onrestorept vs. onmode -b?

IDS 12.10.FC3 Solaris 10 1/13 I am preparing to do an in-place upgrade from 12.10.FC3 to 12.10.FC11. (I have completely separate directories for existing 12.10.FC3 and the new 12.10.FC11.) In the event of a failed upgrade, is "onrestorept" the recommended first line of attack? "Or onmode -b"? Would doing an 'ontape' cold restore from a level 0 archive (taken immediately prior to the upgrade attempt) be the third thing to try? I am not expecting any trouble, but want to be prepared. I do not upgrade very often, so wish to exercise the utmost caution, and be prepared. Thank you. DG

Original post: IDS 12.10.FC3 Solaris 10 1/13 I am preparing to do an in-place upgrade from 12.10.FC3 to 12.10.FC11. (I have completely separate directories for existing 12.10.FC3 and the new 12.10.FC11.) In the event of a failed upgrade, is "onrestorept" the recommended first line of attack? "Or onmode -b"? Would doing an 'ontape' cold restore from a level 0 archive (taken immediately prior to the upgrade attempt) be the third thing to try? I am not expecting any trouble, but want to be prepared. I do not upgrade very often, so wish to exercise the utmost caution, and be prepared. Thank you. DG Repsonse: So onrestorept and onmode -b would be used in different situations. You would only use onrestorept in the event that the conversion failed some portion of the way through and the server came offline without having completed the conversion. If the conversion completes successfully (as indicated by messages in MSGPATH) and for some reason after the conversion is done and you want to go back to your previous version, you would use onmode -b. So onrestorept is to back out of a conversion that failed in progress, while onmode -b is used to revert to a previous version after the system had been successfully converted. Yes, taking a full level 0 archive right before doing your conversion is also recommended, and yes that archive could be used to restore your system back to it's pre-conversion attempt state. Jacques Renaut HCL Informix Advanced Support

David, best to configure onrestorept (CONVERSION_GUARD & RESTORE_POINT_DIR in the onconfig file). Just make sure RESTORE_POINT_DIR has available space (only stores the before images of any converted pages as I recall). I have had to utilize onrestorept functionality before and it is a very handy and useful feature as you don't have to perform a lengthy cold restore should the upgrade process fail for whatever reason. If the upgrade is successful then the data in the RESTORE_POINT_DIR is removed automatically so if you have to revert back after this point then you have to use onmode -b or a level 0 restore. Mark

Jacques & Mark, Thank you both for your helpful, clarifying explanations. Obviously, I was confused about the role and function of onrestorept and onmode -b. I appreciate the commetns. DG