HPlogo Communicator e3000 MPE/iX Release 7.0 (Software Release C.70.00) > Chapter 1 Introduction

HP Stage/iX

MPE documents

Complete PDF
Table of Contents
Glossary
Index

HP Stage/iX is an operating system facility for applying and managing MPE/iX patches on your system. Using HP Stage/iX reduces system downtime and provides an easy and reliable method for backing out patches. Refer to Appendix G "HP Stage/iX Reference" for information on HP Stage/iX commands and staging area handling.

Use HP Stage/iX to place Reactive patches into staging areas on disk while the system is up, then choose a staging area to use at boot time to apply the patches. After the patches are applied, they can be backed out at any time through a reboot to the Base (the version applied by the last tape update). Once you are satisfied with the patches on the running system, you can commit the staging area to form a new Base while the system is running (no reboot is needed).

HP Stage/iX has the following three interfaces:
HP Patch/iX menus

allow you to stage patches to staging areas after HP Stage/iX is initialized (as well as create CSLT/STORE tapes in the usual fashion). Refer to Appendix F "HP Patch/iX Reference" for information about HP Patch/iX.

STAGEMAN utility

allows you to manage your HP Stage/iX environment, and obtain information about the environment and individual staging areas.

STAGEISL utility

is an ISL utility available when the system is down. It contains a subset of the STAGEMAN functionality, and allows you to recover from most errors or mistakes.

HP Stage/iX Concepts

Your Operating System (OS) resides in what HP Stage/iX refers to as the Base.This is the set of files laid down by the last system installation or update (from tape). HP Stage/iX creates and manages staging areas, which are file containers on disk that hold versions of files that are different from the Base. A staging area is actually an HFS directory which holds all the files associated with that staging area. More than one staging area can exist at a time. Each staging area contains the difference, or delta, between the Base Operating System and a patched OS.

When a staging area is activated on the next boot, the files in the staging area directory are moved (renamed) into their natural locations. For example, the staged version of the NL is moved into NL.PUB.SYS. At the same time, the Base versions of the files are saved in an HP Stage/iX archive directory. When the staging area is backed out (when the system is booted back to the Base), the converse takes place, and the system is restored to its original state.

When an active staging area is committed to the Base, the staging area directory is deleted, and all archived Base files are purged. The files that were switched into their natural locations when the staging area was activated remain there as part of the new Base. This releases any disk space that was used by the staging area.

HP Stage/iX (with the help of HP Patch/iX) allows new patches to be staged and applied in a cumulative fashion. This means that if you create a new staging area while a staging area is active, the new staging area will contain all the changes between the Base and the active staging area, plus the new patches applied to the new staging area.

HP Stage/iX Task Overview

The following is a summary of the HP Stage/iX process. Refer to Appendix G "HP Stage/iX Reference" for information on the full HP Stage/iX command set and staging area handling.

  1. HP Stage/iX is automatically installed with your 6.0 version of the system software.

  2. You initialize HP Stage/iX.

  3. Use HP Patch/iX to select the patches you want to apply to your system and specify that the patches are applied to a staging area.

  4. HP Stage/iX, through HP Patch/iX:

    1. Creates a staging area.

    2. Fills the staging area with the patches, that is, the changed files from the base operating system that result from the patches.

    3. Validates the staging area.

  5. When it is convenient, activate HP Stage/iX to boot your system from the staging area with the patched changes and complete the normal system modification procedures.

    1. Use the SET command to specify the staging area.

    2. Shutdown and boot your system.

      The system boots using the files from the staging area.

    3. HP Stage/iX archives an original version of the changed files of the base operating system.

  6. If you want to reverse the patched changes, set HP Stage/iX to boot from the Base OS.

    1. Use the SET command to specify the Base.

    2. Shutdown and boot your system.

      The system boots using the files from the archive area for the Base OS.

  7. If you want to keep the patched changes, use the COMMIT command.

    HP Stage/iX deletes the staging area and removes the archived version of the original operating system files. The files are already in their natural locations because the staging area is active. The patched changes are incorporated into your base operating system.

NOTE: You can only use the EXPORT and IMPORT commands of Stage/iX for applying patches to systems that are on the identical base. Stage/iX will not verify whether or not your machines are on the same base release.



HP Patch/iX

Removal of Support for Servers and HP-IB in MPE/iX