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Managing Your Lawson System MSPs and CTPs

Managing Your Lawson System MSPs and CTPs. Ron Wright netASPx Corp. CTP Definition. Lawson’s Definition: "Critical Transfer Packages ( CTP's )" are individual "high priority" fixes that are available to download immediately without waiting for the scheduled Maintenance Service Package.

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Managing Your Lawson System MSPs and CTPs

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  1. Managing Your Lawson SystemMSPs and CTPs Ron Wright netASPx Corp.

  2. CTP Definition Lawson’s Definition: "Critical Transfer Packages ( CTP's )" are individual "high priority" fixes that are available to download immediately without waiting for the scheduled Maintenance Service Package. • Many CTPs released every week

  3. MSP Definition Lawson’s Definition: "Maintenance Service Packages ( MSP's )" consist of scheduled, periodic groupings of individual, critical fixes. Each new Transfer Package is built upon the previous one, so all fixes are included in the newest available CTP. • Released every 2-3 months • NOT installed like a collection of CTPs!

  4. MSP: When and How Often netASPx applies all MSPs • Give MSPs time for critical problems to be resolved (1 month) • Review CTPs released within 2 weeks of an MSP for applicability • Watch Topica mailing lists for impressions (http://www.topica.com/lists/Lawson_SysAdmin)

  5. MSP: Experiences • Call volume increases for a short duration after • Issues are often serious in nature • Number of issues and severity closely related to the amount and quality of the testing performed! • Develop test plans with end user involvement. • Test processes and programs, not just programs

  6. CTP: When and How Often • Other than those reviewed after an MSP, CTPs are applied only upon an issue • CTPs are more problematic than MSPs • netASPx has applied over 100 unique CTPs since August, 2002

  7. Application Maintenance Toolset Suite of utilities for installing applications and applying MSPs and CTPs • Downloaded from support.lawson.com (Transfer Packages) • Includes lasetup, appmetaload, patchcompile, and the metadata load and dump programs

  8. lasetup initial • Used for a new installation or point release • Rolls $LAWDIR/<prodline>/Admin/install.log • Overwrites source files without backup • Performs sysloads

  9. lasetup staged (MSP) • Files staged to designated location then compared to program code in productline • Programs found to be more recent than code in the MSP are replaced, but logged in the install.log as “Reverted” • All files to be replaced are backup up to $LAWDIR/<pl>/backup/<version>_MSP# • GEN database information for programs NOT backed up. • CTPs that were “Reverted” must be reapplied

  10. Backing out an MSP Preparation: • Complete data backup (expsysdb) • Backup of LADBDIR and LAWDIR Optional prep step: • sysdump <pl> (more options for recovery)

  11. Backing out an MSP (cont) Procedure: • Backup data (if unsure of backup or potential exists that updated data may need to be retrieved) • Drop tables (bldxxxddl –UDq <pl>) • Restore LADBDIR and LAWDIR • Startladb • bldxxxddl –Uq <pl> • Restore data (impexp) • startlaw

  12. lasetup patch (CTP) • Files to be replaced are compared for more recent versions. More recent versions are not replaced. • Replaced files and GEN information to be updated is backed up to $LAWDIR/<pl>/backup/<patch #> • GEN data not updated yet

  13. appmetaload (CTP) • Applies changes to the GEN database related to a program or library • Information related to workfiles, messages, etc. loaded for you. No more manual entry,, except… • Database changes (dbdef) not handled

  14. patchcompile (CTP) • Determines all programs related to the patch that must be recompiled and submits them. • Optionally creates a script to submit all compiles.

  15. Backing out a CTP • No prep required • Copy program files from $LAWDIR/<pl>/backup/<patch #> back to appropriate location • Go through “meta” directories (ex. Metagl) and run appropriate metaload<ext> program for each file found. ( ex. metaloadmsg <pl> AP20.msg ) • If manual database changes were done, those must be reversed manually. (dbdef, blddbdict, dbreorg) • Recompile productline or rerun patchcompile

  16. Under the Covers Version comparison: • Version compared using the first line in every program file. This line has: <program> <version> <Perl sum32 for file> • Any change to the file changes the chksum value. If chksum doesn’t match the header, version ignored and program overwritten in all circumstances. • A Perl programmer could easily write Perl to regenerate the chksum value

  17. Under the Covers (cont) • Metaload series of programs do not do a merge within the GEN database. Deletes within GEN are performed on a backout. • Be careful if you run the metadump programs. They do not write to stdout. Overwrite files in the current directory. • Metadump files fairly easy to read. Contain “prefix” of GEN tables to be updated. Confirm prefix by running dmpdict GEN <table>. Look for index (ie. PGMSET1 - PGM is prefix)

  18. Handling Program Modifications • Use the UNIX diff utility to see changes. (works on NT too with MKS Toolkit or others) diff $LAWDIR/dev8/backup/12345/apsrc/AP20PD $LAWDIR/dev8/apsrc/AP20PD • diff can also create a merged version of two programs for you: diff –D12345 $LAWDIR/dev8/backup/12345/apsrc/AP20PD $LAWDIR/dev8/apsrc/NA20PD (merged program will not compile until edited)

  19. Questions ron.wright@netaspx.com 303-499-2338

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