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VLAN tagging and the VIOS: some questions and answers.
Here are some questions I received recently regarding VLAN
tagging on the VIO server. My answers are shown in green . “Hi Chris, Q: I’m trying to
understand when, where and why there would be the need to use ‘mkvdev –vlan
(etc.) on the VIOS, and I’m wondering whether you would be able to clarify this
for me, please. Is it necessary to add
the VLAN tag devices to the SEA, or is it suffice to just have them defined
within the Virtual Ethernet itself which is part of the SEA?” A:
It is suffice to simply define the VLAN ids assigned... [More]
Tags:  ent6 tagging sea virt_adapters=ent3 power7 vlan hmc tag -attr ent5 mkvdev -dev -vlan chdev dlpar dynamic |
lpar2rrd error - Can't use string ("") as a SCALAR ref..lpar2rrd.pl line 533
I was
attempting to configure a new installation of lpar2rrd (version 2.65) for a
customer today when I encountered the following error during the initial load of
data from the HMC: lpar2rrd@nim
[/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd]$ ./load.sh LPAR2RRD
version 2.65 HMC
: hmc01 managed
system : 750-1 (type_model*serial : 8233-E8B*0646D0P) HMC
version : 77301 There
is no RRD: attempting to do initial load, be patient, it might take some time sample
rate : 60 seconds fetching
HMC : hmc01:750-DR CPU lpar config fetching
HMC :... [More]
Tags:  argument while at 532. "strict ref a ("") as /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/l... numeric in scalar line 533. can't "" (<=) refs" le string use isn't |
Working with AIX scalable volume groups.
Scalable volume groups first appeared in AIX 5.3. They allow
a maximum of 1024 physical volumes and 4096 logical volumes per volume group.
This is pretty cool for large systems. In the ‘old days’ we could end up in
situations where we’d reached the maximum PV count (32 or 128) for a VG and
have to create a new VG to work around the issue. I use scalable VGs for all my new large AIX system builds. The following command will create a scalable VG (named svg ) on hdisk4. You’ll notice that MAX
PVs is set to 1024 and MAX LVs is set to 256.... [More]
Tags:  gibson vg aix manager lvm pv chris chvg hdisk max physical scalable lv groups mkvg group logical volume |
New HMC commands: chnportlogin and lsnportlogin - Login in Virtual Fibre Channel adapters for NPIV client LPARs.
There are two new HMC (V7.7.3.0) commands that can force a client Virtual Fibre Channel adapter to log into a SAN. This should make the life of the AIX and SAN administrator easier, as they will no longer need to install AIX in order for the new VFC adapters to log into the SAN. Although there was an unsupported method* for doing this already (see links below). Nor will the SAN admins need to “blind” zone the WWPNs. There was some indication of this in the latest VIOS FP readme: ... [More]
Tags:  virtual gibson aix chnportlogin lsnportlogin channel npiv chris adapter fibre |
Configuring AIX as an iSCSI target.
Configuring
AIX as an iSCSI target. On
the iSCSI target host (server). Host
is running AIX 7.1. Install
the devices.tmiscsw.rte fileset. This fileset can be found on the AIX 7.1
Expansion Pack CD. l273pp043_pub[/]
> oslevel -s 7100-00-02-1041 l273pp043_pub[/]
> lslpp -l devices.tmiscsw.rte
Fileset
Level State Description
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Path:
/usr/lib/objrepos
devices.tmiscsw.rte 7.1.0.0
COMMITTED iSCSI Target... [More]
Tags:  iscsi target chris aix gibson |
Is there a way to find on which processor a process is executing?
A question I received this week from a customer. Hi Chris, Is there a way to find on which processor a process is executing?
If I’ve used binprocessor, ps –emo THREAD, would show which processor a
process is bound too. But when that’s not been used, what are the options? The ps command will
only help if we bind a process to a specific CPU. For example, here we can see
that the bootpd process has been
bound (and then un-bound) on processor 3: # bindprocessor -q The available processors are: 0 1 2 3 # bindprocessor 8585302 3 ... [More]
Tags:  chris trace gibson aix curt |
0516-966 reorgvg: Unable to create internal map and LVM logging.
I was performing a volume group re-org i.e. changing the
INTER-POLICY of a logical volume from minimum to maximum. # lslv
fixeslv| grep INTER INTER-POLICY: minimum RELOCATABLE: yes # chlv
-e x fixeslv # lslv
fixeslv| grep INTER INTER-POLICY: maximum RELOCATABLE: yes I attempted to run the reorgvg command. I was greeted by the following error message! # reorgvg
tempvg fixeslv 0516-966 reorgvg:
Unable to create internal map. I ran the command again, this time with truss . I... [More]
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AIX multibos mksysb migration
I’ve
written about multibos before, here and here . But recently I
started experimenting with multibos mksysb migration. A customer asked me how
this worked and apart from a high-level view I wasn’t able to provide any real
world experience, so I thought I’d give it a try. What follows is just a ‘brain
dump’ from my quick test. First of all
this isn’t really a migration. It just simply populates a second instance of
AIX with a higher-version. It doesn’t really migrate (or merge) your existing
configuration into the second instance. So... [More]
Tags:  mksysb aix migration multibos chris gibson |
Virtual I/O Server and DS5020 disk.
Recently I
had the pleasure of configuring a couple of POWER7 720s for a customer. Each
720 was to host roughly 12 LPARs each. There were two VIO servers and a NIM
server per 720. Everything
went along nicely and according to plan. In a few days we had both systems
built. My steps for building the systems were almost identical to those
described by Rob McNelly in a recent post . All four
VIO servers were running the latest VIOS code i.e. 2.2.0.10-FP-24 SP-01 . All the client LPARs were running AIX 6.1 TL6 SP3 . Each VIOS... [More]
Tags:  ds5020 aix vios |
Setting Up A Network To Improve Live Partition Mobility Performance
I
stumbled across this IBM support tech note today. It relates to controlling
which network to use during a Live Partition Mobility operation. http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T7000117&myns=phw&mynp=OCHW182&mync=E By being
given the choice of which network to use we can select network adapters that
are more suited to this type of activity i.e. ones that are one or more of the
following: high-speed, under utilized and/or dedicated to non-application data
(for example). Using a “high speed” network may... [More]
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Using NIM to distribute files to your AIX servers.
At the IBM Technical Symposium in Sydney last week, a person approached me to discuss NIM and some of its capabilities. During the conversation we discussed how NIM could be used to copy files from the NIM master to its NIM clients. I promised to send them some information on how to achieve this ASAP. They were smart and followed up with an email the next day! They’d even tried to configure this on their systems but hit a small problem. "Hello Chris, So trying to push out a new netbackup tar file to one of our nim... [More]
Tags:  resource files server copy master sync chris blog client aix gibson nim |
Testing "Scaled Throughput" mode with AIX 7.1 on POWER7.
Starting with AIX 6.1 TL08 and AIX 7.1
TL02 there’s a new AIX CPU tuning feature called “ Scaled Throughput ” mode. This is supported on POWER7 and POWER7+ processors
only ( do not try this on POWER6!). This
new mode has the ability to dispatch workload to more SMT threads per VP,
avoiding the need to unfold additional VPs. I’ve heard it described as being more
“POWER6 like”. I’m not suggesting that you use this feature. This post simply
discusses what this new mode can do. By default AIX (on POWER7) operates in “ Raw Throughput” mode.... [More]
Tags:  smt chris_gibson scaled_throughput aix power7 vpm_throughput_mode |
DLPAR and AIX 5.3
I’ve shared
my tips for resolving DLPAR problems in the past . So this week, when one of my
colleagues was experiencing an issue with DLPAR, I referred him to my blog post
and suggested he follow the troubleshooting steps. He did so and I went about
my business. Later that same day I asked him how he had fared. He told me that
DLPAR was still not working on his particular AIX LPAR. It was an AIX 5.3
system and he was attempting to another Virtual Processor to the LPAR. He
expressed his frustration with the situation, so I offered to take... [More]
Tags:  ibm.drm csm.client csm_core aix lssrc dlpar csm_client lpar lsrsrc chris_gibson |
Using a post-migration script with nimadm
I’ve received a couple of requests for an example of using a
post migration script with nimadm .
What follows is a simple example of using such a resource with NIM. If you are
not familiar with the nimadm tool then
perhaps you’d like to start first by reading my article on using nimadm to migrate to AIX 6.1. The nimadm utility
can perform both pre and post migration tasks. This is accomplished by running
NIM scripts either before or after a migration. The tool accepts the following
flags for pre and post migration script resources: ... [More]
Tags:  script aix nim post-migration chris_gibson nimadm |
Can't change max_transfer for a VSCSI hdisk? Check your vtopt devices!
When attempting to change the max_transfer attribute on a VSCSI hdisk, the following error was displayed: #
chdev -l hdisk0 -a max_transfer= 0x100000 -P Method
error (/etc/methods/chgdisk):
0514-018 The values specified for the following attributes
are not valid: max_transfer
Maximum TRANSFER Size The
desired value, 0x100000, was an allowed value for this type of device (as shown
in the lsattr output below): #
lsattr -El hdisk0 PCM
PCM/friend/vscsi
Path Control... [More]
Tags:  rmdev vtopt0 max_transfer rmvdev aix vios chdev hdisk cd0 virtual_optical vio |
AIX performance tool enhancements - Filtered output and XML reports
High End
POWER7 systems, like the POWER7 795, support configurations of up to 256
physical processors. Most of us can only dream of working on a system of this
size. For those of us that are fortunate enough to play with these big boxes,
you may find collecting and reviewing CPU related performance data a challenging
task. With 256
physical POWER7 processors, where each processor has 4 threads enabled (SMT 4),
there will be up to 1024 logical CPUs active on the system. As a consequence, a
lot of performance monitoring data will be... [More]
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DLPAR event history on the HMC
You can use the HMC lssvcevents command to view DLPAR event history. In the following example, I’m looking for “Add processor” related DLPAR events, over the last 30 days, for a specific LPAR. $ lssvcevents -t console -d 30 | egrep 'Add processor|DLPAR' | grep s82861p22_nim time=12/01/2016 00:48:33,text=HSCE2209 User name hscroot: DLPAR Add processor resources to partition s82861p22_nim succeeded on managed system Server-8286-42A-SN214F55V Search for all DLPAR events over the last 30 days. $... [More]
Tags:  gibson aix hmc dlpar lssvcevents events history chris |
Hacking cloud-init on AIX.
There may be better ways to do this, and if there are, please let me know. But lately I've been "hacking around" with cloud-init on AIX and trying to make it behave the way I want it to. There were two problems I faced and solved. My first challenge. The AIX /etc/hosts file isn't updated with the IP address and hostname of the new AIX VM after deployment from PowerVC. To work-around this niggle*, I added the following short but effective shell script to the Activation Input in the PowerVC GUI. #!/bin/ksh... [More]
Tags:  /etc/hosts update hack resolv.conf chris cloud-init aix gibson hostname |
AIX Live Update using NIM
In my previous post on AIX Live Updates I discussed how to use the geninstall command to perform a non-disruptive (ifix) update on an AIX system. In this post I wanted to show you how to perform the same task using NIM. NIM can be used to start an AIX Live Update operation on a target machine (NIM client) either from a NIM master or from the NIM client itself (with nimclient ). Note: The AIX Live Update operation started by NIM calls the hmcauth command during the cust operation to authenticate to the NIM client with the HMC by... [More]
Tags:  lku aix chris blog nimclient nim 7.2 live update gibson |
AIX LVM Mirroring enhancement for Flash Preferred Read
As you are probably aware, in a lot of cases, customers have chosen to include IBM flash system storage as the preferred read LVM mirror on AIX. This gives them enhanced I/O read performance and resiliency. An AIX administrator can add the hdisks to the VG, mirror the data and set the LV scheduling policy to parallel/sequential indicating writes will be done to both copies in parallel and reads will come from the first LVM copy which should be on flash. This is discussed at length in section 5.5.2 Implementing preferred read, Preferred read... [More]
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AIX Live Update - No Reboot Required! Non-disruptive OS Updates!
AIX Live Update Starting with AIX Version 7.2, the AIX operating system provides the AIX Live Update function which eliminates downtime associated with patching the AIX operating system. Previous releases of AIX required systems to be rebooted after an interim fix was applied to a running system. This new feature allows workloads to remain active during a Live Update operation and the operating system can use the interim fix immediately without needing to restart the entire system. In the first release of this feature, AIX Live Update will... [More]
Tags:  chris kernel aix update live gibson 7.2 lku |
Restoring a Versioned WPAR with NIM
I was contacted recently by a customer who was attempting to restore an AIX 5.3 Versioned WPAR (VWPAR) from backup using NIM. The restore worked OK but the data was restored to the wrong volume group! When the VWPAR was created, the –g option was specified with mkwpar to force the creation of the VWPAR file systems in a separate volume group (named wparvg) rather than the default location of the Global root volume group (rootvg). # mkwpar - g wparvg -n p8vw2 -B /cg/53gibbo.mksysb -C -O Running lsvg against... [More]
Tags:  vwpar gibson chris iv68299 blog wpar mkwpar aix restore volume wparvg group rootvg nim |
SSP and Disaster Recovery (Tech Preview)
I’ve been working with a customer recently that required a special kind of disaster recovery capability for their shared storage pool (SSP) environment. The customer had implemented a private cloud solution in their existing POWER environment. The solution consisted of an IBM SmartCloud deployment with IBM Systems Director and VMControl managing the PowerVM deployment of virtual machines (AIX partitions) across the landscape. The decision to use shared storage pools was driven by the fact that the customer was using SAN storage... [More]
Tags:  dr vios aix ssp recovery chris gibson disaster |
LPM and viosecure
I came across this strange LPM issue recently. Thought I’d share it with you. All the customers VIOS were configured with the viosecure level set to high . When the VIOS is configured with a security profile set to high , PCI or DoD , a new feature is enabled during LPM. This new feature is called “ Secure LPM ”. As a result when you initiate an LPM operation, the “Secure LPM” feature automatically enables the VIOS firewall and configures a secure (ipsec) tunnel for all LPM traffic over the network.... [More]
Tags:  lpm ipsec firewall vios hscla230 |
Using chhwres to free up partition resources.
You can use the chhwres command, on the HMC, to “free up” allocated processor and memory resources from your logical partitions. I may want to do this if I need to improve the affinity placement of a partition on a POWER7 system or if I need to free up resources from trial capacity on demand in order to re-use the resources with On/Off capacity instead. Here’s an example of “freeing up” some processor resources from a partition. I’d like to remove the processor allocation from my AIX... [More]
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SMS SAN zoning support
Until recently, if you were
configuring a new LPAR with virtual FC adapters you couldn’t force it to log
into the SAN before an operating system (such as AIX) was installed. I’ve
written about this before (see link below). I also offered a way to work around
this issue. https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/cgaix/entry/new_hmc_commands_chnportlogin_and_lsnportlogin_login_in_virtual_fibre_channel_adapters_for_npiv_client_lpars1?lang=en As mentioned in my post, there are
new HMC commands to force a new LPAR to connect... [More]
Tags:  npiv virtual_fibre_channel powervm chris_gibson power_systems aix vios vfc |
Checking num_cmd_elems for VFC adapters with kdb
This entry is
similar in theme to one of my previous posts about verifying your hdisk queue_depth settings with kdb . This time we want to check if an attribute for a Virtual FC (VFC)
adapter has been modified and whether or not AIX has been restarted since the
change. The attribute I’m interested in is num_cmd_elems .
This value is often changed from its default settings, in AIX environments, to improve
I/O performance on SAN attached storage. From
kdb you can identify the VFC
adapters configured on an AIX system using the vfcs... [More]
Tags:  odm -p kdb lsattr chris_gibson num_cmd_elems adapter vfcs aix chdev reboot vfc |
Does AIX support passwords longer than 8 characters? Yes!
Prior to AIX 5.3 TL7 and AIX 6.1,
there was an 8 character limit on AIX user passwords. If you need passwords of
greater than 8 characters then you must enable one of the supplied Loadable
Password Algorithms (LPAs). The following table lists the available algorithms
and the limitations of each: For example, to enable the MD5 algorithm
I can modify /etc/security/login.cfg file with the chsec command as follows:
# chsec -f
/etc/security/login.cfg -s usw -a pwd_algorithm=smd5 # tail -2
/etc/security/login.cfg
... [More]
Tags:  /etc/security/pwdalg.cfg characters smd5 pwd_algorithm /etc/security/login.cfg aix /usr/lib/security/smd5 support clpasswd gibson 8 greater chris than passwords for |
Check your WPAR filesets
Got an issue with mkwpar? Have you checked your WPAR filesets? If you attempt to
create a rootvg WPAR with a VSCSI disk, on a system running AIX 6.1 TL6 and you
encounter the following error: #
mkwpar –O -D rootvg=yes devname=hdisk5 -n rootvgwpar1 ********************************************************************** ERROR mkwpar:
0960-587
hdisk5 has un-supported subclass type . ********************************************************************** Then you should check that the following filesets are installed: #
lslpp -L |... [More]
Tags:  un-supported hdisk5 type. mkwpar: has wio.vscsi 0960-587 wio.fco wio.common subclass |
Convert rootvg JFS file systems to JFS2 with alt_disk_copy
Starting with AIX 6.1 (TL4?), you can use the alt_disk_copy command to convert rootvg
file systems from jfs to jfs2. The man page for the alt_disk_copy command
states the following: -T
Indicates that you want to convert JFS file systems to JFS2 file systems during
the process of recreating the rootvg volume group on target disks. As an example, to clone a running systems rootvg to hdisk2, and convert
the rootvg file systems from JFS to JFS2, you would run the following command: #
alt_disk_copy -T -d hdisk2 Good to know!
Tags:  alt_disk_copy chris aix jfs2 convert gibson jfs |
VIOS/AIX Matrix
Here’s a nice little matrix of current VIOS levels and the corresponding
AIX level. The following link also has some fantastic information
relating to NIM installation and backup of a Virtual I/O Server (VIOS). https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1011386 It has an official answer for one of the questions I’m asked
the most: Q: Do I need to use
an lpp_source to install the VIO server using NIM? A: No. All of the
device drivers and software packages needed to install the VIO server are in
the VIO server mksysb. I also... [More]
Tags:  nim vios aix |
AIX 7 Open Beta is live - it's time to test!
OK, it’s
official. The AIX 7 Open Beta is now available for testing! An
overview of the program is available here: https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/cc/earlyprograms/websphere/aix7ob/index.shtml Essentially
this program is designed to give IBM customers, ISVs and IBM BPs the
opportunity to gain early experience with the latest release of AIX prior to
general availability. This is a great time to join forces and help IBM mould
the next generation of the AIX OS. I got
involved in the AIX 6 Open
Beta back in 2007 . It was a... [More]
Tags:  chris 7 beta gibson aix open |
New Features in AIX Version 7.
Today, IBM announced
AIX version 7. http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/software/aix/v71/preview.html Several new features
were mentioned in the launch, but there were two new features that I found
particularly interesting: - AIX 5.2 WPARs
for AIX 7 - Cluster
Aware AIX I thought I would
briefly describe each feature in this post. AIX 5.2 WPARs
for AIX 7 In AIX version 7,
administrators will now have the capability to create Workload Partitions
(WPARs) that can run AIX 5.2, inside an AIX 7 operating system instance. This
will... [More]
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VIOS 2.1 FP22 and VMLibrary.
Last month I applied the latest
fix pack for VIOS 2.1 i.e. FP22, to one of our lab VIOS. I came across the following
error while doing so: Renaming Media Repository Logical Volume: VMLibrary_LV --> VMLibrary umount: error unmounting /dev/VMLibrary_LV:
Device busy Media Repository failed to unmount. We
cannot continue until it can be successfully unmounted.
Please address and retry. update: Failed while executing the ios.cli.rte.post_u script. installp: The installation has FAILED for the "root" part of... [More]
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New resolv.conf options in AIX 6.1
FYI. There are new options for /etc/resolv.conf in AIX 6.1 (not in 5.3): ... timeout Enables you to specify the initial timeout for a query to a nameserver. The default value is five seconds. The maximum value is 30 seconds. For the second and successive rounds of queries, the resolver doubles the initial timeout and is divided by the number of nameservers in the resolv.conf file. attempts Enables you to specify how many queries the resolver should send to each nameserver in the resolv.conf file before it stops... [More]
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Who cored?
Ever wondered what process just core dumped? The AIX errpt command will tell you where the core file has been dumped and in most cases the program name: # errpt -a | head -45 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LABEL: CORE_DUMP IDENTIFIER: C69F5C9B Date/Time: Wed Jul 22 13:41:52 EET 2009 Sequence Number: 2694 Machine Id: 00C01C704C00 Node Id: hxaix14 Class: S Type: PERM Resource Name: SYSPROC Description SOFTWARE PROGRAM ABNORMALLY TERMINATED Probable... [More]
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Online quorum change |
Updating your PowerHA cluster with cl_ezupdate
PowerHA 7.2.1 (June 2017) introduced the cl_ezupdate utility. You can use the cl_ezupdate command to update the software for the entire cluster or a subset of nodes in the cluster, often without disrupting workloads. https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSPHQG_7.2.2/com.ibm.powerha.cmds/hacmpcmds_whatsnew.htm You can use this tool to apply and reject updates for PowerHA service packs and technology levels and interim fixes. This process is performed on the entire cluster or on a specific subset of nodes in the cluster.... [More]
Tags:  aix cl_ezupdate 7.2.1 powerha |
AIX sudo: no tty present and no askpass program specified
Before I describe the sudo problem I hit, I will tell you that the root cause of the problem is evident in the following output: # mount node mounted mounted over vfs date options -------- --------------- --------------- ------ ------------ --------------- ... [More]
Tags:  to tty askpass chris /etc/sudo.conf blog gibson resolve debug unable aix via present /etc/filesystems not program mounted no and sudo specified /proc sudo: |
Quick start guide to configuring PowerSC RTC on AIX
Using PowerSC RTC to monitor for the deletion of a specific file. One of my customers was concerned that someone or something was randomly deleting the /etc/niminfo on several of his AIX hosts. We discussed several ways in which he could track down who or what was removing this file. Obviously, the AIX audit subsystem would be an ideal method of capturing this event. However, PowerSC Real Time Compliance (RTC) can also monitor and capture this type of event. “The PowerSC™ Real Time Compliance feature continuously... [More]
Tags:  file to guide aix rtc blog chris deletion rtcd audit powersc deleted gibson configuring on quick start |
What are those AIX fcstat error numbers all about?
When troubleshooting Fibre Channel adapter issues on AIX (or VIOS), I often use the fcstat command to assist me in the process. The command may display error numbers similar to the following: $ fcstat fcs0 Error opening device: /dev/fscsi0 errno: 00000045 The error number (errno) displayed can (in some cases) be used to identify the root cause of a problem. In the example above, the error number is 45 . This number is in hex. If we convert this to decimal, the number is 69. Now, if we look for 69 in the /usr/include/errno.h... [More]
Tags:  fcstat gibson errno chris vios aix |
NIM - "...the resource is currently allocated for client use" - er, NO it's not!
On the odd occasion, NIM may report that a resource is allocated to a NIM client, when, in fact, it is not. Typically, you’d check that the resource was, in fact, not allocated for use to any NIM client and if it was, you would reset the client; and this would resolve the issue. But if that doesn’t work, you may need to take an additional action to resolve the problem. This doesn’t happen very often but it can frustrate you when it does. Here’s an example of the problem. I try to remove an lpp_source resource but... [More]
Tags:  blog currently nim client is 0042-001 /usr/lpp/bos.sysmgt/nim/m... gibson aix for 0042-061 chris use allocated m_chattr |
Help! My mksysb is only backing up 4 files!
I enjoy it when I open my email in the morning and find a new message with a subject line of “ weird one… .”! I immediately prepare myself for whatever challenge awaits. Fortunately I do delight in helping others with their AIX challenges so I usually open these emails first and start to diagnose and troubleshoot the problem! This week I was contacted by someone that was having a little trouble with a mksysb backup on one of their AIX systems. “Hi Chris, This one has me stumped, any ideas? I’ll have... [More]
Tags:  chris backing up files blog gibson aix 4 mksysb |
MDS reports
I like using the IBM Microcode Discovery Service ( MDS ) to perform spot checks on POWER system and adapter firmware levels. This tool gives me snapshot of a POWER systems current firmware levels. I can tell almost immediately if I need to update the firmware on the system or any device installed in the server. This report is especially useful when performing a health check on a customer’s system. The tool is easy to use. First you need to download the latest inventory scout catalog file from the IBM website. The most current... [More]
Tags:  device invscout report file mup gibson adapter mic power aix firmware microcode mds catalog chris |
Thanks kdb but lsattr's got me covered!
In 2011 I posted instructions on how to use kdb to compare a hdisk’s running queue depth value against the value stored in the AIX ODM. Something you often find if values are set but the system is not rebooted (or devices are not re-configured). AIX 7.1 Technology Level 3 and AIX 6.1 Technology Level 9 introduce a new flag to the lsattr command. The new –P option will display the current ODM attribute settings i.e. this new option will display applied attributes that may not yet be in effect on the running system. For... [More]
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Troubleshooting AIX hdisk configuration errors
Last year I was working for a customer that was upgrading several AIX 5.3 systems to AIX 6.1 . The migrations were successful for the most part, but we did encounter one issue that took a little time to resolve. The customer was using nimadm to migrate. This process worked fine, however, on a couple of systems a strange error was encountered after the migration. The LPAR was booted into AIX 6.1 and everything came up fine. The applications were started and users started accessing the system. It was several days later, when the AIX... [More]
Tags:  device specified liblpp.a does configuration odm hds the gibson customized not error 0514-023 vsp method database. exist /usr/lib/methods/cfgscsid... in pdpathat chris aix |
The new VIOS performance advisor tool
I updated my
lab VIOS to the latest fix pack ( V2.2.2.1 )
this week and thought I’d try the new VIOS part command. This new command is an improved version of the existing vios_advisor tool. The major difference
between the two is the fact that the new tool is now included with VIOS code
and will be updated via new VIOS fix packs. The following link has some
information on using the command: http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7hcg/part.htm This new
tool “Provides performance reports with
suggestions... [More]
Tags:  2.2.2.1 vios power7 advisor reporting vios_advisor aix chris_gibson tool part performance lpar ioslevel |
seastat search option
It’s possible to search through seastat command output on the VIOS using the –s flag. You specify the following attributes with this flag: searchtype = value . Valid search values include: mac, priority, vlan, ip, host, greaterbytessent (gbs), greaterbytesrecv (gbr), greaterpktssent (gps), greaterpktsrecv (gpr), smallerbytessent (sbs), smallerbytesrecv (sbr), smallerpktssent (sps), smallerpktsrecv (spr) For example, to search for a particular host: $ seastat -d ent19 -s host=aixvioc1 ... [More]
Tags:  chris_gibson seastat vios powervm virtual_io_server vio |
Managing users with dsh and chpasswd - (plus info on DSM and dping).
Starting with AIX 7.1, CSM is no
longer supported or available. It has been replaced by Distributed Systems
Managment (DSM). Section 5.2 of the IBM AIX 7.1 Differences Guide Redbook provides
details of the new DSM capabilities.
Fortunately DSM still provides access
to the dsh command. I’ve written about how I’ve used this utility
in the past . The new dsh command (and other tools) are
provided in the new DSM filesets named dsm.core and dsm.dsh . root@nim# lslpp -L dsm*
Fileset
Level State Type... [More]
Tags:  run if remote exit installed pwdadm a accepted. code expired dping csm has not been you aix have license had dsh shell -l new release admchg 255 csmconfig 2651-095 or chpasswd |
More NIM troubleshooting....some basics...
It’s no secret that I like
NIM. I’ve written about NIM on several occasions, in Redbooks, technical
articles and on my blog. It’s a great tool for installing and maintaining AIX. Occasionally
though, it can throw you an unusual error or two when things go wrong. For the uninitiated
resolving these errors can be challenging. Here’s a couple of NIM
related questions I received recently. Both are troubleshooting queries. “I'm getting the following error when trying
to create a NIM lpp_source for AIX 6.1” : ... [More]
Tags:  resource to filesystem m_mk_lpp_source: oslevel space failed all check a "master" 0042-185 on nim already copy due not exists aix c_ch_nfsexp: instfix rest or permissions link filesets 0042-081 nfs found. for /etc/.tmp.nim.exports export were and |