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AIX QuickStart

Version 1.0.0Date: 3/29/10

This document is w ritten based upon AIX 6.1, not all commands or concepts apply to previous versions of AIX.

Overview

Design Philosophy

AIX is primarily a tool-managed Unix. While some Uniceshave a file-managed interface, AIX tends to use stanzafiles and ODM databases as data stores for configurationoptions. This makes many configuration options ratherdifficult or simply impossible with just a text editor. TheAIX alternative is to leverage an expansive set ofspecialized tools for all configuration options.

AIX is well integrated with System P hardware. As typicalwith big-Unix implementations, AIX has a tightintegration with the hardware it runs on. The result ofthis integration is an OS that not only provides extensivediagnosis and reporting of hardware issues, but also isdesigned to exploit numerous hardware features. IBMextends this integration even more by allowing AIXinsight into the virtualization layer with abilities likevirtual processor folding.

IBM tends to lead with hardware and follow with the OS.Major releases of the OS tend to coincide with new

Both System P hardware and AIX are heavily gearedtowards virtualization. AIX is practically a para-virtualizedenvironment in how well it is integrated with the SystemP virtualization technologies. At the user level, allperformance and management commands have beenmodified to account for differences that occur in avirtualized environment. Despite and because of thesechanges, a virtualized environment is virtuallyindistinguishable from a non-virtualized environment tothe user.

AIX has a stable interface. While the management toolsand style of those tools has not changed within AIX forover a decade, the technologies supported by AIX hasgrown considerably. This is a significant feature of AIX inthat it introduces new technologies within a consistent,approachable, and well designed interface.

The LVM integration with AIX is thorough and mature.From the install, management, and maintenance every


hardware features and leverage those advances in thehardware. While other Unices may take a software-centric approach to a solution, IBM tends to rely upon alllayers of the system to an end. One good example ofthis is the maturity and depth of virtualizationtechnologies that permeate the System P product line.

Commands in AIX generally follow a verb-noun syntax.The verbs tend to be ls (list), mk (make), rm (remove),and ch (change). The nouns vary by the target area suchas dev, fs, vg, and ps. Even many of the odd-namedvariants follow a similar syntax such as crfs, reducevg,and installp.

aspect of LVM design dovetails into other components ofthe OS, firmware, and hardware to create anunparalleled environment. It is for this reason that AIXsystems are more likely to be SAN booted and less likelyto have 3rd party LVM products layered on top thanother Unices.

A central focus of IBM design has been on RAS features.Particularly with Power 6 systems, IBM has designedextensive error detection and recovery into the products.AIX is just one enabling component to this end. Allsystems from CPU, memory, I/O busses, to systemprocesses are considered and accounted for in thisdesign.

Acronyms & Definitions

CoD - Capacity on Demand. The ability to add computecapacity in the form of CPU or memory to a runningsystem by simply activating it. The resources must bepre-staged in the system prior to use and are (typically)turned on with an activation key. There are severaldifferent pricing models for CoD.

DLPAR - Dynamic Logical Partition. This was used originallyas a further clarification on the concept of an LPAR asone that can have resources dynamically added orremoved. The most popular usage is as a verb; ie: toDLPAR (add) resources to a partition.

HEA - Host Ethernet Adapter. The physical port of the IVEinterface on some of the Power 6 systems. A HEA portcan be added to a port group and shared amongstLPARs or placed in promiscuous mode and used by asingle LPAR. (See IVE)

HMC - Hardware Management Console. An "appliance"server that is used to manage Power 4, 5, and 6hardware. The primary purpose is to enable / control the

MSPP - Multiple Shared Processor Pools. This is a capabilityintroduced in Power 6 systems that allows for more thanone SPP.

NIM - Network Installation Management / Network InstallManager (IBM documentation refers to both expansionsof the acronym.) NIM is a means to perform remote initialBOS installs, and manage software on groups of AIXsystems.

ODM - Object Data Manager. A database and supportingmethods used for storing system configuration data inAIX. See the ODM section for additional information.

PP - Physical Partition. An LVM concept where a disk isdivided into evenly sized sections. These PP sections arethe backing of LPs (Logical Partitions) that are used tobuild volumes in a volume group. See the LVM section foradditional information.

PV - Physical Volume. A PV is an LVM term for an entiredisk. One or more PVs are used to construct a VG(Volume Group). See the LVM section for additional


virtualization technologies as well as provide call-homefunctionality, remote console access, and gatheroperational data.

IVE - Integrated Virtual Ethernet. The capability to providevirtualized Ethernet services to LPARs without the needof VIOS. This functionality was introduced on severalPower 6 systems.

IVM - Integrated Virtualization Manager. This is amanagement interface that installs on top of the VIOSsoftware that provides much of the HMC functionality. Itcan be used instead of a HMC for some systems. It is theonly option for virtualization management on the bladesas they cannot have HMC connectivity.

LHEA - Logical Host Ethernet Adapter. The virtual interfaceof a IVE in a client LPAR. These communicate via a HEA tothe outside / physical world. (See IVE)

LPAR - Logical Partition. This is a collection of systemresources (CPU, Memory, I/O adapters) that can host anoperating system. To the operating system this collectionof resources appears to be a complete physical system.Some or all of the resources on a LPAR may be sharedwith other LPARs in the physical system.

LV - Logical Volume. A collection of one or more LPs (LogicalPartitions) in a VG (Volume Group) that provide storagefor filesystems, journal logs, paging space, etc... See theLVM section for additional information.

LVCB - Logical Volume Control Block. A LVM structure,traditionally within the LV, that contains metadata for theLV. See the LVM section for additional information.

MES - Miscellaneous Equipment Specification. This is achange order to a system, typically in the form of anupgrade. A RPO MES is for Record Purposes Only. Bothspecify to IBM changes that are made to a system.

information.PVID - Physical Volume IDentifier. A unique ID that is used

to track disk devices on a system. This ID is used inconjunction with the ODM database to define /devdirectory entries. See the LVM section for additionalinformation.

SMIT - System Management Interface Tool. An extensible XWindow / curses interface to administrative commands.See the SMIT section for additional information.

SPOT - Shared Product Object Tree. This is an installedcopy of the /usr file system. It is used in a NIMenvironment as a NFS mounted resource to enableremote booting and installation.

SPP - Shared Processor Pool. This is an organizationalgrouping of CPU resources that allows caps andguaranteed allocations to be set for an entire group ofLPARs. Power 5 systems have a single SPP, Power 6systems can have multiple.

VG - Volume Group. A collection of one or more PVs(Physical Volumes) that have been divided into PPs(Physical Partitions) that are used to construct LVs(Logical Volumes). See the LVM section for additionalinformation.

VGDA - Volume Group Descriptor Area. This is a region ofeach PV (Physical Volume) in a VG (Volume Group) that isreserved for metadata that is used to describe andmanage all resources in the VG. See the LVM section foradditional information.


Disks, LVM, & Filesystems

Concepts

LVM (Logical Volume Manager) is the ever-present diskand volume management framework for AIX. The level ofintegration is visible not only in fileystem commands thatunderstand the underlying LVM, but in other, higherlevel, commands like the install and backup utilities thatcan optionally grow filesytems when necessary.

Physical disks (hdisks) are placed under LVM control byadding them to a VG (volume group). Within LVM, thesedisks are referred to as PVs (Physical Volumes).

Each PV in a VG contains a unique ID called a PVID. ThePVID of a disk is used to track all disks in a VG, but alsoprovides a device name independence that makesimporting, exporting, and disk management muchsimpler. Because the unique characteristics of the diskbecome the identifier, the device name remainsconsistent but does not need to as (properly) renaming /reordering disks under LVM control is of littleconsequence.

Once a hdisk is placed into a VG it is divided into PP(Physical Partitions). PPs are then used to create LVs(Logical Volumes). An additional layer of abstraction isplaced between an LV and a PP called a LP (LogicalPartition) that allows for more than one PP to be used(i.e. mirrored) to back each portion of a LV.

The ODM is central to managing off-disk LVM structuresand physical device to hdisk mappings. When a VG iscreated or imported this information is added to the ODMas well as other system files such as /etc/filesystems.

AIX LVM supports several versions of VGs that have beenintroduced over the lifetime of the product. The VG typesare normal, big, and scalable. Normal VGs were theoriginal creation and are more limited than the big orscalable types. The easiest way to tell the type of anexisting VG is to look at the Max PV value for the VG (seeexample in the next section).

VGType

mkvgoption

MaxPV

MaxLV

MaxPP

Notes

Legacy 32 256 3512 Can be converted to BigVG

Big -B 128 512 130048 LVCB data is stored inthe head of the dataarea in the LV

Scalable -S 1024 4096 2097152 Default LV and PPvalues are lower andcan be increased toshown maximums

The default filesystem on AIX is JFS2. JFS2, and itpredecessor JFS, are both journaling filesystems thatutilize the fundamental Unix filesystem structures such


A simplistic logical view of two PVs in a VG providing mirrored PPsfor a LV.

Several on-disk structures are responsible for holding allLVM information. The VGDA resides on each disk andholds structural information such as the member PVs.The VGSA also resides on each disk and contains statusinformation on all member devices. The LVCB varies byVG type but traditionally has resided in the first part ofan LV (when it exists as a separate structure). Inaddition to the basic LVM commands that manage thesestructures, there are a number of lower level LVMcommands that accesses this metadata more directly.

The first disk in a VG will have two copies of the VGDA,and a two disk VG will have one disk with a single VGDAand the other with two copies. For three disk and largerVGs, each disk has a single copy of the VGDA.

The concept of quorum is achieved when > 50% of thecopies of the VGSA/VGDAs are online. If quorum is lostthen the VG can be taken offline.

Quorum is problematic for two disk VGs because the lossof the two VGDA disk means a loss of the entire VG. In amirrored configuration (a typical case for two-disk VGs) it

utilize the fundamental Unix filesystem structures suchas i-nodes, directory structures, and block allocations.(Technically, JFS2 allocates blocks in groups called"extents".)

JFS2 is not an implementation of UFS and expandsconsiderably over basic filesystem features with suchcapabilities as snapshots, dynamic i-node allocation,online growth, extended attributes, and encryption. AIXprovides a layer of abstraction over all supportedfilesystems that map filesystem specific structures tostandard Unix filesystem tools so that filesystems likeJFS2 appear as an implementation of UFS.

While most journaled Unix filesystem implementationsuse inline logs (within the filesystem structure), AIXtends to use a special type of LV that is created only tocontain log data. The jfs(2)log LV can provide loggingcapability for more than one filesystem LV. The log typemust match the filesystem type. JFS2 can log to an inlinelog, but these implementations tend to be the exceptionto the rule.

The default filesystems that are installed with AIX:

hd1 /home

hd2 /usr

hd3 /tmp

hd4 / root

hd5 BLV (Boot LogicalVolume)

hd6 Paging space

hd8 JFS2 log

hd9var /var

hd10opt /opt

hd11admin /admin New in 6.1

livedump /var/adm/ras/livedump New in 6.1 TL3


is inappropriate to offline the VG for a single disk failure.For this reason, quorum rules can be turned off in thecase of a two disk mirrored VG.

livedump /var/adm/ras/livedump New in 6.1 TL3

/proc procfs pseudo filesystem

Management

List all PVs in a system (along) with VG membershiplspv

List all LVs on PV hdisk6lspv -l hdisk6

List all imported VGslsvg

List all VGs that are imported and on-linelsvg -o

The difference between lsvg and lsvg -o are theimported VGs that are offline.

List all LVs on VG vg01lsvg -l vg01

List all PVs in VG vg02lsvg -p vg02

List filesystems in a fstab-like formatlsfs

Get extended info about the /home filesystemlsfs -q /home

Create the datavg VG on hdisk1 with 64 MB PPsmkvg -y datavg -s 64 hdisk1

Create a 1 Gig LV on (previous) datavgmklv -t jfs2 -y datalv datavg 16

Create a log device on datavg VG using 1 PPmklv -t jfs2log -y datalog1 datavg 1

Format the log device created in previous examplelogform /dev/datalog1

Place a filesystem on the previously created datalvcrfs -v jfs2 -d datalv -m /data01 -A y

Find the file usage on the /var filesystemdu -smx /var

List users & PIDs with open files in /data04 mountfuser -xuc /data04

List all mounted filesystems in a factor of Gigabytesdf -g (-m and -k are also available)

Find what PV the LV called datalv01 is onlslv -l datalv01

The "COPIES" column relates the mirror distributionof the PPs for each LP. (PPs should only be listed inthe first part of the COPIES section. See the nextexample.) The "IN BAND" column tells how much ofthe used PPs in this PV are used for this LV. The"DISTRIBUTION" column reports the number of PPs ineach region of the PV. (The distribution is largelyirrelevant for most modern SAN applications.)

Create a LV with 3 copies in a VG with a single PVmklv -c 3 -s n -t jfs2 -y badlv badvg 4

Note: This is an anti-example to demonstrate howthe COPIES column works. This LV violates strictnessrules. The COPIES column from lslv -l badlv lookslike: 004:004:004

Move a LV from hdisk4 to hdisk5migratepv -l datalv01 hdisk4 hdisk5

Move all LVs on hdisk1 to hdisk2migratepv hdisk1 hdisk2

The migratepv command is an atomic command inthat it does not return until complete. Mirroring /breaking LVs is an alternative to explicitly migrating


A jfs2 log must exist in this VG and be logform(ed).(This was done in the previous steps.) -m specifiesthe mount point for the fs, and -A y is a option toautomatically mount (with mount -a).

Create a scalable VG called vg01 with two disksmkvg -S -y vg01 hdisk1 hdisk2

Create a FS using the VG as a parametercrfs -v jfs2 -g simplevg -m /data04 \

-A y -a size=100M

The VG name here is "simplevg". A default LV namingconvention of fslvXX will be used. The LV, and in thiscase log-LV, will be automatically created.

Take the datavg VG offlinevaryoffvg datavg

Vary-on the datavg VGvaryonvg datavg

By default the import operation will vary-on the VG.An explicit vary-on will be required for concurrentvolume groups that can be imported onto two (ormore) systems at once, but only varied-on on onesystem at a time.

Remove the datavg VG from the systemexportvg datavg

Import the VG on hdisk5 as datavgimportvg -y datavg hdisk5

The VG in this example spans multiple disks, but it isonly necessary to specify a single member disk tothe command. The LVM system will locate the othermember disks from the metadata provided on thesingle disk provided.

Import a VG on a disk by PVID as datavgimportvg -y datavg 00cc34b205d347fc

Grow the /var filesystem by 1 Gigchfs -a size=+1G /var

breaking LVs is an alternative to explicitly migratingthem. See additional migratepv, mirrorvg, andmklvcopy examples in this section.

Put a PVID on hdisk1chdev -l hdisk1 -a pv=yes

PVIDs are automatically placed on a disk whenadded to a VG

Remove a PVID from a diskchdev -l hdisk1 -a pv=clear

This will remove the PVID but not residual VGDA andother data on the disk. dd can be used to scrubremaining data from the disk. The AIX install CD/DVDalso provides a "scrub" feature to (repeatedly) writepatterns over data on disks.

Move (migrate) VG vg02 from hdisk1 to hdisk2extendvg vg02 hdisk2

migratepv hdisk1 hdisk2

reducevg vg02 hdisk1

Mirroring and then unmirroring is another method toachieve this. See the next example

Move (mirror) VG vg02 from hdisk1 to hdisk2extendvg vg02 hdisk2

mirrorvg -c 2 vg02

unmirrorvg vg02 hdisk1

reducevg vg02 hdisk1

In this example it is necessary to wait for the mirrorsto synchronize before breaking the mirror. Themirrorvg command in this example will not completeuntil the mirror is established. The alternative is tomirror in the background, but then it is up to theadministrator to insure that the mirror process iscomplete.

Create a striped jfs2 partition on vg01mklv -C 2 -S 16K -t jfs2 -y vg01_lv01 \


chfs -a size=+1G /var

In each of the chfs grow filesystem examples, AIXwill automatically grow the underlying LV to theappropriate size.

Grow the /var filesystem to 1 Gigchfs -a size=1G /var

List the maximum LPs for LV fslv00lslv fslv00 | grep MAX

Increase the maximum LPs for fslv00 LVchlv -x 2048 fslv00

Create a mirrored copy of fslv08mklvcopy -k -s y fslv08 2

syncvg -l fslv08 must be run if the -k (sync now)switch is not used for mklvcopy.

Add hdisk3 and hdisk4 to the vg01 VGextendvg vg01 hdisk3 hdisk4

Mirror rootvg (on hdisk0) to hdisk1extendvg rootvg hdisk1

mirrorvg -S rootvg hdisk1

bosboot -ad hdisk0

bosboot -ad hdisk1

bootlist -m normal hdisk0 hdisk1

The -S option to mirrorvg mirrors the VG in thebackground. Running bosboot on hdisk0 is notrequired - just thorough.

vg01 400 hdisk1 hdisk2

This creates a stripe width of 2 with a (total) stripesize of 32K. This command will result in an upperbound of 2 (same as the stripe size) for the LV. Ifthis LV is to be extended to another two disks later,then the upper bound must be changed to 4 orspecified during creation. The VG in this example wasa scalable VG.

Determine VG type of VG myvglsvg myvg | grep "MAX PVs"

MAX PVs is 32 for normal, 128 for big, and 1024 forscalable VGs.

Set the system to boot to the CDROM on next bootbootlist -m normal cd0 hdisk0 hdisk1

The system will boot to one of the mirror pairs(hdisk0 or hdisk1) if the boot from the CD ROM doesnot work. This can be returned to normal byrepeating the command without cd0.

List the boot device for the next bootbootlist -m normal -o

Command reference: lspv, lsvg, lslv, mkvg, mklv,

reducevg, extendvg, mklvcopy, chvg, logform, lvmo,exportvg, importvg, varyonvg, varyoffvg, bosboot,bootlist, /etc/filesystems, crfs, chfs, lsfs, rmfs, mount,fuser, df, du

NFS

Many of the NFS commands accept the -I, -B, or -Nswitches. These three switches are used to control thepersistence of the command. -B is now and future boots,-I is future boot (but not now), and -N is now (but notnext boot). The -B option tends to be the default. The

List all exported file systemsshowmount -e

orexportfs

Temporarily export the /varuna_nfs directory


following table relates how these options modify the NFScommands:

Flag Now After Boot

-I

-B

-N

The NFS daemons are started out of /etc/inittab using

the /etc/rc.nfs script. The mknfs and rmnfs commandstoggle the inittab entries and control if the NFS systemstarts.

The "share" commands are provided for compatibility withother Unices. The share commands are links to theexportfs command.

Enable NFS daemons now, and on next startmknfs

Disable NFS daemons now, and on next startrmnfs

See if NFS will start on bootlsitab rcnfs

This command simply lists the rcnfs entry in/etc/inittab. If one exists (and is not commentedout) then the rc.nfs script will be run from inittab(and start NFS).

Start NFS daemons now, but not at next bootmknfs -N

orstartsrc -g nfs

List the status of the NFS serviceslssrc -g nfs

exportfs -i -o rw,root=vishnu:varuna \

/varuna_nfs

The root users on vishnu and varuna are given rootaccess to this share. This export was used to createa system WPAR called varuna on a LPAR calledvishnu that can be found in the WPAR section below.

Export all entries in /etc/exportsexportfs -av

(Temporarily) unexport the /proj shareexportfs -u /proj

Permanently export the /proj sharemknfsexp -d /proj -t rw

The -N, -I, and -B options are valid with thiscommand. Here, the -B is implied. If the NFS servicesare not set to re-start on boot then this export willtechnically not be "permanent" as the share, eventhough this entry is permanent, will not be enabledafter next boot.

List clients of this host with share pointsshowmount -a

Add an entry to the /etc/filesystems filemknfsmnt -f /projects -d /proj \

-h mumbai -A -E

Note that the -A and -E switches cannot be stacked(-AE). -A specifies to mount on boot and -E specifiesthe intr mount option.

Command reference: showmount, chnfs, mknfs, rmnfs,

nfso, automount, chnfsexp, chnfsmnt, exportfs, lsnfsexp,lsnfsmnt, mknfsexp, mknfsmnt, rmnfsexp, rmnfsmnt,mount

Other


The procfs is the single (default) pseudo fs. Interestingly,/proc is not used by commands like ps or topas but isused by commands like truss. Additional information on/proc can be found in the header file andthe /proc InfoCenter page.

A list of supported filesystems can be found in the/etc/vfs file.

The cdromd daemon is used to automount CD / DVDmedia. It is not enabled by default. cdromd uses the/etc/cdromd.conf file to configure default options for thecdX device such as the default mount directory.

Paging spaces are specified in the /etc/swapspaces file.The chps, mkps, rmps, and lsps commands are used tomodify / view this file.

Find your CD/DVD ROMlsdev -Cc cdrom

List all paging spaceslsps -a

Grow the hd6 paging space by 4 LPschps -s 4 hd6

The current LP count and LP/PP size can be foundusing lslv hd6.

Mount DVD media in the DVD drivemount -v udfs -o ro /dev/cd0 /mnt

Mount CD media in the CD/DVD drivemount -rv cdrfs /dev/cd0 /mnt

Both the cdrfs and udfs are different types asdefined in /etc/vfs, but both seem to work for AIXDVD media.

Command reference: chps, lsps, rmps, swapoff, swapon,

mount, umount, cdromd, cdeject, cdmount, cdcheck,cdumount, cdutil

Networking

Concepts

Ethernet devices are entX devices while enX and etXdevices represent different frame types that run on theunderlying entX device. Typically the enX device is what isplumbed on most networks and etX is not used.

Attributes of the entX device are physical layer connection

The /etc/resolv.conf uses a traditional format, but canbe managed via the namerslv and *namsv commands.The /etc/netsvc.conf file is the AIX version of thensswitch.conf file in that it determines the servicelookup order for name services.


settings such as speed and duplex as well as driversettings such as transmit and receive queue sizes.Attributes of the enX device are configurable items suchas IP address, subnet mask, and some TCP/IP tunables.

Like the enX device, the inet0 device is not a physicaldevice. It is a representation / management interface forthe Internet (networking) subsystem. The hostname,routing info and TCP/IP configuration method areattributes of this device.

Networking is typically started from /etc/rc.net usingthe settings stored in the ODM (and not from rc.tcpip).When started in this manner several helper commandsare responsible for pulling the config from the ODM andconfiguring devices. Alternatively, /etc/rc.net can beconfigured to use ifconfig commands or /etc/rc.netcan be bypassed completely and /etc/rc.bsdnet can beused instead. The setting that determines which method(rc.net or rc.bsdnet) is used is stored as an attribute tothe inet0 device. (The point here is not necessarily torecommend the use the alternative methods but to pointto where the options are set and where additionaldetails on the process can be found.)

AIX supports trunking (EtherChannel / 802.3ad), taggedVLANs (802.1q), Virtual IP addresses (VIPA), deadgateway detection (multiple default gateways), IPmultippath routing, and network adapter backup. Thenetwork adapter backup does not require EtherChannelbut is part of the smitty EtherChannel setup section.

Hostname lookup order is determined using/etc/irs.conf, then /etc/netsvc.conf and finally$NSORDER. (The order of precedence is reverse - meaning,for example, a value set in $NSORDER will be used overthe other two methods.) The irs.conf and $NSORDERmethods are typically not used.

Network related tunables can be set globally, per-interface, or per-socket connection. Most global tunablesare managed with the no command. Interface specifictunables are set on the entX or the enX devices usingthe chdev command. AIX now recognizes a ISNO(Interface Specific Network Option) flag that overridesmany of the global settings and uses the settings foreach interface over those set globally. This is animportant concept as much application documentationstill refers to the global settings while the default is nowto use the local settings. ISNO can be determined fromquerying with the no command or looking at ifconfigresults. Examples of retrieving the defaults, ranges, andcurrent values as well as setting new values are shownin the next section.

Settings for the HEA (Host Ethernet Adapter) are notalways set from the OS. Physical layer settings for thisdevice are typically set from the ASMI menus or from theHMC.

Changes were made to the AIX 6.1 network tunables.The no command will list many tunables as "restricted".IBM recommends against changing a restricted tunablefrom the default.

Management

The assumption of this section is that rc.net / ODM isused for IP configuration. If the configuration is notstored in the ODM and is configured via script then many

To view the (current) route tablenetstat -r

To view the (persistent) route table from the ODM


stored in the ODM and is configured via script then manyof these "temporary" commands could be used topersistently configure the IP settings.

The following examples also assume the use of en0 overet0.

List all Adapters in the systemlsdev -Cc adapter

List all interfaces in the systemlsdev -Cc if

Initial setup of an interfacemktcpip

Note that mktcpip has an exceptional amount ofoptions. They are not listed here because thiscommand is a prime example of when to use SMIT.See next item for more typical use.

Smitty interface to initial TCP/IP setupsmitty mktcpip

This command is usually run once for a system(typically in the post-install setup if run fromCD/DVD), additional changes can be done directly viathe chdev command or via the smitty configtcpmenu screen.

Permanently set the hostnamechdev -l inet0 -a hostname=bombay

Temporarily add a default routeroute add default 192.168.1.1

Temporarily add an address to an interfaceifconfig en0 192.168.1.2 \

netmask 255.255.255.0

Temporarily add an alias to an interfaceifconfig en0 192.168.1.3 \

netmask 255.255.255.0 alias

To permanently add an IP address to en1chdev -l en1 -a netaddr=192.168.1.1 \

To view the (persistent) route table from the ODMlsattr -EHl inet0 -a route

Add an entry for "rhodes" to the hosts filehostent -a 192.168.1.101 \

-h "rhodes.favorite.com rhodes"

The hostent is a command for editing the /etc/hostsfile. Most edits on this file are done by hand. Thehostent command is mentioned here first for itspotential use as a scripting tool, but also as anexample of the pervasive tool-managed nature ofAIX.

List all services represented by inetdlssrc -ls inetd

List all open, and in use TCP and UDP portsnetstat -anf inet

List all LISTENing TCP portsnetstat -na | grep LISTEN

Flush the netcd DNS cachenetcdctrl -t dns -e hosts -f

Get (long) statistics for the ent0 deviceentstat -d ent0

ornetstat -v ent0

Remove the -d option from entstat for shorterresults. The output of entstat varies by device type.Virtual, physical, and IVE (LHEA) devices all producedifferent results. Use caution and test throughlywhen scripting this command.

List all network tunablesno -a

List all tunable settings in long formatno -L

The "long" format is more readable as well asdisplaying current, default, persistent, min and maxvalues.


-a netmask=0xffffff00

Permanently add an alias to an interfacechdev -l en0 -a \

alias4=192.168.1.3,255.255.255.0

Remove a permanently added alias from an interfacechdev -l en0 -a \

delalias4=192.168.1.3,255.255.255.0

Remove all TCP/IP configuration from a hostrmtcpip

View the settings on inet0lsattr -El inet0

This can be run for ent0 and en0 as well. Thesesettings are typically stored in the ODM objectrepository CuAt and are retrievable via odmget -qname=inet0 CuAt.

Determine if rc.bsdnet is used over rc.netlsattr -El inet0 -a bootup_option

Find actual (negotiated) speed, duplex, and linkentstat -d ent0

The interface must be up (ifconfig en0 up) for statsto be valid. The netstat -v ent0 command givessimilar results.

Set (desired) speed is found through the entX devicelsattr -El ent0 -a media_speed

Set the ent0 link to Gig full duplexchdev -l ent0 -a \

media_speed=1000_Full_Duplex -P

Auto_Negotiation is another option (see the nextexample).

View all configurable options for speed and duplexlsattr -Rl ent0 -a media_speed

Find the MTU of an interfacenetstat -I en0

values.Get a description of the use_isno tunableno -h use_isno

These descriptions were expanded in AIX 6.1.Additionally many will be listed as restricted wherethey were not in previous versions.

Turn off Interface Specific Network Optionsno -p -o use_isno=0

The following tcpdump examples are simplistic and limited,an extended usage description for tcpdump is beyond thescope of this document. The intent is to give a few easyexamples that can be expanded to the users needs.Additional help with filter expressions and command lineoptions is available on the tcpdump InfoCenter page.Also note that while efforts have been made to accountfor line wraps in the printed version, these commandsremain un-wrapped for readability.

Watch all telnet packets from aachentcpdump -Nq 'host aachen and (port telnet)'

-N gives short host names.Watch connect requeststcpdump -q 'tcp[tcpflags] & tcp-syn != 0'

-q gives abbreviated packet info.Watch all connection requests to port 23tcpdump -q 'tcp[tcpflags] & tcp-syn != 0 and port

telnet'

Command reference: mktcpip, rmtcpip, ifconfig, netcdctrl,

no, tcpdump, chdev, lsattr, entstat, netstat, route, host,hostname


System Configuration & Management

Devices

Physical device to /dev device representations aremapped via ODM database entries. Actual locations ofdevices can be retrieved using the lscfg or lsdevcommands. The mapping provided by the ODM provides apersistent binding for device names across boots of thesystem.

The mapping of physical devices to the logical devices in/dev is an automated process performed by theoperating system. It is typically not required to move orotherwise re-order these devices. In a highly dynamicenvironment where devices are added and removed, itmay be advantageous to clear previous instances of adevice from the ODM and /dev directory.

New devices are added to the system with the cfgmgrcommand. Logical instances of of devices can beremoved from the system via the rmdev command. rmdevsimply tells the system to forget the device, so unless thephysical device is actually removed it will simply be foundand re-created when the cfgmgr command is run again(e.g. at next boot).

Device support requires that the appropriate packages(drivers) are installed for each device. The default AIXinstall includes support for devices not on the system. Ifa device is newer or a minimal OS install was done thensupport may not be included for new devices. In thiscase the cfgmgr command will flag an error that anunsupported device has been found.

Device configuration options are stored in the pre-defineddevice databases of the ODM. Information about actualdevices are stored in the configured device databases of

Get device address of hdisk1getconf DISK_DEVNAME hdisk1

orbootinfo -o hdisk1

This is the same information available from othercommands, just not requiring greping or awking toretrieve this specific data. bootinfo is not officiallysupported as an administrative command.

Get the size (in MB) of hdisk1getconf DISK_SIZE /dev/hdisk1

orbootinfo -s hdisk1

Note that a full path to the device is required for thegetconf version.

Find the possible parent devices of hdisk0lsparent -Cl hdisk0

This lists all devices that support that device type,not the specific parent of this device. See thefollowing lsdev examples for methods of findingparent devices.

List all child devices of scsi1lsdev -Cp scsi1

List all disks belonging to scsi1lsdev -Cc disk -p scsi1

Test if hdisk2 is a child device of scsi2lsdev -Cp scsi2 -l hdisk2

This command will list all devices that meet thecriteria of being hdisk2 and belonging to scsi2.Either it will list a device or it will not.

Find the location of an Ethernet adapter


the ODM. These configured options include instances andwell as configuration options to the devices / drivers.

The lsdev command is used to list devices in thepredefined and configured device (ODM) databases. Thelscfg command is used to display VPD (Vital ProductData) information about each device. To find all devicesthe system knows or has configured at one time use thelsdev command. To search for a device by a specific type,class, parent device or other complex criteria use thelsdev command. To find the serial number or devicespecific identifier of a device use the lscfg command.

List all devices on a systemlsdev

lsdev queries the predefined or configureddatabases using the -P and -C flags respectively. Inthis case the -C flag is implied. Addition of the -Hoption includes column header info.

List all disk devices on a systemlsdev -Cc disk

See next example for a list of potential classes asarguments to the -c option.

List all customized device classeslsdev -Cr class

Customized device classes mean that they exist (orhave existed) on the system. For a list of predefineddevices (ones that AIX could support) change the -Coption for -P.

List locations of all hdisks in the systemlscfg -l 'hdisk*'

This can be accomplished via the lsdev command.The point here is to show the use of wildcards in alscfg option.

Remove hdisk5

Find the location of an Ethernet adapterlscfg -l ent1

Find device specific info of an Ethernet adapterlscfg -vl ent1

One key piece of device specific info would be theMAC address. This command works for HBAs andother addressed adapters. The *stat commandsalso tend to return addresses, often formatted in amore readable manner. See the next example for anHBA / with the grep command to isolate the address.

Find the WWN of the fcs0 HBA adapterlscfg -vl fcs0 | grep Network

Get statistics and extended information on HBA fcs0fcstat fcs0

Similar *stat commands exist for numerous types ofdevices such as entstat, ibstat, tokstat, fddistat,etc..

List all MPIO paths for hdisk0lspath -l hdisk0

Temporarily change console output to /cons.outswcons /cons.out

Use swcons to change back.Find the slot of a PCI Ethernet adapterlsslot -c pci -l ent0

The lsslot command is used to find cards that arehot-swappable. Not all systems will support thiscommand.

Command reference: lsdev, lsparent, lscfg, lsattr, chdev,

rmdev, cfgmgr, lscons, swcons, fcstat, entstat, ibstat,getconf getconf, lsslot, drslot


rmdev -dl hdisk5

The -d option removes the configured device entryfrom the ODM. Unless the device is physicallyremoved, cfgmgr will bring it back.

SMIT (System Management Interface Tool)

SMIT is a system management tool that assists theadministrator with AIX utilities by providing an ASCII(curses) / X-Window GUI interface to those tools. SMITprovides pick lists and menus for command line optionsto AIX tools. The interface is designed to aid withrecognition of more obscure switches, provide additionalsecurity & accounting, and perform some validation onthe input to those commands.

The SMIT interface is not a monolithic binary, but anextensible framework of screens that relies uponunderlying OS commands to do the work. Each SMITscreen is stored as a collection of ODM objects in SMITspecific object classes.

Stepping through the complex menu system can beavoided by jumping directly to a screen when a fastpathis specified when SMIT is invoked. Fast paths are singleword (no spaces) phrases that typically are thecommand that will be run in that screen. The fast pathfor the current screen can be determined by using the F8key while in that screen.

Sample fastpaths:

mktcpip Initial TCP/IP setup

lvm Root of the LVM menus

mkuser Screen to add a user

pgsp Root of the paging space menus

_nfs Root of NFS menus

SMIT can be invoked from the command line using smit orsmitty. smit will start either the curses based version orthe X Window version depending upon the presence ofthe X Window system. smitty will always start thecurses (tty) version.

Additional information on customizing the SMIT interfacecan be found on the "Extending SMIT For CommonLocalized Tasks" page.

Key sequences (for the curses version)

F3 (Esc-3) Exit current screen

F4 (Esc-4) Generate a pop-up list that can be chosen from

F6 (Esc-6) List the command that will be run

F5 (Esc-5) Reset the field to the original / default value

F8 (Esc-8) Show the fast-path tag for this screen

F10 (Esc-0) Exit SMIT

/phrase Search for phrase in a list

n Used to find the next occourence of the searchphrase

Tab Used to alternatively select items from a "ring"(a short list).

Symbols that denote field data requirements:

* This is a required field

# This field requires a numeric value


subserver inetd config

mpio Root screen for all MPIO operations

etherchannel Root of EtherChannel / 802.3ad memus

chgenet Configure paramaters on the ent device(s)

vlan Root of menus to manage VLAN configurations

mkvg Beginning screen to create a new VG

SMIT will save a script of runnable commands in~/smit.script and ~/smit.transaction as well as a logof commands run in ~/smit.log. When invoked with the -x switch, SMIT will not run any of the commands but willwrite the commands it would run to ~/smit.script and~/smit.transaction. (Note: With the -x switch SMIT willstill run the discovery commands to build lists and finddefault/existing values but not the action commands.)

# This field requires a numeric value

/ This field requires a path

X This field requires a hexadecimal number

? The data entered will not be displayed

+ Data can be retrieved from a list

SRC

The SRC (System Resource Controller) is a processmanager that is used to spawn, monitor, and controlservices. Many of the standard Unix daemons aremanaged via this interface on AIX.

SRC does not have a persistent "service profile" andtherefore does not comprehend persistence beyond thecurrent boot. For this reason, it is necessary to findwhere the service is started and add or remove thestartsrc (service start) command there. The mostpopular locations for this are rc.tcp and inittab.

SRC controlled processes must be started and stoppedvia the SRC interface. If a SRC process dies or is killedthe srcmstr daemon will re-spawn that process and logan error to the system error log.

The core process for SRC (srcmstr) is spawned from

Start the cdromd servicestartsrc -s cdromd

There is not a persistent flag for the startsrccommand. For this service to automatically start onthe next boot, a change must be made to one of thesystem initialization files. In this case, an entry mustbe made in /etc/initttab.

Stop the cdromd servicestopsrc -s cdromd

Send a refresh request to the syslogd servicerefresh -s syslogd

This would typically be communicated via a HUPsignal. Not all SRC controlled processes respond to arefresh request and may require a HUP signal.


/etc/initttab. Services that run under SRC control donot leave their process group (ie: have a PPID of 1), butinstead, stay children of srcmstr.

List the status of the cdromd servicelssrc -s cdromd

List the status of inetd subserviceslssrc -l -s inetd

List the status of all members of the NFS grouplssrc -g nfs

Command reference: lssrc, startsrc, stopsrc, refresh,

srcmstr

Performance / Kernel / Tuning

The primary statistics provider for most basic performancecommands on AIX is the Perfstat API / kernel extension(See /usr/include/libperfstat.h.) This API supportsmost non-trace based performance related tools.

The trace-based tools (denoted by a "T" in the list below)utilize the trace facility. These tools generate significantlymore detail than the perfstat based tools. Unfortunatelythe level of detail provided by these tools comes at theexpense of performance. Caution should be used whenrunning these tools on a production system.

AIX 6.1 introduced probevue, a lightweight dynamic tracefacility that provides trace-like insight but with a minimalperformance impact. The probevue command utilizesscripts written in the Vue language to define whatevents to capture data on and how to report that data.Additional information can be found on the ProbeVuepage.

With the introduction of Micro-partitions many commandswere modified both to account for performance statisticgathering in the virtualized environment as well asreporting virtual statistics. When WPARs were introducedmany commands were extended to report per-WPAR or

splat - [T] Simple Performance Lock Analysis Tool.Provides lock statistics. Must be run on asystem booted with lock trace reportingenabled.

spray - Network load generation tool using a remotesprayd daemon. Requires the RPC daemon(rpc-sprayd) to be registered.

svmon - Displays general to detailed reports of VMusage on the system as a whole or forindividual processes.

tcpdump - Capture network packets. Packets can befiltered by type, port, interface, address, orother criteria. Packets can be captured withdetail or in summary. See examples at theend of the networking examples section.

topas - topas is a curses-based, interactive, multi-area, general performance reporting tool.topas is often the first tool used in aperformance tuning exercise. New topasusers may find useful info on the localintroduction to topas page.


WPAR specific statistics. The WPAR specific options aretypically enabled with the -@ switch. Commands in thefollowing list that support this option are marked withthe "@" symbol.

The *o commands (vmo, schedo, no, nfso, raso, ioo, andlvmo) are used to view and set system related tunables.Persistent tunables are saved in/etc/tunables/nextboot. Some persistent tunables areinserted in and set from the BLV (therefore they requirethat bosboot run to set the value for next boot.

The following is a list of general and lower-level systemcommands for performance and diagnostics:

atmstat - Show statistics and device details for ATMadapters

curt - [T@] CPU Utilization Reporting Tool. A tracebased tool for monitoring CPU activity.

entstat - Show statistics and device details forEthernet adapters

fcstat - Show statistics and device details for FCHBAs

fddistat - Show statistics and device details for FDDIadapters

fileplace - Show fragmentation and block / fs usage fora file.

filemon - [T@] Generate a report of advanced /detailed disk statistics that highlights whereI/O was generated and what generated it.

gprof - Generate profiling statistics for a binary.

iostat - [@] Supports I/O statistics on multipledevice types, but used primarily as a firstline disk I/O statistic reporting tool.

ipcrm - [@] Remove IPC (InterProcess

introduction to topas page.

tprof - [T@] A trace based profiling tool.

truss - Reports syscall, signals, and most aspects ofsystem interaction by a process.

uptime - Reports system uptime as well as 1, 5, and15 minute system load averages.

vmstat - [@] Report statistics from the virtual memorysubsystem.

Note: The examples section is not meant to be

comprehensive or even well representative of theavailable options and performance monitoring methods.The scope and design of this page does not allow for afull treatment of the performance tools. Each sectionrequires a careful selection of the command examplesand information that is of use. This section requiressignificantly more abbreviation to fit in a reasonablespace. The goal has been to give a mix of some commonexamples along with some that are slightly atypical.

Most iterative commands here use two second intervals.This is done only to make them consistent when showingthe iterative options.

List processes in ptree-like outputps -T1

List all file opens for the ls processtruss -topen ls

List all file opens for a running PIDtruss -topen -p 274676

274676 is simply a PID that was active on thesystem when I created the example.

List all open files for a running PIDprocfiles -n 274676

List all memory segments for a running PID


ipcrm - [@] Remove IPC (InterProcessCommunication) semaphores, messagequeues, and shared memory segments

ipcs - [@] List IPC (InterProcess Communication)semaphores, message queues, and sharedmemory segments

iptrace - Network packet tracing daemon. Results canbe viewed with ipreport

istat - A command line stat() tool. It gives similarinfo to ls but in potentially more scriptableoutput.

kdb - An interactive user-space command forviewing kernel structures, memory locations,tables, etc... from a running system or adump of the kernel.

lparstat - [@] Reports per-LPAR statistics - primarilymemory and CPU utilization. Also reportsvirtualization-aware statistics such asentitlement consumption and hypervisorcalls. The WPAR flag on this command is -Wnot -@.

lvmstat - Reports I/O statistics on VG structures (asopposed to per-disk statistics). Statisticsgathering must be enabled with the -eswitch before use.

mpstat - [@] Reports performance statistics such asinterrupts, context switches, min/maj faults,system calls, and processor affinity.

netpmon - [T@] Reports detailed network, socket, andNFS related statistics over an interval.

netstat - [@] Show networking status for TCP/UDPthrough physical layers.

pmcycles - A tool to measure actual CPU speed(presumably for CPUs that may go into

svmon -P 274676

Get a filename for an inode from previous resultsncheck -i 1041 /dev/hd4

Once again, this example is of a local (to thissystem) inode value. In this case svmon returned theinode and filesystem of the file - the actual filenamewas desired.

Enable advanced statistics gathering on VG datavglvmstat -v datavg -e

Use -e to enable, -d to disable.Monitor network throughput for ent0while [ 1 ] ; do entstat -r ent0 | grep Bytes ;

sleep 2 ; done

First column is transmit and second is receive. This isa non-curses based example, see the next examplefor a topas based solution.

Monitor network throughput for all interfacestopas -E

Paging - in usesvmon -i 2

The -i 2 parameter tells to iterate every twoseconds.

Paging - activityvmstat 2

Show top-like CPU usage by processtopas -P

Show system wide CPU usagempstat 2

Get NFS server statisticswhile [ 1 ] ; do nfsstat -s ; sleep 2 ; done

Generate CPU loaddd if=/dev/random of=/dev/null

List I/O stats organized by adapteriostat -a 2


(presumably for CPUs that may go intopower save).

pprof - [T@] Reports detailed statistics on kernelthreads.

probevue - Lightweight dynamic tracing tool that utilizesthe Vue language. Additional ProbeVueresources are available locally on theProbeVue page.

ps - [@] List processes

pstat - Show the contents of several system tablesfrom a core file or active kernel.

rmss - Tool to simulate a reduced memory footprintfor an application. Running the LPAR withreduced memory may be a more popularalternative to this command.

Get extended I/O stats on just two disksiostat -D hdisk0 hdisk1 2

List I/O stats by file systemiostat -F 2

Not supported on 5.3Show network statistics for interfacesnetstat 2

ODM

The ODM (Object Data Manager) is a database store forsystem information on AIX. The ODM is primarily used forsystem items such as device instances and theconfiguration options for those devices but may also beused for applications such as SMIT.

The ODM is a collection of object classes (files) that areprimarily in /etc/objrepos but also stored in/usr/lib/objrepos, /usr/share/lib/objrepos and theBLV. The copy and/or location of the ODM to use isspecified either by an application or the ODMDIR / ODMPATHenvironmental variables. For example, the SMIT screensare stored in object classes in /usr/lib/objrepos butcan be stored in an alternate ODM source. See the "Extending SMIT For Common Localized

Tasks" page for info on using an alternate ODMsource for SMIT.

Object classes are implemented as one or two filesdepending upon the data types used in the definition ofthe object class. The primary file has the same name asthe object class. An optional file ending in .vc is used forvariable length and multi-byte nchar data. The ODM datafiles are not recognized by the file command so I haveincluded a sample MAGIC for both file types.

0 long 0x000dcfac ODM data file0 long 0x000caa1c ODM variable data file

MAGIC entries for ODM files

Many introductions to the ODM use typical databaseexamples to show how data is stored and retrieved.While this is useful for understanding the structure of anobject class it is counter-productive in that it masks what


While applications can create object classes anywherethey wish, the system object classes primarily exist inthe three directories listed in the previous point. This isdone to separate data based upon the type of filesystemit is in. Data that is specific to a system is stored in/etc/objrepos. Platform specific data that can be sharedacross systems (such as a network boot) is stored in/usr/lib/objrepos. Platform independent data that canbe share across systems is stored in/usr/share/lib/objrepos. One example of this is the lppobject class that exists in all three locations. The lslpp -l will query each of these object classes and displayeach in its own group.

The primary benefits of the ODM is that it stores complexdata, enforces data types on that data, and provides arich API / set of command line utilities to access it. TheAPI supports locking that insures a view consistency thatis not guaranteed with flat files.

When mapping ODM to database concepts, an ODMobject class is the equivalent of a database table, and isimplemented as one or more files. An ODM object wouldbe a row in that table. An object descriptor would be theequivalent of a database column definition.

The ODM supports relations in the form of the "link" datatype. It does not allow for joins of the data, nor does itenforce referential integrity during inserts. The ODM doesnot enforce a primary key, specifically the uniqueconstraint of a key. For this reason, it is possible to haveduplicate objects in a object class.

ODM command line tools:

odmget Query data from an ODM object class. Specificqueries are supported with the -q option, but it isnot possible to limit results to specific "columns"without using another command like grep. If thequery string is omitted, then all data will be

object class it is counter-productive in that it masks whatis really stored in the ODM. Another method of learningthe ODM is to use the truss-query method. This meansthat you wrap a command in truss (truss -topen) tocapture the file opens, then query the resulting objectclasses for the data they contain.

The ODM command line tools work on two differentformats of input/output from the object classes. Thestructure of the object classes are defined in a syntaxthat is very similar to a C struct. Actual object data isstructured in a stanza format.

class my_object_class { short descriptor1; short descriptor2; vchar text[1024];};

Example of odmcreate/odmshow struct. (Nonsensical table withtwo short int(eger)s and a string.)

CuAt: name = "inet0" attribute = "hostname" value = "mumbai" type = "R" generic = "DU" rep = "s" nls_index = 24

Example of odmadd/odmget stanza syntax. (Actual output from asystem.)

Steps to shrink an ODM object class called "Bloat"odmshow Bloat > Bloat.definition

odmget Bloat > Bloat.data

odmcreate Bloat.definition


query string is omitted, then all data will bereturned. (This is an effecive way to back up thedata from the object class.) The data will bereturned in the odmadd/odmget stanza format.

odmadd Insert data into an ODM object class. The datamust be in the odmadd/odmget stanza format.Because null values are not allowed, all"columns" must be filled with appropriate data.

odmchange Change data in an ODM object class. A querysyntax allows the user to specify a limited set ofobjects (rows). The data changed is specified in aodmadd/odmget stanza format. The stanza filedoes not need to be complete as only thedescriptors (columns) present in the stanza filewill be changed in each matched object.

odmcreate Creates an ODM object class based upon anodmcreate/odmshow "struct" file. The ODM filewill be created in the default directory. Existingobject classes with the same name will beoverwritten without warning.

odmdelete Will delete objects (rows) from an ODM objectclass. The -q query syntax is supported to limitthe objects deleted. If the query is omitted, allitems will be deleted. Selective delete operationscan lead to bloated object class files.

odmdrop Deletes an entire ODM object class. All objects(rows) and the object class itself will be deleted.All object class files are deleted. Future queriesto this object class will fail.

odmshow Create a odmcreate/odmshow struct outputbased upon the description of the ODM objectclass. The results will define each descriptor(column) in the object class (table) as well ashave other data related to the current contents ofthe object class in comment format. This outputcan be used to re-create an empty object class

odmadd Bloat.data

odmshow saves the table definition. odmget saves thetable data. odmcreate re-creates the table. odmaddrestores the data. This is not a popular task on AIX.The example here is more to relate the purposes ofthe commands and give some insight into how theycan be used.

Determine the ODM files opened by lsattrtruss -topen lsattr -El inet0

Query CuAt for the inet0 configodmget -o CuAt -q name=inet0

The SMIT customization page has more ODM command

examples. Command reference: odmget, odmadd, odmchange,

odmcreate, odmdelete, odmdrop, odmshow


using the odmcreate command.

Software Management

A fileset is the smallest manageable component in theLPP (Licensed Program Product) hierarchy. A package is acollection of related filesets. An LPP is a group ofpackages that tend to fall within one product type, suchas "bos" - the base operating system.

Filesets are divided by what part of the system theyinstall to. This is either "root", "usr", or "share". Thesedivisions are determined by install location as well asplatform dependence / independence. Use the lslpp -Oflag with r, u, or s options to list filesets from only onelocation. (Additional discussion of this is found in theODM section and the three separate lpp ODM datastores - one for each fileset install location.)

Most administrators perform installs via the SMIT or NIMmethods. SMIT is most popular for simple one-off installsand smaller environments. Use of installp directly fromthe command line is significantly more complex than SMITor NIM.

The most popular SMIT fast paths are install_latestand update_all. The install fast path requires that apackage repository be specified on the first screen thenpresents the user with a screen of install options toinclude the option to browse and select from thesupplied repository.

Bundles are simply formatted lists of packages to beinstalled as a unit. Bundle files are stored locally in/usr/sys/inst.data/sys_bundles and/usr/sys/inst.data/user_bundles. Bundles can beinstalled using the smitty easy_install command.

Filesets can be installed in the applied or committed

List all software packages on /dev/cd0installp -l -d /dev/cd0

It is not necessary to explicitly mount /dev/cd0. Theinstallp command will do it automatically. None ofthe examples using /dev/cd0 (including SMIT) in thissection require the explicit mounting of the CD/DVDROM.

List the software in the default repository locationinstallp -ld /usr/sys/inst.images

List all RPM packages on the systemrpm -qa

List all files in the installed gcc RPMrpm -ql gcc-4.2.0-3

List all filesets that are applied, and can be committed orrejectedinstallp -s

List packages on media in /dev/cd0gencopy -Ld /dev/cd0

Copy contents of CD to local directorygencopy -d /dev/cd0 -t /proj/instsrc \

-UX all

Copy contents of CD to default local directorygencopy -d /dev/cd0 -UX all

Download AIX 5.3 TL10 updates to local repositorysuma -x -a Action=Download \

-a RqType=TL -a RqName=5300-10

The updates will be placed in the default localrepository in /usr/sys/inst.images.

Install the mkinstallp toolinstallp -acgXYd /usr/sys/inst.images \


states. Applied filesets retain previous versions and canbe rolled back to the previous version (rejected). Thefirst version of a fileset installed on a system is alwayscommitted.

SUMA (Service Update Management Assistant) is amethod to automate the retrieval of system updatesfrom the Internet.

List all installed filesets separated by filesystem typelslpp -l

List all installed filesets with combined filesystem infolslpp -L

Adding the -c option will make this output scriptablein that it will be colon delimited. See the nextexample.

List just the filesets on a systemlslpp -Lc | cut -d : -f 2

List all files in the bos.mp64 filesetlslpp -f bos.mp64

List all files in the root part of bos.rte.shelllslpp -Or -f bos.rte.shell

List what known fileset provides kshwhich_fileset ksh

List the installed fileset that provides /usr/bin/kshlslpp -w /usr/bin/ksh

*ksh* would have worked, but more results.

installp -acgXYd /usr/sys/inst.images \

bos.adt.insttools

The options are:-a Apply-c Commit-g Install prerequsites-X Extend filesystems if necessary-Y Agree to licenses-d Specify a sourcebos.adt.insttools pagkage to install

Backup the rootvgmksysb -eivX /mnt/bombay.mksysb

The options are:-e Exclude files listed in /etc/exclude.rootvg-i Create an /image.data file-v List files as they are backed up-X Extend /tmp if necessary/mnt/bombay.mksysb The file to create

As this command will back up all mounted filesystemsin rootvg it is necessary to account for the potentialsize of this file. The root user has a file size limit(fsize) and can be temporarily disabled with ulimit-f unlimited

Command reference: installp, inutoc, lslpp, emgr,

gencopy, suma, mksysb

Users / Groups

AIX users and groups have an administrative attributethat determines who can make changes to that user or


that determines who can make changes to that user orgroup. Only the root user (or equivalent RBAC role) canmodify a user or group that has the admin attribute set.Regular, non-admin accounts, may be modified bymembers of the security group. Non-admin groups canhave group administrators (that are not part of thesecurity group) that can modify the group members.

The following is a table that represents how the adminattribute of a user/group effects who can modify thatitem:

adminattribute =

rootuser

securitygroup

users on the groupadms list

user true Yes No N/A

false Yes Yes N/A

group true Yes No No

false Yes Yes Yes

RBAC (Role Based ACcounting) is a natural maturation

from using simple SUID/SGID binaries to a more granularmethod of granting privileges to users to accomplishtasks. Legacy RBAC was introduced in AIX 4.2.1, and wasupgraded to Enhanced RBAC in AIX 6.1. This documentrefers to the Enhanced version of RBAC and onlymentions Legacy RBAC in contrast where appropriate.

Legacy RBAC was a simplified method to divide root tasksinto groups and give non-root users ability to performthose tasks. This was done with traditional SUID/SGIDapplications that then checked to see if the user wasassigned the privilege before the task was attempted.As a result, it required specialized binaries that werepotentially open to exploit because the processes theyspawned still had effective root access. The benefit wasthe more granular division of responsibilities that RBACpromises. Unfortunately, Legacy RBAC was not sufficient

Relationship between RBAC files.

Create an admin group called wfavorit with GID 501


to change many administrator's minds on the use of rootfor all tasks administrative.

Enhanced RBAC does not rely upon SUID/SGIDapplications but instead allows for granular permissionsbased upon the users role membership and only thepermissions required to complete the task. The kernelonly allows authorizations to non-root users for veryspecific actions instead of relying on the application codeto grant that access.

A user is assigned a role that aligns with anadministrative task such as the ability to restart (orshutdown) the system. The role is a grouping methodthat defines all authorizations that are required toaccomplish that type of task. Commands, files, anddevices are added to priv* files that define whatauthorizations are required to perform that specific taskor access that file / device. When a command is run, therequired authorizations are checked against theauthorizations assigned to roles for the user running thecommand. If the user lacks sufficient access thenpermission is denied.

The following table lists the key configuration files in theEnhanced RBAC system, the commands used toaccess/modify those files and what the files are for.

user.roles chusermkuserlsuser

Provides a mapping betweenexisting users and existing roles -both of which are definedelsewhere.

roles chrolemkrolelsrolermrole

Defines roles as either a group ofauthorizations or of sub-roles.

authorizations mkauthchauthlsauth

Defines user created authorizations.System authorizations are definedelsewhere.

Create an admin group called wfavorit with GID 501mkgroup -a id=501 wfavorit

List the attributes of the just-created group wfavoritlsgroup wfavorit

Create an admin user called wfavorit with UID 501mkuser -a id=501 shell=/usr/bin/ksh \

home=/home/wfavorit pgrp=wfavorit \

wfavorit

Set the password for user wfavorit (run as privileged user)pwdadm wfavorit or passwd wfavorit

Add wfavorit as member of the security groupchgrpmem -m + wfavorit security

Make a group with wfavorit as the adminmkgroup adms=wfavorit favorite

Make wfavorit an administrator of the proj groupchgrpmem -a + wfavorit proj

List all users on the systemlsuser -a ALL

The -a switch lists specific attributes, but in this caseit is empty and only the user names are displayed.See other lsuser examples in this section for otheruses of the -a switch.

List all admin users on the systemlsuser -a admin ALL | grep =true

List attributes for user wfavorit in a stanza formatlsuser -f wfavorit

List login history for user wfavoritlast wfavorit

List the fsize ulimit for user wfavoritlsuser -a fsize wfavorit

Change the file size ulimit to unlimited for wfavoritchuser fsize=-1 wfavorit

List all groups and their IDslsgroup -a id ALL

List all members of the favorite group


rmauth

privcmds setsecattrlssecattrrmsecattr

Lists all authorizations that arerequired for a command to completeits task.

privfiles setsecattrlssecattrrmsecattr

Lists all authorizations that arerequired to read or write to a file.

privdevs setsecattrlssecattrrmsecattr

Lists all authorizations that arerequired to read or write to adevice.

The user environmental variables are stored in/etc/environment and /etc/security/environ. Thevariables set in /etc/environment are given to all usersand processes while the settings in/etc/security/environ are per-user.

User limits are set for login processes from the/etc/security/limits file. The chuser command can beused to modify this file.

The default options for the mkuser command are stored in/usr/lib/security/mkuser.default.

The /etc/security/passwd file is the shadow passwordfile.

The last command returns login information for thesystem (from the /var/adm/wtmp file. The/etc/security/lastlog file contains per-user informationon each users login attempts.

chgrpmem favorite

User / Group admin command reference: mkuser, chuser,

rmuser, lsuser, pwdadm, mkgroup, chgroup, rmgroup,lsgroup, chgrpmem, usrck, grpck, pwdck

RBAC command reference: setkst, chrole, mkrole, lsrole,rmrole, mkauth, chauth, lsauth, rmauth, ckauth,setsecattr, lssecattr, rmsecattr

User command reference: users, w, who, whoami,whodo, id, chsh, passwd, setgroups, ulimit, setsenv,last, finger

Other

Boot Process

The normal numbers represent what you see as the step cfgcon configures console c31


begins. The red numbers are error codes when thatcommand / step fails. This is not a complete list of errorcodes. A more complete set can be found in DiagnosticInformation for Multiple Bus Systems.

Power on

Hardware initialization

Retrieve bootlist from NVRAM

Locate BLV and load into memory 20EE000B

Kernel initializes and mounts RAM FS

Phase 1 (rc.boot 1)

RAM FS is resized

Logging begins

restbase copies ODM to RAM FS 548

cfgmgr configures base devices in ODM 510

bootinfo determines boot device 511,554

Phase 2 (rc.boot 2)

ipl_varyon varies on rootvg 551,552,554,556

fsck of / 517,555

mount of / 517,557

fsck & mount of /usr 517,518

fsck & mount of /var 517,518

copycore, umount /var 517

swapon /dev/hd6 517

RAM FS version of ODM copied to/etc/objrepos

517

cfgcon configures console c31

(cfgcon exit codes. c33 is assumed here) c32, c33, or

c34

System hang detection is started c33

Graphical desktop is (optionally) started

savebase updates ODM copy on BLV 530

syncd & errdemon started

System LED is turned off

rm -f /etc/nologin

Start several optional services

log: "System initialization completed"

Phase 3 complete, init continues processinginittab

The previous boot process listing is for a normal diskboot. This will vary for network, tape, and CD boots.Read the contents of /sbin/rc.boot for specifics on eachboot device method and type (normal or service).

The boot order is stored in NVRAM. The settings are setand retrieved using the bootlist command.

The BLV (Boot Logical Volume) is /dev/hd5. It is created /updated with the bosboot command.

bosboot updates the boot record at the start of the disk,copies the SOFTROS from /usr/lib/boot/aixmon.chrp,copies the bootexpand utility, copies the kernel from/unix, creates a copy of the RAM FS from the list of filesin /usr/lib/boot/chrp.disk.proto, and creates a baseODM.


/etc/objrepos

RAM FS version of /dev copied to disk 517

mount /var 517,518

Actual boot log written to (from RAM FSversion)

517

rc.boot 2 is finished 553

Kernel changes root from RAM FS to disk 553

Phase 3 553

Kernel invokes init from rootvg 553

init invokes rc.boot 3 553

fsck & mount of /tmp 517,518

syncvg -v rootvg & 517

Load streams modules 517

Configure secondary dump device 517

cfgmgr -p2 (Normal) or cfgmgr -p3(Service)

517, 521-529

Continued

Layout of a bootable disk with hd5 shown.

The kernel loaded from hd5 (the BLV) is the kernel thesystem will run under for the entirety of the boot (untilthe system is shutdown or restarted). For this reason itis important to re-run bosboot every time that the kernelis updated or some boot-time kernel options are set.

This is an abbreviated list of boot codes. cfgmgr (alone)produces numerous display messages and potentialerror codes, far more than is practical to display here.

Command reference: bosboot, bootlist

Error Logging

AIX has three error logging and reporting methods; alog,errlog, and syslog. The alog is an extensible collection oflogs, but primarily is used for boot and console logging.errlog is used primarily for system and hardwaremessages. syslog is the traditional logging method.

HMC managed systems will also have a log of serviceableevents relating to all systems on that HMC.

Both errpt and alog keep binary circular logs. For thisreason, neither requires the rotation process that isused for syslog logs.

A curses based error log browser can be found locally on

Write a message to the errlogerrlogger "This is not Solaris!"

Display the entire contents of the errlogerrpt

Add -a or -A for varying levels of verbosity.Clear all entries from the errlogerrclear 0

Clear all entries from the errlog up to 7 days agoerrclear 7

List info on error ID FE2DEE00errpt -aDj FE2DEE00


the errbr page. The AIX syslog.conf uses *.debug for all, not *.* The following alog examples use the boot log as an

example. These examples are transferable to any of theother existing logs as well as those created in additionto the AIX supplied logs.

List all logs alog knows aboutalog -L

Dump the contents of the boot log to stdoutalog -o -t boot

Send the current date to the boot logdate | alog -t boot

Increase the size of the boot log to twice the default.alog -C -t boot -s 8192

Note: This changes the definition in the ODM, thesize will be applied the next time that the log is re-created.

Clear the boot logrm /var/adm/ras/bootlog

echo "boot log cleared on `date`" \

| alog -t boot

Find the current alog file size setting for the boot logodmget -q attribute="boot_logsize" \

SWservAt

errpt -aDj FE2DEE00

The ID is from the IDENTIFIER column in errptoutput.

Put a "tail" on the error logerrpt -c

List all errors that happened todayerrpt -s `date +%m%d0000%y`

List all errors on hdisk0errpt -N hdisk0

To list details about the error log/usr/lib/errdemon -l

To change the size of the error log to 2 MB/usr/lib/errdemon -s 2097152

syslog.conf line to send all messages to a log file*.debug /var/log/messages

syslog.conf line to send all messages to error log*.debug errlog

Command reference: alog, errpt, errlogger, errdemon,

errclear

WPAR

WPARs (Workload PARtitions) are an AIX 6.1 feature thatcan be used to capture a process tree and lock it into itsown environment. An AIX system can host multipleWPARs that each appear to be nearly identical to aregular system. All processes in the WPAR are subject tothe environment of that WPAR such as devices,

Create the rudra WPAR with default optionsmkwpar -n rudra

This command will pull the IP configuration for rudafrom DNS. Naturally, rudra must be defined in DNSfor the global environment to find.

Start the rudra WPAR


filesystems, configurations, and networking unique tothat WPAR.

There are two types of WPARs, system and application.The key differences are that a system WPAR begins atthe init process while an application WPAR begins atthe application process and the system WPAR hasdedicated file systems while the application may not.System WPARs can be "sparse" or "whole root" but it isthe application WPAR that is most different from theother container implementations.

The hosting AIX system is called the "globalenvironment". The key differences in the globalenvironment is that it runs the kernel, owns the devices,and can host WPARs. Significant effort has been takenfor the user environment of a WPAR to beindistinguishable from the global environment. That said,the administrator needs to be aware of whatenvironment she is in to perform various tasks.

Because of the limited and contextually relevantadministrative environment of a WPAR, some commandsbehave differently than others when run in a WPAR orthe global environment. Generally speaking, the morelower level the command, the more appropriate it is torun in the global environment. One example ofadministration tasks most appropriate for the globalenvironment is device management commands. While a(system) WPAR has devices, the devices in a WPAR aremuch different than those in the global environment.

WPARs are started from /etc/inittab with the/etc/rc.wpars script, using the configuration informationin /etc/wpars/.

By default, the root filesystems of sytem WPARs arecreated in /wpars/WPAR_name/. The filesystems arebrowsable by (properly permissioned) users of the globalenvironment. Users in a WPAR cannot see filesystems of

Start the rudra WPARstartwpar -v rudra

Log into the console of rudraclogin rudra -l root

Create indra WAPR with useful optionsmkwpar -A -n indra -r -s -v

-A = Start automatically on system boot. -n name = Workload partition name. -r = Copy global network name resolution configuration

into the workload partition. -s = Start after creation. -v = Verbose mode.

Create a WPAR on a dedicated VGmkwpar -n varuna -A -g varuna_vg \

-r -s -v

If a VG or other filesystem options are not suppliedthen the filesystems for a system WPAR will becreated from LVs on the rootvg. This command usesa dedicated VG called varuna_vg. The /usr and /optfilesystems will still be shared with the global WPARand therefore will still come from rootvg but will nottake any additional space. If the -l option was usedin the above command then a new /usr and /optwould have been created for this WPAR using thespecified VG.

Create an additional fs on dedicated VGcrfs -v jfs2 -g varuna_vg \

-m /wpars/varuna/data01 -u varuna \

-a size=100M

This command is run from the global environment.The mount point is within the varuna root filesystem(/wpars/varuna) so that it can be seen by the varunaWPAR. The -u varuna option specifies this fs as partof the varuna mount group so that it will be mountedwhen varuna starts.


other WPARs. By default the /usr, /opt, and /proc filesystems of a

system WPAR are shared with the global environment viaa read-only "namefs" vfs type. (/proc is mounted read-write in each of the non-global WPARs.) As a result,software and updates cannot be applied to these read-only WPAR views of the filesystems from the WPAR.Filesystems that are local to the WPAR (such as /home, /,/tmp, and /var) can be modified from within the WPAR.Examples in this section show the default read-only andalternate options for these filesystems.

Some options for system WPAR filesystems include: Using a dedicated VG or external NFS mount for WPAR

filesystems. (Unless otherwise specified, system WPARfilesystems are created from rootvg.)

Using a single LV for all local filesystems. (The defaultfilesystem layout is similar to traditional AIX installs inthat it will be broken into multiple LVs / filesystems.)

Creating a dedicated (local copy) of the /usr and /opt filesystems. (In the default filesystem setup /home, /, /tmp,and /var are unique to the WPAR while /usr and /optare views on the actual file systems in the globalenvironment.)

Creating additional filesystems dedicated to the WPAR.(This can take the form of a NFS mount or a dedicatedfilesystem just for the WPAR.)

A number of commands support a new -@ flag for WPARrelated output. The required parameters and output ofthe -@ flag varies by command, and what environmentthe command is run in (WPAR or global).

A system WPAR is started and stopped much like aseparate OS with the startwpar and stopwparcommands. These act effectively as boot and shutdownoperations. The shutdown will be the most familiar, whilethe boot operation is significantly different from booting

Remove the varuna WPARrmwpar -s varuna

-s stops it first, -p preserves the filesystems. (In thiscase we delete the underlying filesystems.)

Create a WPAR with mount optionsmkwpar -n varuna -r -s \

-M directory=/ vfs=nfs \

dev=/varuna_nfs host=shiva \

-M directory=/var vfs=directory \

-M directory=/home vfs=directory \

-M directory=/tmp vfs=directory \

-M directory=/usr vfs=directory \

-M directory=/opt vfs=directory

The mkwpar command in this example uses a remoteNFS share to host the filesystems for this systemWPAR. It also specifies that each of the regularmount points will instead be directories and notmounts. The resulting WPAR will have only twomount points, one for the / filesystem and one forthe /proc filesystem. The NFS mount in this examplemust be root mountable by both the globalenvironment and the system WPAR. An example ofthe actual (but temporary) NFS share is given in theNFS section above.

List all WPARs on the systemlswpar

Default output will include Name, State, Type,Hostname, and Directory. Valid types are S (System),A (Application) and C (Checkpointable).

Determine if you are in global WPARuname -W

This command will print 0 to stdout and return 0 if ina global environment, and give non-zero values if ina system WPAR. Another method is to look for the


the boot operation is significantly different from bootinga system. Instead of bootstrapping the system from adisk, the WPAR startup process involves bringing onlineall the required filesystems, changing to that rootfilesystem / environment, and then picking up the bootprocess at init. (This is a simplistic treatment of theprocess designed to illustrate the difference from asystem boot of something like a LPAR in a virtualizedenvironment.)

Application WPARs are not started like a system WPAR. Itis more appropriate to describe them as being executedin a different context. Application WPARs can see theglobal environment filesystems and devices, they inheriteverything not explicitly set by the wparexec command.The large majority of examples and discussion in thissection refer to system WPARs.

The Solaris implementation of containers offers acommand called zonename that tells what zone the user isin. It works like the hostname command when run from azone but returns the word "global" when run from theglobal environment. AIX provides the uname -W to tell ifyou are in a WPAR or not. I have included the logic(script) to create a wparname command that tells if youare in a WPAR as well as the hostname of the WPAR (likethe zonename command).

#!/bin/sh

if (( `uname -W > /dev/null 2>&1` ))then echo "global"else hostnamefi

Sample source of wparname command.

wio0 device in lsdev output - wio0 only exists in asystem WPAR.

List WPARs with (basic) network configurationlswpar -N

Change rudra WPAR to start on system bootchwpar -A rudra

List all processes in the indra WPAR from globalps -ef@ indra

List ports / connections for the global environmentnetstat -naf inet -@ Global

Run in global environmnet.Stop WPAR rudra from globalstopwpar -v rudra

Start apache in an application WPARwparexec -n varuna \

/usr/sbin/apachectl start &

In this example varuna is defined in DNS. Becausethe -h flag is not used, the hostname will default tothe WPAR name, and will pull IP configuration fromDNS for that host. Subnet mask, name resolution,and all other settings will be inherited from theappropriate interface in the Global environment.

Command reference: mkwpar, chwpar, lswpar, rmwpar,

startwpar, stopwpar, wparexec, rebootwpar, syncwpar,syncroot


About this QuickStart

Created by: William Favorite ([email protected]) Updates at: http://www.tablespace.net/quicksheet/ Disclaimer: This document is a guide and it includes no express warranties to the suitability, relevance, or compatibility of its contents with anyspecific system. Research any and all commands that you inflict upon your command line. Distribution:Copies of this document are free to redistribute as long as credit to the author and tablespace.net is retained in the printed andelectronic versions.

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