Upgrade from PowerPath 5.1 to PowerPath 5.5 on AIX 5.3 TL12 SP1

I am going to talk about EMC PowerPath upgrade on AIX.

I have performed this upgrade from PowerPath 5.1 to PowerPath 5.5 on AIX 5.3 TL12 SP1.

1.    Disable PowerPath boot and auto varyon option for the datavg’s

pprootdev off
chvg –a n vgXX

2.    Select blank disk, and copy

alt_disk_copy -d {hdiskpowerXX}

3.    Identify the hdiskX to set the boot list manually. Choose the hdiskX which is available on dev # 0 by running powermt display dev=hdiskpowerXX

powermt display dev=hdiskpower31

Pseudo name=hdiskpower31
Invista ID=FNM00112400413
Logical device ID=6000144000000010E0595664D94DA740
state=alive; policy=ADaptive; priority=0; queued-IOs=0; ========================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
========================================================================
   1 fscsi1                   hdisk130  0E        active  alive       0      0
   2 fscsi2                   hdisk163  0B        active  alive       0      0
   2 fscsi2                   hdisk196  07        active  alive       0      0
   3 fscsi3                   hdisk229  06        active  alive       0      0
   3 fscsi3                   hdisk262  0A        active  alive       0      0
   0 fscsi0                   hdisk31   03        active  alive       0      0
   0 fscsi0                   hdisk64   0F        active  alive       0      0
   1 fscsi1                   hdisk97   02        active  alive       0      0

bootlist -m normal hdisk31
bootlist -m normal -o

4.    Reboot the server

shutdown -Fr

5.    After reboot, Verify data VGs status, make note of prior root disk, and cleanup

lsvg –o [ Verify the datavgs should not be active ] alt_rootvg_op -X old_rootvg

6.    Remove the devices the PowerPath

powermt remove dev=all

7.    Remove the datavg disks.

lspv | grep -wv rootvg | awk '{print $1'} | xargs -l rmdev -dl
lsdev –Cc disk [ Verify datavg disks are removed ] 


8.    Remove old EMC PowerPath for filesets.

installp -u "EMCpower*"

9.    Install new driver

mount nfs_server:/mount-point/5.5.3 /mnt

installp -acgXYd /mnt EMCpower.base 5.5.0.3

EMCpower.encryption 5.5.0.3 \
  EMCpower.migration_enabler 5.5.0.3
        EMCpower.mpx 5.5.0.3

lslpp –l “EMCpower*”

powermt check_registration [ verify the output ]

Key XXX-YYY-ZZZ
Product: PowerPath
Capabilities: All

powermt version [ verify the output ]

EMC powermt for PowerPath (c) Version 5.5 P 03 (build 1)\

10.   Run cfgmgr and check powermt output, then save the configuration.

cfgmgr -v
powermt config
powermt display dev=all
powermt save

11.   Enable auto varyon option for the datavgs and PowerPath boot

varyonvg vgXX
chvg –a y vgXX
pprootdev on

12.   Reboot the server and check the server comes up without any issues.

shutdown –Fr

13.   Copy current root disk back to original

pprootdev fix
alt_disk_copy –d hdiskpowerXX


14.   Set the boot list as per the process mentioned on step 3 and reboot the server with the original disk

bootlist –m normal hdiskX
shutdown –Fr

15.   Once the server is up with the original disk, Remove the alternate copy (new disk)

alt_rootvg_op –X old_rootvg