mark-wa
asked on
AIX 5.3.00 - need to update the Technology Level...
Hi,
I have a P520 server running AIX 5.3.00. I need to update the Technology Level to support the new Daylight Savings change that will occur in March this year. I have downloaded TL 5 from the IBM site, it's a bunch of .bff files. I have no idea how to install it. Can anyone help me with this? Thanks!
Mark
I have a P520 server running AIX 5.3.00. I need to update the Technology Level to support the new Daylight Savings change that will occur in March this year. I have downloaded TL 5 from the IBM site, it's a bunch of .bff files. I have no idea how to install it. Can anyone help me with this? Thanks!
Mark
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
I just wanted to thank you guys for your help. I'll be trying this sometime this week, probably Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again!
Mark
Mark
ASKER
Hi,
I am scheduled to install the updates next Wednesday, Feb. 7th. Just keeping you updated. Thanks.
Mark
I am scheduled to install the updates next Wednesday, Feb. 7th. Just keeping you updated. Thanks.
Mark
ASKER
Hi,
I tried creating the new file system and mounting it using sjm_ee's steps. It seemed alright until I copied the 1.02Gb worth of .bff files into the /usr/sys/inst.images directory. I then ran the "inutoc" command and it failed and said it was out of disk space. So I unmounted the new /usr/sys/inst.images files system and did "rm *.bff" which removed all of the files (hopefully). So, was it my new file system that ran out of space or what? How can I verify a file system after I've created it? Please help!
Mark
I tried creating the new file system and mounting it using sjm_ee's steps. It seemed alright until I copied the 1.02Gb worth of .bff files into the /usr/sys/inst.images directory. I then ran the "inutoc" command and it failed and said it was out of disk space. So I unmounted the new /usr/sys/inst.images files system and did "rm *.bff" which removed all of the files (hopefully). So, was it my new file system that ran out of space or what? How can I verify a file system after I've created it? Please help!
Mark
Easiest way I know to check would have been to issue the command:
df
to see how much space was in use/free at the time of the error. In fact you may want to go ahead and do it right now to see how much free space you have on the file systems you have mounted now.
df
to see how much space was in use/free at the time of the error. In fact you may want to go ahead and do it right now to see how much free space you have on the file systems you have mounted now.
ASKER
Hi,
Thanks for the info. I did figure out that it was the file system that I made too small. So I increased the size of it. But I'm not going to do it this way now. I just received TL05 and SP5 on cd's from IBM, so I'm going to update it that way. I couldn't find my IBM number and that is why I was trying to do it by downloading it and running it from the /usr/sys/inst.images file system. I think it's a lot safer for me to run it from cd, until I learn more still. I have taken one class on AIX, but it was just AIX basics, which doesn't even get into file systems. Anyways, I'll let you folks know how it goes. Thanks again to everyone.
Mark
Thanks for the info. I did figure out that it was the file system that I made too small. So I increased the size of it. But I'm not going to do it this way now. I just received TL05 and SP5 on cd's from IBM, so I'm going to update it that way. I couldn't find my IBM number and that is why I was trying to do it by downloading it and running it from the /usr/sys/inst.images file system. I think it's a lot safer for me to run it from cd, until I learn more still. I have taken one class on AIX, but it was just AIX basics, which doesn't even get into file systems. Anyways, I'll let you folks know how it goes. Thanks again to everyone.
Mark
Is this a production box?
ASKER
Yes it is. Thanks.
Mark
Mark
Do you have a test box you can try this out on first? Do you have a backup of the current system and do you know how to do a restore?
Although generally these types of upgrades do go smooth, they can run into problems. As you are new to AIX you need to make sure you know how to recover from a failed upgrade.
Although generally these types of upgrades do go smooth, they can run into problems. As you are new to AIX you need to make sure you know how to recover from a failed upgrade.
ASKER
Hi giltjr,
Unfortunately I do not have a test box. But I do have everything backed up on a daily basis and we do have a fiber connection to an off-site disaster recovery center that is ready to plug in a backup server to our environment should such a problem occur. They do our backups and maintain an inventory of equipment to ensure we will have minimal downtime if we need their resources. We do 2 - 4 disaster recovery tests per year. So I feel confident that I can recover the server. You brought up great points though and I appreciate that. Thanks giltjr!
Mark
Unfortunately I do not have a test box. But I do have everything backed up on a daily basis and we do have a fiber connection to an off-site disaster recovery center that is ready to plug in a backup server to our environment should such a problem occur. They do our backups and maintain an inventory of equipment to ensure we will have minimal downtime if we need their resources. We do 2 - 4 disaster recovery tests per year. So I feel confident that I can recover the server. You brought up great points though and I appreciate that. Thanks giltjr!
Mark
I see, you have a great backup plan. DR site and a full backup of your server. Got to love those DR tests, been doing 2-5 a year every year for the last 15 years.
This is a rather simple thing to do so i will tell you the steps whithout reading much in earlier posts.. First of all get your current oslevel by executing..
oslevel -r
Verify that you used this level to mention while dowloading the updates... if you did then proceed further...
1. Download the files in some location and go to that directory
2. run.. smitty update_all
( I read somewhere that you have a CD ready .. then in that case mount the CD and the INPUT Device should be set to /dev/cd0 )
otherviese if you have the files in some filesystem on system...
First set preview by keeping settings like this....
* INPUT device / directory for software .
* SOFTWARE to update _update_all
PREVIEW only? (update operation will NOT occur) yes +
COMMIT software updates? no +
SAVE replaced files? yes +
AUTOMATICALLY install requisite software? yes +
EXTEND file systems if space needed? yes +
VERIFY install and check file sizes? no +
DETAILED output? no +
Process multiple volumes? yes +
ACCEPT new license agreements? yes +
PREVIEW new LICENSE agreements? no
Next if the preview is successful, set the
PREVIEW only? (update operation will NOT occur) to No and continue the install... this should be smooth.. let us know if there are any problems..
oslevel -r
Verify that you used this level to mention while dowloading the updates... if you did then proceed further...
1. Download the files in some location and go to that directory
2. run.. smitty update_all
( I read somewhere that you have a CD ready .. then in that case mount the CD and the INPUT Device should be set to /dev/cd0 )
otherviese if you have the files in some filesystem on system...
First set preview by keeping settings like this....
* INPUT device / directory for software .
* SOFTWARE to update _update_all
PREVIEW only? (update operation will NOT occur) yes +
COMMIT software updates? no +
SAVE replaced files? yes +
AUTOMATICALLY install requisite software? yes +
EXTEND file systems if space needed? yes +
VERIFY install and check file sizes? no +
DETAILED output? no +
Process multiple volumes? yes +
ACCEPT new license agreements? yes +
PREVIEW new LICENSE agreements? no
Next if the preview is successful, set the
PREVIEW only? (update operation will NOT occur) to No and continue the install... this should be smooth.. let us know if there are any problems..
ASKER
I downloaded the .bff files to a folder on a Windows 2000 machine because my AIX server doesn't have internet access. So I haven't actually copied them over to the AIX server yet. I just was looking at some installation instructions from the IBM site, and it says to create a seperate file system for /usr/sys/inst.images because the fix package requires a lot of disk space. It says this will prevent expansion of the /usr file system.
I'm not sure what all that means. How can I create a new files system to move these files into? They total over 1Gb in size. Thanks for you help!
Mark