Installation and Migration Guide

Updating and maintaining installation images

This section addresses maintaining mksysb installation images.

Adding mksysb images to the control workstation

Changes in system configurations may require you to create additional mksysbs or replace existing ones. To create additional mksysbs, use one of the following commands:

• |mksysb -- used with AIX 4.x and AIX 5L 5.1 |systems
• smit mksysb -- supported SMIT interface

Store the resulting mksysb on the control workstation using a different name from the mksysbs that already exists on the control workstation. If you do not use a different name, you will overwrite the existing mksysb and your changes will not get propagated to boot/install servers or nodes.

To replace an existing mksysb, create a new one and store in on the control workstation using the same name as the existing mksysb.

Note:

|In order to reinstall your nodes, the mksysb image and the lppsource |that you use must both contain the same version, release, modification, and |fix levels of AIX. If you do not have a mksysb image at the same level |as your lppsource, you may do one of the following: |

1. |Make your own updated mksysb image. In order to do this, you will |need to: |
   1. |Update an existing lppsource to the most recent maintenance level of |AIX.
   2. |Perform a BOS node upgrade on a single node as described in BOS node upgrade or follow the steps in Installing updates on a per node basis.
   3. |Make a mksysb image of that node as described in Installing updates through reinstallation.
   4. |Use the mksysb created in Step 1c along with your updated lppsource to install your remaining |nodes. |
2. |Contact IBM Level 1 service to obtain an updated mksysb image. |

|

Restoring the control workstation from a mksysb image

When you need to restore the control workstation from a mksysb image, for example in the case of a disk in the rootvg volume group being replaced, follow the procedure documented in the "Installing BOS for a system backup" chapter of the AIX Installation Guide. Make sure that the mksysb image you are using is the most recent copy from the control workstation. Otherwise, you may have a version that does not match with the version on the nodes.

Restoring the node from a mksysb image

To restore the node from a mksysb image, refer to Test your image on a single node. Make sure that the mksysb you want to restore on the node is the correct one for that node.