Specifications

332 IBM Flex System p260 and p460 Planning and Implementation Guide
8.2 Methods to install operating systems
The Power Systems compute node provides several methods for installing and
deploying your operating system images.
We cover the following methods in this section:
򐂰 NIM installation
򐂰 Optical media installation
򐂰 TFTP network installation
򐂰 Cloning methods
Installation method compatibility among operating systems is shown
in Table 8-1.
Table 8-1 Installation methods - compatibility among operating systems
8.2.1 NIM installation
The NIM installation method is the one that is used the most in a Power Systems
environment. You can use NIM to install your servers and back up, restore,
upgrade software, and to perform maintenance tasks on them.
More information about the NIM installation is NIM from A to Z in AIX 5L,
SG24-7296.
To perform a NIM installation, complete the following steps:
1. Set up a Domain Name Server (DNS) or include the machine you are about to
install in the /etc/hosts file of your AIX NIM server.
2. Now that the NIM server has your machine IP address, create the machine in
the NIM environment by running the following command:
smit nim_mkmac
Installation
method
AIX VIOS Red Hat
Enterprise
Linux
SUSE Linux
Enterprise
Server
IBM i
Optical
Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s
NIM
Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s N o
TFTP or BOOTP No No
Ye s Ye s N o
Tape Backup
Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s