Alternate disk install AIX

Its possible to install AIX onto another disk on the same system. This is not partitioning, its just a second install of the BOS, on another disk.

You need to have “bos.alt_disk_install.rte” fileset installed. This fileset ships the “alt_disk_install” command,
which allows cloning of the rootvg and installing an AIX mksysb to an alternate disk.

“bos.alt_disk_install.boot_images” fileset installed. This fileset shipts the boot images, which is required to install mksysb images to an alternate disk.

Once you have installed these filesets, the alternate disk installation functions are available to you.

You can use the “smitty alt_install” or “smitty alt_clone” or “smitty alt_mksysb” fastpath:

# smitty alt_install

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Alternate Disk Installation

Move cursor to desired item and press Enter.

Install mksysb on an Alternate Disk
Clone the rootvg to an Alternate Disk

F1=Help  F2=Refresh   etc..
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So, the Alternate Disk Installation can be used in one of two ways:
- Cloning the current rootvg to an alternate disk.
- Installing a mksysb image on another disk.

# smitty alt_mksysb

———————————————–
Install mksysb on an Alternate Disk

Type or select values in entry fields.
Press Enter AFTER making all desired changes.

Target Disk(s) to install          []
Device or image name               []
Phase to execute                    all
image.data file                    []
Customization script               []
Set bootlist to boot from this disk
on next reboot?                     yes
Reboot when complete                no
Verbose output?                     no
Debug output?                       no
resolv.conv file                   []

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You can also use the “alt_disk_install” command to clone the rootvg to another disk.
The command creates an “altinst_rootvg” volumegroup on the destination disk and prepares
the same logical volumes as in the rootvg, except the names are prepended with “alt_”,
for example, alt_hd1. Similar are the filesystems renamed to “/alt_inst/filesystemname”
and the original data (mksysb or rootvg) is copied.

After this first fase, a second fase begins where an optional configuration action
can be performed, either a custom script or update of software, when cloning rootvg.

The third fase unmounts the /alt_inst/filesystems and renames the filesystems and logical volumes
by removing the alt names. Then the bootlist is altered to boot from the new disk.
After the system is rebooted, the original rootvg is renamed to old_rootvg.

Example:

# lspv
hdisk0      00fa7377474    rootvg
hdisk1      00hdgfh6374    None

# alt_disk_install -BC hdisk1

performs cloning hdisk0 to hdisk1 where hdisk1 will be the new rootvg.

Installing a second AIX52 partition using alt_disk_install:
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You can use the alt_disk_install command to clone a system image to another disk, and you may use
the -O option to remove references in the object data manager (ODM) and device (/dev) entries
to the existing system. The -O flag tells the alt_disk_install command to call the devreset command,
which resets the device database. The cloned disk can now be booted as if it were a new system.

An example of this scenario is as follows:

Boot the managed system as a Full System Partition so you have access to all the disks in the managed system.

Configure the system and install the necessary applications.
Run the alt_disk_install command to begin cloning the rootvg on hdisk0 to hdisk1, as follows:

# /usr/sbin/alt_disk_install -O -B -C hdisk1

The cloned disk (hdisk1) will be named altinst_rootvg by default.
Rename the cloned disk (hdisk1) to alt1, so you can repeat the operation with another disk.
 

# /usr/sbin/alt_disk_install -v alt1 hdisk1

Run the alt_disk_install command again to clone to another disk and rename the cloned disk, as follows:
 

# /usr/sbin/alt_disk_install -O -B -C hdisk2
# /usr/sbin/alt_disk_install -v alt2 hdisk2

Repeat steps 3 through 5 for all of the disks that you want to clone.
Use the HMC to partition the managed system with the newly cloned disks.
Each partition you create will now have a rootvg with a boot image.
Boot the partition into SMS mode. Use the SMS MultiBoot menu to configure the
first boot device to be the newly installed disk. Exit the SMS menus and boot the system.