image.data File

Purpose

Contains information on the image installed during the Base Operating System installation process.

Description

The image.data file contains information describing the image installed during the BOS installation process. This information includes the sizes, names, maps, and mount points of logical volumes and file systems in the root volume group. The mkszfile command generates the image.data file. It is not recommended that the user modify the file. Changing the value of one field without correctly modifying any related fields can result in a failed installation and a corrupted backup image. The only exception to this recommendation is the SHRINK field, which the user may modify to instruct the BOS installation routines to create the file systems as specified in the image.data file or to create the file systems only as large as is required to contain all the data in the file system.

The BOS installation process also takes input from the image.data file regarding defaults for the machine being installed. Any default values in the image.data file will override values obtained when the BOS installation queries the hardware topology and existing root volume group. The image.data file resides in the / directory.

This file is part of System Backup and BOS Install Utilities.

The image.data file is arranged in stanza format. Each stanza contains one or more fields. These stanzas include the following:

image_data Stanza

Field Description
IMAGE_TYPE Identifies the format of the image. Examples include backup file format (bff) and tar format.
DATE_TIME Contains the date and time that the image was taken.
UNAME_INFO Identifies the system and system level data associated with the image.
PRODUCT_TAPE Specifies whether the image is a product image or a mksysb image. The possible field values are yes or no.
USERVG_LIST Lists the user volume groups defined in the system.
OSLEVEL Identifies the version.release.maintenance.fix level of the system at the time the image was taken
Note: The PRODUCT_TAPE and USERVG_LIST fields are only present for the ROOTVG volume group.

logical_volume_policy Stanza

Field Description
SHRINK Instructs BOS install routines to create the file systems as they are specified in the image.data file or create the smallest file systems required to contain all the data in the file system. The field value specified can be yes (shrink file systems) or no (use image.data file specifications).
EXACT_FIT The field value specified can be yes or no. If yes is specified, the disk information listed in the source_disk_data stanza must match the actual disks found on the target machine during installation.

ils_data Stanza

Field Description
LANG Sets the language used by the BOS Install program.

vg_data Stanza

Note:
  1. The image.data file can contain only one vg_data stanza.
  2. Starting with AIX® 4.3.3, two new fields (BIGVG and TFACTOR) have been added to the vg_data Stanza
Field Description
VGNAME Specifies the volume group name.
PPSIZE Specifies the size of the physical partition for the volume group.
VARYON Activates the volume group and all associated logical volumes so that the volume group is available for use. The field value can be yes or no.
VG_SOURCE_DISK_LIST Lists the disks in the volume group.
QUORUM If set to 1, indicates the volume group is to be automatically varied off after losing its quorum of physical volumes.
CONC_AUTO Indicates a volume group is to be varied on automatically in concurrent mode.
BIGVG Indicates a volume group is to be created as a big vg format volume group. This can accommodate up to 128 physical volumes and 512 logical volumes.
TFACTOR Indicates a change in the limit of the number of physical partitions per physical volume.
ENH_CONC_CAPABLE Indicates a volume group is enhanced concurrent capable.

source_disk_data Stanza

Note: The image.data file contains one source_disk_data stanza for each disk in the root volume group.
Field Description
PVID Specifies the 16 digit physical volume identifier for the disk.
CONNECTION Specifies the combination of the parent and the connwhere attribute associated with a disk. The format for this field is: parent attribute//connwhere attribute.
LOCATION Specifies the locations of the disks in the root volume group.
SIZE_MB Specifies the size, in MB, of the disks in the root volume group.
HDISKNAME Specifies the names of the disks in the root volume group.

lv_data Stanza

Note: The image.data file contains one lv_data stanza for each logical volume created on the system.
Field Description
VOLUME_GROUP Specifies the logical volume group name. Volume group names must be unique, system wide, and can range from 1 to 15 characters.
LV_SOURCE_DISK_LIST Lists the disks in the logical volume.
LV_IDENTIFIER Contains the identifier of the logical volume.
LOGICAL_VOLUME Contains the name of the logical volume.
PERMISSION Sets the access permissions. The field value can be read/write or read only.
VG_STAT Indicates the state of the volume group. If the volume group is activated with the varyonvg command, the value of the VG_STAT field is either active/complete or active/partial. An active/complete field value indicates that all physical volumes are active, while an active/partial field value indicates that all physical volumes are not active. If the volume group is not activated with the varonvg command, the VG_STAT field value is inactive.
TYPE Describes the logical volume type.
MAX_LPS Sets the maximum number of logical partitions within the logical volume.
COPIES Specifies the number of physical partitions created for each logical partition during the allocation process.
LPS Specifies the number of logical partitions currently in the logical volume.
STALE_PPs Specifies the number of physical partitions in the logical volume that are not current.
INTER_POLICY Specifies the inter-physical allocation policy. The field value can be minimum or maximum.
INTRA_POLICY Specifies the intra-physical allocation policy. The possible field values are either middle, center, or edge.
MOUNT_POINT Specifies the file-system mount point for the logical volume, if applicable.
MIRROR_WRITE_CONSISTENCY Specifies mirror-write consistency state. The field value can be off or on.
LV_SEPARATE_PV Specifies a yes, no, or super field value for strict allocation. A yes value for strict allocation states that no copies for a logical partition are allocated on the same physical volume. A no value for strict allocation (non-strict) states that at least one occurrence of two physical partitions belong to the same logical partition. A super value for strict allocation (super strictness) states that no partition from one mirror copy may reside on the same disk as another mirror copy.
LV_STATE Describes the state of the logical volume. An Opened/stale value indicates the logical volume is open but contains physical partitions that are not current. An Open/syncd value indicates the logical volume is open and its physical partitions are current, or synchronized. A Closed value indicates the logical volume has not been opened.
WRITE_VERIFY Specifies the field value of the write verify state as on or off.
PP_SIZE Provides the size physical partition.
SCHED_POLICY Specifies a sequential or parallel scheduling policy.
PP Specifies the number of physical partitions currently in the logical volume.
BB_POLICY Specifies the bad block relocation policy.
RELOCATABLE Indicates whether the partitions can be relocated if a reorganization of partition allocation takes place. The field value can be yes or no.
UPPER_BOUND Specifies the maximum number of physical volumes for allocation.
LABEL Specifies the label field for the logical volume.
MAPFILE Provides the full path name to a map file to be used in creating the logical volume.
LV_MIN_LPS Specifies the minimum size of the logical volume to use when shrinking the logical volume.
STRIPE_WIDTH Specifies the number of physical volumes being striped across.
STRIPE_SIZE Specifies the number of bytes per stripe. Stripe size multiplied by the number of disks in the array equals the stripe size. The field value must be a power of two, between 4KB and 128MB; for example, 4KB, 8KB, 16KB, 32KB, 64KB, 128KB, 256KB, 512KB, 1MB, 2MB, 4MB, 8MB, 16MB, 32MB, 64MB, or 128MB.
SERIALIZE_IO Turns on/off serialization of overlapping IOs. If serialization is turned on, then overlapping IOs are not allowed on a block range and only a single IO in a block range is proccessed at any one time. Most applications (file systems and databases) do serialization, so serialization should be turned off.

fs_data Stanza

Field Description
FS_NAME Specifies the mount point of the file system.
FS_SIZE Specifies the size, in 512-byte blocks, of the file system.
FS_MIN_SIZE Specifies the minimum size required to contain the files of the file system. This size is used when the SHRINK field in the logical_volume_policy stanza has a field value of yes.
FS_LV Provides the logical volume name. The name must contain the /dev/ prefix. An example of an appropriate name is /dev/hd4.
FS_FS Specifies the fragmentation size of the system. This value is optional.
FS_NBPI Specifies the number of bytes per i-node. This value is optional.
FS_COMPRESS Designates whether the file system should be compressed or not. The field value can be LZ, which compresses the file system, or the no field value.
FS_BF Enables the file system for files greater than 2 GB. The possible values are true or false.
FS_AGSIZE Specifies the allocation group size. The possible values are 8, 16, 32, or 64. The allocation group size is specified in units of megabytes.
FS_JFS2_BS Specifies the file system block size in bytes, 512, 1024, 2048, or 4096 bytes.
FS_JFS2_SPARSE Specifies when files are created with holes. The enhanced journaled file system (JFS2) allocates disk blocks for those holes and fills the holes with 0s.
FS_JFS2_INLINELOG Specifies that the journal log for the enhanced journaled file system (JFS2) is within the file system.
FS_JFS2_SIZEINLINELOG Specifies the size, in megabytes, for the optional inline journal log. The default is the size of the enhanced journaled file system (JFS2) divided by 256.
FS_JFS2_EFS Specifies whether a file system must be created as an Encrypted File System (EFS).
FS_JFS2_EAFORMAT Specifies whether a file system should be created with extended attributes.
FS_JFS2_QUOTA Specifies whether file and block-usage statistics should be maintained and whether limits should be enforced by the file system.
FS_JFS2_DMAPI Specifies whether a file system is managed.
FS_JFS2_VIX Specifies whether a file system can allocate i-node smaller than the default.

post_install_data Stanza

Field Description
BOSINST_FILE Provides the full path name of a file or command to execute after BOS install completes.

post_restvg Stanza

Field Description
RESTVG_FILE Specifies the full path name of the file or command to execute after the restvg process completes.
Note: The post_install_data stanza exists for the ROOTVG volume group and the post_restvg stanza is present for other volume groups.