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 PowerPatch and/or 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 |
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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 |
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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.
HP Stage/iX is
automatically installed with your 6.0 version of the system software.
You initialize HP Stage/iX.
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.
HP Stage/iX, through HP Patch/iX:
Creates a
staging area.
Fills the staging area with the patches, that is,
the changed files from the base operating system that result from
the patches.
Validates the staging area.
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.
Use the SET
command to specify the staging area.
Shutdown and boot your system.
The system boots using the files from the staging area.
HP Stage/iX archives an original version of the
changed files of the base operating system.
If you want to reverse the patched changes, set
HP Stage/iX to boot from the Base OS.
Use the SET
command to specify the Base.
Shutdown and boot your system.
The system boots using the files from the archive area for
the Base OS.
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.
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 | 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. |
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