AIX

Hi All,

I have mirrored SAN volume on my B80 rootvg. Can I just remove the mirror and "Remove a P V from a V G" and it will be a diskless AIX?

Is that going to boot on SAN rootvg volume?

Thanks in advance,
itik

Hi

Yes. You can use the bootlist command in order to make your SAN based disk be first in the boot list devices secuence and check if booting is ok. Do not break mirror before testing.

If you have problems booting you can still start your server in SMS mode and change the bootlist order again to that internal disk.

I'm curious about the internal memory of AIX on how this is possible.

Does AIX (or other unix variant like HP-UX, SUN) have internal memory that store all these settings that it's possible to use external storage?

If this is stored on the BIOS like a PC then if the battery dies, it won't boot. Is that correct?

Please give me some shed info on this remarkable capability of AIX system. Before continuing with this path. Is this advisable so as to save a little bit of penny? I don't want to save a little bit of penny if there will be a big disadvantage.

Thanks
itik

The boot list is stored in the firmware, the firmware is just like the bios on a PC.
The process is just the same, you must tell the firmware where to look for the boot device.
In AIX you can use the bootlist command to display or update the bootlist in the system firmware.

You are correct, if the battery dies there may be a problem booting.

Just like going in to the bios on a pc to correct a boot list after the battery died, on an AIX machine you can use SMS to correct the boot list.

Typically most people have the rootvg on local, internal, disks and any datavg's on SAN disks. This way if the SAN fails, the machine is still bootable, even if it cannot do any work because the SAN is offline.

You will probably also find the internal disks are slightly faster than SAN disks, this is useful for fast access to the operating system files and paging space.

Without a lot more information about your system and SAN configuration and testing of your specific setup there is no way to tell which would be best for you.

If you only have a small amount of space on the internal disks or one fiber card I'd leave things as they are, but check to see if the system can boot from the SAN disks, just so you know what you'll need to do to recover the system if the internal boot disk fails.