Migrating a NIM Server to AIX 6.1

UNIX AIX
1

Guys,

We are planning to upgrade one of our NIM server to AIX 6.1 from 5.3...

Since the server itself is a NIM Server we can't perform it via NIM & I'm choosing to do CD install.. The Install method would be Upgrade installation.

Is there anything special that I need to consider before upgrading the Server because of its special cause as NIM Server.

Need experts advise

2

You can configure a NIM server to be a NIM client too. Still, that won't help you in upgrading the first NIM server, as you cannot install a version later than what the NIM server was installed with. You could, though, install all your other NIM servers from the one you install now.

Under "normal" circumstances (in other words: as far as i know :wink: ) there is nothing special to consider in upgrading the system because of its special role.

You could, btw., use the alt_disk_install method even when installing from CDs, which would reduce the downtime of the NIM server and would allow you to revert to the previous state in case something goes wrong.

For security reasons you could varyoff the VG wth the NIM resources (you don't have them in rootvg, do you?) and take an mksysb image from the system before the update, but i suppose you know that yourself.

I hope this helps.

bakunin

3

Thx Dude,

unfortunately Yes, the Nim resources are in rootvg :o .. So I have planned to take a NIM DB backup and upgrade the server either by alt_disk_install / by the normal way based on the downtime provided...

Will share my experience once its done :slight_smile:

4

Of course you can go on with this, but i would take the opportunity of the migration to correct this. Create a new VG, create LVs/filesystems mirroring the old layout, copy all the data to the new FSes, umount the old NIM FSes and use "chlv"/"chfs" to change the mount points to the original ones. Then mount the new FSes to see if everything fits. Only then remove the old FSes with the NIM resources.

Very good! I'm looking forward to that.

I hope this helps.

bakunin

5

kkeng808,

I see no issue with the upgrade from AIX 6.1. It was very smooth no problems encountered. =)

6

Hi Guys,

It all went fine.. There is no dependency since it has a special role as NIM server.

To be on safer side.. I took a cloning of 5.3 rootvg using alt_disk_copy and did my upgrade on the cloned disk.. The NIM is also working fine after the migration :slight_smile:

1 Like