AIX 4.2/4.1 Installation from scratch

Prerequisites

A realistic choice for swap space on disk would be 1/2 or about the same amount as there is RAM.
A very minimal AIX 4.1/4.2 installation would need a 1GB disk, 2GB would give more room and a 4GB disk would be comfortable.
Installation on MCA workstations in graphics mode (i.e. not via serial port) will require special keyboards, usually a model M (e.g. P/N 51G5872, with speaker), although other types of non-IBM keyboards have been reported to work as well ( e.g. Cherry G80/G81 ).

Base system

From CD

Straightforward. Insert CD #1 and proceed. To override an existing system on the harddisk, press reset button and re-boot in maintenance mode. On On a running system one may use alternatively: 
bootlist -m normal cd0
bootlist -m normal -o
shutdown -Fr
to start installation from CD.
When prompted, select En_US as language and the default keyboard. Depending on what you want, select "Migration" or "Overwrite" installation.
Optionally the Trusted Computing Base (TCB) may be installed, in this case CDE has to be installed extra (X11.dt)
After base installation is complete one may use the Configuration Assistant (once it appears) as suggested (for root password and time adjustment). One may skip TCP/IP configuration and paging space adjustment until later, if more convenient.

Additional Software (CD)

By default only a minimum AIX system is installed. For AIX 4.1 about 150 MB in /usr,
for AIX 4.2 200 and 270 MB in /usr and rootvg, respectively.
Here is what is needed in addition. You use the smitty tool to select installation media and additional SW to be installed. It's straightforward. You should use the preview feature prior to a real install, in order to check space requirements and prerequisites. For a really useful system more SW is recommended as follows. This will increase /usr to roughly 400MB. Further, This will increase /usr to about 900MB (for AIX 4.2).
One may add compilers (and their patches): Now we are at about 700MB in /usr for AIX 4.1 and 1600MB for AIX 4.2, respectively. For machines with two system disks the rootvg should be mirrored.

Some basic customizations

CD installation should be complete by now. Before connecting to a network one should:
  1. In /etc/inetd.conf disable all unnecessary services. If the machine should offer boot services, bootps and tftp must be enabled.
  2. For security 
    chmod o-x /usr/bin/ypcat
  3. To allow xinit (AIX 4.1 only ?) 
    chmod a-t /tmp
  4. In /etc/rc.tcpip
    Outcomment the start of snmpd and dpid2.
  5. In /etc/inittab the console should be activated before NIS services: 
    rctcpip:2:wait:/etc/rc.tcpip > /dev/console 2>&1 # Start TCP/IP daemons
cons:0123456789:respawn:/usr/sbin/getty /dev/console
rcnfs:2:wait:/etc/rc.nfs > /dev/console 2>&1 # Start NFS Daemons
    otherwise the machine won't boot if NIS can't be activated.
  6. Configure the network
  7. /etc/environment
    should contain 
    # wait only 5 seconds     
YPBIND_MAXWAIT=5
    to avoid NIS hangs in case of network unavailability.
    8. (Note: untested whether this really works on AIX 4.1/4.2)

Additional local software

A bunch of additional software packages I would recommend to be installed locally (i.e. on the rootvg), in order to allow minimum functionality of a standalone system. They are indicated (L) in the software catalogue. Such software may stem from various sources, e.g. AIX Bonus and other extra CDs, local software archives, mounted installp depots or even remotely mounted CDs.

What's next ?

After installation you will need to customize your system.
Last update: 11-Oct-2011, M.Kraemer