importvg/exportvg vs. savevg/(restorevg??)
blackh...@yahoo.com
do a complete migration of a clients old 2-way aix5.3 machine to a new
pseries 4-way with 5.3... trouble is i'm a little rusty on my aix, and
i'm a little unclear on how to do this... could someone please find it
in their heart to go over just the basics for me? i can figure out the
details. they currently have about 10 gigs in various vg's. and run
one app. in production.... supposedly there is an attached tape drive.
THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dan Foster
savevg/restorevg is for backing up and restoring data to/from some
medium (disk, CD, tape, whatever).
importvg is to tell the system that "Hey, we're about to hook up some
(hard drive) disks with data on it, go look at it to see what's there."
exportvg is the exact opposite: "Hey, we're about to nuke or get rid of
these disks, please forget what you know about the stuff on it."
There are man pages for these on your existing AIX systems at work or
home. If you don't have any, get one! Get a 140 or 150 off eBay and AIX
5.1 or 5.2 to tinker with. There are also man pages for AIX 5.x online,
on various web sites.
-Dan
Frank Fegert
I guess that should read 4.3 to 5.3? Save yourself the hassle
and use the chance of starting fresh from the scratch. Save/
restore will likely be more troublesome because of missing
drivers and lpps for the new machine.
Regards,
Frank
blackh...@yahoo.com
also... no, they recently upgaded their old machine from 4.3 to 5.3...
so with the new machine its a 5.3 -> 5.3 migration.
BUT...
what is the procedure for this? do i just install/configure aix on the
new machine while i'm performing a mksysb on the old machine, then ...
what... do an importvg on the mksysb file? or boot to the mksysb image
or WHAT?
basically, what i need to know is... how does a typical migration work
in aix? what are the steps, and what commands do you use... in
general? just any kind of basic outline of how to do this would be
WONDERFUL.
thanks in advance guys!
Frank Fegert
> i'm not sure what you mean by this... starting from scratch?
Complete new install ...
> also... no, they recently upgaded their old machine from 4.3 to 5.3...
> so with the new machine its a 5.3 -> 5.3 migration.
... but since you're already at the oslevel you want to end
up with and that one is a fairly recent one too, there should
be no issues with the new hardware. So i'd suggest to just
take the rootvg disks out of the old box and put them in the
new machine. Or are there any conditions you're not telling
us about which are preventing this?
> BUT...
> what is the procedure for this? do i just install/configure aix on the
> new machine while i'm performing a mksysb on the old machine, then ...
> what... do an importvg on the mksysb file? or boot to the mksysb image
> or WHAT?
> basically, what i need to know is... how does a typical migration work
> in aix? what are the steps, and what commands do you use... in
> general? just any kind of basic outline of how to do this would be
> WONDERFUL.
Hm, i consider this more than "i'm a little rusty on my aix".
Please read up here:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/index.jsp
As Dan already stated, importvg only makes the OS aware of
a VG that already exists on some device and was previously
exported by the exportvg command. Since it requires a running
AIX it's not really what you want.
savevg/restvg are an option, but i never tried that with the
rootvg. mksysb to tape and booting from there will work. You
also could sync up a third disk mirror, make it bootable and
move the third disk to the new machine.
Anyw ay you end up choosing, if the boxes have to run in
parallel be prepared to do some cleanup work (IPs, hostnames,
...).
Regards,
Frank
RickE
doesn't appear to help you remember how to migrate from one RS/6000 to
another. Perhaps you've never done it before? If so, you should go
back to the client and tell them that you're not qualified to do the
job, so they can try to find someone to do the job.
If the machines in question are the same type-model (a pair of
7025-F80s, for example), a simple cloning of the existing AIX system
will do the job (save/restore, then customize as needed). If the
machines have differing type-models, you *might* still be able to get
away with a save/restore (if the machines are "sufficiently similar"),
but the more likely case would involve adding the required LPPs and
applications to the AIX 5.3 that should come pre-installed on the new
machine from IBM, then migrating the customized data files for the O/S,
LPPs and applications along with the userIDs and user data. This is
precisely why companies farm out the migration work -- it's a PITA, so
they'd rather pay a reasonable fee than do the work themselves.
Oops, I forgot a caveat with regards to the first sentance in the
preceeding paragraph: some applications are sensitive to machine VPD
data (licensed to a particular type-model-serial, or a particular
Ethernet MAC address, or have tiered pricing depending on processor
speed and number of available processors), so the "cloning" approach
might not yield a completely functional system. You have to know the
details of the existing system in order to determine if you have some
"landmines" to clear.
Rick Ekblaw
Frank Rizzo
ramifications of what you're going to do.
I strongly suggest you get someone that knows what their doing. This is
a recipe for disaster.
blackh...@yahoo.com
did the migration without any problems whatsoever... couldnt have been
easier... even had time left over to set up a linux lpar for them to
play with, and helped resolve a problem with multi-pathing their SAN.
"its obvious i dont understand what i'm doing"?!?!?
puh-leeze. just because YOU don't, doesn't mean nobody else does.
here's a little piece of advice... when people post here, theyre
looking for help, not wannabe-elitism.
so... if you don't know the answer... just keep you mouth shut.
get over yourself jerky.