Design Your Unique Solutions with Reliability and Performance

IBM Tivoli Productivity Center and SAN Switches performance

2011-04-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Last month i got oppurtunity to configure IrulBM TPC to get the performance statistics from SAN switches.

Following are the main points which you should keep in your mind , when you try to get performance data from Brocade switches using IBM TPC.

1. First , you should have license of IBM TPC Standard Edition . IBM TPC basic edition does not have capability of gathering performance data.

2. Second , for gathering performance data from Brocade switches , you should configure switches as out of band fabric agents , scan them and then install & configure Brocade SMI-S agent. The SMI-S agent from Brocade , should be installed and configured to get in-depth information from switches/fabrics.

How to enable Web Access to HMC

2011-02-14T11:44:00.000-08:00

It is very easy to configure IBM HMC to allow web based access. You have to just modify firewall settings on HMC to " Allow Remote Access".

This can be done in following way:

Go to HMC management console: Select " HMC Management" ---> "Change Network Settings" ----> Select Ethernet Adapter ( one with public IP Address) ---> Then select "Secure Remote Access" option and enable it.

You have to restart HMC to make these changes effective

For my non mulim friends... An excellent website

2010-11-20T09:12:00.000-08:00

Friends

I have just visited an excellent web site , which i beleive would be very much intereting for any one who wants to explore islam as religion.

The website is

http://www.islamreligion.com

Please dont feel that i am imposing any thing on my web site visitors as we as muslim strongly beleive in holy Quran verse according to which " there could not be any impulsion in case of religion"

On the other hand , as a muslim it is our reponsibility to present our religion in front of you. You accept it or not , it is your decision.

IBM pSeries Dlpar Operations- Basic How-tos

2010-10-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

procedures needed to locate I/O slots that can be moved dynamically between logical partitions (LPAR) on a HMC managed system p server as as follows

- Identify the owner of the I/O slot for the device you need to managed and then logically remove the PCI device from the owning operating system. You have to find out the PCI device associated with the physical slot, for which you can execute following command in AIX

lsslot -c slot

In VIOS (virtual I/O server)
lsdev -slots

-- Removed the PCI device and all child devices

--- In AIX
rmdev -Rdl pci#

--- In VIOS
rmdev -dev pci# -recursive

- Perform the dynamic logical partition operation from the HMC

- Finally, configure the new device on the gaining partition

-- In AIX
cfgmgr

-- In VIOS
cfgdev

More detail about the typical dynamic logical partition procedures are available in the following references:

Partitioning Implementations
for IBM Eserver p5 Servers
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg247039.pdf

An example would be

# lsslot -c slot
The output of this command looks similar to the following:
#Slot Description Device(s)
U1.5-P1-I1 DLPAR slot pci13 ent0
U1.5-P1-I2 DLPAR slot pci14 ent1
U1.5-P1-I3 DLPAR slot pci15
U1.5-P1-I4 DLPAR slot pci16
U1.5-P1-I5 DLPAR slot pci17 ent2
U1.5-P1/Z1 DLPAR slot pci18 scsi0

Before the I/O slot removal, you must delete the PCI adapter device and all its child devices from AIX. Given that ent2 in the slot U1.5-P1-I5 in the previous example is not used, the devices could be removed using the following command as the root user on the partition.

# rmdev -l pci17 -d -R

After the devices have been removed from AIX, the I/O slot can be
removed from the partition using the graphical user interface or command line interface on the HMC.

Note: Any PCI slots defined as required are not eligible for the DLPAR operation.

Procedures to use the HMC GUI to dynamically manage I/O slots can be found at following URL:

Dynamically managing physical I/O devices and slots
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/eserver/v1r3s/index.jsp?topic=/iphbl/iphbldlpariop.htm

How can I move my DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive from one LPAR to another?

Answer

If you don’t know which LPAR owns the CD-ROM drive, use the HMC manager or WEBSM tool.
Select the managed system and open “Properties”.
Select the “I/O” tab. Look for the I/O device with the description “Other Mass Storage Controller” and read the “Owner” field. This will show the LPAR currently owning that device.

ON THE SOURCE SYSTEM:

1. Find the parent adapter of the DVD or CD device:

$ lsdev -Cl cd0 -F parent
ide0

2. Find the slot containing the IDE bus:

$ lsslot -c slot
# Slot Description Device(s)
U787B.001.DNWG2AB-P1-T16 Logical I/O Slot pci1 ide0
U9133.55A.105C2EH-V7-C0 Virtual I/O Slot vsa0
U9133.55A.105C2EH-V7-C2 Virtual I/O Slot ent0
U9133.55A.105C2EH-V7-C3 Virtual I/O Slot vscsi0

so PCI1 is the slot containing the IDE adapter and CD drive.

3. Remove the slot from this host:

# rmdev -dl pci1 -R
cd0 deleted
ide0 deleted
pci1 deleted

ON THE HMC:

Select the LPAR currently owning the CD-ROM, and in the Actions menu select:
Dynamic Logical Partitioning -> Physical Adapters -> Move or Remove
Select the adapter for “Other Mass Storage Controller” and move to the desired target LPAR.
This will perform a DLPAR operation on both the source and target LPAR.

ON THE TARGET SYSTEM:

Log in as root and run
# cfgmgr

The CD-ROM device should show up now
# lsdev -C | grep cd
cd0 Available 1G-19-00 IDE DVD-ROM Drive

How to clear Amber ( Yellow ) Light on IBM POWER systems

2010-10-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most common asked question from my customers:

There are only few steps to clear this false indicator , but before doing that you have to make sure that it is really a false alarm. You can do it by checking for latest errors in AIX error log . If there are no errors of Type P and Class H, then you can go for following steps

Type diag
Choose task selection
Choose indentify and attention indicators
Choose the indicator with the attention then choose set system
indicartor to normal

How to extend LVM based Filesystem in Linux?

2010-08-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

A major question which came in Linux Administrators minds is that what will happen if all space within a crtical disk become full.
No worry! If you are using Linux LVM , then you can do it online as follows
1. Extend the space for LUN from storage subsystem management software

2. Rescan your partition table
#partprobe
3. Now the output of
#fdisk -l /dev/sdc

should show the extended size of Lun ( if not , then sorry your Linux kernel is not supporting online extension and you have to restart the server)

4. extend the pv
#pvresize /dev/sdc

5. extend the lv
lvextend -l 100% FREE /dev/VG01/lvdata01

6. Extend the fileystem

ext2online /dev/mapper/VG01/lvdata01

and to make sure finally verify through "df" command

Installaing rpms from iso file

2010-07-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Need to know , how to install rpms from an iso file ... easy job , just tarnsfer iso image file to your linux partition ( let say by ftp )and then mount as follows

mount -o loop /tmp/RHEL.iso /mnt/cd1

and then you will get whole Linux image inside /mnt/cd1 directory. Now go to appropriate directory conating rpms and do the regular stuff related to rpms installation

Remote Graphical Desktop on RHEL-5 , XDMCP and Xwindows

2010-07-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes ,it happens that nothing works for you. You struggle and struggle again for a task which seems very very easy for you.
It happened to me few days ago when i was trying to do some graphical installation on my VMWare based RHEL-5 and was not able to do see graphical screen properly due to some resolution issues.

So after trying for hours and hours to fix this resolution issue, i finally decided to try some remote desktop software ( which are commonly as xwindows software ) on my windows machine .

It was a hard selection as nowadays so many xwindows software available on internet. Off course ideas was to use some freely available software so i selected cygwin/X for this purpose.
Cygwin/X installation/download was pretty simple however main trick was to select specific packages from x11 category. I took help from cygwin/x installation/user guide and installed this siftware very easily.

Then next step was to start cygwin bash shell and on this bash shell i tried

xwin -query 192.168.1.234 ( which was IP address of my RHEL-5), but no success.

i was sure that xwin command was right , as all cygwin manuals point to same command. After hours and hours effort , i concluded that Linux is not opening any remote graphical sessions from cygwin , as due to new RHEL-5 security standards XDCMP protocol is disabled by default.
So then i modified the file /etc/gdm/custom.conf and under the [xdmcp] section, added this line: Enable=true

Finally restarted GDM by using command gdm-restart

and then tried same xwin command from cygwin ,,,, Ahh it was successfull and finally i got graphical remote desktop on my windows machine connecting to Linux server.Thanks google again!!!

Recreate Bootable Image on RHEL and AIX

2010-04-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

To recreate bootable image on aix , you have to simply execute

bosboot -ad /dev/hdiskx

This hdiskx could be hdisk0 or hdisk1 ( depending upon output of your lslv -m hd5 command ). In case of mirroring , you have to execute the same command against both disks in rootvg.

In case of RHEL, mkinitrd command can do the same function for you!!!

mkinitrd -v -f /boot/xxx.img xxx

where xxx=you kernel version.

World Cup Hockey 2010 Dehli- live Telecast

2010-02-11T23:33:00.000-08:00

World cup Hockey 2010 is going to start on 28th Febuary in New Dehli. Twelve teams from all around the world will be participating in this prestigious event of international hockey.

Here is the participation from continents

1. Australia & New Zeland from Oceana Continent ( Autralians are favourites)

2. Germany, Netherland,Spain, England from Europe

3. Pakistan, India and S.Korea from Asia

4.Canada from North America region

5. Argentina from South America

6. South Africa from Africa continent

This tournamnent is played every four years and considered as a mega event of field hockey. Unfortunately , unlike FiFA world cup or Cricke world cup, this event remains low profile , however hockey lovers deperately waiting for this event.This time however,many TV channels are telecasting these matches live . For example ten sports in India and Pakistan, Show sports 3 in Middleast / Asean and Fox sports in US and Canada. Beside this live telecast, FIH is promoting this event on face book, Twitter and you tube as well.

Here is the official web site of event

http://specials.msn.co.in/sp10/hockey/

Here are updated list of channels telecasting matches of world cup hockey 2010

Spanning all five continents, the Hero Honda FIH World Cup’s list of broadcasters and expected coverage is as follows. Please check local schedules for full details:

· Ten Sports (cable and satellite; India Subcontinent) – all matches live
· Astro Super sports (cable and satellite; Malaysia, Indonesia) – all matches live
· Starhub – (cable and satellite, Singapore) – all matches live or delayed
· PTV (terrestrial, Pakistan) – PAK matches and final
· NOS (terrestrial, Netherlands)– extended daily highlights and live coverage of selected matches
· Sport 1 (cable and satellite, Netherlands) – all matches live
· Teledeportes (digital terrestrial, Spain) – ESP matches and final
· Sport Digital (cable and satellite, Germany) – schedule TBC
· ARD/ZDF (terrestrial, Germany) – extended news
· Deutsche Welle (worldwide) – extended news
· Zee (cable and satellite; UK) – all matches live (to be screened on Zing (Sky 789 / Freesat 509 / Virgin Media) according to Zee TV and will be free)
· Cricket Plus (cable and satellite; USA and Canada) – all matches live and delayed
· ESPN Sur – (cable and satellite; Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay) – all Argentina matches plus final
· SKY SPORTS – (cable and satellite, New Zealand) – NZ matches and final
· FOX Sports (cable and satellite, Australia) – AUS matches and final
· Showtime – (cable and satellite; Middle East) – all matches live
· Supersports (cable and satellite, pan-Africa) – RSA matches and final

Internet pay per view – all matches available live and on-demand via WorldHockey.org

· Highlights available free via WorldHockey.org
· BBC Online – extended news
· Telegraph.co.uk – coverage TBC
· Sport1.de – all matches live

How to backup your Brocade SAN switches

2010-01-22T00:29:00.000-08:00

Many customers repeatedly ask me same question "How we can take backup for configuration of our Brocade SAN switches"?

Now doubt , it is important to take configuration of your san switches which includes fabric configuration , zones information etc.

Now for that purpose ,you may use the FOS command: configupload.

For this, you also need to get a ftp server that is contactable by your switches management IP. This FTP server can be any windows 2000 server or even your own workstation. Now if you want your own workstation to act as FTP server, you have to download ftp server softwares which include both free and commercial software like winftp.

When you execute the configupload command from your SAN switch FOS command line, you will have to specify the server ip, user name, password and directory where you want to keep the files.

In next blog entry , i will highlight, how we can automate this process so that SAN admins would not have to execute configupload command manually.

rmnod.. is there any command like that on AIX?

2010-01-07T23:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday i made a mistake on AIX 6.1 system.. I created two special devices on same hdisk , while creating devices using mknod command.
These devices had to be used for Oracle ARC implementation. While searching on internet for any command like rmnod , i realized that there is no such command available atleast on AIX. Some variants of linux do have rmnod command , but not AIX...

So what should be solution? After long research i concluded that best way to resolve this problem would be to delete hdisk device itslef. I deleted the device using rmdev -dl hdisk7 and all corresponding special devices ( which i created using mknod command ) were gone... Happ enough result!!

Easiest way to calculate SAN data transfer rate from AIX

2009-12-29T11:52:00.000-08:00

In order to check how much data throughput speed from your FC connections of AIX servers to any san attached storage

1. Identify any filesystem , created on any vg residing on SAN disks ( let say /data1)

2. time dd if=/dev/zero of=/data1/testfile bs=32768 count=30000

It will create around 10 GB file in /data1 so make sure you have enough space there. After getting value of time period required to copy such file , you can divide this size by time to get the data transfer speed in Mb/Sec.

For example , if real time value returned by time command output results around 1 min so value of data transfer would be 10x1024/60= 170 Mb/sec.

VSCSI disks mapping to Physical disks AIX VIO

2009-12-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

The other day , during one implementation of a project , i stuck on a silly point.

I was implementing Oracle RAC on two P570 servers which are located on distant sites and fully virtualized through dual VIO configuration. We assigned many disks from DS6000 to VIO servers and name these disks according to naming convention required by Oracle DBA. For example virtual disk for second voting disk as required by Oracle DBA was named on VIO servers as "lparnamevtdisk2"...

We ensured that we configured correct disk for correct purpose by executing these two following commands
# oem_setup_env
# datapath device 13 ( as we were using SDDPCM /AIX MPIO on VIO servers).

Now but we went back to AIX client Lpars and executed cfgmgr, we were able to get large number of disks , but got confused as apparanetly all these disks are vscsi disks and dont have any serial number which can matched with SAN Lun Serial numbers...

Then after some research , i got following information that in order to map virtual scsi disks on AIX client Lpars with original physical disks , you have to execute

#lscfg -vl hdiskxx ( on AIX client Lpar ) and note down serial number ( which could be something like L86xxxx) and then you have to go to VIO partition and then check for same serial number on virtual disks devices with command lsmap -all or if you know exact vhost for your client Lpar you can also use lsmap | grep vhostx.

Guys! I am Back....

2009-12-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

Guys,

Sorry i was away for almost more than one month on annual vacations so could'nt update my blogs for a while .. Now i am back... so you can expect some new material very soon on my web site...

Wpars versus Lpars- A quick comparision

2009-11-19T10:24:00.000-08:00

While Lpars and Wpars are both virtualization features of IBM Power systems , there are inherently differences which do reside between Lpars and Wpars.

I would say a major difference which exist between Lpars and Wpars is that Lpars are hardware based virtualization approach while Wpars are software based approach.
WPARs are lightweight and quicker to install, because they share many of the file systems and resources of the global AIX system in which they reside.
On the other hand While using an LPAR requires you to install an entire operating system, creation of system WPARs only installs private copies of a few file systems, and application WPARs share even more of the global system's resources. As a result, a WPAR can be created in just a few minutes without installation media. Ongoing administration and maintenance of WPARs should be simpler—fewer AIX licenses might be required, and you don’t have to install fixes and updates on so many virtual systems. There is a command for synchronizing the filesets of a WPAR with the corresponding filesets on the global system, so you have the choice of propagating AIX fixes to WPARs or continuing to run with the current versions of system files.

While LPARs offer a significantly higher degree of workload isolation, WPARs might provide "good enough" isolation for your particular workloads, especially temporary ones such as development or test environments. Similarly, with LPARs, you can achieve a greater degree of control over the usage of resources—by allocating entire processors or precise fractions of processors to an LPAR, for example. With WPARs, you don’t have such fine control over resource allocations, but you can allocate target shares or percentages of CPU utilization to a WPAR (if have used the AIX Workload Manager, you will find the share and percentage resource allocation scheme familiar). Similar differences exist for the allocation of memory, number of processes, and other resources.

NPIV or Virtual SCSI- Which one is better?

2009-11-15T12:56:00.000-08:00

Last days i was investigating about real difference between NPIV and Virtual SCSI options available on IBM Pseries platform for virtualisation implementation.Unfortunately i could not find that except that if you have a FC based tape library or any other tape device and you want to share it between your Lpars ( which is rear case in today's market as it is captured by enterprise backup solutions like TSM or Veritas which does not require this kind of setup) or when you want to avoid word SCSI in front of your management, you can opt NPIV approach otherwise vscsi approach is well established approach in terms of performance ad reliability.

However , for NPIV , following are minimum requirements:

1. Eight Gig FC Adapater ( NPIV capable)

2. NPIV capable SAN switches

3. VIO 2.1

So rule of thumb is that if you dont have above mentioned luxuries , you can stick to VSCSI approach.

World cup hockey 2009 - Qualifying Round France

2009-11-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

Qualifying tournament for World cup hockey 2010 is currently being played in Lille France. as it is

Our team , Pakistan Hockey team ( so called Green shirts ) have played nicely till date and they have won all three matches against Russia,France and Italy by quite big margin. It is a good news for hockey lovers in Pakistan but in my view until and unless Pakistani boys do not won the final of this tournament , we should not be so much happy. Reason being our team has played very good in some other recent tournaments , but loose their spirits in final match. Now , here in Lille, there is no such chance for pakis. They will play 2010 world cup hockey if and only if they win this tournament.

Good news is that sohail Abbas is scoring good on penality corners. This is a healthy sign.
I hope that inshallah , Pakistani team will win this very important tournament as it is do or die situation for game of hockey in Pakistan

Another good thing about this tournament is that FIH is covering well this tournament.Highlights of all matches are available on youtube and also on following web site

http://www.worldcupqualifiermenfrance.sportcentric.com/vsite/vcontent/page/custom/0,8510,5227-199239-216462-47641-301903-custom-item,00.html

AIX 32 and 64 bit Dilemma

2009-10-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

Software requirement for 64 bit AIX OS

Beside hardware requirement for running 64 bit operating system on IBM POWER systems , the other main requirement is fileset.The bos.64bit is the Base Operating System 64-bit runtime fileset. If bos.64bit is not installed, you do not have the /etc/methods/cfg64 file. Without the /etc/methods/cfg64 file, you will not have the option of enabling or disabling the 64-bit environment via SMIT, which updates the inittab with the load64bit line (simply adding this line does not enable the 64-bit environment).

The command lslpp -l bos.64bit will reveal if this fileset is installed. The
bos.64bit fileset is on the 4.3.x media, however, installing it does not ensure
that you will be able to run 64-bit software.

With the bos.64bit fileset installed on non 64-bit hardware, you should be able
to compile your 64-bit software; however, you will not be able to run 64-bit
programs on your 32-bit hardware.

Hardware required

You must have 64-bit hardware to run 64-bit applications. At AIX levels 4.3.2
and 4.3.3, to determine whether your system has 32-bit or 64-bit hardware
architecture:

Log in as root.
At the command line, enter:
bootinfo -y

This produces the output of either 32 or 64, depending on whether the hardware
architecture is 32-bit or 64-bit.

In addition, if you enter lsattr -El proc0, at any version of AIX, the output of
the command should return the type of processor for your server.

The types of 64-bit processors are as follows:

PowerPC_RS64
PowerPC_RS64 II
PowerPC_RS64 III
PowerPC_Power3
PowerPC_Power3 II

Kernel extensions vs. 64-bit kernel

To determine if the 64-bit kernel extension is loaded, from the command line
enter:

genkex |grep 64

You should see information similar to the following:

149bf58 a3ec /usr/lib/drivers/syscalls64.ext

NOTE: Having the driver extensions, does not mean that the kernel is a 64-bit
kernel. A 64-Bit Kernel became available at 5.1 oslevel.

The driver extensions just allows the 64-bit application to be compiled by a
32-bit kernel. If the 32-bit kernel has a 64-bit processor, the syscalls64.ext
will allow the 64-bit application to execute. Yet at 5.1, a 64-bit kernel and a
64-bit processor has better performance with 64-bit applications.

To truly change the kernel to 64-bit, you need to be at the 5.1 oslevel. The
means to change to a 64-bit kernel are:

From 32-bit to 64-bit:

ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /unix
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /usr/lib/boot/unix
lslv -m hd5
bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
shutdown -Fr
bootinfo -K (should now be 64)

To change the kernel back to 32-bit:

From 64-bit to 32-bit:

ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /unix
ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /usr/lib/boot/unix
lslv -m hd5
bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
shutdown -Fr
bootinfo -K (should now be 32)

32-bit and 64-bit performance comparisons on IBM POWER systems

To examine the benefits and drawbacks of going from 32-bit to 64-bit mode and
further effects on the system, consult the following, AIX 64-bit Performance in
Focus, which is available at IBM Redbooks.

In most cases, running 32-bit applications on 64-bit hardware is not a problem,
because 64-bit hardware can run both 64-bit and 32-bit software. However, 32-bit
hardware cannot run 64-bit software. To find out if any performance issues exist
for applications that are running on the system, such as Lotus Notes and Oracle,
refer to those application's user guides for their recommended running
environment.

Restricting your AIX Error Logs

2009-10-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you do not want certain error conditions to show in the errorlog. If at this very moment, you think “what a silly idea this is” – please refrain from any further judgement – eventually you will get the picture.
AIX error reporting facilities, use templates in order to know what conditions constitue an error, and how to collect and display the associated with them information.
For these in need or more in-depth info, please look it up in AIX docs or on-line.
Instructing error logging facilities what not to report and/or not to include in the log (among many other things) is done with help of the errupdate command. This command can process your directives contained in an ASCI files or directly from the command line. Error IDENTIFIER is used to identify the error you want to work with. Multiple entries (error IDENTIFIERs and the associated with them processing instructions) must be separated with a blank line.
Look at the few lines shown next showing interaction with errupdate via command line:

root@MarcoPolo: /root> errupdate
=B6048838:
REPORT=FALSE

The first character you type is the = character to indicate modification of existing reporting behaviour associated with error label B6048838. Do you notice the : character following the error label? After you hit the Enter key, you can enter any of the following directives: REPORT, LOG and ALERT. Each may equal either TRUE or FALSE. When you are done, hit Enter twice to activate the changes.
REPORT - The info about events for which REPORTING is disabled is saved in the error log but it is not displayed with the errpt command.
LOG - The info about events for which LOGGING is disabled is not sent to the error log file.
To achieve identical results using an ASCI file to specify the modifications, follow the procedure bellow:
root@MarcoPolo: /root> mkdir -p /var/adm/errorFilter
root@MarcoPolo: /root> cd /var/adm/errorFilter
root@MarcoPolo: /var/adm/errorFilter> vi errorFilter Edit to your satisfaction.
root@MarcoPolo: /var/adm/errorFilter> cat errorFilter
=B6048838:
REPORT=FALSE
LOG=FALSE
ALERT=FALSE

root@MarcoPolo: /var/adm/errorFilter> errupdate ./errorFilter
0 entries added.
0 entries deleted.
1 entries updated.
The results will not only be the requires modifications but also a file in the same directory as the errorFilter named errorFilter.undo - its name reveals its purpose.

How to backup your VIO Server

2009-10-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

Backing up the Virtual I/O Server

There are 4 different ways to backup/restore the Virtual I/O Server as illustrated in the following table.

Backup method Restore method
To tape From bootable tape
To DVD From bootable DVD
To remote file system From HMC using the NIMoL facility and installios
To remote file system From an AIX NIM server

Backing up to a tape or DVD-RAM

To backup the Virtual I/O Server to a tape or a DVD-RAM, the following steps must be performed

1. check the status and the name of the tape/DVD drive
#lsdev | grep rmt (for tape)
#lsdev | grep cd (for DVD)

2. if it is Available, backup the Virtual I/O Server with the following command
#backupios –tape rmt#
#backupios –cd cd#

If the Virtual I/O Server backup image does not fit on one DVD, then the backupios command provides instructions for disk replacement and removal until all the volumes have been created. This command creates one or more bootable DVDs or tapes that you can use to restore the Virtual I/O Server

Backing up the Virtual I/O Server to a remote file system by creating a nim_resources.tar file

The nim_resources.tar file contains all the necessary resources to restore the Virtual I/O Server, including the mksysb image, the bosinst.data file, the network boot image, and SPOT resource.
The NFS export should allow root access to the Virtual I/O Server, otherwise the backup will fail with permission errors.

To backup the Virtual I/O Server to a filesystem, the following steps must be performed

1. Create a mount directory where the backup file will be written
#mkdir /backup_dir

2. Mount the exported remote directory on the directory created in step 1.
#mount server:/exported_dir /backup_dir

3. Backup the Virtual I/O Server with the following command
#backupios –file /backup_dir

The above command creates a nim_resources.tar file that you can use to restore the Virtual I/O Server from the HMC.

Note: The ability to run the installios command from the NIM server against the nim_resources.tar file is enabled with APAR IY85192.

The backupios command empties the target_disk_data section of bosinst.data and sets RECOVER_DEVICES=Default. This allows the mksysb file generated by the command to be cloned to another logical partition. If you plan to use the nim_resources.tar image to install to a specific disk, then you need to repopulate the target_disk_data section of bosinst.data and replace this file in the nim_resources.tar. All other parts of the nim_resources.tar image must remain unchanged.

Backing up the Virtual I/O Server to a remote file system by creating a mksysb image

You could also restore the Virtual I/O Server from a NIM server. One of the ways to restore from a NIM server is from the mksysb image of the Virtual I/O Server. If you plan to restore the Virtual I/O Server from a NIM server from a mksysb image, verify that the NIM server is at the latest release of AIX.

To backup the Virtual I/O Server to a filesystem the following steps must be performed

1. Create a mount directory where the backup file will be written
#mkdir /backup_dir
2. Mount the exported remote directory on the just created directory
#mount NIM_server:/exported_dir /backup_dir
3. Backup the Virtual I/O Server with the following command
#backupios –file /backup_dir/filename.mksysb -mksysb

How to upgrade ML/TL of AIX through alternate disk installation method

2009-10-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

1. Pre-installation checks

To check packages/file set consistency
# lppchk –v

If we found some errors. We can get more information about problem & resolve it before continue with installation.
# lppchk -v -m3

Check the current installed ML/TL
# instfix -i|grep ML
# oslevel –s

Check Rootvg

Commit all package/fileset installed on the servers
# smit maintain_software

Check if rootvg is mirrored and all lv's are mirrored correctly (excluding dump and boot volumes). If your rootvg is not mirrored we can skip later in document part for alt_disk_install,
# lsvg -p rootvg
# lsvg rootvg
# lsvg -l rootvg

2. Preinstallation Tasks

Check for HACMP cluster

Check if cluster software is installed .Check for HACMP running on server.

# lslpp -l | grep -i cluster
Check if the cluster processes are active
# lssrc -g cluster

If HACMP is used, a current fix pack for HACMP should be installed when a new AIX Technology Level is installed. Currently available HACMP fix packs can be downloaded via http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/hacmp/home.html

3. Check for IBM C/C++ compiler

Updates needs to be installed with TL up gradation. Same can be downloaded from below mentioned links.
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=2239&uid=swg21110831

4. Check for Java VersionIf Java is used, current software updates for the Java version(s) should be installed when a new AIX Technology Level is installed. If Java is being used in conjunction with other software, consult the vendor of that software for recommended Java levels

The Java version(s) installed on AIX can be identified with the commands
# lslpp -l | grep -i java

Default Java version can be identified with the
# java -fullversion command.
Java fixes can be downloaded from below link.
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/hacmp/home.html

5. Check for recommended TL/SP for system

Gets information of latest TL/SP for system using Fix Level Recommendation Tool available in below link
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/home

Download latest updates from IBM fix central website & dump in NIM server.

Create resources in NIM servers.

Run mksysb backup of servers on safer side.

Check for running application compatibility if any. Confirm it with application owner.
Free hdisk1 for alternate disk installation

Remove the secondary dump device if present from hdisk1. Then change the settings for secondary dump device to /dev/sysdumpnull.
# sysdumpdev –P –s /dev/sysdumpnull

Unmirror rootvg
#unmirrorvg rootvg

migrate logical volume from hdisk1 to hdisk0 which are not mirrored.
# migratepv hdisk1 hdisk0.

Clear boot record from hdisk0
# chpv -c hdisk1

Add new boot image to the first PV to have “fresh” boot record just for safer side
# bosboot –ad /dev/hdisk0

Set bootlist to hdisk0
# bootlist –m normal hdisk0 hdisk1 (hdisk1 after installation will contain upgraded OS)

Removes the second PV from rootvg
# reducevg rootvg hdisk1

7. Alternate disk migration

Carry out alternate disk installation via nim on hdisk1. We will carry out preview install. If it gets succeed we will go ahead & install TL/SP in applied mode
# smit nimadm

Reboot system. It will be booted from hdisk1 which contains upgraded OS.
# shutdown -Fr

8. Recreate the mirror of rootvg

After few days of stable work and some tests from application users.

Remove alternate disk installed disk
# alt_disk_install –X

Add disk hdisk0 in rootvg
# extendvg rootvg hdisk0

Check for estimated dump
# sysdumpdev –e

Re-create secondary dump device
# sysdumpdev –P –s “dump_device”

Mirror rootvg with hdisk1 in background.
# nohup mirrorvg '-S' rootvg hdisk1 &

Create bootimage on hdisk1
# bosboot -ad /dev/hdisk1

Add hdisk1 to bootlist
# bootlist -m normal hdisk0 hdisk1

Synchronize rootvg
# nohup syncvg -v rootvg &

Tip: A small script to notify new error entries in error log

2009-10-16T02:35:00.000-07:00

Although IBM is now pushing system director concept into AIX as well, to monitor overall health of system, i still found following small shell script very helpfull which can be used to notify any new errors in AIX error log
-----------------------------------------------
#!/bin/ksh
# Script to notify new errors in AIX error log

TOTALERRS=`errpt | grep -v "IDENTIFIER" | wc -l`

if [ ! -f /usr/local/bin/errpt.count ]
then
echo 0 > /usr/local/bin/errpt.count
fi

OLDERRS=`cat /usr/local/bin/errpt.count`
((NEWERRS=TOTALERRS-OLDERRS))

if [ ${NEWERRS} -gt 1 ]
then
echo "Please check errpt, ${NEWERRS} errors found!" | /usr/bin/mailx -vs "`hostname`: errpt report" recipient@domain.com
elif [ ${NEWERRS} -gt 0 ]
then
errpt | grep -v "IDENTIFIER" | head -${NEWERRS} | cut -c 42- |
while read ERRMSG
do
echo "errpt:${ERRMSG}" | /usr/bin/mailx -vs "`hostname`: errpt report" recipient@domain.com
done
fi

echo ${TOTALERRS} > /usr/local/bin/errpt.count

exit 0
-----------------------------------------------

My trip to Istanbul:Fascinating city of Civilizations

2009-10-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

Istanbul has a long and fascinating history which encompasses over centuries and three prominent eras. It starts with era of Bayzentine nation, followed by Romans and then era of Muslims ( othoman empire).In closer vicinity of meters only, you will find symbols of all these historical eras and you become deeply impressed by greatness of this historical city.

We reached Istanbul SAW airport around 11:00 clock in morning. SAW airport is around 51 KM from istanbul city and it took around 2 hours to reach our hotel which was located in Bayziat area of istanbul city. I was horrified by seeing traffic jams on road of istanbul but it is a fact that like all other big cities of world , istanbul also facing issues of traffic. They have both trams and metro in istanbul city , but still traffic jams are common in city.

Our hotel was small but clean. Main advantage was that it was very closed to main tourist attractions like blue mosque, hagia sofia , Grand Bazaarand Topkapi palace. We were able to reach all these places by walk , within 20 minutes.

We started our first day with a short visit to Grand Bazaar and istanbul university, followed by Bayzait Mosque. All of these locations were very close to our hotel so we took advatnage of that and visited all of them in same afternoon/morning.

Second day , we visited Blue Mosque and Hugia sofia. Both of these places are really wonderful.The only thing which i disliked about hugia sofia is that Government has converted it to Meuseum. I think they should retain it as either church or Mosque , but converting it to a meuseum makes no sense.

Third day , we went to Ayup Mosque to pray fatiha for our great muslim saint and close friend of our prophet (PBUH).

We then visited Topkapi palace which was constructed in Othmon period of muslim era. It is a fantastic palace with all its walls full of Gold. It is a memorable palace , and give you a memory of fantastic and glorious era of othmon empire.

Last day we went to Emunono port to catch a hour based ferry trip. They charged us around 9 lira per person. It was one and hour long trip but really memorable. I advice all travelers who visit Istanbul not to miss this golden oppurtunity.

Changing Herald in AIX

2009-10-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here are two ways to customize the AIX login prompt.

The first way is to add a "herald" in the default stanza in the /etc/security/login.cfg file as follows

default:
sak_enabled = false
logintimes =
logindisable = 0
logininterval = 0
loginreenable = 0
logindelay = 0
herald = "AIX TIGER HOME\r\nID:"

The second method uses the "chsec" command to modify the same file:

chsec -f /etc/security/login.cfg -s default -a herald="AIX TIGER HOME\r\nID:"

Note: for additional security, I recommend changing the standard Unix "login" prompt to something else like "ID". The "login" prompt almost invariably identifies the system as Unix to hackers.