>It's VSE/ESA v2.4.3 OK.
I think that's *so* far back -- the current z/VSE release is 5.2 as I write this -- that you'll probably want to take a look at a "big leap" sort of upgrade migration. Fortunately z/VSE 5.2 will operate on a z9 machine, so you can perform the upgrade migration either on the existing machine (resources permitting) or on your new target machine (z9 or higher). But I think I've got the "best" option now. You could set up a new machine -- a zBC12 for example -- with z/VM 6.3 straight away, then run VSE/ESA 2.4 in that environment (as one or more first level guests -- it *should* work, but nothing is ever guaranteed when you're out of support) during the upgrade migration period until you can get z/VSE 5.2 into service and retire VSE/ESA 2.4. Although that's not an IBM supported configuration -- VSE/ESA 2.4 has been out of support for quite some time -- IBM may have a temporary VSE/ESA 2.4 patch available to facilitate that particular combination for migration upgrade purposes. The z9 BC with z/VM 4.2 and VSE/ESA 2.4 was never an IBM supported combination anyway, and they may already have all the relevant temporary patches for VSE/ESA in order to get as far as they did, so in my personal opinion a zBC12+z/VM 6.3+VSE/ESA 2.4 combination would be reducing support risk (on net) during the (hopefully brief) transition period until you can get those VSE/ESA 2.4-based applications and data moved over to z/VSE 5.2. Anyway, I assume you'll have to sit down with your end customer to discuss options, but (in my personal opinion again, as always) a new machine plus z/VM 6.3 plus VSE/ESA 2.4 would be my preferred step 1 based on what you've described, followed as quickly as possible with a step 2 direct to z/VSE 5.2. (There's probably a one year Single Version Charge period, but I'd be aiming to beat that deadline by a huge margin.) I mentioned in my previous post that some additional business value is often quite important in making the overall project plan and business case work well. There are certainly those options here. In particular, I would add one or more Linux guests to that z/VM 6.3 environment in order to provide new and interesting integration, communication, and other services to that VSE environment, many of which are no additional charge (except for the Linux support itself and, preferably, an IFL engine). VSE has very heavily oriented itself to Linux on z, and there's a long, long list of new and unique capabilities based on that particular deployment pattern. You can find out more here: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zvse/downloads/ The Linux Fast Path feature alone is a treasure. It's quite likely some of these new features are going to not only be valuable (in direct business terms) but also reduce other costs and complexity. Hope that helps. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples IT Architect Executive, zEnterprise Industry Solutions, AP/GCG/MEA E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
