AIX Considerations

It is possible to install AIX, OS/2 and DOS in different partitions on the same disk and use Boot Manager to switch between the different operating systems. There are some things, however, to be aware of:

  • When AIX installs it creates two partitions on the disk. The first partition which is 1MB in size contains the MBR for AIX. The second partition contains several AIX minidisks. The AIX partitions cannot be created using either the DOS or OS/2 FDISK programs, but are created by the AIX install process.

  • The order that AIX, OS/2 or DOS are installed is not important. If installing AIX first, remember to leave sufficient free space available in which to create partitions for OS/2 or DOS. If installing OS/2 or DOS first, when running FDISK, do not create partitions across the entire disk. Also only allocate the Boot Manager partition and one other, thus leaving two available for AIX.

  • The OS/2 V2.0 FDISK and FDISKPM programs will recognize the AIX partitions. Use FDISK or FDISKPM to make the smaller AIX partition bootable. If AIX is installed second, it will be necessary to shutdown AIX and to boot from the OS/2 install diskettes, escape out of the install process and run FDISK from the full-screen command prompt to make Boot Manager startable and the smaller AIX partition bootable.

  • It is possible to install AIX on the second disk of a two-disk system. However AIX will still create a partition with its MBR on the first disk. This partition should be marked startable. On the second disk it also creates a partition to contain the MBR as well as the partition for the AIX minidisks.

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