Procedure for Operating System upgrade on systems running Shareplex. (4330735)

When upgrading the Operating System, Shareplex may or may not need to be upgraded or updated.  This solution delves on the steps needed from Shareplex perspective when upgrading the Operating System, with or without a consequent upgrade/update of Shareplex.

General information.
 

There are two common scenarios:

A. Upgrading the Operating System but keeping the Shareplex version same:

1. Make sure that Shareplex is compatible with the new OS and Oracle combination. Refer to the Release Notes if necessary to check this.

2. IMPORTANT: Even though Shareplex is not being upgraded, it may still be necessary to update (reinstall) Shareplex binaries. This is because for the same Shareplex version the binaries may sometimes differ from one OS version to another. Again, the Release Notes (or the download section of Supportlink) will provide this information. If the binaries do change, then download the applicable Shareplex software file from Supportlink be sure to pick the one that corresponds to the new OS version.

3. If there is no change in Shareplex binaries between the current and new version of OS, then the steps involved are simple, namely, shutdown Shareplex, upgrade the OS, in versions 5.3 and below make sure that the links in the /var/adm/.splex/V-<shareplex_version>/lib<oracle_version>/lib are still valid, relink them if not.  There is no such need to do this relinking in Shareplex 6.0 or up. Then restart Shareplex.

4. If the Shareplex binaries do change, then Shareplex must be updated.  Shutdown Shareplex, upgrade the OS, set  the appropriate values for the environment variables SP_SYS_VARDIR, SP_COP_TPORT, SP_COP_UPORT, ORACLE_HOME,  ORACLE_SID, etc, and update Shareplex. (I.e. reinstall shareplex binaries that were compiled specifically for the new version of the OS).  Refer to the Release Notes for that version of Shareplex for the exact steps involved. Then start Shareplex.

B. Upgrading the Operating System as well as Shareplex:

1. Make sure that Shareplex is compatible with the new OS and Oracle combination. Refer to the Release Notes if necessary to check this.

2. Make sure that to have the license keys for new Shareplex version, and if not, get them from Sales or Support as applicable.

3. Shutdown Shareplex, upgrade the OS, set the appropriate values for the environment variables SP_SYS_VARDIR, SP_COP_TPORT, SP_COP_UPORT, ORACLE_HOME,  ORACLE_SID, etc, and upgrade Shareplex. Refer to the Release Notes for that version of Shareplex for the exact steps involved. Then start Shareplex.

If Oracle was also being upgraded as a part of this maintenance exercise, then there is another dimension added to this procedure. Please refer to the Admin Guide Chapter titled "Performing Administrative Operations" section titled "Upgrading Oracle on systems running Shareplex" and modify the steps accordingly.