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When porting from Alpha to Itanium or migrating to HP-UX, big or small, BRUDEN does it all.
When your I.T. reality forces a paradigm shift in your systems environment, for example, migrating from Tru64 to HP-UX, consider using BRUDEN as the backbone of your migration team.
We have performed migrations and ports between many O.S. environments and involving all layers of the software and hardware stack. When porting from Alpha to Itanium or migrating to HP-UX, big or small, BRUDEN does it all.
BRUDEN has engineers with in-depth experience in OpenVMS, HP-UX, Tru64 UNIX (TruCluster Server), and Linux. We have also worked with AIX and Solaris based applications.
This experience allows BRUDEN to provide many levels of migration and porting services (for example, our engineers were involved in the team that implemented the OpenVMS port from Alpha to Integrity Server).
Porting or migrating applications from one platform/system to another can be a complex and intensive operation. This process must be implemented through an integrated approach, with the understanding that your business must typically run in an uninterrupted 24x7 environment. Our number one goal is to complete the porting process and integrate your system in the new platform in a method that minimizes down time. With this in mind, BRUDEN provides wide range of solutions from an application port to system migration to full project management and integration.
This type of support would include complete project management from one operating system to another.
The support includes:
BRUDEN engineers will arrive on-site and work with the customer on issues surrounding planning, re-compilation of code, and porting code to the new platform. This service includes an engineer on-site for one week, or less. It is common that the majority of the port is complete after the one week period.
This support would extend beyond the initial port and would include porting, tuning, and testing/qualification support. This type of project may run from one month to several months, depending on the complexity of the application.
This support includes re-compiling, re-coding (where necessary), and building applications for Integrity Server platforms.
Once a customer has completed migration to a new platform, the work is not done. The system administration and programming staff will need to be brought up-to-date on the new platform. BRUDEN can customize training to meet the needs of staff on the new platform.
Tru64 to HP-UX
The original platform was a pair of GS1280 (Alpha) systems (64 CPU) running Tru64 UNIX 5.1B and forming a two-node TruCluster Server arrangement. The Oracle 9i DB was not in a RAC arrangement on the cluster. There was a 'primary' instance of the DB on one node, and a 'standby' (Dataguard) instance on the other node.
We helped move the DB from Tru64 UNIX to HP-UX 11iv2 (11.23). The HW platform was moved from Alpha to HP Superdome SD64 (Itanium 2 Montecito based Superdome systems - 52 CPU - 104 Core each). The systems were partitioned into two partitions each (96 cores and 8 cores) - essentially enabling the formation of a 4 node cluster.
We set up the 4 node Serviceguard cluster including the SGSMS bundle 7 (Serviceguard Storage Management Suite - T2797BA - which provides for a Cluster File System and a Cluster Volume Manager) so that the result was as close to Tru64 as possible. The two larger nodes in the cluster were able to run the primary database, and the two smaller nodes were able to run the Dataguard instance from which backups and other maintenance would run. The DB was hovering around 14TB, and the customer wanted minimal downtime during the cutover.
Several HP specific tools were used for the migration, along with Goldengate for data replication during the cutover, which enabled the new database to be "caught up" very quickly after the cutover.
Sandvik Coromant
Sandvik Coromant (the world's leading manufacturer of cutting tools for the metalworking industry) became the first customer in Sweden to run Oracle 10gR2 RAC on top of an OpenVMS cluster running OpenVMS V8.3-1H1.
BRUDEN performed a successful RAC installation at Sandvik. Although several problems were encountered, the BRUDEN staff worked diligently to complete the task in 3 days. At the end of the installation, 3 databases were created with full fail-over capabilities between all nodes. The cluster will go into production within a couple of months.
IMS MAXIMS
Most OpenVMS ports from Alpha to Itanium are relatively quick and simple, with few modifications to the original code. One area in which ports can require additional expertise shows up when code has an intimate dependence on the OpenVMS calling standard.
IMS MAXIMS has a Hospital Administration system which was originally developed in Cobol and designed to run on OpenVMS. Most of the application ported from the Alpha to the Intel Itanium platform without problems and with no changes to the original code.
However, some of the system is developed using Object-Oriented Cobol and this code depends upon a small set of macro routines which make use of the OpenVMS calling standard. This macro code, originally written for the VAX and ported to Alpha macro, needed to be re-developed for the Intel Itanium platform.
IMS contacted BRUDEN about porting these macro routines. The code was analyzed and ported to Itanium assembler by BRUDEN staff in about 5 weeks time. The code was written on the BRUDEN lab systems in the U.S. and supplied to IMS in Dublin, Ireland for testing. BRUDEN staff worked closely with the IMS staff to complete the testing and debugging phases for the code. This effort was highly dependent on the cooperative effort between IMS and BRUDEN staff.
With the port complete, a major obstacle in allowing IMS customers to move from Alpha to IA64 platforms was removed, allowing the product to remain alive and vibrant through the next generation of OpenVMS hardware.
This effort illustrates that BRUDEN can help companies complete the move from Alpha to Itanium at a variety of levels, from basic ports to the internals of the system architecture.
ThyssenKrupp
BRUDEN was brought in by an HP partner to assist ThyssenKrupp Steel with a port from Alpha to Integrity Server systems. The initial expectation was that a proof-of-concept be performed on the port. By the end of the one week engagement, the port had been completed to Integrity Server.
FMS Port
HP had a critical sale of Integrity Server systems blocked because a local variant of FMS had not been ported to Itanium. HP engaged BRUDEN to perform the port. The entire application port was completed within a week's time.
Oracle 10gR2 RAC Port
BRUDEN and PDV-SYSTEM Nord GmbH teamed up recently to install and configure Oracle 10gR2 RAC on a two-node OpenVMS Integrity Server cluster for a large financial institution in EMEA. The hardware configuration for this proof-of-concept was provided by PDV-SYSTEME.
The proof-of-concept installation configured the Cluster Ready Service and created a RAC database, shared by both nodes. Several failover tests were instituted to validate transparent and uninterrupted migration of the database service to an alternate node.
The previous configuration included GS80s running Oracle 9i. The proof of concept will allow the customer to order new Integrity Server systems and migrate the existing database to state-of-the-art hardware.
These efforts resulted in the sale of four Integrity Server Blade systems.
Custom Training
A major Swedish company had purchased 10s of rx2620 Integrity Servers and was in need of training for system administration and programming staff. BRUDEN developed and delivered custom training to meet their needs.
One of the customers that BRUDEN has worked with in recent months is the CSP plant of ThyssenKrupp Steel. The CSP plant is where thin slabs are cast with a thickness below 63 mm and rolled to high quality hot strip material with a thickness between 1 and 9 mm. The production of hot strip material exceeds around 2 million tons a year. The organization is divided into 4 divisions: production in the casting section, production in the rolling section, quality and process optimization, and maintenance.
Dr. Matthias Schick, part of the team that worked with BRUDEN states that he works in the maintenance division.
"With 3 colleagues, we are responsible for maintaining the level 2 systems and developing the technology models, which are essential to enable the production of our products."
The operating system on the level 2 systems is OpenVMS 7.1.
Dr. Matthias Schick tells us that:
"Since we have 6 level 2 systems which we need to migrate, I am sure that we will hire BRUDEN again. We are very satisfied."
Greg McVicker works for a major computer OEM in the service delivery program.
"BRUDEN has been there for us in providing operational support, documentation generation, training support and consulting support on critical infrastructure projects that have fundamentally moved our IT solutions forward. BRUDEN has been a key partner in ensuring that our staff is well-positioned to always provide the highest level of support to our end-user customers. Their years of experience in the industry, and the specific knowledge they bring to bear in infrastructure design, system administration, testing and troubleshooting of undefined problems add tremendous value to their delivery."
Kieran Quigley, the Product Manager for IMS Patient Admin Systems, was the IMS focal contact for the port and offered the following commentary on the BRUDEN services:
"BRUDEN worked on porting some essential Alpha Macro components of the IMS Hospital Admin Systems from OpenVMS Alpha to the Intel Itanium platform. We found that the depth of knowledge and experience and professionalism which BRUDEN brought to the project to have been an essential element in the overall success of the project."
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