Installing or Updating Robot HA

Before You Begin

Read these instructions completely before attempting an installation or update.

• This document provides specific instructions on how to install or update Robot HA using the 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.

• You must install 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.

• Secure an understanding of the bandwidth between the production and backup systems (whether shared or dedicated for replication).

• Request replication recommendations from critical business software vendors.

• Ensure license codes are applied for all applications on your backup system. This includes third party applications and IBM LPPs.

• Review IBM installed products to ensure they are the same on both systems.

• Consider your business plan for Recovery Time and Recovery Point Objectives in a role swap.

• Review all Robot HA supported role swap options in the Role Swap User Guide.

• Secure familiarity with any journaled objects and journal libraries on the production system.

• Remote journaling using TCP ports 446(DRDA) and 447(DDM) and 3777(remote journaling proper). If you intend to use remote journaling and your source and target machines are separated by a firewall, be sure to open ports 446, 447, and 3777.In addition, if you are using the value *USRIDPWD for lowest authentication method on the CHGDDMTCPA command, refer to Using a Secure DDM TCP/IP Connection with Robot HA If you plan to use the Robot GUIDE Automated Setup, skip this step.

• For optimum synchronization, ensure that the port used by PING requests is open on both systems.

• If you currently have another replication software installed and running on your system, you must ensure that application will not replicate any of the Robot HA related libraries.  Some applications will pick up new libraries created on the system without having to do any setup. 
  The libraries to omit from the other replication software: 

  • RBTHALIB

  • RSFTEMP

  • RSFUSER

  • Library names specified on INZRSFHA command for: 

    • Journal Library

    • Remote journal library

    • Primary machine info: “Replicate RBTHALIB to” and “Replicate *CFG to”

    • Secondary machine info:  “Replicate RBTHALIB to” and “Replicate *CFG to”

• While not required, it is recommended that the hardware between the production and backup systems are of similar size and capacity. Having insufficient resources at the backup system can lead to the following issues:

  • Increased recovery point: If the backup system does not have equivalent resources, it may struggle to keep up with the replication workload. Because data is continuously applied from the production system; the backup system needs enough resources in order to apply changes at the same rate as the production system or it may fall behind, resulting in apply lag.

  • Performance degradation: If the backup system is not capable of handling the same load as the production system, there may be a noticeable decrease in performance of applications when running on the backup system in the event of a role swap.

• Once the installation or update process completes, read the After You Are Done section for additional information.

System Requirements

• Robot HA requires the following:

• IBM i (i5/OS, OS/400) version 7.3 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
7.5	Y	Y	Y
7.4	Y	Y	Y
7.3	Y	Y	Y

Installing or Updating Robot HA

Use these instructions to install or update 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.

1. Download the Robot HA installer (setupRobotHA.exe). Double-click it to start it.

2. 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.

3. 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: If you're doing an update, this ends Robot HA until the product load completes. After you are done, we’ll 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 “Loading Staged Objects on the IBM i” below for instructions on how to load the staged objects on your selected IBM i system.

4. The Product Load Progress panel for Robot HA launches. When the processing is complete, you have two choices:

   • If you have installations or updates to do on other IBM i systems, click Restart. Then, return to step 2.

   • If this is the only installation or update of Robot HA that you're doing, click Finish.

   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 installation or update process, do the following to manually load them on the IBM i you identified above.

1. On the IBM i, execute the following command to display the Work with Loads panel:

   HSLOADMGR/HSWRKLOAD

2. Enter option 1, Load, next to the Load Name for Robot HA and press Enter.

 

Entering the License Code

After you load Robot HA, you must enter a license code in order to use the product. If you haven't received a license code, contact your Regional Sales Manager.

1. Execute the following command on the IBM i to open the Installed Robot Products panel:

   RSLVER

2. Enter option 1 by Robot HA to open the Robot HA License Setup panel.

3. Paste your new license code into the first entry field under License Code (it will automatically fill the other fields).

   Note: You can paste the license code into the field directly or use F11 to enter Copy and Paste Mode.

4. Press Enter.

5. Our license agreement displays. Read it or print it, then press Enter.

   Note: This only happens the first time you enter a license code. If you want to review the license agreement at a later time, press F8 from the Robot HA License Setup panel.

Once you've entered a license code for Robot HA, use the following steps to launch the product from the IBM i Main Menu.

Launching Robot HA

1. Sign on to the IBM i.

2. Execute the following command from the IBM i Main Menu:

   RBO

3. Enter option 25 to view the Robot HA Main Menu.

After You Are Done

• 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

• System values QPWD* should be set the same on both the source and the target. Note that changes on some of these system values take effect after IPL.

• QPWDLVL must be at the same level on both the source and the target.

• If you have changed the IBM default authorities on any IBM objects to *public *exclude, the user profile RSFSRV must be added to have authority to those objects.

• For updates: During an update, 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.

• 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 installation or update process: HSLOADMGR, HSLOADMGRW, and RBTCDRLIB. We don't remove them from your system in case you're doing multiple installations. You can delete them when you're finished.