AIX Tips For RHEL 4 Administrators - Au-Aix - Rhel PDF

AIX tips for RHEL4 administrators
Extend your Red Hat Linux skills to UNIX
Skill Level: Intermediate
Christian Pruett (pruettc@gmail.com)

Senior Systems Administrator
Freelance
17 Nov 2009
Are you broadening your skills as a Linux® systems administrator into various flavors
of UNIX®? Have you found yourself in charge of IBM® UNIX servers on short notice?
Get a rundown of the differences and similarities between Red Hat Enterprise Linux
and IBM AIX® so that you can perform day-to-day activities with ease.
Sometimes, performing systems administration is comparable to learning similar
languages. For example, if you have studied one of the Romance languages like
French or Italian, you tend to recognize words in Spanish or Romanian with a fair
degree of accuracy. The same is true for UNIX and Linux. There are enough
commonalities between these various operating systems that major concepts
traverse them but enough dissimilarity to make systems administration a challenge if
all you have is the root password.
Frequently used acronyms

• DNS: Domain Name System
• NFS: Network file system
• SAN: Storage area network
This article looks at Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 4 (RHEL4) and IBM AIX
systems administration, starting with a brief overview of the two.

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Basic administration differences

If you log in to an RHEL4 server or an AIX server, at first there will appear to be little
difference between the two. Commands like ls, cd, ps, df, su, vi, tar, man,
chmod, and chown work in the same fashion, with a few minor flag differences. Both
have a similar directory structure—/usr contains executable files, /etc contains
system parameter files, /dev contains device files, /var is for temporary files, /opt is
for third-party software, and /tmp contains temporary files. But once you start diving
deeper than a basic user level, idiosyncrasies emerge. Three main areas of basic
administration will help facilitate understanding all other areas of AIX systems
administration.
First, the two operating systems have a different logical layout for systems
administration commands. Those in RHEL4 have a suffix-based nomenclature,
where there is a common command or concept followed by the purpose of that
command, such as vgdisplay, vgcreate, and vgreduce. AIX has a prefix-based
nomenclature, such as lsvg, mkvg, and reducevg. If you understand the basic
prefixes, including ls- (list, display), ch- (change, modify), mk- (create, make), rm-
(remove, delete), finding one keyword can lead to other related commands.
Second, although everything is managed through the use of flat files in RHEL4, from
network configuration to Kickstart files, AIX has a special database similar to the
system registry in Windows® operating systems called the Object Data Manager
(ODM). This metastructure stores information about what software is installed on the
server, the server’s host name, device-tuning parameters, networking routing, and
many other facets of the operating system. Although contained in three files in
/etc/objrepos, /usr/lib/objrepos, and /usr/share/lib/objrepos, the contents of the ODM
reside in a proprietary database that cannot be viewed with standard editing tools
like vi or Emacs.
In the older days of AIX, you would have modified this database using low-level
commands that involved a high degree of risk to the server, where one typo could
wreck the operating system. Fortunately, because things have evolved over the
years, the mid- and high-level commands automatically interact with the ODM,
reducing hands-on manipulation to a near-nonexistent level. But, without
understanding the idea of the ODM, much of the rest of this article would not make
sense.
Third, RHEL4 has a variety of helpful administrative tools that handle specific parts
of the operating system. These tools begin with the prefix of system-config-
(formerly redhat-config-). But AIX has a superior hierarchical administrative tool
called the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) that you can access with the
smit (graphical) or smitty (text) commands. This interactive menu system goes
into most areas of systems administration, from changing the maximum number of
processes per user ID to changing the speed of a network interface.

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There are some cases where you will always use SMIT because of the complexity
and length of commands like those for network administration or creating file
systems. But, be cautious and do not let it become a crutch to your systems
administration abilities; you can always click the F6 key to see the actual commands
that are run. AIX systems administrators can generally tell serious administrators
from the inexperienced by the amount of times they rely on SMIT.
With these three points in mind, any RHEL4 systems administrator should be able to
step in and start managing servers with a good degree of success. But now, let's
dive more into the concepts and nuances of the various pieces of AIX.
Server installation
RHEL4 is typically installed manually by CD or DVD or by using Kickstart to help the
process along. During the installation, multiple options are available. You can select
or omit specific software, determine the file system layout, choose user ID
authentication methods, and even set the root user’s password. Comparatively, AIX
offers fewer options. If you use standard CDs or DVDs, some options for changing
such settings as language preferences and choice of disk are available, but AIX
does not offer the versatility of the Linux installation process. AIX does, however,
have a more versatile Network Installation Manager (NIM) tool that provides some
options that RHEL4 does not, such as installing from an operating system backup
and grabbing necessary driver software along the way.
Here's how a basic AIX installation works:
1. When you boot the server (or activate the LPAR), a variety of LED codes
will flash as the system runs its basic hardware checks. At some
point—usually, when the LED code E1F1 appears—the screen displays
its first main output, and five icons or words appear.
2. After the keyboard icon or word appears, you usually presses the F1 key
to drop the server into the System Management Services (SMS) menu.
Then, from the boot list option, you select the device from which the
installation will take place. If you are using the network for a NIM
installation, you must first set up the network configuration in the Remote
Initial Program Load (RIPL) menu.
3. After exiting SMS, the server boots up on the devices specified in its boot
list. Assuming that you are not using NIM, you then see the AIX
installation window after a few more moments of testing. In this
installation window, you can choose the hard disk (hdisk) on which AIX
will be installed, which language will be used, and whether some software
bundles will be chosen from a limited list of options.

4. After all the selections have been made, the installation runs, the server
reboots, and the operating system comes up with no password for the
root user. At this point, AIX is officially "up."
Here are a couple of commands you should know:
• bootlist. Sets the system boot list order. You can use this command to
tell the system to boot from CD, disk, the network, or other devices.
• bosboot. Creates the system boot image on a specific device. Typically,
you use this command after mirroring disks or changing boot devices.
Software management
RHEL4 uses the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) for installing, upgrading, and
removing software. The rpm command can query individual packages, determine
requisite software, and see which files are contained within what package. You can
find the particular version and update of RHEL4 installed on the server by looking at
the /etc/redhat-release file.
AIX manages software through the ODM. It tracks which software is installed, the
versions, dependencies, and other, similar attributes like RPM. In AIX, software
packages are called filesets and are segregated into Licensed Program Products
(LPPs). Unlike RHEL4, though, AIX uses a variety of commands—provided later in
this article—to install, view, and prepare filesets for installation. But two facets of AIX
are worth mentioning with respect to software management.
First, AIX allows you to install software in one of two states: applied or committed.
Software that is committed is in a static state and can only be removed. Applied
software preserves the underlying committed fileset and can be rejected without
harming the last committed fileset. This behavior can allow software to be backed
out without damaging underlying software structures.
Second, AIX breaks down its versioning into four levels of granularity: version,
release, technology level (formerly maintenance level), and service pack. You can
find the particular version of AIX by using the oslevel –s command. For example,
if the output displays 5300-05-02, this means that the server is AIX Version 5,
Release 3, Technology Level 5, Service Pack 2. If not all filesets are present in the
particular technology level or service pack, only the prior complete software set level
will be displayed.
Commands to know for server management include:
• lslpp. Displays which licensed program products (LPPs) are installed,

including their version and release, and whether the software is

committed or applied.
• installp. Installs, applies, commits, and removes software.
• inutoc. Generates a table of contents (toc) file for a particular directory
containing software. Unless a .toc file is present, the installp
command will not know which software is present for installation.
• rpm. AIX also has the ability through the Linux affinity introduced in
version 5 to install RPM packages compiled for AIX. These are managed
primarily through the rpm command in the same way.
• geninstall. This ubiquitous command handles the installation of
filesets and RPMs and is used typically by SMIT menus.
• oslevel. Displays operating system levels.
Logical volume management

The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) featured in RHEL4 was based on the one
developed for AIX, and most of the core concepts are the same between the two.
Here's how things are laid out:
• Volume groups (VGs) are made up of disks (hdisks) called physical

volumes (PVs). Each VG must have at least one PV, and only one VG
can be assigned to a PV at a time.
• Each PV is broken down into individual physical partitions (PPs). These
are a set fixed size at the VG layer.
• Logical volumes (LVs) point to a set of specific PPs; a single LV can point
to up to three PPs for mirroring through the logical partitions (LPs)
mapping.
• File systems are established on top of these LVs.
There are two types of file system structures in AIX: journaled file systems (JFS) and
enhanced journaled file systems (JFS2). The former is a throwback to the earlier
days of AIX, and space is limited by the Number of Bytes Per Inode setting (NBPI)
setting, with a maximum file system size of 2TB. The latter became a standard with
AIX 5L and can go up to nearly 1PB in size (but the maximum recommended size is
16TB). Both types of file systems can be dynamically increased in size, but with AIX
5.3, JFS2 file systems can be dynamically decreased in size, as well.
AIX tracks most LVM information through the ODM. But the /etc/filesystems file is
the equivalent of the /etc/fstab in RHEL4 for file system tracking. The format is
different, however—a paragraph-structured delineation rather than a single line per

file system.
Commands to know for LV management include:
• lspv. Lists PV information

• extendvg, reducevg. Places a disk into or removes a disk from a VG
• mkvg, chvg. Create a VG and change VG attributes
• mklv, chlv, rmlv, lslv. Make, change, remove, and list LV information
• crfs, chfs, rmfs, lsfs. Create, change, remove, and list file system
information
Device management
AIX has a variety of robust tools for managing devices. Simply put, if the appropriate
device fileset is installed on the server, AIX can automatically detect and establish
settings for it. And even if the fileset is not installed, AIX will tell you what is needed
to make it work.
You manage devices are through the ODM, and you can set them in a defined or
available state. Defined devices have registered components in the ODM but cannot
be actively used, because they have been removed or are otherwise disabled.
Available devices can be used and configured.
Devices can be hierarchical in how they are linked together, and some devices have
both physical and logical representations. For example, the first Fibre Channel card
defined on a server appears as fscsi0. The logical representation of this device is
fcs0. And hard disks assigned through a SAN will have the same device address as
the card. The underlying devices cannot be removed until the child devices are
deleted first.
The customizable settings for each device are called attributes. Some device
attributes cannot be modified dynamically while a device is active, such as network
link speeds or Fibre Channel heartbeats, but the changes can be made if the device
is changed to the defined state, or you can set changes to take place after a reboot.
Commands to know for device management include:
• cfgmgr. Automatically probes the server and adds new devices.

• chdev, rmdev. Change device attributes and remove devices logically
and/or physically. There is also a deprecated mkdev command, but
because cfgmgr handles most device-addition operations, this command

is seldom used.
• lsdev, lscfg, lsattr. List device information, device configuration
information, and device attributes.
User ID and group management

User ID and group management in AIX are not handled by the ODM but instead
reside in flat files much like RHEL4. Their locations and formats are slightly different,
however. The /etc/passwd and /etc/groups files are roughly the same between
RHEL4 and AIX. But, the /etc/security directory contains files that handle password
complexity (user), ulimits (limits), encrypted passwords (passwd), and group
metadata (groups).
Commands to know for user ID and group management include:
• mkuser, chuser, rmuser, lsuser. Make, change, remove, and list user
IDs.
• mkgroup, chgroup, rmgroup, lsgroup. Make, change, remove, and
list groups.
Process management
In RHEL4, the automation of operating system processes is handled through
Services and configurable through the chkconfig and services commands.
Similarly, AIX has a System Resource Controller (SRC) that starts, maintains, and
manages processes.
The SRC is handled by the srcmstr process, spawned from the /etc/inittab file at
boot time. Processes that the SRC manages are broken into groups, such as rcnfs
for NFS-related processes, and then into individual subsystems, such as
automountd for automounter processes. Each process managed by the SRC
correlates with at least one process on the normal process table (ps). AIX also uses
the inittab for managing processes and can start applications in a similar manner to
RHEL4, Sun Solaris, and other System V flavors of UNIX by dropping files in the
/etc/rc.d subdirectories.
Commands to know for process management include:
• startsrc, stopsrc, lssrc. Start, stop, and list SRC process

information.
• telinit. Re-sources the inittab file and applies any changes to the
active system.

Virtual memory management

Just like with other forms of UNIX, AIX employs virtual memory structures to help
complement physical memory. But there are several differences and nuances
between RHEL4 swap space and AIX’s paging space.
The structure for paging space is specialized LVs. Paging space is not managed
through the –lv commands but instead through specialized commands that help
register information with the ODM. However, paging space can be manipulated with
some of the more specialized LVM commands, such as moving them from disk to
disk.
Generally, paging space should be one to two times real memory in size. A system
may have more than one paging space defined, but it is best to keep paging spaces
at equal sizes and to limit one paging space per disk.
Commands to know for virtual memory management include:
• mkps, chps, rmps, lsps. Make, change, remove, and list paging spaces.
• vmstat, topas. System performance information tools that display
paging space utilization, pages in/out, and other system statistics.
Network management
In RHEL4, the configuration of network devices is handled through flat files based
out of /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts. There are also a few related files, such as the
/etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf files, that track hostnames and DNS information. In
AIX, the ODM manages network configuration. It tracks system IP addresses,
netmasks, routes, and gateway information. But, the hosts and resolv.conf files
perform the same functions as in RHEL4.
Each network interface has a physical device definition, such as ent0 for an Ethernet
adapter. This is where the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size and media
speed attributes are stored. Then, at least one logical interface will be linked to this
physical device, such as en0 or et0, on which the IP address will be configured.
Although the ifconfig command can handle some temporary device configuration
changes, these changes will not be registered permanently unless you use the
chdev command.
Commands to know for network management include:
• mktcpip. Defines the networking parameters for a specific interface.

• netstat, entstat, ifconfig. Display network routing, statistics, and

interface information.
Troubleshooting
AIX has wonderful tools for actively detecting and diagnosing potential problems with
servers. Because the hardware and operating system were developed side by side,
when hardware glitches arise, the system knows how to track them and report them
for repair.
AIX has a rotating log called the error report—errpt for short—that logs hardware
and software errors. Unlike the messages file in Linux, the errpt contains pieces of
meta-information such as identification numbers that can aid in looking for specific
errors. The errpt can also be viewed in an abbreviated form for quick scanning or a
detailed view for in-depth information.
AIX also has a diagnostic tool, diag, that can test errors in the errpt and determine
whether they are temporary, one-off hiccups or necessitate a part replacement. And
if IBM wants more information from the server, the snap utility can gather a wide
variety of information and package it for technical support to troubleshoot the
problem.
Commands to know for troubleshooting include:
• errpt. Displays hardware and software errors registered by the system

• errlogger, errclear. Put a message in the errpt log and purge old
errors from the system
• diag. Interactive diagnostic tool for examining the server
• snap. Gathers system information for analysis
Conclusion
With this information, RHEL4 systems administrators should be able to navigate
some of the ins and outs of AIX systems administration with precision. Although this
article will not make you an expert in all aspects of AIX overnight, it will give you a
good reference for going forward into this great operating system.

Resources
Learn
• The UNIX Rosetta Stone: This Web site contains all sorts of information on the
commands across the various UNIX and Linux flavors.
• UNIX shells: Learn more about UNIX shells.
• AIX and UNIX developerWorks zone: The AIX and UNIX zone provides a
wealth of information relating to all aspects of AIX systems administration and
expanding your UNIX skills.
• New to AIX and UNIX? Visit the New to AIX and UNIX page to learn more.
• Technology bookstore: Browse the technology bookstore for books on this and
other technical topics.
Discuss
• developerWorks blogs: Check out our blogs and get involved in the
developerWorks community.
• Follow developerWorks on Twitter.
• Get involved in the My developerWorks community.
• Participate in the AIX and UNIX forums:
• AIX Forum
• AIX Forum for developers
• Cluster Systems Management
• IBM Support Assistant Forum
• Performance Tools Forum
• Virtualization Forum
• More AIX and UNIX Forums
About the author

Christian Pruett
Christian Pruett is a senior UNIX systems administrator with more than 14 years of
experience with AIX, Sun Solaris, Linux, and HP/UX in a wide variety of industries,
including computing, agriculture, and telecommunications. He is the co-author of two
IBM Redbooks on AIX, has served as a UNIX book review for O’Reilly Publishing,

and has worked on several of the IBM AIX certification exams. He resides in
Colorado with his wife and two children. You can reach Christian at
pruettc@gmail.com.


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AIX tips for RHEL4 administrators

Extend your Red Hat Linux skills to UNIX

Skill Level: Intermediate

Christian Pruett (pruettc@gmail.com)

Frequently used acronyms

• NFS: Network file system

• SAN: Storage area network