Installing a partition using alternate disk installation

You can clone an existing disk image to another disk or disks without using NIM.

You might want to use an alternate disk installation if your network is not fully set up, or if you are not sure about your network configuration. Using an alternate disk installation will not prevent you from using NIM in the future.

You can use the alt_disk_install command to clone a system image to another disk, but you must use the -O option to remove references in the object data manager (ODM) and device (/dev) entries to the existing system. The -O flag specifies that the alt_disk_install command should call the devreset command to reset the device database. The cloned disk can now be booted as if it were a new system.

For a full description of alternate disk installation, see alt_disk_install.

Boot the managed system as a Full System Partition so you have access to all the disks in the managed system.
Configure the system and install the necessary applications.
Run the alt_disk_install command to begin cloning the rootvg on hdisk0 to hdisk1, as follows:
```
# /usr/sbin/alt_disk_install -O -B -C hdisk1
```
The cloned disk (hdisk1) will be named altinst_rootvg by default.
Rename the cloned disk (hdisk1) to alt1 as follows:
```
# /usr/sbin/alt_disk_install -v alt1 hdisk1
```
Renaming the cloned disk allows you torepeat the operation with another disk.
Run the alt_disk_install command again to clone to another disk and rename the cloned disk, as follows:
```
# /usr/sbin/alt_disk_install -O -B -C hdisk2
# /usr/sbin/alt_disk_install -v alt2 hdisk2
```
Repeat steps 3 through 5 for all of the disks that you want to clone.
Use the HMC to partition the managed system with the newly cloned disks.
Each partition you create will now have a rootvg with a boot image.
Boot the partition into SMS mode. Use the SMS MultiBoot menu to configure the first boot device to be the newly installed disk.
Exit the SMS menus and boot the system.