How to perform AIX patching on an alternate disk (altdisk) or on multiple boot operating system (multibos)

Some versions of AIX have the capability of maintaining multiple instances of Base Operating Systems (BOS). The additional instance of the BOS can be maintained in the same root volume group (multibos) or on a separate disk on a separate root volume group (alternate disk). The user can boot any one instance of the BOS which is called the active instance. The instance that has not been booted remains as a stand by instance.

TrueSight Server Automation supports installation, maintenance, and technology-level updates on the stand by BOS instance without affecting system files on the active BOS.

Prerequisites

Download the AIX_Multibos_Scripts.zip package inside the BSA<version>-Optional.zip package, from the EPD site. For information about accessing the packages on the EPD, see Downloading-the-installation-files.

Step 1: Setting up and managing AIX servers with alternate disk or multibos

TrueSight Server Automation does not create or manage the stand by BOS instance on the AIX server. You must manually create and manage the stand by BOS, before patching on the AIX server.

Depending on whether you are maintaining the stand by instance of the BOS on the same root volume group (multibos) or a separate root volume group (altdisk), BMC recommends that you perform either of the following procedures:

• If additional BOS instance is maintained on a separate root volume group (alternate disk):

  Create an alternate disk, with a copy of the BOS instance, by running the following command on the AIX target

  alt_disk_install -C -P 1 NameOfAlternateDisk

  The variable NameOfAlternateDisk, is the name of the alternate disk that you want to create.

• If additional BOS instance is maintained on the same root volume group (multibos):

  Use the following scripts to create and manage a multibos instance.

  Script	Operation Perfomred	Parameters
  aix_multibos_script.sh	Create a multibos instance on an AIX Server	A
  server_reboot.sh	Reboot the AIX Server and change the BOS instance	Either R or C Use the parameter R to reboot the target using the active BOS or C to reboot the target using the stand by BOS
  check_server_reboot.sh	Check if the AIX server has rebooted successfully	Host name of the AIX target server

  Note

  For steps on running multibos scripts on multiple servers, see Using the multibos NSH scripts on multiple AIX servers.

Step 2: Enabling patch analysis and remediation on stand by instance of an AIX server

You can choose to perform patch remediation on the stand by instance of an AIX server with multibos or alternate disk by changing the properties associated with the AIX server node in the properties view.

Patch analysis and remediation is performed on an instance of the BOS object depending on the following value of the PATCHING_ENV* property:

To enable patch remediation on the multibos or alternate disk on a particular AIX Server, perform the following steps on the TrueSight Server Automation Console:

1. Select the AIX server from the Server node.
2. Select a value for the PATCHING_ENV* property. 
3. You must also assign a value to the PATCHING_ENV_NAME* property by entering the name of the disk on which you want to perform the patch remediation.

For general information on updating property values, see Working-with-properties.

Step 3: Running the AIX patching job

Run the AIX patching job on the servers (see Creating-and-running-AIX-Patching-Jobs).

Step 4: Replacing the active BOS with the stand by BOS

Depending on whether you are maintaining the stand by instance of the BOS on the same root volume group (multibos) or a separate root volume group (altdisk), BMC recommends that you perform either of the following procedures:

• If additional BOS instance is maintained on a separate root volume group (alternate disk):
  Replace the active BOS instance with the stand-by BOS instance.

  alt_disk_install -C -P 3 -B NameOfAlternateDisk

  The variable NameOfAlternateDisk, is the name of the alternate disk with the stand-by BOS instance.

• If additional BOS instance is maintained on the same root volume group (multibos):

  Use the following scripts to reboot and replace the active BOS with the stand by BOS.

  Script	Operation Perfomred	Parameters
  server_reboot.sh	Reboot the AIX Server and change the BOS instance	Either R or C Use the parameter R to reboot the target using the active BOS or C to reboot the target using the stand by BOS
  check_server_reboot.sh	Check if the AIX server has rebooted successfully	Host name of the AIX target server
  aix_multibos_script.sh	Uninstall the stand by BOS instance on an AIX Server	R

  Note

  For steps on running multibos scripts on multiple servers, see Using-the-multibos-NSH-scripts-on-multiple-AIX-servers