Making a Generic Clone

[roccoq]

Hi,

I am attempting to make a generic CD clone of a configured aix system. I
am well aware of how to go about making a cd clone using the smit utility. I
am more concerned about making one that will work I need a procedure to
make the os generic. Whether that means altering the image.data,
bosinst.data, making sure both the up and mp runtimes are installed, or
something else, I do not know. The requisites of this clone os that it needs
to run on any power system regardless of the number of cpu's and hardware
configuration. I'm hoping that someone has done this. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

 

[Yegolev]

We are using NIM for the most part, but otherwise we did a vanilla install from AIX cd if we want a "plain" system.

Perhaps it would be best to stage a server as you would like it and then make an image of it. Easier than changing an existing image, I would presume. IBM Certified -- AIX 4.3 Obfuscation

 

[DementedCanuck]

Make sure that the system you are cloning has the device support packages installed for all the possible hardware and devices you may be restoring to. Also install both the UP & MP support filesets. I have been using "cloned" images on tape from AIX 3.2.3 through AIX 4.3.3 and provided I have all the possible combinations of the bos & devices packages installed before creating the mksysb it has worked without any trouble. The same criteria apply to installing all device support from X11 / OpenGL and PEX_PHIGS if you will need these in the targets ....

 

[aixqueen]

One of the problems that you will encounter is that not all architectures of machines can boot off the same cd.. for example some of the newer models that come out require maintenance level 9 or later to boot...etc etc....

So you will need the latest and greatest installed, as in maintenance level...and then have to create a new one as new machines comes out that need higher maintenance levels to boot.

You will need all drivers and filesets for all systems....

Even though the following is for tapes, some of the same holds true and may
give you some insight.

http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/aix.techTips?refNo=90605198914842

http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/aix.techTips?refNo=90605198614838

as well as

http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/aix.techTips?refNo=90605188914736

Cloning updated systems

When using a mksysb to clone a system which has had updates applied, you must
update the target systems to at least the same update level as the system on which
the mksysb was made. Failure to do so could result in an incompatible level of device
support on the target system.

CHRP architecture systems cloned from non-CHRP architecture systems with updates
applied may fail to boot due to incompatibilities between the updated kernel in the
mksysb image and the base level devices.chrp.base.rte fileset installed during
the cloning process. To circumvent this problem, install and update the
devices.chrp.base.rte fileset on the non-CHRP system
prior to creating the mksysb that will be used for cloning.

 

[Yegolev]

aixqueen is correct and to avoid those issues I suggest using a dedicated NIM server at latest oslevel. Initial setup can be difficult but it makes everything else much easier. It allows specification of oslevel to install, so we can use our 5.1 NIM server to install a 4.3.3 machine... did that yesterday in fact. IBM Certified -- AIX 4.3 Obfuscation