IBM AS/400 i5/OS service pack rollback/backout with XCOM

Products

• XCOM Data Transport

Issue/Introduction

Testing the install and rollback/backout of service pack 2 (SP02) on XCOM R11.0. Is there a procedure available to rollback/backout the service pack to leave the original 11.0 install?

Environment

XCOM™ Data Transport® for AS/400 i5/OS

Resolution

With XCOM for AS/400 i5/OS there is no official rollback option. At the moment there is only really one option available.

Backup XCOM 11.0 before upgrade to XCOM 11.0 SP02

1. Backup or rename the current XCOM library; it is easier to rename it.
2. Install XCOM SP02 using the same library name that was used with the original install.
3. When installing XCOM ensure to copy the configuration(remote system profiles) from the original library to the new one. During the install of XCOM there are prompts. The one that will copy the configuration is "Copy files from library?" where the name of the above renamed library should be specified. More details here:
   XCOM Data Transport for AS/400 11.0 > Installing and Upgrading > Install and Upgrade
4. If rollback/backout is required rename the SP02 library and rename the original install library back to its name.

Additional Information

XCOM Engineering is also looking at a second rollback option where XCOM 11.0 SP02 would be installed into different libraries. This is more complicated because:

• The location of the XCOM SSL software in PASE is hardcoded, so renaming the directory is required to switch from one version to another.
• 11.0 fixes, SP01 and SP02 adopted different UNIX file names and started to use links. 

This article will be updated in the future if that second option is found to be feasible.