Nigel Griffiths (a name that should be familiar to all AIX administrators) has updated the AIXpert Blog with a reminder that new AIX service packs recently became available. He’s recommending the following:
- AIX 5.3:
- TL09 SP7
- TL10 SP4
- TL11 SP4
- TL12 SP1
- AIX 6:
- TL02 SP7
- TL03 SP4
- TL04 SP4
- TL05 SP1
If you’re not on one of these levels, you probably should be. While good conservative systems administration practices are a virtue, being too conservative is a vice. IBM only supports a given technology level (TL) for around two years. Being forced into an upgrade because fixes are no longer being created for your release is not a comfortable situation.
In general, I advocate running the latest SP of the N-1 TL. This model has worked well for me. It keeps my systems reasonably fresh while minimizing the upgrade risks. I’ve also found that going from one AIX TL to another is almost always a painless upgrade.
For more information on AIX technology levels be sure to check out Fix Central and the Fix Level Recommendation Tool.
