Related links:
Title
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Type
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Date
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|---|---|---|
| System Administration Toolkit: Process administration tricks
Discover how to get the information you want on UNIX(R) processes. Knowing what is running on your UNIX system is one of the most basic requirements of any system administrator. The standard process list is useful, but often the information that it provides is not in the right format or doesn't contain exactly the processes or information you need. In this article, you'll examine how to extend that process further to improve the readability of the information, or provide summaries and information that are not easily obtainable elsewhere. You'll also look at methods for standardizing how to obtain process information across different UNIX platforms.
Also available in:
Russian
|
Articles | 21 Feb 2006 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Get the most out of bash
Ease your system administration tasks by taking advantage of key parts of the Bourne-again shell (bash) and its features. Bash is a popular alternative to the original Bourne and Korn shells. It provides an impressive range of additional functionality that includes improvements to the scripting environment, extensive aliasing techniques, and improved methods for automatically completing different commands, files, and paths.
|
Articles | 12 Dec 2006 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Monitoring a slow system
When your UNIX(R) system runs slow, it is vital that you discover what the problem is as quickly as possible so you can get your system back into the normal operating mode. There are many causes for a slow system, but actually identifying the problem can be exceedingly difficult. In this article, study examples of how to identify and diagnose the cause of your slow running UNIX system to get your machine running properly again.
Also available in:
Russian
|
Articles | 07 Jun 2006 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Migrating and moving UNIX directory trees
Occasionally, you need to copy around an entire UNIX(R) directory tree, either between areas on the same system or between different systems. There are many different methods of achieving this, but not all preserve the right amount of information or are compatible across different systems. This article discusses the various options available for UNIX and how best to make them work.
|
Articles | 25 Jul 2006 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Migrating and moving UNIX filesystems
Learn how to transfer an entire file system on a live system, including how to create, copy, and re-enable the new file system. If you have a UNIX(R) disk or system failure or simply fill up your file system, then you need to create a new partition and file system and copy over the contents. You might even need to mount the new partition in place to preserve the location of vital files and components. To add further complications, you need to do this on a live system, where you'd need to preserve file permissions, ownership, and possibly named pipes and other components. Effectively transferring these components and retaining all of this information is a vital part of the migration process.
|
Articles | 03 Jul 2006 |
| Systems Administration Toolkit: Using SNMP data
The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is built in to many devices, but
often the tools and software that can read and parse this information are too large and
complicated when you only want to check a quick statistic or track a particular device
or issue. This article looks at some simplified methods for getting SNMP information
from your devices and how to integrate this information into the rest of your network's data map.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Articles | 15 Apr 2008 |
| Systems Administration Toolkit: Log file basics
A typical UNIX or Linux machine creates many log files during the course of its
operation. Some of these contain useful information; others can be used to help you
with capacity and resource planning. This article looks at the fundamental information recorded within the different log files, their location, and how that information can be used to your benefit to work out what is going on within your system.
|
Articles | 26 Feb 2008 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Swap space management and tricks
Configure your swap space (including adding space in an emergency) to get the most out of your system. In this article, you'll learn how to monitor your system to determine an effective swap space figure as well as examine methods for using swap space for more than just secondary random access memory (RAM).
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Articles | 31 Oct 2006 |
| Systems Administration Toolkit: Understanding DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the service that converts hostnames and domain
details into the IP addresses required for application to communicate. Under UNIX, the
primary DNS service is based on BIND, and DNS itself is a key part of most UNIX
installations. This article looks at the basics of DNS setup, how servers and requests are distributed and exchanged, and how to set up and keep a DNS environment running smoothly.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Articles | 04 Mar 2008 |
| Systems Administration Toolkit: Network scanning
Discover how to scan your network for services and how to regularly monitor
your services to keep uptimes to a maximum. A key way of ensuring the security of
your network is to know what is on your network and what services individual
machines are at risk of exposure. Unauthorized services, such as Web servers or file
sharing solutions, not only degrade performance, but others can use these services
as routes into your network. In this article, learn how to use these same techniques
to ensure that genuine services remain available.
|
Articles | 04 Dec 2007 |
| Systems Administration Toolkit: Monitor user usage
Explore new ways to record UNIX(R) logins and other system activities in a
number of different logs, and take advantage of this information to monitor user usage. This can
be helpful from a number of perspectives, either to use for chargeback reporting or
just to get an idea of how busy and active individual users are on the system to
help when planning and allocating resources.
|
Articles | 23 Oct 2007 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Distributed administration using SSH
Use Secure Shell (SSH) to run commands on remote UNIX(R) systems and, with
some simple scripts, put together a system that enables you to manage many systems
simultaneously from one machine without having to log in directly to the machines
themselves. Also examine the basics of a distributed management system and some
scripts and solutions using the technique.
|
Articles | 14 Aug 2007 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Build intelligent, unattended scripts
Look at how to create scripts that are able to record their output, trap and
identify errors, and recover from errors and problems so that they either run
correctly or fail with a suitable error message and report. Building scripts and
running them automatically is a task that every good administrator has to handle,
but how do you handle the error output and make intelligent decisions about how the
script should handle these errors? This article addresses these issues.
|
Articles | 03 Jul 2007 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Set up remote access in UNIX through OpenSSH
Use OpenSSH to provide a secure environment for running a remote terminal. The basics of OpenSSH and terminal usage are quite simple but, in this article, examine additional elements that allow automatic login to remote hosts, methods for running remote applications, and how to securely copy files between hosts.
|
Articles | 13 Feb 2007 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Get the most out of zsh
Examine key parts of the Z shell (zsh) and how to use it's features to ease your UNIX(R) system administration tasks. zsh is a popular alternative to the original Bourne and Korn shells. It provides an impressive range of additional functionality, including improvements for completing different commands, files, and paths automatically, and for binding keys to functions and operations.
|
Articles | 19 Dec 2006 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Managing NIS services for authorizations
Examine how to set up, configure, and update a Network Information System (NIS) installation for sharing information, and learn how NIS can be merged with other solutions, such as files and Domain Name System (DNS), to provide subnet, network, and worldwide data sharing facilities. In a large UNIX(R) network, the ability to share information among the many systems helps to alleviate many problems, such as sharing permissions across different systems with Network File System (NFS), or simply providing a single login for the entire network.
Also available in:
Russian
|
Articles | 01 Aug 2006 |
| System Administration Toolkit: Monitoring disk space and usage
Look at methods for determining disk usage across multiple UNIX(R) systems and how to create a simple warning system to alert you of potential problems. Keeping an eye on your file systems and ensuring they don't fill up is a trivial, but vital, process in the day-to-day management of your UNIX systems. In this article, you'll look at methods for keeping an eye on disk space, discovering which files, users, or applications are using up the most space, and how to make use of quotas and other solutions to find the information you need.
Also available in:
Russian
|
Articles | 13 Jun 2006 |
| 10 tips for sensible systems administration
Benjamin Franklin: scientist, scholar, statesman, and . . . systems administrator?
Yes, 200 years or so before the birth of UNIX, Franklin scribed sage advice to keep
systems humming. Here are 10 of Franklin's more notable tips.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Articles | 10 Mar 2009 |
| IBM AIX system administration, part 2: Management
This knowledge path outlines how to set up the IBM AIX storage, network and system management after you have installed AIX in your environment.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Knowledge paths | 10 Jan 2013 |
| IBM AIX system administration, part 4: Performance
Performance management is a vital part of any IBM® AIX® implementation. Learn how to diagnose and understand your AIX performance, and then tune and monitor your system to help you achieve optimum performance.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Knowledge paths | 10 Jan 2013 |
| IBM AIX system administration, part 3: Virtualization
This knowledge path series will introduce AIX virtualization.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Knowledge paths | 10 Jan 2013 |
| IBM AIX system administration, part 1: Installation
This knowledge path series introduce how to install IBM AIX (using CDs or online), create a virtualized environment, and configure console management.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Knowledge paths | 10 Jan 2013 |
| Developing custom plug-ins for the Vim editor
Learn how to extend the popular and versatile Vim editor to suit your
systems administration needs using Vim's custom scripting language and options
such as Perl and Python.
|
Articles | 09 Nov 2010 |
| Introducing SMIT
Get an introduction to SMIT and how it's used. The System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) is an interactive application that simplifies virtually every aspect of AIX(R) system administration. By the end of this article, you'll agree that SMIT is the AIX systems administrator's best friend.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Articles | 26 Sep 2006 |
| Automating Linux cloud installations
A simplified process for installing operating systems can reduce the
amount of time you spend on administration of your cloud computing
environment. This article describes how you can automate the installation of
SUSE Linux on a new IBM Power System or System p LPAR. You can also use the
same techniques to install Red Hat Linux or AIX.
|
Articles | 11 Nov 2008 |
| Resolving problems unmounting partitions
To cleanly shut down or hot swap storage hardware on a UNIX
or UNIX-like system, you must be able to unmount any file system that
uses storage on that device. However, you can't unmount a file system
if files or directories in that file system are in use. The lsof and
fuser commands can help you identify and terminate the processes
that are using files on or executing from the storage devices that
your system is using. Using these commands simplifies the
traditional detective work associated with finding the processes
that are preventing you from unmounting storage devices, decreasing
frustration, and helping you proceed with critical system
administration tasks.
|
Articles | 27 Oct 2009 |
| Introduction to extending SMIT
The AIX(R) System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) is a menu application to aid you in performing various system administration tasks. This article is intended for experienced AIX administrators, familiar with shell programming, smit(1), and smitty(1), who wish to add to or otherwise modify SMIT. The ability to use a UNIX(R) text editor is assumed.
|
Articles | 23 Jan 2007 |
| AIX security commands: Part 2
Management of system administration is always a tedious task. Various tools and
methods are available to handle administrative activities on a system. AIX 6.1
provides different security features that help to manage user and group administration
and maintain integrity on a system. This articles provides a list commands which are enabled using these features.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Articles | 25 Oct 2011 |
| Logical volume management
Volume management is not new in the -ix world (UNIX, AIX, and so forth). And
logical volume management (LVM) has been around since Linux kernel 2.4v1 and
2.6.9v2. This article reveals the most useful features of LVM2--a relatively new
userspace toolset that provides logical volume management facilities--and suggests
several ways to simplify your system administration tasks. Based on reader feedback,
the author has updated Listings 10, 14, 15, and 16. -Ed.
|
Articles | 20 Sep 2007 |
| Install and configure NIS+
Ease your system administration tasks and use Network Information Service
plus (NIS+) to quickly handle maintenance and security issues for information. NIS+
is a network-wide naming and administration service that works on a client-server
model. The server maintains all the details of the users and clients in a central
database. In this article, get step-by-step instructions on how to install,
configure, and administer NIS+.
|
Articles | 28 Aug 2007 |
| Wiki structure for AIX documentation
This article provides a structure, configuration, and methodology for building
and maintaining an automated wiki server for your AIX technical documentation. One of the most difficult tasks associated with system administration is maintaining a centralized documentation repository and enforcing standards for documentation in the repository. The wiki environment helps to create a standardized look-and-feel for your documentation repository and provides an easy to maintain environment for all contributors to the repository.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Articles | 10 May 2011 |
| The performance detective: part2, Prevention is better than cure
This second article in a two-part series on managing system performance looks at preventing performance
problems. By keeping your system well tuned, you can avoid a lot of stress. There are also steps you can take so that when the system does start to choke, you're ready to identify the bottlenecks quickly and know where to go for help.
|
Articles | 31 May 2012 |
| The NIM cheat sheet
Have you ever had to install a large number of IBM AIX servers from scratch? Do you need a quick and easy way to create and store operating system backups? Would you like to know how to perform AIX operating system migrations on live servers quickly? Well, here is your complete cheat sheet for setting up and using the Network Installation Manager (NIM) tool in AIX. Learn how to set up the server and client components, perform a basic installation, use NIM to create mksysb backups, and perform alt_disk migrations over the network.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Articles | 07 Jan 2013 |
| AIX security: Learn the basics
Get a comprehensive introduction on how to lock down your AIX environment,
including LDAP servers.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Knowledge paths | 07 Oct 2011 |
| Back up and restore your AIX system, Part 2: Implementing your backup strategy and restoration processes
Explore different recovery options to restore your data. Part 2 of this
two-part series shows you how to implement the backup strategy discussed in Part 1.
Part 1 covered the importance of backing up your system, the methods available to
you through the command line, how to use the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT)
to perform backups, and the difference between system data and user data.
|
Tutorial | 27 Mar 2007 |
| Back up and restore your AIX system, Part 1: The when, why, and how of backing up
Take a look at some of the reasons, methods, and tools for backing up your AIX(R) system. As business and data changes at the speed of light, your systems are at an even greater risk of system corruption and lost data. To protect your company's data, you need to have a solid backup strategy, multiple backups, offsite storage of data, and a fully tested and proven plan of restoring data to your systems. Having a solid backup strategy decreases company downtime.
|
Tutorial | 13 Mar 2007 |
| Python for system administrators
Adopt Python to manage UNIX(R) systems while incorporating concepts of good program
design. Python is an easy-to-learn, open source scripting language that lets system
administrators do their job more quickly. It can also make tasks more fun.
|
Articles | 07 Sep 2007 |
| Process priority and control on AIX
Managing processes is quite straightforward with tools like kill and nice, but what happens when you want to provide even finer management control over your processes? You can assign processes and threads to specific processors in a multi-processor system using AIX(R), but how do you chose the right applications and organize a larger system in order to optimize the applications appropriately? In this article, discover the tools available to you for organizing your processes, and take a look at the theory behind organizing and choosing processes and how to prioritize effectively.
|
Articles | 20 Mar 2007 |
| Planning a two-node IBM PowerHA SystemMirror cluster: Six must-know items
This knowledge path will identify and describe several must-know items to properly plan and implement a basic two-node IBM PowerHA® SystemMirror cluster. Relevant educational courses will be identified in the final step.
Also available in:
Chinese
|
Knowledge paths | 11 Sep 2012 |
| Differentiating UNIX and Linux
Investigate the areas where UNIX(R) and Linux(R) converge in terms of functionality, environment, usability, and also those areas where UNIX and Linux differ. Many refer to Linux as a UNIX-like operating system. It is an open source operating system that has many of the same principles and ideals as UNIX, but it is not a true UNIX operating system like Solaris, AIX(R), HP-UX, and others. This article covers a range of aspects, from the core technical elements, such as kernel and filesystem support, to application tools, availability, and the differences in how to administer them.
Also available in:
Russian
|
Articles | 14 Mar 2006 |
| AIX 5L Version 5.3: What's in it for you?
Learn what features you can benefit from in AIX 5L(TM) Version 5.3. With guaranteed binary compatibility with the previous releases on the one hand and support for advanced technologies such as Virtual SCSI, Virtual Ethernet, Micro-Partitioning(TM), and Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) on the other, AIX 5L continues to empower users and developers with flexible, reliable, and powerful tools to interoperate smoothly across different IT environments.
|
Articles | 22 Nov 2006 |
| Perform uniform mounting with generic NFS
To efficiently achieve uniform mounting in the presence of multiple,
simultaneous NFS version exports, you need a generic NFS mount utility. Learn
how a generic NFS mount utility
can help reduce handling multiple NFS versions and simplify the management of
those versions. The article
describes the concept of the generic NFS mount, outlines the advantages and
applications of the system, and gives some overall design
details.
|
Articles | 11 Feb 2009 |
| Monitoring logs and command output
Monitoring system logs or the status of a command that produces
file or directory output are common tasks for systems
administrators. Two popular open source tools simplify these
activities for modern systems administrators: the multitail and watch
commands. Both are terminal-oriented commands, which means
that they are easily ported to most UNIX or UNIX-like systems
because they do not depend on any specific graphical desktop
environment.
|
Articles | 25 Aug 2009 |
| A comparison of security subsystems on AIX, Linux, and Solaris
Learn how to apply a strategy for implementing a single identification and authentication (I and A) framework across a heterogeneous, multi-platform environment. An I and A system provides a layer of abstraction between a user application and the implementation of any authentication or identification functions it needs to perform.
Also available in:
Russian
|
Articles | 13 Oct 2005 |
| Optimizing AIX 5L performance: Monitoring your CPU, Part 2
Identify which AIX(R) tools to use to monitor your Central Processing Unit
(CPU) for a given situation and find out why some tools might be better than others.
Part 1 of this series discussed the tuning methodology and the importance of having
procedures for CPU performance tuning. It also briefly introduced some performance
tools to use as a part of your tuning repertories, gave an overview of the POWER
CPU, and discussed how the architectural improvements of the evolution of the POWER
Chip have contributed to the hardware improvements of the System p(TM) product line.
|
Articles | 24 Apr 2007 |
| Ruby for systems administrators
Apart from its use as a powerful Web application development platform, in
combination with the Rails framework Ruby has another less-heralded side of itself,
which is as a powerful scripting language, such as Python or Perl. It has immense
capabilities, owing to the availability of many built-in and external libraries, the
power of which can be harnessed to solve a great deal of the scripting needs that come
up in any typical systems administrative work environment. Also, it's fun to program in Ruby!
|
Articles | 09 Dec 2008 |
| Configuration of AIX Fast Connect and SMBFS
Follow along with this quick reference guide to configure AIX(R) Fast Connect and
SMBFS on AIX and Windows(R).
|
Articles | 18 Dec 2007 |
| AIX 6.1 Workload Partitions
Workload Partitions (WPARs) are a new virtualization feature of AIX 6.1.
This article helps you decide whether WPARs are right for your AIX workloads, and
then gives you step-by-step guidance on how to learn more about WPARs and begin
using them.
|
Articles | 20 Nov 2007 |
| AIX tips for RHEL4 administrators
Are you broadening your skills as a Linux systems administrator into various flavors of
UNIX? Have you found yourself in charge of IBM UNIX servers on short notice? Get a rundown
of the differences and similarities between Red Hat Enterprise Linux and IBM AIX so that
you can perform day-to-day activities with ease.
|
Articles | 17 Nov 2009 |
| Expect plays a crucial role in network management
Expect is an indispensable tool for efficient system and network management,
and it's also widely misunderstood. In this article, find out the benefits Expect
provides in common use cases.
|
Articles | 31 Jul 2007 |
| Configure IBM LDAP netgroups with Windows Active Directory server
Netgroups create network-wide groups, and you can use them to provide
special permissions to those groups. Users configured under netgroups can have
different privileges compared to other users. This article explains how to configure
netgroups on the IBM Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) client (AIX(R))
with Microsoft Active Directory server.
|
Articles | 10 Apr 2007 |
| Optimizing AIX 5L performance: Monitoring your CPU, Part 3
Part 3 of this series focuses on arguably the least understood area of
Central Processing Unit (CPU) performance tuning: controlling thread usage and CPU
binding. This article addresses key tools and utilities you can use to analyze
threads and administrate your processes.
|
Articles | 15 May 2007 |
| Remote kernel debugging in FreeBSD using serial communication
Explore how to remotely debug a FreeBSD kernel that is running on a target machine without affecting system performance. In this article, examine setting up the debug environment using serial communication port, compiling modified kernel code, debugging, and troubleshooting tips.
|
Articles | 06 Mar 2007 |
| Transition from Solaris to AIX
So you've been the UNIX(R) guru on your team for years now and senior management has determined, without your input, to migrate to IBM from Sun Microsystems. Other than updating your resume, what do you need to do? Can you make the transition to AIX(R)? What does IBM offer as an alternative to either VERITAS or Solaris Volume Manager (SVM)? In this article, use the filesystem management and tools available to you on AIX to make your transition easier.
|
Articles | 06 Mar 2007 |
| Securing the Hardware Management Console
Get step-by-step instructions for things you should do during installation of the Hardware Management Console (HMC), measures you can take after installation, and maintenance guidelines to ensure that a secure system stays secure. The HMC, which plays a central role in the IBM virtualization strategy, controls hardware, configures logical partitions (LPAR), and assigns both physical and virtual devices. It is vital to systems management in a virtualized environment.
Also available in:
Russian
|
Articles | 06 Feb 2007 |
| AIX system identification
The generation of unique system identifiers is important in todayâs multisystem, multipartition IT environments. A license key manager is just one example in which a unique system identifier is used to calculate a license key. With the introduction of servers based on the IBM POWER4 and POWER5 processors from IBM Systems, the high number of maximum partitions, dedicated and shared, is a welcomed feature.
|
Articles | 11 Jul 2006 |
