Richard> We have a AIX server that boots from a NetApp (IBM nSeries) Richard> for which we need to upgrade AIX. The AIX Admins want me to Richard> allocate a alt_boot lun, which they will make the new boot Richard> lun after upgrading.
Do they have a test box sitting around which they can use to do some test boots on?
Richard> Currently the server has two luns:
Richard> lun show -m
Richard> LUN path Mapped to LUN ID Protocol
Richard> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard> /vol/v_rsxxxx_boot/q_rsxxxx_boot/lun0_boot rsxxxx 0 FCP
Richard> /vol/v_rsxxxx_boot/q_rsxxxx_boot/lun1_boot rsxxxx 1 FCP
Richard> lun 0 = rootvg boot lun
Richard> lun 1 = non-rootvg lun with paging space
Richard> If I create a new lun at id 2, we cut over to it and I delete the
Richard> old boot vol at id 0, I then have a lun id gap - no lun 0.
Richard> Is this a problem with NetApp storage?
The Netapp won't care one bean whether you have a LUN gap or not. Doesn't make any difference to it.
Richard> (I know we have problems with EMC VNX storage with LUNZ Richard> devices if no lun id at 0.)
It's more a matter of whether or not the AIX box can boot of a non 0 LUN, but I would be surprised if it can't.
In 7-mode you can do:
lun map //vol/v_rsxxxx_boot/q_rsxxxx_boot/lun2_boot rsxxxx 0
to force the new LUN to be LUN ID 0. But by default it will use the lowest available LUN number when you create a new LUN.
It's easy enough, when the AIX box is down, to remap the old LUN 0 to a new number, and the new boot LUN to 0 if need be.
John