Chapter 3
Installation Methods and Alternate Disk Requirements


Update and Scratch Installations

ptx/INSTALL supports both scratch and update (or delta) installations of the base operating system and layered products. Scratch installations install the full operating system. Updates require that a version of the operating system already be installed. During an update, only new or changed files are installed and obsolete files are removed.

Layered products included on the distribution CD can be installed at the same time as the operating system. These products can also be installed at a later time.

Installations can be done on either the current root disk or an alternate disk. Typically, the operating system and layered products are updated on an alternate disk. Using an alternate disk minimizes down time; the installation can be done while the system is running in multiuser mode. When the operating system is booted on the alternate disk, that disk becomes the root disk.

To perform an update on an alternate disk, there must be a valid root filesystem on the alternate disk. ptx/INSTALL can copy an image of the current root filesystem to the alternate disk, or you can manually install a valid root filesystem on that disk.


Installation Methods

ptx/INSTALL provides four installation methods: SCRATCH, ROOT, INIT ALT DISK DELTA, and ALT DISK DELTA.

Depending on the products you are installing, you may need to install certain products with one installation method and other products with another installation method. You will need to run ptx/INSTALL again to change the installation method.


ALT DISK DELTA Installation Method

The ALT DISK DELTA installation procedure can be used in three different ways:


ATTENTION

The SequentLINK product cannot be installed with the ALT DISK DELTA procedure. Use the ROOT procedure to install this product after updating the base operating system.



ATTENTION

For IBM xSeries 430 and NUMA-Q 2000 systems with a single bootbay, you must perform an alternate disk installation on another partition of the current root disk. See "Requirements for IBM xSeries 430 and NUMA-Q 2000 Systems With a Single Bootbay" for more information.



INIT ALT DISK DELTA Installation Method

This installation method updates the base operating system and layered products on an alternate disk while the system is running in multiuser mode. The procedure installs a VTOC on the alternate disk (if necessary), copies an image of the current root filesystem to the alternate disk, and then updates the specified products on that disk.


ATTENTION

If ptx/SVM is installed on your system, use the ALT DISK DELTA procedure to perform the upgrade. See Chapter 4 for IBM xSeries 430 and NUMA-Q 2000 systems or Chapter 5 for Symmetry systems.



ATTENTION

The INIT ALT DISK DELTA procedure will place an image of root and /usr on the same partition on the alternate disk. Although root and /usr may currently be on different partitions, the INIT ALT DISK DELTA copy procedure will create a single root filesystem containing your current root and /usr filesystems. When the installation is complete, there will no longer be a separate /usr filesystem.



ATTENTION

For IBM xSeries 430 and NUMA-Q 2000 systems with a single bootbay, you must perform an alternate disk installation on another partition of the current root disk. See "Requirements for IBM xSeries 430 and NUMA-Q 2000 Systems with a Single Bootbay" for more information.



ATTENTION

The SequentLINK product cannot be installed with the INIT ALT DISK DELTA procedure. Use the ROOT procedure to install this product after updating the base operating system.


The INIT ALT DISK DELTA procedure is supported only for the root and /usr filesystems; it cannot create an image of other filesystems. (This procedure will combine root and /usr into a single root filesystem.) If your current root filesystem structure includes other filesystems containing directories where products install software, you cannot use the INIT ALT DISK DELTA procedure to install those products.

The following products install software in directories sometimes maintained as separate filesystems:

Product

Directory

CSM, SSM, and QCIC software, common firmware downloader

/usr/ssw

DYNIX/ptx Public Software

/usr/local

ptx/XWM

/usr/src



ATTENTION

/usr/ssw cannot be a separate filesystem on IBM xSeries 430 and NUMA-Q 2000 systems.


If you want to use the INIT ALT DISK DELTA procedure to update DYNIX/ptx and other layered products, we recommend the following methods to install products that place software in filesystems other than root or /usr.

Alternatively, you can manually create images of each filesystem on the alternate disk and then do the update with the ALT DISK DELTA procedure.


ROOT Installation Method

This installation method installs or updates layered products on the current root disk. It cannot be used to update the base operating system.

If you are updating a layered product that is already installed on the system, you should do the installation in single-user mode. If you are installing a layered product for the first time, you can do the installation in multiuser mode.


SCRATCH Installation Method

The SCRATCH installation method does an initial (full) installation of the base and layered products. A scratch installation can be done in two ways:


ATTENTION

Scratch installations are not supported for SequentLINK.



Select an Installation Method

Depending on the products you are installing, you may need to run ptx/INSTALL multiple times. For example, you may want to update DYNIX/ptx and certain layered products on an alternate disk using the INIT ALT DISK DELTA procedure and then run ptx/INSTALL again to install other layered products with the ROOT procedure.


ATTENTION

After installing DYNIX/ptx on an alternate disk or with a scratch installation, you must boot the system on the V4.5.3 kernel before using the ROOT installation method to install other layered products.


Also, you must run ptx/INSTALL separately for each CD.

Before beginning the installation, we recommend that you determine whether you will need to run ptx/INSTALL more than once. If you will be making multiple install passes, also determine the products that will be installed on each pass and the appropriate installation method for each pass.


Change Filesystem Type

If you currently have a UFS root filesystem and will be installing ptx/EFS, you can change the filesystem to EFS. Similarly, you can change your current EFS root filesystem to UFS. To do this, you must use the ALT DISK DELTA installation type and copy the filesystem image manually.

If you are changing to an EFS root filesystem and ptx/EFS is not currently installed on your system, take one of these actions:


Summary of Installation Methods

Table 3-2 provides a summary of the installation methods.

Table 3-2. Installation Method

Software to Install

Installation Method

Boot From

Installation Disk

Update of base and layered products

INIT ALT DISK DELTA

Original root disk

Alternatea,c

ALT DISK DELTA

CD

Current rootb,c

ALT DISK DELTA

Original root disk

Alternate; will create an image manuallyc

ALT DISK DELTA

Original root disk

Mirrored plexc

Update of base and layered products, changing filesystem type

ALT DISK DELTA

If filesystem type is already installed, original root disk. If filesystem type is not installed, CD.

Alternateb,c

Scratch of base, layered products (DYNIX/ptx is currently installed)

SCRATCH

Original root disk

Alternatec

SCRATCH

CD

Current rootc

Scratch of base, layered products (DYNIX/ptx is not installed)

SCRATCH

CD

Designated root diskc

Layered products only

INIT ALT DISK DELTA or ALT DISK DELTA

Original root disk

Alternatea,c

ROOT

Current root disk

Current root

a. INIT ALT DISK DELTA can copy only the root and /usr filesystems. Products installing files in other filesystems cannot use this method. Not supported for the DYNIX/ptx Volume 2 CD. b. If ptx/SVM is currently installed, update procedures requiring booting from CD cannot be used. c. Not supported for SequentLINK.



Requirements for an Alternate Disk Partition


ATTENTION

The root disk used for DYNIX/ptx V4.5 must be larger than 2 GB to accommodate the operating system, layered products, and primary swap space.



Requirements for IBM xSeries 430 and NUMA-Q 2000 Systems With a Single Bootbay

Some IBM xSeries 430 and NUMA-Q 2000 systems have a single bootbay containing a SCSI-connected local disk that can be used for the root filesystem.

If your system has a single bootbay, you must specify another partition on the current root disk as the alternate disk for the installation. The VTOC for the root disk contains two partitions, 0 and 2, that can be used for this purpose. (By default, the operating system is shipped on partition 0). If you currently have other data on your alternate partition, you will need to move the data to another disk before you begin the upgrade.

Also, if ptx/SVM is installed on your system, you will need to mirror the current root partition to the alternate partition before performing the upgrade.


Requirements for IBM xSeries 430 and NUMA-Q 2000 Systems With Multiple Bootbays or Pbays

The alternate disk will become the root disk when the new kernel is booted. This means that the alternate disk must meet the requirements for a root disk. Therefore, the disk must be connected to the qlc SCSI controller on the PCI bus on the boot Quad and, for ALT DISK DELTA installations, must contain the following:

The following must also be on a qlc SCSI controller:


Requirements for Symmetry 5000 Systems

If you will be installing software on an alternate disk, that disk will become the root disk when the new kernel is booted. This means that the alternate disk must meet the requirements for a root disk.

The root disk must be connected directly to the HPSE portion of the CSM and must contain the following:

The following must also be connected directly to the CSM:

When you install software on an alternate disk, that disk will become the root disk. If the original root disk was also the boot disk, the original disk will remain the boot disk. The alternate disk installation does not move the boot disk.

If you want the alternate disk to also be the boot disk, you will need to set it up manually. Keep in mind that the boot disk must include the following:

The boot disk must be located on channel 0 of the HPSE portion of the CSM.