Installing FP9 on IBM i is Quite Different and Very SLOW

If you are planning to install FP9, there are a few things you need to be aware of:

1. The installation process is quite different from what you are used to for installing FPs on the IBM i
2. It’s significantly slower, as in hours, so plan accordingly

Installation process

The installation process is a fair bit different than installing previous FPs.  You no longer just download the savefile, FTP it so the server and then load and apply the associated PTF.  Instead, you download the savefile, FTP it to the server and then things get a fair bit different.

Step 1.

The first step after downloading the savefile, which is called KITFP9, is to restore the contents of the savefile. This savefile contains two savefiles:

 

 

Make sure you leave the default of restoring the objects into the saved library of QGPL rather than specifying a library of your own, because the install script that is used to do the installation assumes the savefile for FP9 (QFP69019) is in library QGPL.

The restore command provided is:

RSTOBJ OBJ(*ALL) SAVLIB(QGPL) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(QGPL/KITFP9)

 

Step 2.

The next step is to restore the console installer from savefile QCLINSTF.

RST DEV(‘/QSYS.LIB/QGPL.LIB/QCSLINSTF.FILE’) OBJ((‘/HOME/QNOTES’ *INCLUDE *SAME)) CRTPRNDIR(*YES) PRNDIROWN(QNOTES)

This will restore 81 files into /home/qnotes.

The first level is the console_install directory which contains the install script, install.sh, along with the LAP directory.

 

 

 

The Readme notes to NOT restore the contents into /QIBM/PRODATA/LOTUS/DOMINO901 as this is the directory where the Domino 9.0.1 executables are stored, so either leave the default of /home/qnotes or specify another directory you know is not in use by other applications.

Step 3.

As normal, end all active Domino servers on the system or LPAR that are running Domino 9.0.1.

Step 4.

This is where things get a bit different.  Rather than just issuing LODPTF and APYPTF, instead, you invoke QShell and run the installation script that is in the /home/qnotes/console_install directory. So the steps become:

QSH

cd /home/qnotes/console_install

./install.sh

The installer at this point will issue a LODPTF and APYPTF, remember it will bomb out unless the QFP69019 savefile is in library QGPL. I haven’t had time to work with modifying the install script and testing to see if things work okay with the having the savefile in another library, so for now stick with QGPL.

Step 5.

You will next be presented with the following screen regarding the license agreement.

                                                        QSH Command Entry

This document includes License Information documents below
for multiple Programs. Each License Information document
identifies the Program(s) to which it applies. Only those
License Information documents for the Program(s) for which
Licensee has acquired entitlements apply.

  ==============================================

LICENSE INFORMATION

The Programs listed below are licensed under the following

Press Enter to continue viewing the license agreement, or
enter “1” to accept the agreement, “2” to decline it, “3”
to print it, or “99” to go back to the previous screen.

You will want to type in 1 and press Enter to continue.

Step 6.

Wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, …. yes continue to wait, because it’s going to be a LONG, LONG time before the installation completes.  More on that in the Installation performance section below.

Step 7.

Once the installation finally finishes, load the most recent Interim Fix or custom hotfix if you have one from IBM.

In this case I installed IF2, so the commands were:

LODPTF LICPGM(5733LD9) DEV(*SAVF) SELECT(L605552) SAVF(GREENK/QL605552)

APYPTF LICPGM(5733LD9) SELECT(L605552)

Step 8.

Start the Domino servers and test.

Installation performance

The Readme states this: Domino 9.0.1 FP includes Dojo version upgrade with thousands of stream
files, need to plan for additional time required to copy these stream files to
Domino 9.0.1 product data and each server data folders during the installation
process.

The Readme for FP8 had this same statement, and the process was fairly quick, it is NOT for FP9, so what’s different?

From what I have observed, the big difference is how they handle copying the thousands of stream files.  In FP9, for every stream file that is copied, there are 3 messages that are generated and written to QShell in addition to be written to a spooled file:

1. CPCA087 which acknowledges the location the object was copied from and written to.
2. The first CPC221B does a Change Authority on the object that was copied.
3. The second CPC221B does a Change Owner on the object that was copied.

Below is an example for one stream file.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only are these 3 messages generated for the THOUSANDS of stream files it copies, the files are copied to every Domino server installed on that system or LPAR!!! None of this is done in parallel, the files are copied to the first server, then the next, and the next …  No wonder it takes FOREVER!

The system this installation was done on is an IBM Power System S814 with 3.72 GHz chip speed, 68 GB of memory and over 10 Terabytes of disk.  Needless to say there were ample resources available on this system to handle the workload of the installation. There are 4 Domino servers installed on this LPAR.

Over 3 hours after I started the installation of FP9, it finished.  This is unheard of.  When I installed FP8 on this system, it was done in around 10 minutes.

I generated a spooled file once the installation completed (pressed F6 in QShell).

The spooled file that was generated was 3,515 pages in length, and only contains output from the timeframe of 17:03:17 – 17:04:35.

You think someone forgot to turn off the debug code before this was shipped?!?

This problem has been reported to IBM with hopes the performance can be significantly improved.