The "clean_dos" script which wiped out a Unix system Around 7:15 one morning, a large Australian retailer called to say they couldn't access their production system, and most stores were opening at 9:00am. We had to go on site in those days, so it was 8 am before we got there. The operating system was accessible via the console, but it was in a very sick state as many major files had been simply wiped out. Preparing for a Post mortem We had to restore from a good mksysb and the store opening was approaching quickly. Before we did the... [More]

Tags:  script expectations temproary_solution trouble_shooting problem_solving permanent_solution 20_minutes aix good unix urgent time practice

YOUR TIME IS PRECIOUS! When you need to increase a file system, you can use our old friend smitty. But stepping through the SMIT menus could take a good 3 seconds (at least!) And as a good AIX guru, your time is precious. In a perfect world AIX gurus like you should charge your time by the nanosecond! (Just go tell your boss that the bloke who writes AIX Down Under said so.) Alas, the world is not perfect, as you may have discovered after that friendly chat with the boss. Even so, you can save a few seconds when you have to increase a file... [More]

Tags:  system decrease jfs2 disk nanoseconds guru chfs gigabyte lv space logical_volume increase aix jfs precious block_size file

Nice clean boots  I once had a boss who told me that the first rule of public speaking was to have clean boots. I can't say I've ever scientifically tested his theory, although I can certainly affirm that one clean boot a good speaker does not make. But it does remind me that it's nice to check your boots are nice and clean. So, here's how you how to check your boot images on AIX. diag You can use the diag command to step through the menus to the bootlist. Tip for SMIT and diag: you can page down in diag and SMIT using Ctrl-v page up is Esc-v... [More]

Tags:  aix bootlist bosboot normal diag service mode vios

  The challenge You have several Unix print queues to create. Some are of type HP JetDirect, others ASCII. Some have customised settings for page width, lines per page and so on. The best way is through SMIT, but it takes a long time to step through the menus. And you have to replicate this onto several LPARs. Using smit.script The initial print queues on the first LPAR might take some time, but once you've got them all in place, you can rerun the SMIT commands on the target LPARs exactly as they were done on the source LPAR. Let me explain.... [More]

Tags:  configuration rollout aix-en-provence distribution smit script aix ssh changes print unix queues smitty printers dsh

VIO Server command history using   lsgcl   You'll pardon my dedicating two posts in a row to the VIO Server, but I had to share this one with my loyal readers. You can get a history of all commands on the VIO server command line by logging in as padmin and running the command lsgcl . That's to l ist the G lobal C ommand L og. Here's an extract from one I've just run: <!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> <!-- @page {... [More]

Tags:  aix padmin lsmap history command lsvg shell vio

See update at end of post.  From the HMC, you can open a terminal session to the console of an LPAR. I reminisced about green screens and different console connections available to AIX in this post . But I didn't take account of one of them: you can create a virtual terminal session from the VIO Server to an LPAR. When you're logged in as padmin on the VIO Server you can create a terminal session using the mkvt command . mkvt command Purpose Create a virtual terminal connection to a partition. Syntax mkvt   {   -id   lparID } To terminate... [More]

Tags:  lpar padmin terminal_session aix hmc mkvt console vio modem

Even virtualisation has its limits There are a lot of sites out there that are on AIX 5.3 and are only now thinking about dipping their toes into AIX 6.1. Isn't it about time? And it's not that hard. As you've seen on AIX Down Under, installing a new LPAR in a virtualised environment is so easy that the temptation may be just to go creating LPARs straight away and keep going till you run out of time. Alas, even virtualisation has limitations. They're called hardware. Bare minimum CPU, memory and disk For an LPAR with a base AIX installation on... [More]

Tags:  requirements aix tl4 minumum file disk install memory 6100-04 cpu system rootvg

<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } A:link { so-language: zxx } --> Listing and changing user details When you add a Unix user, you probably use SMIT. That allows you to set or list user details, such as the user's full name, password restrictions, home directory and so on. If you're doing this for lots of users, you'll probably want to use the command line and ideally do it in a script. To list a user's details, use the lsuser command . ( ls is... [More]

Tags:  ad list authentication user unix lsuser change_user_details smit aix pgrp gecos chuser active_directory

A client writes:  Every time I run cfgmgr I get the following error message:    Method error (/usr/lib/methods/cfgefscsi -l fscsi1 ):          0514-061 Cannot find a child device.  Method error (/usr/lib/methods/cfgefscsi -l fscsi3 ):          0514-061 Cannot find a child device. SHORT ANSWER The fibre channel adapter ports reporting errors are not cabled up to the SAN switch. Nothing to worry about. Enjoy your day. Skip down to the free Coffee Time Quiz at the end of this post if you've got nothing else * to do . LONG ANSWER (verbose mode is... [More]

Tags:  config channel 0514-061 manager fibre coffee cfgefscsi aix cfgmgr