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AIX

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Coming from the Linux world, every UNIX seems to be old and stinky. That is probably why Linux was created in the first place.

Installing installp packages

# download and extract tar ball from IBM
# see what's available
installp -l -d .
# install JDK
installp -ac -Y -d . Java6_64.sdk

Install AIX service pack

Backup your system first! Use mksysb and restore.

Download sp from fixcentral, in form of a bunch of bff files. When that's done, run

# this is not necessary
# but it will convert the stupid names into slightly smarter names
# bffcreate -c -d /usr/sys/inst.images

# generate toc file, which is required for installp
inutoc .

and generate a .toc file. Then you are ready to patch. Run

smitty update_all

When asked, enter . to denote the current directory. In the next menu, select accept license. Then press enter twice. You will then be presented a bunch of installp output. Mostly copyright information from two decades ago which is nothing put pollution to my screen. All I care is if the patch is installed or not.

When completed, reboot if kernel is updated. After that, verify AIX level with the following command:

oslevel -s

In my case, the oslevel did not change. Running the following command tells me what's missing

instfix -i|grep SP
instfix -ciqk  61-06-011043_SP |grep ":-:"

IBM recommends running the following commands after the update. If it's so damn important, why not run it for the user!? And there should be a way to query these information any time. It's just plain stupid.

grep ^I .toc > apar.list
sort -u apar.list -o sorted.apars

OSLevel

How on earth do you read the oslevel numbers? Take this for an example:

# oslevel -s
6100-05-02-1034

So I'm at AIX6.1 TL5 SP2.

List all known technology level

# oslevel -rq 
Known Recommended Maintenance Levels
------------------------------------
6100-06
6100-05
6100-04
6100-03
6100-02
6100-01
6100-00

My system should be at 6100-05, so what's partially installed from 6100-06 (which is not yet released!)

# oslevel -r -g 6100-05
Fileset                                 Actual Level           Recommended ML
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ICU4C.rte                               6.1.5.1                6.1.5.0        
X11.Dt.lib                              6.1.5.1                6.1.5.0        
...

So some ML higher than 6.1 tl5 sp5 was installed on this system. Anything older then 6.1 tl5 sp5 - nope.

oslevel -sq | head -5
Known Service Packs
-------------------
6100-05-05-1112
6100-05-04-1048
6100-05-03-1036
6100-05-02-1034

# oslevel -r -l 6100-05-05-1112

Update AIX using suma

Start smitty

smit suma

Assuming you need to get TL5 SP5, choose " Download Updates Now (Easy)" > "Download Service Pack" > "6100-05-05"

Then

cd /usr/sys/inst.images/installp/ppc 
inutoc .
smit update_all

Filesystem resize

Suppose I want to extend the /usr filesystem, first identify the PP size:

> lsvg -l | grep /usr
# which tells me the lv is called hd2. next check the size of PP
> lslv hd2 | grep LP
MAX LPs:            32512                  PP SIZE:        128 megabyte(s)
LPs:                75                     PPs:            75

Check if rootvg has available PP:

> lsvg  rootvg | grep FREE  
MAX LVs:            256                      FREE PPs:       214 (27392 megabytes)

Now if I want to give /usr another 128M:

extendlv hd2 1

After extending the lv, extend the filesystem.

# calculate size with PPsize * PP * 2 * 1024
chfs -a size=19660800 /usr
or
chfs -a size=+5120M /usr

Then do a df and see the new size.

Backup restore

Backup using mksysb

AIX can be backed up using mksysb or savevg. savevg allows one to backup vg's other than rootvg
http://fengnet.com/book/Backup.and.Recovery/I_0596102461_CHP_13_SECT_2.html

mksysb -e -m /opt/mksysb-tl6.image
savevg -e -m -f /NFS_mount/savevg/savevg-20110101 rootvg

Backup to bootable iso file

mkcd -e -S -I /path/to/cdimage/

Verify a mksysb file

restore -Tvf /path/to/file

Restore a particular file from mksysb

restore -xvf /export/images/your-backup.msb ./etc/inittab
# yea that dot is not a typo.

Perform hardware diagnosis

Run "diag", select Advanced Diagnostics Routines > System Verification > All Resources then hit F7

Install / query EFIX

query

emgr -P

preview and install

emgr -pXe IZ98622s05.110429.epkg.Z
emgr -Xe IZ98622s05.110429.epkg.Z

rollback

emgr -rL IZ98622s05

View console log

alog -o -t boot
alog -o -t console

KfWiki : AIX

AIX