AIX for the System Administrator

Glossary Boot Process Disks Dump Space Filesystems Kernel Networking Paging and Swap Space Password/Account Reset Processes Software Installation and Patches System Information System Monitoring Tapeutil Terminal Configuration Troubleshooting --> see aix-troubleshooting.html Users

Glossary
Term Advanced Interactive Executive RS/6000 Unix Operating System (AIX) Authorized Program Analysis Report (APAR) Base Operating System (BOS) Fileset Fragments High Availability Cluster Multiprocessor ?? (HACMP) I-Node Logical Block Maintenance Level (ML) ODN Page Paging Space Phsysical Volume ID (PVID) 4KB unit of virtual memory than can be transferred between physical ram and disk paging space Special logical volume used for holding inactive data that has been temporarily transferred out of physical ram. Unique id that consists of a hash of the CPUID and the date. Allows disk space to be divided into units that are smaller than the size of a logical block AIX Clustering 128 bit structure that contains information about the file or directory such as ownership, permissions, file type, number of links to the file, etc. Disk block that contains file or directory data Service updates necessary to upgrade the BOS to the current release level Used to identify a fix for a PMR. Definition

AIX for the System Administrator

Problem Management Record (PMR) Program Temporary Fix (PTF) Service Boot Superblock Swap Space System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) Vpath Tracking record used for customer problems. Temporary fix that will be incorporated into the next release of the product. May be a single fix or multiple fixes associated with a single fileset. Server is started with the key in the service position (as opposed to the key being in the normal position). Disk block that contains information about the entire file system. It starts at byte offset 4096 and is 4096 bytes in size. See Paging Space above. Menu driven system administration interface for AIX Similar to HP LUN?

Boot Process
Phases of the Boot Process: 1. Read Only Storage Kernel Init Phase 1. Motherboard is Checked 2. Bootlist is found 3. Boot image is read into memory 4. Initialization starts 2. Base Device Configuration Phase 1. All devices are configured with cfgmgr command 3. System Boot Phase 1. Logical volumes are varied on 2. Paging is started 3. /etc/inittab is processed Commands alog - allows the administrator to view logs alog -L <-- displays log files that alog can view alog -o -t boot <-- displays the boot log file cfgmgr last bootlist uptime mpcfg shutdown How to boot the system if the Service Processor Firmware Menu is displayed:

AIX for the System Administrator

Service Processor Firmware Main Menu 1. Service Processor Setup Menu 2. System Power Control Menu 3. System Information Menu 4. Language Selection 5. Call In/Call Out 6. Set System Name 99. Exit Menu Choose Option 2: System Power Control menu, then select option to Power On How to boot to the SMS Menu (to apply firmware updates)

Boot normally Interrupt the boot when the systems displays memory and cpu information <1> on Ascii terminals <F1> on Graphics terminals If you want to update firmware then you need to choose option 3, then put software in diskette drive and choose: o Option 6 for Update System Software o Option 7 for Update Service Processor

Startup Scripts

/etc/inittab o Indentifier:RunLevel:Action:Command Inittab Commands o lsitab --> lists records in /etc/inittab o mkitab --> makes a new entry in /etc/inittab o chitab --> changes an existing entry in /etc/inittab o rmitab --> removes an entry from /etc/inittab

Disks
lsdev -C -c disk - shows available disks on the server lsfs <-- show the filesystems on the server and their characteristics

lspv - shows disks and their LVM information or "none" if not part of LVM dumpfs <disk> - shows superblock, i-node map and disk map information for the file system specified. df -v - shows the number of i-nodes used and free.

AIX for the System Administrator

istat - shows the last updated, last modified and last accessed times of a file. ls -i - shows the i-node number assigned to a file bosboot -a --> creates a new bootimage bootlist -m normal -o hdisk0 hdisk1 --> puts hdisk0 and hdisk1 on the bootlist bootlist -m normal -o --> displays the current bootlist How to mount a cdrom

Make sure the cdrom is inserted Make sure the cdrom drive is properly identified o lsdev -Cc cdrom Mount the cdrom o mount -v cdrfs -r /dev/cd0 /cdrom

Dump Space
The system dump facility copies critical information to the dump device when a system crash occurs. This information is critical for determing the cause of the crash. sysdumpdev -l <-- shows where the system dump location currently is located. sysdumpdev -P -p /dev/hd9 <-- changes the primary dump device to hd9 sysdumpdev -e <-- estimates the size of the current dump smitty dump <-- access dump configuration through smit Procedure for manually peforming a system dump

Using Commands o sysdumpstart o smit dump Using special key sequence o Key in SERVICE mode o <CTRL><ALT><NUMPAD1> or K<CTRL><ALT><NUMPAD2> Using the reset button o Key in SERVICE mode o Press the reset button once

Procedure to verify a system dump

AIX for the System Administrator

Find out the name of the dump file o sysdumpdev -L Run the crash command o crash <Dump copy filename> or crash <Dump Device Name> crash will provide a ">" prompt, stat and quit are commands of crash o >stat If the dump is successful, then you will see statistics of the dump o >quit

Procedure to generate a system dump using snap

snap -gfkDNcd <directory to store snap file> o -g <-- gets output of the lslpp -hBc command o -f <-- gets system information o -k <-- gets kernel information o -D <-- gets dump and /unix information o -N <-- does not check for free space o -c <-- creates a compressed pax image of all the files in the directory o -d <-- allows the destination directory to specified, rather than the default of /tmp/ibmsupt

Filesystems
Additional information in the file aix-lvm.html. mount -t <type> --> mounts all filesystems in /etc/filesystems containing the t=type attribute Copying files

cp tar - limited to files smaller than 2 GB cpio - limited to files smaller than 2 GB pax

Argument list too long error

lsattr -E -l sys0 -a ncargs - List value of ARG/ENV chdev -l sys0 -a ncargs=NewValue (range 6-128) - Modifies value of ARG/ENV.

Kernel
Changing from 32 bit kernel to 64 bit kernel

AIX for the System Administrator

Change the link in the root directory o Existing link: lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp o Link to: /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 Change the link in the /usr/lib/boot directory o Existing link: lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp o Link to: /usr/lib/boot/unix_64

21 Jun 12 09:59 unix ->

21 Jun 12 10:01 unix ->

Networking
entstat -d en0 <-- this will display configuration and statistics for the network card "en0" - useful for displaying speed/duplex configuration

Paging and Swap Space

Utilities to monitor paging space:

vmstat topas

lsps -a <- Lists paging space by disk chps -s 16 hd6 <- Changes the paging space by adding 16 logical partitions to the hd6 logical volume (default swap space device) chps -d 16 hd6 <- Changes the paging space by deleting 16 logical partitions from the hd6 logical volume mkps <-- Makes additional paging space rmps <-- Deletes paging space (paging space must be deactivated by chps and then system must be rebooted to remove the paging space) swapon <-- Turns on a paging space swapoff <-- Turns off a paging space Total Paging Space = 512MB + (Physical Memory Size - 256MB) * 1.25

Processes and Services

/etc/inetd.conf - inetd configuration file /etc/services - information about services, such as port number Starting and stopping a process: refresh -p <pid> refresh -s <subsystem name> Changing the inetd configuration

AIX for the System Administrator

Files /etc/inetd.conf /etc/services Using smit - daemon is recycled automatically upon exit Using vi o restart the inetd daemon so that the new configuration is read: o refresh -s inetd Using chservices to edit /etc/services o chservices -c --> changes entries o chservices -a --> adds entries o chservices -d --> deactivates entries
o o

Software Installation and Patches

lslpp -l "<fileset>" <-- Shows information about filesets rebuild .toc file - "inutoc" <-- This rebuilds the toc where the bff's are located. Needed if something is added to an existing fileset or new file will not be found. root.oncwhst5:/# instfix -ciqk 5100-04_AIX_ML | grep ":-:" root.oncwhst5:/# lslpp -l bos.iconv.ucs.com Displaying the maintenance level and fixes that are installed

oslevel oslevel -q oslevel -r <-- Shows the maintenance release that you are running instfix -i | grep ML <-- Shows what filesets are found for maintenance releases on your system and whether they are complete instfix -ik <FIX_IX> <-- Shows whether a particular fix has been installed on your system lppchk -v <-- Shows filesets that are incompletely installed or need to be corrected lscfg -vp | grep alterable <-- shows firmware level

Procedure to upgrade the maintenance level of the os

System Information
prtconf|more <-- prints system information (aix 5.x) amount of ram - bootinfo -r or lsattr -El sys0 -a realmem number of processors - lscfg | grep proc or bindprocessor -q oslevel --> returns the major level of the OS (such as 5.0) oslevel -r --> returns the detailed level of the OS, with sub level and patch level info (such as 5.1)

AIX for the System Administrator

uname -a uname -uM --> type of machine and serial number

System Monitoring
topas = top on hp-ux

Tapeutil
To run the menu version type "tapeutil"

Open the correct device o /dev/rmt0 = tape drive o /dev/smc0 = tape library "lsdev -Cc tape" will list the devices Use the commands listed o 14 =Element Inventory o 17 = Load/Unload Medium

To manually use tapeutil

"tapeutil -f /dev/smc0 move 5 82" --> will move tape from slot 5 to the tape drive

To manually remove a tape from the drive using tapeutil:

tapeutil -f /dev/rmt0 unload --> tapeutil -f /dev/smc0 move 82 5

Terminal Configuration
Autocompletion: <esc>\

Troubleshooting
See aix-troubleshooting.html

Users
Commands: mkuser --> utility the creates a new user passwd --> change the user's password chuser --> change the user's attributes chuser minother=# <user> --> changes minother atttribute for a user

AIX for the System Administrator

luser <user> --> lists the attributes for a specific user account lsuser -f <user> --> lists each attribute on it's own line rmuser --> utility that removes a user chsec --> change the user's security attributes login who --> lists who is currently logged into the system whoami (who am i) --> displays information about yourself dtconfig Files: /etc/security/environ --> lists environment attributes for each user /etc/security/lastlog --> lists last login attributes for each user /etc/security/limits --> lists process resource limits for each user /etc/security/user --> lists extended user attributes for each user /usr/lib/security/mkuser.default --> lists default attributes for new users /usr/lib/security/mkuser.sys --> script that sets up the user's environment /etc/passwd --> lists basic user attributes for each user /etc/security/passwd --> contains password information for each user /etc/security/login.cfg --> lists login security information for each user /etc/utmp --> contains users that are logged into the system, used by the "who" command /var/adm/wtmp --> contains connect time information for users /etc/security/failedlogin --> contains unsuccessful login attempts /etc/motd --> message of the day that is displayed when the user logs in. /etc/environment --> lists the default environment that new processes will use. /etc/profile --> environment settings for all users $HOME/.profile --> environment settings for a specific user /etc/group --> lists attributes for each group /etc/security/group --> lists extended attributes for each group Important /etc/security/user attributes to know about: account_locked --> true or false expires --> Expiration time for a user account. MMDDHHMMYY, a value of 0 indicates no expiration loginretires --> Number of invalid login attempts before a users is not allowed to login. A value of 0 indicates this attribute is disabled. maxage --> Maximum number of weeks a password is valid, a value of 0 indicates unlimited minage --> Minimum nuimber of weeks between password changes. Procedure to add a new user

mkuser <user_id> or smitty mkuser

Procedure to change the password on a server passwd <User>

AIX for the System Administrator

Note: The account needs to be reset if when trying to log in the following message is received: 3004-303 There have been too many unsuccessful login attempts; please see the system administrator. Procedure to reset the account: 1. chsec -f /etc/security/lastlog -a "unsuccessful_login_count=0" -s N500620 2. chuser "account_locked=false" N500620 Procedure to change the shell prompt:

Prompts o PS1 - normal system prompt o PS2 - prompt when system expects more input o PS3 - super-user prompt export PS1="newprompt>"