Changing an AIX's name --- how to do it easily?

[Cameron Bahar]

>From prodnet.la.locus.com!orchard.la.locus.com!turnkey!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cica!iuvax!>maytag!csg.uwaterloo.ca!giguere Fri Jun 15 09:12:07 PDT 1990
>Article 1031 of comp.unix.aix:
>Path: prodnet.la.locus.com!orchard.la.locus.com!turnkey!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cica!iuvax>!maytag!csg.uwaterloo.ca!giguere
>>From: giguere at csg.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Giguere)
>Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix
>Subject: Re: Changing an AIX's name --- how to do it easily?
>Message-ID: <1990Jun14.134905.18716 at maytag.waterloo.edu>
>Date: 14 Jun 90 13:49:05 GMT
>References: <1990Jun13.212142.11062 at maytag.waterloo.edu>
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>Organization: Computer Systems Group, U of Waterloo
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>
>In article <1990Jun13.212142.11062 at maytag.waterloo.edu> giguere at csg.UWaterloo.CA (Eric Giguere) writes:
>>We have three PS/2 machines running AIX (two at 1.1, the other at 1.2)
>>and because of a network reorganization we need to rename them.  I was
>>wondering if there was a relatively painless way of doing so without
>>re-installing AIX from scratch.  I don't think changing the name in
>>the non-volatile RAM cuts it!
>
>This is a further comment to what I wrote above.  I received several
>responses from people on the net pointing me to the chparm command to change
>my computer's uname.  This is exactly what I need, thanks for the comments.
>
>However:  under 1.2 chparm doesn't seem to work.  Or at least it doesn't
>on my machine.  I get the errors:
>
>			   fixnmvtoc: no changes made
>			   /usr/sys/bin/fixhmvtoc /csgaix1 /csgtk20 failed
>
>when I type "chparm nodename=csgtk20".  Now from comments on the net I know
>that the chparm command works under 1.1 and indeed we tried it on an AIX
>machine running 1.1 here not too long ago.  No one on the net had tried it
>with 1.2, however.
>
>So is this a bug in 1.2?
>
>--
>Eric Giguere                                       giguere at csg.UWaterloo.CA
>
>



The official method to change the sitename of a system is by using the
chparm command on an AIX 1.2 site.  This command modifies a number of files
on the system including the kernel, NVRAM, etc. 
I have used the chparm command successfully on PS/2's running AIX 1.2.

I think the problem might be that you're runnning chparm on a model 70 PS/2.
If this is the case, then I've heard of a problem that causes "fixnmvtoc" 
to fail on a model 70 PS/2.  I think this problem has since been resolved
and the fix should be on an after release tape sent to customers.

Here is some more information on chparm:

Changes affect the running system.  Changing nodename causes the 
system to be brought down and rebooted.  When changing nodename, 
be sure that all users on the network are aware of this change 
and are logged off from that node.  Inform the users that they should
not change any of the system files mentioned below while this operation
is in progress.  

On sites that have the TCF lpp installed, it is required that the 
site be clusterstarted, and that the primary be available.  This is 
necessary because modifications are performed on files that are 
stored on the primary system.

Changing the nodename also changes the appropriate entries in the
following system files:

	/etc/filesystems
	/etc/fsmap
	/etc/hosts
	/etc/hosts.equiv
	/etc/init.state
	/etc/site
	/etc/sitegroup
	/etc/timesync/sitelist
	/generic/dev/nodename
	/generic/devs.linst
	/local/ident
	/local/ports
	/local/rc.tcpip.local
	/local/system
	/local/unix.std
	/usr/adm/uucp/Devices
	/usr/adm/uucp/Spools
	/usr/lib/INnet/connect.con

Note: some of these files may not exist on your system configuration.

After rebooting, the following files, if they exist on your system 
configuration, should be edited manually, replacing instances of the 
old nodename with the new nodename:

	/etc/sites
	/etc/resolv.conf 
	/local/named.local  

	AND any other name daemon files that are created by the system 
	administrator.  

	If you're not sure which other files need to be modified on your 
	system, a "grep -l old_nodename /etc/* /etc/*/* /local/*"  will
	yield a list of filenames that contain the string old_nodename.
	Reasonable judgment should be exercised in determining which of 
	these files, if any, need to be changed.




I hope this helps you out.

Cameron Bahar.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Locus Computing Corporation, IBM, or any other corporation 
for that matter.
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