Filepro Unix upgrade

[Brian K. White]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jean-Pierre A. Radley" <appl at jpr.com>
To: "FilePro Mailing List" <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 1:30 PM
Subject: Re: Filepro Unix upgrade


> Guy Templin propounded (on Tue, Feb 07, 2006 at 09:28:38AM -0500):
> | I need some advice and this list never usually short on offering advice.
> |
> | I just recently installed a new Unix server to replace our 1997 Unix 
> server.
> | (Open Server 5.0.4 to 5.0.7)
> |
> | I had purchased the filepro 5.0 upgrade several years ago but never
> | installed it on my Unix box.
> |
> | The advice I need is what is the best way to transfer my filepro from 
> the
> | old server to the new server.
> |
> | They are both connected to a local network.
> |
> | Best way to copy files and best way to upgrade.
> |
> | Do I bring over filepro 4.8 and then upgrade to 5.0 or do I install 5.0 
> and
> | just port over the data, menus and edits files?
>
> No need to copy over the old filePro binaries.   Just install 5.0 on the
> new machine.
>
> | Should I rebuild indexes after upgrading?
>
> Not necessarily, but "it can't hurt".  Do you have one of the several
> reindex_all scripts that have appeared here over the years?
>
> | What are options for copying files from old server to new server?
>
> Make sure to run my 'savefiles' script (at ftp.jpr.com).
>
> See that each /etc/hosts file has an entry for both machines.
>
> Set up /.rhosts files on each machine, each containing the name of the
> other machine, and with permissions 600.  Check that this is OK by
> running, on the old machine,
> rcmd new_machine hostname
> and on the new machine, running the complement,
> rcmd old_machine hostname
>
> Then as root on the old machine, run
>
> rdist -c /appl/filepro /appl/fp/menus new_machine
>
> Also use rdist to move the output of the savefiles script. You will then
> be able to use 'ap' to restore all of your users' passwd entries.  (I'd
> even use rdist to move /usr/spool/lp ...) Then install the new filePro.
>
> "Manually" port over your changes in the fP config file -- I'd just go
> into X, fire up two scoterms and vi the config file of each machine in
> those two scoterms; then you can cut and paste with the mouse.
>
> If you've changed the original global edits file, you can use the same
> two scoterms to cut your your edits from the old machine and paste them
> into the new 5.0 edits file.

After reading these responses before yours I was thinking boy am I so glad I 
know how to use rsync.
We shuffle data & menus sets around all the time and it takes hardly any 
time and only one command similar to that rdist command.
It requires a little set-up like the way the rdist needs user equivalency 
(rsync doesn't need user equivalency, but a similar bit of set-up, and/or, 
it can use user equivalency too/instead)
If I had to do that much work to copy a system I'd be spending all day every 
day doing nothing else.
It only requires a couple minutes.

# find ./ -type f |egrep '/out.|/prc.|/screen.' |wc -l
  16983

17 thousand processing tables, screens, and output formats. Didn't even 
count the browses and selection sets.
Needless to say it's a good thing that you don't need to do any such thing 
as open and resave everything!
Delete and re-create indexes? Good god no. I don't even rebuild all indexes 
anymore. The above system has a lot of qualifiers:
# ls -l somefile/key* |wc -l
     80
(Some of those are derelict)
And several files that approach the 2 gig filesize limit _in most of the 
qualifiers_ to boot, so rebuilding all takes a looong time, and that is on a 
box with a very fast and very free of bottlenecks disk subsystem (10 u320 
15krpm drives array spread evenly over 2 u320 channels on a card plugged 
into a 64bit x 133mhz pci-x slot in a dual 2.7gig p4-xeon box)
Although going from 4.8 to 5.0 I would still rebuild all, but only for the 
chance of catching and fixing a possibly uknown broken index.

I'd describe in exact detail how to use rsync (from scratch, as in it ain't 
installed yet) in a few commands, (And thereafter only 1 command to refresh 
or make new copies between the same two boxes)
but I didn't make Lauras list of trustworthy advice givers and I'm petulant. 
Besides, she may be right. Although rsync would make subsequent refreshes of 
the data incredibly fast, the initial copy, which is all he cares about I'm 
sure, will be no different than rdist, and rdist is already installed where 
rsync needs, aside from itself, a library update package on his old box. The 
necessary command to run is even a little simpler. I guess I have a ways to 
go before I get to be more than 1/17.5th of a Howie. I even claim that much 
only because He's "wow"d  me about 2.5 times per year for 7 years, and I 
wow'd him once this year and I think it was the first time ever. :)
There are plenty of things that should have wow'd him and everyone else but 
they didn't happen in the form of filepro code, or only partly, and so they 
just don't realise what they're looking at, but this recent thing was all in 
fp so they understood it all for a change. Actually I think they just don't 
get most of my fp code either and I refuse to accept that it's because it's 
not exquisite, but I allow that it at least disqualifies it from 
consideration in such unscientific scales as coolness factor. :)

hehhe :)
Brian K. White  --  brian at aljex.com  --  http://www.aljex.com/bkw/
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