FP4a 32 bit Aix compatibility question

[Jean-Marc Blaise]

Dear all,

Can we use the FP4a 32 bit version for Aix 4.3.3 on an AIX 5 32 bit system ?
The pb is the size of AIX5 FP4a exceeds now the size of a normal cdrom:

AIX5 FP3: 665 Mo FP4a: 710 Mo
AIX4 FP3: 586 Mo FP4a: 624 Mo

Regards,

Jean-Marc

[Darin McBride]

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Can we use the FP4a 32 bit version for Aix 4.3.3 on an AIX 5 32 bit system
? The pb is the size of AIX5 FP4a exceeds now the size of a normal cdrom:

AIX5 FP3: 665 Mo FP4a: 710 Mo
AIX4 FP3: 586 Mo FP4a: 624 Mo

No. The AIX4 version of DB2 is different from the AIX5 version in a
number of ways. Including the modification level, which means that AIX
itself won't allow them to be installed on the incorrect version of
DB2.

DB2 for AIX 4 is versioned 8.1.0.x, while DB2 for AIX 5 is versioned
8.1.1.x. The fixpaks follow this, and thus won't install on the
others' install. There are other incompatabilities inside, but they're
all moot after this.

You may be able to compress the fixpak onto your CD media. Of course,
you would need to uncompress back to your hard disk prior to
installing.

IBM also provides fixpaks already burned on CD. However, again, I
believe that once you get these media, the instructions are to copy
both media to your hard disk prior to installing.

Excepting for backup or archival purposes, the general suggestion would
be to put the fixpak image on an NFS mountpoint somewhere in your
organisation and use it directly from there. For backup or archival
purposes, then, compressing the image prior to burning should suffice.

[Blair Adamache]

No, you can't use the AIX 4.3 DB2 image on AIX 5.

If you can't find them, our readme has some ideas on how to work around
the size (see also Darin's post below):

"To install IBM DB2 Version 8.1.4 from the CD-ROMs on AIX 5L, you are
required to manually copy the file sets from two CD-ROMs: REGULAR FIXPAK
4 (Volume 1 of 4) and REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4).

The file sets on the REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4) are only required
if you have installed any of the following Version 8 products: DB2 Cube
Views, DB2 Data Links Manager, DB2 Information Integrator Non-Relational
Wrappers, DB2 Information Integrator Relational Wrappers, DB2 Query
Patroller, DB2 Spatial Extender, DB2 Warehouse Connectors, or DB2
Warehouse Manager.

If you do not have any of the products listed above installed, skip
steps 2 and 4.
1. Copy the compressed tar file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z), located on REGULAR
FIXPAK 4 (Volume 1 of 4), into a temporary directory on your system.
This directory must have 2 GB of free space.
2. Copy the compressed tar file (extra.tar), located on REGULAR FIXPAK 4
(Volume 2 of 4), into the same temporary directory on your system
that you used in Step 1.
3. Uncompress and untar the file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z).
4. Untar the extra.tar file.
5. Follow the instructions in the Installing DB2 Version 8.1.4 section."

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Dear all,

Can we use the FP4a 32 bit version for Aix 4.3.3 on an AIX 5 32 bit system ?
The pb is the size of AIX5 FP4a exceeds now the size of a normal cdrom:

AIX5 FP3: 665 Mo FP4a: 710 Mo
AIX4 FP3: 586 Mo FP4a: 624 Mo

Regards,

Jean-Marc

[Jean-Marc Blaise]

Darin, Blair,

Thanks for your precisions. Well my point is only that the size of the
fixpack exceeds 700 Mb, the size of a usual CD, and we get used to download
and backup on this media. Couldn't IBM change and use a targz, that I think
could allow more compression ?

Besides, the Fixpack for Aix5 contains both 32 and 64 bit codepath &
libraries. If my system is 64 bit, everything will be installed. If my
system is 32 bit, I guess only the 32 bit code would be installed. Why not
making a 32 bit FP for AIX5 32 bit and a 32 & 64 bit FP for AIX5 64 bit ?

Best regards,

Jean-Marc

"Blair Adamache" <ba*******@2muchspam.yahoo.com> a écrit dans le message de
news:bv**********@hanover.torolab.ibm.com...

No, you can't use the AIX 4.3 DB2 image on AIX 5.

If you can't find them, our readme has some ideas on how to work around
the size (see also Darin's post below):

"To install IBM DB2 Version 8.1.4 from the CD-ROMs on AIX 5L, you are
required to manually copy the file sets from two CD-ROMs: REGULAR FIXPAK
4 (Volume 1 of 4) and REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4).

The file sets on the REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4) are only required
if you have installed any of the following Version 8 products: DB2 Cube
Views, DB2 Data Links Manager, DB2 Information Integrator Non-Relational
Wrappers, DB2 Information Integrator Relational Wrappers, DB2 Query
Patroller, DB2 Spatial Extender, DB2 Warehouse Connectors, or DB2
Warehouse Manager.

If you do not have any of the products listed above installed, skip
steps 2 and 4.
1. Copy the compressed tar file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z), located on REGULAR
FIXPAK 4 (Volume 1 of 4), into a temporary directory on your system.
This directory must have 2 GB of free space.
2. Copy the compressed tar file (extra.tar), located on REGULAR FIXPAK 4
(Volume 2 of 4), into the same temporary directory on your system
that you used in Step 1.
3. Uncompress and untar the file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z).
4. Untar the extra.tar file.
5. Follow the instructions in the Installing DB2 Version 8.1.4 section."

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Dear all,

Can we use the FP4a 32 bit version for Aix 4.3.3 on an AIX 5 32 bit system ? The pb is the size of AIX5 FP4a exceeds now the size of a normal cdrom:

AIX5 FP3: 665 Mo FP4a: 710 Mo
AIX4 FP3: 586 Mo FP4a: 624 Mo

Regards,

Jean-Marc

[Bernard Dhooghe]

You can have a AIX 4.3 DB2 32-bit image on AIX 5.X...

Suppose a 4.3.3 with DB2 8.1. installed.

AIX is upgraded to 5.x.

On this 5.x DB2 for AIX 4.3.3 will work. But the fixpack to be
installed then should be those of DB2 for AIX 4.3.3. Confusing and
will it be supported?

If not, a note should be included in DB2 8.1 how DB2 install,
instances and existing databases have to be migrated when migrating
the OS.

Bernard Dhooghe
Blair Adamache <ba*******@2muchspam.yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<bv**********@hanover.torolab.ibm.com>...

No, you can't use the AIX 4.3 DB2 image on AIX 5.

If you can't find them, our readme has some ideas on how to work around
the size (see also Darin's post below):

"To install IBM DB2 Version 8.1.4 from the CD-ROMs on AIX 5L, you are
required to manually copy the file sets from two CD-ROMs: REGULAR FIXPAK
4 (Volume 1 of 4) and REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4).

The file sets on the REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4) are only required
if you have installed any of the following Version 8 products: DB2 Cube
Views, DB2 Data Links Manager, DB2 Information Integrator Non-Relational
Wrappers, DB2 Information Integrator Relational Wrappers, DB2 Query
Patroller, DB2 Spatial Extender, DB2 Warehouse Connectors, or DB2
Warehouse Manager.

If you do not have any of the products listed above installed, skip
steps 2 and 4.
1. Copy the compressed tar file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z), located on REGULAR
FIXPAK 4 (Volume 1 of 4), into a temporary directory on your system.
This directory must have 2 GB of free space.
2. Copy the compressed tar file (extra.tar), located on REGULAR FIXPAK 4
(Volume 2 of 4), into the same temporary directory on your system
that you used in Step 1.
3. Uncompress and untar the file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z).
4. Untar the extra.tar file.
5. Follow the instructions in the Installing DB2 Version 8.1.4 section."

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Dear all,

Can we use the FP4a 32 bit version for Aix 4.3.3 on an AIX 5 32 bit system ?
The pb is the size of AIX5 FP4a exceeds now the size of a normal cdrom:

AIX5 FP3: 665 Mo FP4a: 710 Mo
AIX4 FP3: 586 Mo FP4a: 624 Mo

Regards,

Jean-Marc

[Burkhard Schultheis]

You should correct your system time.

Regards,
--
Burkhard Schultheis
Tele Data Electronic, Wagnerstr. 10, D-76448 Durmersheim
Email: sc********@tde-online.de
Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone]

[Blair Adamache]

Thanks for the feedback. I suppose the real answer is DVD.

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Darin, Blair,

Thanks for your precisions. Well my point is only that the size of the
fixpack exceeds 700 Mb, the size of a usual CD, and we get used to download
and backup on this media. Couldn't IBM change and use a targz, that I think
could allow more compression ?

Besides, the Fixpack for Aix5 contains both 32 and 64 bit codepath &
libraries. If my system is 64 bit, everything will be installed. If my
system is 32 bit, I guess only the 32 bit code would be installed. Why not
making a 32 bit FP for AIX5 32 bit and a 32 & 64 bit FP for AIX5 64 bit ?

Best regards,

Jean-Marc

"Blair Adamache" <ba*******@2muchspam.yahoo.com> a écrit dans le message de
news:bv**********@hanover.torolab.ibm.com...

No, you can't use the AIX 4.3 DB2 image on AIX 5.

If you can't find them, our readme has some ideas on how to work around
the size (see also Darin's post below):

"To install IBM DB2 Version 8.1.4 from the CD-ROMs on AIX 5L, you are
required to manually copy the file sets from two CD-ROMs: REGULAR FIXPAK
4 (Volume 1 of 4) and REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4).

The file sets on the REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4) are only required
if you have installed any of the following Version 8 products: DB2 Cube
Views, DB2 Data Links Manager, DB2 Information Integrator Non-Relational
Wrappers, DB2 Information Integrator Relational Wrappers, DB2 Query
Patroller, DB2 Spatial Extender, DB2 Warehouse Connectors, or DB2
Warehouse Manager.

If you do not have any of the products listed above installed, skip
steps 2 and 4.
1. Copy the compressed tar file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z), located on REGULAR
FIXPAK 4 (Volume 1 of 4), into a temporary directory on your system.
This directory must have 2 GB of free space.
2. Copy the compressed tar file (extra.tar), located on REGULAR FIXPAK 4
(Volume 2 of 4), into the same temporary directory on your system
that you used in Step 1.
3. Uncompress and untar the file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z).
4. Untar the extra.tar file.
5. Follow the instructions in the Installing DB2 Version 8.1.4 section."

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Dear all,

Can we use the FP4a 32 bit version for Aix 4.3.3 on an AIX 5 32 bit
system ?
The pb is the size of AIX5 FP4a exceeds now the size of a normal cdrom:

AIX5 FP3: 665 Mo FP4a: 710 Mo
AIX4 FP3: 586 Mo FP4a: 624 Mo

Regards,

Jean-Marc

[Blair Adamache]

targz won't help because the files inside the tar ball are already
compressed with tar.gz.

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Darin, Blair,

Thanks for your precisions. Well my point is only that the size of the
fixpack exceeds 700 Mb, the size of a usual CD, and we get used to download
and backup on this media. Couldn't IBM change and use a targz, that I think
could allow more compression ?

Besides, the Fixpack for Aix5 contains both 32 and 64 bit codepath &
libraries. If my system is 64 bit, everything will be installed. If my
system is 32 bit, I guess only the 32 bit code would be installed. Why not
making a 32 bit FP for AIX5 32 bit and a 32 & 64 bit FP for AIX5 64 bit ?

Best regards,

Jean-Marc

"Blair Adamache" <ba*******@2muchspam.yahoo.com> a écrit dans le message de
news:bv**********@hanover.torolab.ibm.com...

No, you can't use the AIX 4.3 DB2 image on AIX 5.

If you can't find them, our readme has some ideas on how to work around
the size (see also Darin's post below):

"To install IBM DB2 Version 8.1.4 from the CD-ROMs on AIX 5L, you are
required to manually copy the file sets from two CD-ROMs: REGULAR FIXPAK
4 (Volume 1 of 4) and REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4).

The file sets on the REGULAR FIXPAK 4 (Volume 2 of 4) are only required
if you have installed any of the following Version 8 products: DB2 Cube
Views, DB2 Data Links Manager, DB2 Information Integrator Non-Relational
Wrappers, DB2 Information Integrator Relational Wrappers, DB2 Query
Patroller, DB2 Spatial Extender, DB2 Warehouse Connectors, or DB2
Warehouse Manager.

If you do not have any of the products listed above installed, skip
steps 2 and 4.
1. Copy the compressed tar file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z), located on REGULAR
FIXPAK 4 (Volume 1 of 4), into a temporary directory on your system.
This directory must have 2 GB of free space.
2. Copy the compressed tar file (extra.tar), located on REGULAR FIXPAK 4
(Volume 2 of 4), into the same temporary directory on your system
that you used in Step 1.
3. Uncompress and untar the file (FP4_U497250.tar.Z).
4. Untar the extra.tar file.
5. Follow the instructions in the Installing DB2 Version 8.1.4 section."

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Dear all,

Can we use the FP4a 32 bit version for Aix 4.3.3 on an AIX 5 32 bit
system ?
The pb is the size of AIX5 FP4a exceeds now the size of a normal cdrom:

AIX5 FP3: 665 Mo FP4a: 710 Mo
AIX4 FP3: 586 Mo FP4a: 624 Mo

Regards,

Jean-Marc

[Darin McBride]

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Darin, Blair,

Thanks for your precisions. Well my point is only that the size of the
fixpack exceeds 700 Mb, the size of a usual CD, and we get used to
download and backup on this media. Couldn't IBM change and use a targz,
that I think could allow more compression ?
I wasn't aware that gzip came with aix ;-) Further, nothing prevents
you from using whichever compression method you choose when backing it
up on CD. As Blair mentioned, the installp format is already
compressed, I believe, which means you won't be able to save a lot of
space when backing up.

Further, if you want to save more space, you can try to figure out
which *bff file relates to languages you don't have/use/want backed up.
You can remove these files and rebuild the .toc file prior to burning
the CD. Same for other filesets.

Of course, IBM can't tell which languages everyone wants (likely
someone wants each language, otherwise IBM's wasting money in
translating!), so the fixpak from IBM must accomodate everyone. But
you can tailor it to your environment if you wish.
Besides, the Fixpack for Aix5 contains both 32 and 64 bit codepath &
libraries. If my system is 64 bit, everything will be installed. If my
system is 32 bit, I guess only the 32 bit code would be installed. Why not
making a 32 bit FP for AIX5 32 bit and a 32 & 64 bit FP for AIX5 64 bit ?

Not quite. The fixpak for AIX 5 contains both 32- and 64-bit code.
Regardless of which you're using (32, 64, or both), both will be
installed.

There is much being looked at to alleviate this for the future, but any
road chosen will always have drawbacks. For example, anyone using
both 32- and 64-bit may still need to download two fixpaks - this can
be burdensome on people used to downloading one, and only finding out
that they need the other fixpak during scheduled downtime. Which means
that the required upgrade will either need to extend the scheduled
downtime, or wait for the following scheduled downtime, neither of
which are pleasant ideas.

Of course, we want to minimise the possibility of this, so other
alternatives are being looked at. What that means is still so up in
the air that I don't know what it means, nevermind letting it slip here
;-)

[Darin McBride]

Bernard Dhooghe wrote:

You can have a AIX 4.3 DB2 32-bit image on AIX 5.X...

Suppose a 4.3.3 with DB2 8.1. installed.

AIX is upgraded to 5.x.

On this 5.x DB2 for AIX 4.3.3 will work. But the fixpack to be
installed then should be those of DB2 for AIX 4.3.3. Confusing and
will it be supported?
It is supported unless you want to install new filesets. You cannot
install the DB2 for AIX5 filesets (installp will fail), while the DB2
for AIX4 CDs will not allow you to continue (db2setup will complain).
If not, a note should be included in DB2 8.1 how DB2 install,
instances and existing databases have to be migrated when migrating
the OS.

In most circumstances, the easiest method is to stop all instances and
the das, uninstall, and reinstall the DB2 for AIX5. Update your
instances, including the das, and restart everything.

It's actually not that complicated. Somewhat time consuming, but not
really complicated ;-)

[Jean-Marc Blaise]

Darin,

Thanks for your explanations. Two short comments inline,
Regards,

Jean-Marc

"Darin McBride" <dm******@naboo.to.org.no.spam.for.me> a écrit dans le
message de news:hMRTb.394752$X%5.317532@pd7tw2no...

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Darin, Blair,

Thanks for your precisions. Well my point is only that the size of the
fixpack exceeds 700 Mb, the size of a usual CD, and we get used to
download and backup on this media. Couldn't IBM change and use a targz,
that I think could allow more compression ?
I wasn't aware that gzip came with aix ;-) Further, nothing prevents
you from using whichever compression method you choose when backing it
up on CD. As Blair mentioned, the installp format is already
compressed, I believe, which means you won't be able to save a lot of
space when backing up.

Further, if you want to save more space, you can try to figure out
which *bff file relates to languages you don't have/use/want backed up.
You can remove these files and rebuild the .toc file prior to burning
the CD. Same for other filesets.

Of course, IBM can't tell which languages everyone wants (likely
someone wants each language, otherwise IBM's wasting money in
translating!), so the fixpak from IBM must accomodate everyone. But
you can tailor it to your environment if you wish.

Darin, what seems not logical to me is you choose your language when
installing GA: I installed from the SBCS CD. So why not continuing this way
with fixpacks and have a SBCS fixpack ? hopes this lets you down the 700 Mb
limit :-)

Besides, the Fixpack for Aix5 contains both 32 and 64 bit codepath &
libraries. If my system is 64 bit, everything will be installed. If my
system is 32 bit, I guess only the 32 bit code would be installed. Why not making a 32 bit FP for AIX5 32 bit and a 32 & 64 bit FP for AIX5 64 bit

?
Not quite. The fixpak for AIX 5 contains both 32- and 64-bit code.
Regardless of which you're using (32, 64, or both), both will be
installed.
I have effectively noticed some 64directories installed on my AIX 5 32 Bit.
I guess this choice was done because you can easily switch to AIX 5 64 bit
(please correct me if I am mistaken) so would not have to reinstall the DB2
code ?
There is much being looked at to alleviate this for the future, but any
road chosen will always have drawbacks. For example, anyone using
both 32- and 64-bit may still need to download two fixpaks - this can
be burdensome on people used to downloading one, and only finding out
that they need the other fixpak during scheduled downtime. Which means
that the required upgrade will either need to extend the scheduled
downtime, or wait for the following scheduled downtime, neither of
which are pleasant ideas.

Of course, we want to minimise the possibility of this, so other
alternatives are being looked at. What that means is still so up in
the air that I don't know what it means, nevermind letting it slip here
;-)

[Darin McBride]

Jean-Marc Blaise wrote:

Thanks for your explanations. Two short comments inline,
[snip]
Darin, what seems not logical to me is you choose your language when
installing GA: I installed from the SBCS CD. So why not continuing this
way with fixpacks and have a SBCS fixpack ? hopes this lets you down the
700 Mb limit :-)

Yes - as mentioned, any solution has drawbacks. Not to trivialise your
idea, the issue here is that customers who have both SBCS and DBCS
installed, whether at a single machine or across their workgroup or
enterprise, will need to download the code twice. Further, since a
fixpak must be installed all at once, especially on AIX, if both French
and Japanese, as an example, are on the same machine, the two images
must be combined by the user to be used. Finally, I'm not sure if we
produced an English-only fixpak that it would fit in 650MB (which is
IBM's rule on CD size, just to be safe).

Any solution will annoy some customers - including the current one :-)
I'd love to produce fixpaks that were precisely what each customer
needed, but I'm sure you can appreciate that this would be extremely
costly to IBM. ;-) The trick, then, is to come up with some sort of
scheme that minimises the costs to all involved - IBM, ISVs, customers.
And, no, we're quite convinced that the current solution is no longer
viable any longer than we're forced to keep it.

> Besides, the Fixpack for Aix5 contains both 32 and 64 bit codepath &
> libraries. If my system is 64 bit, everything will be installed. If my
> system is 32 bit, I guess only the 32 bit code would be installed. Why not > making a 32 bit FP for AIX5 32 bit and a 32 & 64 bit FP for AIX5 64 bit

?

Not quite. The fixpak for AIX 5 contains both 32- and 64-bit code.
Regardless of which you're using (32, 64, or both), both will be
installed.

I have effectively noticed some 64directories installed on my AIX 5 32
Bit. I guess this choice was done because you can easily switch to AIX 5
64 bit (please correct me if I am mistaken) so would not have to reinstall
the DB2 code ?

Quite correct. In fact, you can have both 32- and 64-bit instances
running simultaneously. For example:

1. db2inst1 running a 32-bit server
2. db2inst2 running a 64-bit server
3. db2inst3 running a 32-bit client (for 32-bit apps)
4. db2inst4 running a 64-bit client (for developing new 64-bit apps)

All of these can happily coexist on the same machine, assuming you have
ESE installed. If you have WSE installed, only db2inst2 would not be
permitted (the 64-bit server). You would still be able to have
db2inst4 (the 64-bit client), though.

Obviously, with two servers, they need unique ports, and other
configuration may need to be different (db directories, etc.). But it
can be done with a minimum of effort.

[Bernard Dhooghe]

The -IBM- support rule is: what is not documented is not supported.

My hope it will be included in the release notes of a fixpack. Maybe
it is already documented somewhere.

Thank you.

Bernard Dhooghe
Bernard Dhooghe
Darin McBride <dm******@naboo.to.org.no.spam.for.me> wrote in message news:<NORTb.397697$ts4.391048@pd7tw3no>...

Bernard Dhooghe wrote:

You can have a AIX 4.3 DB2 32-bit image on AIX 5.X...

Suppose a 4.3.3 with DB2 8.1. installed.

AIX is upgraded to 5.x.

On this 5.x DB2 for AIX 4.3.3 will work. But the fixpack to be
installed then should be those of DB2 for AIX 4.3.3. Confusing and
will it be supported?

It is supported unless you want to install new filesets. You cannot
install the DB2 for AIX5 filesets (installp will fail), while the DB2
for AIX4 CDs will not allow you to continue (db2setup will complain).

If not, a note should be included in DB2 8.1 how DB2 install,
instances and existing databases have to be migrated when migrating
the OS.

In most circumstances, the easiest method is to stop all instances and
the das, uninstall, and reinstall the DB2 for AIX5. Update your
instances, including the das, and restart everything.

It's actually not that complicated. Somewhat time consuming, but not
really complicated ;-)