Install fixes on AIX 5.3

I'm new to AIX, so please excuse my ignorance! I'm trying to get the system I am now in charge of up-to-date.

The 'oslevel' is 5.3.0.0--does this mean no fixes have been installed on this machine since version 5.3 was installed, or just none committed?

I've run a couple of what appears to be pertinent commands from 'The AIX Commands You Should Not Leave Home Without' ...

'instfix -i | grep ML' returns:

    All filesets for 5.3.0.0_AIX_ML were found.
    All filesets for 5300-01_AIX_ML were found.
    All filesets for 5300-02_AIX_ML were found.
    Not all filesets for 5300-03_AIX_ML were found.
    All filesets for 5300-04_AIX_ML were found.
    All filesets for 5300-05_AIX_ML were found.
    All filesets for 5300-06_AIX_ML were found.
    All filesets for 5300-07_AIX_ML were found.
    All filesets for 5300-08_AIX_ML were found.

Does this mean the files exist on the computer, and may or may not have been installed? How did they get onto the computer, and how should I get the one not found? I assume installp should be used, but where are the files?

At IBM Support: Fix Central, there are about 60 fixes. Is there any relation between fixes and the filesets above? If they are different, does it matter what order things are installed?

And lastly, lppchk -v returns:

lppchk:  The following filesets need to be installed or corrected to bring
         the system to a consistent state:
  devices.pci.48110040.rte 1.2.3.0       (not installed; requisite fileset)
  bos.rte v=5, r<2                       (not installed; requisite fileset)
  bos.html.en_US.extnav.navigate 4.3.3.0  (not installed; requisite fileset)
  bos.html.en_US.nav 4.3.3.0              (not installed; requisite fileset)
  bos.rte v<5                             (not installed; requisite fileset)
  ldap.client.rte 3.1.1.0                 (usr: COMMITTED, root: BROKEN)

Since these are requisite filesets, do they need to be installed prior to the above filesets? We don't use ldap, but the 'BROKEN' tag is scary to a newbie! How would one go about installing these?

oslevel by itself is not that useful in this regard.

oslevel -r will tell you the ML/TL your system is at.

oslevel -s will tell you the ML/TL and service pack your system is at.

I think the oslevel -r command will look more consistent with your instfix results.

Furthermore, I would not be too reliant on the grep for ML as the official terminology is now TL (Technology Level) although they seem to be keeping ML for this very reason.

Ah, thanks, that is extremely helpful and makes me feel much better about our situation! 'oslevel -r' shows 5300-08.

On the Fix Central page, should I download and installp (using '-d filename') just the technology levels above 5300-08 and then the service packs after the last TL to get up-to-date, i.e., do the TLs contain the earlier service packs?

And should I ignore the 'lppchk -v' command?

Thanks again for the help, Brian.

Service packs and TLs are cumulative, so on fix central go to the TL you want and then the SP you want and then when downloading the SP select the box to download the associated TL as well.

You could ignore the lppchk output, none of these messages should affect the system.

I looks like the system was updated from earlier AIX levels (4.3.3) and some old filesets got left over, you could try uninstalling them if they bother you.

For the unused ldap fileset you will probably need to force overwrite / reinstall it before you can then uninstall it because broken filesets do not reliably uninstall cleanly.

For the bos.rte filesets at R5 and R5 <2 these are probably pre- or co- reqs of the other listed filesets and these messages will probably go away when you fix the others.

All these messages are showing, in your case, is that there are a few filesets on the system that are not fully operational because they do not have their associated required filesets or they are simply not at the correct level for the current installed AIX level, they are not very likely to bother you or the system in the future.

Wfavorite and Dukessd, thanks so much for the information.

Try first:
"instfix -i | grep ML"

More detailed:
instfix -i -k "5300-10_AIX_ML"

Then: instfix -ciqk "Your_maintenance_level" | grep ":-:"
to find out which filesets still to install for a specific ML

In this case: > instfix -ciqk "5300-03_AIX_ML" | grep ":-:"
Probably you will to find these base level filesets on CD/DVD

After you install them, you might have to install the updates for these filesets for ML10

Which are missing?
I might give a hint which filesets you still need

Greetinz from Holland, Frank