Critical LFDS patch readies for release
August 6, 2007
HP will release crucial repairs to the 3000's database soon, a patch that disables the IMAGE/SQL Large File function for >4GB datasets (LFDS). Both Craig Fairchild and 3000 business manager Jennie Hou report that the patch should soon be cleared for General Release. The GR status means that any HP 3000 customer will be able to download and use the patch, no matter which firm provides their 3000 support.
Regardless of whether a 3000 is being migrated in the next year or more, or working as a homesteading system, this patch is a must-load for 3000 users.
The Large File option has corrupted some databases, leading HP to engineer a way to turn it off permanently and protect 3000-hosted data. HP created LFDS as a follow on to Jumbo datasets, but the implementation in two versions of LFDS still permitted corruption under select circumstances. In the meantime, the 3000 community, full of system managers with limited IMAGE ability, has been forced to execute some tedious repairs using Adager's software and expertise.
HP has stepped up to shoulder its duty of data protection with this patch, first released to beta-testing in November of last year. At 10 months of test time, the software will make it into GR status ahead of many others which HP has created. Hou said HP will announce will patch TIXMXY4 goes GR.
"We are scheduled to General Release the patch by end of this week," Hou reported today.
Fairchild, the HP 3000 lab's liaison to the community, also said the patch is nearly ready to GR. Software always has a fluid schedule for completion, however.
"Because this is active work," he said, "things can change depending on whether some unexpected glitch crops up, or if things go better than expected."
"The original LFDS patch, TIXMXW7 has been superceded by patch TIXMXY4. Once we get approvals from the appropriate players across the lab and support organizations, we plan on making TIXMXY4 GR. This should happen sometime within the next couple of weeks.
The GR status is of further benefit to HP's support customers, the 3000 owners who can download and implement HP's PowerPatch collections. "Once it becomes GR, it becomes a candidate to be included in future PowerPatch releases as well," Fairchild said.