Systems with AIX 6.1TL7SP4 or VIOS 2.2.1.4 ( and later versions) will fail to boot with DMP support enabled for rootvg

Article:TECH196114

Created: 2012-09-04

Updated: 2012-11-08

Article URL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH196114

Article Type
Technical Solution

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Problem

Boot failure will occur on system with AIX 6.1TL7SP4 or VIOS 2.2.1.4 ( and later versions) when DMP support is enabled for rootvg

NOTE: Potential exists for the issue to manifest in AIX 7.1 as well.

NOTE:If you plan to upgrade to these OS levels, the steps documented in the Solution/Workaround section (below) is applicable.

Error

PReP-BOOT : Unable to load full PReP image

Environment

-AIX 6.1TL7SP4 or VIOS 2.2.1.4 (and later versions) ; AIX 7.1 may potentially be susceptible to the problem

-DMP support enabled for rootvg

Impacted releases

5.1SP1, 5.1SP1RP1 and subsequent patches on 5.1SP1RP1.

6.0 and onwards.

Releases not impacted

5.1SP1RP2 and further releases based on 5.1SP1 are not impacted.

Releases prior to 5.1SP1 are not impacted.

Cause

With DMP support enabled for rootvg, upgrade to AIX 6.1TL7SP4 (or AIX 7.1) or VIOS 2.2.1.4 results in boot image size more than the AIX limit of 32Mb

Solution

FIX: Included in 51SP1_RP2 ;

Fix is not included in 6.01 but HF2 for 6.0.1 includes the fix and can be obtained from here :https://sort.symantec.com/patch/detail/6845

For 5.1SP1 based releases It is recommended to upgrade to 5.1SP1RP2 or onwards.

If this upgrade is not immediately possible, then please use the workaround documented below.

WORKAROUND:

1) Re-install the VxVM patch that was present

2)To enable only root LVM support on DMP:

# vxdmpadm native enable vgname=rootvg

To enable both root and non-root LVM support on DMP

# vxdmpadm settune dmp_native_support=on

3) Run the script vxdmpboot-fix.sh prior to rebooting the system. ( If rootvg is not under DMP control or there is no DMP - then the script need not be run)

On VIOS, the script should be run after entering into non-restricted shell using oem_setup_env command.

# ./vxdmpboot-fix.sh

Please note that this step will be required every time DMP support for rootvg is enabled

4) Reboot the system - NOTE: REBOOT ONLY AFTER the 'vxdmpboot-fix.sh' script is run

AIX OS UPGRADE AND DOWNGRADE:

In case the OS is upgraded or downgraded among AIX 5.3, 6.1 and 7.1 and system is rebooted, rootvg will not be on DMP root support. To re-enable DMP root support on the newly upgraded or downgraded AIX OS, please re-enable DMP root support and use the workaround mentioned above for the boot image size issue.

If only the AIX TL/SP level is upgraded for current OS then nothing needs to be done.

Attachments

vxdmpboot-fix.sh (3 kBytes)

Supplemental Materials

Source	ETrack
Value	2882908
Description	Machine failed to bootup with error "PReP-BOOT : Unable to load full PReP image"