NIM is better in that you can install a new OS from a mksysb in as little as 5 minutes versus installing from CD which

can take 40 minutes or longer. You can also keep your builds consistent if you have one mksysb image to build an AIX server. This also makes server builds easier at remote locations, no more swapping CDs. The following shows a quick way to build a NIM master that you can use to install the AIX OS. This allows for more customization than using eznim if you use Configure a Basic NIM Environment (Easy Startup). You can use the following instructions to build a NIM master from 4.3 on. Keep in mind that the newer the AIX OS, the better and more NIM functions are introduced. I did not like NIM previous to AIX 5.2. Install the AIX OS on release that you want to the NIM master to serve (i.e., 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 or 6.1). If you want it to be AIX 6.1 TL 02 SP2, you will need to patch the NIM master to that level after installing the base OS. Once you are satisified with the hostname, IP, network interface, interface speed/setup (etherchannel, trunked, etc.), you can setup the NIM master. You can make changes to the network configuration later in NIM however, its easier if you take care of any configuration before making the server a NIM master. I would also make /tftpboot a seperate filesystem. This can get quite large depending on how many clients you are building. Install the following filesets if they are not installed already: bos.sysmgt.nim.master bos.sysmgt.nim.spot bos.sysmgt.nim.client bos.net.nfs.server smitty nim / Configure the NIM Environment / Advanced Configuration / Initialize the NIM Master Only The following 2 fields are all that is required, everything else can be left as default: * Network Name [] * Primary Network Install Interface [] + NOTE: Network Name can be anything you chose Primary Network Install Interface is the en# of the network you get to the NIM master on. You can setup other networks later when you define NIM clients on networks that are different than the NIM masters. Once you select enter you should see the following indicating that you now have a NIM master: 0513-071 The nimesis Subsystem has been added. 0513-071 The nimd Subsystem has been added. 0513-059 The nimesis Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 282780. Now you need to create the lpp_source and spot resources so the NIM master can build an OS: Create a filesystem that you will use to lay down your base lpp_source and spot directories. These can be large since each lpp_source is usually 4G or larger and each spot is usually around 700 MB. I use /export/nim as a filesystem. You can use smitty bffcreate or copy the installp/ppc directory from the install CD/DVDs to /export/nim/6100/lpp_source I get rid of any filesets that is not en_us or EN_US since I dont need other languages, this will save 1 to 1.5 GB of disk space. Copy the patch set you want to install to /export/nim/6100/lpp_source If you have the base install CD of 6100-01 and want to patch to 6100-02-02 you would get the patch set for 6100-02-02 and copy or ftp them to /export/nim/6100/lpp_source/installp/ppc Get rid of any unnecessary filesets by using lppmgr: # /usr/lib/instl/lppmgr -d /<installp/ppc_directory> -u -b -x -r >> this will remove

>> -u = removes duplicate update images -b = removes duplicate base images -x = removes superceeded updates -r = actually does the removal. If the -r flag is not included, the lppmgr command will run in preview mode. Create your lpp_source on the NIM master: smitty nim / Perform NIM Administration Tasks / Manage Resources / Define a Resource / lpp_source = source device for optional product images The following fields are required as a minimum: * Resource Name [TL02-SP2] * Resource Type lpp_source * Server of Resource [master] + * Location of Resource [/export/nim/6100/lpp_source] / This should only take a few minutes to complete, once you see ok Create your spot resource on the NIM master: smitty nim / Perform NIM Administration Tasks / Manage Resources / Define a Resource / spot = Shared Product Object Tree equivalent to /usr file The following fields are required as a minimum: * Resource Name [TL02-SP2] * Resource Type spot * Server of Resource [master] + * Source of Install Images [TL02-SP2] + * Location of Resource [/export/nim/6100] / For Source of Install Images select F4 and chose the lpp_source you created in the previous step. This can take from 15-30 minutes to complete, once you see ok You now have a NIM master that you can use to build out the OS on AIX server. If you have a mksysb of a server you want to use, copy it to the server, create a mksysb NIM resource.

Heres some additional tasks that are done when you upgrade to a new TL level: Here are the steps to update your lpp_source and spot to a newer ML than currently exists (i.e., going from AIX 5.2 ML 04 to AIX 5.2 ML 05):

NOTE: Your NIM master must be at 5200-05 ML first. To update your lpp_source, copy or move the 5200-05 ML filesets into the lpp_source directory under /installp/ppc. Then run the following to cleanup the lpp_source. # /usr/lib/instl/lppmgr -d /<path to the lpp_source directory> -u -b -x -r >> this will remove >> -u = removes duplicate update images -b = removes duplicate base images -x = removes superceeded updates -r = actually does the removal. If the -r flag is not included, the lppmgr command will run in preview mode.

NOTE: You can also run lppmgr through smit.

smitty nim_lppmgr

Now you can update the spot.

# smitty nim_update_all >> select the target spot >> select the source lpp_source >> make sure you change Accept new license agreements to YES

Once this completes, you are done