I have been trying to increase the NIM usage in my AIX environment especially for patching, got few questions
If I have a service pack available in the nim server, how do I define that particular directory as an LPP source, without again copying it somewhere else ie I want to define that directory itself as an lpp_source
Is there any way I can install e-fix from Nim server on to clients?
Does the below make sense?
Download a TL -> create lpp source of that TL -> add service packs to that lpp_source -> add APAR's to that lpp_source
You can't. To make a NIM-server aware that a collection of filesets in fact are an lpp_source you have to "install" these filesets into it. And, btw., it is a good idea to keep the originals as well as the lpp_source.
Yes, that does make sense: as said above you "install" filesets into the lpp_source like you would install into a machine. That doesn't mean that these filesets would be unpacked or so, but they are not merely copied either: NIM has some internal data structures where the bookkeeping is done and these are updated in the process.
Question 2 i do not know, maybe someone else can cut in?
There is one (minor) point left in your wording: an "APAR" is not a corrective fileset. If a problem is reported IBM investigates and when this investigation finds that there is indeed a bug (not misconfiguration, etc.) they open an "APAR" - its merely an official recoginition by IBM saying "we admit having a bug here". Once the bug is fixed there will (if time is an issue) an "efix", which is a quick-and-maybe-dirty solution shipped to as few customers as possible (you usually get them only upon request). Once the solution is mature and fits nicely into the rest of the OS it is packaged in a fix (the "IY...." packages you get from Fixdist Central). From time to time new service packs (maintenance levels, technical levels, however-they-call-it-tomorrow) are issued. These are many (typically a few hundred) of these IY...-files used to update the respective filesets (like "bos.rte.man.x.x.x", etc.) and then these updated filesets packaged as update filesets.
The point is: it is quite common to call the corrective fixes "APAR"s, but in fact they are just the fixes which correct one (or several) APARs. It won't make much difference but IBM staff (at least in my experience) is rather adamant about using their company "newspeak" to the point.
Maintaining several lpp_sources can be tedious. During a bos-inst operation NIM can handle one lpp_source only and therefore you need a second lpp_source mainly for updates. You have three choices:
1) Create a second lpp_source for updates only.
2) Get the latest AIX base install media and create a new lpp_source.
3) Migrate the update filesets into your existing lpp_source.
Depending on which method you choose you have the following advantages / disadvantages:
Choice No. 1: Easiest possibility but will fail if updates are needed during base installation.
Choice No. 2: Easy but need extra work (which you probably would like to avoid as otherwise you would not have asked your questions). Might even be impossible on certain (rare) occasions.
Choice No. 3: IMHO best solution - however: must be done manually as there is no NIM or other AIX tool available.
What I do: I create hardlinks from the new filesets into my existing (base installation) lpp_source and rebuild the .toc. At the moment the update filesets become superseeded themselves I can simply remove the hardlinks and create new ones from the then latest filesets. This way I can use one lpp_source for both base installation and updates.
Yes. One more hint: make sure that you use gencopy (smitty gencopy) to create the correct fileset endings (.U/.I instead of .bff) after downloading first. Otherwise the .toc might become useless as occoasionally some filesets cannot be found/installed because name on disk and name in .toc differ.
