Understand the options to back up your current server before you perform an upgrade. Before performing an upgrade, you can back up your server using a mksysb image or alternate disk installation.
Before you perform any upgrade tasks, verify that you have a current system backup in the IBM® AIX® environment of your rootvg and all of your data. An AIX system backup is called a mksysb image. You can either create a mksysb backup image or use alternate disk installation.
If you create a mksysb backup image, you can record a backup on any of the following media:
To make recovery flexible and reliable, back up to more than one media if possible. For additional information on creating a mksysb backup, see Creating system backups (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/topic/com.ibm.aix.install/doc/insgdrf/create_sys_backup.htm).
To back up your system using alternate disk installation, you can clone a copy of your running system to another drive. For additional information about using alternate disk installation, see Alternate disk installation (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/topic/com.ibm.aix.install/doc/insgdrf/HT_insgdrf_altdiskinstall_clone.htm).