General Page
General Recommendations
When you update to a new Technology Level (TL), it is good practice to first update the bos.rte.install
file set in a separate installation session.
With certain combinations of updates, the update process might have to be run a second time in order to apply all updates in a package. Check the output of the 'oslevel -r' and 'oslevel -s' commands for the expected values after an update. Until the update is run a second time, the output of the oslevel command might not indicate that the package is fully installed.
The compare_report
command, which is documented in the AIX Commands Reference, can be used to determine which available updates contain fixes not present on your system.
Any library or executable file that is updated by an interim fix (emgr) or service update, which is in use by an active process, is not reflected in that process until it is restarted. In addition, any process that uses a library and does a dlopen() of the same library after the library is updated, could experience inconsistencies.
Commit all applied updates before you upgrade your system to a new service pack or technology level. If you use workload partitions (WPARs), commit all applied updates in the WPARs before you update the global LPAR.
26 January 2024
Updating to AIX 7.2 TL5 SP7 (7200-05-07-2346) with Trusted Update
The fix for HIPER APAR IJ49570 was added to 7200-05-07-2346 on Fix Central on 26 January 2024. To avoid the issue documented in IJ49570, it is recommended to download the augmented service pack for any future update operations.
Systems with trusted update enabled will require special steps to update successfully. These systems have a signature checking policy of "medium" or "high".
To determine the current policy for a system, run:
% chsignpolicy -p
#signpolicy
none <---- this value (could be none, low, medium, or high)
For policies of "low" or "none", normal update procedures are sufficient and there is no need to read further.
Systems with policies of "medium" or "high" will need to either temporarily lower it to "low" or "none" using the chsignpolicy command or use an interim fix with the new package signatures to successfully update.
To temporarily lower the policy setting, the steps are:
- chsignpolicy -s none # or low for informational messaging
% chsignpolicy -s low sys0 changed
- perform the update as usual
- chsignpolicy -s high # or medium (to restore the original policy)
% chsignpolicy -s high sys0 changed
- the procedure is complete, and there is no need to read further
- run oslevel -s and verify it indicates 7200-05-06-2320. If not, update to 7200-05-06-2320 before proceeding.
% oslevel -s 7200-05-06-2320
- run chsignpolicy -p and verify the value is "medium" or "high". If it's "low" or "none" then no signature policy is configured and there's no need to continue with these steps. Simply apply service pack 7200-05-07-2346 following normal procedures. If it is "medium" or "high" then continue to the next step.
- download ifix IJ49570tu1.240125.epkg.Z
- download 7200-05-07-2346 from Fix Central (do this after 26 January 2024 to get the fix for IJ49570)
- verify the downloaded images include files U894244.bff and U894514.bff. If they do not, then the service pack was downloaded before the HIPER fix was added and will need to be redownloaded.
- from the directory with the service pack images, run the following (this will preview an update of bos.rte.install and bos.dsc)
% installp -e /tmp/install.log -apXgd . bos.dsc
- after a successful preview, apply the two updates by removing the 'p' flag
% installp -e /tmp/install.log -aXgd . bos.dsc
- go to the directory where the ifix resides and run
% emgr -X -e IJ49570tu1.240125.epkg.Z
- back in the SP download directory, preview the update by running
% install_all_updates -pYd .
- after a successful preview, apply the updates by running
% install_all_updates -Yd .
- verify the new service pack level is 7200-05-07-2346 by running oslevel -s
% oslevel -s 7200-05-07-2346
- verify the fix for IJ49570 is present by running
% instfix -ivqk IJ49570 IJ49570 Abstract: SAVEBASE FAILS WITH IOCTL FOR LV_QRYBLKSIZE ON BLV FAIL (14 Fileset bos.alt_disk_install.boot_images:7.2.5.206 is applied on the system. Fileset bos.rte.boot:7.2.5.203 is applied on the system.
- remove the signature ifix by running emgr -rL IJ49570tu1
The system is now updated and may be safely rebooted.
1 November 2022
SUMA workaround for November security change
# suma -c -a DOWNLOAD_PROTOCOL=https
AIX 7.1 TL5 SP11 (7100-05-11-2246) - estimated to be available in March 2023
20 May 2022 - Updated 25 May 2022
Firewall Changes May Be Needed For Fix Retrieval
IBM is planning to implement infrastructure improvements to electronic fix distribution in early June.
Public internet IP address and hostnames will be changing for the IBM servers that support internet delivery of fixes and updates for customer system's software, hardware, and operating system.
This change pertains to all operating systems supported by IBM Electronic Fix Distribution (EFD) / IBM Fix Central system.
Customer action may be required to ensure uninterrupted fix delivery services.
See the full bulletin for details.
Service Update Management Assistant (SUMA) is not affected by this change.
% suma -x -a Action=Preview -a RqType=Latest
****************************************
Performing preview download.
****************************************
Partition id was unassigned; will attempt to assign it.
Partition id assigned value 19
0500-013 Failed to retrieve list from fix server.
% emgr -e /tmp/ECCJKS01.220111.epkg.Z
Secure Boot failure with NTP v4
Secure boot: Signature verification failed for /usr/sbin/ntp4/ntpd4
trustchk -d /usr/sbin/ntp4/ntpd4
Digital Signature Policy and 7200-05-03 or later
% chsignpolicy -p
#signpolicy
high <---- remember this value (could be low, medium, high, or none)
# chsignpolicy -s none
sys0 changed
sysck: 3001-036 WARNING: File
/usr/lib/objrepos/dsc_inventory.vc
is also owned by fileset bos.rte.install.
sysck: 3001-036 WARNING: File
/usr/lib/objrepos/dsc_inventory
is also owned by fileset bos.rte.install.
20 January 2021
IJ29762: PCIe3 16 Gb 2-port Fibre Channel adapter (FC EN2A and FC EN2B) fails to configure
Devices attached to PCIe3 16 Gb 2-port Fibre Channel adapters (FC EN2A and FC EN2B; CCIN 579D) do not configure, and therefore cannot be installed to, when booted from any of the following:
- AIX 7.2 TL5 DVD media with label "LCD8-2230-14" or "LCD8-2233-14"
- AIX 7.2 TL5 ISO images obtained from the Entitled Systems Support (ESS) site before 15 January 2021:
AIX_v7.2_Install_7200-05-00-2037_DVD_2_of_2_112020_LCD8223114.iso
AIX_v7.2_Install_7200-05-01-2038_flash_112020_LCD8236408.iso
- AIX 7.2 TL5 ISO images obtained from Passport Advantage before 15 January 2021:
aix_7200-05-00-2037_2of2_112020.iso
aix_7200-05-01-2038_flash_112020.iso
- alt_disk_mksysb images created on AIX levels up through 7200-05-01-2038
25 November 2020 (updated 4 December 2020)
Unable to boot systems that use NPIV after you update to 7200-05 (APAR IJ29419)
% LANG=C lsdev |grep "Virtual Fibre Channel Client Adapter"
fcs0 Available 15-T1 Virtual Fibre Channel Client Adapter
fcs1 Available 16-T1 Virtual Fibre Channel Client Adapter
% lsattr -El fcs0
intr_priority 3 Interrupt priority False
lg_term_dma 0x8000000 Long term DMA True
max_xfer_size 0x1000000 Maximum Transfer Size True
num_cmd_elems 256 Maximum Number of COMMAND Elements True
sw_fc_class 2 FC Class for Fabric True
% chdev -l fcs0 -a num_cmd_elems=512 -P
fcs0 changed
% chdev -l fcs0 -a lg_term_dma=0x4000000 -P
fcs0 changed
13 November 2020
bos.txt.tfs error updating with 7200-05-00-2037 DVDs or ISO images
Attempting to update an existing system with 7200-05-00-2037 DVDs or ISO images results in the following error when the optional bos.txt.ibm3812.fnt fileset is present on the system:
instal: Failed while executing the ./bos.txt.tfs.post_i script.
and bos.txt.tfs is removed from the system. This will cause the update to fail but can be recovered by re-attempting the update with the "C" locale. For example, assuming you're updating from media in /dev/cd0, you would run:
% LANG=C
% LC_MESSAGES=$LANG
% export LANG LC_MESSAGES
% installp -aXYgd /dev/cd0 bos.txt.tfs
% smitty update_all
The installp command will remedy the bos.txt.tfs error and the final command should allow you to finish your update of any missing changes that failed to install due to a bos.txt.tfs dependency.
21 May 2020
ofed.rds.rte 7.2.4.1 fails to install from 7200-04-02-2015 and 7200-04-02-2016 base media
Attempting to install ofed.rds.rte from base media for 7200-04-02-2015 or 7200-04-02-2016 will fail with error:
sysck: 3001-017 Errors were detected validating the files
for package ofed.rds.rte.
0503-464 installp: The installation has FAILED for the "usr" part
of the following filesets:
ofed.rds.rte 7.2.4.1
A corrected ofed.rds package is available at https://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/fixes/7242/ofed.rds and delivers the 7.2.4.2 version of the ofed.rds.rte file set. The image is also available via anonymous FTP from the same location.
14 April 2020
Preinstalled systems could show oslevel 7200-04-00-0000
Some systems were preinstalled such that oslevel -s reports 7200-04-00-0000 instead of 7200-04-01-1939. These systems cannot be updated to Service Pack 7200-04-01-1939 because those changes are already installed.
Upgrading to Technology Level 7200-04-00-1937 Or Service Pack 7200-04-01-1939 Fails To Commit
Upgrades to the mentioned levels, with commit set to yes, apply the updates and return successfully but fail to commit the software. For example, running "smitty update_all", which attempts to commit by default, returns "OK" even though the commits fail.
You can commit afterward by selecting "Commit Applied Software Updates" in SMIT or by running the installp command with the "-g" flag:
% installp -e /tmp/commit.log -gcX all
7200-01 End of Service Pack Support
7200-04 sendmail 8.15.2
7200-04 smitty update_all Failure
installp: The installp command has been updated. Reinvoking installp
to process the remaining items.
Unable to set up Trusted Execution environment for Installation to proceed.
7200-00 End of Service Pack Support
Service Packs and CVE-2018-6922
- 7200-03-03-1914 (or later)
- 7200-02-04-1914 (or later)
- 7200-01-06-1914 (or later)
PowerHA SystemMirror
After upgrading to 7200-03 and rebooting, PowerHA SystemMirror customers might see an error when running lppchk:
lppchk: File /etc/rc.d/rc2.d/Kcluster could not be located.
This error can be safely ignored. It does not impact cluster functionality, as the referenced file is no longer used.
3 November 2017
TL2 SP1 revision 7200-02-01-1732
To enable support of POWER9 systems on AIX 7.2 TL2 SP1, a new revision of the service pack has been created. The original revision was 7200-02-01-1731, and the new revision is 7200-02-01-1732. The only functional change is:
IJ02570 DLPAR operation failed with error HSCL294E
Updating from pre-TL2 to TL2 or later with RPMs
- Avoiding Missing RPM Issues http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1027160
- Resolving Missing RPM Issues http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1027161
29 September 2017
Migration and Java6
If you previously migrated to 7.2, and have Java6 software installed, there might be newer levels on the Expansion Pack. An update_all operation from the Expansion Pack media as the software source, upgrades any software moved to the Expansion Pack.To determine if you still need Java6, you might do a preview removal, to find any requisites, and if none, it might be removed. More information on Java6 and AIX Version 7.2 is in the 7.2 Release Notes.
7200-01 Service Pack 1 Update
As of 21 December 2016, Service Pack (SP) 7200-01-01-1642 was updated on FixCentral to add two additional fixes:
IV91432 getsockname() returns incorrect namelength
IV91020 crash in vioent_init_ls_timer when poll_uplink=yes
To reflect that the content had been augmented, the name of the SP was incremented to 7200-01-01-1643 for ordering purposes only.
Once downloaded and applied to a system, the oslevel output remains:
% oslevel -s
7200-01-01-1642
Presence of the additional fixes can be verified by instfix:
% instfix -iqk IV91432
All filesets for IV91432 were found.
% instfix -iqk IV91020
All filesets for IV91020 were found.
7200-01 Technology Level Update
As of 20 December 2016, Technology Level (TL) 7200-01-00-1642 was updated on FixCentral to add two additional fixes:
IV91432 getsockname() returns incorrect namelength
IV91020 crash in vioent_init_ls_timer when poll_uplink=yes
To reflect that the content had been augmented, the name of the TL was incremented to 7200-01-00-1643 for ordering purposes only.
Once downloaded and applied to a system, the oslevel output remains:
% oslevel -r
7200-01
% oslevel -s
7200-01-01-1642
Presence of the additional fixes can be verified by instfix:
% instfix -iqk IV91432
All filesets for IV91432 were found.
% instfix -iqk IV91020
All filesets for IV91020 were found.
VIO Client Crash with poll_uplink=yes
VIO client LPARs running the AIX 7200-01 Technology Level with devices.vdevice.IBM.l-lan.rte at 7.2.1.0 might crash during reboot if they use virtual ethernet with the poll_uplink attribute set to 'yes' for any virtual ethernet adapter device.The device attribute can be verified with:
% lsattr -El entX -a poll_uplink
If hit, the crash shows information similar to:
Illegal Trap Instruction Interrupt in Kernel
.vioent_init_ls_timer+000000 tdllti r31,200
The device attribute can be changed with:
% chdev -l entX -a poll_uplink=no
jfs2 Tuning for Migrated AIX 6.1 Systems
The default value of the j2_inodeCacheSize tunable parameter was changed from 400 to 200. The j2_inodeCacheSize tunable parameter allows approximately 50,000 open files per gigabyte (GB) of main memory, and improves system performance. However, the j2_inodeCacheSize tunable parameter value of 200 can cause issues in systems that have a small amount of main memory (4 GB or less) and many concurrent users or many concurrent open files. To fix these issues, you can change the values for the j2_inodeCacheSize and the j2_metadataCacheSize tunable parameters from 200 to the previous value of 400 by running the following command.Note: When you run the following command, the current value and boot value of both the tunable parameters are reset.
% ioo -p -o j2_inodeCacheSize=400 -o j2_metadataCacheSize=400
If the issues are not fixed after you change the values for the j2_inodeCacheSize and the j2_metadataCacheSize tunable parameters, you can contact IBM Support.
Cannot boot from USB-attached DVD
Volume 1 of the AIX 7.2 7200-00-02 DVD install media does not boot in a USB-attached DVD drive and cannot be used to install a system from such a drive.
To identify affected (bad) media, check the DVD label for the following:
TL 7200-00-02
05/2016
LK4T-1807-01
LCD8-2230-01
A fixed (good) DVD label shows:
TL 7200-00-02.1
07/2016
LK4T-1807-02
LCD8-2230-02
As of 18 July 2016, all media orders ship with a fixed version of the DVD.
Customers with affected media can get updated ISO images through the ESS website:
Migration and RSCT 3.2.1.0
When migrating to AIX 7.2 the file set rsct.core.utils 3.2.1.0 is applied to the system. This level of RSCT is incompatible with rsct.vsd and rsct.lapi.rte file sets that might already be installed. rsct.vsd and rsct.lapi.rte should be uninstalled before applying updates or migrating to AIX 7.2. In addition, after the file sets are removed, the /opt/rsct directory needs to be renamed with a command like:% mv /opt/rsct /opt/rsct.old
Failure to remove the file sets or to rename the directory results in an error during the installation of the rsct.core.utils 3.2.1.0 file set:
rmdir(/opt/rsct): Do not specify an existing file.
sysck: 3001-017 Errors were detected validating the files
for package rsct.core.utils.
0503-464 installp: The installation has FAILED for the "usr" part
In addition to preventing rsct.core.utils from moving to the proper level, many requisite rsct file sets are not migrated.
To recover from a failed migration, first ensure that rsct.lapi.rte and rsct.vsd are removed from the system. Then, rename /opt/rsct to /opt/rsct.old. Finally, do a smitty update_all from the migration medium to get the missing file sets installed.
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Document Information
Modified date:
26 January 2024
UID
ibm10883116