Using secondary adapters

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Previously, during a NIM rte BOS installation operation, only the network adapter and interface used during BOS installation were configured. Using NIM secondary adapter definitions, you can have additional network adapters and interfaces configured during a BOS installation or customized installation.

The nimadapters command parses a secondary adapter stanza file to build the files required to add NIM secondary adapter definitions to the NIM environment as part of an adapter_def resource. The nimadapters command does not configure secondary adapters. The configuration takes place during a nim -o bos_inst operation or a nim -o cust operation that references the adapter_def resource.

Secondary adapter support is available for AIX®. Before you enable a secondary adapter, you must verify the AIX version the client is running. The secondary adapters will fail to configure, because NIM is unable to find the /usr/lpp/bos.sysmgt/nim/methods/c_cfgadptrs client method. The following example shows the outcome if you attempt to enable this support on your NIM master.


nim -o cust -a adapter_def=adapter_def1 rspc10
trigger.austin.xyz.com. 0042-001 nim: processing error encountered on "master":    
0042-001 m_cust: processing error encountered on "rspc10":    
0042-175 c_script: An unexpected result was returned by the 
"trigger.austin.xyz.com:/export/nim/scripts/rspc10.script" command: 
/tmp/_nim_dir_4714/script[10]: /usr/lpp/bos.sysmgt/nim/methods/c_cfgadptrs:  not found.

The secondary adapter stanza file is processed by the nimadapters command and turned into a file that contains one stanza for each secondary adapter or interface on the NIM client. During a BOS installation, NIM processes this information and configures the secondary adapters. If a secondary adapter is already configured in the requested manner, NIM does not reconfigure the secondary adapter.

Note: Before using the nimadapters command, you must configure the NIM master. For information on configuring the NIM master, see Configuring the NIM master and creating basic installation resources.