Multibos

Over the years, I've fallen in love with the AIX multibos command. Here's a little procedure howto test patches without even a reboot of the system :

  • First, clear out all references to old multibos instances :
# multibos -R
  • mount the patch server directory with the patch bundle :
  • # mount nim:/patches /mnt
    
  • Create a multibos instance of the running kernel and update it :
  • # multibos -Xs
    [...]
    # multibos -Xac -l /mnt/6100-07-07
    
  • Check the Standby BOS and review any problems :
  • # multibos -S
    	MULTIBOS> oslevel -s
    	6100-07-07-1316
    
  • WARNING : adding multibos, will change bootlist, if not wanted, use -t flag :
  • # bootlist -m normal -o
    hdisk0 blv=bos_hd5 pathid=0
    hdisk0 blv=bos_hd5 pathid=1
    hdisk0 blv=hd5 pathid=0
    hdisk0 blv=hd5 pathid=1