NIM concepts

To use all the available features in NIM, you should understand various components of AIX® installation.

NIM objects
The machines you want to manage in the NIM environment, their resources, and the networks through which the machines communicate are all represented as objects within a central database that resides on the master.
NIM machines
The types of machines that can be managed in the NIM environment are standalone, diskless, and dataless clients. This section describes the differences between the machines, the attributes required to define the machines, and the operations that can be performed on them.
Resolving host names with NIM
NIM relies on standard AIX library routines to perform name resolution. If a network environment uses multiple sources for name resolution, NIM will resolve host names by querying the sources in whatever order is specified for the system.
Naming NIM object definitions
The name that you give a NIM object will be used in all future operations involving that object. This name must be unique among NIM objects, and it must adhere to certain restrictions.
NIM environment control
In the NIM environment, control is held by the NIM master or the standalone client. The system allocating the resources has control.
Using NIM with Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
Select your NIM master to be the same system as the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server when using NIM in an environment that uses DHCP.

Parent topic: Network Installation Management