Novel uses for Name File Systems
You may know that WPARs use Name File Systems for creating alternate paths for rootvg file systems. Name File Systems have been around in AIX forever, and when you think about it, they can come in handy when you want to create a second view of a subdirectory. A Name File System is a pseudo-file system - a way of making a subdirectory its own dedicated mount with its own mount attributes such as cio, read-only etc.
Even if you don't use Name File Systems for that, here are some ideas of where an alternate path can be helpful. This is from my... [More]
Tags:  file-over-file_mount namefs mount poweritpro |
efix available for HMC / SDMC Save Corruption Exposure
Following up on yesterday's post about HMC and SDMC code losing partition profiles , there's an efix available MH01263. This affects you if your HMC is running V7R7.3.0. From the efix README : This package includes the following fixes: Fixed a problem where managed systems lose profiles and profiles get corrupted resulting in Recovery state which prevent the ability to do DLPAR/LPM. Fixed a security vulnerability with the HMC help content. You should be able to obtain this efix from the IBM Support Portal , or try:... [More]
Tags:  hmc sdmc |
Updated: HMC / SDMC Save Corruption Exposure
Update: there's an efix available for the HMC. For further details see this post . I received this notice today, which is very important if you're running HMC V7R7.3.0 or SDMC V6R7.3.0. The gist of it is that you could lose your partition profile data, so if you're already running these versions of the HMC or SDMC, you must backup your profile data and wait for a fix. And if you're on an older release of the HMC or SDMC, don't upgrade to these versions until a fix is released. I've included some links to the commands referred to in this... [More]
Tags:  sdmc hmc |
Storage Parameters for MPIO on AIX
I came across this table in the Redbook Best Practices for DB2 on AIX 6.1 for POWER System .
It shows a list of the common parameters you need to look at for disks when they are connecting to a SAN. Tasks Actions to undertake Remarks For details see LUN creation on SAN storage box Create
LUN in particular RAID level Divide
LUN into desired capacity Map
to host group LUN creation on SAN
storage box Disks and HBA parameters Disks parameters: algorithm=round_robin
hcheck_interval=20
max_transfer=
reserve_policy=no_reserve
... [More]
Tags:  attributes db2 storage san hcheck_interval hdisk max_transfer num_cmd_elems max_xfer_size tuning hba |
PP spreading and LV striping for Oracle
An IBM Oracle Technical Brief came out in May entitled Oracle Architecture and Tuning on AIX . There's a lot in it, but the good news is that if you're working on an AIX system that was a fresh install of AIX 6.1 or 7.1, then on the whole the default tuning parameters are what you need. If you're still on AIX 5.3, or if your system was migrated from AIX 5.3 to 6.1 to 7.1, you may need to revisit the tuning parameters. Do it anyway, if you can. There are two items which caught my eye especially from this Oracle Technical Brief: Logical Volume... [More]
Tags:  lv pp reorgvg agblksize disk_layout lvm tuning redo_logs striping performance oracle |
Could a vanilla VIOS installation be simplified?
If only a VIO server could be a VSCSI client ... A vanilla installation of the VIO server is very easy - once you can get
the LPAR to access the installation files. But that's the part which can be unnecessarily cumbersome and time consuming. Sure, you can use a physical Virtual I/O server installation DVD, but
that means getting the DVD to a data centre - and probably you with it.
Now if you're in a lab setting, or have a data centre across the floor from where you sit, that may not be any issue at all. But
for many of us, getting into... [More]
Tags:  virtual_media_repository hmc installios install vscsi vios virtual_io_server virtual_media_library vanilla |
Recover root password and VIO server (padmin) password
If you're unfortunate enough to lose the root password on an AIX host, there is a way of recovering it . You can also recover the padmin password in VIOS if you've lost it. Basically, it's a matter of booting from AIX or VIOS installation media and stepping through the System Maintenance menus. When you do that, the boot file systems come from the installation media, and then you import the rootvg volume group which is on the original disks (the one with the unknown password). At that point you can run the passwd command or edit /etc/passwd. ... [More]
Tags:  aix padmin password root |