Ensuring You Have a Recent FEEDBACK.DAT File

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HP OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.3-2 Upgrade and Installation...

Before Upgrading the OpenVMS Alpha Operating System

Preparing the System Disk

Backing Up the System Disk

Ensuring You Have a Recent FEEDBACK.DAT File

Before upgrading your system, HP recommends that you have a recent AGEN$FEEDBACK.DAT file. This file is in SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE] (that is, in [SYSx.SYSEXE], where x is the root; for example, SYS0 or SYS1). In OpenVMS Cluster systems, this file should exist in each node's SYS$SPECIFIC directory. When the system (or each system in a cluster) is rebooted after the upgrade, AUTOGEN is run. If a recent AGEN$FEEDBACK.DAT file is available, it is used. The data in this file helps AUTOGEN set system parameters for your specific applications and work load.

If you do not have a current AGEN$FEEDBACK.DAT file, AUTOGEN might calculate system parameters that do not reflect your system's requirements. In that case, it can take multiple cycles of running AUTOGEN and rebooting before all layered products can be started. In some cases, successful startup can require additional entries in MODPARAMS.DAT. This should not be necessary when a current AGEN$FEEDBACK.DAT file is available.

Create a current AGEN$FEEDBACK.DAT during a time when your system is running under a typical work load. To ensure the greatest data reliability, the system should be running for more than 24 hours, and the feedback information should be less than 30 days old. When these conditions exist, enter the following command:

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:AGEN$FEEDBACK.EXE

This runs very quickly and should not affect the performance of your system while it executes.

You can also specify the SAVE_FEEDBACK option when you execute SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN.COM. However, the data captured might not fully reflect the typical work load on your system.

If you invoke AUTOGEN without specifying the execution-mode parameter (FEEDBACK, NOFEEDBACK, or CHECK_FEEDBACK), AUTOGEN uses the feedback information in its calculations, but if the feedback information reflects system uptime of less than 24 hours, or if the feedback information is more than 30 days old, AUTOGEN terminates execution. AUTOGEN does not set the parameter settings: this helps prevent you from setting inexpedient values. If you reboot the system, you will see the values are unchanged.

If you specify CHECK_FEEDBACK, and AUTOGEN determines the feedback is suspect, then AUTOGEN ignores the feedback when computing parameter values. It sets the parameter values if you specify the final execution phase as SETPARAMS, SHUTDOWN, or REBOOT. If you wrongly assumed the feedback was valid, the parameter settings might vary significantly from your expectations.

Preparing the System Disk

Backing Up the System Disk