HP provides two levels of support for mixed-version and mixed-architecture OpenVMS Cluster systems: warranted support and migration support.

Warranted support means that HP has fully qualified two specified versions coexisting in an OpenVMS Cluster and will address all problems identified by customers using these configurations.

Migration support means that HP has qualified the versions for use together in configurations that are migrating in a staged fashion to a newer version of OpenVMS. Problem reports submitted against these configurations will be answered by HP. However, in exceptional cases, HP may request that you move to a warranted configuration as part of the solution. Migration support helps customers move to warranted OpenVMS Cluster pairs.

Warranted support combinations with OpenVMS Integrity servers Version 8.4 and OpenVMS Alpha Version 8.4 are shown in Table 5-2.

Additional warranted combinations are included in the following list. This list does not show same platform and version combinations. OpenVMS systems of the same platform and version are always warranted.

	NOTE: Only two architectures are supported in the same OpenVMS Cluster: OpenVMS Integrity servers and OpenVMS Alpha, or OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS VAX, but not OpenVMS Integrity servers and OpenVMS VAX. System disks are architecture specific and can be shared only by systems of the same architecture. An Alpha and Integrity servers system, or an Alpha and VAX system, cannot boot from the same system disk. However, cross-architecture satellite booting is supported between an Alpha and VAX system. When you configure an OpenVMS Cluster to take advantage of cross-architecture booting, make sure that at least one system from each architecture is configured with a disk that can be used for installations and upgrades. For more information, see the Guidelines for OpenVMS Cluster Configurations and HP OpenVMS Cluster Systems manuals.

Table 5-3 shows the supported migration pairings.

For information about valid upgrade paths, see Section 4.3.1.

For more information, see the OpenVMS Technical Software Support Service website at:

http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/support

In addition, see the following website for the OpenVMS Operating System Support Chart at:

http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/supportchart

Before introducing an OpenVMS Version 8.4 system into an existing OpenVMS Cluster, you might need to install certain patch kits (also known as remedial kits) on cluster members running earlier versions of OpenVMS. In a mixed-architecture cluster, you need to install an LMF patch on any OpenVMS Version 7.3-2 Alpha members. For a complete list of required patch kits, see the HP OpenVMS Version 8.4 Release Notes.

For information about supporting the Performance Data Collector base software (TDC_RT) in OpenVMS Clusters, see Section 7.9.9.5.