Upgrade timeline

Determine how much time you need for an upgrade, and learn about the different stages of an upgrade.

The following timeline describes common stages that occur during an upgrade. The timeline incorporates the entire process from when you first start planning for an upgrade until the time when you have finished preparing your target server for production. Listed next to each stage are more detailed descriptions that describe what the stage entails and what must be accomplished when you have finished the stage. In the right column of the table, you see an estimated amount of time that it takes to complete that stage. This time estimate applies to situations where there are resources dedicated to the tasks. For complex upgrades or situations where there are not dedicated resources, your upgrade might take longer.

Nearly all of the responsibilities for planning, ordering, preparing, and preinstalling are customer responsibilities. If you need assistance with these stages of the upgrade, services are available to assist you. When you have completed these stages, the authorized service provider performs the hardware upgrade at this time. Following the hardware upgrade, you are presented with the new server and its physical configuration for review.

Your unique upgrade might include some or all of the following upgrade stages.

Table 1. Upgrade stages
Stage	Stage description	Time required
Plan	Develop a detailed project plan. Focus your plan on items such as a solution, a task list, a timeline, and a project schedule. Determine the hardware, software, and the services that are required for your new server as a result of the solution that you want. You must also determine the prerequisites that are required to support your new hardware and software. Consider backup and recovery, time you can afford to be down for the upgrade, and whether or not side-by-side services will be needed.	2 weeks
Order	Analyze the detailed plan that you developed in the planning stage with your reseller or marketing representative. Consider whether your upgrade is feasible, the risk involved with your upgrade, and whether your requirements will be met. If everything appears acceptable after analyzing your detailed plan, place your order.	1 day
Preparation	Prepare your server for an upgrade. Tasks in this stage include the following: Preparing your environment and your server. This includes adding, replacing, or removing a hardware feature, activating inactive resources, and converting an expansion unit. Depending on your hardware compatibility, you might need to upgrade your software prior to changing a hardware feature or converting an expansion unit. Cleaning up your server by doing tasks such as removing failed or nonreporting resources, removing unsupported disk units and deleting device configurations. Backing up your data. Installing any hardware or software prerequisites. Ensuring that checklists are complete, including the hardware installation readiness checklist.	2 weeks
Preinstallation	Tasks in this stage include the following: Examine what you have done so far and determine whether you are now ready for the upgrade. Gather all necessary server information for the authorized service provider. Determine if you need to complete any remaining work items. After you determine that you are ready, establish a meeting with your authorized service provider. In this meeting, you can then display all pertinent information to them such as your target server configuration.	1 day
Installation	Install the software on your source server several weeks before the hardware upgrade.	1 day
Postinstallation	Tasks in this stage include the following: After you have reviewed your new server and the physical configuration, configure your target server. This includes the following: Configuring your Hardware Management Console (HMC). Migrating existing logical partition configurations. Rearranging hardware as needed for logical partitions. Setting up and changing your logical partitions. Migrate any applications and data at this time. Finish your upgrade by testing your server as detailed in your test methodology plan. Fixes and enhancements might have been released between the time that your new server was built and shipped, and when it was installed. Therefore, the first key step is to update the HMC, system firmware, and operating system code to the latest level. After you have completed the hardware resource-management tasks, label your cables and hardware resources, and then print out your configuration information for reference. You can use the configuration information for future server-management tasks, and server-maintenance tasks.	1–2 days

Common deviations

There are many reasons or situations that might change the previous timeline. The following list includes a few of the more common deviations that might affect your timeline:

Unassigned resource
If the resources are incorrectly assigned to the upgrade tasks, your upgrade can take longer. Ensure that you have the appropriate people and skills assigned to the correct upgrade tasks.
Logical partitions
The preparation and installation time increases with each logical partition on the server. With proper planning and preparation, this should not be a problem; however, servers with multiple logical partitions will require a longer timeline than servers with fewer partitions or servers with only one partition.
Unsupported I/O devices
If you do not plan for the removal or replacement of unsupported I/O devices but realize during your upgrade that you have unsupported I/O devices, you must remove those devices, and perhaps replace those devices with supported I/O devices, which increases your timeline.
Unsupported software
If your software is not properly planned, it might add several unexpected hours by forcing you to reschedule your upgrade to another time, or require that your upgrade be removed and rescheduled, which might result in additional costs. It is imperative that you understand what software is compatible with your server and hardware features. For example, if you are changing a hardware feature before upgrading your server, you might need to upgrade your software prior to making the hardware feature change depending on the requirements and compatibility of that hardware feature. If you do not need to upgrade your software during the preparation stage, you might need to during the installation stage as a requirement prior to upgrading your server.