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VLAN tagging and the VIOS: some questions and answers.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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]

AIX multibos mksysb migration

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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.

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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

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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]

Using NIM to distribute files to your AIX servers.

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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.

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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

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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

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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!

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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

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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]

DLPAR event history on the HMC

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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.

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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

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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

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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]

AIX Live Update - No Reboot Required! Non-disruptive OS Updates!

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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

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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)

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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

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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.

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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]

SMS SAN zoning support

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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

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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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.

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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]

VIOS 2.1 FP22 and VMLibrary.

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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]

New resolv.conf options in AIX 6.1

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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]

Who cored?

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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]

Online quorum change

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For those who weren't aware.....starting with AIX 5.3 TL7, quorum changes are allowed online without having to varyoff and varyon the volume group. This also means no reboot is required when changing quorum for rootvg. Of course this also applies to AIX 6.1.

Tags:  rootvg aix mirror quorum

Updating your PowerHA cluster with cl_ezupdate

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (2441)

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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

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (5199)

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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

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (4356)

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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?

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (8894)

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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!

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (13265)

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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!

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (8268)

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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

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (17067)

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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!

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (10147)

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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]

Troubleshooting AIX hdisk configuration errors

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (18647)

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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

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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

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (13406)

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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).

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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...

cggibbo 270000TMUJ | | Comment (1) | Visits (35351)

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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
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