Managing Software Changes (G06.25+, H06.03+, J06.03+)

Evaluating Software Changes

Managing Software Changes—427169-005

3-3

Evaluating Outage Prevention Notifications

Outage Prevention Notification

An Outage Prevention Notification (OPN) is a Hotstuff message issued to warn you of

a defect that is likely to cause multiple unrelated outages. The problems described

usually involve software products but occasionally apply to hardware products.

An OPN provides information that helps your system management staff determine if a

known defect actually presents any risk in your environment. Whenever possible, HP

supplies a description of the actions you can take to take to avoid the problem, such as

installing a fix, performing a procedural workaround, or avoiding a certain configuration.

HP does not publish OPNs for every defect that conceivably could result in an outage.

OPNs are issued to publicize only the small subset of defects that might present an

unusually great risk of causing multiple unrelated system or application outages. (See

Determining Which SPRs to Install on page 3-1.)

In some cases, HP might be certain that a particular bug has caused multiple outages

on multiple systems, yet cannot provide detailed information that will enable you to

determine if you are at risk. In such cases, the OPN indicates that the specific

conditions under which the defect might occur cannot be described. You must then

follow your own risk management strategy.

What Information Is in an OPN

•

A description of a defect that potentially could result in an outage

•

Any preventive action you can perform

•

A list of RVUs on which that defect can occur (when relevant)

•

When the preventative action is to install an SPR, a description of SPR(s) that fix

or avoid the defect, including:

The RVUs with which the SPR is usable

Whether the SPR is already present in any RVUs

Any requisite or superseded SPRs

Which RVU contains the final fix, or TBD if the RVU is not yet known

The installation impact, such as a system load

Whether the SPR is available yet

“Availability of SPRs will be announced via ExpressNotice” means that the

SPR for this fix might or might not have been issued yet. HP often issues

OPNs before the actual fix is available to alert customers to potentially serious

problems. The SPR is usually issued shortly after the OPN.

Example 2-1 on page 2-9 shows an Outage Prevention Notification.