How to determine the AIX OS level and Maintenance Level.

IBM had renamed the term maintenance level (ML) to technology level (TL).

Here is an excerpt from IBM, “Although some systems administrators still use the term “maintenance level” when discussing their AIX version, the term is now reserved for legacy AIX systems. The new IBM methodology dictates two TL releases per year. The first TL includes hardware features, enablement, and software services. The second includes software features in the release, which means the second release is larger and more comprehensive. Finally, there is also now support for new hardware on older TLs.”

To determine the machine type of an IBM AIX server use the uname command.

uname -MuL
IBM,9113-550 IBM,0210A463E 1 10-A463E

The option -M gives the machine type and model.
-u gives the plant code and machine identifier.
-L show the LPAR number and name.

The Machine type is 9113
The Model is 550
OF prefixm IBM, 0210A463E
Plant Code, 1
Sequence number, 10-A463E

To determine the AIX OS level and maintenance level use the instfix command with the option -i.

instfix -i | grep AIX_ML
All filesets for 5.3.0.0_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-01_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-02_AIX_ML were found.
Not all filesets for 5300-03_AIX_ML were found.
Not all filesets for 5300-04_AIX_ML were found.
Not all filesets for 5300-05_AIX_ML were found.IBM,9113-550 IBM,0210A463E 1 10-A463E

You can also use the command oslevel to determine the current AIX version, the -r option determines the highest recommended maintenance level.

oslevel -r
5300-02