how to pre-determine if a reboot is required?

UNIX AIX
1

given any specific fix, how can I determine if the machine will require a reboot? (I don't have a window for downtime)

obvious fix's to the kernel / lvm will require a reboot ... bos.rte files etc...

is there a tool or command that I am able to run against a specific IY that will inform me if this fix requires a reboot? I only want to install a specific IY, and not the entire ML .. but I don't have downtime available?

any thoughts?

2

Copy your fixes to a directory, then make this your current directory and issue an "inutoc .". A file called ".toc" will be created. For every package there is a multiline entry created, in the first line of this entry there is a single "b" or "B" if a bosboot is required.

You might want to search comp.unix.aix for "installp reboot" for this issue explained and check the AIX 5.2 (5.1) documentation for "installp" (rather lengthy) for the details of this.

You can try this by copying only one fix which you know to (not) require a reboot to a firectory and compare the various .toc-files generated by "inutoc".

Hope this helps.

bakunin

3

this command does NOT work from the beginning ...
yes, you'll build a new .toc file

however, if you grep for the IY ... you won't show any specific b or B for that IY.

we need a "perfect solution" that can tell us ahead of time without installing the fix into the system. of course when you do it manually, the system will inform us to reboot -- this is not the desired approach.

IYXXXXX ... what command or work around will allow us to know if this needs a reboot to take effect?

hope this clarifies the question? thanks!

4

Ok, i copied two sample files to a directory and did as I said. The first example is a file requiring no reboot:

0 061616135805 2
bos.adt.include.5.1.0.67.bff 4 R S bos.adt {
bos.adt.include 05.01.0000.0067 1 N U en_US Base Application Development Include
 Files
[
*ifreq bos.64bit (5.1.0.0) 5.1.0.50
*ifreq bos.adt.syscalls (5.1.0.0) 5.1.0.50
<rest snipped>

now a file requiring a reboot:

0 061616181805 2
bos.mp64.5.1.0.66.bff 4 R S bos.mp64 {
bos.mp64 05.01.0000.0066 1 b U en_US Base Operating System 64-bit Multiprocessor
 Runtime
[
*ifreq bos.64bit (5.1.0.0) 5.1.0.50
*ifreq bos.adt.include (5.1.0.0) 5.1.0.63
<rest snipped>

Notice the difference in the third lines of the outputs:

"bos.adt.include 05.01.0000.0067 1 N U en_US...."

versus:

"bos.mp64 05.01.0000.0066 1 b U en_US...."

This "b" means "have to reboot afterwards". And, yes, it is failsafe because this flag is what is making installp initiating the reboot in first place.

bakunin

5

there are also other files listed in .toc that do NOT have any associated list ...

if I choose IY65032 for 5100008 ... nothing is listed below that