Service aids
Service Aids includes a wide variety of commands to help you manage your system.
The utilities described here are supported in the following Linux® distributions and virtualized environments:
| Utility | PowerVM® partition on any level of Power® processor |
|---|---|
| activate_firmware | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| amsstat | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| apport-collect | Not applicable |
| bootlist | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| drmgr | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| hvcsadmin | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| lparstat | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| lsdevinfo | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| lsprop | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| lsslot | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
|
All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| nvram | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| ofpathname | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| ppc64_cpu | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| rtas-dump | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| rtas_event_decode | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| rtas_ibm_get_vpd | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| serv_config | All current versions of the following distributions:
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| set_poweron_time | All current versions of the following distributions:
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| snap | All current versions of the following distributions:
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| sys_ident | All current versions of the following distributions:
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| uesensor | All current versions of the following distributions:
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| update_flash | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
| vscsisadmin | All current versions of the following distributions:
|
For Linux distributions currently supported on Power systems, see Linux on Power overview.
Service aids commands are provided by the powerpc-utils package. The commands that are typically included are:
- activate_firmware
- Activate a firmware image that was updated concurrently.
- amsstat
- Display Active Memory Sharing (AMS) statistics.
- bootlist
- View or update the system bootlist stored in NVRAM.
- drmgr
- Perform DLPAR operations on a client LPAR.
- hvcsadmin
- The hypervisor virtual console server administration utility.
- lparstat
- Display current LPAR-related parameters, LPAR utilization statistics, and hypervisor information.
- lsdevinfo
- Display information about virtual devices.
- lsslot
- List DLPAR and hotplug capable slots.
- ls-vdev
- Display information about virtual SCSI adapters and devices.
- ls-veth
- Display information about virtual Ethernet devices.
- ls-vscsi
- Display information about virtual SCSI devices.
- nvram
- Display or modify data that is stored in the non-volatile RAM (NVRAM).
- nvsetenv
- A wrapper to call various forms of the nvram command.
- ofpathname
- Translate between Open Firmware and logical device names.
- ppc64_cpu
- Display or set the processor SMT, cores, DSCR, smt-snooze-delay, run mode and frequency settings.
- rtas_dump
- Display the contents of RTAS events in the /var/log/messages, /var/log/platform, and /var/log/boot.msg files in a human-readable form.
- rtas_event_decode
- Display the contents of one RTAS event in a human-readable form.
- rtas_ibm_get_vpd
- Display dynamically changing vital product data.
- serv_config
- Display and configure system service policies and settings.
- set_poweron_time
- Set a time in the future for the system to be powered on.
- snap
- Generate a configuration snapshot for service.
- sys_ident
- Generate unique identification numbers.
- uesensor
- Display the state of system environmental sensors.
- update_flash
- Update, manage, or validate firmware.On certain POWER8® systems , you cannot update your firmware if your system entitlement has expired. You will see the following output when you attempt to run the update_flash command:
The selected firmware image cannot be applied. The Build Date of the firmware image selected is <date>. The System's Update Access Key Expiration Date is <date>. Please go to http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess to obtain a replacement update access key.Note: This information applies only to systems running PowerVM virtualization. This information does not apply to Linux-only POWER8 systems.Follow the link to the Entitled software support website to update your system.
On systems that have Petitboot installed, you can run the update_flash command to update your firmware from the Petitboot shell. For more information about Petitboot, see Using Petitboot.
The commands that are provided by this package, and their features and usage, might vary by distribution and release. Consult the man pages on your system for the most accurate description of their features and usage. For more information about how to list and display the man pages for commands that are provided by this package, see Displaying package man pages.
For more information about the powerpc-utils package, see Powerpc-utils.