Installing FP9 on IBM i is Quite Different and Very SLOW

If you are planning to install FP9, there are a few things you need to be aware of:

  1. The installation process is quite different from what you are used to for installing FPs on the IBM i
  2. It’s significantly slower, as in hours, so plan accordingly

Installation process

The installation process is a fair bit different than installing previous FPs.  You no longer just download the savefile, FTP it so the server and then load and apply the associated PTF.  Instead, you download the savefile, FTP it to the server and then things get a fair bit different.

Step 1.

The first step after downloading the savefile, which is called KITFP9, is to restore the contents of the savefile. This savefile contains two savefiles:

 

 

Make sure you leave the default of restoring the objects into the saved library of QGPL rather than specifying a library of your own, because the install script that is used to do the installation assumes the savefile for FP9 (QFP69019) is in library QGPL.

The restore command provided is:

RSTOBJ OBJ(*ALL) SAVLIB(QGPL) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(QGPL/KITFP9)

 

Step 2.

The next step is to restore the console installer from savefile QCLINSTF.

RST DEV(‘/QSYS.LIB/QGPL.LIB/QCSLINSTF.FILE’) OBJ((‘/HOME/QNOTES’ *INCLUDE *SAME)) CRTPRNDIR(*YES) PRNDIROWN(QNOTES)

This will restore 81 files into /home/qnotes.

The first level is the console_install directory which contains the install script, install.sh, along with the LAP directory.

 

 

 

The Readme notes to NOT restore the contents into /QIBM/PRODATA/LOTUS/DOMINO901 as this is the directory where the Domino 9.0.1 executables are stored, so either leave the default of /home/qnotes or specify another directory you know is not in use by other applications.

Step 3.

As normal, end all active Domino servers on the system or LPAR that are running Domino 9.0.1.

Step 4.

This is where things get a bit different.  Rather than just issuing LODPTF and APYPTF, instead, you invoke QShell and run the installation script that is in the /home/qnotes/console_install directory. So the steps become:

QSH

cd /home/qnotes/console_install

./install.sh

The installer at this point will issue a LODPTF and APYPTF, remember it will bomb out unless the QFP69019 savefile is in library QGPL. I haven’t had time to work with modifying the install script and testing to see if things work okay with the having the savefile in another library, so for now stick with QGPL.

Step 5.

You will next be presented with the following screen regarding the license agreement.

                                                        QSH Command Entry

This document includes License Information documents below
for multiple Programs. Each License Information document
identifies the Program(s) to which it applies. Only those
License Information documents for the Program(s) for which
Licensee has acquired entitlements apply.

  ==============================================

LICENSE INFORMATION

The Programs listed below are licensed under the following

Press Enter to continue viewing the license agreement, or
enter “1” to accept the agreement, “2” to decline it, “3”
to print it, or “99” to go back to the previous screen.

You will want to type in 1 and press Enter to continue.

Step 6.

Wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, …. yes continue to wait, because it’s going to be a LONG, LONG time before the installation completes.  More on that in the Installation performance section below.

Step 7.

Once the installation finally finishes, load the most recent Interim Fix or custom hotfix if you have one from IBM.

In this case I installed IF2, so the commands were:

LODPTF LICPGM(5733LD9) DEV(*SAVF) SELECT(L605552) SAVF(GREENK/QL605552)

APYPTF LICPGM(5733LD9) SELECT(L605552)

Step 8.

Start the Domino servers and test.

Installation performance

The Readme states this: Domino 9.0.1 FP includes Dojo version upgrade with thousands of stream
files, need to plan for additional time required to copy these stream files to
Domino 9.0.1 product data and each server data folders during the installation
process.

The Readme for FP8 had this same statement, and the process was fairly quick, it is NOT for FP9, so what’s different?

From what I have observed, the big difference is how they handle copying the thousands of stream files.  In FP9, for every stream file that is copied, there are 3 messages that are generated and written to QShell in addition to be written to a spooled file:

  1. CPCA087 which acknowledges the location the object was copied from and written to.
  2. The first CPC221B does a Change Authority on the object that was copied.
  3. The second CPC221B does a Change Owner on the object that was copied.

Below is an example for one stream file.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only are these 3 messages generated for the THOUSANDS of stream files it copies, the files are copied to every Domino server installed on that system or LPAR!!! None of this is done in parallel, the files are copied to the first server, then the next, and the next …  No wonder it takes FOREVER!

The system this installation was done on is an IBM Power System S814 with 3.72 GHz chip speed, 68 GB of memory and over 10 Terabytes of disk.  Needless to say there were ample resources available on this system to handle the workload of the installation. There are 4 Domino servers installed on this LPAR.

Over 3 hours after I started the installation of FP9, it finished.  This is unheard of.  When I installed FP8 on this system, it was done in around 10 minutes.

I generated a spooled file once the installation completed (pressed F6 in QShell).

The spooled file that was generated was 3,515 pages in length, and only contains output from the timeframe of 17:03:17 – 17:04:35.

You think someone forgot to turn off the debug code before this was shipped?!?

This problem has been reported to IBM with hopes the performance can be significantly improved.

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  1. Downloaded the install and proceeded as far as the creation of the console_install in the QNOTES directory, then transfered the shell file and looked at it.
    It runs a jar file to display the licensing info and calls a LODPTF and APYPTF if you accept the license.

    A hypothesis: running these commands inside the QShell introduces performance problems. Perhaps because the QShell runs inside a specially monitored/logged process, which causes thousands of copy actions to run really slow…

    I have an idea, but do not have a spare IBM i to try this on, can you please help?
    If you have the time / resources, could you please try if this works:

    1. start with a Domino FP8 without hotfixes per READ1ST.TXT.

    2. load the sav file and expand as per instrucions, only do not use the install.sh file in QShell. (so just the CRTSAVF, RSTOBJ and RST t commands from READ1ST.TXT
    3. Just in case the licensing jar also does something, edit the install.sh file and delete the CL commands, save it, and run it and accept the license.

    4. Exit QSH and run the CL commands, LODPTF and APYPTF. The commands you need you just have seen when editing the install.sh file. They look really familiar since you posted a slight variation in step 7 😉

    5. Please tell us if this fixes the performance problem.

    6. If the solution works, ask IBM to never run the LODPTF and APYPTF inside a QSH session ever again.

    1. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to try this at the moment either. I have made recommendations to IBM on how to improve the performance and am still waiting to hear back from them as to what they plan to do to address the issue.

  2. I was surprised as well to see a new installation procedure with FP9…I’ve made all the steps you wrote here.

    But after confirmation of the license with ‘1’ I got an error message (in german, sorry!):

    ‘CPF3908: Vorläufige Programmkorrektur (PTF) 5733LD9-FP69019 nicht geladen’

    Do you have an idea, what went wrong?

    1. I would check to make sure there are no damaged PTFs applied for 5733LD9 and that any hotfixes are not currently applied to 5733LD9. Hotfixes will start with a L, an example is L605526. Any hotfixes need to be removed prior installing a new feature pack. I believe if you check the PTF status of the product, it will help to explain what is happening with your installation. When issuing the DSPPTF command, I always specify the release of Domino I want to examine the PTFs for, so specify this: DSPPTF LICPGM(5733LD9) RLS(V9R0M1)

      1. That was it! I’ve forgotten the IF,,,
        After removing, everything worked fine and more or less fast!? About 10 min. for the install.sh script…

        Thank you very much for your help!

          1. Happy New Year to you too! Thank you for providing the additional information. I’m hearing that more and more customers are experiencing issues with FP9 installation slowness on the platform, I’m very happy it went so quickly for you.