Alternating Between Boot Images

[go4th]

I have two drives for my 8203-E4A server with different mksysb images on them. Presently, I can set the bootlist to point to one of the drives, power down the server, pull the other drive out, and power back up and I'm up on the image I want to be on.

What I would like to know is if there is something I can do where I don't have to pull either drive out. I've investigated the bootlist command but it seems that unless I physically pull the drive I don't want the server will hang. Any ideas would be very appreciated.

 

[normntwrk]

I think you need to set this up with the alt_disk_install method

alt_disk_install -C new hdisk


I did this on one of our servers and it works fine , I just run a script to change the bootlist each time before rebooting

# Change bootlist - Run as Root

bootlist -m normal hdisk0

echo " Changing bootlist to hdisk0 for AIX 5.2"

echo " Bootlist is now"

bootlist -m normal -o

Norm

 

[go4th]

I believe the alt_disk_install command would just create a copy of the original mksysb image. I actually want to have two separate images/mksysbs and be able to toggle between them.

 

[normntwrk]

My two disk have 5.3 on one and 5.2 on the other

Norm

 

[MoreFeo]

When running alt_disk_install you make a copy of the original rootvg, but after that you can apply a different TL, installa new SW, change configuration, or even upgrade version.