HP Dynamic Root Disk (DRD) Release Notes - January 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
=============================================================================================================
1. Overview
2. DRD Release Information
2.1. Features for version A.1.0
2.2. Features for version A.1.1
2.3. Features for version A.2.0
2.4. Features for version A.3.0
2.5. Features for version A.3.1
2.6. Features for version A.3.2
2.7. Features for version A.3.3
3. System and Software Requirements
3.1. Required Patches and Software
3.2. Clone Features
3.3. Safe Command List
3.4. Installation and Removal of Patches and Products
3.5. Use of SD TUI/GUI
3.6. Installation Requirements
4. Known Problems and Workarounds
1. Overview
Dynamic Root Disk (DRD) is an HP-UX system administration toolset used to clone an HP-UX system image to
an inactive disk for software update, maintenance, recovery and rehosting. DRD is available for download
from Software Depot. System administrators use DRD to manage system images on HP PA-RISC and Itanium®-
based systems. DRD complements other parts of your total HP solution by reducing system downtime while
installing and updating patches and other software.
DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 September 2004 and all subsequent releases of HP-UX 11i v2. It is also
supported on HP-UX 11i v3 systems. DRD supports LVM or VxVM managed root volumes.
2. DRD Release Information
The first release of DRD, version A.1.0 was posted to the Web in January 2007. Section 2.1 describes
the features available in the initial release of DRD. Each subsequent section describes the features
added with each release of DRD. Note that all releases are cumulative, and that all releases of DRD are
compatible with previous versions of DRD, unless otherwise noted.
2.1 Features for version A.1.0
This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 with an LVM volume manager. It provides the following
functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be
viewed or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
2.2 Features for version A.1.1
This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 with an LVM volume manager. It provides the following
functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be
viewed or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• NEW! The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current
active/running system image.
• NEW! Two new options were added to the drd activate command. "-x alternate_bootdisk" sets
the alternate boot disk to the disk specified. "-x HA_alternate_bootdisk" sets the High
Availability alternate boot disk to the disk specified.
2.3 Features for version A.2.0
This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM volume manager.
It provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running
system, apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the
running system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as
swinstall, swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can
be viewed or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the
running system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current
active/running system image.
• Two new options were added to the drd activate command. "-x alternate_bootdisk" sets the
alternate boot disk to the disk specified. "-x HA_alternate_bootdisk" sets the High
Availability alternate boot disk to the disk specified.
• NEW! This release of DRD adds support for HP-UX 11i v3. For HP-UX 11i v2, only
patch installation is supported. Since most HP-UX 11i v3 products are DRD safe, products as
well as patches can be installed using this release of DRD. DRD support for HP-UX 11i v3
was first added in September 2007.
2.4 Features for version A.3.0
This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM or a VxVM volume
manager. It provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running
system, apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the
running system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as
swinstall, swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can
be viewed or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the
running system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current
active/running system image.
• Two new options were added to the drd activate command. "-x alternate_bootdisk" sets the
alternate boot disk to the disk specified. "-x HA_alternate_bootdisk" sets the High
Availability alternate boot disk to the disk specified.
• This release of DRD adds support for HP-UX 11i v3. For HP-UX 11i v2, only patch installation
is supported. Since most HP-UX 11i v3 products are DRD safe, products as well as patches can
be installed using this release of DRD. DRD support for HP-UX 11i v3 was first added in
September 2007.
• NEW! Support for VxVM 4.1 root volumes.
• NEW! Support for root volume groups with any name (previously, the root volume group
had to be vg00).
2.5 Features for version A.3.1
This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM or a VxVM volume
manager. It provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running
system, apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the
running system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as
swinstall, swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can
be viewed or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the
running system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current
active/running system image.
• Two new options were added to the drd activate command. "-x alternate_bootdisk"” sets the
alternate boot disk to the disk specified. "-x HA_alternate_bootdisk" sets the High
Availability alternate boot disk to the disk specified.
• This release of DRD adds support for HP-UX 11i v3. For HP-UX 11i v2, only patch installation
is supported. Since most HP-UX 11i v3 products are DRD safe, products as well as patches
can be installed using this release of DRD. DRD support for HP-UX 11i v3 was first added in
September 2007.
• Support for VxVM 4.1 root volumes.
• Support for root volume groups with any name (previously, the root volume group had to be vg00).
• NEW! Support for VxVM 5.0 root volumes on HP-UX 11i v2 (note that VxVM 5.0 has not
yet been released for HP-UX 11i v3.)
• NEW! Introduction of the drd status command, which allows the user to easily view clone
information on the system. The command specifies the following: which disk the clone resides on;
when the clone was created; the location of the clone's mirror (if one exists); and the original
disk that was copied to create the clone. It also specifies the state of the boot partition on
the clone, mirror, and original disks, as well as which disk is booted and which is activated
(the disk that will be booted from on the next reboot).
2.6 Features for versions A.3.2
This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM or a VxVM volume
manager. It provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running
system, apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system. On 11i v3,
products as well as patches can be installed and managed.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the
running system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as
swinstall, swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can
be viewed or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the
running system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current
active/running system image.
• A rich set of commands for activating and deactivating the inactive system image. This
determines what volume will be used as the root on the next system boot. This includes
options to set the alternate boot disk and the High Availability alternate boot disk.
• Support for LVM 1.0, VxVM 4.1, and VxVM 5.0 root volumes. These root volumes can have any
name (not just vg00).
• The drd status command. This allows the user to easily view clone information on the system.
The command specifies the following: which disk the clone resides on; when the clone was
created; the location of the clone's mirror (if one exists); and the original disk that was
copied to create the clone. It also specifies the state of the boot partition on the clone,
mirror, and original disks, as well as which disk is booted and which is activated (the disk
that will be booted from on the next reboot).
• NEW! Rehost the clone to another system. This feature allows users to create a clone,
which can optionally be modified, then boot that clone on another system. Rehosting can be used
to quickly and efficiently provision new systems, and to simplify the setup of test systems.
At initial release rehosting is supported on HP-UX 11i v3 Integrity systems with LVM roots,
for rehosting from a blade to another blade or a VM to another VM.
2.7 Features for versions A.3.3
This release of DRD is supported on HP-UX 11i v2 and HP-UX 11i v3 with an LVM or a VxVM volume
manager. It provides the following functionality:
• Hot maintenance capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone of the running system,
apply patches to the clone, and boot the clone as the running system. On 11i v3, products as
well as patches can be installed and managed.
• Hot recovery capability. The DRD tools can be used to create a clone and boot it if the running
system fails.
• SD command support. The DRD tools provide a mechanism for running SD commands such as swinstall,
swremove, swverify, swmodify, swlist, and swjob on the clone.
• Clone accessibility. The clone can be mounted on the running system so that its files can be
viewed or modified.
• Mirror compatibility. The DRD operation will not affect any mirror already created on the running
system. DRD can be used to create a mirror of the clone during the cloning operation.
• Command line interface. The DRD tools are run from the command line.
• The drd deactivate command was added. This restores primary boot path to the current active/running
system image.
• A rich set of commands for activating and deactivating the inactive system image. This determines
what volume will be used as the root on the next system boot. This includes options to set the
alternate boot disk and the High Availability alternate boot disk.
• Support for LVM 1.0, VxVM 4.1, and VxVM 5.0 root volumes. These root volumes can have any name
(not just vg00).
• The drd status command. This allows the user to easily view clone information on the system.
The command specifies the following: which disk the clone resides on; when the clone was created;
the location of the clone's mirror (if one exists); and the original disk that was copied to create
the clone. It also specifies the state of the boot partition on the clone, mirror, and original
disks, as well as which disk is booted and which is activated (the disk that will be booted from
on the next reboot).
• Rehost the clone to another system. This feature allows users to create a clone, which can
optionally be modified, then boot that clone on another system. Rehosting can be used to quickly
and efficiently provision new systems, and to simplify the setup of test systems. Rehosting is
supported on HP-UX 11i v3 and v2 Integrity systems with LVM roots, for rehosting from a blade to
another blade or a VM to another VM.
• NEW! At this release rehosting support for HP-UX 11i v2 systems has been added.
• NEW! This version of DRD introduces the ability to perform an OE update from an older
version of 11i v3 (initial release, update 1, update 2, or update 3) to HP-UX 11i v3 update 4.
You are able now to update your OE level on the clone while your original system remains up and
running. Once the update on the clone is done, you can boot the clone and keep your original image
as backup.
3. System and Software Requirements
3.1 Required Patches and Software
In order to install and run, DRD requires the following:
• Judy-lib (Judy data structure library) version B.11.11.04.13 or greater
• HP-UX 11i v2:
• One of the following releases of SW-DIST (Software Distributor)
• PHCO_38149 or superseding patch
• Product version B.11.23.0803.318 or greater
• HP-UX 11i v3: SW-DIST (Software Distributor) version B.11.31.0709 or greater
When installing DRD from an OE or AR or from Software Depot, these dependencies are also installed
if your system does not already have them, which means that no special action is required on your part.
DRD has patch requirements in addition to those listed above. For up-to-date information on which
patches are required and how to acquire them along with their dependencies, please see the
DRD Downloads & Patches Web page at http://docs.hp.com/en/DRD/patch.html.
3.2 Clone Features
The DRD clone command supports the following configurations:
• Clone target must be a single physical disk (with optional second disk for mirroring) or SAN LUN.
If an LVM root volume is spread across multiple disks, it can still be cloned, but the clone will
be on a single physical disk. A VxVM root disk group may reside on several disks, but each disk
must be an exact mirror of every other disk. The clone of a VxVM root disk group will reside on
a single physical disk.
• Root volume must be LVM (DRD versions A.1.0, A.1.1 and A.2.0); root volume can be LVM or VxVM
(DRD versions A.3.0 or later.)
• Prior to DRD version A.3.0, the root volume name must be vg00; the drd clone command will only
clone the contents of vg00, regardless of other volume groups that exist (DRD versions A.1.0, A.1.1,
and A.2.0). The root volume group may have any name when using DRD version A.3.0 or later.
3.3 Safe Command List
The drd runcmd command is used to run safe commands on the clone. The safe commands listed below
apply to all DRD releases, unless otherwise noted:
• swinstall
• swremove
• swverify
• swmodify
• swlist
• swjob*
• view
• kctune (version A.1.1 and later)
*The swjob command can be used to view SD logfiles on the clone. It cannot be used to schedule
jobs for later execution on the clone.
3.4 Installation and Removal of Patches and Products
The drd runcmd command can be used in conjunction with swinstall and swremove to install or remove
patches. Use of drd runcmd to install or remove a non-patch product requires that all its filesets
be marked DRD-safe. You can determine whether a fileset has been marked DRD-safe with the following
command:
/usr/sbin/swlist –l fileset –a is_drd_safe –s <depot_name> <product_name>
Each fileset will be displayed with "true", "false", or blank. Filesets marked DRD-safe will display
"true". Filesets marked DRD-unsafe display "false". Filesets that display neither (blank) are
treated as DRD-unsafe.
3.5 Use of SD TUI/GUI
When using the SD TUI/GUI with drd runcmd, you may see messages about building a kernel or rebooting
the system. These messages are not accurate; under no circumstances will using SD under drd runcmd
lead to a reboot, nor will SD under drd runcmd lead to a kernel build on the running system.
3.6 Installation Requirements
DRD is dependent on other patches and software – refer to 3.1 Required Patches and Software
above for more information.
4. Known Problems and Workarounds
Known problems and workarounds for each release, if any, are described on the DRD Information Library
Web page at http://docs.hp.com/en/DRD/infolib.html.