Availability Guide for Change Management

Reducing the Time Required for Planned Outages

Availability Guide for Change Management–125506

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Reducing Application Downtime With DSM/SCM

DSM/SCM is a Windows-based graphical user interface product that simplifies the

process of installing, configuring, and managing software for a single NonStop server or

a network of NonStop servers. With DSM/SCM, most installation and management

tasks can be performed without disrupting other activities on the server. DSM/SCM

accepts software inputs from site update tapes (SUTs), IPMs, and customer-written and

third-party applications.

DSM/SCM reduces application downtime during the installation process. Installation

functions are normally associated with planned outages. The objective of DSM/SCM is

to reduce the number of minutes an application must be down while software is being

installed. DSM/SCM achieves this by:

•

Simplifying the installation process and reducing the chance for error by providing

point-and-click menus for easy operation and building of target configurations.

•

Performing the maximum number of software installation tasks without affecting

application availability. These tasks include copying and moving files to the

appropriate subvolumes. Once files have reached their destination, application

availability is affected only during a quick rename process.

•

Dealing only with files that have changed since the last release was installed.

DSM/SCM compares the new configuration with the existing configuration and

automatically records those files that have changed since the last installation.

DSM/SCM works with only the subset of files that has changed and eliminates the

need to install the entire SUT each time you upgrade to a new operating system

release.

•

Simplifying the management of IPMs and all software revisions by providing up-to-

date information on current software so that you can easily determine the IPMs that

are installed on any system in a distributed network of NonStop servers.

DSM/SCM is described in the DSM/SCM User’s Guide. Tandem’s Professional

Services offers a DSM/SCM Change Management Availability Service that can assist in

installing, configuring, optimizing, and making the best possible use of DSM/SCM for

maximum performance and minimum downtime.

Note. DSM/SCM is not a replacement for SYSGENR. DSM/SCM determines when

SYSGENR is necessary and will not run SYSGENR if SCF can be used instead.