Two ways to create mksysb images in AIX

1) create on NIM server command:

nim -o define -t mksysb -a server=master -a source=<server name> -a mk_image=yes -a location=<location of the store image> <mksysb image name>

This will create the mksysb image of the client server and define it on the NIM server.

Example:
nim -o define -t mksysb -a server=master -a source=edppbuslvd01 -a mk_image=yes -a location=/nim/mksysb/edppbuslvd01_6100-04-03-05112010 edppbuslvd01_6100-04-03-05112010

server=master: server to store image, in this case is master
source=edppbuslvd01: the source of the image, which is client
location: the location of the stored mksysb image


2) create on client machine and then copy to NIM server and define on NIM server, or NFS mount the filesystem from NIM server on the client server.

let say you successfully NFS mount nim server filesystem on the client machine as /mnt.

mksysb -ieX /mnt/edppbuslvd01_6100-04-03-05112010


-e: exclude the filesystem/dir that defined on /etc/exclude.rootvg
-i: call the mkszfile command to generate the /image.data file
The /image.data file contains information on volume groups, logical volumes, file systems, paging space, and physical volumes.
 This information is included in the backup for future use by the installation process.
-X: set to automatically expand the /tmp if necessary

After the mksysb image created, you need to define it on NIM server.

nim -o define -t mksysb -a server=master -a location=<image location> <image name>