Monday, February 18, 2008

Useful commands

svmon
svmon -P

Further:
use can user svmon command to monitor memory usage as follows;

(A) #svmon -P -v -t 10 | more (will give top ten processes)
(B) #svmon -U -v -t 10 | more ( will give top ten user)

smit install requires "inutoc ." first. It'll autogenerate a .toc for you
I believe, but if you later add more .bff's to the same directory, then
the inutoc . becomes important. It is of course, a table of contents.

dump -ov /dir/xcoff-file

topas, -P is useful # similar to top

When creating really big filesystems, this is very helpful:
chlv -x 6552 lv08
Word on the net is that this is required for filesystems over 512M.

esmf04m-root> crfs -v jfs -g'ptmpvg' -a size='884998144' -m'/ptmp2'
-A''`locale yesstr | awk -F: '{print $1}'`'' -p'rw' -t''`locale yesstr |
awk -F: '{print $1}'`'' -a frag='4096' -a nbpi='131072' -a ag='64'
Based on the parameters chosen, the new /ptmp2 JFS file system
is limited to a maximum size of 2147483648 (512 byte blocks)
New File System size is 884998144
esmf04m-root>

If you give a bad combination of parameters, the command will list
possibilities. I got something like this from smit, then seasoned
to taste.

If you need files larger than 2 gigabytes in size, this is better.
It should allow files up to 64 gigabytes:
crfs -v jfs -a bf=true -g'ptmpvg' -a size='884998144' -m'/ptmp2' -A''` |
| locale yesstr | awk -F: '{print $1}'`'' -p'rw' -t''`locale yesstr | aw |
| k -F: '{print $1}'`'' -a nbpi='131072' -a ag='64'

Show version of SSP (IBM SP switch) software:
lslpp -al ssp.basic

llctl -g reconfig - make loadleveler reread its config files

oslevel (sometimes lies)
oslevel -r (seems to do better)

lsdev -Cc adapter

pstat -a looks useful

vmo is for VM tuning

On 1000BaseT, you really want this:
chdev -P -l ent2 -a media_speed=Auto_Negotiation

Setting jumbo frames on en2 looks like:
ifconfig en2 down detach
chdev -l ent2 -a jumbo_frames=yes
chdev -l en2 -a mtu=9000
chdev -l en2 -a state=up

Search for the meaning of AIX errors:
http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pseries/en_US/infocenter/base/eisearch.htm

nfso -a shows AIX NFS tuning parameters; good to check on if you're
getting badcalls in nfsstat. Most people don't bother to tweaks these
though.

nfsstat -m shows great info about full set of NFS mount options

Turn on path mtu discovery
no -o tcp_pmtu_discover=1
no -o udp_pmtu_discover=1
TCP support is handled by the OS. UDP support requires cooperation
between OS and application.

nfsstat -c shows rpc stats

To check for software problems:
lppchk -v
lppchk -c
lppchk -l

List subsystem (my word) status:
lssrc -a
mkssys
rmssys
chssys
auditpr
refresh
startsrc
stopsrc
traceson
tracesoff

This starts sendmail:
startsrc -s sendmail -a "-bd -q30m"

This makes inetd reread its config file. Not sure if it kills and
restarts or just HUP's or what:
refresh -s inetd

lsps is used to list the characteristics of paging space.

Turning off ip forwarding:
/usr/sbin/no -o ipforwarding=0

Detailed info about a specific error:
errpt -a -jE85C5C4C
BTW, Rajiv Bendale tells me that errors are stored in NVRAM on AIX,
so you don't have to put time into replicating an error as often.

Some or all of these will list more than one number. Trust the first,
not the second.

lslpp -l ppe.poe
...should list the version of poe installed on the system

Check on compiler versions:
lslpp -l vac.C
lslpp -l vacpp.cmp.core

Check on loadleveler version:
lslpp -l LoadL.full

If you want to check the bootlist do bootlist -o -m normal if you want to
update bootlist do bootlist -m normal hdisk* hdisk* cd* rmt*

prtconf

Run the ssadiag against the drive and the adapter and it will tell you if it
fails or not.

System Management

Cluster Systems Management (CSM) for AIX and Linux
CSM is designed to minimize the cost and complexity of administering clustered and partitioned systems by enabling comprehensive management and monitoring of the entire environment from a single point of control. CSM provides:

* Software distribution, installation and update (operating system and applications)
* Comprehensive system monitoring with customizable automated responses
* Distributed command execution
* Hardware control
* Diagnostic tools
* Management by group
* Both a graphical interface and a fully scriptable command line interface

In addition to providing all the key functions for administration and maintenance of distributed systems, CSM is designed to deliver the parallel execution required to manage clustered computing environments effectively. CSM supports homogeneous or mixed environments of IBM servers running AIX or Linux.

Parallel System Support Programs (PSSP) for AIX
PSSP is the systems management predecessor to Cluster Systems Management (CSM) and does not support IBM System p servers or AIX 5L™ V5.3 or above. New cluster deployments should use CSM and existing PSSP clients with software maintenance will be transitioned to CSM at no charge.

Directories to monitor in Aix

/var/adm/sulog Switch user log file (ASCII file). Use cat, pg or
more to view it and rm to clean it out.
/etc/security/failedlogin Failed logins from users. Use the who command
to view the information. Use "cat /dev/null >
/etc/failedlogin" to empty it,
/var/adm/wtmp All login accounting activity. Use the who
command to view it use "cat /dev/null >
/var/adm/wtmp" to empty it.
/etc/utmp Who has logged in to the system. Use the who
command to view it. Use "cat /dev/null >
/etc/utmp" to empty it.
/var/spool/lpd/qdir/* Left over queue requests
/var/spool/qdaemon/* temp copy of spooled files
/var/spool/* spooling directory
smit.log smit log file of activity
smit.script smit log

Hot Spare

What is an LVM hot spare?

A hot spare is a disk or group of disks used to replace a failing disk. LVM marks a physical
volume missing due to write failures. It then starts the migration of data to the hot spare
disk.
Minimum hot spare requirements
The following is a list of minimal hot sparing requirements enforced by the operating
system.
- Spares are allocated and used by volume group
- Logical volumes must be mirrored
- All logical partitions on hot spare disks must be unallocated
- Hot spare disks must have at least equal capacity to the smallest disk already
in the volume group. Good practice dictates having enough hot spares to
cover your largest mirrored disk.
Hot spare policy
The chpv and the chvg commands are enhanced with a new -h argument. This allows you
to designate disks as hot spares in a volume group and to specify a policy to be used in the
case of failing disks.
The following four values are valid for the hot spare policy argument (-h):
Synchronization policy
There is a new -s argument for the chvg command that is used to specify synchronization
characteristics.
The following two values are valid for the synchronization argument (-s):
Examples
The following command marks hdisk1 as a hot spare disk:
# chpv -hy hdisk1
The following command sets an automatic migration policy which uses the smallest hot
spare that is large enough to replace the failing disk, and automatically tries to synchronize
stale partitions:
# chvg -hy -sy testvg
Argument Description
y (lower case)
Automatically migrates partitions from one failing disk to one spare
disk. From the pool of hot spare disks, the smallest one which is big
enough to substitute for the failing disk will be used.
Y (upper case)
Automatically migrates partitions from a failing disk, but might use
the complete pool of hot spare disks.
n
No automatic migration will take place. This is the default value for a
volume group.
r
Removes all disks from the pool of hot spare disks for this volume

IBM System cluster 1350

Reduced time to deployment

IBM HPC clustering offers significant price/performance advantages for many high-performance workloads by harnessing the advantages of low cost servers plus innovative, easily available open source software.

Today, some businesses are building their own Linux and Microsoft clusters using commodity hardware, standard interconnects and networking technology, open source software, and in-house or third-party applications. Despite the apparent cost advantages offered by these systems, the expense and complexity of assembling, integrating, testing and managing these clusters from disparate, piece-part components often outweigh any benefits gained.

IBM has designed the IBM System Cluster 1350 to help address these challenges. Now clients can benefit from IBM’s extensive experience with HPC to help minimize this complexity and risk. Using advanced Intel® Xeon®, AMD Opteron™, and IBM PowerPC® processor-based server nodes, proven cluster management software and optional high-speed interconnects, the Cluster 1350 offers the best of IBM and third-party technology. As a result, clients can speed up installation of an HPC cluster, simplify its management, and reduce mean time to payback.

The Cluster 1350 is designed to be an ideal solution for a broad range of application environments, including industrial design and manufacturing, financial services, life sciences, government and education. These environments typically require excellent price/performance for handling high performance computing (HPC) and business performance computing (BPC) workloads. It is also an excellent choice for applications that require horizontal scaling capabilities, such as Web serving and collaboration.

Common features Hardware summary

* Rack-optimized Intel Xeon dual-core and quad-core and AMD Opteron processor-based servers
* Intel Xeon, AMD and PowerPC processor-based blades
* Optional high capacity IBM System Storage™ DS3200, DS3400, DS4700, DS4800 and EXP3000 Storage Servers and IBM System Storage EXP 810 Storage Expansion
* Industry-standard Gigabit Ethernet cluster interconnect
* Optional high-performance Myrinet-2000 and Myricom 10g cluster interconnect
* Optional Cisco, Voltaire, Force10 and PathScale InfiniBand cluster interconnects
* Clearspeed Floating Point Accelerator
* Terminal server and KVM switch
* Space-saving flat panel monitor and keyboard
* Runs with RHEL 4 or SLES 10 Linux operating systems or Windows Compute Cluster Server
* Robust cluster systems management and scalable parallel file system software
* Hardware installed and integrated in 25U or 42U Enterprise racks
* Scales up to 1,024 cluster nodes (larger systems and additional configurations available—contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner)
* Optional Linux cluster installation and support services from IBM Global Services or an authorized partner or distributor
* Clients must obtain the version of the Linux operating system specified by IBM from IBM, the Linux Distributor or an authorized reseller

Aix Operating System

AIX® helps you to meet the demanding requirements for performance, energy efficiency, flexibility and availability in your IT environment.

  • Market momentum: AIX has dramatically expanded its share of the UNIX® market over the past several years – go with the leader!*
  • Unmatched performance: Industry-leading benchmarks underscore the highly scalable performance of AIX on IBM systems running Power Architecture™ technology-based processors.
  • Virtualization: AIX provides software-based and exploits hardware-based virtualization capabilities. These capabilities can help you to consolidate workloads to increase server utilization and lower energy and other costs.
  • Security: AIX includes a number of features designed to provide for a secure IT environment – and AIX can integrate into your existing security infrastructure.
  • Broad application support: Independent software vendors recognize AIX as a premier UNIX operating system. With over 8000 applications from over 3000 ISVs, the applications you need are probably already available on AIX.
  • Binary compatibility: AIX has a long history of maintaining binary compatibility from one release to the next – so that you can upgrade to the latest release with confidence.**
  • Legacy systems inspiration: AIX delivers the reliability, availability and security of a mainframe environment including industry-leading availability techniques.
  • Simple migration: IBM's customized service offerings make migration from competitive UNIX platforms to AIX quick and easy–consolidate all of your UNIX workload onto AIX.

History

AIX Version 1, introduced in 1986 for the IBM 6150 RT workstation, was based on UNIX System V Releases 1 and 2. In developing AIX, IBM and INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation (whom IBM contracted) also incorporated source code from 4.2 and 4.3BSD UNIX.

Among other variants, IBM later produced AIX Version 3 (also known as AIX/6000), based on System V Release 3, for their IBM POWER-based RS/6000 platform. Since 1990, AIX has served as the primary operating system for the RS/6000 series (now called System p by IBM).

AIX Version 4, introduced in 1994, introduced support for symmetric multiprocessing with the introduction of the first RS/6000 SMP servers. AIX Version 4 continued to evolve though the 1990s culminating with the introduction of AIX 4.3.3 in 1999.

In the late 1990s, under Project Monterey, IBM and the Santa Cruz Operation planned to integrate AIX and UnixWare into a single 32-bit/64-bit multiplatform UNIX with particular emphasis on supporting the Intel IA-64 architecture. This never came to fruition, though a beta test version of AIX 5L for IA-64 systems was released.

AIX 6 was announced in May 2007 and ran an open beta from June 2007 until the general availability (GA) of AIX 6.1 on November 9th, 2007. Major new features in AIX 6.1 are full RBAC, Workload Partitions (WPAR) enabling application mobility, and Live Partition Mobility on the new POWER6 hardware.