Availability Guide for Change Management

Introduction to Change Management
Availability Guide for Change Management–125506
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Installing and Implementing Changes
Installing a New Operating System Release
Tandem currently requires that you shut down your NonStop system to install any major
operating system release. You use the Distributed Systems Management/ Software
Configuration Manager (DSM/SCM) program to install a new version of the operating
system.
Section 6, “Reducing the Time Required for Planned Outages,” describes several
techniques you can use to reduce the time required to install a new operating system and
thus minimize the impact of this type of change on application availability.
Installing an IPM
An IPM may contain code that adds function to a Tandem software product, or, it may
include one or more fixes to Tandem code. IPM installation may have a minimal impact
on system and application availability, or it may require you to shut down your system.
You use the DSM/SCM product to install IPMs.
How much impact IPM installation will have on availability depends on the particular
IPM being installed. Section 3, “Making System Software and Hardware Changes
Online,” describes techniques you can use to reduce the impact of IPM installation on
system and application availability.
Adding, Removing, and Reconfiguring Hardware
Changing your system hardware can involve expanding your system to include a new
system component, upgrading a system component to take advantage of a new
technology, or simply moving an existing system component. Many hardware changes
can be performed while your NonStop system is still operational.
Section 3, “Making System Software and Hardware Changes Online,” identifies the
hardware changes you can perform without having to shut down your system and
identifies changes you can make online using SCF.
Installing and Reconfiguring Application Subsystems
The Tandem application environment consists of application subsystems that enable you
to develop and run high-performance, high-volume, and highly available OLTP
applications. The application subsystems that make up the Tandem application
environment include NonStop TS/MP, NonStop SQL/MP, and NonStop TM/MP.
Making changes in your application environment can involve adding new requester and
server programs to handle new types of transactions, reorganizing a database to
accommodate business growth, or reconfiguring certain configuration attributes.
Because Tandem designed its application environment to expand easily as OLTP
operations evolve and business needs change, application subsystem changes do not
require your NonStop system to be shut down, and most changes can be made without
affecting application availability.
Section 4, “Making Application Subsystem Changes Online,” identifies the changes you
can perform to application subsystems while your NonStop system is still operational,
and describes the impact of those changes on application availability.