[gpfsug-discuss] DSS-G support period

[Jonathan Buzzard]

On 05/08/2020 11:32, Simon Thompson wrote:
> 3.0 isn't supported on first gen DSS-G servers (x3650m5) so if you
> have those, you'd hope that it would continue to be supported.

Or it's now old hardware and out of support. Here I have some shinny new 
storage to sell you :-)

> 
> We're just looking to upgrade ours to 3.0 (and no, you don't need to
> upgrade xcat server to 8.0 for that).

That's what the upgrade documents I am reading say. I have open a PDF 
named DSS-G-3.0b.Upgrade_Procedure.pdf downloaded from Lenovo.

If you navigate to section 2.4 on page 10 it says

     Since xCAT is required for DSS-G deployment, the xCAT server must be
     installed and the xCAT management software configured. For existing
     xCAT servers, it is recommended to update the OS and xCAT software
     to match the current LeSI levels; see section 2.3. The software
     components needed for DSS-G deployment must then be copied and
     unpacked onto the xCAT server.

So it says to update the xCAT server OS and the xCAT server. Right lets 
see what section 2.3 on page nine says about versions. It talks about 
RHEL 8.1 and a very specific version of xCAT to be downloaded from 
Lenovo. No mention of RHEL7 whatsoever.

Consequently as I read it DSS-G 3.0 requires upgrading the xCAT server 
OS to RHEL 8.1. Or at the very least is "recommended" which in my 
experience translates to "argh sorry unsupported; click" should you need 
to raise a support call. So not upgrading is in effect not optional.

I would note that all previous upgrade documentation in the 2.x series 
that I have read has said that the xCAT server OS should be upgraded to 
match that of the OS you are about to deploy the the DSS-G servers. So 
matching the xCAT OS to the DSS-G OS is not something new.

Of course previously this was just a "yum update" so not really a big 
deal. On the other hand switching to RHEL8 is a big deal :-(


JAB.

-- 
Jonathan A. Buzzard                         Tel: +44141-5483420
HPC System Administrator, ARCHIE-WeSt.
University of Strathclyde, John Anderson Building, Glasgow. G4 0NG