AIX 7.1 Installation Tips
General Page
General Recommendations
When updating to a new Technology Level, it is a good practice to first update the bos.rte.install update in a separate installation session.
The compare_report command, which is documented in the AIX Commands Reference, can be used to determine which available updates are newer than those installed on your system.
Any library or executable file that is updated by an interim fix (emgr) or service update, which is in use by an active process, will not be reflected in that process until it is restarted. In addition, any process that is using a library and does a dlopen() of the same library after the library has been updated, could experience inconsistencies.
Commit all applied updates before upgrading to a new service pack or technology level. If using workload partitions (WPARs), commit all applied updates in the WPARs before updating the global LPAR.
IJ29770: PCIe3 16 Gb 2-port Fibre Channel adapter (FC EN2A and FC EN2B) fails to configure
Devices attached via PCIe3 16 Gb 2-port Fibre Channel adapter (FC EN2A and FC EN2B; CCIN 579D) will not configure, and therefore cannot be installed to, when booted from any of the following:
Preinstalled systems could show oslevel 7100-05-05-1937
Service Packs and CVE-2018-6922
POWER4 boot hang with 7100-05-02-1806
Attempting to boot a POWER4 system «all resources» partition at service pack 7100-05-02-1806 will result in a hang in h_get_cpu_characteristics(). This service pack level is available on physical media and via ESS download only (not FixCentral). The APAR for this issue on TL 7100-05 is IJ04517.
It is recommended that POWER4 customers running «all resources» partitions should forego this level and instead update to 7100-05-02-1810 or later, which has the fix.
Updating from pre-TL5 to TL5 or later with RPMs
Users with RPMs installed who are updating or migrating to AIX 7.1 TL5 are advised to refer to the following Technotes:
Update: 3 November 2017
Java6 Removal
Service Pack 7100-04-05 enables removal of Java6. After applying 7100-04-05, simply run the following command if you want to remove Java6 (both 32-bit and 64-bit) from your system:
For additional details and considerations on uninstalling Java, see the following technote: IBM Java for AIX HowTo: Uninstall IBM Java
Updating openssl NIM servers to 7100-04-03
If you have a NIM server configured to use NIM with openssl, NIM will no longer work after the server is updated to 7100-04-03.
This happens because /usr/lib/libssl.so and /usr/lib/libcrypto.so are missing after the update.
To work around this problem, you can manually extract the missing files from archives that will be on the system using the following steps (run as root):
7100-04 Service Pack 3
As of 2016/12/20, Service Pack (SP) 7100-04-03-1642 was updated on FixCentral to add three additional fixes:
To reflect that the content had been augmented, the name of the SP was incremented to 7100-04-03-1643 for ordering purposes only.
Once downloaded and applied to a system, the oslevel output will still be:
Presence of the additional fixes can be verified using instfix:
VIO Client Crash with poll_uplink=yes
VIO client LPARs running the AIX 7100-04 Technology Level with devices.vdevice.IBM.l-lan.rte at 7.1.4.30 might crash during reboot if using virtual ethernet with the poll_uplink attribute set to ‘yes’ for any virtual ethernet adapter device.
The device attribute can be verified with:
When updating to an affected level, be sure to apply the fix for APAR IV91019 before reboot. Until the fix is available in a service pack, an interim fix is available from either:
Installation of the interim fix requires a reboot.
If hit, the crash will show information similar to:
If this crash is experienced, the system can be recovered by temporarily removing the virtual ethernet device(s) from the LPAR profile and rebooting. Then the attribute can be unset and the system reactivated with the original profile.
The device attribute can be changed with:
jfs2 Tuning for Migrated AIX 6.1 Systems
The default value of the j2_inodeCacheSize tunable parameter was changed from 400 to 200. The j2_inodeCacheSize tunable parameter allows approximately 50,000 open files per gigabyte (GB) of main memory, and improves system performance. However, the j2_inodeCacheSize tunable parameter value of 200 can cause issues in systems that have a small amount of main memory (4 GB or less) and many concurrent users or many concurrent open files. To fix these issues, you can change the values for the j2_inodeCacheSize and the j2_metadataCacheSize tunable parameters from 200 to the previous value of 400 by running the following command.
Note: When you run the following command, the current value and boot value of both the tunable parameters are reset.
If the issues are not fixed after you change the values for the j2_inodeCacheSize and the j2_metadataCacheSize tunable parameters, you can contact IBM Support.
Cannot boot from USB-attached DVD
Volume 1 of the AIX 7.1 7100-04-02 DVD install media will not boot in a USB-attached DVD drive and cannot be used to install a system using such a drive.
To identify affected (bad) media, check the DVD label for the following:
A fixed (good) DVD label shows:
Note that the TL, date, and form numbers have all been incremented on the fixed media. As of 2016/07/18, all media orders ship with a fixed version of the DVD. Customers with affected media can get updated ISO images through the Entitled Systems Support (ESS) website.
7100-03 Service Pack 5 Installation
7100-04 Installation
When applying or migrating to the 7100-04 Technology Level, the file set rsct.core.utils 3.2.1.0 will be applied to the system. This level of RSCT is incompatible with rsct.vsd and rsct.lapi.rte file sets that might already be installed. rsct.vsd and rsct.lapi.rte should be uninstalled before applying updates or migrating to 7100-04. In addition, after the file sets are removed, the /opt/rsct directory needs to be renamed, using a command like:
rmdir(/opt/rsct): Do not specify an existing file.
sysck: 3001-017 Errors were detected validating the files
for package rsct.core.utils.
0503-464 installp: The installation has FAILED for the «usr» part
To recover a failed update operation, first ensure that rsct.lapi.rte and rsct.vsd are removed from the system. Then, rename /opt/rsct to /opt/rsct.old, as above. Finally, retry the update.
To recover a failed migration operation, first ensure that rsct.lapi.rte and rsct.vsd are removed from the system. Then, rename /opt/rsct to /opt/rsct.old, as above. Finally, do a smitty update_all from the migration medium to get the missing file sets installed.
7100-04 Service Pack 1
7100-03 Service Pack 5 might fill /var with RSCT logs (IV73126)
At rsct.core.utils 3.2.0.6, modifications were introduced to trace file formats to allow trace spooling to be implemented without subsystems having to be restarted. However, the old trace files are not being removed after the new files are created, so extra unnecessary space in /var is being taken up.
The exact increase will depend on which Resource Managers are active at the time.
For a standard AIX installation with no clustering product in use, the increase should be between 25 and 35 MB.
If Cluster-Aware AIX is activated (either PowerHA v7 or VIOS Shared Storage Pool), the increase should be between 50 and 60 MB.
If Tivoli System Automation for Multi-Platform (SAMP) is configured, the increase should be between 60 and 70 MB.
Customers who have little spare room in /var should increase the file system space, if only temporarily, before upgrading to the new code.
Whether increasing /var or not, customers who want to remove the unnecessary files can do so once the new tracing pages are in place.
7100-02 Service Pack 6 might crash with Modern Cryptographic Library
The Modern Cryptographic Library is updated from version 6.1.0.2 to 6.1.0.3 on the AIX 7.1 Expansion Pack as of November 2014. The updates include the following modcrypt file sets:
The new modcrypt file sets are required if the ACF and PKCS11 device driver version 7.1.2.18 (security.acf file set) is installed and you are using a Network File System (NFS) with Kerberos 5 authentication. If your system does not meet these requirements, it will crash when the NFS gssd daemon starts.
7100-03 Service Pack 4 might crash with Modern Cryptographic Library
The Modern Cryptographic Library is updated from version 6.1.0.2 to 6.1.0.3 on the AIX 7.1 Expansion Pack as of November 2014. The updates include the following modcrypt file sets:
The new modcrypt file sets are required if the ACF and PKCS11 device driver version 7.1.3.30 (security.acf file set) is installed and you are using a Network File System (NFS) with Kerberos 5 authentication. If your system does not meet these requirements, it will crash when the NFS gssd daemon starts
7100-03 Service Pack 1
The 7100-03-01 Service Pack is considered highly recommended. 7100-03-01 is included in the 7100-03 Technology Level available on Fix Central, but systems installed before the availability of Service Pack 1 should install 7100-03-01. To determine if the 7100-03-01 Service Pack is installed, run the command:
The output should indicate » 7100-03-01-1341 «.
alt_root_vg fails with bosboot usage
If using alt_disk_copy to upgrade a system, and the current level of the rootvg is older than 6100-08 SP2 or 7100-02 SP2, then please install the bos.alt_disk_install.rte file set at the level you will be doing the upgrade to, on the original rootvg, before the alt_disk_copy operation. Failure to do so will result in errors creating the boot image in the alternate rootvg.
7100-02 Installation
7100-02 Service Pack 1
The 7100-02-01 Service Pack is considered highly recommended. 7100-02-01 is included in the 7100-02 Technology Level available on Fix Central, but systems installed before the availability of Service Pack 1 should install 7100-02-01. To determine if the 7100-02-01 Service Pack is installed, run the command:
The output should indicate » 7100-02-01-1245 «.
Build date failure updating from 7100-01-07 to 7100-02-02
Attempting to update from 7100-01-07 to 7100-02-02 results in build date errors for the following file sets.
To resolve this issue, download the fix for APAR IV43009, and include the images into the same directory as the 7100-02-02 Service Pack before updating.
This issue only occurs when updating from the 7100-01-07 Service Pack.
7100-01 Installation
When applying the 7100-01 Technology Level with Service Pack 1 included, you will have to run ‘smitty update_all’ a second time to update bos.aso and mcr.rte. Until this is done, the ‘oslevel’ command will not indicate the correct level.
7100-01 Service Pack 1
The 7100-01-01 Service Pack is considered highly recommended. 7100-01-01 is included in the 7100-01 Technology Level available on Fix Central, but systems installed before the availability of Service Pack 1 should install 7100-01-01. To determine if the 7100-01-01 Service Pack is installed, run the command:
The output should indicate » 7100-01-01-1141 «.
Free Space Requirements for devices.common.IBM.sni
The devices.common.IBM.sni product requires that 256MB of available, free partitions in the rootvg volume group. If this space has not been previously allocated for the sni product, a test will be performed at installation time to make sure that this space is available, and if it is not, the installation will fail. If installation is successful, a test will be performed when the lpar is restarted after installation to determine if the sni hardware is available, and if it is, a 256MB logical volume will be allocated as /var/adm/sni.
7100-01 Update When Using Cluster Aware AIX
Due to enhancements in Cluster Aware AIX (CAA) in the 6100-07 and 7100-01 Technology Levels, CAA must be stopped before the update. Attempting to update to 6100-07 or 7100-01 with an active cluster will fail. Note that PowerHA SystemMirror 7.1 uses CAA. This procedure must be used when performing one of the following with a CAA cluster deployed.
Update Procedure for PowerHA SystemMirror 7.1
Update Procedure for Cluster Aware AIX
Refer to the AIX_TL_update_information_for_PowerHA_7.1.pdf document for additional information.
7100-00 Service Pack 1
Service Pack 1 is considered a highly recommended update for customers installing AIX 7.1. To determine if you already have Service Pack 1 installed, use the command:
The output should include «7100-00-01». Service Pack 1 can be obtained from the Fix Central website.
Configuring YUM and creating local repositories on IBM AIX
Setting up YUM and its repositories
By Sangamesh Mallayya, Nitish Mishra, Sanket Rathi, Ayappan p
Published October 24, 2018
Introduction
IBM® AIX® Toolbox contains a collection of open source and GNU software built in RPM Package Manager (RPM) format for IBM AIX systems.
Yellowdog Updater, Modified (YUM) is an open source command line package management utility for RPM packages. It is a tool for installing, removing, querying, and managing RPM packages. YUM automatically determines dependencies for the packages getting updated or installed and thus fetches the dependent packages and installs them with the requested packages. It works with an existing software repository that contains RPM packages. The YUM repository can be accessed locally or over a network.
This tutorial explains the different methods to install YUM, create local YUM repositories of AIX Toolbox RPM packages, and configure YUM. These methods talk about the best solution to use in cases where an AIX system may or may not have access to the Internet.
Prerequisites
This tutorial is best understood if users have some of the basic skills on:
Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) and basic RPM commands:
http://rpm.org/
Estimated time
It takes around 30 minutes for users to read and understand this tutorial.
Configuring YUM
You can configure YUM either by using the yum.sh script or the YUM README file.
Using yum.sh script
This is the preferred method and is useful if users have access to the Internet and can connect to the IBM public FTP server public.dhe.ibm.com directly. The yum.sh script doesn’t work with a proxy setup.
Download and run the yum.sh script from the root user. This script performs the following tasks:
Downloads and updates to the latest version of rpm.rte (which is prerequisite for YUM).
Downloads, extracts, and installs the required RPM packages from latest yum_bundle.tar file.
Using YUM README file
This method is used if the AIX system doesn’t have access to the Internet to connect to the IBM public FTP server.
Follow the two manual steps mentioned in README-yum available on AIX Toolbox. After installing YUM manually, the AIX system needs to have access to the Toolbox repositories. To access Toolbox repositories, one of two methods mentioned below can be used.
Creating a local YUM repository
To setup a local YUM repository, one of the systems must have access to the Internet and this system serves as the repository to other AIX systems.
For better clarity, we call the system with Internet access where the local YUM repository is being created as the Repo server and other AIX systems that use its repository as the AIX Repo clients.
The Repo server must be an RPM-based system such as AIX or Linux®. The HTTP server must be running on the Repo server and the directory where repositories are created should be accessible by the AIX Repo clients using HTTP so that they can connect to it using YUM and retrieve the RPM packages.
Refer to the following steps (1-7) to create and use the local YUM repository.
Run steps 1-6 on the Repo server and step 7 on the AIX Repo clients.
Install yum-utils and createrepo packages.
Create the AIX Toolbox repository entry
Verify whether the AIX repositories are enabled.
Run reposync to sync all AIX Toolbox repository to the Linux system.
Verify whether all the repositories are synchronized.
Note: In this example, the above commands should show all the AIX Toolbox repository RPM package directories.
Run createrepo to create the YUM repository for all the downloaded packages.
Edit the /opt/freeware/etc/yum/yum.conf file on the AIX system.
Edit this file to add and enable the newly created repository on the Linux system.
Note:
reposync copies the RPMs from where we have repodata and doesn’t copy any repodata files, but only the RPMs with its directory structure. Repository structure will not be exactly the same as AIX Toolbox and users must edit the yum.conf file to point to the correct path.
For example, For AIX Toolbox we have:
So, after running createrepo on the Linux system, the repository URL in AIX should be something as:
YUM proxy configuration
First, you need to set up YUM manually by following the two manual steps shown in the README-yum file. Set up the HTTP or HTTPS proxy server and allow proxy connections from the AIX Repo clients to the proxy server.
Now, either add the proxy entry in the /opt/freeware/etc/yum/yum.conf file as: proxy=http:// :
Or, export the http_proxy environment variable as: export http_proxy=http:// :
Here is the snippet of the yum.conf file with proxy entry.
Summary
It is important to understand how enterprise wants to create or use the existing YUM repositories based on the kind of infrastructures they have.
This depends on the security standards defined by an individual organization. If standards allow to access public networks, then it is best to use AIX Toolbox repositories. Otherwise, having one single server to connect to a public network which serve the YUM repositories to private systems is the preferred method.
There are ways to setup YUM from ISO image too.
AIX for System Administrators
dropdown menu
QEMU (Quick EMUlator) is a machine emulator program, which is capable to create VMs with different processor architectures. For example if we want to test a Solaris (with RISC processor) or an HP-UX (with HPPA) or an AIX (with Power processor) QEMU can emulate that processor type and run the specified OS on that. So on Windows or Linux (on x86) with QEMU we can run AIX.
After installing QEMU, we can use a command to create an empty virtual disk and after a VM (with specified RAM and additional devices). If we use an AIX DVD during the boot, AIX will be installed there. (After installation not all AIX commands are available but many things still possible to do.)
Without any prior experience in QEMU, I used these 2 sources:
https://astr0baby.wordpress.com/2018/11/04/running-aix-7-2-tl3sp1-on-x86_64-via-qemu-system-ppc64/
http://gibsonnet.net/blog/cgaix/resource/AIX_QEMU_blog.pdf
Very important: be patient during this process, things can be (very) slow sometimes.
On Windows I installed VirtualBox and I created a Linux VM (CentOS 8). The plan was that on this linux VM in VirtualBox I will create an AIX VM using QEMU. After CentOS 8 installation completed, I configured network, so I could ssh to my linux server and do these steps:
0. Download AIX DVD
From IBM ESS site download AIX DVD. I used 7.1 TL5 SP5, DVD1 is enough (710505.iso). Copy to any directory, I used /root/aix.
After that we will get a prompt with an environment where filesystems are already mounted:
# cd /sbin/helpers/jfs2 fsck64 /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/tap0/proxy_arp
How to configure a VIOS Media Repository/Virtual Media Library (ex. AIX Install/Restore)
Question & Answer
Question
What’s the procedure to install an AIX base ISO to an AIX parition using a VIOS media repository? What’s the procedure to create/use/remove a virtual media repository? Can a mksysb ISO be restored through the virtual media repository?
Cause
This document provides a step by step command line procedure for using a virtual media repository or Virtual Media Library (VML) to install/restore an AIX partition.
This applies to VIOS version 2.2.x.
Answer
PART I. REQUIREMENTS BEFORE PROCEEDING:
Please ensure the following requirements are met before proceeding:
PART II. PERFORMING NEW AIX INSTALL WITH VML:
Step 1: Obtain AIX base ISO image from ESS and store on the VIO server.
AIX base ISO images can be obtained by contacting Entitled Software Support (ESS) at 1-800-879-2755 option 2, option 2. The representatives should be able to verify entitlement and guide customers on how to download the ISO image. Once the AIX ISO image has been downloaded, the image can be stored in the /home/padmin directory of the VIO server.
Step 2: Create/Modify the media repository
1. Create the repository in rootvg:
2. Create the repository in a new VG:
3. Increasing the size of the media repository:
NOTE: Increasing the size is currently the only option. To reduce the size, the repository will need to be removed and recreated.
Step 4: Verify the virtual media disk is part of the repository
$ lsrep
Size(mb) Free(mb) Parent Pool Parent Size Parent Free
10198 5955 rootvg 139776 22528
Name File Size Optical Access
base_61_TL7 4243 None ro
Step 5: Create the file backed optical device and map it to a vhost:
Shown without the vtopt device
VTD L1_rootvg
Status Available
LUN 0x8100000000000000
Backing device lpar1_lv
Physloc
Mirrored N/A
Shown with the vtopt device
VTD L1_rootvg
Status Available
LUN 0x8100000000000000
Backing device lpar1_lv
Physloc
Mirrored N/A
NOTE: Additional vtopt devices can be created and mapped to other vhosts. Consequently, each vtopt device will appear as a virtual CD_ROM device on the clients’ side. Furthermore, the same virtual media disk (base_61_TL7 in this example) can be simultaneously loaded (in Step 6) onto more than one virtual optical (vopt) device allowing the same virtual media disk (ISO image) to be used to install more than one AIX client at the same time.
Step 6: Load the virtual media disk on the vtopt device:
$ lsrep
Size(mb) Free(mb) Parent Pool Parent Size Parent Free
10198 5955 rootvg 139776 22528
Name File Size Optical Access
base_61_TL7 4243 None ro
$ lsrep
Size(mb) Free(mb) Parent Pool Parent Size Parent Free
10198 5955 rootvg 139776 22528
Name File Size Optical Access
base_61_TL7 4243 vtopt0 ro
Step 7: Boot the client partition from the virtual optical device:
A.) Activate the AIX Partition to the SMS Menu
B.) Select the virtual optical device (CD-ROM)
SMS 1.7 (c) Copyright IBM Corp. 2000,2008 All rights reserved.
——————————————————————————-
Main Menu
1. Select Language
2. Setup Remote IPL (Initial Program Load)
3. Change SCSI Settings
4. Select Console
5. Select Boot Options
Select Device Type
1. Diskette
2. Tape
3. CD/DVD
4. IDE
5. Hard Drive
6. Network
7. List all Devices
C.) Remove the repository:
$ rmrep [-f]
PART III: PERFORMING MKSYSB RESTORE WITH MKSYSB ISO AND VML:
Step 1: Check the remaining space of the repository and the size of the mksysb ISO file (in this example, it will be cd_image_6357164):
$ lsrep
Size(mb) Free(mb) Parent Pool Parent Size Parent Free
10198 5955 rootvg 139776 22528
Name File Size Optical Access
base_61_TL7 4243 None ro
Step 2: Create the virtual media disk out of the mksysb ISO and add to the repository:
Step 3: Verify the new virtual media disk in the repository:
$ lsrep
Size(mb) Free(mb) Parent Pool Parent Size Parent Free
10198 2979 rootvg 139776 22528
Name File Size Optical Access
base_61_TL7 4243 None ro
lpar1_sysb 2976 None ro
Step 4: As it was done in Part II Step 6, load the new mksysb virtual media disk to the available virtual optical device mapped to the vhost:
VTD L1_rootvg
Status Available
LUN 0x8100000000000000
Backing device lpar1_lv
Physloc
Mirrored N/A
VTD vtopt0
Status Available
LUN 0x8200000000000000
Backing device 2979 rootvg 139776 22528
Name File Size Optical Access
base_61_TL7 4243 None ro
lpar1_sysb 2976 vtopt0 ro
Check the space available.
$ lsrep
Size(mb) Free(mb) Parent Pool Parent Size Parent Free
12238 5019 rootvg 139776 20480
Name File Size Optical Access
base_61_TL7 4243 None ro
lpar1_sysb 2976 vtopt0 ro
Now, create the virtual media disks out of each volume.
Verify that all of the volumes have been made into a virtual disk:
$ lsrep
Size(mb) Free(mb) Parent Pool Parent Size Parent Free
12239 2022 rootvg 139776 20480
Name File Size Optical Access
base_61_TL7 4243 None ro
lpar1_sysb 2976 vtopt0 ro
lpar2_sysb_vol1 643 None rw
lpar2_sysb_vol2 645 None rw
lpar2_sysb_vol3 645 None rw
lpar2_sysb_vol4 645 None rw
lpar2_sysb_vol5 420 None rw
VTD L2_rootvg
Status Available
LUN 0x8100000000000000
Backing device lpar2_lv
Physloc
Mirrored N/A
VTD vtopt1
Status Available
LUN 0x8200000000000000
Backing device Back on the client getting installed, strike ENTER/RETURN to begin reading from the second volume and continue the install.
Continue the process of unloading and loading the virtual media disk volumes in order as the client asks for them until the restore has completed.