Organising NIM resources

Hello

I'm currently have a successful NIM strategy, but recently some cracks
have appeared which I need to address as I'm not so sure my
understanding is correct.

I have a NIM master. It installs two types of client AS and DB. They
are both AIX 5.3 TL04 so I have created a TL04 lpp_source and equiv
SPOT. I did this simply by hand copying the contents of the AIX
(5.3ML04) CDsx8 (/usr/sys/inst.images dir)+ update CDs + Toolbax CD
into /export/lpp_source and /export/lpp_source/RPMS/ppc/
I then copied into the same lpp_source dir a set of additional bffs
which are required by our application software, some additional device
filesets (tape drive) and compiler bffs, xlC v8 and GPFS.
Having created the SPOT5304 I've defined bundles identifying the
additional filesets required on each server type.
To allow for the custom build of each server type, I created bos_inst
resources identifying the constistent SPOT and the relevent bundles,
(DB_bundle or AS_bundle.)
I also have some specific filesets containing our own applications,
these are applied by post install scripts, calling installp.

I'm not comfortable though with the loading up of additional filesets
into the TL04 lpp_source. Should I be creating a standalone lpp_source
for just the custom packages? If this is the case, what should I be
doing to specify that the bundles should find their filesets in the
alternative lpp_source? Should I be applying the custom filesets from
the post install script with installp?

In fact, when you define a bundle, the location of the content
filesets is not specified.(no lpp_source parameter). When using a
bundle, in a bos_inst, what is the assumption of the location of the
bundles filesets?

I'm concerned as I recently installed an identical nim server with the
exact lpp_source, (all the bffs were copied in from tape), and the
SPOT build failed. with missing requisites. After investigation the
only significant difference between the environments was the ordering
of the toc file. Having sorted and diff'd the tocs from my working and
the failing server, they were identical in content, only in a
different order. I then md5sum'd the bffs and they were identical. As
a last resort I copied onto the failing server my working toc. Hey
presto! the SPOT built with 370 packages, as opposed to 61when the
missing reqs were identified.
I'm concerned that I may be overwriting base filesets with updates or
that I'm not "managing" thelpp_source correctly.

I'd appreciate any explanation, advice or recommendation. How does
everyone else do it?

I've done a lot of reading, but a lot of the documentation is command
based. I couldn't find much relating to best practice or scenario
descriptions.

Rob

.

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