The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Revisions may be issued to advise of such changes and/or additions.

Transcription

1 UNISYS

2 NO WARRANTIES OF ANY NATURE ARE EXTENDED BY THIS DOCUMENT. Any product or related information described herein is only furnished pursuant and subject to the terms and conditions of a duly executed agreement to purchase or lease equipment or to license software. The only warranties made by Unisys, if any, with respect to the products described in this document are set forth in such agreement. Unisys cannot accept any financial or other responsibility that may be the result of your use of the information in this document or software material, including direct, special, or consequential damages. You should be very careful to ensure that the use of this information and/or software material complies with the laws, rules, and regulations of the jurisdictions with respect to which it is used. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Revisions may be issued to advise of such changes and/or additions. Notice to U.S. Government End Users: This is commercial computer software or hardware documentation developed at private expense. Use, reproduction, or disclosure by the Government is subject to the terms of Unisys standard commercial license for the products, and where applicable, the restricted/limited rights provisions of the contract data rights clauses. Unisys and ClearPath are registered trademarks of Unisys Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other brands and products referenced in this document are acknowledged to be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

3 Contents Section 1 General Description... 1 Sources of Documentation... 1 Components... 2 Connections... 3 Section 2 Product Features... 5 Performance... 5 Availability... 5 Resiliency... 6 Extensibility... 6 Release Section 3 Product Interdependencies... 7 Hardware Requirements... 7 Software Requirements... 7 Section 4 Migration... 9 Section 5 Limitations and Considerations Limitations Considerations Section 6 Support Section 7 Ordering Procedure iii

4 Software Release Announcement iv

5 Section 1 General Description Extended Processing Complex-Locking (XPC-L) provides an external lock engine that is used to coordinate access to files and databases that are simultaneously accessed from multiple hosts. The XPC-L system is a central electronics complex (CEC) component that is optionally connected to a ClearPath OS 2200 Server. Some documentation refers to OS 2200 Servers with an XPC-L attached as OS 2200 XP systems. An XPC-L system uses a ClearPath platform to provide the following categories of functions: External locking manager Operating system interhost messaging Shared unit duplexing synchronization OS 2200, which runs on ClearPath OS 2200 Servers, contains optional feature code to use the functions of XPC-L. XPC-L is required by the Multi-Host File Sharing (MHFS) feature and the Extended Transaction Capacity ( software feature grouping that is built on the MHFS feature. Sources of Documentation Unisys Product Support Website All technical documentation is now available on the Unisys Product Support website. To access documentation on the Unisys Product Support website, do as follows: 1. Access 2. If requested, enter your user credentials. 3. Under ClearPath OS 2200 Servers and Software, OS 2200 Mainframes, select the Dorado system type connected to your XPC-L. 4. Click the Documentation link near the center of the page. 5. Click the release that you are interested in. 6. Use the search functionality or navigate through the document categories to access the information that you want

6 Software Release Announcement Documentation Updates This document contains all the information that was available at the time of publication. Changes identified after release of this document are included in problem list entry (PLE) To obtain a copy of the PLE, contact your Unisys representative or access the current PLE from the Unisys Product Support website: Note: If you are not logged into the Product Support site, you will be asked to do so. Components An XPC-L system consists of four types of platforms: OS 2200 hosts, XPC-L Servers, XPC-L Control Workstations and Operations Servers. OS 2200 hosts are ClearPath OS 2200 Servers. The OS 2200 host platforms run OS 2200 software with the XPCEXEC feature. The XPCEXEC feature is a separately-installed package that must be ordered along with the XPC-L hardware. The following software components can use XPC-L: Multi-Host File Sharing (MHFS) Extended Transaction Capacity (XTC) XPC-L Servers are Intel-based ClearPath OS 2200 Server platforms. Redundancy is provided by using a second server and connecting it to the first. XPC-L Server platforms run Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition and the XPC-L Server Software. XPC-L Control Workstations are Intel-based computers. XPC-L Control is the primary operator interface to the XPC-L. Redundancy is provided by using a second workstation and networking both to the XPC-L Servers with redundant LANs. XPC-L Control Workstation platforms run Microsoft Windows 7 Professional and the XPC-L Control software. Operations Servers are Intel-based servers used to provide monitoring of the XPC-L Server platform and to provide Call Home functionality for XPC-L Server related events

7 Software Release Announcement Connections Each host connects to the primary and secondary XPC-L Servers through a virtual interface (VI) channel. The VI channel consists of a pair of PCI cards connected by a fiber-optic cable. One PCI card resides in an XPC-L Server and the other in an OS 2200 Host IOP (I/O Processor). The OS 2200 Host IOP with a VI channel PCI card installed is called an XIOP. The primary and secondary XPC-L Servers connect to each other using VI channels. The main and backup XPC-L Control Workstations connect to each other through a private Ethernet network. The primary and secondary XPC-L Servers also connect to this private Ethernet network for communication with the XPC-L Control Workstations

8 Software Release Announcement

9 Section 2 Product Features XPC-L Release 3.3 is a firmware release that runs on the XPC-L-3 and XPC-L-3A hardware platforms. From a system component perspective, the XPC-L-3A hardware platform replaces the XPC-L-3, XPC-L-2, XPC-L-1, and XPC platforms. The XPC-L-1 and XPC platforms are no longer supported. From a functional perspective, all XPC-L releases replace the locking function of XPC with a faster, more robust, and higher volume lock manager. XPC-L Release 3.3 is designed to be functionally compatible with predecessor releases running on external locking engines: XPC-L-3, XPC-L-2, XPC-L-1, XPC, and RLP. From a programming perspective, it is functionally equivalent to the predecessor systems. There is no need for programs, associated run streams, or Exec Control Language statements to be modified in any way with the introduction of the XPC-L Release 3.3. Performance The performance of the XPC-L can be expressed in the following two ways: The volume of operations that can be performed The time it takes to process a single operation The performance of the XPC-L system is dependent on a few factors, including the host type and host connection included in the environment and the data model used by the OS 2200 host application. The performance of XPC-L-3A is equivalent to XPC-L-3 when measured in an identical configuration. Availability The XPC-L architecture allows for all XPC-L related components to be redundant. This includes the XPC-L Servers, XPC-L Control Workstations, Operations Servers, and all host-to-server or server-to-server connections. As a result, XPC-L allows for scheduled updates, maintenance, and repairs without requiring the hosts supported by an XPC-L to be down

10 Software Release Announcement Resiliency Resiliency generally refers to the ability of a system to survive the occurrence of a fault. XPC-L implementation takes advantage of full redundancy across all XPC-L components by automatically switching the processing of lock operations to the slave if the master fails catastrophically. The connected OS 2200 systems continue to run during the switch. Extensibility The locking functions of the XPC-L are implemented as a service running under Microsoft Windows and executing on an Intel platform. This implementation approach allows XPC-L to easily take advantage of improvements to the hardware platform used for the servers and improvements to the operating system running under the XPC-L Server service. This allows Unisys to provide timely XPC-L updates that take advantage of Wintel enhancements that are of benefit to XPC-L. Release 3.3 XPC-L Release 3.3 Increases the maximum number of OS 2200 hosts that can be connected to an XPC-L from four to six Enhances XPC-L Control to allow configuring of six hosts with redundant connections Enhances the XPC-L Control configuration map to display up to six hosts Enhances XPC-L Server service to manage four additional host connections and four additional crossover connections Includes fixes and updates identified since XPC-L Release 3.2 This release supports the XPC-L-3 and the XPC-L-3A hardware platforms

11 Section 3 Product Interdependencies Hardware Requirements The XPC-L-3A Server is a specially configured ClearPath OS 2200 Server that must be ordered using the XPC-L-3A package styles. The XPC-L-3A Server runs on the ClearPath Dorado 4100 Server platform. It is housed in a freestanding cabinet. It must be dedicated to running the XPC-L Server service. The XPC-L-3A Control Workstation is a personal computer that has been qualified with the XPC-L-3A Server and is included with the XPC-L-3A Server when it is ordered. XPC-L-3A Control Workstations and XPC-L-3A Servers are interconnected using a private Ethernet LAN. The components of the LAN are included with the XPC-L-3A Server when it is ordered. The XPC-L-3A LAN must not be connected to the LAN at the customer s facility. Dorado 300, 700, 800, 4000, 4100, and 4200 Series servers running as OS 2200 hosts can be attached to an XPC-L-3 or XPC-L-3A Server. An OS 2200 host based on a Dorado 400 Series server does not support the attachment of an XPC-L Server. The Operations Server is the standard OS 2200 Operations Server. Software Requirements The functions of the XPC-L are provided by the XPC-L Server service running on the XPC-L Server. The XPC-L software is released as a standalone firmware release. This release of the XPC-L firmware is designated as XPC-L Firmware Release 3.3. Earlier XPC-L Server platforms ran the same platform firmware (plateau) as OS 2200 servers. The XPC-L-3A Server platform is based on a Dorado 4100 Series server, but it does not use the Dorado 4100 firmware. The necessary XPC-L-3A firmware is included with XPC-L Release 3.3. The operating system supporting the execution of the XPC-L-3A service on the XPC-L Server is Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition. The operating system supporting the execution of XPC-L Control Workstation Firmware is Microsoft Windows 7. ClearPath OS 2200 Release 14.0 or later is required to support XPC-L on Dorado Series systems. The separately ordered Exec feature, XPCEXEC, is also required

12 Software Release Announcement Each server in the Dorado Series hosting OS 2200 must use its corresponding firmware listed in the table below. Server Category Dorado 4200 Series Dorado 4100 Series Dorado 4000 Series Dorado 800 Series Dorado 700 Series Dorado 300 Series Firmware Level Dorado or later Dorado or later Dorado or later Dorado or later Dorado or later Dorado or later Note: An OS 2200 host based on a Dorado 400 Series server does not support the attachment of an XPC-L Server. PLE identifies any critical Exec or OS 2200 software changes related to XPC-L that became available after these releases

13 Section 4 Migration The following are considerations for moving a production environment from XPC-L-2, XPC-L-1 or XPC to XPC-L-3 or XPC-L-3A. XPC-L-3A is the fourth hardware platform used to provide the XPC function. The following is a summary of all hardware platforms. XPC XPC was a unique hardware platform that provided system-level file caching and hardware follow-on to the Record Lock Processor (RLP). Support for XPC terminated in XPC-L XPC-L (also referred as XPC-L-1) was based on the ClearPath Dorado 200 platform and provided hardware follow-on for the lock capability of XPC. The system-level file caching function was discontinued. XPC-L-1 was initially supported by XPC-L Release 1.0 and subsequently by XPC-L Release 2.0. Support for XPC-L-1 terminated in XPC-L-2 XPC-L-2 was based on the ClearPath Dorado 300 platform and provided hardware follow-on for XPC-L-1. It was initially supported by XPC-L Release 2.0. XPC-L-3 XPC-L-3 is based on the ClearPath Dorado 4100 platform and provides hardware follow-on for XPC-L-2. XPC-L-3A is the same hardware platform as XPC-L-3. The "A" was added to indicate that the XPC-L system now uses dual port PCI cards for some of the host-to-server and server-to-server connections. Migration from XPC-L-3 to XPC-L-3A is necessary only if a fifth or sixth host is connected to the XPC-L. Supported Platforms XPC-L Release 3.3 supports only the XPC-L-3 and XPC-L-3A hardware platforms. It cannot be installed on the XPC-L-2 or XPC-L-1 hardware platforms. XPC-L 3.x releases require a PCI card different from the one used in the OS 2200 Host IOP by previous XPC-L hardware platforms. The IOP can continue to be used after a new firmware level is loaded and the new PCI card is installed

14 Software Release Announcement OS 2200 does not support simultaneous configuration and use of XPC-L-3 or XPC-L-3A with earlier generation hardware platforms. But, from a hardware perspective, XPC-L-3 or XPC-L-3A and an earlier generation hardware platform such as XPC-L-1 or XPC can both be connected to an OS 2200 host. This allows for migration preparation and for moving to and from an XPC-L-3 or XPC-L-3A in a test environment. From an operating system perspective, only one type of XPC-L can be configured and used at the same time. Migration to XPC-L-3 or XPC-L-3A requires at least one outage of the entire OS 2200 multi-host environment. The migration procedures minimize the system outage time while allowing for test and validation of the XPC-L-3 or XPC-L-3A environment before migration. For more information on migration procedures, refer to the XPC-L System Installation, Configuration, and Migration Guide

15 Section 5 Limitations and Considerations This section describes limitations and considerations that apply to XPC-L Release 3.3. A limitation is a temporary operating condition. A consideration is a permanent operating condition. Limitations None. Considerations The following considerations apply to this release of this product: Only the software installed on the product as it is shipped or identified in the XPC-L System Installation, Configuration, and Migration Guide or the XPC-L System Operations Guide should be installed and run on any component that is part of the XPC-L system. Only the hardware installed on the product as it is shipped or identified in the XPC-L System Installation, Configuration, and Migration Guide or the XPC-L System Operations Guide should be installed and run on any component that is part of the XPC-L system. The XPC-L Server must be dedicated to the execution of the XPC-L Server service. No other services or applications can be running simultaneously with the XPC-L Server service. The LAN interconnecting the XPC-L Servers and XPC-L Control Workstations is not to be connected to the customer s company LAN

17 Section 6 Support Support for your ClearPath server is provided by your Unisys Support Center. To initiate a support request, do either of the following: Submit a request online at After you log on or register, click Create Service Incident, and then follow the on-screen instructions. Enter the required information in the Support Request entry form. Contact the Unisys Call Reception Center (CRC). Access the Unisys Support website at The site provides links to various types of support. It also includes a link to a Video Demonstration of the Unisys e-service Portal, where you will see how to effectively use this easy web-based tool to access product documentation and submit support requests for Unisys-supported products

19 Section 7 Ordering Procedure Please contact your local Unisys service representative for ordering information

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