V5R4M0 to V5R4M5 upgrade for Power6

[Former Member]

Hi,

I'm trying to find out two things about upgrading to V5R4M5 from V5R4M0.

1. Is it required for the Power6 platform (570)? I'm fairly certain from what I've been able to find on-line but would like confirmation.

2. What is the purpose of the M5 upgrade? We are trying to determine the "risk" level and the appropriate amount of testing required due to the upgrade.

Thanks All,

Craig

[JanStallkamp · Accepted solution]

Hi Craig.

Operating system release V5R4M5 is neccessary to use Power6 hardware. Beside the support of the new processors there are no additional benefits compared to V5R4M0 I am aware of.

If you are planning an operating system upgrade in the near future you should notice that IBM has now introduced i5/OS V6R1 (or IBM I 6.1 as the new name is). At the moment this release is not certified by SAP but like the past releases SAP's certification will be quite close to IBM's release date. Maybe you want to take that into account planning your upgrade.

Best regards,

Jan Stallkamp

[Former Member]

Hi Craig,

as Jan stated already: Yes, P6 requires it - but that is a real advantage for you )

why?

In the past new hardware always required the latest OS. As IBM got porblems with customers like you, that do not like to use new OSs that fast, they developed the needed code in an "enhancement pack" to the old release (ok, nothing to do with SAPs EhP Strategy ...)

Even SAP doesn't recertify that, as ONLY the Microcode is different (xxxx999). xxxxSS1 etc. is still on V5R4.

=> The risk is not there at all - epsecially as many (even large) clients are using P6 already.

The ONLY purpose is, to help you not to move to the higher OS V6R1. I cannot recommend to wait a bit and use V6R1 in your environment soon based on your history.

The only downsite here is:

IBM releases several more new & fancy features like IOP-less DASD and so on which has really some benefit in several environments. These kind of stuff requires V6R1. Therefore, you should check, what you need in general of the new announcements and if this requires V6R1, you might want to postpone, if this is an option for your performance situation. Otherwise, it might be possible to sign the contract for the new system and order it for the end of the year and perhaps get memory for the old server for the remaining time for free ?

Good luck,

Volker Gueldenpfennig, consolut international ag

http://www.consolut.de - http://www.4soi.de - http://www.easymarketplace.de

[Former Member]

Hi Volker,

Very interesting idea about sign the contract now and borrow memory until the lease ends. I'll have to think on that one.

You are correct, we are not likely to risk going to 6.1 (or is it now i6.1?) at this time for our 4.7 Enterpise system.

What I am trying to assess is whether other customers are doing a full save21 to go from V5R4 to V5R4M5 in preparation for power6 since as you know that would be about 6TB for our production 570.

I probably should give you a call after sending you my "plan"/best guess for sizing. We have the doggy development and "ok performing" production systems coming off lease in Sept/Dec respectively.

Thanks,

Craig