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Managing IBM AIX Fix Packs in CA Patch Manager

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Contents

Terminology ......................................................................................................................................................... 3

AIX OS Release and Service Strategy by IBM ....................................................................................................... 3

Supported OS Release and Architecture. ............................................................................................................ 5

Supported content .............................................................................................................................................. 5

Prerequisites ........................................................................................................................................................ 5

Customization ...................................................................................................................................................... 9

Implementation ................................................................................................................................................... 9

Installation Flow (Flow Chart) ............................................................................................................................ 14

FAQ .................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Reference links .................................................................................................................................................. 17

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Terminology AIX - AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive) is a series of proprietary UNIX operating systems developed and sold by IBM for several of its computer platforms. Power Systems - Power Systems is the name of IBM's unified Power Architecture-based server line, merging both System i and System p server platforms, and running either IBM i (formerly i5/OS and OS/400), AIX or Linux operating systems. Power Systems was announced April 2, 2008. APARs, fixes, and PTFs - An Authorized Program Analysis Report (APAR) is your means of informing the appropriate change team of a problem you have found in the current, unaltered release of an IBM® program. When the change team solves the problem, they will produce a fix that will let you get your system running properly again. Finally, a Program Temporary Fix (PTF) is produced to replace the module in error, and the APAR is closed. The fix disappears when it is incorporated into the next release of the product. PTFs might contain a single fix, but generally contain multiple fixes and are associated with a single fileset. Fileset - A fileset is a collection of functionally related files to form an installable unit. Filesets are the smallest individually installable units. A package, on the other hand, is a group of filesets with common functionality collected into a single, installable image. This image is sometimes called a BFF (backup format file). For instance, bos.net.tcp.client is a fileset in the bos.net package. Fix Central – Fix Central is the central repository for all TLs and service packs for AIX. Fix Central allows you to search, select, order, and download fixes to your system with a choice of delivery options. Fixes provide changes to your software, Licensed Internal Code, or machine code that fix known problems, add new function, and keep your system, software, or Hardware Management Console operating efficiently. To access the IBM’s Fix Central, visit http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/. Technology Level (TL) - Earlier called as Maintenance Level (ML). Technology level fixes contain new hardware and software features and updates. They are intended to be installed as a whole, to avoid working with individual updates and installing configurations that are not supported. After you apply a Technology level fix, you cannot reject it. Service Pack (SP) - Service packs, which are released between Technology Levels, contain fixes for customer reported APARs that cannot wait until the next Technology Level. These fixes address critical problems.

AIX OS Release and Service Strategy by IBM IBM enhanced the AIX® operating system (OS) Release and Service Strategy in 2011 as part of the ongoing effort to improve the manageability of the AIX operating system for their clients. The enhanced strategy will provide clients with:

Three years of new fix support for each AIX OS Technology Level update

One Technology Level per AIX version per year

Service Packs for Technology Levels will be released about four times per year

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Technology Level (TL) Technology Levels typically provide cumulative software fixes, new hardware support and in some cases, new functionality. For much of the history of AIX, Technology Levels (and the predecessor, Recommended Maintenance Levels) were the only way for IBM to deliver support for new hardware. The 2011 Release Strategy extends the period of time that IBM will attempt to provide new fixes on a Technology Level update to approximately three years from the introduction of the Technology Level update. This means that clients with a Software Maintenance Agreement (SWMA) for the AIX OS will be able to contact IBM support for defect support during that three year period without having to move up to the latest Technology Level update. The AIX OS Release and Service Strategy for implementation in 2011 for AIX 6 starting with Technology Level 6 and AIX 7 Technology Level 0. The 2011 Release Strategy reduces the number of new Technology Levels released to one per year, per AIX release, typically in the second half of the year. This means that starting in 2011, IBM intends to release a single new Technology Level for AIX 6 and single Technology Level for AIX 7. Both of these Technology Levels are planned to be released in the second half of the year. There are always variations in the release dates of Technology Level updates from year to year, so some Technology Levels will be supported for slightly more than three years. A three year service life for each Technology Level is an objective, not an absolute limit. The service life of Technology Levels will also be limited by the end of service life for the underlying AIX OS release. Service Pack Service packs, which are released between Technology Levels, contain fixes for customer reported problems (APARs) that cannot wait until the next Technology Level. These fixes address critical problems. Service Packs are also used to provide support for newly released hardware. The release dates and frequency of Service Packs are variable due to many factors, including new Technology Level releases, new hardware introduction and the need to deliver software fixes.

With the 2011 release strategy, IBM intends to reduce the number of Service Packs released per year, per AIX release to about four. As stated earlier, there are many factors that drive the release of a Service Pack, so releasing four Service Packs per year, per Technology Level represents a goal and objective, but not an absolute limit. Note that new Technology Levels are almost always accompanied very closely by the first Service Pack for that new Technology Level. This first Service Pack includes fixes to problems that are discovered between the time the new Technology Level is released to manufacturing for the media to be replicated and the time the new Technology Level is actually available to clients.

Service Pack naming: the month and week of the date the Service Pack is released will be used to name the Service Pack—as a result, 7.1 TL1 Service Pack 2 will be named as 7100-01-02-YYWW (where YY is the 2 digit year and WW is the 2 digit week, the Service Pack is made available).

To know more about AIX release and service delivery strategy, visit the following links. http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/software/aix/support/release_strategy.html

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1012517

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Supported OS Release and Architecture

CA Patch Manager Packages for IBM AIX supports the following OS releases and process architecture.

IBM AIX 7.1 on system p / Power Systems

IBM AIX 6.1 (TL 6 and above) on system p / Power Systems

Supported content CA Patch Manager supports Technology Levels (TL) and Service Packs (SP) for IBM AIX 6.1 (TL 6 and above only) and IBM AIX 7.1.

Package naming convention in CA Patch Manager: For IBM AIX 6.1,

CA - IBM AIX 6.1 TLx Only SPx (6100-TL-SP-YYWW) This package provides only SP. To apply this package the Technology level should be at the same level and Service Pack level should be low on the agent.

CA - IBM AIX 6.1 TLx With SPx (6100-TL-SP-YYWW) This package provides both TL and SP. To apply this package the Technology level should be low and YYWW should be low irrespective of Service Pack level on the agent.

For IBM AIX 7.1,

CA - IBM AIX 7.1 TLx Only SPx (7100-TL-SP-YYWW) This package provide only SP. To apply this package the Technology level should be at the same level and Service Pack level should be low on the agent.

CA - IBM AIX 7.1 TLx With SPx (7100-TL-SP-YYWW)

This package provides both TL and SP. To apply this package the Technology level should be low and

YYWW should be low irrespective of Service Pack level on the agent.

Prerequisites

These are three prerequisites at Scalability Server level for deploying any IBM AIX package in Patch Manager.

1. IIS/Web Services must be installed on the corresponding Enterprise Servers (ES)/Domain Managers

(DM)/Scalability Servers (SS).

2. 'CA UPM Manual Download Function' patch in Patch Manager needs to be deployed to all servers

involved (all servers with Patch Manager installed or which could have AIX agents pointing to them –

e.g., Scalability Servers, Domain Managers and Enterprise Servers). This is a generic package and

only needs to be deployed once. This step could be skipped if the patch has already been deployed

earlier as a prerequisite for other platforms patches.

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Once successfully installed, a virtual folder will appear under the Default Web Site in IIS called

‘manual_download’.

Also, a folder called ‘%UPM_HOME%\UPMDownloads’ will be created on the Patch Manager server

and all Scalability Servers (or Domain Manager/Enterprise Server machines) pushed to.

3. Download and keep the filesets of the fixpack on the scalability server in the specified location that

is mentioned in the release notes of the package.

For instance, we use the package ‘CA - IBM AIX 7.1 TL1 Only SP8 (7100-01-08-1334)’ for illustration

IMPORTANT: If you are deploying “CA - IBM AIX 7.1 TL1 Only SP8 (7100-01-08-1334)” package then

just download service pack alone. If you are deploying “CA - IBM AIX 7.1 TL1 With SP8 (7100-01-08-

1334)” package then download both Technology Level (7100-01-00-1140) and Service pack (7100-

01-08-1334).

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From IBM Fix Central (http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral) home page select Product group as AIX, Version as 7.1 and Function as Fix Packs and Click the Continue Button.

Select “Service pack: 7100-01-08-1334” and click on Continue Button.

IBM Registration page opens up automatically if you haven’t signed in with your IBM ID. After successful login it opens the download page.

Click on button to start download. Here downloading the fix pack using IBM Download Director as we selected it in download options.

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Copy the downloaded filesets in to the folder specified in the release notes of the patch.

On the agent this package requires "wget", to download the filesets on to the agent from CA ITCM

Scalability server. Installation of "wget" is mandatory on the agent. You can install "wget" on agent by

deploying the package "wget X.X.X for IBM AIX" from CA Patch Manager or manually download and install

from ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/aix/freeSoftware/aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc/wget.

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Customization There are two customization options provided – “preview” and “comparereport”. Any/all/none of these options can be customized. To customize these options, “User parameters” have to be entered in the software delivery job deployment window in IT Client Manager Console. User Parameters: Default (without any user parameters): Agent downloads all the filesets and initiates installation. preview: Agent downloads all the filesets and shows the preview of actual installation.

comparereport: Agent downloads only the filesets marked by compare_report tool and initiates installation.

preview comparereport: Agent downloads only the filesets marked by compare_report tool and shows the

preview of actual installation.

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Implementation Deployment of ‘CA - IBM AIX 7.1 TL1 Only SP8 (7100-01-08-1334)’ on an IBM AIX 7.1 Technology Level 1 and

Service Pack 0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7.

The following section demonstrates deployment of the package without any customization.

1. Accept and deploy the package ‘CA - IBM AIX 7.1 TL1 Only SP8 (7100-01-08-1334)’ on an AIX agent.

After the job is activated on the agent, agent starts downloading all the filesets using “wget” from

the location “%UPM_HOME%/UPMdownloads/AIX/7100-01-08-1037”.

2. After successful download of all filesets, the actual installation starts and output is displayed in the

software delivery job window in IT Client Manager Console.

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3. After successful installation of fix pack, it is recommended to reboot the machine.

4. Upon successful installation, the patch signature should be detected under ITCM Software Discovery

for the specific IBM AIX agent.

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The following section demonstrates deployment of the package with customization.

1. Deploy the package ‘CA - IBM AIX 7.1 TL1 Only SP8 (7100-01-08-1334)’ from IT Client Manager

console.

2. In the job details window, enter the user parameters with the required customization options and

click ok.

3. Once the job is activated on the agent, agent starts downloading all the filesets or just the filesets

marked by compare_report tool based on the user parameter value.

Note: Installation of "wget" is mandatory on the agents to download the filesets from server.

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4. After successful download of all required filesets, the actual installation starts or just shows the

preview of actual installation, again based on the user parameter value.

5. After completion of job, the output is displayed in the software delivery job window in IT Client

Manager Console.

6. After successful completion of actual installation of fix pack, it is recommended to reboot the

machine. Reboot is not required in case of a preview deployment.

7. Upon successful installation, the patch signature should be detected under Software Discovery for

the specific IBM AIX agent. Patch signature is not created if “preview” option is selected during

deployment.

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Installation Flow (Flow Chart)

Detailed Flow Chart for the packageCA – IBM AIX x.x TLx Only SPx (xx00-TL-SP-YYWW)

with customize options

Download and Copy the AIX SP or TL & SP filesets into the folder specified in the release notes (Manual

Step)

Exit

Yes NoValidate

prechecks

Deploy “CA – IBM AIX x.x TLx Only SPx (xx00-TL-SP-YYWW)”

Download all filesets or marked filesets by compare_report tool (value passed by user parameter) from the ITCM server and start

the installation process

Show the preview of actual installation

Start Pre-deployment procedure

Only preview?No

Yes

Perform cleanup and update SD job

output

Start installation

Success ?

No

Yes

Create Signature

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FAQ Q: Are there any pre-requisites for CA Patch Manager in order to create a ‘CA – IBM AIX 7.1/6.1 package? A: Yes. “CA UPM Manual Download Function” package is required to be installed on the Patch Manager. This package has been developed to handle dynamic download URLs by vendors like HP, Oracle, IBM, Red Hat etc. http://www.ca.com/us/udm/upm/patch.aspx?uuid=1700ce5a-9444-466b-a692-fcbe5bdf8bde#section1 Q: Are there any pre-requisites for the agents in order to deploy a ‘CA – IBM AIX 7.1/6.1’ package from CA Patch Manager? A: Yes. The package uses "wget" to download the patch bundle on to the agent from CA ITCM Scalability server. Installation of "wget" is mandatory on the agents. You can manually download and install "wget" on agents from the below URL or deploy the package "wget X.X.X for IBM AIX" from CA Patch Manager. ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/aix/freeSoftware/aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc/wget/ Q. What are the detailed logs to check the TL/SP installation information deployed by CA Patch Manager? A: /opt/CA/Rollup/logs/<XX00-TL-SP> Q. Is it necessary to reboot the machine after the installation of the TL/SP? A. Yes. The administrator should reboot the machine after successful deployment of the CA Patch Manager package in order for the changes to be made effective. Q. What version, release, and maintenance level of AIX is running on my system? A. oslevel –r or lslpp -h bos.rte

Q. What is the command to check if all filesets of a Technology Level are installed? A. instfix –i | grep ML The following is a typical output when all filesets are installed:

If the filesets for any TL were not completely installed, there will be a message similar to "Not all filesets for xxxx-xx_AIX_ML were found". Q. What is the command to check the service pack level on an AIX machine? A. oslevel -s Q. How can I determine which fileset updates are missing from a particular AIX level (e.g. 6100-06)? A. oslevel –rl 6100-06 Q. How do I verify that the filesets have the required prerequisites and are completely installed?

A. The output from the command lppchk -v shows if the filesets have the required prerequisites and are completely installed. If there is no output from this command, the filesets are completely installed. Otherwise, the filesets that need to be installed or corrected are displayed.

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Q. What is the command to list the all installed filesets on an AIX machine? A. lslpp –l or lslpp –L all Q. How to check a particular fileset (for e.g. bos.rte.install) installed or not? A. lslpp –l bos.rte.install Q. How to check the installation history for a particular fileset (for e.g. bos.rte.install)? A. lslpp –h bos.rte.install Q. What is the command to list the files installed by a particular fileset (for e.g. bos.rte.install)? A. lslpp –f bos.rte.install Q. How do I determine if a particular fix (for e.g. APAR IZ91914) is installed on my system? A. instfix –ivk IZ91914 Q. How do I install an individual fix by APAR? A. To install APAR IZ91914 from /dev/cd0, for example, enter the command: instfix -k IZ91914 -d /dev/cd0 Q. How do I install a fileset (for e.g. bos.cifs_fs.rte.6.1.0.1.bff is in the folder /opt/temp)? A. installp –ad /opt/temp/bos.cifs_fs.rte.6.1.0.1.bff all Q. Are you getting the error like “installp: Installation failed due to BUILDDATE requisite failure.” while upgrading TL/SP? What is the solution? A. The installp command has been enhanced to check the "build date" of filesets being installed to ensure that an older fileset is not installed on top of a new fileset. Check the following links for the solution. http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/aix/v6r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.install/doc/insgdrf/service_updates.htm https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IZ25180 https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IZ91914

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Reference links IBM Fix Central http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/ IBM Service and Support best practices http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/best/home.html AIX Release and Service Delivery Strategy www-304.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/best/aix_service_strategy_v12.pdf http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/software/aix/support/release_strategy.html http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/software/aix/whitepapers/release_strategy.html New AIX Service and Release Strategy - Starting February 2011 https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/cgaix/entry/aix_service_and_release_stra

tegy_starting_february_2011?lang=en

AIX support lifecycle information http://www-01.ibm.com/software/support/aix/lifecycle/ https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1012517 AIX 6.1 Information Center http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/aix/v6r1/index.jsp

AIX 7.1 Information Center

http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/aix/v7r1/index.jsp

Updating to new Technological Level or Service Pack

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1010755

IBM support portal http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/Overview/Software/Software_support_%28general%29 How to subscribe to My Notifications? ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/systems/support/tools/mynotifications/overview.pdf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ4MZv8OeII AIX Commands http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-dutta_cmds.html