Migrating your IBM

pSeries system to
A IX 5 L

Peter H Nutt
July 2002

Abstract
AIX 5L is the most recently released operating system for the IBM eServer pSeries and
RS/6000 hardware platforms and contains many enhancements to enable these platforms to
continue to provide industry leading performance and capabilities. This document discusses
some of the new features, the major benefits of upgrading and the planning and migration
process when moving to AIX 5L. Most importantly, this document also provides practical
advice and guidance to help ensure a smooth and risk free transition.
1 Benefits of AIX 5L ________________________________________________3
1.1 Why move? ___________________________________________________3
1.1.1 Tried and tested _____________________________________________________ 3
1.1.2 On-going development and support ______________________________________ 3
1.1.3 New hardware and Power4 based systems _________________________________ 4
1.1.4 Performance________________________________________________________ 4
1.2 AIX 5L and total cost of ownership _________________________________4
1.2.1 Workload manager___________________________________________________ 4
1.2.2 Resource monitoring and control (RMC)___________________________________ 5
1.2.3 Logical partitioning (hardware dependent) _________________________________ 5
2 Preparing for the migration _________________________________________5
2.1 Hardware requirements of AIX 5.1 _________________________________6
2.1.1 Microcode updates ___________________________________________________ 6
2.1.2 32-bit and 64-bit kernel hardware support__________________________________ 6
2.2 Important: Read the release notes __________________________________7
2.3 AIX versions supported for a migration install_________________________7
2.4 Linux applications ______________________________________________7
2.4.1 New and complete overwrite install ______________________________________ 7
2.5 Backups ______________________________________________________7
2.5.1 mksysb ___________________________________________________________ 7
2.5.2 backup ____________________________________________________________ 8
2.5.3 Alternate disk install__________________________________________________ 8
2.6 NIM considerations _____________________________________________8
2.7 Applications and binary compatibility _______________________________8
2.7.1 Non-certified AIX 5L applications _______________________________________ 9
2.8 Verify and prepare your existing installation __________________________9
2.9 Boot logical volume size check _____________________________________9
3 Performing the migration __________________________________________11
3.1 First steps ____________________________________________________12
4 After the migration _______________________________________________17
4.1 Verifying the migration _________________________________________17
4.2 AIX maintenance levels and fixes __________________________________18
5 Migrating a control workstation (CWS)_______________________________19
6 ISV specific support options ________________________________________19
7 References ______________________________________________________19
8 Appendix –common applications supported on AIX 5L __________________20
1 Benefits of AIX 5L
Every AIX operating system (OS) release brings enhanced functionality and performance
to the market and effectively satisfies the constantly increasing business requirement for
improved performance, reliability, security and all whilst reducing the total cost of
ownership. An overview of the benefits of AIX 5L is shown below.

q Performance and scalability: AIX 5L efficiently delivers processing power,

scalability and workload management to business applications. Run more
applications with less contention on fewer servers.

q Reliability and serviceability: Servers constantly monitor themselves and can be

configured to automatically respond and adapt to hardware and software failures. AIX
5L utilises ‘mainframe’ technology to help ensure that your applications are available
whenever and wherever they are needed.

q Networking and security: AIX 5L provides extra functionality for network

performance and redundancy. Coupled with enhanced security options, AIX 5L can
defend your systems from malicious attack and networking failure.

AIX 5L contains many more features and benefits that can not be listed in this short
document. For further information, please refer to the IBM AIX 5L web site
www.ibm.com/servers/aix/ or AIX 5L differences guide Redbook www.redbooks.ibm.com

Note: The term AIX 5L refers to all of the AIX version 5 releases and at the time of
writing, AIX 5.1 is the current operating system. Although this document directly relates
to AIX 5.1, it is anticipated that the procedures and recommendations discussed will be
equally applicable to future releases.

1.1 Why move?

Your system may be running perfectly well on an earlier version of AIX and ‘why
move?’ is a question that you may well be asking yourself. Of course, there is not a
quick answer. If your system or application is running in a very controlled environment
and there are no plans to change hardware, software, system load or configuration
then the quick answer is to stay as you are. If the system is stable and nothing is likely
to change then there is no immediate reason to change. In the majority of cases, this
may not be the situation and as time progresses, the servers or applications will be
periodically refreshed. New hardware, software, increased load or configuration
changes all impose extra demands on the system and these will all benefit from having
the latest proven operating system installed.
Why move? Updating your servers or applications to AIX 5L ensures that you have
the latest operating system functionality, flexibility, reliability and compatibility with the
latest IBM eServer pSeries hardware.
This section discusses a few other issues that should be taken into account when
considering a migration to AIX 5L.

1.1.1 Tried and tested

When migrating to the latest version of an operating system, it can be extremely
encouraging to know that it has been generally available for some time and is not ‘hot
off the press’. AIX 5L version 5.1 became generally available (GA) in May of 2001
and has seen recommended maintenance levels one and two released. Given the GA
date, it can be seen that AIX 5.1 has been in the ‘field’ for over one year and can be
considered a mature and stable platform to provide the foundation for business
critical services and applications.

1.1.2 On-going development and support

As AIX evolves and new functionality is added, the new features are generally only
available in the newer versions. To realise the benefits of these new features, it is
 necessary to migrate to the new operating system. A few enhancements may
become available on the previous OS through recommended maintenance level
updates or PTFs but this is a limited case and does not provide every feature that a
new OS would give. Also, as new OS versions become available, earlier releases are
periodically withdrawn from standard support mechanisms and it can become difficult
and or costly to obtain support for a ‘withdrawn’ OS. Do you know when standard
support will be withdrawn for your version of AIX?

1.1.3 New hardware and Power4 based systems

Within the pSeries family, time does not stand still and both hardware and software
are constantly evolving. As new hardware is introduced, related drivers and utilities
are provided and for the latest range of hardware utilising the POWER4 processors,
this is no exception. POWER4 based systems are only supported under the AIX 5L
operating system and if there is a possibility of moving to a POWER4 platform then
the operating system has to be AIX 5L. To facilitate a smooth transition to the new
platform, it is recommended that the existing OS be migrated to AIX 5L on the current
platform. When the time comes to move to the POWER4 based platform, it may be
just a matter of installing a ‘mksysb’ to get the basic system image installed and
running. For the independent software vendor (ISV), the migration to and adoption of
AIX 5L as a supported platform should be a straightforward decision. If you intend to
support the complete range of IBM eServer pSeries platforms then you must migrate
to AIX 5L. There are specific arrangements within IBM to assist ISVs with this activity
and these are discussed in section 6.

1.1.4 Performance
AIX 5L delivers numerous performance enhancements over earlier AIX releases and
these updates are distributed throughout the OS functions, scalability, file systems,
networking and more have been improved. More information on the extended
features of AIX 5L can be found in the AIX 5L differences guide redbook.

1.2 AIX 5L and total cost of ownership

Users of pSeries equipment are generally driven by the same requirements, they are
service driven, either for internal or external customers and the service they provide
must be cost-effective, reliable and responsive. AIX 5L provides the infrastructure to
support and fulfil this requirement and several of these facilities are discussed in this
section.

1.2.1 Workload manager

Workload manager (wlm) is delivered as part of the base operating system and gives
the ability to dynamically allocate system resources to particular processes (or groups
of processes). The system resources that may be controlled are CPU time, physical
memory usage and disk throughput. With wlm enabled, it is possible to run batch and
interactive jobs at the same time and guarantee that the system resources are
allocated to the business critical applications -the interactive job(s). As soon as spare
resources are available, the less important batch job(s) will ‘mop’ up the idle time and
save resource wastage. The flexibility of AIX 5L WLM allows fine control over the mix
of jobs and spread of resource allocation and facilitates server consolidation and a
more cost-effective processing environment. AIX 5L wlm is enhanced over AIX 4.3.3
in several important ways that provide a more flexible and powerful working
environment, these are shown below: -

• Disk I/O bandwidth control –in addition to 4.3.3 CPU and memory
• Fully dynamic configuration –no need to stop and start wlm when setting up new
classes
• Manual classification of processes –have multiple instances of the same
application in different classes
• New subclasses give 10 times as many classes as 4.3.3 –more granularity and
control
 • System administrators can delegate subclass management to non root users
• Programming Application Interface (API) into wlm to allow external applications to
monitor and control the systems behaviour

More information on WLM may be found in the Workload manager Redbook.

1.2.2 Resource monitoring and control (RMC)

Computer and processing environments get more and more complex. For system
administrators this can be a cause of worry and concern, how do you manage a
number of servers and monitor them all the time for disk space usage, system load,
network collisions and so on? AIX 5L provides RMC as part of the base operating
system that allows system administrators to define conditions and responses that can
automatically respond to system changes. Examples of conditions are when /tmp is
over 90% full or when the number of users on a system exceeds 200. AIX 5L
provides 84 predefined conditions that are ready to be used and just need to be
enabled. When a condition occurs (called an event), the system will automatically
perform a response. Responses can be one of the predefined AIX 5L responses
(send an email, broadcast a message and so on) or can be an administrator defined
script or programme. Using conditions and responses, servers can be configured to
perform automatic corrective or notification procedures without human intervention
(unless required). RMC can be used for both stand-alone and clustered servers and
assists system administrators to manage individual work or development stations
through to large data centres.

1.2.3 Logical partitioning (hardware dependent)

Workload manager can be seen very much as virtual partitioning, in that it distributes
processing resources between applications and dynamically adjusts to suit the load of
the system but all the processes still run under one image of AIX as the OS. Logical
partitioning gives the capability to split a large server into smaller partitions and run
an individual copy of AIX on each of the partitions. Partitions can be created with their
own CPU, memory and I/O slot resources (network, disk and so on). Once defined,
the partitions can be treated as normal servers, they run their own copy of AIX and
can be rebooted without affecting any other partitions. There are many benefits of this
functionality, if you have a large server you can split it into smaller partitions and run
different business applications on each one. It is even possible to have different
versions of AIX on different partitions, run one partition as a production server and
another as a development server for new versions of AIX or individual applications.
For more information, look at http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseries/lpar/ and
section 7 for reference material.

2 Preparing for the migration

Before starting a system migration, it is worth spending some time thinking about the
actual process involved. For the simple case of a stand-alone server being used as a
development system, the migration may just involve booting from the installation media
and then performing a migration install. But for the more complex case involving third
party applications and so on, it is strongly recommended that time be allocated to
planning the migration. A basic checklist is shown below.

• Do you have an AIX 5L installation package (release notes, media, and so on)?
• Are there any hardware issues with the migration, any third party hardware, device
drivers and so on?
• Do you have the latest recommended maintenance package for AIX 5L?
• What applications are running on the server, what version are they?
• Do your applications run on the version of AIX 5L that you intend to install?
• Are your applications binary compatible with AIX 5L?
• Will there be any licensing issues on the updated server?
• Do you have the necessary O/S support available during the migration?
 • What are the fallback options if problems occur?
• Is my system and hardware microcode up-to-date

Having considered the questions posed in the checklist, it should be possible to

estimate what tasks have to be performed before the migration is performed. Obviously
you have to have the AIX 5L media itself but just as importantly but sometimes
overlooked, you need to check that your applications run on AIX 5L and if not, obtain
the relevant packages and licence strings and so on. A list of the more commonly used
applications that support AIX 5L version 5.1 at the time of writing is shown in the
appendix in section 8 at the end of this paper. This is a subset of all solutions available
for IBM servers and if you need to check the availability of a specific application, either
talk to the application vendor, your IBM representative or business partner or look at
http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/

2.1 Hardware requirements of AIX 5.1

AIX 5L version 5.1 runs on the majority of pSeries and RS/6000 platforms and
generally speaking, the only platform that can not support AIX 5.1 is the AIX laptop
system. The specific release notes give more detailed information on supported
hardware, please check to ensure your hardware is capable of running AIX 5L before starting the
installation.

Before installing AIX 5L, it is worth reviewing the basic system requirements and these
are as follows.

• Physical memory requirement: 64 MegaBytes

• Initial paging space: 128 MegaBytes
• Operating system disk storage: 536 MegaBytes
• Total disk storage: 664 MegaBytes

These values are the minimum requirements for the OS and although installation may
take a number of hours with this minimum configuration, the resulting AIX 5L image will run
normally but possibly with above average paging activity (depending on usage). For
example, installation of AIX 5.1 on a 43p-150 system takes approximately one hour to
complete.

2.1.1 Microcode updates

AIX 5L requires some devices to be running at a certain revision level of microcode and
these are detailed in the release notes. In the planning stage, you should review the
release notes and check that your microcode is at the required (or higher) level. To
obtain microcode updates and more information, look at the following site:
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/nav?fetch=hm

2.1.2 32-bit and 64-bit kernel hardware support

AIX 5L offers the flexibility of two kernels, administrators can choose to run the system
with either the 32-bit or the 64-bit kernel. For a migration install, the system will be
configured with a 32-bit kernel and in addition to this, all supporting files for both
kernels are installed. On 64-bit processor based systems, the administrator can select
to boot either the 32-bit or 64-bit kernel and both of these kernels can run 32-bit and
64-bit applications. The 64-bit kernel should be used when it is anticipated that the
system will have large amounts of memory (over 64Gbytes) installed, will use file
systems larger than 1Tbyte or have individual files larger than 64Gbytes. The 64-bit
kernel is capable of efficiently handling the large numbers of applications, processes
and devices that complex systems demand. If you do not need the 64-bit data handling
capabilities, it is recommended that you continue to use the 32-bit kernel (the 64-bit
kernel has a slightly larger ‘footprint’ than the 32-bit kernel and does not run any
faster).
 Note: Both the 64-bit kernel and 64-bit application environment have the hardware
requirement of 64-bit processors. With a 32-bit processor, only the 32-bit kernel and
32-bit applications will run on the system.

2.2 Important: Read the release notes

The release notes contain useful information with regards to the specific hardware
requirements, firmware level pre-requisites (if any) and specific procedures to follow
before or during the installation. It is an important and worthwhile step to review the
release notes for any product being installed and it is strongly recommended that this
be done in the preparation stage prior to starting the installation itself.

2.3 AIX versions supported for a migration install

The easiest way to update an existing system to AIX 5L is by performing a migration
install. If you are running AIX 3.2 or later, this is the default method of installation and
this will preserve the root volume group, logical volumes and system configuration files.
You can perform the migration install and maintain user, network, application settings
and data.

2.4 Linux applications

If Linux affinity applications are being used on the system and a migration install is
used, it is important to understand that there is no automatic ‘migration’ of the installed
Linux applications. It is recommended to remove all the applications and reinstall the
most recent versions following the operating system migration.

2.4.1 New and complete overwrite install

Another option for installation is the ‘New and Complete Overwrite’ mode. If selected,
this mode will, as the name suggests, completely reinstall the operating system from
scratch and remove any pre-existing ‘rootvg’. During the install however, if the system
has a 64-bit processor, the advanced options menu allows a 64-bit kernel to be
selected for the install along with a JFS2 ‘rootvg’.

Tip: A ‘new and complete overwrite’ install is the only way to obtain a JFS2 ‘rootvg’.

2.5 Backups
An important consideration for any configuration change is the backup strategy. Most
systems are regularly backed up but before starting a migration, it is strongly
recommended to verify that your backup is readable. For more information on backups
and associated commands, please refer to http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/library/ and
review: AIX Version 4.3 Books->System Management Concepts: Operating System
and Devices->Chapter 9. Backup and Restore.

2.5.1 mksysb
If you wish to create a specific pre-migration backup, one of the easiest ways to do
this is by using the mksysb command. mksysb creates an installable image of the
root volume group either in a file or onto a bootable tape and if necessary, this can be
used to restore the ‘rootvg’ to the original state. The only way to ensure that the
mksysb image is correct is by performing a test restoration from the media. For
example, to create a mksysb image of ‘rootvg’, you can use the command syntax as
follows.

mksysb -i /dev/rmt0

Where /dev/rmt0 is the tape device to write the image to and -i specifies that a
/image.data file be created for use by the installation process.
2.5.2 backup
The backup command can be used to save individual files or file systems and can
be used for incremental backup operations. If you intend to use backup to save the
non ‘rootvg’ file systems on your system before the migration processes, it is
important to ensure that you use level 0 for the backup which ensures that all files are
included in the backup process. The only way to ensure that the backup image is
correct is by performing a test restoration from the media. For example, to backup all
files on the /spdata file system, you can use the command syntax as follows.

backup -0cuf /dev/rmt0 /spdata

Please refer to the command description for more information on the syntax and
arguments.

2.5.3 Alternate disk install

If a server is to be migrated to AIX 5L and tested in a short period of time with an
immediate fall-back position in case of problems, the alternate disk install facility may
provide the required behaviour. The alt_disk_install command can be used
to clone the existing ‘rootvg’ to an alternate disk and of course, you have to have an
unused disk or disks available. For example, to clone the existing ‘rootvg’ onto the
alternate disk ‘hdisk4’, the command system is as follows.

alt_disk_install –C hdisk4

Before using alt_disk_install , you will need to install the bos.alt_disk_install

fileset that can be found on the AIX 4.3 release media.
Once the disk clone is created, you can boot from either disk and obtain the same
image. To perform the migration, select one of the images and perform the migration
in the normal way. Once the migration is complete, the system will be dual boot
capable and you can select which OS to boot by specifying the boot device either by
using the bootlist command or through the SMS interface. If there is a
requirement to work with the original OS, it is just a matter of booting the original disk.

2.6 NIM considerations

If you are intending to use network installation management (NIM) to install the new
operating system, it is worth considering that the NIM server itself must be migrated to
the new OS before NIM can be used to install other systems over the network. If the
migration is for test purposes only, it may be quicker to install the test system using the
installation media. After the test and evaluation period, if AIX 5L is to be installed on
other systems, it may be useful to migrate the NIM server to AIX 5L and then other
systems can be installed over the network in the normal way.

2.7 Applications and binary compatibility

Before migrating your system, it is important to ensure that the system will perform
correctly when the installation is complete. The preparation process should identify
which applications are used and what levels are required for certified operation on the
updated OS following installation. It is strongly recommended to obtain AIX 5L certified
applications but if this is not mandatory then you may take advantage of binary
compatibility between the operating systems. Binary compatibility is of great importance
within AIX and allows applications built on earlier versions of AIX to run on AIX 5L. In
general, the majority of 32-bit applications will run without change under the AIX 5L OS
and to check if an application is 32-bit or 64-bit, run the file command as follows
(AIX 4.3.3 style output shown).

# file 32bit_app
32bit_app: executable (RISC System/6000) or object
module not stripped
 # file 64bit_app
64bit_app: 64-bit AIX executable or object module
not stripped

If binary compatibility is an important consideration, this needs to be confirmed at the

preparation stage. All 64-bit applications complied for versions of AIX prior to AIX 5.1 will
require a one-time recompile and rebuild before running on AIX 5L and most 32-bit
applications built using AIX Version 3 release 3.2 or greater should be binary
compatible with AIX 5L. The following link discusses the requirements for binary
compatibility and can be used to check the compatibility of the applications with AIX 5L:
http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/os/compatibility/index.html

2.7.1 Non-certified AIX 5L applications

If any of your applications are not yet certified on AIX 5L, IBM would like to help resolve
this situation as soon as possible. Please contact your business partner or IBM
representative and give them the application name, version number and vendor
information so that we can assist with the certification on AIX 5L.

2.8 Verify and prepare your existing installation

Before starting the migration, it is a worthwhile exercise to ensure that the current OS
image is installed correctly and has no missing or ‘down rev’ packages. If this optional
step is not performed, the migration may complete normally but the system can exhibit
unusual behaviour that can sometimes take a long time to track down. To check the
integrity of all installed filesets, you can use the lppchk command with the –v and
–c parameters. Firstly, run lppchk –v which will validate installed software and
requisites, when this has finished, run lppchk –c which will perform a checksum
operation on the installed software and check against correct values. When lppchk is
run, a ‘clean’ installation is shown by no output and any problems detected will be
reported. If errors are shown, it is strongly advised that these be corrected before the
migration is started.

Note: Depending on your system configuration, lppchk –c may take a little while to
complete.

2.9 Boot logical volume size check

AIX 5L version 5.1 requires the boot logical volume (hd5) to be at least 8MegaBytes
but for future use, this may be changed to 12MB so if you have to make adjustments, it
is worth expanding to the full 12MB. The procedure to check and expand ‘hd5’ is as
follows (the example assumes the ‘hd5’ will be expanded to 12MB).

Boot Logical Volume should be at least 12 megabytes. Before you migrate, please
check the boot logical volume to ensure that it is large enough for the migration to take
place without error, if it is not, it is best to increase it before the migration, although the
migration code will try to do this also.

How to tell the size of the boot logical volume (hd5):

# lslv hd5
LOGICAL VOLUME: hd5 VOLUME GROUP: rootvg
LV IDENTIFIER: 0770325e81613f.1 PERMISSION: read/write
VG STATE: active/complete LV STATE: closed/syncd
TYPE: boot WRITE VERIFY: off
MAX LPs: 128 PP SIZE: 4 megabyte(s)
COPIES: 1 SCHED POLICY: parallel
LPs: 1 PPs: 1
STALE PPs: 0 BB POLICY: relocatable
INTER-POLICY: minimum RELOCATABLE: no
INTRA-POLICY: edge UPPER BOUND: 32
MOUNT POINT: /blv LABEL: None
MIRROR WRITE CONSISTENCY: on/ACTIVE
EACH LP COPY ON A SEPARATE PV ?: yes

The size is the number of partitions (PPs) multiplied by the size of the partitions (PP
SIZE). In this example that is 1x4=4 megabytes and so, ‘hd5’ is not large enough.

In addition to the size requirement, ‘hd5’ needs to be on contiguous partitions, so

before it can be increased, you need to check if a partition is free next to it.

First find which disk has ‘hd5’:

# lspv
hdisk0 0007703204e60040 rootvg
hdisk1 000770326d0cff2d annvg

If only one disk is in the ‘rootvg’, then ‘hd5’ is on that disk and you can look at the
mapping of the partitions on a hard disk using lspv:
# lspv -M hdisk0 | pg
hdisk0:1 hd5:1
hdisk0:2-51
hdisk0:52 lv03:36
hdisk0:53 lv03:37
hdisk0:54 lv03:38
hdisk0:55 lv03:39
hdisk0:56 lv03:40
hdisk0:57 lv03:41
hdisk0:58 lv03:42
....

If ‘rootvg’ is on more than one disk, simply run 'lspv -M hdiskX' until you find
‘hd5’.

In the example shown here, there is a partition following ‘hd5’ that is free, and ‘hd5’ can
simply be extended by:
# extendlv hd5 1 hdisk0

Redo the boot image and reboot with:

# bosboot -a -d/dev/ipldevice
# shutdown -rF

But if there is not a free partition (or partitions, as needed), next to ‘hd5’, then you need
to remove and recreate ‘hd5’.

1. Using the output of 'lspv -M <diskname>', find 3 free partitions (or 2 is PP SIZE
= 8). The free partitions should be within the first 4GB of the disk.

2. Create a map file for use when recreating ‘hd5’.

If you need to move ‘hd5’ to a new disk, first verify that it is bootable with:
bosinfo -B <diskname>

If 1 is returned, the disk is bootable.

If 0 is returned, the disk is not bootable.

Then, if you want to recreate ‘hd5’ on hdisk2 (a different disk than ‘hd5’ was originally
on), on partitions 40 and 41, a map file can be created by::
echo "hdisk2:40-41" > your_MAP_file
 3. Remove the existing ‘hd5’:
rmlv -f hd5

4. Create the new ‘hd5’:

mklv -y hd5 -t boot -m your_MAP_file rootvg 3
(2 is the number of partitions and may vary - as needed)

5. If you are recreating ‘hd5’ on a different disk from the original, then you need to clear
the boot record from the original ‘hd5’ disk. For example, if ‘hd5’ was previously on
‘hdisk1’, use the command:
mkboot -d /dev/hdisk0 -c

6. Use bosboot, to recreate the boot image and boot record on the new disk. For
example, if ‘hd5’ was recreated on ‘hdisk2’, this can be done with:
bosboot -a -d /dev/hdisk2

If however, the new ‘hd5’ is on the same disk as it was originally, you should recreate
the boot image with:
bosboot -a -d /dev/ipldevice

7. If ‘hd5’ is on a different disk from the original, you must update the ‘bootlist’ of your
system, to boot from the new disk. To see the current bootlist do:
bootlist -m normal -o

If your previous ‘hd5’ was on hdisk 0, the output will be:

hdisk0

To change the ‘bootlist’ to use ‘hdisk2’ as the boot device, use the command:
bootlist -m normal hdisk2

If there were additional items in your ‘bootlist’, add them after ‘hdisk2’. For example:
bootlist –m normal hdisk2 cd0 rmt0

8. Reboot your system as normal.

3 Performing the migration

Before starting the migration process, it is strongly recommended that the release
notes be reviewed with particular attention to the ‘Read This Before Installation’ section.
The release notes and other documentation can be found at this address
http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/library/
If you are unfamiliar with installing AIX or migrating servers to later levels of the
operating system, please contact your IBM representative or business partner will be
able to discuss support options available.
 To perform the migration, insert the AIX 5L media CD into the drawer and use the
bootlist command to set the boot device to the CD. The procedure for doing this is
shown in the following example.

Once the ‘bootlist’ has been set, issuing the reboot command will reboot the system
and commence the migration.

3.1 First steps

When the system starts, it will load the boot image from the device specified with the
bootlist command. During the boot you will see informational messages on the
console device and dependent on the firmware/microcode level of your CD drive, you
may see the message ‘kmod_load failed for psekdb’. This does not cause any
problems and should be ignored. Also dependent on the firmware/microcode level of
your CD, systems occasionally appear to hang during the initial boot from the AIX 5L
CD with LED code 0826. If left for a few minutes the system will continue the
installation as normal and show the ‘Please define System Console’ screen. In
rare circumstances, the system may ‘hang’ for up to 40 minutes before continuing. If
your system shows this symptom, patience is the solution. Wait for 40 minutes before
assuming the system has really hung. Once the system has booted from the CD, you
will not see this behaviour when booting from disk.
The first interaction with the system is to select the system console, the following
example screen shows a typical display.
 For this example, key ‘2’ is pressed to select the system console. The next screen to
appear is as follows

This screen is used to select the language used during the migration/installation of AIX
5L. For this example, the English language is used. Once the language has been
selected, the next screen to be displayed will be as follows.
 When this screen is displayed, you are able to either start the installation immediately
(just hit Enter) or change/show the installation options (recommended) that will be used
during the install. To review the settings, type the number ‘2’ and hit Enter, the resulting
screen is shown as follows.

Because the system is at AIX 4.3.2, the installation will automatically select to
perform a migration install and this will be the case for any AIX OS at or above AIX
3.2. The installation settings are shown on the screen and may be changed if
required, when ready to install, type the number ‘0’ (the default) and hit ‘Enter’.
The next screen you will see is as follows and shows that the installation is
performing preparation work before starting the real migration.

After a few minutes, the preparation will be complete and you have the opportunity to
review details of the migration installation. Once you are satisfied that the migration is
ready to continue, type the number ‘0’ (the default) and hit ‘Enter’. The screen is as
follows.

As soon as you have select to continue, the migration installation will start and the
console will display the progress of the migration. This is the time to have a cup of tea
or coffee, this portion of the installation will take approximately 30 minutes (depending
on system configuration -a 43p-150 takes 40 minutes) and the next action will be to
mount the next required AIX 5L CD (if any). The system console will request CDs as
needed and when all required filesets are installed, the system will reboot and the
installation will continue (the installation changes the ‘bootlist’ so that a reboot is
performed from the specified installation disk). If a graphics console is used, the
displayed screens may be different from the example ASCII console screen shots but
the content will be similar. When the system has rebooted, the next screen will
request the terminal type of the console. This screen is as follows.

When you have entered the terminal type, the installation will proceed by display a
licence agreement screen. If applicable, highlight the ‘Accept Licence
Agreements’ entry and press ‘Enter’. An example screen follows.

The system will process the licence operation and when complete will display
‘Command: OK’ on the ‘COMMAND STATUS’ screen. Return to the
‘Installation Assistant’ screen by pressing ‘F3’. The screen that will be
display is as follows.
 Installation Assistant Screen:

If you have software packages to be updated to the latest level for the new OS, you
can use the ‘Finish migration installation’ entry that will allow more software to be
loaded (updated) on the system. If you have no software to load, select the ‘Tasks
Completed – Exit to Login’ entry and press ‘Enter’.

The system is now running AIX 5L and is ready for use. The complete installation on
a 43p-150 system took approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.

4 After the migration

The installation has finished and AIX 5L is running on your system but there are still a
few operations to be performed to ensure the OS has installed correctly. The migration
install saves the characteristics of the system and ensures that these are used following
the install. Usernames, passwords, hostname, ‘/etc/hosts’, TCP/IP configuration are all
preserved and allow the system to operate in a normal manner after the migration.

4.1 Verifying the migration

Basic system verification can be performed in the same manner as was done prior to
the migration procedure. The following screen shot shows the example system
behaviour.
 The system is now at AIX 5L version 5.1 but the ‘lppchk –v’ shows that there are
some filesets that need to be updated for everything to be correct. These are all
connected with the ‘C’ compiler and in response to this, the CD was loaded into the
system and the compiler reinstalled –including the ‘vacpp.html.en_US’ fileset. The
following screen shot shows some further basic verification of the system (after the ‘C’
compiler was reinstalled).

System software has been verified, the network is functioning and the machine is ready
for further testing –defined during the planning stage.

4.2 AIX maintenance levels and fixes

If your system requires maintenance levels or packages to be installed, these can be
downloaded from http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/support
5 Migrating a control workstation (CWS)
A CWS can be migrated to AIX 5L version 5.1 but must be running PSSP 3.4 (requires
AIX 4.3.3 and at least ML09) prior to the migration. It is a good idea to have PSSP 3.4
installed and verified several days before the migration to AIX 5L as this will help to
ensure that the system is stable before installing AIX 5L. If PSSP 3.4 is installed
immediately before AIX 5L and problems occur, it can sometimes be difficult to resolve
the situation quickly without reverting to backups and starting again. In common with any
migration, ensure you have a ‘mksysb’ and a backup of other volume groups before
starting. An example of the backup procedure is as follows:

mksysb -i /dev/rmt0 # Backup rootvg

tar -cvf /dev/rmt0 /work/files # Backup essential config’ files
backup -0cuf /dev/rmt0 /spdata # Backup the /spdata filesystem

Verify that the backups are valid before starting the migration

Any nonroot volume groups may be exported before the migration is started as long as
they are not required during the automatic reboot that occurs as part of the migration
process itself. A specific instance of this is ‘spdatavg’ which holds files that are required
at boot time and will cause errors if they are not available.

6 ISV specific support options

If you are an ISV, there is a range of services that can help you to migrate your system,
test the resulting image and help to provide resource to assist with any required sizing
activity. This facility is offered by the IBM Solution Partnership Centers (SPCs) and can
help commercial developers port, enable, and test their applications on all IBM platforms
and Linux. Access to the latest IBM hardware and software, secure porting labs, tailored
configuration support, expert technical assistance and education all combine to lower
development costs and increase speed to market. To get more information on the SPCs,
look at http://www.developer.ibm.com/spc/index.html

7 References
www.redbooks.ibm.com
AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.1 Edition SG24-5765-01
AIX 5L Porting Guide SG24-6034-00
AIX 5L Performance Tools Handbook SG24-6039-00
Problem Solving and Troubleshooting in AIX 5L SG24-5496-01
AIX 5L Workload Manager (WLM) SG24-5977-01
IBM e(logo)server pSeries 690 System Handbook SG24-7040-00
LPAR Heterogeneous Workloads on the IBM eServer REDP0425
pSeries 690 System

AIX Documentation: http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/library/

AIX Maintenance levels and fixes: http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/support

AIX 5L Compatibility statement: www.ibm.com/servers/aix/os/compatibility/index.html

Microcode updates and information:http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/nav?fetch=hm

IBM AIX 5L web site: http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/

8 Appendix –common applications supported on AIX 5L
Solution Company
Baan/Invensys Customer Relationship Management Invensys
Baan Ivc Invensys
BEA WebLogic Server BEA Systems
BroadVision One-To-One Portal BroadVision, Inc.
CATIA Solutions DASSAULT SYSTEME
DB2 Universal Enterprise Edition IBM All Divisions
Financial Fusion Server - Universal OFX Edition Financial Fusion, Inc.
Global Plus SunGard
i2 Base Platform Five.Two i2 Technologies Incorporated
IBM WebSphere Commerce Suite, Version 5.1 IBM All Divisions
Invensys/Baan ERP Invensys
J.D. Edwards OneWorld Distribution JD Edwards World Solutions Company
KANA Contact Center Kana Software, Inc.
Lotus Domino Server Lotus Development Corp.
MSC.Marc MSC.Software Corporation
MSC.Nastran MSC.Software Corporation
mySAP Business Intelligence SAP AG
mySAP Customer Relationship Management SAP AG
mySAP E-Procurement SAP AG
mySAP Financials SAP AG
mySAP Human Resources SAP AG
mySAP Product Lifecycle Management SAP AG
mySAP Supply Chain Management SAP AG
mySAP Workplace SAP AG
Oracle E-Business Suite Oracle Corporation
PeopleSoft Customer Relationship Management (CRM) PeopleSoft, Inc.
PeopleSoft Financials PeopleSoft, Inc.
PeopleSoft HRMS PeopleSoft, Inc.
PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management PeopleSoft, Inc.
QAD eQ QAD, Inc.
QAD MFG/PRO eB QAD, Inc.
Retek Logistics Solutions Retek Inc.
Retek Merchandising Solutions Retek Inc.
Retek Retail CRM Solutions Retek Inc.
Retek Supply Chain Solutions Retek Inc.
Sanchez Profile Sanchez Computer Associates, Inc.
Sanchez Webclient Sanchez Computer Associates, Inc.
Sanchez Xpress Sanchez Computer Associates, Inc.
SAS Telecom Churn Mgmt with BI Expertise from IGS SAS Institute Inc.
Siebel Enterprise Applications Siebel Systems, Inc.
The SAS® Solution for Enterprise Marketing Automation SAS Institute Inc.
TIBMercury Online Reuters Ltd.
Vignette® Content Suite V6 Vignette Corporation
WebSphere Application Server IBM All Divisions

9 Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the IBM AIX development (install group), ITSO personnel and
UK ATS group for their text contributions, assistance and guidance when writing this
whitepaper.