testing your apps against the DB.  You would have to install the same version of Oracle on the new machine prior to the clone, preferably with the same file system layout, but any changes can be accommodated during the clone process, if necessary.

If you are switching OS, say from Solaris to AIX, then you would need to install Oracle for AIX on the new box, create the empty DB, and perform an export/import of the data.  Migrating from one OS to another is also documented on Oracle's MetaLink support site.

We've done lots of DB moves from one machine to another.  When possible, we run the new system in parallel for a couple of weeks of testing.  This works out well if you have batch data loads b/c it's easy to load both DBs.  If not, you can still have them both running, then after your testing you would synchronize the two DBs with another export/import and switch all activity to the new DB.

Don't forget about client files that may need to be changed to point to the new server (e.g., tnsnames.ora files).

Good luck!

David Wagoner

-----Original Message-----
From: Colleen McCarthy [mailto:cmccarthy1 AT nc.rr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 4:26 PM
To: Internetworkers AT Lists.Ibiblio.Org (E-mail)
Cc: dermonc AT email.unc.edu; Colleen at UNCH (E-mail)
Subject: [internetworkers] Hardware Upgrade Gotcha's

Hi Folks,

One of my coworkers in the UNC/UNCH world is doing a hardware upgrade and
trying to be as logical and organized about planning it as he can be.  He is
very interested in hearing from others who have done a hardware upgrade
about the steps that are involved and the problems that he could potentially
run into.  I am soliciting my group at work for this same information also,
as we did a "simple" hardware and OS upgrade that had a negative impact on
our sleep cycles for over a week.  He has give the to/from H/W specs below.

There might be enough folks interested in this that responding to the whole
group would be O.K....

Thanks much!

Colleen

Colleen McCarthy, MT(ASCP), BSEE, MBA, PMP
LIS Administrator
Laboratory Information Services
UNC Hospitals/McLendon Clinical Labs
1106 East Wing
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
email: camccart AT unch.unc.edu
phone: 919-966-2059 beeper 216-1995
fax: 919-966-6407
home phone 919-460-0641

-----Original Message-----
From: McCarthy, Colleen [mailto:CAMcCart AT unch.unc.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 3:42 PM
To: Colleen at Home (E-mail)
Subject: FW: Project Manager's Meeting

Colleen McCarthy, MT(ASCP), BSEE, MBA, PMP
LIS Administrator
Laboratory Information Services
UNC Hospitals/McLendon Clinical Labs
> 1106 East Wing, CB 7600
> Chapel Hill, NC  27514
phone: 919-966-2059 beeper 216-1995
fax: 919-966-6407
email: camccart AT unch.unc.edu

> Unless otherwise stated, opinions expressed are not those of the McLendon
Clinical Laboratories, nor of the UNC Health Care System or its management
:)
>

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Dermody [mailto:dermonc AT email.unc.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 3:31 PM
To: camccart AT unch.unc.edu
Subject: Project Manager's Meeting

Colleen:
I want to thank you for sharing at today's project manager lunch
meeting.  I learned a lot and have already started to apply it.  Every
time I attend one of these meetings, I walk away with several things
that I can do or use and today was no exception.

I have attached a summary of WBS that I picked up on the web and have
been trying to work into my process.  I do like your ideas about the
index cards.  That way, I could write some notes to myself on the back.

As I mentioned we are moving to a new server for the Departmental
Accounting System.  We are moving from

Existing machine (6 yrs old) Specs:
CPU               Mem           Disk
4x333 Mhz 604E      2GB       9gb + External

Proposed replacement IBM p630 6C4 - 420C:
4x1.2Ghz Power4+    8 GB        72GB + ext.

We run an Oracle database using a PowerBuilder application.

If you could point me to any resources that might be of help in the
migration to the new machine, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Bob Dermody
Departmental Accounting System Team
Phone: (919) 962-9229
InDEPTh Helpline: (919) 962-9233
On the web at http://www.ais.unc.edu/das
Fax: (919) 962-9232