Installation manual

Getting Started
1.5 What Happens During an Upgrade
1.5 What Happens During an Upgrade
When you upgrade the OpenVMS VAX operating system, the upgrade procedure
does the following:
• Deletes and purges some OpenVMS VAX files on the system disk but leaves
all the user files intact.
• Transfers the new OpenVMS VAX files from the distribution media to the
system disk.
Note
The upgrade procedure puts the most recent versions of the OpenVMS
VAX files in the system common directories (SYS$COMMON). The
upgrade procedure does not replace or delete any versions of these files
in the system-specific directories (SYS$SPECIFIC). If there are previous
versions of OpenVMS VAX files in the system-specific directories, the
upgrade procedure or the upgraded system may not work correctly.
• Merges some of the old OpenVMS files and the new OpenVMS VAX files and
replaces others.
Certain OpenVMS VAX files are placed either over or under existing files
(that is, they are given a version number above or below the version number
of the existing file). This protects any customizations to the files and results
in having two versions of the file when the upgrade is completed. For more
information, see Appendix F.
• Cleans up files and structures used only during the upgrade.
• Leaves your OpenVMS license and System Integrated Product (SIP) licenses
intact.
You do not need to reinstall these licenses after you upgrade. (Refer to
Appendix B for detailed information about license management for OpenVMS
VAX Version 7.3.)
1.5.1 When to Perform an Upgrade
In most cases, you can use the upgrade procedure to obtain a higher version
of the OpenVMS VAX operating system. Unlike the installation procedure, the
upgrade procedure does not initialize your system disk. This means you can get
the latest version of the operating system and keep your user files and optional
software files intact.
1.5.2 How to Use the Upgrade Documentation
This manual contains step-by-step instructions for performing an OpenVMS VAX
upgrade. However, you will need to refer to several different documents before
and during an upgrade. Figure 1–2 illustrates the major steps in an upgrade and
the documents you will use to perform each step.
1–8 Getting Started