IBM AIX Support | Platforms and Operating Systems

AIX 4.3 Installation Tips

November 22, 1999

This document contains the latest tips for successful installation of AIX 4.3, and will be updated as new tips become available.

APARs and PTFs mentioned in this document, when available, can be obtained from FixDist. Information on obtaining and using FixDist is available at the following URL.

http://service.software.ibm.com/rs6k/fixes.html

When doing a migration to AIX 4.3 from a previous release of AIX, you must update filesets from all CD-ROM volumes. The initial migration installation only updates from volume 1. After the system is booted in normal mode, you should do 'smit update_all' to update from the additional CD-ROM volumes. SMIT will prompt for the additional volumes as necessary.

oslevel May Not Indicate 4.3.3.0

The oslevel command may not correctly output '4.3.3.0' on systems installed or updated from the AIX 4.3.3 product media for the following reasons.

The level of the ifor_ls.compat.cli fileset on the AIX product media is at the 4.3.2.0 level. This problem can be corrected by installing the ifor_ls.compat.cli 4.3.3.0 update (PTF U466561), which is available from FixDist. This problem does not occur when updating from the 4.3.3.0 Maintenance Level.
The bos.perf.pmr fileset is down level after updating from the AIX 4.3.3 product media. The occurs only when updating AIX 4.3.0 and 4.3.1 systems, which already have the bos.perf.pmr fileset installed. The bos.perf.pmr fileset is obsolete in AIX 4.3.3 and should be removed.
The bos.crypto* and sysmgt.security* filesets are not included in the AIX 4.3.3.0 Maintenance Level, since they contain encryption code that is subject to export restrictions. Updates to these filesets are available only on the AIX 4.3.3 Bonus Pack that that is shipped with AIX 4.3.3.

ifor_ls.msg Installation Failures

Some ifor_ls.msg.*.compat.gui filesets may fail to install from the AIX 4.3.3 product media due to a requisite to ifor_ls.compat.gui 4.3.3.0, which does not exist. This problem can be corrected by installing the ifor_ls.compat.gui 4.3.3.0 update (APAR IY04448), when available, from FixDist.

bos.loc.utf.ZH_CN Update Failure

When updating an existing AIX 4.3 system from the AIX 4.3.3.0 Maintenance Level, the bos.loc.utf.ZH_CN 4.3.3.0 update will fail to install if the bos.loc.iso.zh_CN fileset is not installed. To prevent this problem, install the bos.loc.iso.zh_CN fileset from your existing AIX media prior to updating from the AIX 4.3.3.0 Maintenance Level. This problem does not occur when updating from the AIX 4.3.3 Product Media.

perfagent.tools Update Failure

When updating an existing AIX 4.3 system from the AIX 4.3.3.0 Maintenance Level, the perfagent.tools 2.2.33.0, as well as other requisites, may fail to install. The requisite failure occurs if the perfagent.server fileset is installed without the perfagent.tools fileset. To prevent this problem, install the perfagent.tools fileset from your existing AIX media prior to updating from the AIX 4.3.3.0 Maintenance Level. This problem does not occur when updating from the AIX 4.3.3 Product Media.

sysmgt.websm.apps Update Failure

When updating an existing AIX 4.3 system from the AIX 4.3.3.0 Maintenance Level, the sysmgt.websm.apps 4.3.3.0, as well as other requisites, may fail to install. The requisite failure occurs if the sysmgt.websm.apps fileset is already installed, due to a requisite to perl.rte, which is a new fileset in 4.3.3. To prevent this problem, install the perl.rte fileset, which is included in the AIX 4.3.3.0 Maintenance Level prior to updating from the AIX 4.3.3.0 Maintenance Level. This problem does not occur when updating from the AIX 4.3.3 Product Media.

Installation Failures from NFS Mounted CD

Permissions of some install images on the AIX 4.3.3 product media do not include read permission for others. Although this will not cause problems while installing from a locally mounted CD-ROM, it can cause installation failures from a CD-ROM that is NFS mounted. This problem can be circumvented by copying the images to disk and changing the permissions, or by changing the NFS export parameters to allow root access for the mounting host.

AIX Documentation Using IBM HTTP Web Server

If you are using the IBM HTTP Web Server software to serve the AIX Documentation Library services, the configuration process may not have worked correctly. To test your configuration, type the following command after you have completed the library service configuration process:


     grep DOCUMENT_DIRECTORY /etc/environment

If your system is correctly configured the following line should appear:


     DOCUMENT_DIRECTORY=/usr/HTTPServer/htdocs/en_US

If the directory name is not the same as listed in the line above, you need to compete the instructions below.

As root, type the following command:


          smit change_doc_search_server

Select "Local - this computer" in the "Documentation search server LOCATION" field and press ENTER.
Select "Other local server or above in non-default location" in the "Web server SOFTWARE" field and press ENTER.
Specify the following directories on the "Change Local Documentation and Search Server" panel. Change other values as required for your web server setup and press ENTER.
```
     Local web server cgi-bin DIRECTORY              /usr/HTTPServer/cgi-bin
     Local web server HTML document directory        /usr/HTTPServer/htdocs/en_US
```

AIX Fast Connect in DCE Environment

AIX Fast Connect configured in a DCE environment to provide access to file shares located in DFS space must be started using the following steps.

Login as root.
dce_login as a principal (such as cell_admin) that has su rights to the DFS tree being shared.
Start AIX Fast Connect using the 'net start /load' command. SMIT or WebSM can also be used as long as the they are started from this shell.

The above procedure allows the cifsServer daemon to run with su login context while cifsUserProc runs with users login context. Users login context gets set following DCE authentication.

LED E1DC During Boot on CHRP Systems

CHRP based systems can hang at boot with E1DC in the LEDs after booting down-level diagnostics or AIX CDs. You can determine if your system is CHRP based using the following command:


     lslpp -L devices.chrp.base.rte

If the devices.chrp.base.rte filesets is installed, the system architecture is likey CHRP. If this fileset is not installed, this problem cannot occur on your system.

To prevent this problem from occurring, install APAR IX79693, which is included in AIX 4.3.2, and also obtain the latest 4.3.2 diagnostics CD-ROM, P/N 08L1427 or 08L1430. Do not attempt to boot the system with earlier level diagnostics CD-ROMs or other media that contains a level of AIX earlier than 4.3.2.

Once this problem occurs, the only way to correct the condition is to power the system off, unplug the battery for approximately 10 minutes, plug in the battery and power the system back on.

Firmware Corruption Using feprom_update

The "feprom_update" command fails on AIX 4.3 systems with an error similar to:


     1734-009 cannot write in FEPROM

Once this failure occurs, the system firmware is corrupt, and the system will no longer reboot. This problem affects SMP systems with 604e processors, including SP High Nodes. APAR IX84560 is currently available and should be installed prior to attempting a firmware update..

Exec Format Error Running Netscape Communicator

Netscape Communicator uses a private copy of the AIX C library (libc.a). The libc.a shipped with Netscape Communicator 4.0.4 and earlier may not be compatible with AIX 4.3.1, and may fail to start with an error similar to the following:


     Could not load program /usr/local/netscape4/netscape_aix4
     Symbol __malloc_postfork_unlock in /usr/lib/libpthreads.a is undefined
     Symbol __malloc_prefork_lock in /usr/lib/libpthreads.a is undefined
     Could not load library libC.a[shr.o]
     Error was: Exec format error

To correct this problem, refer to the following URL for instructions on downloading and installing the fix.


     ftp://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/netscape/

WebSphere V3.0 with AIX JDK 1.1.8

Use of the AIX Java 1.1.8 JIT (Just-in-Time compiler) with the WebSphere V3.0 Administration Server requires APAR IY04792. Until the APAR is applied, the JIT should be disabled during WebSphere Application Server startup. Disabling the JIT can have negative WebSphere Application Server performance impacts, therefore installation of APAR IY04792 is highly recommended.

To disable the AIX JDK 1.1.8 JIT, modify the WebSphere admin.config file and replace the line:


     com.ibm.ejs.sm.util.process.Nanny.adminServerJvmArgs=-mx128m


     with the line:


     com.ibm.ejs.sm.util.process.Nanny.adminServerJvmArgs=-mx128m -Djava.compiler=NONE

Secondly, any Application Server that is created will also require the JIT to be disabled. To accomplish this, through the use of the WebSphere Administrative Console, add the following to the Command line arguments field for the Application Server:


     -Djava.compiler=NONE

The Admin Console DOES NOT require the JIT to be disabled. The procedure is only required for the Adminserver and any Application Servers.

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