Yvon -
I'd be interested to hear more about this situation you have
"Ex1: One of our clientrequired the use of a RACAL module which will not
work with NV6.02. Until we come-up with a solution for his legacy hardware
there's not much choice but to stay with the old software for at least part
of the management of the infra."
I don't know of anyone here in my group aware of what you are talking
about. I am amazed to hear that there is a hardware dependency that 6.0.1
addresses that 6.0.2 does not. Or are you saying that he has some old
software on the NetView box which isn't supported any more? I can
understand that but I don't see how that can be supported at 6.0.1 or 6.0
and not at 6.0.2, since 6.0.2 is basically just bug fixes on top of 6.0.
There was no change of announcement about what is or is not supported. Can
you elaborate? Do you have an APAR open? Are you waiting for a fix?
As far as your other points go, you can do what you like, of course, but
the official view here at Tivoli is that you are out of support once a
later maintenance level than the one you have becomes available in your
area. I hope this is not news to you. The Level 2 folks will still talk
to you, and do their best to assist you in diagnosing your problems, but
all new fixes are built on 6.0.2, so you are out of luck if you need a new
fix and it tuns out to be incompatible with 6.0.1. We couldn't build a fix
on 6.0.1 -- that level of code ceased to exist the day 6.0.2 was released
because all the build machines were committed to the new level. There is
no process in place to remove code fixes once they are made part of the
base build level. You only think you are more stable on 6.0.1. It is a
documented fact that 6.0.2 contains all the fixes that are in 6.0.1 and
many dozens more. The official view, once again, is that 6.0.2 is more
stable than 6.0.1 -- our call rate and our APAR rate have both declined
with 6.0.2 -- which is evidence that 6.0.2 is more stable.
I do accept the fact that your points are well-taken with regard to new
major Versions, such as a migration from 5.1 to 6.0, or 6.0 to 7.1, where
re-testing of your API code and such might be needed. But for maintenance
releases, which are basically just accumulations of bug fixes, that should
not be necessary. That is the sort of testing we do here. We make sure
the APIs still work when we fix stuff that impacts them. That's why the
fixes are released in an integrated level, such as 6.0.2, so that they can
all be regression tested together.
James Shanks
Level 3 Support
Tivoli NetView for UNIX and NT
Tivoli Software
IBM Software Group
Please note that my new id is jshanks@us.ibm.com
---------------------- Forwarded by James Shanks/Raleigh/IBM on 09/27/2001
12:00 PM ---------------------------
"Yvon Decelles" <yvon.decelles@sympatico.ca>@tkg.com on 09/27/2001 09:39:09
AM
Please respond to IBM NetView Discussion <nv-l@tkg.com>
Sent by: owner-nv-l@tkg.com
To: "'IBM NetView Discussion'" <nv-l@tkg.com>
cc:
Subject: RE : [NV-L] Gentle scolding
There's many reason why not to upgrade.
Ex1: One of our clientrequired the use of a RACAL module which will not
work with NV6.02. Until we come-up with a solution for his legacy hardware
there's not much choice but to stay with the old software for at least part
of the management of the infra.
Ex2: If you've heavily invested programming effort in API interfaces it can
be very time consuming to re-test everything and because of this my
experience has been that people prefer to stick with what is stable.
Ex3: New release == new bug. Often it's simpler to stick with a release
with known bug but with documented work around then to upgrade to a new
release where you don't know what you will get.
PersonalyI've always been part of the crowd that will push back upgrade
until a critical feature I need is available or until there's no more
support for the release I use. This has served me well in part life as I
can concentrate on building new solution rather then simply upgrade to have
the 'flavorof the day'.
Minor upgrade are one thing, major release upgrade quite another ? it all
depends on what is fixed, how it's fixed and if you need-it. IMO, if you
don't miss-it, you don't need-it (You know what I mean).
My .02cents (CDN on top of that!).
-----Message d'origine-----
De : owner-nv-l@tkg.com [mailto:owner-nv-l@tkg.com] De la part de Barr,
Scott
Envoyé : 27 septembre, 2001 09:04
À : IBM NetView Discussion (E-mail)
Objet : [NV-L] Gentle scolding
Folks, I know you hear this all the time but it bears repeating.
UPGRADE TO THE CURRENT VERSION!
I am interested in hearing why folks are not running v6.02. There is no
good reason that I know of to NOT upgrade. If you are on version 6 already,
the upgrade is free. (Isn't free upgrade from v5.1 also?)
The point is, you are doing yourself, your company, and your users a
disservice. You are making your life more difficult and limiting the
functionality, flexibility and resilience of your systems management
platform. To coin a phrase some vendor is using now "the network IS the
product"
Make the boss buy you a test box, get the new version shipped and get
upgraded! It doesn't hurt! You won't get a rash! The interest rate is well
below prime! Its endorsed by the ASPCA, NRA, NIH and beautiful
spokes-super-models-persons and super-star athletes everywhere! UPGRADE
UPGRADE UPGRADE!
===> This has been a public service announcement designed to save James and
Leslies sanity. Thank you.
Scott Barr
Network Systems Engineer
CSG Systems
Phone: 402-431-7939
Fax: 402-431-7413
Email: Scott_Barr@csgsystems.com
|