Converting from Robot HA 12 to 13

Before You Begin

Read these instructions completely before attempting a conversion.

This document provides specific instructions on how to convert from Robot HA 12 to 13 using the HelpSystems Product Loader.
Before loading Robot HA, we check if RBTSYSLIB needs to be updated. If it does, you’ll be asked to bring down the subsystem RBTSLEEPER. This ends all Robot products running on your system. When the update completes, you can restart the subsystem.
Once the conversion process completes, read the After You Are Done section for additional information.
You must convert Robot HA on every system that will be part of your high availability environment (production and backup systems).
As of Robot HA version 12.06 and above, if you are an existing PowerHA customer and wish to use Robot HA and PowerHA together in your role swap plan, see the Using PowerHA with Robot HA - *NOSWAPIP Role Swap Checklist and the Using PowerHA with Robot HA – One to Many Role Swap Checklist for more information.
Display size must be 27x132 to display Work With Sync Attributes Panel. HMC 5250 Console does not support 132 columns.

System Requirements

Robot HA requires the following:

IBM i (i5/OS, OS/400) version 7.2 or higher

Current on all IBM-supported PTFs (including journaling PTFs)

If data is being sent from an IBM i 7.5 system to an IBM i 7.4 or 7.3 system, the following PTFs must be installed:

7.4 = SI76821
7.3 = SI76822

Ideally, all systems using Robot HA together would be at the same operating system level. However, following IBM standards, Robot HA supports an operating system difference of N-2. Robot HA supports communication between operating systems within two versions of each other. Be aware that if all systems are not on the same OS level, there are OS-specific features that are not supported for replication between systems at different OS levels.

EXAMPLE: At OS 7.5 there is a new password level of 4. This is not supported on earlier OS levels.

Refer to the chart below to determine if your system configuration for Robot HA is supported:

OS	7.5	7.4	7.3	7.2
7.5	Y	Y	Y	N
7.4	Y	Y	Y	Y
7.3	Y	Y	Y	Y
7.2	N	Y	Y	Y

Converting Robot HA

Use these instructions to convert Robot HA on the production and backup system. This process downloads everything to your PC and loads the objects on the IBM i. Read the following steps carefully to proceed.

Download the Robot HA installer (setupRobotHA.exe). Double-click it to start it.
On the IBM i Details panel:
1. Select or enter the IBM i where you want to load Robot HA.
2. Enter a user profile and password that’s a member of the user class *SECOFR and has at least the following special authorities: *ALLOBJ, *SECADM, *JOBCTL, and *IOSYSCFG. The user profile should have Limit capabilities set to *NO. This profile will be used to restore and copy objects, and for product maintenance on the IBM i.
3. (Optional) In the Advanced Settings section:
  - Enter a port number or use the arrows if you want to change the FTP port number to something other than the default of 21.
  - Select Secure File Transfer if you want to use FTPS (FTP over SSL) during the file transfer. The default FTPS secure port is 990, but it can be changed to the required secure port for your environment.
  - In the Timeout (seconds) field, enter the number of seconds the session should be kept active during an FTP transfer. You can choose anywhere between 25 and 1800 seconds (30 minutes).
    
    Note: If the transfer takes longer than the amount of time specified, the session will expire.
4. Click Next.
You have two options on the Product Load Options panel:
1. Click Immediate Load if you’d like to load the product on the IBM i now.
  
  Note: This ends Robot HA until the product load completes. After you are done, we will restart the product.
2. Click Staged Load if you’d like to transfer the objects now and load them on the IBM i at a later time.
  
  Note: See the section on Loading Staged Objects on the IBM i below for instructions on how to load the staged objects on your selected IBM i system.
The Product Load Progress panel for Robot HA launches. When the processing is complete, you have two choices:
- If this is the last conversion of Robot HA that you're doing, click Finish.
- If you have conversions to do on other IBM i systems (production or backup), click Restart. Then, return to step 2.
Note: If the Product Load Progress panel ends with an overall Failed message, the product upload could not complete properly. To find the reason the upload failed, click View Logs and review your logs. You can also use Download at the top of the logs to save the information for future review.

Loading Staged Objects on the IBM i

If you chose to stage your objects during step 3b of the conversion process, do the following to manually load them on the IBM i you identified above.

Execute the following command to display the Work with Loads panel:

HSLOADMGR/HSWRKLOAD
Enter option 1, Load, next to the Load Name for Robot HA and press Enter. The conversion process will begin.

After You Are Done

To access the product’s Main Menu on the IBM i, execute the command RBO on a command line to display the Robot Automated Operations Solution panel. Then, enter option 25 for Robot HA.
If you are using the Robot GUIDE Automated Setup, skip this step as it will be done for you. Verify your DDM TCP/IP network “lowest authentication method” on the CHGDDMTCPA command to see if you require authentication entries for Robot HA. If your “lowest authentication method” value requires a password, see Using a Secure DDM TCP/IP Connection with Robot HA. Fortra recommends a minimum of *USRIDPWD, although if changing your method to use a password you should evaluate the impact of this with your other applications.
Take note of the "lowest authentication method" you are using. Authentication entries are not replicated and will need to be manually reapplied after a role swap.
To see what authentication entries exist, run the following SQL statement as supplied by IBM. This will list the entries defined on your system.
SELECT * from QSYS2.DRDA_AUTHENTICATION_ENTRY_INFO ORDER BY AUTHORIZATION_NAME, SERVER_NAME
During a conversion, the server and synchronizing are stopped. After the update completes, you will need to go into Robot HA and start the server and synchronizing through the Control menu.
Set up Robot HA on your system as described in the Robot HA Implementation Guide. You can download the user guide from our website.
As of Robot HA version 12.06 and above, if you are an already configured PowerHA customer run the command CHGDTAARA DTAARA(RBTHALIB/RHAPHA (1 1)) VALUE('1') BEFORE running INZRSFHA. If you have PowerHA installed but are not yet configured, the INZRSFHA will create the *USRPRF and *AUTL sync entries. Once you are configured and ready to use PowerHA, then delete the sync entries for *USRPRF and *AUTL if you do not want them sync’d through Robot HA. If you are using the Robot GUIDE Automated Setup, skip this step.
- If this is a product update, the swap programs will not automatically be replaced in the RSFUSER library. To replace the swap programs:
  - Start the servers on the source and target systems: RBO, option 2=Control Menu, option 1=Start TCP/IP server.
  - On the *PROD system only, run the INZRSFHA command, specifying “Replace role swap programs” = *YES.
Three libraries were restored to your system for use during the conversion process: HSLOADMGR, HSLOADMGRW, and RBTCDRLIB. We don't remove them from your system in case you're doing multiple conversion. You can delete them when you're finished.

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13.08 | 202310160230 | October 2023