> Date:          Sat, 15 Nov 1997 23:45:09 -0500
> Reply-to:      [log in to unmask]
> From:          [log in to unmask]
> Subject:       Re: Stage/iX feedback URGENTLY needed.
> To:            [log in to unmask]

> The System Manager at one of my clients said he has tried Stage/iX
> six times on three different machines, and never got it to work.  He was
> told that most HPRC engineers advise against using it.  If it works so
> well for Mark, there must be a secret to it.  Perhaps we'll see it posted
> here...

I will respond separately to the other postings on this topic -- I
would like to clarify a few things however.

I have noticed that many people on this list are using the terms
Patch/iX and Stage/iX as interchangeable terms. This is not accurate,
they are in fact separate.

What Is Patch/iX? What Does It Do For Me?
=========================================

Patch/iX is a new (as of 5.0) patch installation tool. It can install
reactive patches (formerly requiring AUTOPAT) and/or proactive
patches or PowerPatch tapes (formerly requiring AUTOINST) at the
same time. Without Patch/iX the reactive and proactive patch
processes are completly separate and installing both types of
patches requires multiple UPDATEs.

The Patch/iX patch installation utility is a standalone tool (not
part of FOS) but there is no charge for this tool. On 5.0, Patch/iX
can install patches "the old fashioned way" only. Namely Patch/iX
will create a CSLT tape, the customer reboots the machine and
does an UPDATE at the ISL> prompt. After updating, the customer would
type START at the ISL> prompt. When the machine boots, the cusotmer
runs Patch/iX in PhaseII to complete the installation of the patches.
Basically PhaseII streams the I-Jobs (if there were any) and restores
any STORE files (if any were appended to the end of the CSLT tape).
Some patches do not require an UPDATE (this is indicated in the "View
Patch Information" display for each patch). If the customer is
installing only patches which do not require an update, then the
customer can install those patches by "kicking everyone off the
machine" and running Patch/iX in Phase II. NOTE: Patch/iX can be run
in PhaseI which creates the CSLT tape or staging area, without
"kicking anybody off the machine".

What Is Stage/iX? What Does It Do For Me?
========================================

Stage/iX is a new (as of 5.5) FOS subsystem. It provides customers
with a completely new and improved method of applying patches to the
system. UPDATES and CSLT tapes are *NOT* required with Stage/iX.
Currently Patch/iX is the only supported patch tool that is
integrated with Stage/iX (this may be why Patch/iX and Stage/iX
sometimes get confused with each other). Stage/iX has many advantages
over the "old fashioned way" of applying patches. It is much faster.
No tape is required. No operator intervention (mounting tapes,
replying to tape requests, or even typing in any specal boot
commands) is required. Management of staging areas is a System
Manager responsibility.

To use Stage/iX the customer must "INITIALIZE" the Stage/iX
subsystem. This involves running the staging area management utility,
STAGEMAN.PUB.SYS, and typing the 'initialize" command. It can be
abbreviated "init" and it takes no parameters. It is not destructive,
so there is no harm in typing "initialize" even if Stage/iX has
already been initialized. If you run STAGEMAN.PUB.SYS and Stage/iX
has not been initialized (or some corruption has ocurred since it was
last initialized), STAGEMAN will tell you so. Stage/iX should only
need to be initialized once per system (unless the system is reloaded
-- eg: someone does an ISL> INSTALL).

If you are patching a 5.5 system, and Stage/iX is initialized, then
Patch/iX will AUTOMATICALLY present the user with the option of
creating a staging area. Normally when running Patch/iX the fourth (I
think) menu option is to "Create a CSLT". If Stage/iX is initialzed
*AND* all of the "qualified patches" are stageable (more on this in a
minute) then the fourth menu option will be give the user the option
of creating a CSLT tape, a staging area, or both. Basically, the
best option in most cases is to create a staging area.

All patches are stageable unless they a) have an install job, b)
modify/patch a file in CONFIG.SYS, or c) they modify/patch the file
MMSAVE.MPEXL.SYS. The later two conditions are extremely rare -- I
don't think we have ever done a patch that effects MMSAVE.MPEXL.SYS.
The most common reason why a patch would not be stageable (by far) is
that the patch has an I-File. The most common reason for I-files is
because the product or patched piece of code has files that exist in
HFS name space (eg: their file names are not typical MPE
FILE.GROUP.ACCOUNT type file names). This is not very common but is
becoming more common with more Posix based products.

NOTE: Patch/iX lets the user install more than one patch at a time.
It is not at all uncommon to have more than 50 patches qualify if
installing a PowerPatch tape. If even one of these patches is not
stageable then the entire bundle is considered to be not stageable --
and the only option that is presented to the enduser is to create a
CSLT tape. This creates the illusion that "lots of patches are not
stageable". If the system manager "vetos" the "unstageable patches"
then the bundle will be stageable. I personally recommend that system
managers strongly consider "veto"ing the non-stageable patches and
applying them separately at some convenient time.

If you put your patches in a Stage/iX staging area, then all that is
necessary to "apply" or "install" those patches is to a) designate
that your intentions to use that staging area on the next boot, and
b) reboot the system with a simple "START" command whenever it is
most convenient. The system manager can designate his/her intentions
to use a staging area on the next boot by executing a "set" command
in STAGEMAN. The "set" command takes one parameter, the name of the
staging area to be used on the next boot. To check to see which
staging area will be used on the next boot, you can use the "status"
command within STAGEMAN. It will tell you which staging are the
system is currently booted from, and which staging area it will boot
from (automatically) on the next boot.

Once the system manager has done a "set" command, then all he/she
would have to do is tell the nigh shift operator (for example) to
reboot the machine. When rebooted the system will automatically boot
from the staging area -- and this will apply/install the patches.

There are other useful commands in STAGEMAN. For example there is a
"list" command which will list all the staging areas on the system
(there is a max of 50 staging areas -- this should never be an
issue). The "list" command has options to list all of the files in a
staging area (;FILES) and to list all of the patches in a staging
area (;PATCHES).

Thre are alco commands to "change" either the name or the user
description associated with a staging area. And there is a delete
command to delete old, unwanted, staging areas which are taking up
disk space.

All STAGEMAN commands are documented in the online help facility.

                                 Scott McClellan
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