Installing AIX on a system with multiple disks

Save time on AIX® installations by specifying the disks on which you want the system installed.

In general, if you do not specify the disk (root volume group) on which you want the AIX system installed, the operating system is installed on a disk that was previously installed with AIX. If you have many disks that contain data volume groups, and these data volume groups are discovered before the previous root volume group is found, the installation can be delayed until a suitable disk is found. Beginning with AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-03 Recommended Maintenance package, first specify the disk on which you want to install the system, and you will save time. You can specify the installation disk by using one of the following methods:

Specify the installation disk in the bosinst.data file by physical location code (PHYSICAL_LOCATION) or physical volume identifier (PVID):
1. To determine the physical location on a running system, type:
```
lsdev -F "name physloc" -l hdisk
```
2. To determine the physical volume identifier on a running system, type:
```
lsattr -E -O -a pvid -l hdisk
```
3. If you are using a fibre-channel disk for the installation, you can use the following command in the bosinst.data file:
```
SAN_DISKID=worldwide_portname//lun_id
```
Specify the installation disk in the ¹ file from DVD, or through a network installation.
1. For a network installation, specify the installation disk in the bosinst.data file by typing the following command:
```
nim -o bos_inst -a bosinst_data=value ...
```
2. For an installation from DVD, specify the installation disk in the bosinst.data file by following the procedures at Customizing and using the bosinst.data file.

If you do not specify the characteristics of the disk in the bosinst.data file on the target system, the installation disk is chosen based on the flags in the control_flow stanza of the bosinst.data file. Unless you specify EXISTING_SYSTEM_OVERWRITE=no, the first suitable root volume group is chosen for the installation. For overwrite or preserve installations, any root volume group is acceptable. For migration, the volume group must be installed with a version of the operating system that can be migrated to the level being installed. If you specify EXISTING_SYSTEM_OVERWRITE=no in the control_flow stanza of the bosinst.data file, then the installation goes to the first unused disk.

¹ bosinst.data