IBM AIX Support | Platforms and Operating Systems

Migrating a system from older releases of AIX to a newer release is a delicate procedure, and is not as easy as a simple install. IBM has some instructions regarding migrations and upgrades.

For migrations or updates:

Make a complete backup of your system. Include the root and data volume groups. Ensure that your backup actually worked before doing anything to harm your system.
Acquire a copy of the CD-ROM media. You will need to boot from the CD to do the update.

Then follow these steps:

Mount the inst.images filesystem from post.doit.wisc.edu over /mnt.

mount post.doit.wisc.edu/aix/xxx/inst.images /mnt
Use SMIT to do an "update_all" from /mnt.
Unmount the filesystem /mnt.
Mount the appropriate fix filesystem from post.doit.wisc.edu over /mnt.

mount post.doit.wisc.edu/aix/xxx/fix /mnt
Use SMIT to do an "update_all" from /mnt/xxx (where xxx is probably a directory in there -- you may need to examine that NFS mount first to see what the latest is, as new maintenance levels and fixes are released).
Unmount /mnt.

When installing or updating software with SMIT the safest method is to always do a 'preview' first. This will tell you if the install will work and how much room it will take. Also, do not commit the install if you can avoid it. Installing without committing will allow you to back the changes out in most cases. In some cases you may be forced to commit software if you do not have enough space on your system to store the old software. Again, have a good backup.

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