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
|
Definition
|
Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX)
|
RS/6000 Unix Operating System
|
Authorized Program Analysis Report (APAR)
|
Used to identify a fix for a PMR.
|
Base Operating System (BOS)
|
|
Fileset
|
|
| Fragments |
Allows disk space to be divided into units that are smaller than the size of a logical block |
High Availability Cluster Multiprocessor ?? (HACMP)
|
AIX Clustering
|
| I-Node |
128 bit structure that contains information about the file or directory such as ownership, permissions, file type, number of links to the file, etc. |
| Logical Block |
Disk block that contains file or directory data |
Maintenance Level (ML)
|
Service updates necessary to upgrade the BOS to the current release level
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ODN
|
|
Page
|
4KB unit of virtual memory than can be transferred between physical ram and disk paging space
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Paging Space
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Special logical volume used for holding inactive data that has been temporarily transferred out of physical ram.
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Phsysical Volume ID (PVID)
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Unique id that consists of a hash of the CPUID and the date.
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Problem Management Record (PMR)
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Tracking record used for customer problems.
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Program Temporary Fix (PTF)
|
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.
|
Service Boot
|
Server is started with the key in the service position (as opposed to the key being in the normal position).
|
| Superblock |
Disk block that contains information about the entire file system. It starts at byte offset 4096 and is 4096 bytes in size. |
Swap Space
|
See Paging Space above.
|
| System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) |
Menu driven system administration interface for AIX
|
Vpath
|
Similar to HP LUN?
|
Boot Process
Phases of the Boot Process:
- Read Only Storage Kernel Init Phase
- Motherboard is Checked
- Bootlist is found
- Boot image is read into memory
- Initialization starts
- Base Device Configuration Phase
- All devices are configured with cfgmgr command
- System Boot Phase
- Logical volumes are varied on
- Paging is started
- /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:
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:
- Option 6 for Update System Software
- Option 7 for Update Service Processor
Startup Scripts
- /etc/inittab
- Indentifier:RunLevel:Action:Command
- Inittab Commands
- lsitab --> lists records in /etc/inittab
- mkitab --> makes a new entry in /etc/inittab
- chitab --> changes an existing entry in /etc/inittab
- 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.
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
- Mount the cdrom
- 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
- Using special key sequence
- Key in SERVICE mode
- <CTRL><ALT><NUMPAD1> or K<CTRL><ALT><NUMPAD2>
- Using the reset button
- Key in SERVICE mode
- Press the reset button once
Procedure to verify a system dump
- Find out the name of the dump file
- Run the crash command
- crash <Dump copy filename> or crash <Dump Device Name>
- crash will provide a ">" prompt, stat and quit are commands of crash
- >stat
- If the dump is successful, then you will see statistics of the dump
- >quit
Procedure to generate a system dump using snap
- snap -gfkDNcd <directory to store snap file>
- -g <-- gets output of the lslpp -hBc command
- -f <-- gets system information
- -k <-- gets kernel information
- -D <-- gets dump and /unix information
- -N <-- does not check for free space
- -c <-- creates a compressed pax image of all the files in the directory
- -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
- Change the link in the root directory
- Existing link: lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 21 Jun 12 09:59 unix -> /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp
- Link to: /usr/lib/boot/unix_64
- Change the link in the /usr/lib/boot directory
- Existing link: lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 21 Jun 12 10:01 unix -> /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp
- Link to: /usr/lib/boot/unix_64
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:
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
- Files
- /etc/inetd.conf
- /etc/services
- Using smit - daemon is recycled automatically upon exit
- Using vi
- restart the inetd daemon so that the new configuration is read:
- refresh -s inetd
- Using chservices to edit /etc/services
- chservices -c --> changes entries
- chservices -a --> adds entries
- chservices -d --> deactivates entries
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)
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
- /dev/rmt0 = tape drive
- /dev/smc0 = tape library
- "lsdev -Cc tape" will list the devices
- Use the commands listed
- 14 =Element Inventory
- 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
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>
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
- PS1 - normal system prompt
- PS2 - prompt when system expects more input
- PS3 - super-user prompt
- export PS1="newprompt>"
최소사양.docx