My Notes on NIM - Network Installation Manager

Required Filesets:

For Server - bos.sysmgt.nim.master and bos.sysmgt.nim.spot
For Client - bos.sysmgt.nim.client

Few Resource Definitions:

SPOT - Shared Product Object Tree is a directory containing files required to boot a machine and the boot image

LPP_SOURCE - Licensed Program Product source is a directory containing images/filesets that AIX uses to load software

MKSYSB - Mksysb resource used to build a machine

Requirements for NIM Server:

Disk Space :
1. 3 GB per base lpp_source resource
2. 500 MB + per mksysb resource
3. 500 MB per SPOT resource
4. Additional buffer space for future growth

Other Requirements:
# Minimum 512 MB real memory
# 10 or 100 MBPS ethernet adapter

My Recommendations for NIM VG and Filesystems :

1. Create a seperate VG called 'nimvg' with enough space.

2. Create the following filesystems in nimvg based upon your requirement

 a. /tftpboot - To hold boot images
 b. /export/nim - To hold the resources like SPOT, LPP, Mksysb

Directory Structure :
/export/nim/lpp_source - To hold lpp source resources
/export/nim/spot             - To hold spot resources 
/export/nim/mksysb       - To hold the mksysb backup for clients

Naming Schemes:

Follow the below schemes to easily identify during regular operations :

spot530TL6              - SPOT for AIX V 5.3 TL 6
spot530TL9              - SPOT for AIX V 5.3 TL 9
lpp_source530TL6  - LPP_SOURCE for AIX V 5.3 TL 6
lpp_source530TL9  - LPP_SOURCE for AIX V 5.3 TL 6
client_server1          -  Mksysb image of the host server1
client_server2          - Mksysb image of the hsot server2


How to setup the NIM Master :

0. Create the /tftpboot and /export/nim file systems as per yoru requirement

1. Initial setup of NIM Master
  a. ODM database
  b. Boot Area: /tftpboot directory that is used to store boot files (images)
  c. /etc/niminfo         -  Is the Key configuration file that exists on both master and clients
  d. nimesis daemon - This is the daemon which used to communicate with the nim clients

2. Insert the AIX CD into the master server's CD Drive

3. Create LPP_SOURCE and SPOT resources

Commands to manage NIM master and clients:

To setup NIM Server:
# nim_master_setup -B -a device=/dev/cd0 -a file_system=/nim -a volume_group=nimvg

To setup NIM installation in a client:
# smitty nim_bosinst

To view the status of NIM installation in a NIM client:
# lsnim -l client_hostname

To define a lpp_source resource:
# nim -o define -t lpp_source -a source=/dev/cd0 -a server=master -a location=/nim/lpp_source/AIX_5_3_4 AIX_5_3_4

To define a spot resource:

# nim -o define -t spot -a server=master -a location=/export/nim/spot -a source=lpp_source530 spot530

To remove a resource:
# nim -o remove AIX_5_3_4

To initialize a NIM client for diag operation:
# nim -o diag client_hostname

To initialize a NIM client for maintenance operation:
# nim -o maint client_hostname

To unconfigure a NIM server:
# nim -o unconfig master_server

To allocate a SPOT to a NIM client:
# nim -o allocate -a spot=AIX_5_3 client_hostname

To deallocate a SPOT from a NIM client:
# nim -o deallocate -a spot=AIX_5_3 client_hostname

To remove a NIM client after deallocating all its resources:
# nim -o remove client_hostname

To reboot a client:
# nim -o reboot client_hostname

To list all the NIM resources:
# lsnim

To list detailed information about a nim client:
# lsnim -l client_hostname

To list the resources allocated to a NIM client:
# lsnim -c resources client_hostname

This post is under construction. Please visit later for the upgraded version.