Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

I would like to port an AIX 5L V5.2 ML9 image from a system p
650 (P4) to a system p 570 (P6) which is to serve as a Disaster Recovery
server. According to IBM compatibility document
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/p/os/aix/compatibility/ , AIX 5.2 is supported
on POWER6 servers. Problem is, the mksysb image is ~10gb.
Is FTP a valid protocol for transferring a mksysb image from one managed
system to another?
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: orphy

FTP, rcp, scp, etc all should work but since we don't know your env, it's difficult to say. The fact that this is a DR situation, the p570 is probably (at least it should be) far away so I would assume you probably don't have the best network connection speed but, again, we don't know.

My real curiosity is how you managed to get 10G in the mksysb?!?!?! Do you really need that much in there? Does it include a bunch of non-AIX stuff there also? My take is always keep the mksysb small since that would most likely help rebuilding a DR box faster. Everything non-AIX items should go into separate VGs and you can always use savevg/restvg for those. Rebuilding using a 10G mksysb is going to take you a while. Besides, for DR, chances are that you would do regular mksysbs for DR and do you really want to cut a 10g file and ftp it over the network, say, every month?
Orphy
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

Hi, and thanks for the reply.
My local environment includes our production 5.2 ml9 lpars running on a p650 (P4),
and a p570(P6)which we are configuring for an ERP project which is currently in
developement. We also have a Shark and an EMC CX3_80 for our data.

Our DR environment includes a 570 but that netwoork is not operational yet. The DR
site will also have an EMC CX3-80, but that SAN is currently here locally.

What I want to do is take an AIX 5.2 ml9 mksysb from our 650, and load that on an
lpar which I have created on our local 570. I can then connect that lpar to the
DR SAN and push existing data to it such that when the DR SAN moves to the DR
site, it will already be populated with 95% of it's data.

As for the size of rootvg, I totally agree with trying to keep it as small as
possible. Unfortunately, I have to work with what I inherited.

It sounds like you believe FTP is a valid protocol for transferring a mksysb file,
and if so, I expect I should be able to also transport the 5.2 lpp_source to my
5.3 NIM server (on the 570), create a 5.2 SPOT from the 5.2 mksysb, and drop the
image onto an lpar on the 570. Sound reasonable?
I appreciate your feedback.
Thanks,
Geoff
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: orphy

Two things came to mind:

1. I didn't read the P6 Announcement so you need to check to make sure you can put 5.2 ML9 on a P6.
2. For lpp_source/NIM files, if you are thinking about transport=FTP, you might want to reconsider doing NFS instead. Using FTP for these many files might not be ideal.
Orphy
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

At the web site included in my original posting, I read that P6 can run aix 5.2,
so I'm comfortable there. As for FTP vs NFS, I'm having trouble getting NFS mounts to go through a firewall where we are using NAT to translate host IP's of the 570 lpars, which reside behind the firewall. May be a matter of tweaking firewall controls, but if FTP is valid, then I won't have to wait on the keepers of the firewall.
Thanks.
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: orphy

There are always some minor details you need to read carefully. You'll need at least AIX 5.2 TL10 to make P6 work.

Software requirements

If installing the AIX operating system (one of these):

* AIX 5L™ for POWER V5.2 with Technology Level 5200-10, or later
* AIX 5L for POWER V5.3 with Technology Level 5300-06, or later

Note: The Advanced POWER Virtualization feature (#7942) is not supported on AIX 5L for POWER V5.2.

http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&appname=GPA&htmlfid=897/ENUS107-288#Software

As for dealing with the firewalls, it might just be easier if you can either ftp/rcp -rp or tar/untar but I do think you have a few options for this.
Orphy
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: orphy

There are always some minor details you need to read carefully. You'll need at least AIX 5.2 TL10 to make P6 work.

Software requirements

If installing the AIX operating system (one of these):

* AIX 5L™ for POWER V5.2 with Technology Level 5200-10, or later
* AIX 5L for POWER V5.3 with Technology Level 5300-06, or later

Note: The Advanced POWER Virtualization feature (#7942) is not supported on AIX 5L for POWER V5.2.

http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&appname=GPA&htmlfid=897/ENUS107-288#Software

As for dealing with the firewalls, it might just be easier if you can either ftp/rcp -rp or tar/untar but I do think you have a few options for this.
Orphy
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

Upgrading from ml9 to ml10 is ceratinely reasonbable.
However, I'm not sure how to read
"Note: The Advanced POWER Virtualization feature (#7942) is not supported on AIX 5L for POWER V5.2."
Is this saying you cannot run vio on 5.2, or is that to say you cannot install an AIX 5.2 ML10 image on an lpar that is served it's resources, ie. disk space, from a
vio server?? This would certainely stop this particular show.
Thanks,
Geoff Gann
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: orphy

The way I look at it from the Announcement is that you can't do APV on that particular combo BUT an announcement is nothing more than a snapshot of what they support at a particular time. They do make changes along the line so you might wish to contact AIX support about this to clarify.

With AIX 5.2 though, I highly doubt that they would go back to work on the codes to support APV if they said no initially already.

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247940.html
Orphy
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

Excellent points Orphy. As it appears we cannot use micro-partitioning for
aix 5.2, we will need to return to the drawing board for this particular
task.
Thanks for all your assistance,
Geoff Gann
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: vinodn

I have a small suggestion..Just correct me if i am wrong.
Instead of doing ftp(Initialy u mentioned DR environment network is not operational i am not sure how u will use ftp ) / or creating SPOT in nim....Since you have DR SAN -EMC available locally, just assign a 10GB size of LUN to the existing AIX 5.2 OS and do a mksysb clone. So while going back to DR Environment just assign the same 10GB Lun there and boot from this. Then you can do a cloning to your internal disk(LPAR-DR Environment) and proceed your work .

Thanks
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: j.gann

the bosinst.data option all_devices_kernels is one key factor of mksysb portability. read here:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.install/doc/insgdrf/install_all_devices_kernels.htm

Joachim Gann
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

Thanks. I see that my 5.2 nim server included all_device_kernels, but the 5.2
clients did not. Would/Could these 'missing' kernel elements be provided via
lpp_source?
Geoff Gann
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: j.gann

I am not aware of having seen aixes without all_devices_kernels installed. It might be sufficient to just install bos.up* bos.mp* and devices.* before creating the mksysb.

But note that 5.2 does not run in micropartitions - this should be a strong reason for you to migrate to 5.3

Joachim Gann
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

Inability to use vio w/ aix5.2 will certainly kill this approach, as upgrading
to 5.3 implies concurrently uprgading many existing production Oracle applications.
We are headed back to the drawing boards.
Thanks for your help,
Geoff Gann
#AIX-Forum