Diagnostics and service aids

For systems that are running the AIX® operating system, the diagnostics and service aids are available as part of the operating system. For AIX partitions that cannot be started, or for systems that are running the Linux® operating system, the diagnostics and service aids are available on a CD or DVD that is included with the system unit hardware.

These hardware diagnostics are known as online diagnostics. The online diagnostics are always available in a partition, and they have the advantage of keeping error log files as long as the operating system is running. This enables the online diagnostics to analyze the error logs to help pinpoint any hardware problems without shutting down the partition. With concurrent maintenance capabilities of the hardware, many repairs can be made concurrently and system users can continue their work without interruption. These hardware diagnostics are known as stand-alone diagnostics. The stand-alone diagnostics can be booted from the CD or DVD, or if the CD or DVD drive is not available, the diagnostics can also be loaded from a Network Installation Management (NIM) server.