COMPAQ AV-R3XSP-TE April 2002 Dear Customer In an effort to provide enhanced storage management software ca- pability to our customers, Compaq offers this release of Compaq Archive Backup System (ABS) for OpenVMS Version 4.0A. Thank you for your recent purchase of this product. If you are a current Compaq ABS user running ABS 3.0X or older, you will need to perform a conversion of your existing ABS pol- icy database when you upgrade to version 4.0A. ABS V4.0A is a maintenance release. This means it is primarily a bugfix release with minimal minor functional changes. If you are a 3.X customer you can upgrade to V4.0A and bypass V4.0. See installation guide for specific details. Many of the changes in V4.0X stream are a redesign of the software to make it more reliable and more main- tainable for future enhancements. Compaq Archive Backup System is an application that will perform automated backup of your data, and provide a secure copy in the event of unforeseen disasters due to nature or simple operator errors. ABS earns its keep whenever you need to restore a file, directory, or an entire disk (physical or virtual) due to the loss of the original data. The backups are performed automatically on a scheduled basis, but the restores are corrective actions initiated by you whenever needed. Just as the prior versions of ABS, version 4.0A: - Honors either an ABS or Storage Library System (SLS) license PAK. A review of licenses is still underway by product manage- ment and engineering. No action is needed by customers at this point. - Runs under a wide range of OpenVMS operating system versions: 0 Alpha versions 6.2, 7.1-2, 7.2-2, and 7.3. 0 VAX versions 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3. 0 If you need to run under an earlier version than those listed, you will need to purchase a "prior version support contract" with the OpenVMS organization, and ABS will have to be qualified for that specific version of OpenVMS. - Is qualified on Fibre Channel connected tape storage for Open- VMS V7.2-2 and V7.3. The Software Product Description lists the tape libraries and the Modular Data Router (MDR) that serves a bridge between the FC and the SCSI interface of the tape drive. Expanded features for Version 4.0A: o ABS V4.0A provides a "System Backup to Tape " feature for Or- acle 8i and Oracle 9i, RMAN database users. Jukeboxes, stan- dalone and stackers are qualified with V4.0A. SBT functionality has been enhanced in V4.0A. See Release Notes for specific details. o An Archive/Backup System Incremental save request will now do up to 127 levels before a FULL (with record)/BASE is repeated. o MDMS Catalog objects has extended commands and changes in ac- cess control. o New qualifier /PROFILE has been added to the ABS SHOW SAVE/FULL and ABS SHOW RESTORE/FULL command. o A new conflict_option value, REPLACE, has been added to the ABS RESTORE command. The JAVA Runtime Environment (JRE), as used by the GUI, is not included in the ABS installation kit because the JRE changes inde- pendently of ABS. Therefore, you will need to download the current JRE from the web, as described in the Guide to Operations Manual. ABS V4.0A allows "rolling" upgrades from ABS V4.0 only and not from ABS V3.X versions. ABS V4.0 has moved the policy database, cataloging and networks within the MDMS server. The server and clients will all need to be updated at the same time to maintain communications. Engineering recommends that the customer prepare for this upgrade by becoming familiar with the Installation guide and Release notes for both ABS and MDMS. The additional documents are contained in PDF format in ABSA040.b saveset. Changes to the scope of Support for ABS V4.0X ABS Version 4.0X is only compatible to ABS NT client for Win- dows NT Intel. Windows NT Alpha operating system is now end of life. The ABS UNIX client will only utilize Tru64 UNIX. The ABS UNIX client may still function with other brands of UNIX, but no support will be provided for non-Tru64 UNIX. POLYCENTER Scheduler V2.1B can be used only as scheduler_type, SCHEDULER with an existing license. ABS engineering would encour- age customers to use the INTERNAL option as increased flexibility should serve your needs. ABS V4.0A only supports the use of MDMS V4.0A for its media man- ager. All ABS users should be updating to this current version of the product. If you need assistance in updating your environment, please contact the customer support center or your designated field representative. Please refer to the release notes for what bugfixes are contained in V4.0A since V4.0. 2 The following documentation is available for ABS. The PDF ver- sions are included in the kit. All the documents are included on the OpenVMS Consolidated Documentation CD. The ABS kits are also available from the web. Refer to http://www.openvms.compaq.com /openvms/storage/abspage.html o Archive Backup System Version V4.0A software for VAX and Alpha systems o Archive Backup System Version V4.0A for OpenVMS documentation: - SPD 48.16.20 - ABS Release Notes(online only) - Installation Guide - Guide to Operations - ABS for OpenVMS MDMS reference manual - Media, Device and Management Services Version 4.0A OpenVMS Release Notes Refer to the SPD for any prerequisite software. Refer to the ABS V4.0A Installation guide for installation prerequisites. Java (JRE) Versions Java (JRE) Versions JRE-1_2_2_011 and J2RE-1_3_1_03 are qualified. Engineering is in the process of qualifying JRE Version 1.4 but have found some incompatibility issues. See ABS release notes for more information. Oracle RDB Versions Oracle Rdb versions V7.0-6, V7.0-6.1 and V7.0-9 are qualified. Engineering is working on qualifying RDB V7.1X. See ABS release notes for more information. For additional information, please refer to the product documen- tation. If you need additional assistance, please call the COMPAQ Customer Support Center. Sincerely, OpenVMS Product Management CXOSWPM@compaq.com ©2002 Compaq Information Technologies Group, L.P 3