Cloning Considerations

The mksysb images enable you to clone one system image onto multiple target systems. The target systems might not contain the same hardware devices or adapters, require the same kernel (uniprocessor or microprocessor), or be the same hardware platform (rs6k, rspc, or chrp) as the source system. If you are installing a mksysb on a system it was not created on, use the procedure "Cloning Your System."

Cloning Your System

Use this procedure to install a mksysb on a target system it was not created on. Be sure to boot from the product media appropriate for your system and at the same maintenance level of BOS as the installed source system that the mksysb was made on. For example, you can use BOS Version 4.2.1 product media with a mksysb from a BOS Version 4.2.1 system.

After booting from product media, complete the following steps when the Welcome to the Base Operating System Installation and Maintenance screen is displayed.

1. Select the Start Maintenance Mode for System Recovery option.
2. Select the Install from a System Backup option.
3. Select the drive containing the backup tape and insert the tape.

   The system reads the tape and begins the installation.

   You will be prompted again for the BOS install language, and the Welcome screen is displayed. Continue with the Prompted Installation. Cloning is not supported in a nonprompted installation.

4. If you are cloning from the product CD, do not remove the CD from the CD-ROM drive.

   Notes:

   1. Booting from tape product media is not supported on rspc platform systems. You must use CD product media. To determine what your platform system is, enter the following command:

        bootinfo -p

   2. If you are cloning from the product tape, create a diskette that contains a ./bosinst.data file with SWITCH_TO_PRODUCT_TAPE=yes in the control_flow stanza if this was not set prior to making the mksysb.
   3. If SWITCH_TO_PRODUCT_TAPE is set to yes, the system will prompt you to remove the mksysb tape and insert the product tape after the mksysb cloning has been restored.

After the mksysb installation completes, the installation program automatically installs additional devices and the kernel (uniprocessor or microprocessor) on your system using the original product media you booted from. Information is saved in BOS installation log files. To view BOS installation log files, enter cd /var/adm/ras and view the devinst.log file in this directory.

If the source system does not have the correct passwords and network information, you may make modifications on the target system now. Also, some products ship device-specific files such as PEX/graPHIGS. If your graphics adapter is different on the target system, verify that the device-specific filesets for graphics-related LPPs are installed.

Attention: If the system you have cloned is using OpenGL or PEX_PHIGS, there may be some device filesets from these LPPs that must be installed after a clone. OpenGL and PEX_PHIGS have graphics adapter-specific filesets, so if you cloned onto a system with a different graphics adapter, you will need to create a bundle as follows:

echo OpenGL.OpenGL_X.dev >
  /usr/sys/inst.data/user_bundles/graphic_dev.bnd
echo PEX_PHIGS.dev >>
  /usr/sys/inst.data/user_bundles/graphic_dev.bnd

Next use smitty install_bundle to install this bundle. If any new filesets are installed, you may want to reboot your system before using OpenGL and PEX_PHIGS. Otherwise, you may experience performance problems with these applications.

The above procedure is required because the OpenGL and PEX_PHIGS LPPs are on a separate media, and therefore the normal cloning procedure cannot automatically install any missing device filesets.

The Network Installation Management (NIM) mksysb installation also supports cloning.If you are using NIM and you have OpenGL and PEX_PHIGS in your lpp_source, you can create a separate bundle as described above, and allocate it when you install the mksysb. The device filesets will be installed automatically.