RHEL upgrade from 5.1 to 6

[msat-unix]

Hi,

Is it possible to go for the upgrade from RHEL 5.1 (Tikanga) to 6.0 ?

[Irithori]

Hi and welcome

Afaik: No it isnt.
- Deploy a new machine with rhel 6.3 (no point in going for the outdated version 6.0)
- migrate data and configfiles from the old to the new machine
- test the new machine
- document the new machine setup
- take the new machine into production
- archive logs of the old machine
- decommission the old machine

[msat-unix]

Hi, Going with the same machine because the Service guard cluster is runnin in this machine which i nt supportin to 5.8 so planning to go for 6.0

[Irithori]

Are you talking about ServiceGuard from HP?
I havent found the requirements for this, but in general: The jump from 5.1 to 5.8 is easier than from 5.1 to 6.x:
Within a major version (5.1 -> 5.8 ), the features and versions are frozen. Thus compatibility is given.
But from one major version to another (5.x -> 6.x) there are a lot of changes.

As you have access to this ServiceGuard: What does its manual say about the required OS?

[msat-unix]

Hi Irithori,

Below limitation is there in RHEL 5.8 for service guard cluster 11.18. So that we planning to go for RHEL 6.

"Serviceguard for Linux 11.18.* cluster having RHEL 5.8 nodes do not support Lock Lun, due to limitation in RHEL 5.8 on ioctl() over partitioned
disks. Please use Quorum Server as Arbitration mechanism. Also, in case of shared data disks, LVM Volume Groups should be created on nonpartitioned
disks (applicable only to RHEL 5."

[Irithori]

This will not work.
See the certification matrix for Serviceguard for Linux 11.14 to 11.19. rhel6 is not mentioned.
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/c-products/serv...ion_Matrix.pdf

rhel6 is supported from Serviceguard for Linux 11.20 onwards
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/.../c03398707.pdf

They do mention 6.1 and 6.2, but it is your right as a customer to pressure hp for 6.3 certification also.
Because it is mandatory to keep the systems up to date.

[msat-unix]

Hi Irithori,

Thanks for the valuable documents.

Is there any solution for overcome that limitation?.

As mentioned in the point, we can go for quorum server for arbitration mechanism. but there will be dependency for one more server which is not in the cluster.

can u guide me for any alternative solution?.

Thanks in advance!!!.

[Irithori]

I do not know enough of that HP serviceguard and your infrastructure to give a definitive answer.

But for sure:
- If you plan to stay with Serviceguard for Linux 11.18, then you also need to stay with rhel5.*
- If you update to rhel6.* then you also need Serviceguard for Linux 11.20