Upgrade in parallel with an existing cluster

A parallel upgrade allows a cluster administrator to install IBM® Spectrum Symphony alongside an existing cluster, manually copying configuration and working files, and switching over to the cluster running the latest version. The process involves various manual steps and requires additional infrastructure (such as hosts and scripts), but unlike a rolling upgrade, it allows your original cluster to coexist with the new cluster during the upgrade. After the upgrade, you can switch all workload to the new cluster and remove the original cluster.

Supported parallel upgrade scenarios

You can parallel upgrade from any previous version of the product to another version, of the same supported operating system. With a parallel upgrade, you can upgrade directly to a later product version, without having to upgrade to each sequential version (for example, you can upgrade from Platform Symphony 7.1 to IBM Spectrum Symphony 7.3.2, without having to upgrade to Platform Symphony 7.1.1 first). For details on the operating systems for IBM Spectrum Symphony, see Supported operating systems.

You can also upgrade from the same edition of the product (for example, you can upgrade from Platform Symphony 7.1 Advanced Edition to IBM Spectrum Symphony 7.3.2 Advanced Edition). Note that as of IBM Spectrum Symphony 7.2, the product is available in Standard and Advanced editions; the Express edition is no longer offered. If you are using Express edition, first upgrade your product to Standard or Advanced edition and then parallel upgrade the product version to IBM Spectrum Symphony 7.3.2. For details on upgrading your edition, see Upgrading your IBM Spectrum Symphony edition.

Obtain the latest IBM Spectrum Symphony files

To upgrade IBM Spectrum Symphony, you require the appropriate files for the new version. Determine the files you need for installing the new version of IBM Spectrum Symphony on all existing management hosts and compute hosts by considering the following types of files:
  • Installation packages: obtain the packages that match the operating system of your hosts.
  • Fixes: if there are any fixes applicable to your installation, obtain the appropriate files for each operating system and install the fixes after you install the full packages.
  • Database schema and update scripts: obtain the appropriate database schema and update scripts for your supported external database for collecting reporting data.

    There are separate scripts to update EGO and IBM Spectrum Symphony components.

Contact your IBM sales representative to obtain all the appropriate packages.