Front cover

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

SG24-7414-00

AIX 5L Differences Guide

Version 5.3 Addendum

Where the AIX 5L Differences Guide left

off - ML 5300-01 through TL 5300-06
An experts guide to the between
release enhancements
AIX 5L Version 5.3
enhancements explained

Liang Dong
Costa Lochaitis
Allen Oh
Sachinkumar Patil
Andrew Young

ibm.com/redbooks

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414edno.fm

International Technical Support Organization

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum
February 2007

SG24-7414-00

7414edno.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in
Notices on page xv.

First Edition (February 2007)

This edition applies to AIX 5L Version 5.3, program number 5765-G03 ML 5300-01 through
TL 5300-05.
Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2007. All rights reserved.
Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP
Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414TOC.fm

Contents
Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
The team that wrote this redbook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Become a published author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Comments welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Chapter 1. Application development and system debug. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Editor enhancements (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 System debugger enhancements (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 The $stack_details variable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.2 The frame subcommand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.3 The addcmd subcommand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.4 Deferred event support ($deferevents variable) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.5 Regular expression symbol search /, and ? subcommands . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.6 Thread level breakpoint and watchpoint support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.7 A dump subcommand enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.8 Consistency checkers (5300-03). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 The trcgen and trcgenk command (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 xmalloc debug enhancement (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.5 Stack execution disable protection (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.6 Environment variable and library enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.6.1 Environment variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.6.2 LIBRARY variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.6.3 Named shared library areas (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.6.4 Modular I/O library (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.6.5 POSIX prioritized I/O support (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.7 Vector instruction set support (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.7.1 What is SIMD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.7.2 Technical details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.7.3 Compiler support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.8 Raw socket support for non-root users (5300-05). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

iii

7414TOC.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

1.9 IOCP support for AIO (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Chapter 2. Storage management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.1 JFS2 file system enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.1.1 JFS2 file system freeze and thaw (5300-01). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.1.2 JFS2 file system rollback (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.1.3 Backup of files on a DMAPI-managed JFS2 file system (5300-03) . 30
2.1.4 JFS2 inode creation enhancement (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.2 The mirscan command (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.2.1 The mirscan command syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.2.2 Report format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2.3 Corrective actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.3 AIO fast path for concurrent I/O (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.4 FAStT boot support enhancements (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.4.1 SAN boot procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.5 Tivoli Access Manager pre-install (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.6 Geographic Logical Volume Manager (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1 Trace enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.1.1 Component trace facility (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.1.2 Lightweight memory trace (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1.3 Trace event macro stamping (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.2 Minidump facility (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.3 Parallel dump (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.4 Redundant service processors (5300-02) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.4.1 Redundant service processors requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.4.2 Service processor failover capable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.4.3 Performing a service processor failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.5 Additional RAS capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.5.1 Error log hardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.5.2 System dump enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.5.3 The snap command enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.5.4 Trace and debug features and enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.5.5 Configuring large number of devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.5.6 Core file creation and compression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.5.7 The dmpuncompress command (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Chapter 4. System administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.1 AIX 5L release support strategy (5300-04) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.1.1 Technology Level (TL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.1.2 Service Pack (SP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.1.3 Concluding Service Pack (CSP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.1.4 Interim Fix (IF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

iv

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414TOC.fm

4.1.5 Maintenance strategy models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

4.2 Command enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.2.1 The id command enhancement (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.2.2 cron and at command mail enhancement (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.2.3 The more command search highlighting (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.2.4 The ps command enhancement (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.2.5 Commands to show locked users (5300-03). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.2.6 The -l flag for the cp and mv commands (5300-01) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.3 Multiple page size support (5300-04) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.3.1 Performance command enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.4 Advanced Accounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.4.1 Advanced Accounting reporting (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.4.2 IBM Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager integration (5300-05) . . 84
4.5 National language support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.5.1 Multi-language software %L in bundles (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.5.2 geninstall and gencopy enhancements (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.5.3 Additional national languages support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.6 LDAP enhancements (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.6.1 Advanced Accounting LDAP integration (5300-03). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.6.2 LDAP client support for Active Directory (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.6.3 LDAP ldap.cfg password encryption (5300-03). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.6.4 lsldap: List LDAP records command (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 5. Performance monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.1 Performance tools enhancements (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.1.1 The svmon command enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.1.2 The vmstat command enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.1.3 The curt command enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5.1.4 The netpmon command enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.1.5 The tprof command enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.2 The gprof command enhancement (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.3 The topas command enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.3.1 The topas command cross partition monitoring (5300-03) . . . . . . . 101
5.3.2 Performance statistics recording (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.4 The iostat command enhancement (5300-02) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.4.1 Extended disk service time metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.4.2 Extended virtual SCSI statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.5 PMAPI end user tools (5300-02) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.5.1 The hpmcount command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.5.2 The hpmstat command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.6 Memory affinity enhancements (5300-01) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.7 The fcstat command (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Contents

7414TOC.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Chapter 6. Networking and security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

6.1 TCP retransmission granularity change (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
6.1.1 Overview of timer-wheel algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
6.1.2 Options to enable or disable the use of low RTO feature . . . . . . . . 129
6.2 Enhanced dead interface detection (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
6.3 NFS Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.3.1 NFS DIO and CIO support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.3.2 NFSv4 global name space and replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.3.3 NFSv4 delegation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.3.4 Release-behind-on-read support for NFS mounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.3.5 I/O pacing support for NFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.3.6 NFS server grace period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.3.7 NFS server proxy serving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6.4 Network intrusion detection (5300-02) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.4.1 Stateful filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.5 Radius Server Support (5300-02) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.5.1 Monitor process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.5.2 Authentication process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.5.3 Accounting process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.5.4 Software requirements for Radius Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.5.5 RADIUS IP address pooling (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.5.6 RADIUS enhanced shared secret (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.6 Web-based System Manager and PAM (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6.7 IPFilters open source ported (5300-05). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6.8 Network Data Administration Facility (5330-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
6.8.1 NDAF concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
6.8.2 Graphical representation of an NDAF domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.8.3 NDAF commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.8.4 NDAF security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
6.8.5 NDAF installation and configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
6.8.6 Managing NDAF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6.8.7 Troubleshooting NDAF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.9 AIX Security Expert (5300-05). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.9.1 AIX Security Expert security level settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.9.2 AIX Security Expert groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.9.3 AIX Security Expert Undo Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.9.4 AIX Security Expert Check Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.9.5 AIX Security Expert files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.9.6 AIX Security Expert security configuration copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.9.7 The aixpert command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
7.1 Installation to disks > 1TB (5300-05). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

vi

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414TOC.fm

7.2 NIM enhancements (5300-05). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

7.2.1 Creating resources to support thin server on NIM master . . . . . . . 179
7.2.2 Adding a thin server to the NIM environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.2.3 Booting a thin server machine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
7.3 Migrating a NIM client to a POWER5 logical partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
7.3.1 Requirement of migrating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
7.3.2 Migration phases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.3.3 Smit menu for nim_move_up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
7.4 SUMA enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
7.4.1 NIM and SUMA integration (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
7.4.2 The suma command enhancements (5300-04) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
7.4.3 The geninv command (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
7.4.4 The niminv command (5300-05) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
7.5 Targeting disk for installing AIX (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
7.6 The multibos command (5300-03) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
7.6.1 Requirements of the multibos command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
7.6.2 Using the multibos command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
7.6.3 Standby BOS setup operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
7.6.4 Rebuilding the standby BOS boot image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7.6.5 Mounting the standby BOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7.6.6 Customizing the standby BOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
7.6.7 Unmounting the standby BOS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
7.6.8 Using the standby BOS shell operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
7.6.9 Booting the standby BOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
7.6.10 Removing the standby BOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
7.6.11 Relevant files and logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
7.7 mksysb migration support (5300-03). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
7.7.1 Supported levels of mksysb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
7.7.2 Customized bosinst.data file with a mksysb migration . . . . . . . . . . 205
7.7.3 Performing a mksysb migration with CD or DVD installation . . . . . 207
7.7.4 Performing a mksysb migration with NIM installation . . . . . . . . . . . 211
7.7.5 The nimadm command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
7.7.6 The nim_move_up command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
7.7.7 Debugging a mksysb migration installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
7.8 mksysb enhancements (5300-01) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
7.9 DVD install media support for AIX 5L (5300-02) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Abbreviations and acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Related publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Other publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Online resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Contents

vii

7414TOC.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

How to get IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Help from IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

viii

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414LOF.fm

Figures
3-1
3-2
4-1
4-2
6-1
6-2
6-3
6-4
6-5
6-6
7-1
7-2
7-3
7-4
7-5
7-6

Managed System Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Administrator Service Processor Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Search highlighting sample of the more command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Configuring huge pages on a managed system using the HMC. . . . . . . . 74
Timer-wheel algorithm simplified model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
NFS server proxy serving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
The NDAF domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
The smit menu for aixpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
The Security Expert on Web-based System Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
AIXpert individual security settings on Web-based System Manager . . . 175
The smit mkts panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
The smit swts panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Configure nim_move_up Input Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Output of smit nim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
NIM installation inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
NIM installation inventory details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

ix

7414LOF.fm

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414LOT.fm

Tables
1-1 dbx subcommands for thread level debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2-1 API fcntl parameter details for file system freeze and thaw feature . . . . . 29
2-2 The rollback command parameter details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2-3 Commonly used flags for mirscan command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2-4 Output columns from mirscan command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3-1 LMT memory consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4-1 Flags of ps command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4-2 Commonly used usrck command flags and their descriptions . . . . . . . . . 69
4-3 Page size support by platform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4-4 The ld and ldedit command arguments for page size specification . . . . . 72
4-5 The vmstat command new flags and descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4-6 The acctrpt command flags for process accounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4-7 The acctprt command fields for process output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4-8 The acctrpt command flags for system reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4-9 The acctprt command fields for system output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4-10 The acctprt command fields for transaction output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5-1 System NFS calls summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5-2 Pending NFS calls summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5-3 Global region fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5-4 Partition region fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5-5 Command options and their descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5-6 The xmwlm and topas command flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5-7 The topas specific command options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5-8 Possible suffixes for iostat -D command fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5-9 The hpmcount command parameters details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5-10 The hpmstat command parameter details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5-11 Statistics fields and their descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6-1 NFS commands to change the server grace period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6-2 Common problems and actions to troubleshoot NDAF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
7-1 The geninv command parameter details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7-2 The multibos command flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
7-3 Supported migration paths matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

xi

7414LOT.fm

xii

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414LOE.fm

Examples
1-1 Sample program used for explaining enhanced features of dbx. . . . . . . . . 2
1-2 The where subcommand default output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1-3 The where subcommand output once $stack_details is set . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1-4 The addcmd subcommand example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1-5 A dump subcommand example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1-6 Available consistency checkers with the kdb check subcommand . . . . . . 11
2-1 Freeze a file system using the chfs command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2-2 Report output from mirscan command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4-1 Mail format for cron internal errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4-2 Mail format for cron jobs completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4-3 A cron job completion message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4-4 The ps command new flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4-5 The usrck -l command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4-6 The usrck -l user command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4-7 The usrck -l -b command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4-8 Output of the pagesize -af command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4-9 The svmon -G command showing multiple page size information . . . . . . 75
4-10 The svmon -P command showing multiple page size information . . . . . 75
4-11 The vmstat command output using the -p and -P flags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4-12 The acctrpt command output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4-13 The acctrpt command output filtered for command projctl and user root 79
4-14 The acctrpt command system output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4-15 The acctrpt command transaction report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4-16 The geninstall -L command output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4-17 The gencopy -L -d command output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4-18 Default lsldap output with no flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4-19 Using lsldap to show user entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4-20 Using lsldap by root to show entry for user3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4-21 Normal user using lsldap to view user3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5-1 Example output of svmon -G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5-2 Example output of vmstat -p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5-3 Example output of svmon -P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5-4 Sample output of curt report (partial) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5-5 Sample output of netpmon (partial) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5-6 The topas command cross partition monitor panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5-7 The topas command detailed partition view without HMC data . . . . . . . 104
5-8 The topas command detailed partition view with HMC data . . . . . . . . . . 105
5-9 ASCII formatted output generated by topas out from xmwlm data file . . 108

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

xiii

7414LOE.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

5-10 Summary output generated by topasout from topas -R data file. . . . . . 108
5-11 Output generated by topasout from topas -R data files . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5-12 The iostat -D command output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5-13 The iostat -D command interval output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5-14 The iostat -aD command sample output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5-15 The hpmcount command example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5-16 The hpmstat command example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5-17 Using the mempool subcommand to show a systems memory pools . 121
5-18 The fcstat command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
6-1 The ckfilt command output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6-2 The login.cfg file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6-3 The dmf command output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
7-1 Example of geninv usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7-2 The multibos -s command output to setup standby BOS . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7-3 The multibos -m -X command output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7-4 Record with disk names only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
7-5 Record with physical locations only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
7-6 Record with PVIDs only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

xiv

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414spec.fm

Notices
This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A.
IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in other countries. Consult
your local IBM representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area.
Any reference to an IBM product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM
product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that
does not infringe any IBM intellectual property right may be used instead. However, it is the user's
responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any non-IBM product, program, or service.
IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter described in this document.
The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents. You can send license
inquiries, in writing, to:
IBM Director of Licensing, IBM Corporation, North Castle Drive, Armonk, NY 10504-1785 U.S.A.
The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any other country where such
provisions are inconsistent with local law: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT,
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow disclaimer
of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you.
This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made
to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may
make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at
any time without notice.
Any references in this information to non-IBM Web sites are provided for convenience only and do not in any
manner serve as an endorsement of those Web sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the
materials for this IBM product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk.
IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without
incurring any obligation to you.
Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled environment. Therefore, the results
obtained in other operating environments may vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made
on development-level systems and there is no guarantee that these measurements will be the same on
generally available systems. Furthermore, some measurement may have been estimated through
extrapolation. Actual results may vary. Users of this document should verify the applicable data for their
specific environment.
Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published
announcements or other publicly available sources. IBM has not tested those products and cannot confirm
the accuracy of performance, compatibility or any other claims related to non-IBM products. Questions on
the capabilities of non-IBM products should be addressed to the suppliers of those products.
This information contains examples of data and reports used in daily business operations. To illustrate them
as completely as possible, the examples include the names of individuals, companies, brands, and products.
All of these names are fictitious and any similarity to the names and addresses used by an actual business
enterprise is entirely coincidental.
COPYRIGHT LICENSE:
This information contains sample application programs in source language, which illustrate programming

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

xv

7414spec.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

techniques on various operating platforms. You may copy, modify, and distribute these sample programs in
any form without payment to IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing or distributing application
programs conforming to the application programming interface for the operating platform for which the
sample programs are written. These examples have not been thoroughly tested under all conditions. IBM,
therefore, cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs.

Trademarks
The following terms are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States,
other countries, or both:
Redbooks (logo)

pSeries
AFS
AIX 5L
AIX
BladeCenter
DFS
Enterprise Storage Server
General Parallel File System
Geographically Dispersed

Parallel Sysplex
GDPS
GPFS
HACMP
IBM
Parallel Sysplex
PowerPC
POWER
POWER Hypervisor
POWER3

POWER4
POWER5
POWER5+
PTX
Redbooks
System p
System p5
Tivoli

The following terms are trademarks of other companies:

Oracle, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, Siebel, and TopLink are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation
and/or its affiliates.
Java, ONC, Solaris, and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United
States, other countries, or both.
Active Directory, Microsoft, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United
States, other countries, or both.
UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.
Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both.
Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

xvi

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414pref.fm

Preface
This IBM Redbook focuses on the differences introduced in AIX 5L Version
5.3 since the initial AIX 5L Version 5.3 release. It is intended to help system
administrators, developers, and users understand these enhancements and
evaluate potential benefits in their own environments.
Since AIX 5L Version 5.3 was introduced many new features, including JFS2,
LDAP, trace and debug, installation and migration, NFSv4, and performance tools
enhancements were introduced. There are many other improvements offered
through updates for AIX 5L Version 5.3, and you can explore them in this
redbook.
For clients who are not familiar with the base enhancements of AIX 5L Version
5.3, a companion publication, AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Edition,
SG24-7463 is available.

The team that wrote this redbook

This redbook was produced by a team of specialists from around the world
working at the International Technical Support Organization, Austin Center.
Liang Dong is an advisory IT specialist from China. He has five years of
experience in AIX 5L country field support and more than four years of
application development experience. He is also the technical leader of IBM
Greater China Group in System p and AIX 5L. And he is certified as an
Advanced Technical Expert in System p and AIX 5L, HACMP Systems Expert,
and also holds several industry certificaes. His areas of expertise include
problem determination, performance tuning, networking, and system dump
analyzing.
Costa Lochaitis is a Software Engineer in IBM South Africa. He has been with
IBM for seven years within the IBM Global Services Division in customer support
and services delivery. His areas of expertise include IBM System p hardware,
AIX 5L and Linux. He is a Certified Advanced Technical Expert.
Allen Oh is a Senior System Engineer and Solutions Architect for MoreDirect
Professional Services, an IBM Premier Business Partner authorized to sell and
service IBM System p, x, and Storage throughout the United States. He has over
ten years of experience in UNIX, AIX, and AIX 5L, and enterprise server and
storage technology. Allen holds several senior level industry certifications, and is

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

xvii

7414pref.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

an IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert in pSeries and AIX 5L. He is a

graduate of the University of Southern California.
Sachinkumar Patil is a Staff Software Engineer for IBM India Software Labs,
Pune. He is currently the Technical Team Leader for the DFS L3 support team.
He has more than seven years of experience in software development. He holds
a Bachelors degree in Computer Technology from University of Mumbai and
Bachelor of Science in Electronics from North Maharashtra University. During the
last four years, he has been worked on the Distributed File System (IBM DFS).
His areas of expertise are mainly in file system domain, AFS, DFS, NFS, UNIX
operating system internals, and software development in C and C++ on AIX 5L,
Linux, and SUN Solaris.
Andrew Young is a senior AIX support specialist within the UK UNIX support
center in Farnborough. He has seven years experience providing AIX support to
customers within his local geography and around the world. His main areas of
expertise are performance analysis and memory management. He holds a
Masters degree in Chemistry from the University of Southampton, specializing in
superconductor research.
The project that produced this publication was managed by:
Scott Vetter, IBM Austin
Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:
Bob G Kovacs, Julie Craft, Eduardo L Reyes, Ann Wigginton, Grover Neuman,
Grover Neuman, Octavian F Herescu, Eric P Fried, Shiv Dutta

Become a published author

Join us for a two- to six-week residency program! Help write an IBM Redbook
dealing with specific products or solutions, while getting hands-on experience
with leading-edge technologies. You'll have the opportunity to team with IBM
technical professionals, Business Partners, and Clients.
Your efforts will help increase product acceptance and customer satisfaction. As
a bonus, you'll develop a network of contacts in IBM development labs, and
increase your productivity and marketability.
Find out more about the residency program, browse the residency index, and
apply online at:
ibm.com/redbooks/residencies.html

xviii

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414pref.fm

Comments welcome
Your comments are important to us!
We want our Redbooks to be as helpful as possible. Send us your comments
about this or other Redbooks in one of the following ways:
Use the online Contact us review redbook form found at:
ibm.com/redbooks
Send your comments in an email to:
[email protected]
Mail your comments to:
IBM Corporation, International Technical Support Organization
Dept. JN9B Building 905 Internal Zip 9053D004
11501 Burnet Road
Austin, TX 78758-3493

Preface

xix

7414pref.fm

xx

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

Chapter 1.

Application development
and system debug
In the area of application development, this chapter covers the following major
topics:
Editor enhancements (5300-05)
System debugger enhancements (5300-05)
The trcgen and trcgenk command (5300-05)
xmalloc debug enhancement (5300-05)
Stack execution disable protection (5300-03)
Environment variable and library enhancements
Vector instruction set support (5300-03)
Raw socket support for non-root users (5300-05)
IOCP support for AIO (5300-05)

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

1.1 Editor enhancements (5300-05)

Prior to AIX 5L 5300-05, editors used a static array of 8192 characters to hold the
current line. The capabilities of editors such as vi, ex, and ed are enhanced as
follows:
vi, ex, ed are now able to process files with a line limit greater than 8192. The
line length is now limited to the available storage.
vi now can open huge files (more than 600 MB).
vi can readjust text properly on a window or xterm resize.
For more information, see the MODS and errctrl command documentation.

1.2 System debugger enhancements (5300-05)

Beginning with AIX 5L Version 5.3 5300-05, the dbx command has been
enhanced by introducing the following changes.
Addition of the $stack_details variable
Addition of the frame subcommand
Addition of the addcmd subcommand
Deferred event support (addition of $deferevents) variable
Regular expression symbol search
Thread level breakpoint and watchpoint support
A dump subcommand enhancement
Consistency checkers
Example 1-1 shows a sample program that shows the dbx command
enhancements used during this discussion.
Example 1-1 Sample program used for explaining enhanced features of dbx

#include<stdio.h>
int add(int x, int y)
{
int z=0;
for(;y>=1;y--)
z=z+x;
return z;
}
int mul(int x, int y)

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

{
int z=0;
z=add(x,y);
return z;
}
int main(){
int result;
result=mul(100,5);
printf(Final result is %d\n", result);
}
#cc -g example1.c
#dbx a.out
Type 'help' for help.
reading symbolic information ...
(dbx) stop at 5
[1] stop at 5
(dbx) stop at 12
[2] stop at 12
(dbx) stop at 19
[3] stop at 19
(dbx) run
[3] stopped in main at line 19
19
result=mul(100,5);
(dbx) where
main(), line 19 in example1.c
(dbx) cont
[2] stopped in mul at line 12
12
z=add(x,y);
(dbx) cont
[1] stopped in add at line 5
5
for(;y>=1;y--)
(dbx) where
add(x = 100, y = 5), line 5 in example1.c
mul(x = 100, y = 5), line 12 in example1.c
main(), line 19 in example1.c
(dbx)

1.2.1 The $stack_details variable

The $stack_details variable displays extended details of each stack frame. If the
debug program $stack_details variable is set, it displays the frame number and

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

the register set for each active function or procedure displayed by the where
subcommand.
By default, the $stack_details variable is disabled in dbx. Example 1-2 shows the
output of the where subcommand without setting the $stack_details variable.
Example 1-2 The where subcommand default output

(dbx) where
add(x = 100, y = 5), line 5 in example1.c
mul(x = 100, y = 5), line 12 in example1.c
main(), line 19 in example1.c
Example 1-3 shows the output of the where subcommand, once $stack_details
variable is set.
Example 1-3 The where subcommand output once $stack_details is set

(dbx) set $stack_details

(dbx) where
--------$r0:0x10000460 $stkp:0x2ff22b90
$toc:0x20000848
$r3:0x00000000
$r4:0x00000005
$r5:0x2ff22d08
$r6:0x00000000
$r7:0x2ff22ff8
$r8:0x00000000
$r9:0x05030050
$r10:0xf02d5318
$r11:0xdeadbeef
$r12:0xdeadbeef
$r13:0xdeadbeef
$r14:0x00000001
$r15:0x2ff22d00
$r16:0x2ff22d08
$r17:0x00000000
$r18:0xdeadbeef
$r19:0xdeadbeef
$r20:0xdeadbeef
$r21:0xdeadbeef
$r22:0xdeadbeef
$r23:0xdeadbeef
$r24:0xdeadbeef
$r25:0xdeadbeef
$r26:0xdeadbeef
$r27:0xdeadbeef
$r28:0xdeadbeef
$r29:0xdeadbeef
$r30:0xdeadbeef
$r31:0x200005c0
$iar:0x1000037c
$msr:0x0002d0b2
$cr:0x28222882 $link:0x10000408
$ctr:0xdeadbeef
$xer:0x20000020
Condition status = 0:e 1:l 2:e 3:e 4:e 5:l 6:l 7:e
[unset $noflregs to view floating point registers]
0 add(x = 100, y = 5), line 5 in "example1.c"
--------$stkp:0x2ff22be0
$r14:0x00000001
$r15:0x2ff22d00
$r16:0x2ff22d08
$r17:0x00000000
$r18:0xdeadbeef
$r19:0xdeadbeef
$r20:0xdeadbeef
$r21:0xdeadbeef
$r22:0xdeadbeef
$r23:0xdeadbeef
$r24:0xdeadbeef
$r25:0xdeadbeef
$r26:0xdeadbeef
$r27:0xdeadbeef
$r28:0xdeadbeef
$r29:0xdeadbeef
$r30:0xdeadbeef
$r31:0x200005c0
$iar:0x10000404 $link:0x10000460
[unset $noflregs to view floating point registers]
1 mul(x = 100, y = 5), line 12 in "example1.c"
---------

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

$stkp:0x2ff22c30
$r14:0x00000001
$r15:0x2ff22d00
$r16:0x2ff22d08
$r17:0x00000000
$r18:0xdeadbeef
$r19:0xdeadbeef
$r20:0xdeadbeef
$r21:0xdeadbeef
$r22:0xdeadbeef
$r23:0xdeadbeef
$r24:0xdeadbeef
$r25:0xdeadbeef
$r26:0xdeadbeef
$r27:0xdeadbeef
$r28:0xdeadbeef
$r29:0xdeadbeef
$r30:0xdeadbeef
$r31:0x200005c0
$iar:0x1000045c $link:0x100001ec
[unset $noflregs to view floating point registers]
2 main(), line 19 in "example1.c"
(dbx)

1.2.2 The frame subcommand

The frame subcommand changes the current function to the function
corresponding to the specified stack frame number num. The current function is
used for resolving names. The numbering of the stack frame starts from the
currently active function's stack frame (the function frame that is currently active
is always numbered 0). If there are n frames, the frame of the main function will
be numbered n-1. When no frame number is specified, information about the
function associated with the current frame is displayed.
The use of the frame subcommand is as shown in the following:
(dbx) frame 2
main(), line 19 in example1.c
(dbx) frame
main(), line 19 in example1.c
(dbx) frame 1
mul(x = 100, y = 5), line 12 in example1.c
(dbx) frame
mul(x = 100, y = 5), line 12 in example1.c
(dbx) frame 0
add(x = 100, y = 5), line 5 in example1.c
(dbx) frame
add(x = 100, y = 5), line 5 in example1.c

1.2.3 The addcmd subcommand

By using the addcmd subcommand, you can associate any dbx subcommand to
the specified events, which will be executed whenever the breakpoint, tracepoint,
or watchpoint corresponding to the event is met.
Example 1-4 shows the where and registers subcommand with breakpoint
events using the addcmd subcommand.

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Example 1-4 The addcmd subcommand example
(dbx) stop at 5
[1] stop at 5
(dbx) addcmd 1 where;registers
(dbx) stop at 12
[2] stop at 12
(dbx) addcmd 2 where
(dbx) stop at 19
[3] stop at 19
(dbx) addcmd 3 registers
(dbx) run
[3] stopped in main at line 19
19
result=mul(100,5);
$r0:0x100001ec $stkp:0x2ff22c30 $toc:0x20000848
$r3:0x00000001
$r4:0x2ff22d00
$r5:0x2ff22d08
$r6:0x00000000
$r7:0x2ff22ff8
$r8:0x00000000
$r9:0x05030050 $r10:0xf02d5318 $r11:0xdeadbeef
$r12:0xdeadbeef
$r13:0xdeadbeef $r14:0x00000001 $r15:0x2ff22d00
$r16:0x2ff22d08
$r17:0x00000000 $r18:0xdeadbeef $r19:0xdeadbeef
$r20:0xdeadbeef
$r21:0xdeadbeef $r22:0xdeadbeef $r23:0xdeadbeef
$r24:0xdeadbeef
$r25:0xdeadbeef $r26:0xdeadbeef $r27:0xdeadbeef
$r28:0xdeadbeef
$r29:0xdeadbeef $r30:0xdeadbeef $r31:0x200005c0
$iar:0x10000454
$msr:0x0002d0b2
$cr:0x28222882 $link:0x100001ec
$ctr:0xdeadbeef
$xer:0x20000020
$mq:0xdeadbeef
Condition status = 0:e 1:l 2:e 3:e 4:e 5:l 6:l 7:e
[unset $noflregs to view floating point registers]
[unset $novregs to view vector registers]
in main at line 19
0x10000454 (main+0x14) 38600064
li r3,0x64
(dbx) cont
[2] stopped in mul at line 12
12
z=add(x,y);
mul(x = 100, y = 5), line 12 in "example1.c"
main(), line 19 in "example1.c"
(dbx) cont
[1] stopped in add at line 5
5
for(;y>=1;y--)
add(x = 100, y = 5), line 5 in "example1.c"
mul(x = 100, y = 5), line 12 in "example1.c"
main(), line 19 in "example1.c"
$r0:0x10000460 $stkp:0x2ff22b90 $toc:0x20000848
$r3:0x00000000
$r4:0x00000005
$r5:0x2ff22d08
$r6:0x00000000
$r7:0x2ff22ff8
$r8:0x00000000
$r9:0x05030050 $r10:0xf02d5318 $r11:0xdeadbeef
$r12:0xdeadbeef
$r13:0xdeadbeef $r14:0x00000001 $r15:0x2ff22d00
$r16:0x2ff22d08
$r17:0x00000000 $r18:0xdeadbeef $r19:0xdeadbeef
$r20:0xdeadbeef
$r21:0xdeadbeef $r22:0xdeadbeef $r23:0xdeadbeef
$r24:0xdeadbeef
$r25:0xdeadbeef $r26:0xdeadbeef $r27:0xdeadbeef
$r28:0xdeadbeef
$r29:0xdeadbeef $r30:0xdeadbeef $r31:0x200005c0
$iar:0x1000037c
$msr:0x0002d0b2
$cr:0x28222882 $link:0x10000408

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

$ctr:0xdeadbeef
$xer:0x20000020
$mq:0xdeadbeef
Condition status = 0:e 1:l 2:e 3:e 4:e 5:l 6:l 7:e
[unset $noflregs to view floating point registers]
[unset $novregs to view vector registers]
in add at line 5
0x1000037c (add+0x14) 8061006c
lwz r3,0x6c(r1)

1.2.4 Deferred event support ($deferevents variable)

AIX 5L has introduced a new variable, $deferevents that allows events when
symbols are not present. By default the, $deferevents variable is turned off in dbx.
The following example shows the usage of the deferevent variable. It shows how
to set a break point at the sach function that is not yet loaded into the running
program:
(dbx) stop in sach
sach is not defined
(dbx) set $deferevents
(dbx) stop in sach
sach is not loaded. Creating deferred event:
<5> stop in sach

1.2.5 Regular expression symbol search /, and ? subcommands

AIX 5L has introduced the / and ? characters, as new subcommands in dbx. By
using these subcommands, you can search dumps using regular expressions in
the current source, forward and backward respectively.
The use of the / subcommand (searches forward), in dbx, is as follows:
(dbx) / add
2
int add(int x, int y)
(dbx) / a*d
2
int add(int x, int y)
To repeat the previous search:
(dbx) /
2
int add(int x, int y)
The use of the ? subcommand (searches backward), in dbx, is as follows:
(dbx) ? mul
9
int mul(int x, int y)
(dbx) ? m*l
9
int mul(int x, int y)

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

To repeat the previous search, perform the following:

(dbx) ?
9
int mul(int x, int y)

1.2.6 Thread level breakpoint and watchpoint support

When debugging a multi-threaded program, it is beneficial to work with individual
threads instead of with processes. The dbx command only works with user
threads. In the dbx command documentation, the word thread is usually used
alone to mean user thread. The dbx command assigns a unique thread number
to each thread in the process being debugged, and also supports the concept of
a running and current thread:
Running thread

The user thread that was responsible for stopping the

program by reaching a breakpoint. Subcommands that
single-step through the program work with the running
thread.

Current thread

The user thread that you are examining. Subcommands

that display information work in the context of the current
thread.

The dbx command has added some new subcommands that enable you to work
with individual attribute objects, condition variables, mutexes, and threads. They
are provided in Table 1-1.
Table 1-1 dbx subcommands for thread level debugging

dbx subcommand

Description

attribute

Displays information about all attribute objects, or attribute

objects specified by attribute number.

condition

Displays information about all condition variables, condition

variables that have waiting threads, condition variables that
have no waiting threads, or condition variables specified by
condition number.

mutex

Displays information about all mutexes, locked or unlocked

mutexes, or mutexes specified by mutex number.

thread

Displays information about threads, selects the current

thread, and holds and releases threads.

tstophwp

Sets a thread-level hardware watchpoint stop.

ttracehwp

Sets a thread-level hardware watchpoint trace.

tstop

Sets a source-level breakpoint stop for a thread.

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

dbx subcommand

Description

tstopi

Sets an instruction-level breakpoint stop for a thread.

ttrace

Sets a source-level trace for a thread.

ttracei

Sets an instruction-level trace for a thread.

tnext

Runs a thread up to the next source line.

tnexti

Runs a thread up to the next machine instruction.

tstep

Runs a thread one source line.

tstepi

Runs a thread one machine instruction.

tskip

Skips breakpoints for a thread.

A number of subcommands that do not work with threads directly are also
affected when used to debug a multithreaded program.
For further details of the thread-level debugging with thread-level breakpoint and
watchpoint, refer to the man page of the dbx command.

1.2.7 A dump subcommand enhancement

Beginning since AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05, the dump subcommand in
dbx can recognize wildcards. The syntax is as follows:
dump [ procedure | "PATTERN" ] [ >File ]
The dump subcommand displays the names and values of all variables in the
specified procedure or those that match with the specified pattern. If the
procedure parameter is a period (.), then all active variables are displayed. If
neither the procedure nor PATTERN parameter is specified, the current
procedure is used. The PATTERN parameter is a wildcard expression using the *,
?, and [] meta-characters. When PATTERN is used, it displays all the matching
symbols in the global space (from all the procedures). If the >File flag is used, the
output is redirected to the specified file.
The following are examples:
To display names and values of variables in the current procedure, Enter:
dump
To display names and values of variables in the add_count procedure, Enter:
dump add_count
To display names and values of variables starting from the characters, Enter:

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

dump "s*"
To redirect names and values of variables in the current procedure to the
var.list file, Enter:
dump > var.list
Example 1-5 on page 10 shows the output of dump subcommand in dbx for a
minimal C language program:
Example 1-5 A dump subcommand example

# dbx a.out
Type 'help' for help.
reading symbolic information ...
(dbx) step
stopped in main at line 19
19
result=mul(100,5);
(dbx) dump
main(), line 19 in "example1.c"
result = 0
__func__ = "main"
(dbx) dump "z*"
example1.mul.z
example1.add.z
(dbx) dump "mu*"
mul
(dbx) dump "mai*"
main
(dbx)

1.2.8 Consistency checkers (5300-03)

The kdb kernel debugger command has been enhanced to include additional
consistency checking for kernel structures. Consistency checkers provide
automated data structure integrity checks for selected structures. This includes
examining normal and debug asserts, supporting a component debug level that
allows additional error-checking without a special compile or reboot, use of data
structure eye-catchers, and, in general, improved data structure validation. The
check subcommand has been added to the kdb command to implement this
feature. To display the list of known checkers, run the check subcommand
without flags within kdb. Example 1-6 shows a sample output of the check
subcommand.

10

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

Example 1-6 Available consistency checkers with the kdb check subcommand
(0)> check
Please specify a checker name:
Kernel Checkers
Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------proc
Validate proc and pvproc structures
thread
Validate thread and pvthread structures
Kernext Checkers
Description
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.3 The trcgen and trcgenk command (5300-05)

Beginning with AIX 5L, Version 5.3 with 5300-05, in addition to the existing
functions, the trace event subroutines (trcgen, trcgenk, to name a few) are
enhanced to record a time stamp in tracing. Now, all the events are implicitly
appended with a time stamp.

1.4 xmalloc debug enhancement (5300-05)

Beginning with AIX 5L Version 5.3 with 5300-05 Technology Level, random
sampling of xmalloc allocations is enabled to catch memory leaks, buffer
overruns, and accesses to freed data. The xmalloc debug function is similar to
the previous memory overlay detection system (MODS). MODS is disabled by
default on AIX 5L systems which means that these types of problems can often
not be resolved at first occurrence and requires a second failure with the
diagnostics enabled. The xmalloc enhancement makes a first time fix of these
issues more likely.
To specifically disable the xmalloc debug Run-Time Error Checking (RTEC )
feature, use the following command
#errctrl errcheckoff -c alloc.xmdbg -r
To enable xmalloc debug, use following command
#errctrl errcheckon -c alloc.xmdbg -r

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

11

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

1.5 Stack execution disable protection (5300-03)

On a computer system, security breaches can take many forms. One of the most
common methods is by exploiting buffer overflows or overruns. Buffer overflows
or overruns are common programming errors where a process attempts to store
data beyond the boundaries of a fixed length buffer. The result is that the extra
data overwrites adjacent memory locations. The overwritten data may include
other buffers, variables, and program flow data. This can cause a program to
crash or execute incorrect procedures. In such conditions, intruders can attack a
system and insert code into a running process through the buffer overflow,
changing the execution path of the process. The return address is overwritten
and redirected to the inserted-code location. Common causes of breaches
include improper or nonexistent bounds checking, or incorrect assumptions
about the validity of data sources. For example, a buffer overflow can occur when
a data object is large enough to hold 1 KB of data, but the program does not
check the bounds of the input and hence can be made to copy more than 1 KB
into that data object.
You can prevent these attacks by blocking execution of attack code entering
through the buffer overflow. This can take the form of disabling execution on the
memory areas of a process where it commonly does not take place (stack and
heap memory areas).
AIX 5L has enabled the stack execution disable (SED) mechanism to disable the
execution of code on the stack and select data areas of a process. By disabling
the execution and then terminating an infringing program, the attacker is
prevented from gaining root user privileges through a buffer overflow attack.
While this feature does not stop buffer overflows, it provides protection by
disabling the execution of attacks on buffers that have been overflowed.
Beginning with the POWER4 family of processors, there was a page-level
execution enable or disable feature for the memory. The AIX 5L SED mechanism
uses this underlying hardware support to implement a no-execution feature on
select memory areas. Once this feature is enabled, the operating system checks
and flags various files during a programs execution. It then alerts the operating
system memory manager and the process managers that the SED is enabled for
the process being created. The select memory areas are then marked for
no-execution. If any execution occurs on these marked areas, the hardware
raises an exception flag and the operating system stops the corresponding
process. The exception and application termination details are captured through
AIX 5L error log events.
SED is implemented through the sedmgr command. The sedmgr command
permits control of the system wide SED mode of operation as well as setting the

12

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

executable file-based SED flags. The SED facility is available only with the
AIX 5L 64-bit kernel. The syntax is as follows:
sedmgr [-m {off | all | select | setidfiles}] [-o {on | off}]
[-c {system | request | exempt} {file_name | file_group}]
[-d {file_name | directory_name}] [-h]
You can use the command to enable and control the level of stack execution
performed on the system. This command can also be used to set the various
flags in an executable file, controlling the stack execution disable. Any changes to
the system wide mode setting will take effect only after a system reboot.
If invoked without any parameters, the sedmgr command will display the current
setting in regards to the stack execution disable environment.
To change the system-wide SED mode flag to setidfiles and the SED control flag
to on, enter:
sedmgr -m setidfiles -o on
With this command example, the setidfiles option sets the mode of operation so
that operating system performs stack execution disable for the files with the
request SED flag set and enables SED for the executable files with the following
characteristics:
setuid files owned by root
setid files with primary group as system or security
To change the SED checking flag to exempt for the plans file, enter:
sedmgr -c exempt plans
To change the SED checking flag to select for all the executable files marked as a
TCB file, type use following command:
sedmgr -c request TCB_files
To display the SED checking flag of the plans file, Enter:
sedmgr -d plans

1.6 Environment variable and library enhancements

This section presents the major changes or additions with respect to environment
variables and library enhancements

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

13

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

1.6.1 Environment variables

This section covers the following enhancements:
DR_MEM_PERCENT (5300-03)
AIXTHREAD_READ_GUARDPAGES (5300-03)

DR_MEM_PERCENT (5300-03)
Dynamic addition or removal of memory from an LPAR running multiple dynamic
LPAR-aware programs can result in conflict for resources. By default, each
program is notified equally about the resource change. For example, if 1 GB of
memory is removed from an LPAR running two dynamic-aware programs, then,
by default, each program is notified that 1 GB of memory has been removed.
Because the two programs are generally unaware of each other, both of them will
scale down their memory use by 1 GB, leading to inefficiency. A similar efficiency
problem can also occur when new memory is added.
To overcome this problem, AIX 5L now allows application scripts to be installed
with a percentage factor that indicates the percentage of the actual memory
resource change. The system then notifies the application in the event of a
dynamic memory operation. While installing the application scripts using the
drmgr command, you can specify this percentage factor using the
DR_MEM_PERCENT name=value pair. The application script will need to output
this name=value pair when it is invoked by the drmgr command with the scriptinfo
subcommand. The value must be an integer between 1 and 100. Any value
outside of this range is ignored, and the default value, which is 100, is used.
Additionally, you can also set this name=value pair as an environment variable at
the time of installation. During installation, the value from the environment
variable, if set, will override the value provided by the application script. Similarly,
in applications using the SIGRECONFIG signal handler and dr_reconfig() system
call, you can control the memory dynamic LPAR notification by setting the
DR_MEM_PERCENT name=value pair as an environment variable before the
application begins running. This value, however, cannot be changed without
restarting the application.

AIXTHREAD_READ_GUARDPAGES (5300-03)
Beginning with AIX 5L Version 5.3 release 5300-03 the,
AIXTHREAD_READ_GUARDPAGES environment variable is added into the
AIX 5L system. The AIXTHREAD_READ_GUARDPAGES environment variable
enables or disables read access to the guard pages that are added to the end of
the pthread stack. It can be set as follows:
#AIXTHREAD_READ_GUARDPAGES={ON|OFF};
#export AIXTHREAD_GUARDPAGES

14

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

The change takes effect immediately in the shell session and will be effective for
its duration.
You can make the change permanent on a system by adding the
AIXTHREAD_READ_GUARDPAGES={ON|OFF} command to the
/etc/environment file.

1.6.2 LIBRARY variables

The following environment variables for library functions have been added to
AIX 5L:
LD_LIBRARY_PATH (5300-03)
LDR_PRELOAD and LDR_PRELOAD64 (5300-05)
They are discussed in the following.

The LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable (5300-03)

Beginning with AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-03 Recommended Maintenance
package, AIX 5L introduced the LD_LIBRARY_PATH loader environment
variable in addition to the existing LIBPATH. The LIBPATH or LD_LIBRARY
_PATH environment variable, may be used to specify a list of directories in which
shared libraries or modules can be searched.
The library search path for any running application or the dlopen or exec
subroutines are now as follows:
1. LIBPATH environment variable will be searched
2. If LIBPATH environment is set then LD_LIBRARY_PATH will be ignored.
Otherwise LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable will be searched.
3. The library search paths included during linking in running application will be
searched.

LDR_PRELOAD and LDR_PRELOAD64 (5300-05)

The LDR_PREELOAD and LDR_PRELOAD64 environment variables requests
the preloading of shared libraries. The LDR_PRELOAD option is for 32-bit
processes, and LDR_PRELOAD64 option is for 64-bit processes.
During symbol resolution, the pre-loaded libraries listed in this variable are
searched first for every imported symbol, and only when it is not found in those
libraries will the other libraries be searched. Pre-emptying of symbols from
preloaded libraries works for both AIX 5L default linking and run-time linking.
Deferred symbol resolution is unchanged.

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

15

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The following example shows the usage of these environment variables:

#LDR_PRELOAD=libx.so:liby.so(shr.o)
#LDR_PRELOAD64=libx64.so:liby64.so(shr64.o)
#export LDR_PRELOAD; export LDR_PRELOAD64
Once these environment variables are set, any symbol resolution will happen first
in the libx.so shared object, then in the shr.o member of liby.a, and then finally
within the process dependencies. All dynamically loaded modules (modules
loaded with the dlopen() or load() calls) will also be resolved first from the
preloaded libraries listed by these environment variables.
These environment variables are useful to correct faulty function without
relinking. These are also useful for running alternate versions of functions,
without replacing the original library.

1.6.3 Named shared library areas (5300-03)

By default, AIX 5L shares libraries among processes using a global set of
segments referred to as the global shared library area. For 32-bit processes, this
area consists of one segment for shared library text (segment 0xD) and one
segment for pre-relocated library data (segment 0xF). Sharing text and
pre-relocating data improves performance on systems where a large number of
processes use common shared libraries. Because the global shared library area
is a single fixed-size resource, attempts to share a set of libraries that exceed the
capacity of the area cannot succeed. In this situation, a portion of a process
libraries are loaded privately. Loading libraries privately, as opposed to shared,
consumes private address space in the process and places greater demands on
memory, leading to a degradation in overall system performance.
AIX 5L now allows the designation of named shared library areas that can
replace the global shared library area for a group of processes. A named shared
library area enables a group of processes to have the full shared library capacity
available to them at the same location in the effective address space as the
global shared library area (segments 0xD and 0xF). The named shared library
area feature is enabled using the NAMEDSHLIB option to the LDR_CTRL
environment variable as follows:
LDR_CNTRL=NAMEDSHLIB=shared1 dbstartup.sh
If the shared1 library area does not exist then the system will dynamically create
it and the dbstartup.sh process will load its libraries there. Additional processes
will be able to attach to a segment once it has been created. The system will
dynamically purge libraries from the area as it fills up, however slibclean can be
run manually if required:
LDR_CNTRL=NAMEDSHLIB=shared1 slibclean

16

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

When the last process attached to the segment exits, the area will be
dynamically removed. Multiple named shared library areas can be active on the
system simultaneously, provided they have a unique name. Named shared
library areas can only be used by 32-bit processes.
By default, the named shared library area works in the same way as the global
area, designating one segment for shared library data and one for text. However,
it is possible to use an alternate memory model that dedicates both segments to
shared library text. To do this, you can specify the doubletext32 option for the
named shared library area:
LDR_CNTRL=NAMEDSHLIB=shared1,doubletext32 dbstartup.sh
This is useful for process groups that need to use more than 256 MB for shared
library text, however it does mean that library data will not be preloaded that may
have additional performance implications. This option should therefore be
considered on a case by case basis.

1.6.4 Modular I/O library (5300-05)

The Modular I/O (MIO) library allows you to analyze and tune I/O at the
application level for optimal performance. The MIO library addresses the need for
an application-level method for optimizing I/O. Using the MIO library, users can
tune different applications that have conflicting needs for better I/O performance.

MIO architecture
The Modular I/O library consists of five I/O modules that may be invoked at
runtime on a per-file basis. The modules currently available are:
mio module

The interface to the user program.

pf module

A data prefetching module.

trace module

A statistics gathering module.

recov module

A module to analyze failed I/O accesses and retry in case

of failure.

aix module

The MIO interface to the operating system.

The default modules are mio and aix; the other modules are optional.

Examples of using MIO

There are many scenarios that are relevant to the MIO library.
MIO can be implemented by linking to libtkio to redirect I/O calls to the MIO
library.

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

17

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

MIO can be implemented by adding the libmio.h header file to an application's

source file in order to redirect I/O calls to the MIO library.
MIO library diagnostic data is written to a stats file when the MIO_close
subroutine is called.
You can configure MIO at the application level.
For more detailed information about the modular I/O library and its references,
refer to AIX 5L publications located at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topi
c=/com.ibm.aix.prftungd/doc/prftungd/mio.htm

1.6.5 POSIX prioritized I/O support (5300-03)

POSIX prioritized I/O is a real-time option for its asynchronous input and output
operations (AIO). Beginning with AIX 5L Version 5.3 release 5300-03, support for
this option in POSIX AIO has been introduced.
The aiocb structure is used for all POSIX operations. This structure is defined in
the /usr/include/aio.h file and contains the following members:
int
off_t
char
size_t
int
struct sigevent
int

aio_fildes
aio_offset
*aio_buf
aio_nbytes
aio_reqprio
aio_sigevent
aio_lio_opcode

In a prioritized I/O supported operations, the asynchronous operation is

submitted at a priority equal to the scheduling priority of the process minus
aiocbp->aio_reqprio.

1.7 Vector instruction set support (5300-03)

The AltiVec instruction set was developed between 1996 and 1998 by Keith
Diefendorff, the distinguished scientist and director of microprocessor
architecture at Apple Computer. Motorola trademarked the term AltiVec, so Apple
uses the name Velocity Engine. With respect to IBMs implementation, it is known
as Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD) or vector extension. In some cases
the term VMX is used.

18

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

1.7.1 What is SIMD?

Normally, a single instruction to a computer does a single thing. A single SIMD
instruction will also generally do a single thing, but it will do it to multiple pieces of
data at once, thus the vector processors might store fifty or more pieces of data
in a single vector register.
Selected PowerPC processors implement a SIMD-style vector extension. Often
referred to as AltiVec or VMX, the vector extension to the PowerPC architecture
provides an additional instruction set for performing vector and matrix
mathematical functions.
The Vector Arithmetic Logic Unit is an SIMD-style arithmetic unit, in which a
single instruction performs the same operation on all the data elements of each
vector. AIX 5L Version 5.3 with ML 5300-03 is the first AIX 5L release to enable
vector programming. The IBM PowerPC 970 processor is the first processor
supported by AIX 5L that implements the vector extension. These processors are
currently found in the JS20/JS21 blade servers offered with the BladeCenter.

1.7.2 Technical details

The vector extension consists of an additional set of 32 128-bit registers that can
contain a variety of vectors including signed or unsigned 8-bit, 16-bit, or 32-bit
integers, or 32-bit IEEE single-precision floating point numbers. There is a vector
status and control register that contains a sticky status bit indicating saturation,
as well as a control bit for enabling Java or non-5L Java mode for floating-point
operations.
The default mode initialized by AIX 5L for every new process is Java-mode
enabled, which provides IEEE-compliant floating-point operations. The alternate
non-Java mode results in a less precise mode for floating point computations,
which might be significantly faster on some implementations and for specific
operations. For example, on the PowerPC 970 processor running in Java mode,
some vector floating-point instructions will encounter an exception if the input
operands or result are denormal, resulting in costly emulation by the operating
system. For this reason, you are encouraged to consider explicitly enabling the
non-Java mode if the rounding is acceptable, or to carefully attempt to avoid
vector computations on denormal values.
The vector extension also includes more than 160 instructions providing load and
store access between vector registers and memory, in register manipulation,
floating point arithmetic, integer arithmetic and logical operations, and vector
comparison operations. The floating point arithmetic instructions use the IEEE
754-1985 single precision format, but do not report IEEE exceptions. Default
results are produced for all exception conditions as specified by IEEE for

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

19

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

untrapped exceptions. Only IEEE default round-to-nearest rounding mode is

provided. No floating-point division or square-root instructions are provided, but
instead a reciprocal estimate instruction is provided for division, and a reciprocal
square root estimate instruction is provided for square root.
There is also a 32-bit special purpose register that is managed by software to
represent a bitmask of vector registers in use. This allows the operating system
to optimize vector save and restore algorithms as part of context switch
management.

1.7.3 Compiler support

There are a few compilers who support vector programming. In this publication,
the IBM XL C/C++ V8.0 will be discussed as an example. In V8.0 of XL C/C++,
SIMD-related compiler options and directives are added to support vector
programming:

The -qvecnvol option

The -qvecnvol option specifies whether to use volatile or non-volatile vector
registers. Where volatile vector registers are those registers whose value is not
preserved across function calls or across save context, jump or switch context
system library functions. The -qvecnvol option instructs the compiler to use both
volatile and non-volatile vector registers while -qnovecnvol instructs the compiler
to use only volatile vector registers. This option is required for programs where
there is risk of interaction between modules built with libraries prior to AIX 5L
Version 5.3 with 5300-03 and vector register use. Restricting the compiler to use
only volatile registers will protect your vector programs but it potentially forces the
compiler to store vector data to memory more often and therefore results in
additional processing.

20

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

Note:
In order the generate vector-enabled code, you should explicitly specify
-qenablevmx option.
In order to use the -qvecnvol option, you need bos.adt.include version
5.3.0.30 or greater to be installed on your system .
When -qnoenablevmx compiler option is in effect, -qnovecnvol option is
ignored.
The -qnovecnvol option performs independently from -qhot=simd | nosimd,
-qaltivec | -qnoaltivec and also vector directive NOSIMD.
On AIX 5.3 with 5300-03, by default, 20 volatile registers (vr0-vr19) are
used, and 12 non-volatile vector registers (vr20 - vr31) are not used. You
can use these registers only if when -qvecnvol is in effect.
The -qvecnvol option should be enabled only when no legacy code, that
saves and restores non-volatile registers, is involved. Using -qvecnvol and
linking with legacy code, may result runtime failure.

The -qenablevmx option

The -qenablevmx option enables generation of vector instructions.
-qnoenablevmx is set by default, however, you can take advantage of the vector
extensions by explicitly specifying the -qenablevmx compiler option.
Note:
Some processors are able to support vector instructions. These
instructions can offer higher performance when used with
algorithmic-intensive tasks such as multimedia applications.
The -qenablevmx compiler option enables generation of vector
instructions, but you should not use this option unless your operating
system version supports vector instructions.
If -qnoenablevmx is in effect, -qaltivec, -qvecnvol, and -qhot=simd cannot
be used.

The -qaltivec option

The -qaltivec option enables compiler support for vector data types. The AltiVec
Programming Interface specification describes a set of vector data types and
operators. This option instructs the compiler to support vector data types and
operators and has effect only when -qarch is set or implied to be a target
architecture that supports vector instructions and the -qenablevmx compiler

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

21

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

option is in effect. Otherwise, the compiler will ignore -qaltivec and issue a
warning message.
Also, if -qnoenablevmx option is in effect. The compiler will ignore -qaltivec and
issue a warning message.
When -qaltivec is in effect, the following macros are defined:
__ALTIVEC__ is defined to 1.
__VEC__ is defined to 10205.

The -qhot option

The -qhot option instructs the compiler to perform high-order loop analysis and
transformations during optimization. -qhot adds the following new suboptions:
simd | nosimd
The compiler converts certain operations that are performed in a loop on
successive elements of an array into a call to a vector instruction. This call
calculates several results at one time, which is faster than calculating each result
sequentially.
If you specify -qhot=nosimd, the compiler performs optimizations on loops and
arrays, but avoids replacing certain code with calls to vector instructions.
This suboption has effect only when the effective architecture supports vector
instructions and you specify -qenablevmx.
Note: If you specify an architecture that supports vector instructions and -qhot
and -qenablevmx, -qhot=simd will be set as the default.
The simd suboption optimizes array data to run mathematical operations in
parallel where the target architecture allows such operations. Parallel
operations occur in 16-byte vector registers. The compiler divides vectors that
exceed the register length into 16-byte units to facilitate optimization. A
16-byte unit can contain one of the following types of data:
4 integers.
8 two-byte units
16 one-byte units

22

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

1.8 Raw socket support for non-root users (5300-05)

Sockets were developed in response to the need for sophisticated interprocess
facilities to meet the following goals:
Provide access to communications networks such as the Internet.
Enable communication between unrelated processes residing locally on a
single host computer and residing remotely on multiple host machines.
Sockets provide a sufficiently general interface to allow network-based
applications to be constructed independently of the underlying communication
facilities. They also support the construction of distributed programs built on top
of communication primitives.
The socket subroutines serve as the application program interface for
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
Each socket has an associated type, which describes the semantics of
communications using that socket. The socket type determines the socket
communication properties such as reliability, ordering, and prevention of
duplication of messages. The basic set of socket types on AIX is defined in the
sys/socket.h file:
/*Standard socket types */
#define SOCK_STREAM
#define SOCK_DGRAM
#define SOCK_RAW
#define SOCK_RDM
#define SOCK_CONN_DGRAM

1
2
3
4
5

/*virtual circuit*/
/*datagram*/
/*raw socket*/
/*reliably-delivered message*/
/*connection datagram*/

Other socket types can be defined.

The SOCK_RAW type is raw socket that provides access to internal network
protocols and interfaces. Raw sockets allow an application to have direct access
to lower-level communication protocols. Raw sockets are intended for advanced
users who want to take advantage of some protocol feature that is not directly
accessible through a normal interface, or who want to build new protocols on top
of existing low-level protocols.
Raw sockets are normally datagram-oriented, though their exact characteristics
are dependent on the interface provided by the protocol.
Prior to AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05, raw sockets is available only to
processes with root-user authority, if the application is run without root privilege,
the error returned is:
socket: Permission denied

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

23

7414ch01.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

After AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05, raw sockets can be opened by
non-root users who have the CAP_NUMA_ATTACH capability. For non-root raw
socket access, the chuser command assigns the CAP_NUMA_ATTACH
capability, along with CAP_PROPAGATE.
For the user, who is to be permitted raw socket use, the sysadmin should set the
CAP_NUMA_ATTACH bit. While opening a raw socket, if the user is non-root, it is
checked if this bit is on. If yes, raw socket access is permitted; if no, prohibited.
The capabilities are assigned to a user using the syntax:
# chuser "capabilities=CAP_NUMA_ATTACH,CAP_PROPAGATE" <user>
This command adds the given capabilities to the user in /etc/security/user file.

1.9 IOCP support for AIO (5300-05)

The Asynchronous I/O (AIO) subsystem has been enhanced by the interaction of
I/O completion ports (IOCP). Previously, the AIO interface that was used in a
threaded environment was limited in that aio_nwait() collects completed I/O
requests for all threads in the same process. In other words, one thread collects
completed I/O requests that are submitted by another thread. Another limit was
that multiple threads cannot invoke the collection routines (such as aio_nwait())
at the same time. If one thread issues aio_nwait() while another thread is calling
it, the second aio_nwait() returns EBUSY. This limitation can affect I/O
performance when many I/Os must run at the same time and a single thread
cannot run fast enough to collect all the completed I/Os.
Using I/O completion ports with AIO requests provides the capability for an
application to capture results of various AIO operations on a per-thread basis in a
multithreaded environment. This design provides threads with a method of
receiving completion status for only the AIO requests initiated by the thread.
The IOCP subsystem only provides completion status by generating completion
packets for AIO requests. The I/O cannot be submitted for regular files through
IOCP.
The behavior of AIO remains unchanged. An application is free to use any
existing AIO interfaces in combination with I/O completion ports. The application
is responsible for harvesting completion packets for any noncanceled AIO
requests that it has associated with a completion port.
The application must associate a file with a completion port using the
CreateIoCompletionPort() IOCP routine. The file can be associated with multiple
completion ports, and a completion port can have multiple files associated with it.
When making the association, the application must use an application-defined

24

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch01.fm

CompletionKey to differentiate between AIO completion packets and socket

completion packets. The application can use different CompletionKeys to
differentiate among individual files (or in any other manner) as necessary.
Important: This functionality enhancement may change performance in
certain Oracle database environments. If your system runs Oracle, consult
with your IBM service representative prior to upgrading to AIX 5L 5300-05.

Chapter 1. Application development and system debug

25

7414ch01.fm

26

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch02.fm

Chapter 2.

Storage management
In this chapter, the following topics relating to storage management are
discussed:
JFS2 file system enhancements
The mirscan command (5300-03)
AIO fast path for concurrent I/O (5300-05)
FAStT boot support enhancements (5300-03)
Tivoli Access Manager pre-install (5300-05)
Geographic Logical Volume Manager (5300-03)

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

27

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

2.1 JFS2 file system enhancements

In addition to the existing JFS2 features, the following enhancements have been
added since the base AIX 5L Version 5.3 Release 5300
JFS2 file system freeze and thaw feature (5300-01)
JFS2 file system rollback (5300-03)
Enhancement for backup of files on a DMAPI-managed JFS2 file system
(5300-03)
JFS2 inode creation enhancement (5300-03)
These enhancements are discussed in the sections that follow.

2.1.1 JFS2 file system freeze and thaw (5300-01)

The JFS2 file system freeze and thaw feature was added to AIX 5L Version 5.3
with the 5300-01 Recommended Maintenance package. This feature provides an
external interface whereby an application can request that a JFS2 file system
freeze, or stay quiescent. After the freeze operation, the file system must remain
quiescent until it is thawed or until a specified time-out has passed.
This means the act of freezing a file system produces a nearly consistent on-disk
image of the file system, and writes all dirty file system metadata and user data
to the disk. In its frozen state, the file system is read-only, and anything that
attempts to modify the file system or its contents must wait for the freeze to end.
Modifications to the file system are still allowed after it is thawed, and the file
system image might no longer be consistent after the thaw occurs.
Requests for freeze or thaw can be performed by using the chfs command or
from the fscntl() API. To perform these operations, root authority is required.
Usage of fscntl for freeze and thaw file system is as follows:
fscntl(vfs, FSCNTL_FREEZE, (caddr_t)timeout, 0)
fscntl(vfs, FSCNTL_REFREEZE, (caddr_t)timeout, 0)
fscntl(vfs, FSCNTL_THAW, NULL, 0)
The parameters are described in Table 2-1 on page 29:

28

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Table 2-1 API fcntl parameter details for file system freeze and thaw feature
Parameters

Details

FSCNTL_FREEZE

The file system specified by vfs_id is frozen for a specified

amount of time. The argument is treated as an integral
time-out value in seconds (instead of a pointer). The file
system is thawed by FSCNTL_THAW or when the timeout
expires. The timeout, which must be a positive value, can be
renewed using FSCNTL_REFREEZE. The argument size
must be 0.

FSCNTL_REFREEZE

The file system specified by vfs_id, which must be already

frozen, has its timeout value reset. If the command is used
on a file system that is not frozen, an error is returned. The
argument is treated as an integral timeout value in seconds
(instead of a pointer). The file system is thawed by
FSCNTL_THAW or when the new timeout expires. The
timeout must be a positive value. The argument size must be
0.

FSCNTL_THAW

The file system specified by vfs_id is thawed. If the file

system is not frozen at the time of the call, an error is
returned. The argument and argument size must both be 0.

Note: For all applications using this interface, use FSCNTL_THAW to thaw the
file system rather than waiting for the timeout to expire. If the timeout expires,
an error log entry is generated as an advisory.
The following show the usage of chfs command to freeze and thaw a file system.
To freeze and thaw a file system, use the following command:
chfs -a freeze=<timeout | 0 | "off"> <file system name>
Example 2-1 shows the file systems read-only behavior during its freeze timeout
period.
Example 2-1 Freeze a file system using the chfs command

# chfs -a freeze=60 /tmp; date; echo "TEST FREEZE TIME OUT" >
/tmp/sachin.txt; cat /tmp/sachin.txt;date
Mon Dec 11 16:42:00 CST 2006
TEST FREEZE TIME OUT
Mon Dec 11 16:43:00 CST 2006
Similarly, the following command can be used to refreeze a file system:
chfs -a refreeze=<timeout> <file system name>

Chapter 2. Storage management

29

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

2.1.2 JFS2 file system rollback (5300-03)

File system rollback restores an entire file system to a valid point-in-time
snapshot (target snapshot). It applies to JFS2 only and is implemented as a
low-level block copy from snapshot storage to file system storage. A file system
must be unmounted and remains inaccessible for the duration of the rollback.
Rollback requires up to several minutes to complete. If the rollback is interrupted
for any reason, the file system remains inaccessible until the rollback is restarted
and completes.
The rollback restart procedure is simply to retry the failed rollback command.
During a retry, the same snapshot must be targeted again.
To rollback a JFS2 file system to a point-in-time snapshot, you can use smit
rollbacksnap or the rollback command, that has the following syntax.
rollback [-v ] [ -s ] [-c] snappedFS snapshotObject
Table 2-2 The rollback command parameter details
Parameters

Details

-v

This causes a count of blocks restored to be written to stdout.

Useful in monitoring the progress of the rollback.

-s

This causes rollback not to delete the logical volumes

associated with lost snapshots.

-c

This causes rollback to continue even when read/write errors

are encountered when doing the block level copy.

snappedFS

The JFS2 system to roll back.

snapshotObject

The logical volume of the snapshot to revert to.

Note: The c option should be used with care.

2.1.3 Backup of files on a DMAPI-managed JFS2 file system (5300-03)

Beginning with AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-03 Recommended Maintenance
package, there are options in the tar and backbyinode commands that allow you
to back up the extended attributes (EAs).
With the backbyinode command on a DMAPI file system, only the data resident
in the file system at the time the command is issued is backed up. The
backbyinode command examines the current state of metadata to do its work.
This can be advantageous with DMAPI, because it backs up the state of the
managed file system. However, any offline data will not be backed up.

30

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

To back up all of the data in a DMAPI file system, use a command that reads
entire files, such as the tar command. This can cause a DMAPI-enabled
application to restore data for every file accessed by the tar command, moving
data back and forth between secondary and tertiary storage, so there can be
performance implications.

2.1.4 JFS2 inode creation enhancement (5300-03)

JFS2 inode creation is enhanced by using variable inode extent sizes of less than
16 KB. Inodes are allocated dynamically by allocating inode extents that are
contiguous chunk of inodes on disk. This helps the cases where there may be
plenty of space available in the file system, but it is too fragmented to allow one
16 KB allocation. The new inode creation enhancement allows users to continue
to create files in such circumstances.

2.2 The mirscan command (5300-03)

The mirscan command provides additional resilience to LVM mirroring by
allowing administrators to search for and correct physical partitions that are stale
or unable to perform I/O operations. This can serve two purposes.
Detection of partitions on a disk that have failed but have not recently been
accessed.
If a disk is to be replaced, the command can be used to ensure that the last
good copy of a logical partition is not removed.
The command can be run against a logical volume, either against the entire LV or
a specific copy, a physical volume, or a volume group. It will generate a report to
standard out on the status of the partitions scanned. In addition, the command
can be requested to attempt corrective actions to recover data.

2.2.1 The mirscan command syntax

The mirscan command has the following syntax:
mirscan -v vgname | -l lvname | -p pvname | -r reverse_pvname [ -a ]
[ -o ] [ -q nblks ] [ -c lvcopy ] [ -s strictness ]
[ -u upperbound ]
Common flags are described in Table 2-3 and additional information is available
in the command man page.

Chapter 2. Storage management

31

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Table 2-3 Commonly used flags for mirscan command
Flag

Description

-v vgname

Specifies the volume group to be scanned.

-l lvname

Specifies the logical volume to be scanned.

-p pvname

Specifies the physical volume to be scanned.

-r reverse_pvname

Specifies that any partitions in the volume group should be

scanned if they do not reside on pvname but they do have a
mirror copy on pvname.

-c lvcopy

Identifies a particular copy of the logical volume. The -c flag can

only be specified in conjunction with the -l flag.

-a

Specifies that corrective action should be taken.

The -r reverse_pname flag takes a disk device as its argument and checks all
partitions that do not reside on that device but which have a mirrored copy
located there. This is useful for ensuring the integrity of a logical volume, prior to
removing a failing disk.

2.2.2 Report format

The mirscan command generates a report to standard out describing the
operations performed and the results. Example 2-2 shows a sample output.
Example 2-2 Report output from mirscan command
START TIME: Wed Nov 29 09:41:20 CST:2006
OP STATUS PVNAME
PP SYNC
IOFAIL LVNAME
TARGETPP
s SUCCESS hdisk0
116 synced no
fslv00
s SUCCESS hdisk0
117 synced no
fslv00
s SUCCESS hdisk0
118 synced no
fslv00
s SUCCESS hdisk0
119 synced no
fslv00
s SUCCESS hdisk1
115 synced no
fslv00
s SUCCESS hdisk1
116 synced no
fslv00
s SUCCESS hdisk1
117 synced no
fslv00
s SUCCESS hdisk1
118 synced no
fslv00
END TIME: Wed Nov 29 09:48:43 CST:2006

LP CP TARGETPV

The report has 11 columns that are described in Table 2-4.

32

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4

1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Table 2-4 Output columns from mirscan command
Field

Description

OP

Indicates the operation performed, s sync, r resync, f force resync

and m migration.

STATUS

Shows if the operation was success or failure.

PVNAME

Identifies the name of the physical volume where the partition being
operated on resides.

PP

Identifies the physical partition number of the partition being

operated on.

SYNC

Shows if the partition is synced or stale.

IOFAIL

The valid values for this field are yes or no. The value indicated refers
to the state of the partition after the operation has been completed.

LVNAME

Identifies the name of the logical volume where the partition being
operated on resides.

LP

Identifies the logical partition number of the partition being operated

on.

CP

Identifies the logical copy number of the partition being operated on

TARGETPV

Identifies the name of the physical volume that was used as the
target for a migration operation.

TARGETPP

Identifies the physical partition number of the partition that was used
as the target for a migration operation

2.2.3 Corrective actions

If the -a flag is specified, the mirscan command will attempt corrective actions to
resolve any issues. There are three possible actions as follows.
Resync

Attempts to resync a stale partition. This is the same

process as performed by the syncvg command

Forced Resync

Re-reads a partition which is incapable of I/O. This is

intended to trigger bad block relocation or hardware
relocation in order to recover the partition

Migration

If the partition is still unreadable, the command attempts

to migrate that partition to a new location. By default, the
new location that is selected adheres to the strictness and
upperbound policies for the logical volume that contains
the partition.

Chapter 2. Storage management

33

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Partitions on non-mirrored logical volumes are scanned and included in all

reports, but no sync or migration operation is possible for such partitions.
Partitions on striped logical volumes can be synced but cannot be migrated.
Partitions on paging devices cannot be migrated, because this would result in a
system hang if the mirscan process were to be paged out. Partitions on the boot
logical volume cannot be migrated. An informative error message is generated in
the corrective action report for each of the preceding cases.

2.3 AIO fast path for concurrent I/O (5300-05)

With previous versions of AIX and AIX 5L, disk drives accessed asynchronously
using either the Journaled File System (JFS) or the Enhanced Journaled File
System (JFS2) had all I/O routed through the Asynchronous I/O kprocs (kernel
processes). Disk drives accessed asynchronously that were using a form of raw
logical volume management did not have disk I/O routed through the
Asynchronous I/Os kprocs.
AIX 5L Version 5.3 5300-05 has implemented Asynchronous I/O fast path for
concurrent I/O. This is similar to the Logical Volume Manager fast path and is
meant to be used with JFS2 concurrent I/O. This results in less context switching
and immediate start of the I/O leading to a performance improvement.
The Asynchronous I/O fast path for Concurrent I/O is yet another I/O
optimization. It allows I/O requests to be submitted directly to the disk driver
strategy routine through the Logical Volume Manager (LVM). The fast path for
Concurrent I/O is supported exclusively with the JFS2 file system. Without the
fast path, I/O must be queued to Asynchronous I/O kernel processes (kprocs) to
handle the requests. In addition, the number of Asynchronous I/O kprocs must
be tuned carefully to handle the I/O load generated by the application.
Note: The kproc path can result in slower performance than the fast path due
to additional CPU or memory usage and inadequate Asynchronous I/O kproc
tuning.

2.4 FAStT boot support enhancements (5300-03)

In previous versions of AIX 5L their was a requirement for an AIX 5L logical
partition to be configured with a path to each working controller in order to allow
that partition to boot off a FAStT.
Due to the fact that IBM System p machines can have upto 254 partitions and
that more customers are configuring their partitions to boot from external storage

34

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

devices such as the FAStT, AIX 5L 5300-03 has made enhancements to allow a
partition to only have one path configured if the partition is required to boot off the
FAStT.

2.4.1 SAN boot procedures

This procedure assumes that the following steps have already been done:
Hardware installation is complete.
HBAs are mapped to the correct storage subsystem.
That the size of the boot device that you plan to use is at least 2.2 GB.
Ensure that you have the AIX 5L operating system installation CD.
Note: This procedure is an outline of the common installation steps required
to install AIX 5L, for a detailed step by step information refer to your systems
installation guide.
1. Ensure all external devices (for example storage controllers) are powered on.
2. Power on server, and insert AIX 5L Volume 1 CD into the optical device.
3. When the system beeps, press 1 or F5 (the function key is system
dependent). This will launch the System Management Services menu (SMS) .
4. From the SMS menu, select your installation source (ROM), and boot from the
AIX Product CD . (See your servers installation manual for detailed
instructions.)
5. When the Welcome to Base Operating System Installation and Maintenance
window displays, type 2 in the Choice field to select Change/Show Installation
Settings and Install, and press Enter.
6. When the Change Method of Installation window displays, select 1 for New
and Complete Overwrite, and press Enter.
7. When the Change Disk(s) window displays, you can change/select the
destination disk for the installation. At this point, you can select the
appropriate SAN hdisks and deselect any other drives (for example, SCSI).
8. When you have finished selecting the disk(s) and verified your choices are
correct, type 0 in the Choice field, and press Enter. The Installation and
Settings window displays with the selected disks listed under System
Settings.
9. Make any other changes your OS installation requires and proceed with
installation.

Chapter 2. Storage management

35

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

2.5 Tivoli Access Manager pre-install (5300-05)

A simple-to-use, policy-based security system, Tivoli Access Manager for
System p is available as a preinstalled option on selected System p servers. This
security system can securely lock down business-critical applications, files, and
operating platforms to help prevent unauthorized access. These security
capabilities help block both insiders and outsiders from unauthorized access to
and use of valuable customer, employee, and business partner data.
Highlights of Tivoli Access Manager:
Defends against the top security threat that enterprises face such as
malicious or fraudulent behavior by internal users and employees.
Combines full-fledged intrusion prevention-host-based firewall, application
and platform protection, user tracking and controls with robust auditing and
compliance checking.
Provides Persistent Universal Auditing to document compliance with
government regulations, corporate policy and other security mandates.
Provides best-practice security policy templates to minimize implementation
effort and time.
Delivers mainframe-class security and auditing in a lightweight, easy-to-use
product.
Tivoli Access Manager is available at no additional charge on all System p
servers sold in the United States. Tivoli Access Manager server component will
be pre-installed by default on all IBM System p5 9117-570, 9119-590 and
9119-595 servers; pre-install of the Tivoli Access Manager server on all other
System p servers is available by request (by default it will not be installed).

2.6 Geographic Logical Volume Manager (5300-03)

The Geographic Logical Volume Manager (GLVM) is a new AIX 5L
software-based technology for real time geographic data mirroring over standard
TCP/IP networks. GLVM can help protect your business from a disaster by
mirroring your mission-critical data to a remote disaster recovery site. If a
disaster, such as a fire or flood, were to destroy the data at your production site,
you would already have an up-to-date copy of the data at your disaster recovery
site.
GLVM builds upon the AIX 5L Logical Volume Manager (LVM) to allow you to
create a mirror copy of data at a geographically distant location. Because of its
tight integration with LVM, users who are already familiar with LVM should find

36

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch02.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

GLVM easy to learn. You configure geographically distant disks as remote

physical volumes and then combine those remote physical volumes with local
physical volumes to form geographically mirrored volume groups. These are
managed by LVM very much like ordinary volume groups.
GLVM was originally made available as part of the XD (Extended Distance)
feature of HACMP for AIX 5L Version 5.2. The HACMP documentation refers to
this technology as HACMP/XD for GLVM. The AIX 5L GLVM technology provides
the same geographic data mirroring functionality as HACMP/XD for GLVM, only
without the automated monitoring and recovery which is provided by HACMP.
This technology is intended for users who need real time geographic data
mirroring but do not require HACMP to automatically detect a disaster and move
mission-critical applications to the disaster recovery site.
The document Using the Geographic LVM in AIX located at the following Web
site contains the additional information you need to manage a standalone GLVM
installation in AIX 5L without HACMP:
http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/whitepapers/aix_glvm.html
Formal user documentation for GLVM is provided with the HACMP product. The
HACMP/XD for Geographic LVM: Planning and Administration Guide is available
online at the following HACMP documentation page:
http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseries/library/hacmp_docs.html

Chapter 2. Storage management

37

7414ch02.fm

38

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch03.fm

Chapter 3.

Reliability, availability, and

serviceability
In the area of RAS, this chapter covers the following topics:
Trace enhancements
Minidump facility (5300-03)
Parallel dump (5300-05)
Redundant service processors (5300-02)
Additional RAS capabilities

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

39

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

3.1 Trace enhancements

AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the TL 5300-05 Technology Level package provides the
following advanced First Failure Data Capture (FFDC) features.
Component Trace
These features include Lightweight Memory Trace (LMT)
These features are enabled by default, at levels that provide valuable FFDC
information with minimal performance impacts. The advanced FFDC features
can be individually manipulated. A SMIT dialog has also been provided, as a
convenient way to persistently (across reboots) disable or enable the features
through a single command. To enable or disable all three advanced FFDC
features, enter the following command:
smit ffdc
Note: You can then choose to enable or disable FFDC features. Note that a
bosboot and reboot are required to fully enable or disable all FFDC features.
Any change will not take effect until the next boot.
The additional topic of Trace event macro stamping (5300-05) is also covered.

3.1.1 Component trace facility (5300-05)

The component trace facility allows the capture of information about a specific
kernel component, kernel extension, or device driver. It is new in AIX 5L Version
5.3 with TL 5300-05.

Component trace facility overview

Component trace (CT) provides two high-level capabilities.
It can be used as a filter for existing system trace, as a component hierarchy
can now be associated with trace.
It provides a uniform framework to manage and retrieve First Failure Data
Capture (FFDC) and Second Failure Data Capture (SFDC) information that
may currently be traced according to component-specific methods.
Component trace is an important FFDC and SFDC tool available to the kernel,
kernel extensions, and device drivers. CT allows a component to capture trace
events to aid in both debugging and system analysis and provide focused trace
data on larger server systems.

40

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch03.fm

The component trace facility provides system trace information for specific
system components. This information allows service personnel to access
component state information through either in-memory trace buffers or through
traditional AIX 5L system trace. CT is enabled by default.
Component trace uses mechanisms similar to system trace. Existing TRCHKxx
and TRCGEN macros can be replaced with CT macros to trace into system trace
buffers or memory trace mode private buffers. Once recorded, CT events can be
retrieved using the ctctrl command. Extraction using the ctctrl command is
relevant only to in-memory tracing. CT events can also be present in a system
trace. The trcrpt command is used in both cases to process the events.

Component trace modes

Component trace has two modes which can be used simultaneously:
The system trace mode sends trace entries to the existing system trace.
There are two properties are associated with this mode:
on/off

By default, this mode is on.

level of trace

The default level of system trace is CT_LVL_NORMAL,

for example 3.

The memory trace mode stores the trace entries in a memory buffer, either
private to the component or to a per-CPU memory buffer dedicated to the
kernel's lightweight memory tracing.
The following settings may be changed:
on/off

By default, this mode is off.

serialization policy

By default, the recording of trace entries is serialized

by the framework.

level of trace

The default level is CT_LVL_MINIMAL, for example 1.

The tracing can be suspended or not (suspended by default). The size of the
private buffer (by default, the size is 0).
Component trace entries may be traced to a private component buffer, the
lightweight memory trace, or the system trace. The destination is governed by
flags specified to the CT_HOOK and CT_GEN macros. The MT_COMMON flag
causes the entry to be traced into the common, lightweight memory trace buffer,
and MT_RARE causes it to go to the rare, lightweight memory trace buffer. You
should not specify both MT_COMMON and MT_RARE. MT_PRIV traces the
entry into the component's private buffer. MT_SYSTEM puts the entry into the
system trace if system trace is active. Thus, an entry may be traced into the
lightweight memory trace, the component's private buffer, and the system trace,

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

41

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

or any combination of these destinations. Generic trace entries, traced with the
CT_GEN macro, can not be traced into the lightweight memory trace.
In the memory trace mode, you have the choice for each component, at
initialization, to store their trace entries either in a component private buffer or in
one of the memory buffers managed by the lightweight memory trace. In the
second case, the memory type (common or rare) is chosen for each trace entry.
The component private buffer is a pinned memory buffer that can be allocated by
the framework at component registration or at a later time and only attached to
this component. Its size can be dynamically changed by the developer (through
the CT API) or the administrator (with the ctctrl command).
Private buffers and lightweight memory buffers will be used in circular mode,
meaning that once the buffer is full, the last trace entries overwrite the first one.
Moreover, for each component, the serialization of the buffers can be managed
either by the component (for example managed by the component owner) or by
the component trace framework. This serialization policy is chosen at registration
and may not be changed during the life of the component.
The system trace mode is an additional functionality provided by component
trace. When a component is traced using system trace, each trace entry is sent
to the current system trace. In this mode, component trace will act as a front-end
filter for the existing system trace. By setting the system trace level, a component
can control which trace hooks enter the system trace buffer. Tracing into the
system trace buffer, if it is active, is on at the CT_LVL_NORMAL tracing level by
default.

Using the component trace facility

CT commands can be found in the ctctrl command documentation.
The following are some examples for using the ctctrl command to manipulate
the CT:
To dump the contents of all CT buffers, Enter:
ctctrl -D -c all
To dump the contents of the mbuf CT buffer to /tmp, Enter:
ctctrl -D -d /tmp -c mbuf
After that, a file named mbuf is created in /tmp with the content of the mbuf
component trace. To view the trace record, Enter:
trcrpt /tmp/mbuf
To query the state of all CT aware components, Enter:

42

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch03.fm

ctctrl -q
To query the state of only the netinet components, Enter:
ctctrl -c netinet -q -r
Disable the use of in-memory CT buffers can be persistently across reboots
by using:
ctctrl -P memtraceoff
CT can be persistently enabled by running:
ctctrl -P memtraceon
Note: The bosboot command is required to make the trace persistent on the
next boot.

3.1.2 Lightweight memory trace (5300-03)

The Lightweight Memory Trace (also known as LMT) is an efficient, default-on,
per CPU, in-memory kernel trace. It is built upon the trace function that already
exists in kernel subsystems, and is of most use for those who have AIX 5L
source-code access or a deep understanding of AIX 5L internals. The LMT is
intended for use by IBM service personnel, therefore not all of its commands
have been documented externally.

Overview
LMT provides system trace information for First Failure Data Capture (FFDC). It
is a constant kernel trace mechanism that records software events occurring
during system operation. The system activates LMT at initialization, then tracing
runs continuously. Recorded events are saved into per processor memory trace
buffers. There are two memory trace buffers for each processor, one to record
common events, and one to record rare events. The memory trace buffers can be
extracted from system dumps and accessed on a live system by service
personnel. The trace records look like traditional AIX 5L system trace records.
The extracted memory trace buffers can be viewed with the trcrpt command,
with formatting as defined in the /etc/trcfmt file.
LMT differs from the traditional AIX 5L system trace in several ways.
LMT is more efficient
LMT is enabled by default, and has been explicitly tuned as an FFDC
mechanism.
However a traditional AIX 5L trace will not be collected until requested. Unlike
traditional AIX 5L system trace, you cannot selectively record only certain AIX 5L
trace hook IDs with LMT. With LMT, you either record all LMT-enabled hooks, or

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

43

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

you record none. This means that traditional AIX 5L system trace is the preferred
Second Failure Data Capture (SFDC) tool, as you can more precisely specify the
exact trace hooks of interest given knowledge gained from the initial failure. All
trace hooks can be recorded using traditional AIX 5L system trace, but it may
produce large amount of data this way. Traditional system trace also provides
options that allow you to automatically write the trace information to a disk-based
file (such as /var/adm/ras/trcfile). LMT provides no such option to automatically
write the trace entries to disk when the memory trace buffer fills. When an LMT
memory trace buffer fills, it wraps, meaning the oldest trace record is overwritten,
similar to circular mode in traditional AIX 5L trace.
LMT allows you to view some history of what the system was doing prior to
reaching the point where a failure is detected. As previously mentioned, each
CPU has a memory trace buffer for common events, and a smaller memory trace
buffer for rare events. The intent is for the common buffer to have a 1 to 2 second
retention (in other words, have enough space to record events occurring during
the last 1 to 2 seconds without wrapping). The rare buffer is designed for around
one hour's retention. This depends on workload, on where developers place
trace hook calls in the AIX 5L kernel source, and on what parameters they trace.
AIX 5L Version 5.3 ML3 is tuned such that overly expensive, frequent, or
redundant trace hooks are not recorded using LMT. Note all of the kernel trace
hooks are still included in traditional system trace (when it is enabled). So a given
trace hook entry may be recorded in LMT, system trace, or both. By default, the
LMT-aware trace macros in the source code write into the LMT common buffer,
so there is currently little rare buffer content in ML3.
LMT has proven to be a very useful tool during the development of AIX 5L
Version 5.3 with the ML 5300-03.

Enabling and disabling LMT

LMT by default is turned on but LMT can be disabled (or can be re-enabled) by
changing the mtrc_enabled tunable using the /usr/sbin/raso command. The
raso command is documented in the AIX 5L Version 5.3 Commands Reference,
Volume 4 or man manual. To turn off (disable) LMT, Enter the following:
raso -r -o mtrc_enabled=0
To turn on (enable) LMT, type the following:
raso -r -o mtrc_enabled=1
Note: In either case, the boot image is rebuilt (bosboot needs to be run), and
the change does not take effect until the next reboot.
When LMT is disabled, the trace memory buffers are not allocated, and most of
the LMT-related instruction path-length is also avoided.

44

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

LMT performance impact and memory consumption

LMT has been implemented such that it has negligible performance impacts. The
impact on the throughput of a kernel-intensive benchmark is just one percent,
and is much less for typical user workloads. LMT requires the consumption of a
small amount of pinned kernel memory. The default amount of memory required
for the memory trace buffers is automatically calculated based on factors that
influence software trace record retention, with the target being sufficiently large
buffers to meet the retention goals previously described. There are several
factors that may reduce the amount of memory automatically used. The behavior
differs slightly between the 32-bit (unix_mp) and 64-bit (unix_64) kernels. For the
64-bit kernel, the default calculation is limited such that no more than 1/128th of
system memory can be used by LMT, and no more than 256 MB by a single
processor. The 32-bit kernel uses the same default memory buffer size
calculations, but further restricts the total memory allocated for LMT (all
processors combined) to 16 MB. Table 3-1 shows some examples of default LMT
memory consumption:
Table 3-1 LMT memory consumption
Machine

Number of
CPUs

System
Memory

Total LMT
Memory:
64-bit Kernel

Total LMT
Memory:
32-bit Kernel

POWER3 (375
MHz CPU)

1 GB

8 MB

8 MB

POWER3 (375
MHz CPU)

4 GB

16 MB

16 MB

POWER5
(1656 MHz CPU,
shared processor
LPAR, 60% ent
cap, SMT)

8 logical

16 GB

120 MB

16 MB

POWER5 (1656
MHz CPU)

16

64 GB

512 MB

16 MB

To determine the amount of memory being used by LMT, enter the following shell
command:
echo mtrc | kdb | grep mt_total_memory
The following example output is from a IBM System p5 machine with 4 logical
CPUs, 1 GB memory and 64-bit kernel (the result may vary on your system):
# echo mtrc | kdb | grep mt_total_memory
mt_total_memory... 00000000007F8000

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

45

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The preceding output shows the LMT is using 8160 KB (that is in hex 0x7F8000
bytes) memory.
The 64-bit kernel resizes the LMT trace buffers in response to dynamic
reconfiguration events (for both POWER4 and POWER5 systems). The 32-bit
kernel does not, it will continue to use the buffer sizes calculated during system
initialization. Note that for either kernel, in the rare case that there is insufficient
pinned memory to allocate an LMT buffer when a CPU is being added, the CPU
allocation will fail. This can be identified by a CPU_ALLOC_ABORTED entry in
the error log, with detailed data showing an Abort Cause of 0000 0008 (LMT) and
Abort Data of 0000 0000 0000 000C (ENOMEM).
For the 64-bit kernel, the /usr/sbin/raso command can also be used to increase
or decrease the memory trace buffer sizes. This is done by changing the
mtrc_commonbufsize and mtrc_rarebufsize tunable variables. These two
variables are dynamic parameters, which means they can be changed without
requiring a reboot. For example, to change the per CPU rare buffer size to
sixteen 4 KB pages, for this boot as well as future boots, you would enter:
raso -p -o mtrc_rarebufsize=16
For more information on the memory trace buffer size tunables, see the raso
command documentation.
Internally, LMT tracing is temporarily suspended during any 64-bit kernel buffer
resize operation.
For the 32-bit kernel, the options are limited to accepting the default
(automatically calculated) buffer sizes, or disabling LMT (to completely avoid
buffer allocation).

Using LMT
This section will describe various commands available to make use of the
information captured by LMT. LMT is designed to be used by IBM service
personnel, so these commands (or their new LMT-related parameters) may not
be documented in the external documentation in InfoCenter. Each command can
display a usage string if you enter command -?.
To use LMT, use the following steps:
1. Extract the LMT data from a system dump or a running system
2. Format the contents of the extracted files to readable files
3. Analyze the output files and find the problem

46

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Get LMT records from a system dump

The LMT memory trace buffers are included in a system dump. You manipulate
them similarly to how traditional system trace buffers are used. The most basic
method is to use the trcdead command to extract the LMT buffers from the
dump. You can extract both LMT trace and traditional system trace all by the
trcdead command. The trcdead command can then be used to extract the eight
active system trace channels, all Component Trace buffers, and the LMT buffers
from the system dump. System trace channel 0 is extracted when no flags are
provided. A system trace channel other than channel 0 is identified through a
-channelnum flag. LMT buffers are identified through the -M flag. Only one type
of trace buffer, or one specific system trace channel, can be extracted at one
time. If you use -M parameter on the trcdead command, it will extract the buffers
into files in the LMT log directory. By default this is /var/adm/ras/mtrcdir. For
example, to extract LMT buffers from a dump image called dumpfile, you would
enter:
trcdead -M dumpfile
Each buffer is extracted into a unique file, with a control file for each buffer type. It
is similar to the per CPU trace option of traditional system trace. As an example,
executing the previous command on a dump of a 2 processor system would
result in the creation of the following files:
# ls /var/adm/ras/mtrcdir
mtrccommon
mtrccommon-1
mtrccommon-0
mtrcrare

mtrcrare-0
mtrcrare-1

To extract Lightweight Memory Trace information from dump image vmcore.0 and
put it into the /tmp directory, enter:
trcdead -o /tmp -M vmcore.0
The new -M parameter of the trcrpt command can then be used to format the
contents of the extracted files. Presently the trcrpt command allows you to look
at the common files together, or the rare files together, but will not display a
totally merged view of both sets. All LMT trace record entries are time-stamped,
so it is straight forward to merge files when desired. Also remember that in the
initial version of AIX 5L Version 5.3 ML3, rare buffer entries are truly rare, and
most often the interesting data will be in the common buffers. Continuing the
previous example, to view the LMT files that were extracted from the dumpfile,
you could enter:
trcrpt -M common
and
trcrpt -M rare

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

47

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Other trcrpt command parameters can be used in conjunction with the -M flag
to qualify the displayed contents. As one example, you could use the following
command to display only VMM trace event group hookids that occurred on
CPU 1:
trcrpt -D vmm -C 1 -M common
The trcrpt command is the most flexible way to view LMT trace records.
However, it is also possible to use the kdb dump reader and KDB debugger to
view LMT trace records. This is done via the new mtrace subcommand. Without
any parameters, the subcommand displays some global information relating to
LMT. The -c parameter is used to show LMT information for a given CPU, and
can be combined with the common or rare keyword to display the common or
rare buffer contents for a given CPU. The -d flag is the other flag supported by
the mtrace subcommand. This option takes additional subparameters that define
a memory region using its address and length. The -d option formats this
memory region as a sequence of LMT trace record entries. One potential use of
this option is to view the LMT entries described in the dmp_minimal cdt of a
system dump.
Note: Any LMT buffer displayed from kdb/KDB contains only generic
formatting, unlike the output provided by the trcrpt command. The kdb/KDB
subcommand is a more primitive debug aid. It is documented in the external
KDB documentation for those wishing additional details. As a final comment
regarding kdb and LMT, the mtrace subcommand is not fully supported when
the kdb command is used to examine a running system. In particular, buffer
contents will not be displayed when the kdb command is used in this live
kernel mode.

Get LMT records from a running system

The final option for accessing LMT trace records is to extract them on a running
system. The new mtrcsave command is used to extract the trace memory buffers
into disk files in the LMT log directory. Recording of new LMT entries is
temporarily suspended while the trace buffers are being extracted. The extracted
files look identical to the files created when LMT buffers are extracted from a
system dump with the trcdead command. And as with LMT files created by the
trcdead command, the trcrpt command is used to view them.
Without any parameters, the mtrcsave command will extract both common and
rare buffers, for every CPU, to the LMT log directory. The -M flag can be used to
specify a specific buffer type, common or rare. And the -C flag can be used to
specify a specific CPU or a list of CPU's. CPUs in a CPU list are separated by
commas, or the list can be enclosed in double quotation marks and separated by
commas or blanks. The following example shows the syntax for extracting the

48

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

common buffer only, for only the first 2 CPU's of a system. CPU numbering starts
with zero. By default, the extracted files are placed in /var/adm/ras/mtrcdir:
mtrcsave -M common -C 0,1
ls /var/adm/ras/mtrcdir
mtrccommon
mtrccommon-0

mtrccommon-1

The snap command can be used to collect any LMT trace files created by the
mtrcsave command. This is done using the gettrc snap script, which supports
collecting LMT trace files from either the default LMT log directory or from an
explicitly named directory. The files are stored into the
/tmp/ibmsupt/gettrc/<logdirname> subdirectory. Using the snap command to
collect LMT trace files is only necessary when someone has explicitly created
LMT trace files and wants to send them to service. If the machine has crashed,
the LMT trace information is still embedded in the dump image, and all that is
needed is for snap to collect the dump file. You can see the options supported by
the gettrc snapscript by executing:
/usr/lib/ras/snapscripts/gettrc -h
As an example, to collect general system information, as well as any LMT trace
files in the default LMT log directory, you would enter:
snap -g "gettrc -m"
The preceding discussions of the trcdead, trcrpt, mtrcsave, and snap
commands mention the LMT log directory. The trcdead and mtrcsave commands
create files in the LMT log directory, the trcrpt command looks in the LMT log
directory for LMT trace files to format, and the gettrc snap script may look in the
LMT log directory for LMT trace files to collect. By default, the LMT log directory
is /var/adm/ras/mtrcdir. This can be changed to a different directory using the
trcctl command. For example, to set the LMT log directory to a directory
associated with a dump being analyzed, you might enter:
trcctl -M /mypath_to_dump/my_lmt_logdir
This sets the system-wide default LMT log directory to
/mypath_to_dump/my_lmt_logdir, and subsequent invocations of trcdead,
trcrpt, mtrcsave, and the gettrc snapscript will access the my_lmt_logdir
directory. This single system-wide log directory may cause issues on multi-user
machines where simultaneous analysis of different dumps is occurring.
LMT support introduced with AIX 5L Version 5.3 with ML 5300-03 still represents
a significant advance in AIX first failure data capture capabilities, and provides
service personnel with a powerful and valuable tool for diagnosing problems.

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

49

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

3.1.3 Trace event macro stamping (5300-05)

The trace facility is useful for observing a running device driver and system. The
trace facility captures a sequential flow of time-stamped system events, providing
a fine level of detail on system activity. Events are shown in time sequence and in
the context of other events. The trace facility is useful in expanding the trace
event information to understand who, when, how, and even why the event
happened. For AIX 5L Version 5.3, tracing can be limited to a specified set of
processes or threads. This can greatly reduce the amount of data generated and
allow you to target the trace to report on specific tasks of interest.
The operating system is shipped with predefined trace hooks (events). You need
only activate trace to capture the flow of events from the operating system. You
can also define trace events in your code during development for tuning
purposes. This provides insight into how the program is interacting with the
system.
Trace event can take several forms. An event consists of the following:
Hookword
Data words (optional)
A TID, or thread identifier
Timestamp
Macros to record each possible type of event record are defined in the
/usr/include/sys/trcmacros.h file. The following macros should always be used to
generate trace data. Do not call the tracing functions directly. There is a macro to
record each possible type of event record. The macros are defined in the
sys/trcmacros.h header file. Most event IDs are defined in the sys/trchkid.h
header file. Include these two header files in any program that is recording trace
events.
The macros to record system (channel 0) events with a time stamp are:
TRCHKL0T
TRCHKL1T
TRCHKL2T
TRCHKL3T
TRCHKL4T
TRCHKL5T

(hw)
(hw,D1)
(hw,D1,D2)
(hw,D1,D2,D3)
(hw,D1,D2,D3,D4)
(hw,D1,D2,D3,D4,D5)

Similarly, to record non-time stamped system events (channel 0) on versions of

prior to AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-05 Technology Level, use the following
macros:
TRCHKL0 (hw)

50

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

TRCHKL1
TRCHKL2
TRCHKL3
TRCHKL4
TRCHKL5

7414ch03.fm

(hw,D1)
(hw,D1,D2)
(hw,D1,D2,D3)
(hw,D1,D2,D3,D4)
(hw,D1,D2,D3,D4,D5)

In AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-05 Technology Level and above, a time
stamp is recorded with each event regardless of the type of macro used.
There are only two macros to record events to one of the generic channels
(channels 1-7). They are:
TRCGEN (ch,hw,d1,len,buf)
TRCGENT (ch,hw,d1,len,buf)
These macros record a hookword (hw), a data word (d1), and a length of data
(len) specified in bytes from the user's data segment at the location specified
(buf) to the event stream specified by the channel (ch). In AIX 5L Version 5.3 with
the 5300-05 Technology Level and above, the time stamp is recorded with both
macros.

3.2 Minidump facility (5300-03)

A system generates a system dump when a severe error occurs. System dumps
can also be initiated by users with root user authority. A system dump creates a
picture of your system's memory contents. System administrators and
programmers can generate a dump and analyze its contents when debugging
new applications.
If your system stops with an 888 error code shown in the operator panel display,
the system has generated a dump and saved it to a dump device.
However, a system dump is not always completed successfully for various
reasons. If a dump is not collected at crash time, it is often difficult to determine
the cause of the crash. To combat this, the minidump facility has been introduced
in AIX 5L Version 5.3 with ML5300-03.
The minidump is a small, compressed dump. The minidump stores level 0 crash
information into NVRAM, and places it in the error log on reboot with a label of
MINIDUMP_LOG and a description of COMPRESSED MINIMAL DUMP. The
minidump is taken in addition to any full system dump when a system crashes.
The minidump is visible in the error log after operating system reboot, and is
included in the failure information sent to IBM service for diagnosis. It is targeted
at service personnel.

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

51

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The benefits of the minidump include:

First Failure Data Capture (FFDC) even when there is a system dump failure.
Recorded key information at the time point system crashes, such as stack
trace.
History of past dump (including content) in error log, in case dump device
gets overwritten.
Aid in identifying duplications of problems
Easier to manage than a full system dump. It is stored in the errlog and has a
very small size. It can also be transferred much more easily than a full system
dump.
Users can help to provide minidump information to IBM service personnel by:
snap -gc
Or the raw error log file that is usually located at /var/adm/ras/errlog.

3.3 Parallel dump (5300-05)

An AIX 5L system generates a system dump when a severe error occurs.
System dumps can also be user-initiated by users with root user authority. A
system dump creates a picture of your system's memory contents.
However systems have an increasingly large amount of memory and CPUs.
Larger systems experience long dump times. Thus a new feature parallel dump
is introduced in AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05. This is a dump performance
enhancement, and the speed of generating a dump is improved.
A new -S flag is introduced to the sysdumpdev command allows you to determine
if a system dump had parallel dump support:
sysdumpdev -L -S Device
It scans a specific dump device for a valid compressed dump. The dump must be
from an AIX 5L release with parallel dump support. This flag can be used only
with the -L flag.

3.4 Redundant service processors (5300-02)

The service processor enables POWER Hypervisor and Hardware
Management Console surveillance, selected remote power control,
environmental monitoring, reset and boot features, and remote maintenance and

52

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch03.fm

diagnostic activities, including console mirroring. On systems without an HMC,

the service processor can place calls to report surveillance failures with the
POWER Hypervisor, critical environmental faults, and critical processing faults.
AIX 5L has been enhanced to support redundant service processors.
The service processor provides the following services:
Environmental monitoring.
Mutual surveillance with the POWER Hypervisor.
Self protection for the system to restart from an unrecoverable firmware error,
firmware hang, hardware failure, or environmentally induced failure.
Fault monitoring and operating system notification at system boot.
All IBM System p5 9119-590 and p5 9119-595 servers are shipped with dual
service processors, and it is an option on a System p5 9117-570, and 9116-561.
The purpose of dual flexible service processors is to provide automatic failover
support in the event of a failure.

3.4.1 Redundant service processors requirements

The following are the major requirements to support redundant service
processors.
Firmware levels
9117/9406 570: 01SF235_160_160
9117/9406 570 with FC 8338 (2.2 GHz P5+ processors) or FC 7782 (1.9
GHz P5+ processors): 01SF240_201_201
9116 561: 01SF240_201_201
One HMC at the following levels:
9117/9406 570: Version 5, Release 1 with PTF MH000607
9116 561: Version 5, Release 2 with PTF MH000610
Two Physical Processor Drawer (CEC) Enclosures
Note: Firmware and HMC levels listed are strictly minimums. Installation of the
latest available Service Packs for your code stream is recommended as they
contain fixes and enhancements which will provide more robust performance
and improve reliability

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

53

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

3.4.2 Service processor failover capable

If you have two service processors installed in your system and you want to
confirm that Service Processor Failover is enabled, follow these steps:
In the content area right click on the managed system
Select properties
Select Capabilities
Service Processor Failover Capable should be set to True (When True, the
managed system can switch from using a primary service processor to using
a secondary service processor automatically if the primary service processor
fails). See Figure 3-1, for a view of a enabled system.

Figure 3-1 Managed System Properties

54

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch03.fm

3.4.3 Performing a service processor failover

Regarding Figure 3-2, you can both enable or disable Failover and execute an
Administrative Failover. The apply button is used to save changes when a
failover is enabled or disabled. If a failover is enabled, setting OK will initiate a
failover. Having a look at this example the Secondary Service Processor is not
installed or has been deconfigured, therefore performing a failover would not be
possible. If a second Service Processor was installed the Failover Readiness
state needs to be set to Ready in order for the Failover to occur.
In the navigation area expand Service Applications
In the contents area, select Service Utilities
On the next window, select the managed system you want to work with,
From the menu, select Selected
Select Service Processor Failover

Figure 3-2 Administrator Service Processor Failover

Information regarding configuration of a redundant service processors can be

found at:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247196.html?Open

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

55

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

3.5 Additional RAS capabilities

Reliability, Availability, Serviceability (RAS) is a collective term for those
characteristics that enable a system to do the following:
Perform its intended function during a certain period under given conditions
Perform its function whenever it is needed
Quickly determine the cause and the solution to a problem or error that affects
system operation
The following sections highlight recent changes to some of the AIX 5L RAS
utilities and infrastructure.

3.5.1 Error log hardening

An error log may become corrupted or incomplete when a system is terminated
without stopping error logging. The current recovery strategy is to make a copy of
the log and then reset the log as if it were a new log, rather than attempt to
recover the existing log entries. AIX 5L Version 5.3 introduces a recovery method
wherein the log is recovered when the errdemon is started. It checks for the error
log consistency. If the errdemon detects a corrupted error log, it makes a backup
copy of the existing error log file to /tmp/errlog.save and then repairs the existing
log.
AIX 5L error logging now supports up to 4096 bytes of event data (see the
/usr/include/sys/err_rec.h file). However, this size error log entry is intended only
for restricted system use and general error log entries should continue to contain
2048 bytes or less of event data. While up to 4096 bytes of detail data is allowed,
this size entry may be truncated across a reboot in certain circumstances. The
largest detail data size guaranteed not to be truncated is 2048 bytes. A large
error log entry reduces the non-volatile storage available to the system dump
facility in the event of a system crash.

3.5.2 System dump enhancements

Extended system failure status information is captured as part of the dump,
detailing dump success or failure. Display the extended information by using the
sysdumpdev command.
System dump compression is turned on by default. For information about dump
compression, see the sysdumpdev command documentation.

56

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch03.fm

System dump is enhanced to support DVD-RAM as the dump media. A

DVD-RAM can be used as the primary or secondary dump device. The snap
command can use a DVD-RAM as source as well as an output device.
Following a system crash, there exist scenarios where a system dump might
crash or fail without one byte of data written out to the dump device. For cases
where a failed dump does not include the dump minimal table, the failures cannot
be easily diagnosed. As an enhancement to the dump procedure, a small
minidump is now taken when the system crashes. The minidump stores level 0
crash information into NVRAM, and places it in the error log on reboot. The
sysdumpdev -vL command can then be used to discover the reason for the
failure. This information is also included in the failure information sent to IBM
service for diagnosis.
Dump information is displayed on the TTY during the creation of the system
dump.
The dump command can now take a wildcard. (5300-05)
A new option -c has been added to the dmpfmt command to verify the integrity of
a dump.

3.5.3 The snap command enhancements

The function of the snap command has been enhanced so that it can now split
the snap output file into user-specified sizes (smaller). To do this, the snap
command invokes a the snapsplit command.
The snap command is enhanced to support the following:
Independent service vendors (ISVs) can use custom scripts to collect their
custom problem data as part of the snap process. For programming and
process details, see Copying a System Dump in AIX 5L Version 5.3 Kernel
Extensions and Device Support Programming Concepts.
Large outputs can be split into smaller files for ease of transport.
Output can be written to DVD-RAM media.

3.5.4 Trace and debug features and enhancements

In prior versions of AIX 5L, system trace traced the entire system. The system
trace facility has been enhanced by new flags, which enables the trace to run
only for specified processes, threads, or programs.

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

57

7414ch03.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The system trace can be used to trace processor utilization register (PURR) to
provide more accurate event timings in a shared processor partition environment.
In previous versions of AIX 5L and AIX, the trace buffer size for a regular user is
restricted to a maximum of 1 MB. Version 5.3 allows the system group users to
set the trace buffer size either through a new command, trcctl, or using a new
SMIT menu called Manage Trace.
The new Lightweight Memory Trace (LMT) is a highly efficient, always-on trace
aimed at First Failure Data Capture.
See 3.1.2, Lightweight memory trace (5300-03) on page 43 for additional
information.
The Component Trace (CT) facility provides system trace information for specific
system components. This information allows service personnel to access
component state information through either in-memory trace buffers or through
traditional AIX system trace. CT is enabled by default.
See 3.1.1, Component trace facility (5300-05) on page 40 for more information.
The Run-Time Error Checking (RTEC) facility provides service personnel with a
method to manipulate debug capabilities that are already built into product
binaries. RTEC provides service personnel with powerful first failure data capture
and second failure data capture error detection features.
Error Detection facilities have been improved to detect when code runs disabled
for interrupts too long.
New Debug Aids, such as KDB Consistency Checkers and enhanced socket
debugging capabilities

3.5.5 Configuring large number of devices

For each device configured in the system, an entry is made in the /dev directory.
On systems with many devices, it's possible for the system to run out of space in
the root file system or to run out of inodes. Prior versions of AIX 5L did not report
the cause of errors. In AIX 5L Version 5.3, the cfgmgr command reports the
cause.

3.5.6 Core file creation and compression

AIX 5L Version 5.3 allows the users to compress the core file and specify its
name and destination directory. Two new commands, lscore and chcore, have

58

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch03.fm

been introduced to check the settings for the corefile creation and change them,
respectively.

3.5.7 The dmpuncompress command (5300-05)

An AIX 5L system is designed to generate a system dump when a severe error
occurs. System dumps can also be initiated by users with root user authority. A
system dump creates a picture of your system's memory contents. You can
specify that all future dumps will be compressed before they are written to the
dump device by using:
sysdumpdev -C
A main change for AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05 of dump format is that the
compressed dump will not use the compress command format, so it cannot be
extracted by the uncompress command. A new dump compression method is
introduced, and the copied dump has a name with suffix of .BZ instead of a .Z.
So, a new dmpuncompress command is added to extract the new-format
compressed dump file. The syntax is as follows:
/usr/bin/dmpuncompress [ -f ] [ File ]
The dmpuncompress command restores original dump files.
Each compressed file specified by the File parameter is removed and replaced
by an expanded copy. The expanded file has the same name as the compressed
version, but without the .BZ extension. If the user has root authority, the
expanded file retains the same owner, group, modes, and modification time as
the original file. If the user does not have root authority, the file retains the same
modes and modification time, but acquires a new owner and group.
The -f File flag forces expansion. It will overwrite the file if it already exists. The
system does not prompt the user that an existing file will be overwritten. File size
might not actually shrink in cases where data compression is already high.
The following is an example to uncompress the dump.BZ file:
/usr/lib/ras/dmpuncompress dump.BZ
The dump.BZ file is uncompressed and renamed dump.

Chapter 3. Reliability, availability, and serviceability

59

7414ch03.fm

60

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch04.fm

Chapter 4.

System administration
In this chapter, the following major topics are discussed:
AIX 5L release support strategy (5300-04)
Command enhancements
Multiple page size support (5300-04)
Advanced Accounting
National language support
LDAP enhancements (5300-03)

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

61

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

4.1 AIX 5L release support strategy (5300-04)

AIX 5L has changed some of its current service strategy directions and instituted
new release rules. One of the reasons for this is the amount of change present in
Maintenance Levels and the frequency with which they are released. A
Technology Level, Service Pack, and a Concluding Service Pack are the new
concepts which have been introduced.

4.1.1 Technology Level (TL)

A Technology Level will contain new hardware and software features in addition
to service updates. The first Technology Level will be restricted to hardware
features and enablement, as well as software service. The second Technology
Level will include new hardware features and enablement, software service, and
new software features, making it the larger of the two yearly releases. A
Technology Level will have all its requisites added so that the whole Technology
Level is installed and will not allow for it to be partially installed.
oslevel -r
5300-03

4.1.2 Service Pack (SP)

The Service Pack concept will allow service only updates (known as PTFs) that
are release between Technology Levels to be grouped together for easier
identification. These fixes will be highly pervasive, critical, or security related
issues. Service Packs will be provided for the N and N-1 releases (for example,
Version 5.3 and 5.2). The oslevel command has a new -s flag, this flag applies
all flags to Service Packs.
oslevel -s
5300-03-01

4.1.3 Concluding Service Pack (CSP)

Concluding Service Pack is the term that will identify the last Service Pack on a
Technology Level. The Concluding Service Pack will contain fixes for highly
pervasive, critical, or security related issues, just like a Service Pack, but it may
also contain fixes from the newly released Technology Level that fall into these
categories. Therefore, a Concluding Service Pack will contain a very small
subset of service that was just released as a part of a new Technology Level.
oslevel -s
5300-03-CSP

62

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

4.1.4 Interim Fix (IF)

The term Interim Fix or i-fix is used in AIX 5L as a replacement for emergency fix
or e-fix in order to simplify terminology across IBM and not cause confusion
when dealing with other products. While the term emergency fix is still applicable
in some situations (a fix given under extreme conditions), the term Interim Fix is
more descriptive in that it implies a temporary state until an update can be
applied that has been through the normal distribution process.

4.1.5 Maintenance strategy models

The current strategy is for two AIX 5L updates per year. In the first half of the
year, a Technology Level will be released and in the second half of the year the
next Technology Level will be released. Roughly 4-8 weeks after a Technology
Level has been released, a Concluding Service Pack will be released for the
previous Technology Level
For example:
1H / 2006 - TL4 5300-04 Roughly 4-8 weeks Concluding Service Pack 4
2H / 2006 - TL5 5300-05 Roughly 4-8 weeks Concluding Service Pack 5
Between Technology Levels, one or more Service Packs and PTFs, will be
released in support of the current Technology Level.

4.2 Command enhancements

The following topics are covered in this section:
The id command enhancement (5300-03)
cron and at command mail enhancement (5300-03)
The more command search highlighting (5300-03)
The ps command enhancement (5300-05)
Commands to show locked users (5300-03)
The -l flag for the cp and mv commands (5300-01)
For information on performance command enhancements see 4.3.1,
Performance command enhancements

Chapter 4. System administration

63

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

4.2.1 The id command enhancement (5300-03)

The id command has been enhanced by the addition of the -l flag. This flag
specifies that the id command write the login ID instead of the real or effective
ID. Previously, this information could only be retrieved by examining kernel
structures using the kdb command. It can be invoked with either the -u flag to
write the login UID or the -g flag to write the primary group ID for the login user.
When username is passed with the -l option, the id command displays the ID
details of the user name instead of the login ID details.
For example, if the user andyy logged into the system and then used the su
command to switch to the root user, id -un would report the following
# id -un
root
With the -l flag you would see the following output
# id -unl
andyy
If a username is specified, the output is reported for that user rather than the
login user.
# id -unl root
root

4.2.2 cron and at command mail enhancement (5300-03)

Prior to AIX 5L Version 5.3 with ML 5300-03 release, the cron daemon sends a
mail to the user who submitted the cron job, once it is complete. This mail is
intended to update the users on the status of the job execution. The cron daemon
also sends a mail, if the output of the cron job is not redirected to stdout or stderr.
This mail would contain the output of the executed cron job or error messages in
case the job failed. For sending mail to the users, cron daemon uses the mail
command. But the mail sent by the cron daemon do not contain a subject line.
From AIX 5L Version 5.3 with ML 5300-03, mail from cron daemon will have a
subject line, and there are two different cron mail formats are introduced. One is
for internal cron errors and the other is for the completion of cron jobs.
Mail format for mails resulting due to cron internal errors (such as errors
encountered while processing crontab file entries) is shown in Example 4-1:
Example 4-1 Mail format for cron internal errors

Subject:
Cron Job Failure

64

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Content:
Cron Environment:
SHELL= < Shell Name>
PATH= <PATH string>
CRONDIR = <cron directory name>
ATDIR = < atjobs directory name>
Output from cron as follows:
Brief description on the error encountered
Mail format for mail on cron jobs is shown in Example 4-2:
Example 4-2 Mail format for cron jobs completion

Subject:
Output from <at | cron> job <jobname>, username@hostname, exit status
<Exit Code>
Content:
Cron Environment:
SHELL= < Shell Name>
PATH= <PATH string>
CRONDIR = <cron directory name>
ATDIR = < at jobs directory name>
Your <cron | at> job executed on <machine name> on <scheduled time>
[cron | at job name]
produced the following output:
<Output from the Job or any error messages reported>
Example 4-3 shows an example of mail sent by cron on cron job completion:
Example 4-3 A cron job completion message

Message 1:
From daemon Mon Dec 4 14:26:00 2006
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 14:26:00 -0600
From: daemon
To: root
Subject: Output from cron job /usr/bin/sleep,
[email protected], exit status 2
Cron Environment:
SHELL =

Chapter 4. System administration

65

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

PATH=/usr/bin:/etc:/usr/sbin:/usr/ucb:/usr/bin/X11:/sbin:/usr/java14/jr
e/bin:/usr/java14/bin:/usr/local/bin
CRONDIR=/var/spool/cron/crontabs
ATDIR=/var/spool/cron/atjobs
LOGNAME=root
HOME=/root
Your "cron" job executed on lpar01.itsc.austin.ibm.com on Mon Dec
14:26:00 CST 2006
/usr/bin/sleep

produced the following output:

Usage: sleep Seconds
*****************************************************************
cron: The previous message is the standard output
and standard error of one of the cron commands.
This example shows the execution of the cron command with an exit status 2
(return code), and the standard output contains the information of:
Usage: sleep Seconds
The improved mail facility contains more useful information than the older version
does. A similar enhancement has been made to the at command.

4.2.3 The more command search highlighting (5300-03)

The more command now supports search highlighting. This is the default
behavior. When matching a search pattern, all matches of the search pattern are
highlighted. There are two ways to disable it
The more command -H option to disable the default search highlighting feature
from the command line.
H can also be used as a subcommand in an active session to toggle
highlighting on or off.
For example, use the more command to open the /etc/hosts, and use a slash / to
search the pattern localhost, and you will get all the words localhost highlighted.
Figure 4-1 provides an example of this.

66

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Figure 4-1 Search highlighting sample of the more command

In the session shown, you can just type H (case-sensitive) to disable highlighting.

4.2.4 The ps command enhancement (5300-05)

The ps command has been enhanced in AIX 5L Version 5.3 5300-05. The
command is used to show the current status of processes. Now it provides
process hierarchy information and a listing of descendant processes for given
PIDs in addition. AIX 5L introduces three new options for the ps command,
provided in Table 4-1 on page 67.
Table 4-1 Flags of ps command
Flag

Purpose

-Z

Displays the page size settings of processes using three columns:

DPGSZ indicates the data page size of a process
SPGSZ indicates the stack page size of a process
TPGSZ indicates the text page size of a process

-L pidlist

Generates a list of descendants of each and every PID that has been
passed to it in the pidlist variable. The pidlist variable is a list of
comma-separated process IDs. The list of descendants from all of
the given PID is printed in the order in which they appear in the
process table.

-T pid

Displays the process hierarchy rooted at a given PID in a tree format

using ASCII. This flag can be used in combination with the -f, -F, -o,
and -l flags.

Example 4-4 shows the ps command flags to find all the descendants of the inetd
process:
Example 4-4 The ps command new flags

# ps -ef|grep inetd
root 180324 188532
0 08:37:15
# ps -L 180324
PID
TTY TIME CMD
135340
- 0:00 telnetd
180324
- 0:00 inetd

0:00 /usr/sbin/inetd

Chapter 4. System administration

67

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

209020
254084
286890
307372
311474
319694
323780
364790

pts/2
pts/0
pts/0
pts/2

0:00
0:00
0:00
0:00
0:00
0:00
0:02
0:00

telnetd
ksh
bootpd
ksh
telnetd
topas
xmtopas
ps

You can find all the processes including their hierarchy in a ASCII tree format by
entering:
ps -T 0
The -T option is used to find all the processes and sub-processes under a
specific user by providing the users telnet IP address.
1. Find out the pts number of the user by giving the hostname or the IP address:
# who
root
root
root

pts/0
pts/1
pts/2

Nov 30 08:41
Nov 30 08:44
Nov 30 08:50

(kcyk04t.itsc.austin.ibm.com)
(proxy)
(kcbd0na.itsc.austin.ibm.com)

2. Find the shell for this user:

# ps -ef|grep "pts/2"
root 254084 250022

0 08:50:49

pts/2

0:00 -ksh

3. Use ps -T options:
# ps -fT 254084
The -Z option of the ps command is added to support different page sizes. For
more information about Huge Page support and Large Page support in AIX 5L
Version 5.3, refer to 4.3, Multiple page size support (5300-04) on page 71.

4.2.5 Commands to show locked users (5300-03)

In previous versions of AIX 5L and AIX their was no unique command available to
show a list of locked users. If a system administrator needed to collect a list of
locked users, they would have to write a shell script using various commands
such as usrck, pwdck, lssec, and so on, then parse the output and access the
relevant security files needed to obtain the information.
AIX 5L Version 5.3 ML 5300-03 has new command line options for the usrck
command to display locked users.

68

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The usrck command syntax

The following example shows the command syntax
usrck [ -l [-b] | -p | -y | -n | -t ] [ user ... | ALL ]
The two most common new flags are described in table Table 4-2, additional
information is available in the command man page.
Table 4-2 Commonly used usrck command flags and their descriptions
Flag

Description

-b

Reports users who are not able to access the system and the
reasons, with the reasons displayed in a bit-mask format. The -l flag
must be specified if the -b flag is specified. Note: The bit mask does
not report criteria 10 (user denied login to terminal), since this cannot
be considered a complete scenario when determining if a system is
inaccessible to a user. Likewise, the bit mask does not report criteria
9 (User denied access by applications) if at least one but not all of the
attributes values deny authentication; this criteria is only reported
when all four attribute values deny authentication.

-l

Scans all users or the users specified by the User parameter to

determine if the users can access the system.

Command examples
The following examples (Example 4-5 and Example 4-6) would be used by an
administrator to scan all users or the users specified by the user parameter to
determine if a user can access the system and also gives a description as to why
the user account has no access.
Example 4-5 The usrck -l command

# usrck -l ALL
The system is inaccessible to daemon, due to the following:
User account is expired.
User has no password.
The system is inaccessible to bin, due to the following:
User account is expired.
User has no password.
The system is inaccessible to sys, due to the following:
User account is expired.
User has no password.
The system is inaccessible to adm, due to the following:
User has no password.
The system is inaccessible to uucp, due to the following:
User has no password.
User denied access by login, rlogin applications.

Chapter 4. System administration

69

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The system is inaccessible to guest, due to the following:

User has no password.
The system is inaccessible to nobody, due to the following:
User account is expired.
User has no password.
Example 4-6 The usrck -l user command

# usrck -l test
The system is inaccessible to test, due to the following:
User account is locked.
The next example uses both the -b and -l option, the output consists of two fields,
the username and a 16-digit bit mask, separated by a tab. This output is a
summary of the previous command and lists all the user accounts which have
been locked out.
Example 4-7 The usrck -l -b command

# usrck -l -b ALL
daemon
bin
sys
adm
uucp
guest
nobody
lpd
lp
invscout
snapp
ipsec
nuucp
sshd
test

0000000000001010
0000000000001010
0000000000001010
0000000000001000
0000000000001000
0000000000001000
0000000000001010
0000000000001010
0000000001001000
0000000001001000
0000000001001000
0000000001001000
0000000001001000
0000000001001001
0000000000000001

4.2.6 The -l flag for the cp and mv commands (5300-01)

A new -I flag is available for the cp and mv commands. The -I flag suppresses the
warning message during ACL conversion. When ACL conversion succeeds with
the cp -p or mv commands, a warning message is printed out to stderr. You can
use the -I flag to suppress this warning message.

70

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The cp command syntax

The cp command syntax is as follows:
To copy a file to another file, type the following:
cp [ -E{force|ignore|warn} ] [ -f ] [ -h ] [ -i ] [ -p ] [ -I ]
[ -U ] [ - ] SourceFile TargetFile
To copy a file to a directory, type the following:
cp [ -E{force|ignore|warn} ] [ -f ] [ -h ] [ -i ] [ -p ]
[[ -r | -R ] [ -H | -L | -P ]] [ -I ] [ -U ]
[ - ] SourceFile ... TargetDirectory
To copy a directory to a directory, type the following:
cp [ -E{force|ignore|warn} ] [ -f ] [ -h ] [ -i ] [ -p ]
{ -r | -R } [ -H | -L | -P ] [ -I ] [ -U ]
[ - ] SourceDirectory ... TargetDirectory

The mv command syntax

The mv command syntax is as follows:
To move files to a directory, maintaining the original file names, type the
following:
mv [ -E{force|ignore|warn} ] [ -i | -f ] [ -I ] SourceFile
TargetFile
To move and rename a file or directory, type the following:
mv -E{force|ignore|warn} ] [ -i | -f ] [ -I ] SourceFile ...
TargetDirectory

4.3 Multiple page size support (5300-04)

AIX 5L 5.3 Version 5300-04 includes 64-bit kernel support for virtual memory
page sizes of 64 KB and 16 GB that are supported by POWER5+ processors.
These virtual memory page sizes are supported in addition to the previously
supported virtual memory page sizes of 4 KB and 16 MB. While 16 GB pages are
intended to only be used in very high-performance environments, 64 KB pages
are general-purpose, and most workloads are likely to see a benefit by using
64 KB pages rather than 4 KB pages.
Using a larger virtual memory page size for an application's memory can
significantly improve an application's performance and throughput due to
hardware efficiencies associated with larger page sizes. Using a larger page size
can decrease the hardware latency of translating a virtual page address to a

Chapter 4. System administration

71

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

physical page address. This decrease in latency is due to improving the

efficiency of hardware translation caches such as a processors translation
lookaside buffer (TLB). Because a hardware translation cache only has a limited
number of entries, using larger page sizes increases the amount of virtual
memory that can be translated by each entry in the cache. This increases the
amount of memory that can be accessed by an application without incurring
hardware translation delays.
The specific page sizes supported on a system depends on the processor type.
Table 4-3 shows the page sizes support on different hardware platforms.
Table 4-3 Page size support by platform
Page
size

Required Hardware

Requires user
configuration

Restricted

Kernel

4 KB

All

No

No

32 & 64

64 KB

IBM POWER5+ or later

No

No

64 only

16 MB

IBM POWER4 or later

Yes

Yes

64 only

16 GB

IBM POWER5+ or later

Yes

Yes

64 only

You can use the pagesize -af command to display all of the virtual memory
page sizes supported by AIX 5L on a system. Example 4-8 provides a sample
output.
Example 4-8 Output of the pagesize -af command

# pagesize -af
4K
64K
16M
16G
You can specify the page sizes to use for three regions of a process's address
space using an environment variable or settings in an applications XCOFF
binary with the ldedit or ld commands as shown in Example 4-4.
Table 4-4 The ld and ldedit command arguments for page size specification

72

Region

ld/ledit option

LDR_CNTRL
environment variable

Description

Data

-bdatapsize

DATAPSIZE

Initialized data, bss, heap

Stack

-bstackpsize

STACKPSIZE

Initial thread stack

Text

-btextpsize

TEXTPSIZE

Main executable text

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

For example, the following command causes a.out to use 64 KB pages for its
data, 4 KB pages for its text, and 64 KB pages for its stack on supported
hardware:
LDR_CNTRL=DATAPSIZE=64K@TEXTPSIZE=4K@STACKPSIZE=64K a.out
Unless page sizes are selected using one of the previous mechanisms, a
process will continue to use 4 KB pages for all three process memory regions by
default.
The 4 KB and 64 KB page sizes are intended to be general-purpose, and no
configuration changes are necessary to enable a system to use these page
sizes. The 16 MB large page size and 16 GB huge page size are intended only to
be used in very high performance environments, and an administrator must
configure a system to use these page sizes. Furthermore, the support for 16 MB
large pages and 16 GB huge pages is limited. 16 MB large pages are only
supported for process data and shared memory, and 16 GB huge pages are only
supported for shared memory.
To enable 16 MB page support, the vmo command can be used as follows.
# vmo -p -o lgpg_regions=32 -o lgpg_size=16777216
This will configure 32 16 MB pages, giving 512 MB in total. The operation can be
performed dynamically provided the system is capable of performing dynamic
LPAR operations. Operations to change the number of large pages on the
system may succeed partially. If a request to increase or decrease the size of the
pool cannot fully succeed (for example, if lgpg_regions is tuned to 0 but there are
large pages in use by applications), the vmo command will add or remove pages
to get as close as possible to the requested number of pages.
16 GB huge pages must be configured using a system's Hardware Management
Console (HMC). Under the Managed System's Properties menu, a system
administrator can configure the number of 16 GB huge pages on a system by
selecting Show Details in the Advanced Options field of the Memory tab.
Figure 4-2 shows this option.

Chapter 4. System administration

73

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Figure 4-2 Configuring huge pages on a managed system using the HMC

Changing the number of 16 GB huge pages on a system requires that the entire
managed system be powered off. Once a managed system has been configured
with 16 GB huge pages, they can be assigned to partitions by changing a
partition's profile.
The vmo command can be used to globally disable 64 KB and 16 GB pages
using the vmm_mpsize_support option.
vmo -r -o vmm_mpsize_support=0
This option will take effect after a reboot and once it is set, only 4 KB and 16 MB
pages are available, regardless of the ld command options used.

74

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

4.3.1 Performance command enhancements

The ps, svmon, and vmstat commands have been enhanced to provide
information regarding multiple page size usage.

The ps command
The ps command now has an additional flag, -Z, which displays the page sizes
being used for the data, stack, and text memory regions of a running process.
# ps -Z
PID
TTY
233636 pts/0
262346 pts/0
278670 pts/0

TIME DPGSZ SPGSZ TPGSZ CMD

0:00
4K
4K
4K ksh
0:00
64K
64K
4K sleep
0:00
4K
4K
4K ps

The svmon command

Most svmon command options have been enhanced to provide information
regarding pagesize. Example 4-9 shows the output from svmon -G while
Example 4-10 shows the svmon -P command.
Example 4-9 The svmon -G command showing multiple page size information
# svmon -G
size
262144
131072

inuse
91197
669

free
170947

work
45147
77716

pers
0
0

clnt
0
13481

PoolSize
-

inuse
72109
1193

pgsp
669
0

memory
pg space

pin
in use
PageSize
s 4 KB
m 64 KB

pin
45147

virtual
77716

pin
36235
557

virtual
58628
1193

Example 4-10 The svmon -P command showing multiple page size information
Pid Command
262346 sleep
PageSize
s
4 KB
m 64 KB
Vsid
Virtual
0

Inuse
15963
Inuse
11307
291

Pin
7556
Pin
7540
1

Esid Type Description

0 work kernel segment

Pgsp

Pgsp
0
0

Virtual 64-bit Mthrd

0
15962
N

16MB
N
N

Virtual
11306
291
PSize
s

Inuse

Pin Pgsp

11306 7540

0 11306

Chapter 4. System administration

75

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

a0ad
1a32a
1331
10320

d
f
2
1

work
work
work
clnt

shared library text

shared library data
process private
code,/dev/hd2:279

m
m
m
s

278
8
5
1

0
0
1
0

0
0
0
-

278
8
5
-

The vmstat command

Two new flags (-p and -P) have been added to the vmstat command to provide
information on multiple page sizes, Table 4-5 describes these flags while
Example 4-11 shows the outputs:
Table 4-5 The vmstat command new flags and descriptions
Flag

Description

-p

Displays global vmstat information along with a break-down of statistics per

page size

-P

Displays per page size statistics

Example 4-11 The vmstat command output using the -p and -P flags
# vmstat -p ALL
System configuration: lcpu=2 mem=1024MB ent=0.10
kthr
memory
page
faults
cpu
----- ----------- ------------------------ ------------ ----------------------r b
avm fre re pi po fr sr cy in
sy cs us sy id wa
pc
ec
1 1 77757 170904
0 0
0
0
0
0 33
41 101 0 0 99 0 0.00
0.0
psz
avm fre
4K 58670 67639
64K 1193 6454

re
0
0

pi
0
0

po
0
0

fr
0
0

sr
0
0

cy
siz
0 139792
0
7647

# vmstat -P ALL
System configuration: mem=1024MB
pgsz
memory
page
----- -------------------------- -----------------------------------siz
avm
fre
re
pi
po
fr
sr
cy
4K
139792
58671
67637
0
0
0
0
0
0
64K
7647
1193
6454
0
0
0
0
0
0

76

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

4.4 Advanced Accounting

There have been three major changes to the Advanced Accounting functionality.
A new reporting tool has been introduced to enable the processing of
accounting information.
IBM Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager has been integrated with AIX 5L
Advanced Accounting.
Advanced Accounting has been integrated with LDAP.
These topics are discussed in the following.

4.4.1 Advanced Accounting reporting (5300-03)

The Advanced Accounting subsystem was introduced in AIX 5L Version 5.3.
Initially, there were no reporting functions available and it was the responsibility of
the user to take the raw data and process it. Now, with the release of AIX 5L
5300-03, new facilities are provided to assist with this. The acctrpt command is
able to generate reports from the raw accounting data. There are also changes to
the libaacct.a library and the SMIT interfaces for Advanced Accounting data
analysis statistics reporting.

The acctrpt command

The acctrpt command is designed to take data from the accounting file and
generate a report. The Advanced Accounting subsystem captures three levels of
accounting data: System, Process and Transaction. System level accounting
data provides global information about configuration, paging activity, remote and
local file systems, networks, and disks resource usage. Process level accounting
data provides job related information such as CPU and virtual memory usage,
paging activity, remote and local file system use and network activity. Transaction
based accounting data provides information about client requests in server
processes. Each of these report types are described in the following.

Process accounting
For process accounting, users can generate accounting reports by projects, by
groups, by users, by commands, or by a combination of these four identifiers.
The syntax for this aspect is shown in the following.
acctrpt [ -f filename ] [ -F ] [ -U uid ] [ -G gid ] [ -P projID ]
[ -C command ] [ -b begin_time ] [ -e end_time ] [ -p projfile ]
[ -n ]
The commonly used flags are described in Table 4-6.

Chapter 4. System administration

77

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Table 4-6 The acctrpt command flags for process accounting
Flag

Description

-f filename

Specifies the path name of the accounting data file to be used. More
than one file can be specified using a comma-separated list. If the
-f flag is not specified, the /var/aacct/aacctdata file is used by
default.

-U uid

Displays process accounting statistics for the specified UIDs. More

than one UID can be specified using a comma-separated list. To
display all UIDs, specify -U ALL.

-G gid

Displays process accounting statistics for the specified GIDs. More

than one GID can be specified using a comma-separated list. To
display all GIDs, specify -G ALL.

-P projID

Displays process accounting statistics for the specified project ID.

More than one project ID can be specified using a
comma-separated list. To display all projects, specify -P ALL.

-C command

Displays process accounting statistics for the specified command.

More than one command name can be specified using a
comma-separated list. Only the first 12 characters of the base
command name are considered. To display all commands, specify
-C ALL.

-b begin_time

Specifies the begin time of an interval. The begin_time parameter is

a10-character string in the MMDDhhmmyy format, where MM is
month, DD is day, hh is hour, mm is minute, and yy is the last two
digits of the year. All characters are numeric. If begin_time is not
specified, all encountered records that were written before
end_time are considered. If neither end_time or begin_time is
specified, all records are considered.

-e end_time

Specifies the end time of an interval. The end_time parameter is a

10-character string in the MMDDhhmmyy format, where MM is
month, DD is day, hh is hour, mm is minute, and yy is the last two
digits of the year. All characters are numeric. If end_time is not
specified, all encountered records that were written after begin_time
are considered. If neither end_time or begin_time is specified, all
records are considered.

-p projfile

Specifies the project definition file to be used to resolve the projects

associated with the transaction records. If -p is not specified, the
projects are resolved using the currently loaded projects.

Example 4-12 gives a sample process output, while Example 4-13 shows a
report filtered to give information on the projctl command as run by root.

78

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Example 4-12 The acctrpt command output
#acctrpt
Process Accounting Report
-------------------------

TIMESTAMP
--------12011107

PROJID
-----System

UID
--root

GID
--system

PID
--274574

CMD
--acctctl

12011107

System

root

system

209144

ksh

12011111

System

root

system

274650

smitty

(C)
(M)
(F)
STARTED EXITED (S)
------- ------ --12011107 E
C:
M:
F:
S:
12011107 E
C:
M:
F:
S:
12011111 N
C:
M:
F:
S:

PELAPSE
VMEM
LFILE
LSOCKET
------1.0611
76
0.00
0.00
1.1301
183
0.00
0.00
74.4906
61281
0.02
0.00

TELAPSE
DMEM
DFILE
DSOCKET
------1.0611
82
0.00
0.00
1.1301
189
0.00
0.00
74.4906
62249
0.02
0.00

CPU
PMEM

(sec)
(pg)
(MB)
(MB)

-----0.0045
0

0.0058
0

0.1425
0

Example 4-13 The acctrpt command output filtered for command projctl and user root
# acctrpt -U 0 -C projctl
Process Accounting Report
-------------------------

PROJID
-

UID
--root

GID
-

CMD
--projctl

CNT
--7

(C)
(M)
(F)
(S)
--C:
M:
F:
S:

PELAPSE
VMEM
LFILE
LSOCKET
-------0.0
0
1.9
0.0

TELAPSE
DMEM
DFILE
RSOCKET
-------0.0
0
0.0
0.0

CPU
PMEM

(sec)
(pg)
(MB)
(MB)

-------0.0
0

The fields are described in Table 4-7

Table 4-7 The acctprt command fields for process output
Field

Description

PROJID

Project name (Project ID).

UID

User name (User ID).

GID

Group name (Group ID).

CMD

Base name of the executed command.

CNT

Count of transaction records aggregated per row of accounting report.

PELAPSE

Total process elapsed time.

TELAPSE

Total threads elapsed time.

CPU

CPU Time (in seconds).

Chapter 4. System administration

79

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Field

Description

LFILE

Local File I/O (in MBs).

DFILE

Other File I/O (in MBs).

LSOCKET

Local Socket I/O (in MBs).

RSOCKET

Other Socket I/O (in MBs).

DMEM

Page Seconds of disk pages.

PMEM

Page Seconds of real pages.

VMEM

Page Seconds of virtual memory.

System accounting
For system accounting, reports can be generated that describe the system-level
use of resources, such as processors, memory, file systems, disks, and network
interfaces. The system accounting interval must be enabled to collect accounting
statistics for system resources. This function is often refereed to as LPAR
accounting, however it is not restricted to partitioned environments and can be
run on any system running AIX 5l Version 5.3. The syntax for these reports is
shown here.
acctrpt [ -f filename ] [ -F ] -L resource [ -b begin_time ]
[ -e end_time ]
The main flag not described in the process section is shown in Table 4-8
Table 4-8 The acctrpt command flags for system reporting

80

Flag

Description

-L resource

Displays system accounting statistics for the specified resource. The

resource parameter must be one of the following values
cpumem

CPU and memory statistics

filesys

File system statistics

netif

Network interface statistics

disk

Disk statistics

vtarget

VSCSI target statistics

vclient

VSCSI client statistics

ALL

- All system resource statistic

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Example 4-14 shows a sample system report.

Example 4-14 The acctrpt command system output
acctrpt

-L

ALL

CPU and Memory Accounting Report

-------------------------------(C)
(U)
--C:
U:

CNT
--3

IDLE
IO
---320.8
30157

IOWAIT
PGSPIN
-----1.7
0

SPROC
PGSPOUT
------0.2
0

UPROC
LGPGUTIL
-------4.9
0.0

INTR
PGRATE
-----0.5
0.0

(sec)

File Systems Accounting Report

-----------------------------CNT
--1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

DEVNAME
------specfs
pipefs
/dev/hd10opt
/proc
/dev/hd1
/dev/hd3
/dev/hd9var
/dev/hd2
/dev/hd4

MOUNTPT
------specfs
pipefs
/opt
/proc
/home
/tmp
/var
/usr
/

FSTYPE
-----16
16
0
6
0
0
0
0
0

RDWR
---1339
3167
0
0
0
414
29959
12955
2301

OPEN
---1194
0
0
0
0
143
109
9672
749

CREATE
-----0
0
0
0
0
138
4
0
45

LOCKS
----2
0
0
0
0
0
62
0
87

XFERS(MBs)
---------26.9
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.6
0.4
25.9
1.4

Network Interfaces Accounting Report

-----------------------------------CNT
--2
2

NETIFNAME
--------lo0
en0

NUMIO
----36
1344

XFERS(MBs)
---------0.001459
0.178871

Disks Accounting Report

----------------------CNT
--2
2
2

DISKNAME
-------hdisk0:0
hdisk0
vscsi1

BLKSZ
----512
512
0

XFERS(MBs)
---------2136
2136
154815488

READ
---47982
47982
446

WRITE
----254392
254392
1690

VSCSI Clients Accounting Report

------------------------------CNT
--2

SERVER#
------4

SERVERID UNITID
BYTESIN(MBs) BYTESOUT
-------- ----------------- -------805306408 9367487224930631680 23.428711

124.214844

The fields for each section are described in Table 4-9.

Table 4-9 The acctprt command fields for system output
Field

Description

CPU and Memory accounting report.

Chapter 4. System administration

81

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Field

Description

CNT

Count of transaction records aggregated per row of accounting report.

IDLE

CPU idle time (in seconds).

IOWAIT

CPU I/O wait time (in seconds).

SPROC

System process time (in seconds).

UPROC

User process time (in seconds).

INTR

Interrupt time (in seconds).

IO

Number of I/Os.

PGSPIN

Number of page swap-ins.

PGSPOUT

Number of page swap-outs.

LGPGUTIL

Average utilization of large page pool.

PGRATE

Average page rate (per second).

File system accounting report.

CNT

Count of transaction records aggregated per row of accounting report.

DEVNAME

Device name.

MOUNTPT

Mount point name.

FSTYPE

File system type.

RDWR

Number of reads and writes.

OPEN

Number of file opens.

CREATE

Number of file creates.

LOCKS

Number of file locks.

XFERS

Data transferred (in MBs).

Network interfaces accounting report.

82

CNT

Count of transaction records aggregated per row of accounting report.

NETIFNAM
E

Network interface name.

NUMIO

Number of I/Os.

XFERS

Data transferred (in MBs).

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Field

Description

Disk accounting report.

CNT

Count of transaction records aggregated per row of accounting report.

DISKNAME

Disk name.

BLKSZ

Disk block size (in bytes).

XFERS

Number of disk transfers.

READ

Number of reads from the disk.

WRITE

Number of writes to the disk.

VSCSI clients accounting report.

CNT

Count of transaction records aggregated per row of accounting report.

SERVER#

Server partition number.

SERVERID

Server Unit ID.

UNITID

Device logical unit ID.

BYTESIN

Data in (in MBs).

BYTESOUT

Data out (in MBs).

Transaction accounting
For transaction accounting, users can generate accounting reports describing
application transactions. Transaction reports provide scheduling and accounting
information, such as transaction resource usage requirements. These reports
use data that is produced by applications that are instrumented with the
Application Resource Management (ARM) interfaces to describe the
transactional nature of their workloads. Advanced Accounting supports ARM
interfaces by recording information that is presented through these interfaces in
the accounting data file. The acctrpt command can then process these files and
report information. The transaction report syntax is as follows.
acctrpt [ -f filename ] [ -F ] -T [ -b begin_time ] [ -e end_time ]
The -T flag specifies that a transaction report is required, Example 4-15 gives a
sample output.
Example 4-15 The acctrpt command transaction report
/usr/bin/acctrpt T f /var/aacct/acctdata

PROJID
------

CNT
---

(A)
(T)
---

CLASS
RESPONSE
--------

NAME
QUEUED
-------

USER
CPU
----

GROUP

TRANSACTION

-------

------------

(sec)

Chapter 4. System administration

83

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

System

144

System

32

A:
T:
A:
T:

0.00
0.00

WebSphere
0.00
0.00
IBM Webserving 0.00
67.01

server1

URI

IBM_SERV

Apache/1.3.28(Unix)

The fields for the transaction report are shown in Table 4-10
Table 4-10 The acctprt command fields for transaction output
Field

Description

PROJID

Project name (Project ID).

CNT

Count of transaction records aggregated per row of accounting

report.

CLASS

Account class.

GROUP

Application group name.

NAME

Application name.

TRANSACTION

Transaction name

USER

User name.

RESPONSE

Response time (in milliseconds).

QUEUED

Queued time (in milliseconds).

USER

CPU time (in milliseconds).

4.4.2 IBM Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager integration (5300-05)

IBM Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager (ITUAM) is an enterprise wide
accounting application which is capable of collecting, analyzing, reporting, and
billing based on usage and costs of shared computing resources. With Version
6.1 of ITUAM and AIX 5L 5300-03, Advanced Accounting can be used as a data
collector to provide accounting records. For more information on configuring and
using these feature, see IBM Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager Data
Collectors for UNIX and Linux User's Guide.
Additional Advanced Accounting information can be found in 4.6.1, Advanced
Accounting LDAP integration (5300-03) on page 88.

4.5 National language support

National language support enhancements include the following topics:

84

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Multi-language software %L in bundles (5300-03)

geninstall and gencopy enhancements (5300-03)
Additional national languages support

4.5.1 Multi-language software %L in bundles (5300-03)

Previously, in AIX 5L and AIX, it has been necessary to package separate bundle
files for each different locale and then have the system administrator choose
between the multiple bundles during installation, such as in the following.
dfs.html.en_US
dfs.msg.en_US
dfs.pdf.en_US
dfs.msg.jp_JP
dfs.pdf.jp_JP
dfs.html.jp_JP
dfs.msg.es_ES
dfs.pdf.es_ES
dfs.html.es_ES
.....
..... similar packages for other languages.
.....
dfs.client.rte
dfs.server.rte
Now, with AIX 5L Version 5.3 release 5300-03, support for a %L wildcard in
software bundles has been added. This allows the creation of a bundle with file
set entries that contain %L, which will resolve at runtime to the applicable locale.
This will be replaced with an appropriate language specifier (for example,
'en_US') when installing, copying, or listing software. The geninstall command
has been modified to handle variable languages in bundle files. The following
example shows how the DocServices.bnd is shortened.
dfs.msg.%L
dfs.pdf.%L
dfs.html.%L
dfs.client.rte
dfs.server.rte
Instead of having to create 14 separate bundle files for 14 separate locales, (one
for each locale supported), only one set of %L bundles will be used, and it will be
correctly resolved at runtime to the applicable locale.

Chapter 4. System administration

85

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

4.5.2 geninstall and gencopy enhancements (5300-03)

Enhancements have been made in AIX 5L 5300-03 to include the %L wildcard
option for the geninstall and gencopy commands.
The geninstall and gencopy commands are able to process the %L wildcard in a
bundle file. This wildcard is replaced at runtime with the value of the appropriate
locale environment variable; LC_ALL is checked first, then LC_MESSAGES, and
then LANG. The advantage is you can now create a single bundle file
corresponding to multiple installation configurations.
As an example, assume you provide the ABC product, which requires the abc.rte
and abc.com filesets, as well as a message catalog fileset and a documentation
fileset. You then provide the message and documentation filesets in English,
French, and German, as follows:
abc.cat.en_US
abc.cat.fr_FR
abc.cat.de_DE
abc.doc.en_US
abc.doc.fr_FR
abc.doc.de_DE
The following bundle file would cause the appropriate combination of filesets to
be installed, according to the locale variables on the target system:
I:abc.rte
I:abc.com
I:abc.cat.%L
I:abc.doc.%L
Note: If expanding the %L wildcard does not yield a fileset name
corresponding to a fileset available on the installation media, then the UTF-8
version of the current locale will be tried, then en_US, and then EN_US.
The following command lists the contents of the media.
geninstall -L -d Media [-e LogFile] [ -D ]
The output format is the same as the installp -Lc command format, with
additional fields at the end for ISMP and RPM formatted products.
In Example 4-16, the geninstall command is run with the -L option.
Example 4-16 The geninstall -L command output

# geninstall -L -d /dev/cd0

86

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Tivoli_Management_Agent.client:Tivoli_Management_Agent.client.rte:3.7.1
.0::I:C::
:::N:Management Framework Endpoint Runtime"::::
bos:bos.rte:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:Base Operating System Runtime::::
bos:bos.rte.ILS:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:International Language Support::::
bos:bos.rte.SRC:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:System Resource Controller::::
bos:bos.rte.aio:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:Asynchronous I/O Extension::::
bos:bos.rte.archive:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::b:Archive Commands::::
bos:bos.rte.bind_cmds:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:Binder and Loader
Commands::::
bos:bos.rte.boot:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::b:Boot Commands::::
bos:bos.rte.bosinst:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:Base OS Install Commands::::
bos:bos.rte.commands:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::b:Commands::::
bos:bos.rte.compare:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:File Compare Commands::::
bos:bos.rte.console:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:Console::::
bos:bos.rte.control:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:System Control Commands::::
bos:bos.rte.cron:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:Batch Operations::::
bos:bos.rte.date:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:Date Control Commands::::
bos:bos.rte.devices:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::b:Base Device Drivers::::
bos:bos.rte.devices_msg:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:Device Driver Messages::::
bos:bos.rte.diag:5.3.0.50::S:C:::::N:Diagnostics::::
The following command lists the install packages on the media.
gencopy -L -d Media [ -D ]
This listing is colon separated and contains the following information:
file_name:package_name:fileset:V.R.M.F:type:platform:Description
bos.sysmgt:bos.sysmgt:bos.sysmgt.nim.client:4.3.4.0:I:R:Network
Install Manager - Client Tools
bos.sysmgt:bos.sysmgt:bos.sysmgt.smit:4.3.4.0:I:R:System Management
Interface Tool (SMIT)
In Example 4-17, the gencopy command is used with the -L option.
Example 4-17 The gencopy -L -d command output
# gencopy -L -d /dev/cd0
Tivoli_Management_Agent.client:Tivoli_Management_Agent.client:Tivoli_Management_
Agent.client.rte:3.7.1.0:I:R:Management Framework Endpoint Runtime"
bos:bos:bos.rte:5.3.0.50:O:R:Base Operating System Runtime
bos.rte.edit_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.edit:5.3.0.50:S:R:Editors
bos.rte.diag_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.diag:5.3.0.50:S:R:Diagnostics
bos.rte.devices_msg_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.devices_msg:5.3.0.50:S:R:Device Dri
ver Messages
bos.rte.devices_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.devices:5.3.0.50:S:R:Base Device Driver
s

Chapter 4. System administration

87

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

bos.rte.date_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.date:5.3.0.50:S:R:Date Control Commands
bos.rte.ILS_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.ILS:5.3.0.50:S:R:International Language Sup
port
bos.rte.SRC_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.SRC:5.3.0.50:S:R:System Resource Controller
bos.rte.aio_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.aio:5.3.0.50:S:R:Asynchronous I/O Extension
bos.rte.archive_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.archive:5.3.0.50:S:R:Archive Commands
bos.rte.bind_cmds_5.3.0.50.bff:bos:bos.rte.bind_cmds:5.3.0.50:S:R:Binder and Loa

4.5.3 Additional national languages support

In addition to preexisting NLS support in the base AIX 5L Version 5.3, the
following national language support is added since that introduction:
Malayalam

UTF-8 codeset (ML_IN) NLS enablement (5300-03)

Kannada

UTF-8 codeset (KN_IN) NLS enablement (5300-03)

Bengali

UTF-8 codeset (BN_IN) NLS enablement (5300-05)

Assamese

UTF-8 codeset (AS_IN) NLS enablement (5300-05)

Punjabi

UTF-8 codeset (PA_IN) NLS enablement (5300-05)

Oriya

UTF-8 codeset (OR_IN) NLS enablement (5300-05)

Estonian

ISO8859-4 codeset (et_EE) NLS enablement

Latvian

ISO8859-4 codeset (lv_LV) NLS enablement

4.6 LDAP enhancements (5300-03)

The following sections describe the LDAP enhancements available on AIX 5L
5300-03.

4.6.1 Advanced Accounting LDAP integration (5300-03)

On prior levels of AIX 5L, the system administrator had to maintain the Advanced
Accounting configuration for each system separately. Through this feature,
Advanced Accounting is enhanced to support remote management of Advanced
Accounting configurations using LDAP. The system administrator can
load/upload/download the policies and projects from LDAP server to other client
machines.
The mkprojldap command can be used to convert the LDAP client and server to
support advanced accounting subsystem data. To support Advanced Accounting
on the LDAP server, the LDAP schema for Advanced Accounting must be
uploaded to the server. This allows consolidation of accounting from multiple

88

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

servers to a central common server. AIX 5L LDAP Advanced Accounting is

functionally dependent on the secldapclntd daemon.

4.6.2 LDAP client support for Active Directory (5300-03)

Customers now use Microsoft Active Directory as an LDAP directory and
authentication server for AIX 5L systems.

4.6.3 LDAP ldap.cfg password encryption (5300-03)

AIX 5L Version 5.3 ML3 introduces a password encryption feature. The binddn
password can now be stored encrypted in the /etc/security/ldap/ldap.cfg file.
This is a security enhancement to protect the password in the clients LDAP
configuration file. The LDAP client daemon can read either clear text or the
encrypted password to provide backward compatibility.

4.6.4 lsldap: List LDAP records command (5300-03)

A new lsldap command has been added to query LDAP entries. The supported
queries include users, groups, hosts, automount maps, hosts, protocols,
networks, netgroup, RPC, services, and aliases. The lsldap command uses the
secldapclntd daemon, which must be running for the command to function. By
default, the lsldap command displays on the distinguished name (DN) of the
returned object. By adding the -a flag, all of the associated attributes can be
viewed (Example 4-18).
The syntax of the command is shown in the following:
lsldap [-a] [ entity [entry_name | filter] ]
entity: aliases, automount, bootparams, ethers, group, hosts
netgroup, networks, passwd, protocols, rpc, services
If no entity name of flags are supplied from the command line, then lsldap
displays container entries of the entities as shown in Example 4-18.
Example 4-18 Default lsldap output with no flags
# lsldap
dn: cn=Directory Administrators, dc=example,dc=com
dn: ou=Groups, dc=example,dc=com
dn: ou=Special Users,dc=example,dc=com
dn: ou=rpc,dc=example,dc=com
dn: ou=protocols,dc=example,dc=com
dn: ou=networks,dc=example,dc=com
dn: ou=netgroup,dc=example,dc=com
dn: ou=aliases,dc=example,dc=com

Chapter 4. System administration

89

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

dn:
dn:
dn:
dn:
dn:
dn:
dn:
dn:
dn:
dn:
dn:
dn:
#

ou=hosts,dc=example,dc=com
ou=services,dc=example,dc=com
ou=ethers,dc=example,dc=com
ou=profile,dc=example,dc=com
nismapname=auto_home,dc=example,dc=com
nismapname=auto_appl,dc=example,dc=com
nismapname=auto_master,dc=example,dc=com
nismapname=auto_apps,dc=example,dc=com
nismapname=auto_next_apps,dc=example,dc=com
nismapname=auto_opt,dc=example,dc=com
ou=group,dc=example,dc=com
ou=people,dc=example,dc=com

Example 4-19 shows how to use the lsldap command with the passwd option to
list the distinguished names of all users:
Example 4-19 Using lsldap to show user entries
# lsldap passwd
dn: uid=user1,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
dn: uid=user2,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
dn: uid=user3,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
#

To retrieve all of the information for the user named user3 run the lsldap
command with the -a passwd option and the user3 name as shown in
Example 4-20.
Example 4-20 Using lsldap by root to show entry for user3
# lsldap -a passwd user3
dn: uid=user3,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
uidNumber: 20003
uid: user3
gidNumber: 20000
gecos: ITSO user3
homeDirectory: /home/user3
loginShell: /bin/ksh
cn: ITSO user3
shadowLastChange: 12996
shadowInactive: -1
shadowMax: -1
shadowFlag: 0
shadowWarning: -1
shadowMin: 0
objectClass: posixAccount
objectClass: shadowAccount

90

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch04.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

objectClass: account
objectClass: top
userPassword: {crypt}hTQBG25y7pz6Q

All users can run the lsldap command, but when a normal user runs this
command they will only be able to see public information. For example, using the
same command as a normal user you see the information (Example 4-21).
Example 4-21 Normal user using lsldap to view user3
$ lsldap -a passwd user3
dn: uid=user3,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
uidNumber: 20003
uid: user3
gidNumber: 20000
gecos: ITSO user3
homeDirectory: /home/user3
loginShell: /bin/ksh
cn: ITSO user3
objectClass: posixAccount
objectClass: shadowAccount
objectClass: account
objectClass: top

For more information, reference the lsldap command man page in the AIX 5L
Version 5.3 InfoCenter commands and the IBM Redbook Integrating AIX into
Heterogeneous LDAP Environments, SG24-7165.
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/SG247165.html?Open

Chapter 4. System administration

91

7414ch04.fm

92

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch05.fm

Chapter 5.

Performance monitoring
In this chapter, the following major topics are discussed:
Performance tools enhancements (5300-05)
The gprof command enhancement (5300-03)
The topas command enhancements
The iostat command enhancement (5300-02)
PMAPI end user tools (5300-02)
Memory affinity enhancements (5300-01)
The fcstat command (5300-05)

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

93

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

5.1 Performance tools enhancements (5300-05)

The performance monitoring tools svmon, vmstat, curt, netpmon, and tprof have
been enhanced in AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05. Milicode and hypervisor
support, automatic performance metric recording, and VIOS performance
monitoring is provided and/or improved in 5300-05.

5.1.1 The svmon command enhancement

The svmon command is a tool developed to capture and analyze a snapshot of
virtual memory. It is enhanced to support multiple page size in AIX 5.3 TL
5300-05.
For more information on multiple page sizes see 4.3, Multiple page size support
(5300-04).
The svmon command has been enhanced to provide a per-page size break-down
of statistics. For example, to display global statistics about each page size, the -G
option can be used with the svmon command, as shown in Example 5-1.
Example 5-1 Example output of svmon -G

# svmon -G
memory
pg space

size
8208384
262144

inuse
5714226
20653

free
2494158

pin
in use

work
453170
5674818

pers
0
110

clnt
0
39298

PoolSize
-

inuse
5379122
20944

pgsp
20653
0

PageSize
s
4 KB
m 64 KB

pin
453170

virtual
5674818

pin
380338
4552

virtual
5339714
20944

5.1.2 The vmstat command enhancement

The vmstat command is enhanced to display information about multiple page
sizes. The -p and -P options to the vmstat command displays VMM statistics for
each supported page size.
The following displays global vmstat information along with a break-down of
statistics per page size:

94

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

vmstat -p
The following displays per page size statistics.
vmstat -P
Example 5-2 shows the output from -p.
Example 5-2 Example output of vmstat -p

# vmstat -p ALL
System configuration: lcpu=2 mem=6144MB
kthr
memory
page
faults
cpu
----- ----------- ------------------------ ------------ ----------r b
avm
fre re pi po fr
sr cy in
sy cs us sy id wa
1 1 380755 207510
0
0
0
2
8
0 12 1518 172 0 0 99 0
psz
avm
fre re pi po fr
sr cy
siz
4K 380755 207510
0
0
0
2
8
0 1528754
16M
0
10
0
0
0
0
0
0
10
Both options take a comma-separated list of specific page sizes or the keyword
all to indicate information should be displayed for all supported page sizes that
have one or more page frames. Example 5-3 displays per-page size information
for all of the page sizes with page frames on a system.
Example 5-3 Example output of svmon -P

# vmstat -P all
System configuration: mem=1024MB
pgsz
memory
page
----- -------------------------- -----------------------------------siz
avm
fre
re
pi
po
fr
sr
cy
4K
262144
116202
116313
0
0
0
3
8
0
64K
31379
961
3048
0
0
0
0
0
0

5.1.3 The curt command enhancement

The CPU Utilization Reporting Tool (curt) command converts a trace file into a
number of statistics related to CPU utilization and either process, thread or
pthread activity. These statistics ease the tracking of specific application activity.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

95

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The curt command works with both uniprocessor and multiprocessor AIX
Version 4 and AIX 5L Version 5 traces, however it is shipped with AIX 5L Version
5.2. In AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05, the command is enhanced to support
NFS v4.
The curt command report will be divided into many sections, the enhanced part
of it will be:
System NFS Calls Summary
Pending NFS System Calls Summary
The following is an example about how the command supports NFS v4.
1. Get a system trace and gensyms command output. (This section will not cover
how to trace)
2. Use the curt command on the trace to get the command report.
curt -i trace.raw -n gensyms.out -o curt.out
3. Open curt.out file with a text editor, then you see the report covers many
sections:
General Information
System Summary
System Application Summary
Processor Summary
Processor Application Summary
Application Summary by TID
Application Summary by PID
Application Summary by Process Type
Kproc Summary
Application Pthread Summary by PID
System Calls Summary
Pending System Calls Summary
Hypervisor Calls Summary
Pending Hypervisor Calls Summary
System NFS Calls Summary
Pending NFS System Calls Summary
Pthread Calls Summary
Pending Pthread Calls Summary
FLIH Summary
SLIH Summary
Information on completed NFS operations (System NFS Calls Summary) that
includes the name of the NFS operation, the number of times the NFS operation
was executed, and the total CPU time, expressed in milliseconds, and as a

96

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

percentage with average, minimum, and maximum time the NFS operation call
was running.
Information on pending NFS operations (Pending NFS System Calls Summary),
where the NFS operations did not complete before the end of the trace. The
information includes the sequence number for NFS V2/V3, or opcode for NFS
V4, the thread or process which made the NFS operation, and the accumulated
CPU time that the NFS operation was running, expressed in milliseconds.
Example 5-4 shows sample output from the curt command.
Example 5-4 Sample output of curt report (partial)

...(lines omitted)...
System NFS Calls Summary
-----------------------Count
Total Time Avg Time Min Time Max Time % Tot % Tot Opcode
(msec)
(msec)
(msec)
(msec)
Time Count
======== =========== ======== ======== ======== ===== ===== =============
4
2.9509
0.7377
0.0331
2.4040 80.05
4.44 OPEN
27
0.1935
0.0072
0.0036
0.0159
5.25 30.00 PUTFH
4
0.1202
0.0300
0.0177
0.0397
3.26
4.44 READDIR
...(lines omitted)...
4
0.0047
0.0012
0.0011
0.0013
0.13
4.44 SAVEPH
-------- ----------- -------- -------- -------- ----- ----- ------------90
3.6862
0.0410
NFS V4 SERVER
TOTAL
15
2

0.8462
0.2126

0.0564
0.1063

0.0286
0.0965

......
1
-------765
TOTAL

0.0005
----------2.0984

0.0005
-------0.0027

0.0005
--------

Accumulated
Time (msec)
============
0.0275
0.0191
0.0201
0.0091

0.0797
0.1161

40.33
10.13

1.96
0.26

NFS4_RFS4CALL
NFS4_CREATE_ATTR

0.0005
0.02
0.13 NFS4_ADD_SETATTR
-------- ----- ----- ------------NFS V4 CLIENT

Pending NFS Calls Summary

------------------------Sequence Number Procname (Pid Tid)
Opcode
=============== ==========================
NFS4_NFS4WRITE
kbiod(147528 483553)
NFS4_LOOKUP1
ls(438466 1155087)
NFS4_LOOKUP1
ls(438448 1167581)
NFS4_SETATTR
touch(438450 1167583)

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

97

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

...(lines omitted)...
The System NFS Calls Summary has the fields provided in Table 5-1.
Table 5-1 System NFS calls summary
Fields

Meaning

Opcode

The name of the system NFS call.

Count

The number of times that a certain type of system NFS

call (see Opcode) has been called during the monitoring
period.

Total Time (msec)

The total CPU time that the system spent processing

system NFS calls of this type, expressed in milliseconds.

Avg Time (msec)

The average CPU time that the system spent processing

one system NFS call of this type, expressed in
milliseconds.

Min Time (msec)

The minimum CPU time that the system needed to

process one system NFS call of this type, expressed in
milliseconds.

Max Time (msec)

The maximum CPU time that the system needed to

process one system NFS call of this type, expressed in
milliseconds.

% Tot Time

The total CPU time that the system spent processing the
system NFS calls of this type, expressed as a percentage
of the total processing time.

% Tot Count

The number of times that a system NFS call of a certain

type was made, expressed as a percentage of the total
count.

The Pending System NFS Calls Summary has the fields provided in Table 5-2.
Table 5-2 Pending NFS calls summary

98

Fields

Meaning

Procname (Pid Tid)

The name of the process associated with the thread

that made the system NFS call, its process ID, and the
thread ID.

Accumulated Time (msec)

The accumulated CPU time that the system spent

processing the pending system NFS call, expressed in
milliseconds.

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Fields

Meaning

Sequence Number

The sequence number represents the transaction

identifier (XID) of an NFS operation. It is used to
uniquely identify an operation and is used in the RPC
call/reply messages. This number is provided instead
of the operation name because the name of the
operation is unknown until it completes.

Opcode

The name of pending operation NFS V4.

5.1.4 The netpmon command enhancement

The netpmon command uses the trace facility to obtain a detailed picture of
network activity during a time interval. Because it uses the trace facility, the
netpmon command can be run only by a root user or by a member of the system
group.
The netpmon command cannot run together with any of the other trace-based
performance commands such as tprof and filemon. In its usual mode, the
netpmon command runs in the background while one or more application
programs or system commands are being executed and monitored. The netpmon
command is enhanced to support NFS v4. And it can report NFS server or client
statistics now.
The following example shows how to online use the netpmon command to get
NFS performance report.
1. Collect trace data for 10 minutes using the netpmon command:
netpmon -o netpmon.out -O all; sleep 600; trcstop
2. Open the netpmon.out file by using a text editor, and you will see the report.
The output of the netpmon command is composed of two different types of
reports: global and detailed. Example 5-5 shows and example of the netpmon
command output.
Example 5-5 Sample output of netpmon (partial)

...(lines omitted)...
NFSv4 Client RPC Statistics (by Server):
---------------------------------------Server
Calls/s
---------------------------------nim
0.04
---------------------------------------------------------------------Total (all servers)
0.04

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

99

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

======================================================================
NFSv4 Server Statistics (by Client):
-----------------------------------Read
Write
Other
Client
Ops/s
Ops/s
Ops/s
---------------------------------------------------------------------nim
0.00
0.00
0.14
---------------------------------------------------------------------Total (all clients) 0.00
0.00
0.14
======================================================================
...(lines omitted)...
Detailed NFSv4 Client RPC Statistics (by Server):
------------------------------------------------SERVER: nim
calls:
27
call times (msec):
avg 1.569
min 0.083
max 11.697 sdev 3.322
COMBINED (All Servers)
calls:
27
call times (msec):
avg 1.569
min 0.083
max 11.697 sdev 3.322
======================================================================
Detailed NFSv4 Server Statistics (by Client):
--------------------------------------------CLIENT: nim
writes:
1
write times (msec):
avg 0.062
min 0.062
max 0.062
sdev 0.000
other ops:
82
other times (msec):
avg 0.448
min 0.001
max 11.543 sdev 2.012
COMBINED (All Clients)
writes:
1
write times (msec):
avg 0.062
min 0.062
max 0.062
sdev 0.000
other calls:
82
other times (msec):
avg 0.448
min 0.001
max 11.543 sdev 2.012
...(lines omitted)...

5.1.5 The tprof command enhancement

The tprof command reports CPU usage for individual programs and the system
as a whole. It uses trace facility. It is enhanced in AIX 5.3 TL05 for supporting
named shared library areas.
AIX 5L now allows the designation of named shared library areas which can
replace the global shared library area for a group of processes. A named shared
library area enables a group of processes to have the full shared library capacity

100

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

available to them at the same location in the effective address space as the
global shared library area (segments 0xD and 0xF). The tprof command is
named shared library ready now.
For more information about the named shared library area, see 1.6.3, Named
shared library areas (5300-03).

5.2 The gprof command enhancement (5300-03)

The gprof command produces an execution profile of C, Pascal, FORTRAN, or
COBOL programs. The effect of called routines is incorporated into the profile of
each caller. The gprof command is useful in identifying how a program
consumes CPU resource. This can be used to determine a profile of which
functions (routines) in the program are using the CPU.
The profile data is taken from the call graph profile file (gmon.out by default)
created by programs compiled with the cc command using the -pg option. The
-pg option also links in versions of library routines compiled for profiling, and
reads the symbol table in the named object file (a.out by default), correlating it
with the call graph profile file. If more than one profile file is specified, the gprof
command output shows the sum of the profile information in the given profile
files.
In the release of AIX 5L Version 5.3 with ML 5300-03, the gprof is enhanced to
support applications containing more than 32 million symbols.

5.3 The topas command enhancements

There have been two major changes to the functionality of the topas command.
The topas command can now monitor information from multiple LPARs within
the same managed system.
It is now possible to record information from topas and generate historical
reports based on the data, both for an individual system and across multiple
LPARs
This section describes the use of these enhancements.

5.3.1 The topas command cross partition monitoring (5300-03)

The topas command is now able to collect statistics from multiple partitions on
the same hardware platform. This can be invoked using the new -C flag or by

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

101

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

using the C subcommand from any other panel. Example 5-6 shows the cross
partition monitor panel.
Example 5-6 The topas command cross partition monitor panel
Topas CEC Monitor
Interval:
2006
Partitions
Memory (GB)
Shr: 2
Mon: 2.2 InUse: 1.0
Ded: 1
Avl: 4.0

10

Thu Nov 30 10:48:23

Processors
Shr: 1 PSz:
Ded: 1 APP:

1
Shr_PhysB:
1.0 Ded_PhysB:

0.01
0.00

Host
OS M Mem InU Lp Us Sy Wa Id PhysB Ent %EntC Vcsw PhI
-------------------------------------shared-----------------------------------lpar01
A53 U 1.0 0.4 4
0 0 0 99 0.01 0.50
1.5 412
1
VIO_Server1 A53 U 0.5 0.3 4
0 0 0 99 0.01 0.50
1.4 409
0
------------------------------------dedicated---------------------------------lpar04
A53 S 0.8 0.3 2
0 0 0 99 0.00

The display is split into two sections, the global region and the partition region.

Global region
This region represents aggregated data from the partition set and is split into
three sections, Partitions, Memory and Processors. The fields have the
descriptions provided in Table 5-3.
Table 5-3 Global region fields
Field

Description
Partitions

Shr

The number of shared partitions that are available for monitor.

Ded

Indicates the number of dedicated partitions.

Memory

Mon

The monitored partitions total memory.

Avl

Total memory available to the partition set. This field requires the
partition to query information from the HMC, more details on this
functionality are provided later.

InUse

Total memory in use by the monitored partitions.

Processors

102

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Field

Description

Shr

Number of shared CPUs

Ded

Number of dedicated CPUs

Psz

Active physical CPUs in the shared processor pool being used by

this LPAR

App

Available physical processors in the shared pool

Shr_PhysB

Shared Physical Busy

Ded_PhysB

Dedicated Physical Busy

Partition region
This region displays information about individual partitions that are split
depending on whether they use shared or dedicated CPUs. The fields in this
region are provided in Table 5-4.
Table 5-4 Partition region fields
Field

Description

Host

Hostname of partition

OS

Operating system level

Mode

This shows the operating mode of the partition. Possible values are:
Shared Partitions
C

SMT enabled and capped

SMT disabled and capped

SMT enabled and uncapped

SMT disabled and uncapped

Dedicated Partitions
S

SMT enabled

' ' (blank)

SMT disabled

Mem

Total memory in GB.

InU

Memory in use in GB.

Lp

Number of logical processors.

Us

Percentage of CPU used by programs executing in user mode.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

103

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Field

Description

Sy

Percentage of CPU used by programs executing in kernel mode.

Wa

Percentage of time spent waiting for I/O.

Id

Percentage of time the CPU(s) is idle.

Ded_PhysB

Dedicated Physical Busy.

Ent

Entitlement granted (shared-only).

%Entc

Percent Entitlement consumed (shared-only).

Vcsw

Virtual context switches average per second (shared-only).

Phi

Phantom interrupts average per second (shared-only).

Within the cross partition view there are additional subcommands available.
Pressing s and d toggle on and off the shared and dedicated partition views
respectively, while pressing r will force the topas command to search for HMC
configuration changes if a connection is available. This includes the discovery of
new partitions, processors, or memory allocations. Finally, the g subcommand
toggles the detail level of the global region, Example 5-7 shows the detailed view.
Example 5-7 The topas command detailed partition view without HMC data
Topas CEC Monitor
Partition Info
Monitored : 3
UnMonitored: Shared
: 2
Dedicated : 1
Capped
: 1
Uncapped
: 2

Interval: 10
Memory (GB)
Processor
Monitored : 2.2
Monitored :2.0
UnMonitored:
UnMonitored: Available :
Available : UnAllocated:
UnAllocated: Consumed
: 1.0
Shared
: 1
Dedicated : 1
Pool Size : 1
Avail Pool : 1.0

Thu Nov 30 11:35:51 2006

Shr Physical Busy:
Ded Physical Busy:

0.01
0.00

Hypervisor
Virt. Context Switch: 565
Phantom Interrupts :
0

Host
OS M Mem InU Lp Us Sy Wa Id PhysB Ent %EntC Vcsw PhI
-------------------------------------shared------------------------------------VIO_Server1 A53 U 0.5 0.3 4
0 0 0 99
0.01 0.50
1.3 392
0
lpar01
A53 u 1.0 0.4 2
0 0 0 99
0.00 0.50
0.9 173
0
------------------------------------dedicated----------------------------------lpar04
A53
0.8 0.3 1
0 0 0 99
0.00

Implementation
In this example, there are various fields which are incomplete. As of AIX 5L
Version 5.3 Technology Level 5, a partition is able to query the HMC to retrieve
further information regarding the CEC as a whole, this is enabled using the
following process

104

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

1. Install OpenSSH at the partition. This is available on the AIX 5L expansion

pack or for download from the Web.
2. Enable remote command support on the HMC for user hscroot to allow SSH
connections to be opened from the partition.
3. Configure SSH on the HMC to not require a password for the HMC user
hscroot when queried from the selected partition. This requires the
.ssh/authorized_keys2 on the HMC for user login hscroot.
4. Run the ssh -l hscroot <hmc address> date command from the partition to
check whether the date is displayed without entering a password.
5. Utilize the following options to specify the managed system and HMC names
when executing the topas command.
-o managedsys=<managed system name under which this partition is
configured>
-o hmc=<HMC name under which this partition is configured>
Once this is configured, you should get an output similar to Example 5-8.
Example 5-8 The topas command detailed partition view with HMC data
Topas CEC Monitor
2006
Partition Info
Monitored : 3
UnMonitored: 0
Shared
: 2
Dedicated : 1
Capped
: 1
606
Uncapped
: 2
0

Interval:
Memory (GB)
Monitored :
UnMonitored:
Available :
UnAllocated:
Consumed
:

2.2
1.8
4.0
1.4
1.0

10

Thu Nov 30 11:54:27

Processor
Monitored :2.0
UnMonitored:0.0
Available : 2
UnAllocated:0.0
Shared
: 1
Dedicated

Pool Size :
Avail Pool :

Shr Physical Busy: 0.01

Ded Physical Busy: 0.00
Hypervisor
Virt. Context Switch:
Phantom Interrupts :

1
1.0

Host
OS M Mem InU Lp Us Sy Wa Id PhysB Ent %EntC Vcsw PhI
-------------------------------------shared-----------------------------------VIO_Server1 A53 U 0.5 0.3 4
0 0 0 99 0.01 0.50
1.2 379
0
lpar01
A53 u 1.0 0.4 2
0 0 0 99 0.00 0.50
1.0 227
0
------------------------------------dedicated---------------------------------lpar04
A53
0.8 0.3 1
0 0 0 99 0.00

If you are unable to obtain this information dynamically from the HMC, you can
provide it as a command line option as follows

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

105

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Table 5-5 Command options and their descriptions
Option

Description

-o availmem

Total memory size allocated to all partitions in MB

-o unavailmem

Total memory size unallocated from the HMC in MB

-o availcpu

Total CPUs allocated for all partitions on the HMC

-o unavailcpu

Total CPUs unallocated on the HMC

-o partitions

Number of partitions defined on the HMC

-o reconfig

Number of seconds between checking for HMC configuration

changes. Allowed values are 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240, 300
seconds. The default is 60 seconds

-o poolsize

Defined Pool Size, required if HMC Processor Utilization Authority

restricts access

5.3.2 Performance statistics recording (5300-05)

AIX 5L is now able to record performance statistics over time which can be used
to generate reports. There are two ways of performing this, depending on
whether you are recording data for a local system or across multiple partitions.
Local data can be recorded using the xmwlm agent, while statistics across
partitions can be collected using the topas -R command. Data from both sources
can be analyzed by the topasout command to generate reports.

The xmwlm agent

The xmwlm agent provides recording capability for a set of local system
performance metrics when started with the -L flag. These include common CPU,
memory, network, disk, and partition metrics typically displayed by the topas
command. By default, daily recordings are stored in the /etc/perf/daily directory
with files formatted as xmwlm.YYMMDD, an alternative directory can be
specified with the -d flag. All recordings cover 24-hour periods and are retained
for two days. The xmwlm agent can be started from the command line or
alternatively, the /usr/lpp/perfagent/config_aixwle.sh configuration script allows
this function to be configured as an inittab process.

The topas command

When invoked with the -R flag, the topas command operates as a background
process and display functions are disabled. Data available from the topas
command cross-partition LPAR monitoring capability (-C flag) is then recorded to
a 24-hour log file. The command can either be invoked manually or the
/usr/lpp/perfagent/config_topas.sh configuration script allows this function to be

106

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

configured as an inittab process. Data is placed in the /etc/perf/ directory and

files are formatted as topas_cec.YYMMDD. The files are retained for 7 days.

The topasout command

Once the recording files have been generated, the topasout command can be
used to format the data. The command syntax is as follows:
topasout [-c|-s|-R daily|-R weekly] [-R detailed|-R summary|-R disk]
[ -i MM -b HHMM -e HHMM]][ -m type ]
[xmwlm_recording|topas_recording]
The flags relevant to xmwlm and topas -R outputs are provided in Table 5-6.
Table 5-6 The xmwlm and topas command flags
Flag

Description

-c

Specifies that topasout should format the output files as comma-separated

ASCII. Each line in the output files contains one time stamp and one
observation. Both fields are preceded by a label that describes the fields.

-s

Specifies that topasout should format the output files in a format suitable
for input to spreadsheet programs.

-m type

By default, the post-processor only outputs mean values. Other recorded

values are available via the following type options

-R

min

Minimum value

max

Maximum value

mean

Mean value

stdev

Standerd deviation

set

The full set of outputs as a coma separated list

exp

The full set of outputs on separate lines

Generates additional report outputs of the following type

summary

prints a single-line formatted output report of the

system

detailed -

prints a formatted output report similar to the topas

main display

disk

prints a single-line formatted output report of disk

statistics

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

107

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The options in Table 5-7 apply only to the reports generated by topas -R , If the
-b and -e options are not used, the daily recording will be processed from
beginning to end
Table 5-7 The topas specific command options
Flag

Description

-i MM

Splits the recording reports into equal size time periods. This must be
a multiple of the recording interval, which by default is 5 minutes.
Allowed values are 5, 10, 15, 30, 60

-b HHMM

Begin time in hours (HH) and minutes (MM). Range is between 0000
and 2400

-e HHMM

end time in hours (HH) and minutes (MM).Range is between 0000 and
2400 and must be greater than the begin time

The following examples show a selection of data outputs generated by the

topasout function. Example 5-9 gives a ascii formatted output from xmwlm while
Example 5-10 gives a summary output from topas -R, split using the -i flag
Example 5-9 ASCII formatted output generated by topas out from xmwlm data file

Monitor: xmtrend
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29
Time="2006/11/29

recording--- hostname: nim ValueType: mean

00:00:02", CPU/gluser=0.32
00:00:02", CPU/glkern=0.97
00:00:02", CPU/glwait=0.01
00:00:02", CPU/glidle=98.70
00:00:02", CPU/numcpu=2.00
00:00:02", CPU/osver=5.30
00:00:02", NFS/Server/v3calls=0.00
00:00:02", NFS/Server/v2calls=0.00
00:00:02", NFS/Server/calls=0.00
00:00:02", NFS/Client/v3calls=0.00
00:00:02", NFS/Client/v2calls=0.00
00:00:02", NFS/Client/calls=0.00

Example 5-10 Summary output generated by topasout from topas -R data file
Report: CEC Summary --- hostname: nim
version:1.1
Start:11/28/06 00:00:21
Stop:11/28/06 14:24:21 Int:60 Min Range: 864 Min
Partition Mon: 2 UnM: 0 Shr: 2 Ded: 0 Cap: 1 UnC: 1
-CEC------ -Processors------------------------- -Memory (GB)-----------Time ShrB DedB Mon UnM Avl UnA Shr Ded PSz APP Mon UnM Avl UnA InU
01:00 0.01 0.00 0.7 0.0 0.0
0 0.7
0 2.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6
02:01 0.01 0.00 0.7 0.0 0.0
0 0.7
0 2.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6
03:01 0.01 0.00 0.7 0.0 0.0
0 0.7
0 2.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6
04:01 0.01 0.00 0.7 0.0 0.0
0 0.7
0 2.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6
05:01 0.01 0.00 0.7 0.0 0.0
0 0.7
0 2.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6

108

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

06:01
07:01

0.01
0.01

0.00
0.00

0.7
0.7

0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0

0
0

0.7
0.7

0
0

2.0
2.0

2.0
2.0

1.0
1.0

0.0
0.0

0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0

0.6
0.6

It is also possible to generate a topas command screen output from topas -R,
Example 5-11 gives a sample screen.
Example 5-11 Output generated by topasout from topas -R data files
Report: CEC Detailed --- hostname: nim
Start:11/30/06 08:38:33 Stop:11/30/06 09:39:33

Int:60 Min

version:1.1
Range: 61 Min

Time: 09:38:32
----------------------------------------------------------------Partition Info Memory (GB)
Processors
Monitored : 3 Monitored : 2.2 Monitored : 2.0 Shr Physcl Busy: 0.05
UnMonitored: 0 UnMonitored: 0.0 UnMonitored: 0.0 Ded Physcl Busy: 0.00
Shared
: 2 Available : 0.0 Available : 0.0
Dedicated : 1 UnAllocated: 0.0 Unallocated: 0.0 Hypervisor
Capped
: 1 Consumed
: 1.4 Shared
: 1.0 Virt Cntxt Swtch: 1642
UnCapped
: 2
Dedicated : 1.0 Phantom Intrpt :
34
Pool Size : 1.0
Avail Pool : 1.0
Host
OS M Mem InU Lp Us Sy Wa Id PhysB Ent %EntC Vcsw PhI
-------------------------------------shared-----------------------------------nim
A53 U 1.0 0.7 4 0 1 0 95 0.04 0.5
7.07 926 33
VIO_Server1 A53 U 0.5 0.3 4 0 0 0 99 0.01 0.5
2.30 716
2
------------------------------------dedicated---------------------------------appserver
A53 S 0.8 0.3 2 0 0 0 99 0.00

5.4 The iostat command enhancement (5300-02)

The iostat command has been enhanced since the first offering of AIX 5L
Version 5.3. The major improvement is the addition of the -D flag which allows
the reporting of extended disk service time metrics and VSCSI statistics.

5.4.1 Extended disk service time metrics

When invoked with the -D flag, the iostat command now produces extended
information covering disk service times. This allows for more detailed analysis of
read and write performance along with additional statistics that were not
previously available. The command can report on all disks or be limited to
specific devices. Example 5-12 gives the new fields, here they are presented in
the default 80 column format, however the information can be recorded on a
single line using the -l flag.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

109

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Example 5-12 The iostat -D command output
iostat -D
System configuration: lcpu=2 drives=1 paths=1 vdisks=1
hdisk0

xfer:
read:
write:
queue:

%tm_act
0.1
rps
0.0
wps
0.3
avgtime
7.8

bps
2.0K
avgserv
4.7
avgserv
7.5
mintime
0.0

tps
0.3
minserv
0.2
minserv
0.8
maxtime
1.4S

bread
bwrtn
221.2
1.8K
maxserv
timeouts
25.2
0
maxserv
timeouts
51.0
0
avgwqsz
avgsqsz
0.0
0.0

fails
0
fails
0
sqfull
31816

The output is split into 4 sections, xfer, read, write, and queue discussed in the
following sections.

The xfer column

The xfer column provides an overview of the devices performance, similar to the
standard iostat output. The fields are as follows.
% tm_act

Indicates the percentage of time the physical disk was

active (bandwidth utilization for the drive).

bps

Indicates the amount of data transferred (read or written)

per second to the drive. Different suffixes are used to
represent the unit of transfer. Default is in bytes per
second.

tps

Indicates the number of transfers per second that were

issued to the physical disk. A transfer is an I/O request to
the physical disk. Multiple logical requests can be
combined into a single I/O request to the disk. A transfer
is of indeterminate size.

bread

Indicates the amount of data read per second, from the

drive. Different suffixes are used to represent the unit of
transfer. Default is in bytes per second.

bwrtn

Indicates the amount of data written per second, to the

drive. Different suffixes are used to represent the unit of
transfer. Default is in bytes per second.

The read column

This read column provides a more detailed breakdown to read statistics for the
device. The following details are provided.
rps

110

Indicates the number of read transfers per second.

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch05.fm

avgserv

Indicates the average service time per read transfer.

Different suffixes are used to represent the unit of time.
Default is in milliseconds.

minserv

Indicates the minimum read service time. Different

suffixes are used to represent the unit of time. Default is in
milliseconds.

maxserv

Indicates the maximum read service time. Different

suffixes are used to represent the unit of time. Default is in
milliseconds.

timeouts

Indicates the number of read timeouts per second.

fails

Indicates the number of failed read requests per second.

The write column

This write column provides a more detailed breakdown to write statistics for the
device. The following details are provided.
wps

Indicates the number of write transfers per second.

avgserv

Indicates the average service time per write transfer.

Different suffixes are used to represent the unit of time.
Default is in milliseconds.

minserv

Indicates the minimum write service time. Different

suffixes are used to represent the unit of time. Default is in
milliseconds.

maxserv

Indicates the maximum write service time. Different

suffixes are used to represent the unit of time. Default is in
milliseconds.

timeouts

Indicates the number of write timeouts per second.

fails

Indicates the number of failed write requests per second.

The queue column

This queue column provides the following information regarding wait queues at
the device.
avgtime

Indicates the average time spent by a transfer request in

the wait queue. Different suffixes are used to represent
the unit of time. Default is in milliseconds.

mintime

Indicates the minimum time spent by a transfer request in

the wait queue. Different suffixes are used to represent
the unit of time. Default is in milliseconds.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

111

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

maxtime

Indicates the maximum time spent by a transfer request in

the wait queue. Different suffixes are used to represent
the unit of time. Default is in milliseconds.

avgwqsz

Indicates the average wait queue size.

avgsqsz

Indicates the average service queue size.

sqfull

Indicates the number of times the service queue becomes

full (that is, the disk is not accepting any more service
requests) per second.

For all the fields, the outputs have a default unit. However, as values change
order of magnitude, different suffixes are provided to improve clarity. The possible
values are shown in Table 5-8.
Table 5-8 Possible suffixes for iostat -D command fields
Suffix

Description

1000 bytes.

1 000 000 bytes if displayed in xfer metrics. Minutes, if displayed in

read/write/wait service metrics.

1 000 000 000 bytes.

1 000 000 000 000 bytes.

Seconds.

Hours.

Note: The M suffix is used both for data and time metrics. Therefore a value of
1.0 M could indicate 1 MB of data or 1 minute depending on the context.
As with the standard iostat command, two report types can be generated. If the
command is run without an interval, the system generates a summary report of
the statistics since boot. If an interval is specified, then data is collected over the
given time period. For interval data, the values for the max and min fields
reported give the respective values for the whole data collection period rather
than that specific interval. In Example 5-13, the value of 77.4 ms for the queue
maxtime occurred during the second interval and was not surpassed in the third
so it is reported again. If the -R flag is specified, the command will report the
maximum value just for that interval.
Example 5-13 The iostat -D command interval output
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

112

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

hdisk0

xfer:

%tm_act
bps
tps
bread
bwrtn
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
read:
rps avgserv minserv maxserv
timeouts
fails
0.0
0.0
0.5
0.5
0
0
write:
wps avgserv minserv maxserv
timeouts
fails
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
0
queue: avgtime mintime maxtime avgwqsz
avgsqsz
sqfull
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------hdisk0
xfer: %tm_act
bps
tps
bread
bwrtn
20.0
208.9K
45.0
0.0
208.9K
read:
rps avgserv minserv maxserv
timeouts
fails
0.0
0.0
0.5
0.5
0
0
write:
wps avgserv minserv maxserv
timeouts
fails
45.0
8.2
1.7
21.5
0
0
queue: avgtime mintime maxtime avgwqsz
avgsqsz
sqfull
20.3
0.0
77.4
1.4
0.2
23
------------------------------------------------------------------------------hdisk0
xfer: %tm_act
bps
tps
bread
bwrtn
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
fails
read:
rps avgserv minserv maxserv
timeouts
0.0
0.0
0.5
0.5
0
0
write:
wps avgserv minserv maxserv
timeouts
fails
0.0
0.0
1.7
21.5
0
0
queue: avgtime mintime maxtime avgwqsz
avgsqsz
sqfull
0.0
0.0
77.4
0.0
0.0
0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5.4.2 Extended virtual SCSI statistics

In addition to the extended disk metrics, the iostat command can now provide
further details on performance of virtual adaptors. This can be done by
combining the -a flag to generate adapter data with the -D flag. Example 5-14
provides a sample output.
Example 5-14 The iostat -aD command sample output
# iostat -aD
System configuration: lcpu=2 drives=1 paths=1 vdisks=1
Vadapter:
vscsi1

xfer:
read:
write:

Kbps
11.5
rps
0.0
wps

tps
1.7
avgserv
32.0S
avgserv

bkread
bkwrtn partition-id
1.0
0.7
0
minserv maxserv
0.2
25.3S
minserv maxserv

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

113

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

queue:

11791.1
0.0
1.2
25.3S
avgtime mintime maxtime avgwqsz

avgsqsz

sqfull
0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

Paths/Disks:
hdisk0

xfer:
read:

%tm_act
0.5
rps

bps
11.8K
avgserv

tps
bread
bwrtn
1.7
8.3K
3.5K
minserv maxserv timeouts

fails
1.0

4.2

0.2

22.9

0
write:

wps

avgserv

minserv maxserv

timeouts

fails
0.7

7.8

1.2

35.2

0
queue:

avgtime

mintime

maxtime avgwqsz

avgsqsz

sqfull
5.8
0.0
191.6
0.0
0.0
605
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The output reports data for the adapter and then all the devices attached to it. For
non-VSCSI adapters, the adapter statistics will not report the full detail of output
but the disk devices will. The fields in the output are split into the same sections
as for the extended disk output, however, there are some extra fields and slight
alterations to the outputs. As with the disk statistics, different suffixes are used to
represent data of different orders of magnitude.

The xfer column

The xfer column provides the following information.

114

Kbps

Indicates the amount of data transferred (read or written)

in the adapter in KB per second.

tps

Indicates the number of transfers per second issued to the

adapter.

bkread

Number of blocks received per second from the hosting

server to this adapter.

bkwrtn

Number of blocks per second sent from this adapter to the

hosting server.

partition-id

The partition ID of the hosting server, which serves the

requests sent by this adapter.

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The read column

The read column provides the following information.
rps

Indicates the number of read requests per second.

avgserv

Indicates the average time to receive a response from the

hosting server for the read request sent. .

minserv

Indicates the minimum time to receive a response from

the hosting server for the read request sent.

maxserv

Indicates the maximum time to receive a response from

the hosting server for the read request sent.

The write column

The write column provides the following information.
wps

Indicates the number of write requests per second.

avgserv

Indicates the average time to receive a response from the

hosting server for the write request sent.

minserv

Indicates the minimum time to receive a response from

the hosting server for the write request sent.

maxserv

Indicates the maximum time to receive a response from

the hosting server for the write request sent.

The queue column

The queue column provides the following information.
avgtime

Indicates the average time spent by a transfer request in

the wait queue. Different suffixes are used to represent
the unit of time. Default is in milliseconds.

mintime

Indicates the minimum time spent by a transfer request in

the wait queue.

maxtime

Indicates the maximum time spent by a transfer request in

the wait queue.

avgwqsz

Indicates the average wait queue size.

avgsqsz

Indicates the average service queue size.

sqfull

Indicates the number of times the service queue becomes

full (that is, the hosting server is not accepting any more
service requests) per second.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

115

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

5.5 PMAPI end user tools (5300-02)

PMAPI is a library with APIs that provide access to the hardware performance
counters. Beginning with AIX 5L Version 5.3 with 5300-02 Technology Level,
PMAPI has been enhanced and modifications made to the HPMtoolkit library
(HPMlib). Two new commands have also been added, hpmstat and hpmcount.

5.5.1 The hpmcount command

The purpose of the hpmcount command is to measure application performance.
The hpmcount command provides the execution wall clock time, hardware
performance counters information, derived hardware metrics, and resource
utilization statistics (obtained from the getrusage() system call) for a specified
command. The syntax is as follows, parameters are described in Table 5-9.
hpmcount [-a] [-d] [-H] [-k] [-o file] [-s set] command
hpmcount [-h]
Table 5-9 The hpmcount command parameters details
Parameter

Description

Aggregates the counters on POE runs.

Adds detailed set counts for counter multiplexing mode.

Displays help message.

Adds hypervisor activity on behalf of the process.

Adds system activity on behalf of the process.

File output file name.

Set lists a predefined set of events or a comma-separated list of sets (1

to N, or 0 to select all. See the pmlist command.) When a
comma-separated list of sets is used, the counter multiplexing mode is
selected.

Example 5-15 shows the usage of the hpmcount command to check the activities
when issuing the ls command.
Example 5-15 The hpmcount command example
#/usr/pmapi/tools/hpmcount -s 1 ls
Sachin_xlc
lost+found
paging
sach_test.conf spots
dump
lpp_source
resources
sach_test.txt tmp
home
mksysbs
root
scripts
Execution time (wall clock time): 0.003478 seconds

116

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

########

Resource Usage Statistics

########

Total amount of time in user mode

Total amount of time in system mode
Maximum resident set size
Average shared memory use in text segment
Average unshared memory use in data segment
Number of page faults without I/O activity
Number of page faults with I/O activity
Number of times process was swapped out
Number of times file system performed INPUT
Number of times file system performed OUTPUT
Number of IPC messages sent
Number of IPC messages received
Number of signals delivered
Number of voluntary context switches
Number of involuntary context switches
#######

End of Resource Statistics

:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

0.000794 seconds
0.001816 seconds
284 Kbytes
0 Kbytes*sec
0 Kbytes*sec
78
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

########

Set: 1
Counting duration: 0.003147321 seconds
PM_FPU_1FLOP (FPU executed one flop instruction)
:
PM_CYC (Processor cycles)
:
PM_MRK_FPU_FIN (Marked instruction FPU processing finished) :
PM_FPU_FIN (FPU produced a result)
:
PM_INST_CMPL (Instructions completed)
:
PM_RUN_CYC (Run cycles)
:

Utilization rate
MIPS
Instructions per cycle
HW floating point instructions per Cycle
HW floating point instructions / user time
HWflops/s
HW floating point rate (HW Flops / WCT)
HWflops/s

:
:
:
:
:
:

0
561038
0
45
264157
561038

9.751 %
75.951 MIPS
0.471
0.000
0.133 M
0.013 M

5.5.2 The hpmstat command

The hpmstat command provides system-wide hardware performance counter
information. The hpmstat command provides the execution wall clock time,
hardware performance counters information, and derived hardware metrics. It
can only be used by a user with root privilege.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

117

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

When specified without command line options, the hpmstat command counts the
default 1 iteration of user, kernel, and hypervisor (for processors supporting
hypervisor mode) activity for 1 second for the default set of events. It then writes
the raw counter values and derived metrics to standard output. By default,
runlatch is disabled so that counts can be performed while executing in idle cycle.
hpmstat [-d] [-H] [-k] [-o file] [-r] [-s set] [-T] [-U] [-u]
interval count
or
hpmstat [-h]
Table 5-10 provides the hpmstat command parameters.
Table 5-10 The hpmstat command parameter details
Parameter

Description

Adds detailed set counts for counter multiplexing mode.

Adds detailed set counts for counter multiplexing mode.

Displays help message.

Counts system activity only.

file Output file name.

Enables runlatch and disables counts while executing in idle

cycle.

set Lists a predefined set of events or a comma-separated

list of sets (1 to N, or 0 to select all. See the pmlist
command.) When a comma-separated list of sets is used, the
counter multiplexing mode is selected.

Writes time stamps instead of time in seconds.

Puts counting time interval in microseconds. This option is

ignored if the counter multiplexing mode is specified.

Counts user activity only.

Example 5-16 shows the usage of hpmstat command to check the activities of
system.
Example 5-16 The hpmstat command example
#/usr/pmapi/tools/hpmstat -s 7
Execution time (wall clock time): 1.000307 seconds
Set: 7

118

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Counting duration: 2.000129112 seconds
PM_TLB_MISS (TLB misses)
PM_CYC (Processor cycles)
PM_ST_REF_L1 (L1 D cache store references)
PM_LD_REF_L1 (L1 D cache load references)
PM_INST_CMPL (Instructions completed)
PM_RUN_CYC (Run cycles)

Utilization rate
MIPS
Instructions per cycle
Total load and store operations
Instructions per load/store
Number of loads per TLB miss
Number of load/store per TLB miss

:
:
:
:
:
:

:
:
:
:
:
:
:

37114
17995529
874385
1835177
8820856
14684180

1.087 %
8.818 MIPS
0.490
2.710 M
3.255
49.447
73.006

For further information about PMAPI, see the following.

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topi
c=/com.ibm.aix.prftools/doc/prftools/perfmon_api.htm

5.6 Memory affinity enhancements (5300-01)

IBM POWER-based hardware models contain modules that are capable of
supporting single, dual, or multiple core chips depending on the particular
configuration. The system memory is then attached to these modules. AIX 5L
has a feature called memory affinity that allows the operating system to consider
this hardware structure when making memory allocations. This means that, when
a process generates a page fault, memory can be allocated from the module
containing the processor that it was running on. This can reduce latency by
utilizing memory local to the processor and in turn can give significant
performance benefits in certain environments.
When memory affinity is enabled, each module has its own vmpool, which
contains one or more memory pools. During system boot, AIX 5L uses hardware
topology information to discover the memory attached to the various modules
and define the memory pools. The amount of memory in each pool is based on
how much memory is available in the module or allocated to the VMM by the
hypervisor layer. This means that different memory pools can have different
sizes, depending on the exact way in which the hypervisor allocates resource
when the partition is activated. Each memory pool has its own instance of the
page replacement daemon, lrud, and page faults within individual memory pools
are dealt with independently as far as possible.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

119

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Starting with AIX 5L 5300-01, the vmo command has been enhanced to provide
more control over user memory placement across these pools. Memory can be
allocated in one of two ways, first-touch and round robin. With the first-touch
scheduling policy, memory is allocated from the chip module that the thread was
running on when it first touched that memory segment, which is the first page
fault. With the round-robin scheduling policy, memory allocation is striped across
each of the vmpools. The following parameters have been added to the vmo
command to control how different memory types are allocated and can either
have a value of 1, signifying the first touch scheduling policy, or 2, signifying the
round-robin scheduling policy.
memplace_data

This parameter specifies the memory placement

for data of the main executable that is either
initialized or uninitialized, heap segment data,
shared library data and data of object modules
that are loaded at run-time. The default value of
this parameter is 2.

memplace_mapped_file

This parameter specifies the memory placement

for files that are mapped into the address space
of a process, such as the shmat() function and
the mmap() function. The default value for this
parameter is 2.

memplace_shm_anonymous This parameter specifies the memory placement

for anonymous shared memory that acts as
working storage memory that is created by a call
to the shmget() function or the mmap() function.
The memory can only be accessed by the
creating process or its descendants and it is not
associated with a name or a key. The default
value for this parameter is 2.

120

memplace_shm_named

This parameter specifies the memory placement

for named shared memory that acts as working
storage memory that is created by a call to the
shmget() function or the shm_open() function. It
is associated with a name or a key that allows
more than one process to access it
simultaneously. The default value for this
parameter is 2.

memplace_stack

This parameter specifies the memory placement

for the program stack. The default value for this
parameter is 2.

memplace_text

This parameter specifies the memory placement

for the application text of the main executable,

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

but not for its dependencies. The default value

for this parameter is 2.
memplace_unmapped_file

This parameter specifies the memory placement

for unmapped file access, such as with the
read() or write() functions. The default value for
this parameter is 2.

By default, memory affinity is enabled on all AIX 5L systems, however, it can be

disabled using the memory_affinity vmo parameter. In AIX 5L release 5300-01,
this parameter was deprecated and at the 5300-01 and 5300-02 levels, memory
affinity is always on. With APAR IY73792, which is part of release 5300-03, the
parameter was re-enabled and in subsequent releases it can be turned on and
off. Disabling memory affinity may provide beneficial results if the hypervisor
allocates memory to a partition such that the memory pools become very
unbalanced in size. This can lead to unexpected page replacement behavior as
small pools can be subject to memory usage fluctuations. The number and size
of the memory pools on a system can be determined using the kdb commands
mempool subcommand as shown in Example 5-17.
Example 5-17 Using the mempool subcommand to show a systems memory pools

(0)> mempool *
memp_frs+010000
memp_frs+010280
(0)>

VMP MEMP
00 000
00 001

NB_PAGES
0001672C
000174A1

FRAMESETS
000 001
002 003

NUMFRB
0000DEE2
0000E241

A reboot is required to enable or disable memory affinity as memory pool

information is defined at boot time.

5.7 The fcstat command (5300-05)

AIX 5L Version 5.3 technology level 5 introduces the fcstat command. The
purpose of this command is to display statistics gathered by the specified Fibre
Channel device driver. It collects the statistics using the following procedure
Opens the message catalog of fcstat and checks the parameter list.
Accesses the ODM database for information relating to the selected adapter.
Accesses the ODM database for information relating to ports of the selected
adapter.
Opens and access adapter statistics.
Reports statistics and exits.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

121

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The fcstat command used in Example 5-18 displays statistics for the Fibre
Channel device driver fcs0. At this moment their are no flags associated with this
command.
Example 5-18 The fcstat command

#fcstat fcs0
FIBRE CHANNEL STATISTICS REPORT: fcs0
Device Type: FC Adapter (df1000f9)
Serial Number: 1E313BB001
Option ROM Version: 02C82115
Firmware Version: B1F2.10A5
Node WWN: 20000000C9487B04
Port WWN: 10000000C9416DA4
FC4 Types
Supported:
0x0000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Active:
0x0000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Class of Service: 4
Port FC ID: 011400
Port Speed (supported): 2 GBIT
Port Speed (running): 1 GBIT
Port Type: Fabric
Seconds Since Last Reset: 345422
Transmit Statistics Receive Statistics
------------------- -----------------Frames: 1 Frames: 1
Words: 1 Words: 1
LIP Count: 1
NOS Count: 1
Error Frames: 1
Dumped Frames: 1
Link Failure Count: 1
Loss of Sync Count: 1
Loss of Signal: 1
Primitive Seq Protocol Err Count: 1
Invalid Tx Word Count: 1
Invalid CRC Count: 1

122

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

IP over FC Adapter Driver Information

No DMA Resource Count: 0
No Adapter Elements Count: 0
FC
No
No
No

SCSI Adapter Driver Information

DMA Resource Count: 0
Adapter Elements Count: 0
Command Resource Count: 0

IP over FC Traffic Statistics

Input Requests: 0
Output Requests: 0
Control Requests: 0
Input Bytes: 0
Output Bytes: 0
FC SCSI Traffic Statistics
Input Requests: 16289
Output Requests: 48930
Control Requests: 11791
Input Bytes: 128349517
Output Bytes: 209883136
Table 5-11 provides descriptions of the statistics fields.
Table 5-11 Statistics fields and their descriptions
Statistics

Description

Device Type

Displays the description of the adapter.

Serial Number

Displays the serial number from the adapter.

Option ROM Version

Displays the version of the Options ROM on the adapter.

Firmware Version

Displays the version of the firmware on the adapter.

Node WWN

Displays the worldwide name of the adapter.

Port FC ID

Displays the SCSI ID of the adapter.

Port Type

Displays the adapter's connection type.

Port Speed

Displays the speed of the adapter.

Port WWN

Displays the worldwide name of the port.

Seconds Since Last

Reset

Displays the seconds since last reset of the statistics on the

adapter.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

123

7414ch05.fm

124

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Statistics

Description

Frames

Displays the number of frames transmitted and received.

Words

Displays the number of words transmitted and received.

LIP Count

Displays the LIP count.

NOS Count

Displays the NOS count.

Error Frames

Displays the number of frames that were in error.

Dumped Frames

Displays the frames that were dumped.

Link Failure Count

Displays the Link Failure Count.

Loss of Sync Count

Displays the number of times Sync was lost.

Loss of Signal

Displays the number of times signal was lost.

Primitive Seq Protocol

Err Count

Displays the number of times a primitive sequence was in

error.

Invalid Tx Word Count

Displays the number of invalid transfers that occurred.

Invalid CRC Count

Displays the number of CRC errors that occurred.

IP over FC Adapter
Driver Information: No
Adapter Elements Count

Displays the number of times there were no adapter

elements available.

FC SCSI Adapter Driver

Information: No DMA
Resource Count

Displays the number of times DMA resources were not

available.

FC SCSI Adapter Driver

Information: No Adapter
Elements Count

Displays the number of times there were no adapter

elements available.

FC SCSI Adapter Driver

Information: No
Command Resource
Count

Displays the number of times there were no command

resources available.

IP over FC Traffic
Statistics: Input
Requests

Displays the number of input requests.

IP over FC Traffic
Statistics: Output
Requests

Displays the number of output requests.

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch05.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Statistics

Description

IP over FC Traffic
Statistics: Control
Requests

Displays the number of control requests.

IP over FC Traffic
Statistics: Input Bytes

Displays the number of input bytes.

IP over FC Traffic
Statistics: Output Bytes

Displays the number of output bytes.

FC SCSI Traffic
Statistics: Input
Requests

Displays the number of input requests.

FC SCSI Traffic
Statistics: Output
Requests

Displays the number of output requests.

FC SCSI Traffic
Statistics: Control
Requests

Displays the number of control requests.

FC SCSI Traffic
Statistics: Input Bytes

Displays the number of input bytes.

FC SCSI Traffic
Statistics: Output Bytes

Displays the number of output bytes.

Note : Some adapters might not support a specific statistic. The value of
non-supported statistic fields is always 0.

Chapter 5. Performance monitoring

125

7414ch05.fm

126

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch06.fm

Chapter 6.

Networking and security

This chapter covers the following major topics:
TCP retransmission granularity change (5300-05)
Enhanced dead interface detection (5300-05)
NFS Enhancements
Network intrusion detection (5300-02)
Radius Server Support (5300-02)
Web-based System Manager and PAM (5300-05)
IPFilters open source ported (5300-05)
Network Data Administration Facility (5330-05)
AIX Security Expert (5300-05)

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

127

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

6.1 TCP retransmission granularity change (5300-05)

Prior to AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05, the TCP retransmission timer is
handled by tcp_slowtimo() function which runs every 500 ms. Also, TCP
retransmission time-out takes on a minimum value of 3 seconds. With high speed
networks, such as gigabit Ethernet and 10 gigabit Ethernet coming, a lower TCP
retransmission timer (faster timer) is required to archive a high speed, low
latency network.
The timer-wheel algorithm has been updated to achieve lower granularity for
retransmission timer in AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05.

6.1.1 Overview of timer-wheel algorithm

Figure 6-1 shows a simplified model of a timer-wheel algorithm.

Figure 6-1 Timer-wheel algorithm simplified model

A timer wheel has N number of slots. A slot represents a time unit, named si (slot
interval). A curser in the timing wheel moves one location every time unit (just like
a seconds hand in a clock). Whenever a curser moves to a slot, named cs
(current slot), it implies that the list of timers in that slot, if any, expire at that
instant or when the curser reaches the same slot in the subsequent cycles.
When a new timer with timer interval, named ti (time interval), is to be added to
this wheel, the slot for the new timer, named ts (timer slot) is calculated as :
ts = ( cs + (ti / si)) % N

128

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Assume that the maximum timer interval value that any timer takes on does not
exceed an upper limit, named tmax. If N is sufficiently large to accommodate
tmax within a rotation from the current curser position, then it would mean that
when the curser moves to a specific slot, all timers in that slot expire at the same
instant or that there should be no subsequent cycles. This prevents traversing the
list to check which of the timers expire now and which of them expire in the
subsequent cycles.
The timer wheel has the following attributes:
The maximum value for RTO is 64 (tmax) seconds.
The least granularity for the timer is 10ms.

6.1.2 Options to enable or disable the use of low RTO feature

To support timer-wheel algorithm for TCP's retransmission timer, options are
introduced to both the no command and the ifconfig command.

The no command timer_wheel_tick option

The timer_wheel_tick option specifies the slot interval of the timer wheel in ticks,
where a tick=10 ms. By default, timer_wheel_tick is set to 0 (the timer wheel
clock does not run). The range of value for timer_wheel_tick is 0-100.
Since the granularity of the system clock is 10 ms, the value specified for
timer_wheel_tick must be multiplied by 10 ms to equal the actual slot interval.
Note: If this option is modified a system reboot is required for the change to
take place.

The no command tcp_low_rto option

The tcp_low_rto option, if set, specifies the RTO for all TCP connections that
begin to experience packet drops. The range of value set is 0-3000 specified in
milliseconds. This range for tcp_low_rto allows the user to configure
retransmission time-out to a value less than the current least retransmission
time-out of 3 seconds.
Note: The value set for tcp_low_rto should be equal to or a multiple of
(10*timer_wheel_tick). Also, timer_wheel_tick should be set to non-zero value
before setting tcp_low_rto option.

The ifconfig command tcp_low_rto option

It is interface specific to use the ifconfig command to enable low RTO timer:

Chapter 6. Networking and security

129

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

ifconfig Interface [ tcp_low_rto rto | -tcp_low_rto ]

Enables the use of lower retransmission time-outs (RTO) for TCP connections on
a low latency, fast network, such as Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet). If
the networks experience packet drops, the respective TCP connections use the
rto value for RTO. The rto values range from 0-3000 ms. This runtime option
must be set in the if_isno flags field. The use_isno option of no command must
also be set for this flag to be effective.

6.2 Enhanced dead interface detection (5300-05)

AIX supports multipath routing that enables users to have multiple routes to the
same destination (including multiple default routes). The cost (hopcount) is used
determine the route to use when there are multiple routes to the same
destination. For default routes, AIX 5L provides a facility called Active Dead
Gateway Detection, and it will detect if a first-hop gateway is down and modify
the routing table to use routes through alternate gateways if they exist.
When there are multiple routes with the same destination and cost, then the
route selection depends on the multipath routing policy set by the user defaulting
to round-robin. One of the main reasons for having multipath routing was to
provide some degree of fault tolerance by having alternate routes to reach a
given destination in addition to providing a load balancing feature.
Prior to AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05, the Dead Gateway Detection will not
detect if a local network adapter is down (or not working) neither will the
multipath routing function. Even when the interface is down it will be trying to
send packets through the dead interface. With multipath routing if you have two
interfaces to reach a certain destination network and one interface goes down,
this could result in 50% packet loss because the round-robining policy for
multipath routing is being used.
In AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05, you can choose to monitor and update
the interface status (UP/DOWN) based on the current link status of the
underlying network device. Also route selection will be based on current interface
status in addition to the route status. This dead interface detection is provided by
adding options to the ifconfig command:
ifconfig Interface monitor
ifconfig Interface -monitor
The monitor flag enables the underlying adapter to notify the interface layer of
link status changes. The adapter must support link status callback notification. If
multipath routing is used, alternate routes are selected when a link goes down.
The -monitor flag disables adapter link status monitoring.

130

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Once monitoring is turned on it will be updated by the interface status based on

the underlying adapter link status. All routing entries going through an interface
will be marked up/down based on the interface status. If an interface status is
changed by using ifconfig en0 down, the routing entries are updated as well.

6.3 NFS Enhancements

In addition to the existing NFS enhancements in AIX 5L Version 5.3, the following
features have been added to further extend NFS capabilities
NFS DIO and CIO support (5300-03)
NFSv4 replication and global name space (5300-03)
NFSv4 delegation (5300-03)
Release-behind-on-read support for NFS mounts (5300-03)
I/O pacing support for NFS (5300-03)
For detailed descriptions and implementation considerations about the NFS
features introduced in the AIX 5L Version 5.3 with 5300-03 release, one can see
the IBM Redbook Implementing NFSv4 in the Enterprise: Planning and Migration
Strategies, SG24-6657
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg246657.pdf
NFS server grace period (5300-05)
NFS server proxy serving (5300-05)

6.3.1 NFS DIO and CIO support

AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-03 Recommended Maintenance package
supports direct I/O and concurrent I/O on the NFS client for both the version 3
and 4 protocols. The implementation of DIO and CIO only involves the client.
Using DIO and CIO, client side cache is bypassed reducing processing overhead
and memory usage. This feature is useful for applications that don't benefit from
client caching such as databases and HPC environments.

Direct I/O for NFS

DIO allows applications to perform reads and writes directly to the NFS server
without going through the NFS client caching layer (Virtual Memory Manager), or
incurring the associated overhead of caching data.
Under DIO, application I/O requests are serviced using direct Remote Procedure
Calls (RPC) to the NFS server. Using the mount command with the -o dio option

Chapter 6. Networking and security

131

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

sets the DIO option. Without the mount option, you can also enable DIO per-file
by using the AIX O_DIRECT flag in open() call. For more information about DIO,
see the -o option for the mount command.

Concurrent I/O for NFS

With CIO, application reads and writes that are issued concurrently run
concurrently without reads blocking for the duration of writes, or the reverse.
Multiple writes also run concurrently.
When CIO is in effect, direct I/O is implied. CIO is set either via the AIX mount
command with the -o cio option or the O_CIO flag for the open() call is used.
For more information about CIO, see the -o option for the mount command.

6.3.2 NFSv4 global name space and replication

AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-03 Recommended Maintenance package
supports NFSv4 Replication and Global Name Space functionality, which is
compliant with NFSv4 protocol (RFC 3530).

NFSv4 global namespace

The global namespace feature is also known as referral. Referral uses a special
object created in the namespace of a server to which location information is
attached. The server uses this to redirect clients to the server specified in the
location information. The referral forms a building block for integrating data on
multiple NFS servers into a single file namespace tree which referral aware
NFSv4 Clients can navigate. A referral should point to the root of an exported file
system for AIX, which relates to an NFSv4 FSID. Referrals can list multiple
locations if the data is copied on several servers.
A referral can be created using -refer option to the exportfs -o command. A
referral export can only be made if replication is enabled on the server. Use the
chnfs -R on command to enable replication.
For more information about referral, see the -o option for the exportfs command.

NFSV4 replication
Replication allows the hosting of data on multiple NFSv4 servers. Multiple copies
of the same data placed on different servers are known as replicas whereas
servers holding copies of data are known as replica servers. The unit of
replication used in NFSv4 replication is a mounted file system. The NFSv4 server
communicates a location data list to all NFSv4 clients. Thus, the AIX 5L NFSv4
client becomes replica aware. In the event of primary data server failure, the
client switches to an alternate location. The location list from the server is
assumed to be ordered with the first location the most preferred. The client may

132

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch06.fm

override this with the nfs4cl prefer command. The default client fail-over
behavior is governed by the timeo NFS mount option. If the client cannot contact
the server in two NFS time out periods, it will initiate fail-over processing to find
another server. Fail over processing can be influenced with the nfso
replica_failover_time option.
A replica export can only be made if replication is enabled on the server. By
default, replication is not enabled. The chnfs command can be used to enable or
disable replication.
#chnfs -R {on|off|host[+hosts]}
Changing the replication mode can only be done if no NFSv4 exports are active.
Replicas can be exported using -replica option to exportfs -o command.

6.3.3 NFSv4 delegation

Delegation is the ability of a server to delegate certain responsibilities to the
client. When the server grants a delegation for a file to a client, the client is
guaranteed certain semantics with respect to sharing that file with other clients.
Delegation allows a client to open and lock a file without making server calls. The
client obtains delegation during initial access (open), then caches the data. Then,
the client can locally service operations such as OPEN, CLOSE, LOCK, LOCKU,
READ, and WRITE without immediate interaction with the server. Delegation is
enabled by default for both the client and server.

Server delegation
The AIX server supports read delegation and is available with the 64-bit AIX
kernel. At the server, delegation can be controlled globally with the nfso
command (server_delegation), or per export with new deleg option to exportfs
command.
Server delegation can be disabled with the nfso -o server_delegation=0
command. Administrators can use the exportfs deleg=yes | no option to
disable or enable the granting of delegations on a per file system basis, which will
override the nfso command setting.

Client delegation
The AIX 5L client supports both read and write delegation on both the 32 and 64
bit kernel. Client delegation can be disabled with the nfso -o
client_delegation=0 command. Client delegation must be set before any
mounts take place on the client.
All delegation statistics can be extracted with the nfsstat -d command.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

133

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

6.3.4 Release-behind-on-read support for NFS mounts

Data caching for sequential reads of large files might result in heavy page
replacement activity as memory is filled with the NFS data cache. NFSv4
performance can be improved by avoiding the page replacement activity by using
the release-behind-on-read, option during mount or nfs4cl setfsoptions for
NFSv4. The rbr option is used for this as follows.
#mount -r rbr
or
#nfs4cl setoptions rbr
For sequential reads of large files, the real memory for the previous reads is then
freed as the sequential reads continue.
Note: To avoid the release of memory that is going to be needed again, the
nfs_auto_rbr_trigger tunable of nfso command can be used.

6.3.5 I/O pacing support for NFS

I/O pacing support for NFS is introduced in AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-03
maintenance package. I/O pacing is used to prevent a large number of I/O page
outputs for one file from monopolizing the I/O bus. I/O pacing can be tuned on a
per file system basis, This tuning is set using the mount command.
#mount -o minpout=40, maxpout=60 /nfs
or
#nfs4cl setfsoptions /nfs minpout=40, maxpout=60

6.3.6 NFS server grace period

The grace period is disabled by default. To enable the grace period on the server,
the chnfs command line interface can be used.
Table 6-1 NFS commands to change the server grace period

134

Command

Description

chnfs -g on | off

Controls the NFSv4 Grace Period enablement. The

possible values are on or off. When the no
command -g option is specified, the grace period is
disabled by default.

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch06.fm

Command

Description

chnfs -G

Controls the NFSv4 Grace Period bypass. When

this option is specified, the grace period will be
bypassed regardless of how the -g option is
specified.

chnfs -x extend_cnt

Controls the NFSv4 Grace Period automatic

extension. The extend_cnt parameter specifies the
total number of automatic extensions allowed for
the grace period. If no -x option is specified, the
number of allowed automatic extensions defaults to
1. A single extension cannot extend the grace
period for more than the length of the NFSv4 lease
period.

The NFSv4 subsystem uses runtime metrics (such as the time of the last
successful NFSv4 reclaim operation) to detect reclamation of the state in
progress, and extends the grace period for a length of time up to the duration of
the given number of iterations.

6.3.7 NFS server proxy serving

An AIX NFS server can be configured to export a view of another NFS server's
data.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

135

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Main Data
Center

NFS Server

NFS v3 or v4 Clients
Local Data

Remote
NFS Server
Data Center

Local Data

Proxy Export
with Cache

NFS v3 or v4 Clients

Data less
Site

Local Data

NFS Server

Proxy Export
with Cache

NFS v3 or v4 Clients

Figure 6-2 NFS server proxy serving

NFS proxy serving uses disk caching of accessed data to serve similar
subsequent requests locally with reduced network traffic to the back-end server.
Proxy serving can potentially extend NFS data access over slower or less reliable
networks with improved performance and reduced network traffic to the primary
server where the data resides. Depending on availability and content
management requirements, proxy serving can provide a solution for extending
NFS access to network edges without the need for copying data. You can
configure NFS proxy serving using the mknfsproxy command.
Proxy caching can be used with both the NFS version 3 and 4 protocols. The
protocol between the proxy and the connected clients must match the protocol
used between the proxy and the back-end server for each exported proxy
instance. Both reads and writes of data are supported in addition to byte range
advisory locks. Proxy serving requires the 64-bit kernel environment. Enhanced
JFS file system (JFS2) is used as the cached file system with proxy serving

136

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

6.4 Network intrusion detection (5300-02)

AIX 5L provides powerful tools to detect and prevent network intrusions. Intrusion
detection is the action of monitoring and analyzing system events in order to
intercept and reject any attempted unauthorized system access. In AIX 5L, this
detection of unauthorized access or attempted unauthorized access is done by
observing certain actions, and then applying filter rules to these actions. The
available filtering options have been expanded to include stateful filters.

6.4.1 Stateful filters

Stateful filters are designed to make filtering decisions based on an entire
session rather than just an individual packet and its header information. They
examine information within headers such as source and destination addresses,
port numbers, and status. Then, by applying IF, ELSE or ENDIF filter rules to
these header flags, stateful systems can make decisions in the context of the
session as a whole rather than on a packet by packet basis. Stateful inspection
can examine both incoming and outgoing communication packets. When stateful
filter rules are activated with the mkfilt -u command, the rules in the ELSE
block are always examined until the IF rule is satisfied. After the IF rule or
condition is satisfied, the rules in the IF block are used until the filter rules are
reactivated with the mkfilt -u command. As well as the introduction of stateful
filters, a new command has been added, ckfilt command, to check the filters for
consistency

The ckfilt command

The stateful filter rules allow for extended actions such as IF, ELSE and ENDIF.
Thus, it is possible to have syntax errors in the rules set, such as an IF without an
ENDIF, or an ELSE or ENDIF without a preceding IF. The ckfilt command
checks for such errors. Nesting of IF rules is permitted. The ckfilt command
displays the filter rules, indenting the rules within IF statements in a scoping
fashion. If the -O flag is used, filter rules and all of their attributes are displayed in
a scoped fashion. IPsec filter rules for this command can be configured using the
genfilt command, smit, or Web-based System Manager in the Virtual Private
Network submenu. The syntax of the command is as follows
ckfilt [ -O ] [ -v 4 | 6 ]
The -v flag specifies if IPv4 or IPv6 are to be used. When run, the command will
produce output similar to that shown in Example 6-1. Here, dummy rules have
been used in order to demonstrate the format.
Example 6-1 The ckfilt command output

%ckfilt -v4

Chapter 6. Networking and security

137

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Beginning of IPv4 filter rules.

Rule 2
IF Rule 3
IF Rule 4
Rule 5
ELSE Rule 6
Rule 7
ENDIF Rule 8
ELSE Rule 9
Rule 10
ENDIF Rule 11
Rule 0

6.5 Radius Server Support (5300-02)

The Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server implements a
client-server protocol, based on the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Request for Comments (RFCs) 2865 and 2866, that enables remote access
clients to communicate with a central server to gain access to a network. The
RADIUS server authenticates users, authorizes their requests to services, and
writes accounting data. The initial release for the RADIUS server is AIX 5L
Version 5.3.0.10.
Typical clients in a RADIUS environment are a terminal server, authenticating
LAN device, or wireless access point.
The RADIUS server consists of three services, managed by a monitor process:
Authentication
Authorization
Accounting
Primary means that these daemons are always loaded when the RADIUS server
is functioning properly. The processes are running at an effective user ID of
radiusd and do not have permanent root authority. You can stop and start the
processes using the SRC master commands:
startsrc -s radiusd
stopsrc -s radiusd
To view if the processes are loaded, you can run the ps -ef | grep radiusd
command.

138

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

6.5.1 Monitor process

The monitor process is a management process that starts or re-starts all other
processes associated with the RADIUS server. At startup, the monitor process
reads and processes all of the configuration files (for example, radiusd.conf,
clients, proxy, dictionary, default.policy). The process also starts the
communications to the syslog daemon for logging purposes. Services to the
RADIUS server are processes that provide network services. The RADIUS
server can start and manage two services:
RADIUS authentication
RADIUS accounting
The monitor process can start 1 to N instances of each service. Each instance of
a service listens on a unique network port. The default configured port for
authentication is the standard defined port 1812. The port for accounting is 1813.
You can define additional ports in the main RADIUS configuration file,
radiusd.conf. Each port listed in the radiusd.conf file starts a service listening on
that port number.
Service instances might be of the same service type or of different types. For
example, the monitor process might start three instances of the authentication
service and two instances of the accounting service.
Remember, each instance of a service must run on a unique port.
After all services are available and functioning, the monitor process watches the
services processes. If a service process should fail or abort, the monitor process
logs the event and restarts the service.
Note: If you refresh the RADIUS server frequently, you can cause a
diminishment of services.

6.5.2 Authentication process

The general role of the authentication process is to respond to access requests
from terminal servers, authenticating LAN devices, or wireless access points in
one of the following ways:
Granting access
Denying access
Challenging access and requiring additional information
Validating authorization policies

Chapter 6. Networking and security

139

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Replying with authorization information

Terminal servers manage and proxy remote access devices (for example,
modems) for the network. If the authentication process grants access, the remote
device attaches and becomes a part of the existing network. If access is denied,
then the remote device can try to authenticate again or disconnect.

6.5.3 Accounting process

The purpose of the accounting process is to write accounting data about usage.
The terminal server can be configured to generate RADIUS accounting
information once a client has been authenticated. The RADIUS accounting
consists of two messages types generated by the terminal server as follows:
Start accounting message
Stop accounting message

6.5.4 Software requirements for Radius Support

Installation of the AIX Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS)
server requires the following software:
AIX 5L Version 5.3.0.10 or later
radius.base
bos.msg.LANG.rte
bos.help.msg.en_US.smit
To find the radius.base fileset you can apply APAR IY65978.

6.5.5 RADIUS IP address pooling (5300-03)

Previously for authorization, the server could send back attributes on what
services the user could use, once he was authenticated. The attributes are
usually an attribute=value pairs. One of these attributes is usually an IP. address.
This IP. address was a static address, but the RADIUS Server has changed to
access a DHCP server to obtain a dynamic IP. address to return to the client.

6.5.6 RADIUS enhanced shared secret (5300-03)

The underlying security in the RADIUS client/server architecture is based on a
shared secret that is never passed on the wire. In previous versions their was
only support for a 64-byte ASCII shared secret - printable characters, now the

140

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

length of this data has been increased to allow a maximum of 256 bytes. Also, it
allows hex data as a shared secret.
For more information, see RADIUS Server in AIX 5L Versions 5.3 Security on the
following Web site:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topic=/
com.ibm.aix.doc/aixbman/security-kickoff.htm

6.6 Web-based System Manager and PAM (5300-05)

Starting with AIX 5L 5300-05 if PAM (Pluggable authentication module) is
configured on the system then Web-based System Manager will use PAM
services for authentication, otherwise traditional authentication mechanism will
be used.
You can enable PAM support on systems by setting auth_type to PAM_AUTH in
the /etc/security/login.cfg file. When a user tries to log on through the Web-based
System Manager's login panel, the login authorization is validated using PAM
libraries. This authentication mechanism is transparent to the user. Setting the
auth_type to STD_AUTH enables standard AIX authentication for Web-based
System Manager logins. The example has the relevant text of the login.cfg file
that shows the auth_type field set to PAM_AUTH, as shown in Example 6-2.
Example 6-2 The login.cfg file

maxlogins = 32767
logintimeout = 60
auth_type = PAM_AUTH

6.7 IPFilters open source ported (5300-05)

IPFilter is a software package that can be used to provide network address
translation (NAT) or firewall services. IPFilter version 4.1.13 open source
software, has been ported to AIX 5L, consistent with the licensing presented on
the IP Filter Web site, whose URL is:
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~avalon/

Chapter 6. Networking and security

141

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

6.8 Network Data Administration Facility (5330-05)

AIX 5L Network Data Administration Facility (NDAF) is a new component of
AIX 5L that provides secure centralized management of NFS V4 distributed file
systems including data placement, replication, and data and namespace
administration. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the provisioning of data on
NFSv4 servers and the creation of a single NFSv4 exported file namespace that
spans multiple server systems. NDAF resides on the AIX 5L 5.3 Expansion Pack
media.
NFS clients that support NFS V4 protocol features for replication and data
referrals can perform a single mount to a server in the NDAF managed
environment in order to access the data available at all the participating servers.
Additionally, these clients can use read-only replicas to provide higher availability
and load distribution.

6.8.1 NDAF concepts

NDAF consists of several components. They include a domain where the network
servers reside, a centralized server that controls the collection of data servers,
and a directory tree of file system objects for management purposes.

Physical file system

A physical file system (PFS) is a file system that can access attached disk
storage on a system and can be exported by an NFS server.

NDAF domain
An NDAF domain consists of one or more administration clients (systems from
which an administrator can control the NDAF environment through the dmf
command), one or more NDAF-enabled NFS servers, and potentially, one or
more non-NDAF enabled NFS servers grouped around an NDAF administration
server.
All systems in the NDAF domain share the same user and group definitions. For
example, if NDAF is deployed using Kerberos security, all systems in the domain
are members of the same Kerberos realm. The NDAF domain and the NFSv4
domain must be the same domain.
In an NDAF domain, the NDAF administration server receives its process
information from commands run by one or more system administrators over a
command-line interface (CLI). The NDAF administration server initiates all NDAF
actions at the NFS data server systems that are part of the domain.

142

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch06.fm

Data set
The basic unit of NDAF management is a data set. A data set is a directory tree.
NDAF creates data sets and manages their attributes, mounting, and contained
data.
Data sets, also called dsets, are manageable units of data that can be shared
across a network. They provide basic management for replicating network data
and inserting it into a namespace. They are linked together using data set
references to form the file namespace. NDAF supports thousands of data sets or
replicas across all managed servers. Read-only replicas of a data set can be
created, distributed, and maintained across multiple data servers. When the
master source for a collection of replicas is modified, the dmf update replica
command is used to propagate the changes to all replica locations. A given data
set can have as many as 24 replicas.
Data that is copied into data set directories is NFS-exported, but the data is not
visible until the data set is mounted with the dmf mount dset command. file
system objects in a data set include files, directories, access control lists (ACLs),
links, and more.
Unless specified when they are created, data sets are created in the directory
specified when the dms daemon is started by the -ndaf_dataset_default
parameter or, if unspecified, the -ndaf_dir parameter.

Cell
Data sets can be grouped with other data sets and organized into a single file
namespace. This grouping is called a cell.
A cell is a unit of management and namespace that is hosted by an
administration server. After a cell is defined on an administration server, more
data sets can be created on that server using that cell. Each cell in an
administration server is independent of all other cells hosted by that
administration server. A cell contains its own namespace, consisting of data sets,
and its own role-based security objects. Roles are privileges attached to a set of
users that manage the resources within a cell. As many as eight distinct roles
can be defined for each cell.
After a cell is created using the dmf create cell name command, it is
automatically placed on the administration server. You cannot use the dmf place
cell name to place a cell on the administration server. Placing a cell results in
the transfer of the cells root directory information from the administration server
to the targeted data server. A cell can place its data sets on any server defined
for the administration server on which the cell is hosted. NFSv4 clients mount the
root directory of the cell to access the cells full namespace.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

143

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

All NFSv4 clients can view the objects within a cell by mounting the root of the
cell from any NDAF server on which the cell has been placed.
NDAF supports up to 64 cells for every deployed NDAF instance (domain) that
has cells residing on one or more data servers. When a cell is destroyed, all its
data sets and replicas are also destroyed.

Replicas
These read-only data sets are called replicas. A replica is placed in the global
namespace in the same way as a data set. Multiple replicas of the same data set
can be placed on different servers so that if the primary server of a replica
becomes unavailable to the client, the client can automatically access the same
files from a different server. Replicas will not reflect updates that are made to the
data set unless the replica is updated using the dmf update replica command.
A given data set can have as many as 24 replicas.
Unless specified when they are created, replicas are created in the directory
specified when the dms daemon is started by the -ndaf_replica_default
parameter or, if unspecified, the -ndaf_dir parameter.

Master replica location

The master replication location is the place where the replica was first created,
and it is the first location updated on any update action request. The other replica
locations are updated afterwards asynchronously.
You can change the master location to another replica location using the master
action request.
A master replica can never be unplaced before another master replica location is
defined as a replacement for the first location.

Replica clones
For replicas, the dmf place replica command creates a clone of the replica at a
specified location on the server.
If the replica is mounted in the cell, this clone location is added to the NFS replica
list that is returned to the NFS clients that are accessing the replica. For more
information, see NFS replication and global namespace. The order of the
referrals in this list depends on the network configuration. Every clone location of
a replica is updated asynchronously upon dmf update commands. The dmf place
replica command takes as parameters the server and, optionally, the local path
on the server.
A clone location of a replica can be removed from a server, as in the following
example:

144

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch06.fm

dmf unplace replica my_server local_path -a my_admin -c my_cell

-o my_replica
In this example, my_server is the name of the server on which the clone resides
and my_replica is the name of the replica. The clone location is unexported, and
its content is destroyed. This location is also removed from the file systems
locations data list returned by NFSv4 for this replica in the cell. The other
locations of the replica remain the same. The dmf update replica command
updates clones along with their original replicas to be refreshed with the content
of the original source data set.

Replication updates
The master replica is a read-only copy of the source data set, and the clones are
copies of the master replica. If the source data set is updated, the replicas are
not updated until explicitly done so using the dmf update replica command.
There are two methods of data transfer:
copy

Performs data transfer using full file tree copy. The copy
method implements the data transfer method plugin interface
and performs a data transfer operation by doing a complete
walk of the directory tree for the data set and transmitting all
objects and data to the target.

rsync

Performs data transfer using rsync-like algorithm. The rsync

method performs a data transfer operation by doing a
complete walk of the directory tree for the data set and
transmitting only deltas for directories and data to the target.
It is beneficial when updating replicas because it only sends
changed blocks of information, so it reduces network
bandwidth considerably.

Administration client
An administration client is any system in the network that has the ndaf.base.client
fileset installed on it from which the dmf command can be run.
The NDAF administration server receives its process information from
commands run by system administrators over a command-line interface. The
program name for this administration client is the dmf command.

Administration server
The NDAF administration server is a data server that runs daemon processes
and acts as the central point of control for the collection of NDAF data servers.
It receives commands from the system administrators who use the administration
client (the dmf command), the dms command, and the dmadm command. The

Chapter 6. Networking and security

145

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

NDAF administration server maintains a master database of configuration

information and sends commands to the data servers. When a loss of
communication occurs between the administration server and the data servers,
the NDAF-managed data already present on the data server can still be
accessed. After network connectivity is restored, the transactions between the
systems are eventually completed.
The administration server is configured before all other NDAF components. This
server requires 64-bit systems running the AIX 5L 64-bit kernel.
Administration server databases are created in an admin subdirectory in the
directory specified by the -ndaf_dir parameter when the dmadm daemon is
started.

Data server
A data server is the server that runs the daemon process (the dms daemon)
controlling an NFS file server and its associated physical file system (PFS). The
data provisioned with NDAF resides at the data server.
The dms process runs at each data server and carries out actions in underlying
file systems. It sets default directories, timeout values, level of logging, security
method used, Kerberos keytab path, Kerberos principal, and communication
ports on each data server. Only data servers within the NDAF domain can be
replicated.
Data server databases are created in a server subdirectory in the directory
specified by the -ndaf_dir parameter when the dms daemon is started. These
servers require 64-bit systems running the AIX 5L 64-bit kernel. The
administration server also serves as a data server.

Principal
A principal is an authorized NDAF user that Kerberos and other security methods
screen for during security checks.
Principals control how objects can be manipulated and by which operations.
Only the first user to run the dmf create admin command, called the
DmPrincipal, can create cells, servers, and roles. Additional NDAF principals can
be added to manage an object with the dmf add_to object DmPrincipal=login
command. All members of the DmPrincipal list are considered to be owners of
the object and can control it.
NDAF principals can also be removed using the dmf remove_from action.

146

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

6.8.2 Graphical representation of an NDAF domain

The basic concepts of the functioning objects of an NDAF domain can be
depicted graphically. Figure 6-3 shows the organization of various objects within
NDAF.

NDAF Domain

Administration
(dmf)

Cell

Administration server
(dmadm)

NFSv4 data servers

(dms)

NFSv4 data servers

(dms)

NFSv4 clients

NFSv4 data servers

(dms)

NFSv4 clients

NFSv4 clients

Figure 6-3 The NDAF domain

6.8.3 NDAF commands

The four primary commands that NDAF uses to perform its operations are the
dmf command, dms command, dmadm command, and the dms_enable_fs
command.
For more information about other NDAF commands, refer to Additional NDAF
command processes.

The dmf command

In NDAF command strings, dmf is the prefix for all command-line interface
commands. The dmf command implements the AIX NDAF administration client
executable.
The dmf command (/usr/sbin/dmf) has the following syntax:
dmf repair server

[-a admin_server] [-c server] [params]

The dmf command takes one or more of the following optional parameter values:

Chapter 6. Networking and security

147

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

-V

Verify. Results in a report on all data set or replica state

data found with problems.

-U

Unexport. Results in a report, plus all bad data sets or

replicas are unexported through NFS.

-R

Repair. Results in a report, plus all bad data sets or

replicas are unexported and then recovery is invoked to
try to restore the state data to working order. If successful,
the location is then re-exported.

The dmadm command

The dmadm command operates NDAF on the administration server. Both the
dmadm and dms commands are required services on the administration server's
Kerberos keytab. The dms processes must be launched along with the dmadm
daemons for the administration machine to function correctly.
With corresponding parameters, the dmadm command sets default directories,
timeout values, level of logging, security method used, Kerberos keytab path,
Kerberos principal, and communication ports on the admin server within an
NDAF domain.
The dmadm command (/usr/sbin/dmadm) has the following syntax:
The dmadm command takes one of the following optional parameter values:
[-rpc_timeout=val]

Sets the timeout for an RPC connect or call. Default

is 300 seconds.

[-log_level=val]

Sets the level of logging for the log files. Default is 0.

Possible values include the following:

Critical errors

Errors

Warning

Notice

Information

[-security=val]
auth_sys

For uid/gid authentication

krb5

For Kerberos authentication

krb5i

F or Kerberos integrity authentication

krb5p

For Kerberos privacy authentication

[-krb5_principal=val]

148

Sets the type of security method used. The default is

krb5. Values include:

Sets the Kerberos principal used for the kinit.

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

[-admin_port=val]

Sets the dmadm port waiting for RPC of the dmf

client. Default value is 28000.

[-serv_port=val]

Sets the dms port waiting for the dmadm RPC.

Default value is 28001.

[-ndaf_dir=val]

Sets the base directory for NDAF. It contains default

databases, logs, and directories for cells, dsets, and
replicas. The default for the base directory is
/var/dmf. Other defaults include the following
directories:
${ndaf_dir}/var/dmf/log for logs
${ndaf_dir}/var/dmf/admin for admin databases

[-krb5_keytab=val]

Indicates the Kerberos keytab path. If not specified

without SRC, uses the KRB5_KTNAME variable if
positioned; otherwise, uses the default keytab file
specified in the /etc/krb5/krb5.conf file. If not
specified with SRC, uses the default keytab file
specified in the /etc/krb5/krb5.conf file.

[-admin_cb_port=val]

Sets the dmadm port waiting for the dms RPC

callbacks. The default is 28002.

To start dmadm using SRC on the admin server, Enter:

startsrc -s dmadm
To start dmadm using SRC and specifying auth_sys security, Enter:
startsrc -a "-security=auth_sys" -s dmadm

The dms command

The dms command operates NDAF on a data server.
With corresponding parameters, the dms command sets default directories,
timeout values, level of logging, security method used, Kerberos keytab path,
Kerberos principal, and communication ports on a data server within an NDAF
domain.
The dms command takes one of the following optional parameter values:
[-rpc_timeout=val]

Sets the timeout for an RPC connect or call. Default

is 300 seconds.

[-log_level=val]

Sets the level of logging for the log files. Default is 0.

Possible values include the following:

Critical errors

Chapter 6. Networking and security

149

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Errors

Warning

Notice

Information

[-security=val]

Sets the type of security method used. The default is

krb5. Values include:

auth_sys

For uid/gid authentication

krb5

For Kerberos authentication

krb5i

For Kerberos integrity authentication

krb5p

For Kerberos privacy authentication

[-krb5_principal=val]

Sets the Kerberos principal used for the kinit.

[-serv_port=val]

Sets the dms port waiting for the dmadm RPC.

Default value is 28001.

[-serv_serv_port=val]

Sets the dms port waiting for the other dms RPC.
Default value is 28003.

[-ndaf_dir=val]

Sets the base directory for NDAF. It contains default

databases, logs, and directories for cells, dsets, and
replicas. The default for the base directory is
/var/dmf. Other defaults include the following
directories:
${ndaf_dir}/log for logs
${ndaf_dir}/serverfor data server databases
${ndaf_dir}/server/dsetsfor dsets, if the
-ndaf_dataset_default parameter is not set
${ndaf_dir}/server/replicasfor replicas, if the
-ndaf_replica_default parameter is not set

Note: At least either the -ndaf_dataset_default and -ndaf_replica_default

parameters, or the -ndaf_dir parameter have to be specified. The creation of
cells, datasets and replicas must have been enabled, using the dms_enable_fs
command, on the file systems containing the specified directories to store the
datasets and replicas.
[-ndaf_dataset_default=val] Sets the default directory for dsets.
[-ndaf_replica_default=val] Sets the default directory for replicas.

150

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

[-krb5_keytab=val]

Indicates the Kerberos keytab path. If not specified

without SRC, uses the KRB5_KTNAME variable if
positioned; otherwise, uses the default keytab file
specified in the /etc/krb5/krb5.conf file. If not
specified with SRC, uses the default keytab file
specified in the /etc/krb5/krb5.conf file.

[-admin_cb_port=val]

Sets the dmadm port waiting for the dms RPC

callbacks. The default is 28002.

To start dms using SRC on a dataset server, enter:

startsrc -s dms
To start dms using SRC and specifying auth_sys security, enter:
startsrc -a "-security=auth_sys" -s dms

The dms_enable_fs command

The dms_enable_fs command enables, disables, or queries the capability to
create cells, data sets, and replicas on a file system.
The dms_enable_fs command (/usr/sbin/dms_enable_fs) has the following
syntax:
dms_enable_fs [-sqh] pathname
The dms_enable_fs command enables, disables, or queries the capability to
create cells, datasets, and replicas on a file system. It generates the .DSETINFO
directory in the root of the file system. This directory must not be deleted.
The command has the following flags:
-h

Displays usage of the dms_enable_fs command.

-q

Checks to see if VFS (path name within VFS) is enabled.

If it is, 0 is returned. Otherwise, a nonzero value is
returned.

-s

Enables a VFS (path name of VFS) for filesets.

To enable the /ndafexp file system for datasets, enter:

dms_enable_fs -s /ndafexp

Additional NDAF commands

NDAF uses three configuration commands to prepare systems for running its
processes. The mkndaf command configures the system to run NDAF. The
chndaf command changes various parameter settings used by the dms command
and dmadm command. The rmndaf command configures the system to stop

Chapter 6. Networking and security

151

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

running NDAF daemons. In addition to these three configuration commands, an

additional dmf command verb for recovering data is defined in this section.
mkndaf

The mkndaf command configures the system to run AIX

NDAF.

rmndaf

The rmndaf command changes the configuration of the

system to stop running the AIX NDAF daemons.

chndaf

The chndaf command changes the configuration of the

AIX Network Data Administration Facility (NDAF).

dmf

The dmf command implements the AIX NDAF

administration client executable.

6.8.4 NDAF security

NDAF systems, including the point of administration, can use strong security
based on Kerberos and open network computing (ONC) remote procedure call
(RPC) with RPCSEC-GSS for authentication when communicating with each
other.
RPCSEC_GSS is a security method that can optionally be applied to ONC RPC.
RPCSEC-GSS is a protocol that applies Generic Security Services (GSS) to
RPC.

Security for NFS file access

To manage access to NFS clients, the NFSv4 access control list (ACL) method
can be used for directories containing data sets, at file system level, and on the
mounting point (nfsroot) of each server.

Exporting with Kerberos

By default, the data servers only export file systems for NFSv4 access with all
security types allowed.

Roles
Roles are privileges attached to a set of NDAF principals for managing the
resources within a cell. NDAF roles are a distinct function separate from AIX
administrative roles.
Note: For more information and examples on NDAF security, refer to the IBM
AIX Information Center publication on NDAF at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/topic/com.i
bm.aix.ndaf/doc/ndaf/NDAF_security.htm

152

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

6.8.5 NDAF installation and configuration

You can install NDAF by using SMIT (fastpath: smitty install_all) or the
installp command to install the ndaf.base fileset. If the recommended Kerberos
5 security is required, install the krb5.client fileset.

Installing NDAF
To install NDAF, the system must have IBM AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-05
Technology Level or greater installed. The system must be using the 64-bit
kernel.
NDAF servers must be configured as NFSv4 servers.
The NDAF administration server and all NDAF data servers and administration
clients must be configured as Kerberos clients.
In order to communicate correctly, each server must be aware of the ports the
other servers are listening on and emitting to.
A given system can assume one of three roles in an NDAF domain. Different
pieces of the ndaf.base fileset must be installed depending on the roles. The
roles are:
Administration server For this system, ndaf.base.admin and ndaf.base.server
must be installed. There is only one administration server
for a federation of servers.
Data servers

For these systems, ndaf.base.server must be installed.

Administration clients For these systems, only ndaf.base.client must be

installed.
For information about the command and flags, see the installp command in
AIX 5L Version 5.3 Commands Reference.
Note: By default, the NDAF daemons are not started after installing the
package. They are also not configured to be started automatically on the next
system boot.

Configuring an NDAF data server

The primary configuration for an NDAF data server involves starting the dms
daemon.

Configuring the NDAF administration server

When configuring NDAF, you must first configure the administration server. There
is one NDAF administration server for a given federation of NDAF data servers.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

153

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Configuring an NDAF administration client

An NDAF administration client is any system that is used to run
data-management commands that are handled by the NDAF administration
server.
Note: For more information and examples on NDAF installation and
configuration, refer to the IBM AIX Information Center publication on NDAF at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?t
opic=/com.ibm.aix.ndaf/doc/ndaf/NDAF_installation_and_configurati
on.htm

6.8.6 Managing NDAF

You must add the NDAF server and the data servers before you can perform
other NDAF management tasks. You can then create and manage cells, roles,
data sets, and replicas; populate data sets; construct cell namespaces; and
federate servers without the NDAF into an NDAF environment.

Adding servers for NDAF

You must add the NDAF administration server and all of the data servers to the
system before you can perform any other NDAF management tasks.
You can use the dmf command to add the NDAF administration server:
dmf create admin name [-r] [-a admin_server]
The flags have the following definitions:
-a admin_server

Specifies the Domain Name System (DNS) name or IP

address of the administration server. The port can be
added using a colon separator.

name

Specifies the name for the administration server to be

created.

-r

Prints the universally unique identifier (uuid) assigned to

the request.

Note: Entering dmf create admin my_admin also creates the my_admin server
object.
You can use the dmf command to add a data server:
dmf create server name dns_target [-e] [-r] [-a admin_server]
The flags have the following definition:

154

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the

administration server. The port can be added using a
colon separator.

dns_target

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the server. The

port can be added using a colon separator.

-e

Specifies that the object is external to NDAF.

name

Specifies the name for the data server to be created.

-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

To add the NDAF administration server using SMIT, perform the following steps:
1. From the NDAF menu, select NDAF Management > Administration Server
Management > Create Admin Server.
Note: You can also use the ndafadmincreate fastpath.
2. Specify the DNS name or IP address of the administration server in the
Admin Server DNS name field and press Enter.
3. Specify a name for the new administration server in the Admin Server name
field and press Enter.
To add an NDAF data server using SMIT, perform the following steps:
1. From the NDAF menu, select NDAF Management > Data Server Management >
Create Data Server.
Note: You can also use the ndafdscreate fastpath.
2. Specify the DNS name or IP address of the administration server in the
Admin Server DNS name field.
3. Specify a name for the new data server in the Data Server name field and
press Enter.
4. Specify the DNS name or IP address of the new data server in the Data
Server DNS name field and press Enter.

Creating and managing cells

A cell is a collection of data sets organized into a single file namespace for use
with NFSv4 servers. NFSv4 clients are expected to mount the root directory of
the cell to access the cells full namespace.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

155

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Creating a cell
You can create a cell for use with NFSv4 servers. You must create an NDAF
administration server before you can create a cell.
You can use the dmf command to create a cell:
dmf create cell name

[-w timeout] [-r] [-a admin_server]

The flags have the following definition:

-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the

administration server. The port can be added using a
colon separator

name

Specifies the name for the cell to be created.

-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

-w timeout

Specifies how long the command can wait before

completing.

Perform the following steps to create a cell using SMIT:

1. From the NDAF menu, select NDAF Management > Namespace (cell)
Management > Create cell namespace. You can also use the ndafcellcreate
fastpath.
2. Specify the DNS name or IP address of the administration server that
manages the NDAF domain in the Admin name field.
3. Enter a name for the new cell in the Cell name field and press Enter.
Example: To create a cell named cell1 in the NDAF domain that is managed by
the NDAFServer1 administration server, perform the following steps:
1. From the NDAF menu, select NDAF Management > Namespace (cell)
Management > Create cell namespace.
2. Enter NDAFServer1 in the Admin name field.
3. Enter cell1 in the Cell name field and press Enter.

Listing cell namespaces

You can list the cells that have been defined for a specified administration server.
You can use the dmf command to list cells:
dmf enumerate admin cell [pattern] [-r] [-a admin_server]
The flag have the following definition:

156

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the

administration server. The port can be added using a
colon separator.

pattern

Optional matching text pattern. Valid values include ? and

*.

-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

Perform the following steps to lists cells using SMIT:

1. Select NDAF > NDAF Management > Namespace (cell) Management > List
Cell Namespaces.
2. Specify the name of the administration server that manages the NDAF
domain in the Admin name field and press Enter.

Showing and changing cell attributes

You can show the attributes of a specified cell. You can modify some of these
attributes if you have the necessary authorization.
You can use the dmf command to show the attributes for a cell:
dmf show cell [-r] [-a admin_server] [-c container]
The flags have the following definition:
-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the

administration server. The port can be added using a
colon separator.

-c container

Specifies the cell name this command is addressed to.

-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

You can use the dmf command to change the attributes for a cell:
dmf set cell key=value [-r] [-a admin_server] [-c container]
The flags have the following definitions:
-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the

administration server. The port can be added using a
colon separator.

-c container

Specifies the cell name this command is addressed to.

key=value

Specifies an attribute and the value to assign to it. Valid

keys are DmLogLevel and DmLocsMax.

-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

157

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Perform the following steps to show and change the attributes for a specific cell
using SMIT:
1. Select NDAF > NDAF Management > Namespace (cell) Management >
Change/show cell attributes.
2. Specify the name of the administration server that manages the NDAF
domain in the Admin name field.
3. Enter the name of the cell in the Cell name field (or choose one from the list
by pressing F4). The following attributes are displayed:
Admin server DNS name (or IP address)
Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the administration server that
manages the NDAF domain.
Admin server name
Specifies the name of the administration server that manages the NDAF
domain.
Cell name
Specifies the name of the cell.
Cell UUID
Specifies the uuid for the cell.
Maximum number of reported locations
Specifies the maximum number of NFS location referrals that can be
returned to an NFS client for an object.
NDAF principals
Enter the list of users, separated by commas, directly in the input field.
Users from this list are owners of this cell and can manipulate the cell.

Removing a cell namespace

You can remove a cell object and clean the databases of all the objects that have
been defined within the cell.
You can use the dmf command to remove a cell namespace:
dmf destroy cell [-r] [-f] [-a admin_server] [-c container]
The flags have the following definitions:

158

-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the

administration server. The port can be added using a
colon separator.

-c container

Specifies the container (that is, the cell name).

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

-f

Forces the action without confirmation.

-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

Perform the following steps to remove a cell namespace using SMIT:

1. From the NDAF menu, select NDAF Management > Namespace (cell)
Management > Remove cell namespace.
2. Specify the name of the administration server that manages the NDAF
domain in the Admin name field and press Enter.
3. Enter the name of the cell to be removed in the Cell name field and press
Enter. A standard SMIT dialog box displays to confirm the destruction of the
cell.

Adding a server to a cell namespace

A cell can use a data server to host the cell's data set.
You can use the dmf command to enable a cell to use a data server to host the
cell's data set:
dmf place cell server_name [-r] [-a admin_server] [-c container]
The flags have the following definitions:
server_name

Specifies the server on which the cell should be made

available for mounting by NFS.

-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the

administration server. The port can be added using a
colon separator.

-c container

Specifies the cell name.

Perform the following steps to enable a cell to use a data server to host the cell's
data set using SMIT:
1. From the NDAF menu, select NDAF Management > Namespace (cell)
Management > Add Server to a Cell Namespace.
2. Specify the name of the administration server that manages the NDAF
domain in the Admin name field and press Enter.
3. Enter the name of the cell in the Cell Name field (or choose one from the list
by pressing F4) and press Enter.
4. Enter the name of the data server in the Data server name field (or choose
one from the list by pressing F4) and press Enter.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

159

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Removing a server from a cell namespace

You can prevent a cell from using a data server to host the cell's data sets.
You can use the dmf command to prevent a cell from using a data server to host
the cell's data sets:
dmf unplace cell server_name [-r] [-f] [-a admin_server] [-c
container]
The flags have the following definitions:
server_name

Specifies the server on which the cell should become

unavailable for mounting by NFS.

-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

-f

Forces the action without confirmation.

-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the

administration server. The port can be added using a
colon separator.

-c container

Specifies the cell name.

Perform the following steps to prevent a cell from using a data server to host the
cell's data sets using SMIT:
1. From the NDAF menu, select NDAF Management > Namespace (cell)
Management > Remove Server from a Cell Namespace.
2. Specify the name of the administration server that manages the NDAF
domain in the Admin name field and press Enter.
3. Enter the name of the cell in the Cell Name field (or choose one from the list
by pressing F4) and press Enter.
4. Enter the name of the data server in the Data server name field (or choose
one from the list by pressing F4) and press Enter.

Creating and managing roles

A role is a set of privileges associated with a set of users. Roles are used to
manage resources within a cell. Administrators can create, list, remove, validate
and change the options of roles.

Creating and managing data sets

A data set (dset) is a directory tree of file system objects (files, directories, ACLs,
links, and so on).

160

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Creating and managing replicas

A replica is a read-only copy of a data set. You can distribute a replica across
multiple data servers. You can create, remove, validate, update, list, mount,
unmount, place, and unplace replicas and change their options.

Populating data sets

There are two basic approaches to populating newly created data sets with data:
by local file system access on the server, or remotely by NFSv4. With the
exception of replicas under NDAF control and the creation of data set references
for data set mounts, the creation and manipulation of data inside file systems
with data sets uses normal file system access mechanism such as libc calls and
NFS. The primary form of access to NDAF-managed file systems is expected to
be through NFS.

Constructing a cell namespace from data sets

You can construct a cell namespace from data sets.

Federating servers without NDAF into an NDAF environment

You can create an external non-NDAF managed server so that existing local file
system data can be connected to an NDAF cell namespace. External servers are
used to tie data from non-NDAF enabled servers or preexisting data on
NDAF-enabled servers into the NDAF cell namespace.
Note: For more information and examples on NDAF management, refer to the
IBM AIX Information Center publication at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/topic/com.ibm.
aix.ndaf/doc/ndaf/NDAF_management.htm

6.8.7 Troubleshooting NDAF

Table 6-2 on page 162 provides common problems and actions to troubleshoot
NDAF.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

161

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Table 6-2 Common problems and actions to troubleshoot NDAF

162

Problem

Action

The dms or dmadm

daemons won't start.

You must specify either ndaf_dir or both

ndaf_dataset_default and ndaf_replica default when starting
dms. Must specify ndaf_dir when starting dmadm. The
specified directory for data sets and replicas must belong to
a data-set enabled file system. Use dms_enable_fs to
enable the file system. If using Kerberos, check the Kerberos
keytab file.

Can read files, but can't

create or modify data
set files from NFS
client.

The DmMode for the data set might not permit writes. To fix
this, use
dmf set dset DmMode=<required mode>

Cannot navigate to the

cell or data set directory
or access data set data
from NFS client.

All the following must be running on the NDAF data server:

nfsd, nfsrgyd, and dms.

The dmf command fails

with Cannot contact
remote host message.

Make sure the hostname of the administration server is

specified correctly in the dmf command and that the dmadm
daemon is running on the administration server.

Cannot specify
directory when creating
a data set.

The specified directory must belong to a file system that has

been enabled for data sets on the server with the
dms_enable_fs command. The specified directory must not
exist, and will be subsequently created by the dmf command

Source data set is down

and a replica exists, but
the client will not fail
over to the replica.

This feature is not supported. Clients will fail over from one
replica to another, but not from the source data set to a
replica.

Failover from one

replica to another takes
too long or is too quick.

The timeout by default is approximately the timeo value

multiplied by the retrans value (from the mount command or
nfs4cl command). This can be overridden with the
nfs_replica_failover_timeout option of the nfso command.

Cell or data set is not

NFS-exported.

Make sure nfsroot is set. The command to set it is:

chnfs -r <root_dir>
To make the exports happen after setting the root, you must
restart dms.

Cannot create a cell or

data set.

file system where the data set will be created must be

enabled for data sets with the dms_enable_fs command.

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Problem

Action

Cannot see data in the

data set when mounted
with NFSv4. Might be
able to see the data
when mounted from
some servers, but not
from others.

NFSv4 must be configured with replicas enabled on all

NDAF servers. The command to enable NDAF servers is:
chnfs -R on

NDAF checker
To help diagnose problems, NDAF provides commands to check the consistency
of the databases used to manage the NDAF objects on administration and data
servers
You can use the following dmf command code to check the validity and
consistency of the administration server database:
dmf check_adm admin [-r] [-a admin_server]
The flags have the following definitions:
-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the admin

server. The port can be added using a colon separator.

You can use the following dmf command to check the validity and consistency of
the data server database on the specified data server or on every managed data
server if none is specified:
dmf check_serv server [-r] [-a admin_server] [-c container]
The flags have the following definitions:
-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the admin

server. The port can be added using a colon separator.

-c container

Specifies the name of the server to check.

You can use the following dmf command to check the consistency of the
database on the administration server with the database on the specified data
server or with the databases on every managed data server if none is specified:
dmf check_adm_serv {admin|server} [-r] [-a admin_server] [-c
container]
The flags have the following definitions:

Chapter 6. Networking and security

163

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

-r

Prints the uuid assigned to the request.

-a admin_server

Specifies the DNS name or IP address of the admin

server. The port can be added using a colon separator.

-c container

Specifies the name of the server to check.

If the data from this command indicates inconsistencies between the databases,
it might be necessary to recover from a backup to restore correct behavior. See
NDAF data backup and NDAF data recovery for more information.
Example 6-3 shows sample output from running the dmf command:
Example 6-3 The dmf command output

# dmf check_adm admin -a ndaf10

---------- STARTING REPORT FROM SERVER my_admin ---------1
ERROR(S)
---------- DATABASE CHECK ---------ERROR: 1
DATABASE:
gldb:///admin/dmf.ldb
DESCRIPTION:
Error DmGroup root doesn't exist for DmUuid
8c9d4200-e973-11da-b214-de83e0005002 with path \
/var/dmf/server/dsets/8c9d416a-e973-11da-b214-de83e0005002
---------- END OF REPORT FROM SERVER my_admin ---------The sample output shows that an NDAF object has a DmGroup parameter that is
not valid. In this situation, use the dmf show command to find the corresponding
data set, which is identified by the DmUuid parameter. In this case, the group
specified for the data set is not valid because it does not exist in the /etc/group
file. The solution might be to use the dmf set dset command to change this data
set parameter.

NDAF data backup

An important consideration when backing up NDAF data is that the NDAF state
data needs to be backed up along with the dataset data.

NDAF data recovery

Assuming the NDAF dataset data and state data is backed up as described
previously, recovery depends on what is lost.

164

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Note: For more information and examples on NDAF troubleshooting

procedures and facilities, refer to the IBM AIX Information Center publication
on NDAF at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?t
opic=/com.ibm.aix.ndaf/doc/ndaf/troubleshooting_ndaf_failures.htm

6.9 AIX Security Expert (5300-05)

AIX Security Expert (aixpert) is a network and system security hardening tool
that incorporates the information in advanced UNIX security white papers and
the expertise of leading security experts into one tool. The AIX Security Expert
can be run using as a GUI from Web-based System Manager, which allows you
to control hundreds of complex security configuration settings with the click of a
mouse.
AIX Security Expert can be used to implement the appropriate level of security,
without the necessity of reading a large number of papers on security hardening
and then individually implementing each security element. Without disrupting
services and ports in use, this tool protects unused and vulnerable ports,
protects against port scans and implements strong password policies, along with
a broad spectrum of other security settings.
The AIX Security Expert tool includes an undo feature, and allows the user to
take snapshots of the setting of one system and exactly reproduce those settings
on systems throughout the enterprise. AIX Security Expert can also check the
security health of the system and report on any setting which have been changed
since the last use of the tool.
AIX Security Expert can be run using the aixpert command-line, SMIT (fastpath:
smit aixpert), and the Web-based System Manager GUI. The Web-based
System Manager GUI is recommended as it is especially user-friendly in working
with the tool.

6.9.1 AIX Security Expert security level settings

AIX Security Expert provides simple menu settings for High Level Security,
Medium Level Security, Low Level Security, and AIX Standard Settings security
that integrate over 300 security configuration settings while still providing control
over each security element for advanced administrators. AIX Security Expert
provides a center for all security settings (TCP, NET, IPSEC, system, and
auditing).

Chapter 6. Networking and security

165

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The AIX Security Expert view of security levels is derived in part from the
National Institute of Standards and Technology document Security Configuration
Checklists Program for IT Products - Guidance for CheckLists Users and
Developers:
http://csrc.nist.gov/checklists/download_sp800-70.html
However, High, Medium, and Low level security mean different things to different
people. It is important to understand the environment in which your system
operates. If you chose a security level that too high, you could lock yourself out of
your computer. If you chose a security level that is too low, your computer might
be vulnerable to a cyber attack.
The following coarse-grain security settings are available:
High Level Security

High level security does not permit telnet, rlogin,

ftp, and other common connections that transmit
passwords over the network in the clear. These
passwords can easily be snooped by someone on the
Internet, so a secure method to log in remotely (such
as openssh) should be used.

Medium Level Security Medium level security applies common security

settings, such as port scan protection and password
expirations, but leaves the system open to most
remote access methods.
Low Level Security

Low-level security is most appropriate for machines on

an isolated secure local network. This system is open
for access to a wide variety of services.

Advanced Security

Custom user-specified security

AIX Standard Settings

Original system default security

6.9.2 AIX Security Expert groups

The security settings configurable by the AIX Security Expert are grouped
according to their respective functions. Refer to the IBM AIX Information Center
for detailed descriptions and security level setting defaults on each of the
following Security Expert groups.
Password Policy Rules group
AIX Security Expert provides specific rules for
password policy.
User Group System and Password definitions group
AIX Security Expert performs specific actions for
user, group, and password definitions.

166

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch06.fm

Login Policy Recommendations group

AIX Security Expert provides specific settings for
login policy.
Audit Policy Recommendations group
AIX Security Expert provides specific audit policy
settings.
/etc/inittab Entries group AIX Security Expert comments out specific entries in
/etc/inittab so that they do not start when the system
boots.
/etc/rc.tcpip Settings groupAIX Security Expert comments out specific entries
in /etc/rc.tcpip so that they do not start when the
system boots.
/etc/inetd.conf Settings group
AIX Security Expert comments out specific entries in
/etc/inetd.conf.
Disable SUID of Commands group
By default, the following commands are installed with
the SUID bit set. For High, Medium, and Low
security, this bit is unset. For AIX Standard Settings,
the SUID bit is restored on these commands.
Disable Remote Services group
AIX Security Expert disables unsecure commands
for High Level Security and Medium Level Security.
Remove access that does not require Authentication group
AIX supports few services that do not require user
authentication to log into the network.
Security Expert Tuning Network Options group
Tuning network options to the proper values is a
large part of security. Setting a network attribute to 0
disables the option and setting the network attribute
to 1 enables the option.
IPsec filter rules group

AIX Security Expert provides IPsec filters.

Miscellaneous group

AIX Security Expert provides miscellaneous security

settings for High, Medium, and Low Level Security.

6.9.3 AIX Security Expert Undo Security

You can undo some AIX Security Expert security settings and rules. However,
there are security settings and rules cannot be undone. The following are AIX
Security Expert non-reversible security settings and rules:

Chapter 6. Networking and security

167

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Check password definitions for High Level Security, Medium Level Security,
and Low Level Security.
Enable X-Server access for High Level Security, Medium Level Security, and
Low Level Security.
Check user definitions for High Level Security, Medium Level Security, and
Low Level Security.
Remove dot from non-root path for High Level Security and AIX Standard
Settings.
Check group definitions for High Level Security, Medium Level Security, and
Low Level Security.
Remove guest account for High Level Security, Medium Level Security, and
Low Level Security.
TCB update for High Level Security, Medium Level Security, and Low Level
Security.

6.9.4 AIX Security Expert Check Security

AIX Security Expert can generate reports of current system and network security
settings.
After AIX Security Expert is used to configure a system, the Check Security
option can be used to report the various configuration settings. If any of these
settings have been changed outside the control of AIX Security Expert, the AIX
Security Expert Check Security option logs these differences in the
/etc/security/aixpert/check_report.txt file.
For example, the talkd daemon is disabled in /etc/inetd.conf when you apply Low
Level Security. If the talkd daemon is later enabled and then Check Security is
run, this information will be logged in the check_report.txt file as follows:
coninetdconf.ksh: Service talk using protocol udp should be
disabled, however it is enabled now.
If the applied security settings have not been changed, the check_report.txt file
will be empty.
The Check Security option should be run periodically and the resulting report
should be reviewed to see if any settings have been changed since AIX Security
Expert security settings were applied. The Check Security option should also be
run as part of any major system change such as the installation or updating of
software.

168

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

6.9.5 AIX Security Expert files

AIX Security Expert creates and uses several files.
/etc/security/aixpert/core/aixpertall.xml
Contains an XML listing of all possible security settings.
/etc/security/aixpert/core/appliedaixpert.xml
Contains an XML list of applied security settings.
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml
Contains an XML listing of selected security settings
when processed by the AIX Security Expert GUI.
/etc/security/aixpert/log/aixpert.log
Contains a trace log of applied security settings. AIX
Security Expert does not use syslog; AIX Security Expert
writes directly to /etc/security/aixpert/log/aixpert.log.
The AIX Security Expert XML and log files are created with the following
permissions:
/etc/security/aixpert/
/etc/security/aixpert/core/
/etc/security/aixpert/core/appliedaixpert.xml
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml
/etc/security/aixpert/log
drwx----- /etc/security/aixpert/log/aixpert.log
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secundoaixpert.xml
/etc/security/aixpert/check_report.txt
rw------ /etc/security/aixpert/core/aixpertall.xml
r--------

6.9.6 AIX Security Expert security configuration copy

AIX Security Expert can be used to take a security configuration snapshot. This
snapshot can be used to set up the same security configuration on other
systems. This both saves time and ensures that all systems have the proper
security configuration in an enterprise environment.
For example, you can apply the security settings on one system with High,
Medium, Low, Advanced, or AIX Standard Settings security. After testing this
system for compatibility issues within your environment, you can apply the same
settings on other AIX systems by copying the

Chapter 6. Networking and security

169

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

/etc/security/aixpert/core/appliedaixpert.xml file to the other system. You then run

the following command to set the security of the system to the same security
settings as the source system:
aixpert -f appliedaixpert.xml

6.9.7 The aixpert command

AIX Security Expert can be run from the command line. The full path of the
executable is /usr/sbin/aixpert.
The aixpert command has the following syntax:
aixpert
[ -a -o
aixpert
aixpert
aixpert
aixpert
aixpert
aixpert

-l high|medium|low|advanced|default [-n -o filename ]

filename ]
-l h|m|l|a|d [ -n -o filename ] [ -a -o filename ]
-c
-u
[-f filename ] [ -a -o filename ]
[-v filename]
-e -i filename -o filename

Running aixpert with the only the -l flag set implements the security settings
promptly without letting the user configure the settings. For example, running
aixpert -l high applies all the high-level security settings to the system
automatically. However, running aixpert -l with the -n -o filename option saves
the security settings to a file specified by the filename parameter. The user can
then use the -v flag to view the file and view the settings. The -f flag then applies
the new configurations.
Note: It is recommended that aixpert be rerun after any major systems
changes, such as the installation or updates of software. If a particular security
configuration item is deselected when aixpert is rerun, that configuration item
is skipped.
The following are the useful flags and their definitions:

170

-a

The settings with the associated level security options are written
in abbreviated file format to the file specified by the -o flag.

-c

Checks the security settings.

-e

The settings with the associated level security options are written
in expanded file format to the file specified by the -o option.

-f

Applies the security settings in the provided filename. For

example, aixpert -h -n writes all of the high level security options

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch06.fm

to the /etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml file. After

commenting out any undesired options, you can apply these
security settings with the aixpert -f
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml command. This
option also allows for consistent security settings to be applied
from system to system by securely transferring and applying an
secaixpert.xml file from system to system.
-i

Stores security input to the file pointed to by filename. The input

file has its read and write permissions set to root as a security
precaution. This file should be protected against unwanted
access.

-l

Sets the system security level to Low. When used in conjunction

with the -n flag, no action is taken and the low level security
options are written only to the
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml file. This flag takes the
following options:
h high
Specifies high-level security options. When used
in conjunction with the -n flag, these security
options are not implemented on the system, and
the settings are written only to the
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml file.
This output can be directed to different output
files with the -o flag.
m medium
Specifies medium-level security options. When
used in conjunction with the -n flag, these
security options are not implemented on the
system, and the settings are written only to the
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml file.
This output can be directed to different output
files with the -o flag.
l low
Specifies low-level security options. When used
in conjunction with the -n flag, these security
options are not implemented on the system, and
the settings are written only to the
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml file.
This output can be directed to different output
files with the -o flag.
a advanced
Uses all security rules: high, medium, and low.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

171

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

This option does not provide a higher level of

security than the -h flag, but it can be used to
view all possible security settings. Some rules
may be mutually exclusive. When used in
conjunction with the -n flag, these security
options are not implemented on the system, and
the settings are written only to the
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml file.
This output can be directed to different output
files with the -o flag.
d default
Uses the default setting, which is no additional
security rules. and undoes any configured
security settings. When used in conjunction with
the -n flag, these security options are not
implemented on the system, and the settings are
written only to the
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml file.
This output can be directed to different output
files with the -o flag.
Note: Using the d option can overwrite previously configured security
settings that were set through aixpert or independently, and restores
the system to its traditional open configuration.
-n

The settings with the associated level security options are

written only to the
/etc/security/aixpert/core/secaixpert.xml file. When used
in conjunction with the -o flag, the options are written to
the file specified by the -o flag.

-o

Stores security output to the file pointed to by filename.

The output file has its read and write permissions set to
root as a security precaution. This file should be protected
against unwanted access.

-u

Undoes the security settings that have been applied.

-v

Allows for the graphical viewing of the security setting in a

particular file.

To start the graphical user interface to step through the security settings in wizard
fashion, type:
aixpert

172

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

To write all of the high level security options to an output file, type:
aixpert -l high -o
/etc/security/aixpert/plugin/myPreferredSettings.xml
Note: After completing this command, the output file can be edited, and
specific security roles can be commented out by enclosing them in the
standard xml comment string (<-- begins the comment and -\> closes the
comment).
To apply the security settings from a configuration file, type:
aixpert -f /etc/security/aixpert/plugin/myPreferredSettings.xml
To view the security settings that have been applied to the system, type:
aixpert -v /etc/security/aixpert/core/AppliedAixpert.xml
AIXpert can be run from SMIT with the fastpath: smit aixpert
Figure 6-4 shows the screenshot of the AIX Security Expert SMIT menu that will
be displayed:

Figure 6-4 The smit menu for aixpert

The Web-based System Manager GUI for AIX Security Expert is recommended
as it is especially user-friendly in working with the tool, as shown in Figure 6-5.

Chapter 6. Networking and security

173

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Figure 6-5 The Security Expert on Web-based System Manager

A detailed view of the options is shown in Figure 6-6.

174

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch06.fm

Figure 6-6 AIXpert individual security settings on Web-based System Manager

Chapter 6. Networking and security

175

7414ch06.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The AIX Security Expert tool is installed with the bos.aixpert.cmds fileset, which
is part of the 5300-05 Technology Level. It is also available as a fix download at
the following Web site:
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/aix/fixes/byCompID/5765G0300/bos.aixper
t/bos.aixpert.cmds.5.3.0.0.bff
For more information on AIX Security Expert, please refer to the IBM AIX
Information Center at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topi
c=/com.ibm.aix.security/doc/security/aix_sec_expert_pwd_policy_setti
ngs.htm

176

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch07.fm

Chapter 7.

Installation, backup, and

recovery
This chapter discusses the following major enhancements:
Installation to disks > 1TB (5300-05)
NIM enhancements (5300-05)
Migrating a NIM client to a POWER5 logical partition
SUMA enhancements
Targeting disk for installing AIX (5300-03)
The multibos command (5300-03)
mksysb migration support (5300-03)
mksysb enhancements (5300-01)
DVD install media support for AIX 5L (5300-02)

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

177

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7.1 Installation to disks > 1TB (5300-05)

Previously, AIX 5L could not be installed to devices larger than 1TB. This
restriction has now been lifted.
Note: In order to install to devices larger than 1TB, the 64-bit kernel must be
used.

7.2 NIM enhancements (5300-05)

The followings are some of the enhancements that AIX 5L Version 5.3 has made
to the NIM environment:
Detailed output when creating a NIM lpp_source resource
Creating Shared Product Object Tree (SPOT) resource from a mksysb
Restoring SPOT copy function
Adjustments in NIM to process multiple CD media
NIM interface to change network attributes
These enhancements along with security ones are shipped with AIX 5.3 base
version:
NIM service handler for client communication -- basic nimsh
NIM cryptographic authentication -- OpenSSL
These topics are covered in IBM redbook SG24-7463 AIX 5L Differences Guide
Version 5.3 Edition.
AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05 introduces Thin Server (NIM
diskless/dataless client renamed) and Common OS Image (NIM SPOT resource
renamed) Management. This facilitates cloning a common image and performing
operations on the clone image thus preventing operations from interfering with
running thin servers. This also allows a thin server to switch to a different
common image at a specified time as dictated by the NIM Administrator.
The following sections describe how to configure and use the thin server.

178

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7.2.1 Creating resources to support thin server on NIM master

The NIM environment can be used for installing and maintaining software on
standalone machines and thin servers together. If you create resources for
standalone machines, use the smit fastpath:
smit nim_mkres_basic_inst
The common OS image will be used by the thin server and mounted as the /usr
file system. Each time a common OS image is added to the NIM environment, an
entry representing the common image as a spot resource is added to the NIM
database.
To make a Common OS Image for thin server, you can use smit fastpath:
smit mkcosi
To clone a Common OS Image from an existing one for thin server, you can use
smit fastpath:
smit cpcosi
To manage a Common OS Image, you can enter:
smit chcosi
There you can install, update, commit, reject and remove to/on a Common OS
Image.
Also you can displays information such as status, software content and logs for a
specific Common OS Image by using:
smit lscosi
And remove a Common OS Image by fastpath:
smit rmcosi
Note: In most NIM environments, the Common OS Image will already exist, in
such environments, it is your choice to create a new Common OS Image or
clone one for you.

7.2.2 Adding a thin server to the NIM environment

This procedure is also known as making a thin server. Prior to this step, a
Common OS Image must be created as the resource for the thin server.
1. Use the smit mkts fast path to add thin server to the NIM environment.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

179

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

2. Type the hostname or IP address of the machine that you want to be a thin
server. This machine will be added to the NIM environment and to the NIM
database.
3. Select the Common OS Image Name for the thin server.
4. Provide NIM the network information and press enter to proceed.
It will take a few minutes for NIM to add the thin server to the database and
prepare for other data.

Figure 7-1 The smit mkts panel

AIX 5L Version 5.3 with TL 5300-05 provides a useful function which allows a thin
server to switch to a different common image. The administrator has the option of
allowing the thin server to switch over to a different common OS image now, at a
specific time, or at the client's own convenience. You can use the following smit
fastpath to achieve this:
smit swts
Type the time, in the at command format, to switch the thin server over to the
specified common OS image in the Specify Time to Switch Thin Server field. At
the specified time, the thin server will mount the common OS image as its /usr file
system. If 'Specify Time to Switch Thin Server and Allow Thin Server to Switch
Itself are not specified, then the switch will occur immediately.

180

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Figure 7-2 The smit swts panel

7.2.3 Booting a thin server machine

A thin server is also known as diskless or dataless client. Booting a thin server is
just the same way of booting a machine from the network.
1. Turn the power switch on the system unit to the On position or press the
power on button.
2. Enter the SMS menu by pressing 1 (this may vary on some models).
3. Select the network adapter you want to boot from as the first boot device and
specify the NIM master IP address before exiting.
4. When server reboots, the server will reboot from the network and work as a
thin server (at the same time, a NIM client).
If the thin server is unable to boot successfully, you can use a debug Common
OS Image to get more detail debug information. You can build a debug Common
OS Image by using:
smit dbts

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

181

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7.3 Migrating a NIM client to a POWER5 logical partition

AIX 5L Version 5.3 with ML 5300-03 provides a facility nim_move_up command to
enable new hardware (namely POWER5 or later servers) support in AIX
environments.

7.3.1 Requirement of migrating

The nim_move_up application allows you to easily migrate a back-level AIX system
onto an logical partition (LPAR) residing on a POWER5 (or newer) server.
The system must meet the following requirements before you can run the
nim_move_up application properly.
NIM master requirements
A configured NIM master running AIX 5.3 with 5300-03 or above
Perl 5.6 or above
OpenSSH (obtainable from the Linux Toolbox media)
At least one stand-alone NIM client running AIX 4.3.3.75 or above
AIX product media version AIX 5L with 5200-04 or higher, or AIX 5L
product media version 5.3 or higher, or equivalent lpp_source and SPOT
NIM resources
Server and resource requirements
A POWER5 server with sufficient hardware resources to support the target
clients' equivalent POWER5 configuration
If virtual resources will be used to migrate the clients, an installed and
configured Virtual I/O Server is required
HMC controlling the POWER5 server, along with sufficient privileges to
start, stop, and create LPARs
root user authority
This nim_move_up process requires no downtime on the part of the original client.
In addition, nim_move_up is capable of migrating a client onto virtualized
hardware, such as virtual disks, using the Virtual I/O capabilities of the POWER5
server. This migration process can be completed by the nim_move_up application
in phases to allow more control over the process, or it can be completed all at
once without any user interaction required.
With the nim_move_up application, you can use a NIM master and its clients as
the starting point for a migration that produces the following hardware
environment:

182

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414ch07.fm

The original NIM master

LPARs on POWER5 server that correspond to the original NIM clients and are
controlled by the NIM master
HMC to control the LPARs on the POWER5 servers, communicated with by
the NIM master through SSH
The original NIM clients

7.3.2 Migration phases

The nim_move_up migration process is completed in the following phases to allow
more control over the process.
1. The create NIM resources phase creates the needed NIM resources to
perform the migration steps if they don't already exist or are not provided
beforehand.
2. The pre-migration software assessment phase performs an assessment on
each target client to determine what software is installed and can be
migrated. Any software that is missing from the lpp_source will be added from
the source of installation images that should be provided to nim_move_up.
3. The client hardware and utilization data gathering phase gathers data about
each target client's hardware resources and attempts to assess how much of
those resources are utilized on average over a given amount of time.
4. The POWER5 resource availability data gathering and client resource data
translation phase searches the given managed system for available hardware
resources. Uses the data gathered in the previous phase to create an
equivalent LPAR configuration that utilizes the managed system's available
resources. Creates the client LPARs with virtual I/O resources instead of
physical I/O resources if nim_move_up was provided a Virtual I/O Server LPAR
to work with. Creates the appropriate adapters and configuration on the
Virtual I/O Server as they are needed.
5. The create system backups of target clients phase creates an installable
image of each target client and its resources using the mksysb command.
6. The migrate each system backup phase uses the nimadmin command to
migrate the newly-created installable images to the new level of AIX.
7. The allocate nim resources to new lpars phase uses the network information
provided to the nim_move_up application to create NIM standalone client
objects for the new LPARs created in the POWER5 resource availability data
gathering and client resource data translation phase. Allocates the
appropriate NIM resources and runs a bos_inst pull operation (i.e. NIM will
not attempt to boot the client) on each NIM client.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

183

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

8. The initiate installation on lpars phase reboots each LPAR via the control host
(HMC partition) and initiates the installation.
Note: This phase ends when the installation begins. The actual progress of
the installation is not monitored.
9. Post-migration software assessment
Assesses the overall success of the migration after each installation, and reports
on any software migration issues. It may be necessary to manually correct the
errors reported for filesets that fail to migrate.
10.Post-installation customization
Performs a NIM customization operation on each client with the values provided
if an alternate lpp_source, fileset list, or customization script was provided to the
nim_move_up application. This allows for the optional installation of additional
software applications or for any additional customization that may be needed.

7.3.3 Smit menu for nim_move_up

The SMIT fastpath to the root menu of nim_move_up is smitty nim_move_up.
After all prerequisites needed to run the nim_move_up application have been met,
nim_move_up performs the migration process in two steps: configuration and
phase execution. You can run the nim_move_up application from SMIT by
completing the following steps:
1. Enter smitty nim_move_up_config. The Configure nim_move_up Input Values
panel opens, like shown in Figure 7-3 on page 185.
2. Enter information in the required fields. This information is retained by the
nim_move_up application, unless the application is reset. You can change this
information at any time from the Configure nim_move_up Input Values panel.
3. To begin the actual migration process, enter smitty nim_move_up_exec. The
Execute nim_move_up Phases panel opens.
4. Provide an appropriate answer to the option Execute All Remaining Phases?
on the Execute nim_move_up Phases panel and press Enter.

184

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Figure 7-3 Configure nim_move_up Input Values

You can use other panels to interact with the nim_move_up application, in addition
to the Configure nim_move_up Input Values panel and the Execute
nim_move_up Phases panel. The are as follows:

Display the Current Status of nim_move_up

Selecting this menu option is equivalent to running nim_move_up with the -S flag.
The next phase to be executed and a listing of all the saved options are
displayed.

Configure SSH Keys on Target HMC

This SMIT panel provides a simple interface to setting up SSH keys on the
remote control host (HMC). Using this panel is the equivalent of using the -K
command-line option. Configuring SSH keys on the remote control host enables
the unattended remote execution of commands from the NIM master.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

185

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Unconfigure nim_move_up
This SMIT panel provides an interface to unconfiguring the nim_move_up
environment. Unconfiguring the environment removes all state information,
including what phase to execute next, saved data files generated as a result of
the execution of some phases, and all saved input values. Optionally, all NIM
resources created through nim_move_up can also be removed. Using this panel is
the equivalent of using the -r command-line option.

7.4 SUMA enhancements

Service Update Management Assistant (SUMA) allows the automation of fix
downloads using the suma command. There have been two major enhancements
to this since the release of AIX 5L Version 5.3.
Integration between the Network Installation Manager (NIM) and suma has
been introduced.
There have been several refinements to the suma functionality itself, most
notably integration with the updated AIX 5L release strategy.

7.4.1 NIM and SUMA integration (5300-05)

This function provides the ability to gather and combine client inventories,
compare microcode and firmware levels and generate reports. It also enables the
download of AIX 5L fixes to be consolidated. The main features introduced are
two new commands, niminv and geninv for inventory management. In addition,
the existing suma and compare_report commands can now work with NIM
resources.

suma and compare_report NIM integration

The suma and compare_report commands are now able to work with NIM
lpp_source resources

The suma command

The following suma command options can now take an lpp_source as an option
suma -a DLTarget=<value>
suma -a FilterDir=<value>
For the DLTarget field, this allows an lpp_source directory to be used as the
download target. suma will filter and download only fixes that are not existent in
the lpp_source. The FilterDir allows filesets to be downloaded to a different target
directory, but filtered against the contents of an existing lpp_source.

186

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The compare_report command

The compare_report command is now able to use an lpp_source as follows:
compare_report -i <FixDir>
This option can now take an lpp_source as the name of the fix repository
directory. The fileset levels of the images contained in this directory will be used
in the comparison.

7.4.2 The suma command enhancements (5300-04)

Starting with AIX 5L Version 5.3 level 5300-04, the maintenance strategy has
altered with the introduction of technology levels. More details on these changes
can be found in 4.6, LDAP enhancements (5300-03) on page 88
The suma command has been integrated with this via the introduction of the new
RqType fields, TL and SP for technology level and service pack respectively. For
example, the following command would download the AIX 5L Version 5.3
technology level 5300-04 immediately.
suma -x -a RqType=TL -a RqName=5300-04
It is also now possible to specify an RqLevel fields for the RqTypes APAR,
Security, Critical, or Latest. This enables the request of fixes on the specified TL
without requiring a move to the next TL. The following command specifies the
download of APAR IY12345 for the 5300-04 technology level.
suma -x -a RqType=APAR -a RqName=IY12345 -a RqLevel=5300-04
Note: The APAR will first be released with 5300-05 at the 5.3.0.50 level.
Later it might be released with 5300-04-CSP at the 5.3.0.48 level.

7.4.3 The geninv command (5300-05)

The geninv command gathers software and hardware installation version
inventories from systems.
For software inventories, the following sources are supported:
Installp
rpm (RedHat Package Manager)
ISMP (Install Shield Multi-Platform)
Emergency and interim fixes
For hardware inventories, the following sources are supported:

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

187

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

System Firmware
Adapter/Component Microcode that can be upgraded
Table 7-1 gives details on the geninv command usage, using the following
syntax:
geninv { -c | -l } [-D] [-P <protocol> | -H <host>]
Table 7-1 The geninv command parameter details
Parameter

Description

Produce colon-separated output.

Produce list-style output.

Produces debug output.

Uses <protocol> to gather inventory from a remote machine.

The <protocol> should contain all attributes including
protocol command name, remote hostname, etc. The
<protocol> will be prepended to all information gathering
commands.

Uses rsh protocol to gather inventory from <host>.

Example 7-1 shows geninv usage.

Example 7-1 Example of geninv usage

#geninv -l -P ssh 9.3.5.111

PROTOCOL=ssh
Installation Name
Level Type
State Description
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Java14.sdk
1.4.2.75 F
C
Java SDK 32-bit
Tivoli_Management_Agent.client.rte
3.7.1.0 F
C
Management Framework
Endpoint Runtime"
X11.adt.bitmaps
5.3.0.0 F
C
AIXwindows Application
Development Toolkit Bitmap
Files
X11.adt.imake
5.3.0.30 F
C
AIXwindows Application
Development Toolkit imake
X11.adt.include
5.3.0.50 F
C
AIXwindows Application
Development Toolkit Include
Files
.....
.....

188

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

......
IHS2
AIX-rpm-5.3.0.50-1

2.0.47.1
5.3.0.50

P
R

C
C

IBM HTTP Server

Virtual Package for
libraries and shells
installed on system
A command line CD/DVD
recording program.
Creates an image of an
ISO9660 filesystem.
Secure Sockets Layer and
cryptography libraries and
tools
Pseudo Random Number
Generator Daemon

cdrecord-1.9-7

1.9

mkisofs-1.13-4

1.13

openssl-0.9.7g-2

0.9.7g

prngd-0.9.29-1

0.9.29

53323847

2107

sisioa.5052414E.030D004f
030D004f

PCI-X Dual Channel U320

SCSI RAID Adapter

System Object

hdisk.IC35L07.44543031

rmt.2107.

16 Bit LVD SCSI Disk Drive

(73400 MB)
LVD SCSI Tape Drive (80000
MB)

sys.system.9113-550
SF240_219

7.4.4 The niminv command (5300-05)

The niminv command gathers, compares and gathers software and, if applicable,
hardware installation version inventorys from NIM objects. It can also download
fixes based on these inventorys.
To get installation inventory:
niminv -o invget -a targets=object1,object2,... [ -a location=path ]
[ -a colonsep=yes|no ]
To conglomerate installation inventory:
niminv -o invcon -a targets=object1,object2,... [ -a base=
highest|lowest ] [ -a location=path ] [ -a colonsep=yes|no ]
To compare installation inventory:
niminv -o invcmp -a targets=object1,object2,... [ -a base=object
|any ] [ -a location=path ]
To get fixes based on conglomerate inventory:

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

189

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

niminv -o fixget -a targets=object1,object2,.. [-a download=yes|no ]

[ -a lp_source=object ] [ -a location=path ] -a newlppname=name
This command is also accessible through the smit nim subpanel Installation
Inventory. The following command shows the panel provided in Figure 7-4.
#smit nim

Figure 7-4 Output of smit nim

Selecting the highlighted text brings you to the panel shown in Figure 7-5.

Figure 7-5 NIM installation inventory

Selecting the highlighted selection brings you to the panel shown in Figure 7-6.

190

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Figure 7-6 NIM installation inventory details

The smit fast path smit nim_inventory can also be used.

The niminv command (Network Install Manager Inventory) allows system
administrators to accomplish the following tasks:
Gather installation inventory of several NIM objects.
Conglomerate installation inventorys of several NIM objects.
Compare installation inventorys of several NIM objects.
Download fixes base on the installation inventorys of several NIM objects.
The niminv command can use any NIM object that contains installation
information. Examples of such objects include standalone client objects,
SPOT objects, lpp_source objects and mksysb objects.
Using the niminv command has the following advantages:
Hardware installation inventory is gathered alongside the software installation
inventory.
Data files are saved with a naming convention that is easily recognizable.
All NIM objects that have installation inventory can be used.
Thus, the niminv command provides a holistic view of all managed NIM objects.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

191

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7.5 Targeting disk for installing AIX (5300-03)

In previous versions of AIX 5L and AIX, if you do not specify the disk on which
you want the AIX system installed, the operating system is installed on a disk that
was previously installed with AIX. If you have many disks that contain data
volume groups, and these data volume groups are discovered before the
previous root volume group is found, the installation can be delayed until a
suitable disk is found. Beginning with AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-03
Recommended Maintenance package, you can specify the disk on which you
want to install the system.
You can specify the installation disk by using one of the following methods:
Specify the installation disk in the bosinst.data file by physical location code
(PHYSICAL_LOCATION) or physical volume identifier (PVID):
To determine the physical location on a running system, type:
# lsdev -F "name physloc" -l hdisk0
hdisk0 U787B.001.DNW108F-P1-T14-L3-L0
To determine the physical volume identifier on a running system, type:
# lsattr -E -O -a pvid -l hdisk0
#pvid
00c5e9de205cf5c60000000000000000
If you are using a fibre-channel disk for the installation, you can use the following
command in the bosinst.data file:
SAN_DISKID=worldwide_portname//lun_id
Specify the installation disk in the bosinst.data file through either an installation
from CD or DVD, or through a network installation.
For a network installation, specify the installation disk in the bosinst.data file by
typing the following command:
nim -o bos_inst -a bosinst_data=value ...
For an installation from CD or DVD, specify the installation disk in the
bosinst.data file by following the procedures at Customizing and using the
bosinst.data file at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topi
c=/com.ibm.aix.install/doc/insgdrf/bosinst.data_custom.htm
If you do not specify the characteristics of the disk in the bosinst.data file on the
target system, the installation disk is chosen based on the flags in the

192

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

control_flow stanza of the bosinst.data file. Unless you specify

EXISTING_SYSTEM_OVERWRITE=no, the first suitable root volume group is
chosen for the installation. For overwrite or preserve installations, any root
volume group is acceptable. For migration, the volume group must be installed
with a version of the operating system that can be migrated to the level being
installed. If you specify EXISTING_SYSTEM_OVERWRITE=no in the
control_flow stanza of the bosinst.data file, then the installation goes to the first
unused disk.

7.6 The multibos command (5300-03)

The multibos command allows a root level administrator to create and maintain a
second instance of the AIX Base Operating System (BOS) within the running
rootvg. Installing maintenance and technology updates to the standby BOS does
not change system files on the active BOS. This allows for concurrent update of
the standby BOS, while the active BOS remains in production. This feature has
been made more robust and more user-friendly in 5300-05

7.6.1 Requirements of the multibos command

The multibos command has requirements for operating system, space, and
logical volumes. Following are the general requirements and limitations:
The multibos command is supported on AIX 5L Version 5.3 with the 5300-03
Recommended Maintenance package and higher versions.
The current rootvg must have enough space for each BOS object copy. BOS
object copies are placed on the same disk or disks as the original.
The multibos command supports a total number of copied logical volumes up
to 128. The total number of copied logical volumes and shared logical
volumes are subject to volume group limits.
Note: When updating the non-running BOS instance, it is best to first update
the running BOS instance with the latest available version of multibos (which
is in the bos.rte.bosinst fileset).

7.6.2 Using the multibos command

The /usr/sbin/multibos command is supplied in AIX 5L with 5300-03 (in the
bos.rte.bosinst fileset) to create and manage a new instance of the operating
system within the running rootvg. The multibos utility provides the root user with

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

193

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

operations to setup, access, maintain, update, and customize this new instance
of the BOS.
The setup operation creates a standby BOS that boots from a distinct Boot
Logical Volume (BLV). This creates two bootable instances of the BOS on a given
rootvg. You can boot from either instance of a BOS by specifying the respective
BLV as an argument to the bootlist command, or using system firmware boot
operations.
You can simultaneously maintain two bootable instances of a BOS. The instance
of a BOS associated with the booted BLV is the active BOS. The instance of a
BOS associated with the BLV that has not been booted is the standby BOS. Only
two instances of BOS are supported per rootvg.
The multibos command allows you to access, install, maintain, update, and
customize the standby BOS either during setup or during any subsequent
customization operations. Installing maintenance or technology level updates to
the standby BOS does not change system files on the active BOS. This allows for
concurrent update of the standby BOS, while the active BOS remains in
production.
The multibos utility has the ability to copy or share logical volumes and file
systems. By default, the multibos utility copies the BOS file systems (currently
the /, /usr, /var, /opt, and /home directories), associated log devices, and the boot
logical volume. The administrator has the ability to share or keep private all other
data in the rootvg.
Note: As a general rule, shared data should be limited to file systems and
logical volumes containing data not affected by an upgrade or modification of
private data.
Copies of additional BOS objects (see the L flag) can also be made. All other
file systems and logical volumes are shared between instances of the BOS.
Separate log device logical volumes (those not contained within the file system)
are not supported for copy and will be shared.
Note: Automatic file system expansion
Run all multibos operations with the -X flag auto-expansion feature. This flag
allows for automatic file system expansion on any multibos command
execution, if additional space is necessary to perform multibos-related tasks.

194

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Table 7-2 The multibos command flags
Flag

Definition

-a

Specifies the update_all install option. Valid with setup and

customization operation.

-B

Build boot image operation. The standby boot image is created and
written to the standby BLV using the bosboot command.

-b

File Specifies the install bundle to be installed during the setup or

customization operation. The install bundle syntax should follow
geninstall conventions.

-c

Performs a customized update of the software in standby BOS.

-e

File lists active BOS files to be excluded during the setup operation
in regular expression syntax.

-f

File Lists fixes (such as APARs) that are to be installed during the
setup or customization operation. The list's syntax follows instfix
conventions.

-i

File Specifies optional image.data file to use instead of the default

image.data file created from the current rootvg.

-L

File Specifies a file that contains a list of additional logical volumes to

include in standby BOS.

-l

Device installs device or directory for software update during the

setup or customization operation.

-m

Mounts standby BOS.

-N

Skips boot image processing. This flag should only be used by

experienced administrators that have a good understanding of the
AIX boot process.

-n

Does not perform cleanup upon failure. This option is useful to retain
multibos data after a failed operation.

-p

Performs a preview of the given operation. Valid with setup, remove,

mount, unmount, and customization operations.

-R

Removes all standby BOS objects.

-S

Initiates an interactive shell with chroot access to the standby BOS

file systems.

-s

Creates an instance of standby BOS.

-t

Prevents multibos from changing the bootlist.

-u

Unmounts standby BOS.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

195

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Flag

Definition

-X

Allows for automatic file system expansion if space is needed to

perform tasks related to multibos. It is recommended that all
multibos operations are executed with this flag.

Examples of the multibos command

The following are examples of using the multibos command:
To perform a standby BOS setup operation preview, type:
multibos -Xsp
To set up standby BOS, type:
multibos -Xs
To set up standby BOS with optional image.data file /tmp/image.data and
exclude list /tmp/exclude.list, type:
multibos -Xs -i /tmp/image.data -e /tmp/exclude.list
To set up standby BOS and install additional software listed as bundle file
/tmp/bundle and located in the images source /images,, type:
multibos -Xs -b /tmp/bundle -l /images
To execute a customization operation on standby BOS with the update_all
install option, type:
multibos -Xac -l /images
To mount all standby BOS file systems, type:
multibos -Xm
To perform a standby BOS remove operation preview, type:
multibos -RXp
To remove standby BOS, type:
multibos -RX

7.6.3 Standby BOS setup operation

The standby BOX setup operation has the following key attributes:
A structure based on image.data is created
Prefixes are added to new LVs and file systems, bos_ for LV, bosinst_ for file
systems
File list is generated, exclude option used
Files are copied

196

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Additional customization is performed

The BLV is created
The bootlist set to standby/active
Example 7-2 shows the command execution.
Example 7-2 The multibos -s command output to setup standby BOS

# multibos -s -X
Initializing multibos methods ...
Initializing log /etc/multibos/logs/op.alog ...
Gathering system information ...
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Setup Operation
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Verifying operation parameters ...
Creating image.data file ...
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Logical Volumes
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Creating standby BOS logical volume bos_hd5
Creating standby BOS logical volume bos_hd4
Creating standby BOS logical volume bos_hd2
Creating standby BOS logical volume bos_hd9var
Creating standby BOS logical volume bos_hd10opt
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
File Systems
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Creating all standby BOS file systems ...
Creating standby BOS file system /bos_inst on logical volume bos_hd4
Creating standby BOS file system /bos_inst/usr on logical volume
bos_hd2
Creating standby BOS file system /bos_inst/var on logical volume
bos_hd9var
Creating standby BOS file system /bos_inst/opt on logical volume
bos_hd10opt
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Mount Processing
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Mounting all standby BOS file systems ...
Mounting /bos_inst

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

197

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Mounting /bos_inst/usr
Mounting /bos_inst/var
Mounting /bos_inst/opt
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
BOS Files
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Including files for file system /
Including files for file system /usr
Including files for file system /var
Including files for file system /opt
Copying files
Percentage of
Percentage of
...
Percentage of

using backup/restore utilities ...

files copied:
0.00%
files copied:
1.93%
files copied: 100.00%

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Boot Partition Processing
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Active boot logical volume is hd5.
Standby boot logical volume is bos_hd5.
Creating standby BOS boot image on boot logical volume bos_hd5
bosboot: Boot image is 30420 512 byte blocks.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Mount Processing
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Unmounting all standby BOS file systems ...
Unmounting /bos_inst/opt
Unmounting /bos_inst/var
Unmounting /bos_inst/usr
Unmounting /bos_inst
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Bootlist Processing
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Verifying operation parameters ...
Setting bootlist to logical volume bos_hd5 on hdisk0.
ATTENTION: firmware recovery string for standby BLV (bos_hd5):
boot /pci@800000020000003/pci@2,4/pci1069,b166@1/scsi@0/sd@3:4
ATTENTION: firmware recovery string for active BLV (hd5):
boot /pci@800000020000003/pci@2,4/pci1069,b166@1/scsi@0/sd@3:2

198

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Log file is /etc/multibos/logs/op.alog

Return Status = SUCCESS
The multibos setup operation, using the -s flag, performs the following steps:
1. The multibos methods are initialized.
2. If you provide a customized image.data file, it is used for the logical volume
attributes. Otherwise, a new one is generated. You can use the customized
image.data file to change BOS object (logical volume or file systems)
attributes. You cannot use the customized image.data file to add or delete
BOS logical volumes or file systems.
3. The standby logical volumes are created based on image.data attributes. The
active and standby logical volumes are marked with unique tags in the logical
volume control block. The multibos command uses these tags to identify
copied logical volumes. If the active logical volume names are classic names,
such as hd2, hd4, hd5, and so on, then the bos_prefix is prepended to create
a new standby name. If the active logical volume names have the bos_prefix,
the prefix is removed to create a new standby name.
Note: The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) limits the maximum length of a
logical volume name to 15 characters. This means that any logical volume
classic name may not exceed 11 characters. You can rename logical
volumes that have classic names that exceed 11 characters using the chlv
command. If the active logical volume name already has the bos_prefix,
then the prefix is removed in the standby name.
4. The standby file systems are created based on image.data attributes. The
active and standby file systems are marked with unique tags in the hosting
logical volume control block and /etc file systems. The multibos utility uses
these tags to identify copied logic volumes. The /bos_inst prefix is prepended
to the original active file system name to create the standby file system name.
The standby file system name may not exceed the systems PATH_MAX limit.
The standby file systems appear as standard entries in the active BOS
/etc/filesystems.
5. The standby file systems are mounted.
6. A list of files that will be copied from the active BOS is generated. This list is
comprised of the current files in copied active BOS file systems, less any files
that you excluded with the optional exclude list (see the -e flag).
7. The list of files generated in the previous step is copied to the standby BOS
file systems using the backup and restore utilities.
8. Any optional customization is performed. This can include installation of
fileset updates or other software.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

199

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

9. The standby boot image is created and written to the standby BLV using the
bosboot command. You can block this step with the -N flag. Only use the -N
flag if you are an experienced administrator and have a good understanding
the AIX boot process.
10.The standby BLV is set as the first boot device, and the active BLV is set as
the second boot device. You can skip this step using the -t flag.

7.6.4 Rebuilding the standby BOS boot image

The rebuild boot image operation, using the -B flag, enables you to rebuild the
standby BOS boot image.
The new boot image will be based on standby BOS system files and written to
the standby BLV. The multibos command build boot image operation performs
the following steps:
1. The standby BOS file systems are mounted, if they are not already.
2. The standby boot image is created and written to the standby BLV using the
bosboot command.
3. If the standby BOS file systems were mounted in step 1, they are unmounted.

7.6.5 Mounting the standby BOS

It is possible to access and modify the standby BOS by mounting its file systems
over the standby BOS file system mount points. The multibos command mount
operation, using the -m flag, mounts all standby BOS file systems in the
appropriate order.
Example 7-3 shows and example of mounting of the standby BOS.
Example 7-3 The multibos -m -X command output

# multibos -m -X
Initializing multibos methods ...
Initializing log /etc/multibos/logs/op.alog ...
Gathering system information ...
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
BOS Mount Operation
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Verifying operation parameters ...
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Mount Processing

200

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Mounting all standby BOS file systems ...
Mounting /bos_inst
Mounting /bos_inst/usr
Mounting /bos_inst/var
Mounting /bos_inst/opt
Log file is /etc/multibos/logs/op.alog
Return Status = SUCCESS

7.6.6 Customizing the standby BOS

You can use the multibos customization operation, with the -c flag, to update the
standby BOS.
The customization operation requires an image source (-l device or directory
flag) and at least one installation option (installation by bundle, installation by fix,
or update_all command). The customization operation performs the following
steps:
1. The standby BOS file systems are mounted, if not already mounted.
2. If you specify an installation bundle with the -b flag, the installation bundle is
installed using the geninstall command. The installation bundle syntax
should follow geninstall command conventions. If you specify the -p preview
flag, geninstall will perform a preview operation.
3. If you specify a fix list, with the -f flag, the fix list is installed using the instfix
command. The fix list syntax should follow instfix conventions. If you specify
the -p preview flag, then instfix command will perform a preview operation.
4. If you specify the update_all function, with the -a flag, it is performed using
the install_all_updates command. If you specify the -p preview flag, then
install_all_updates command performs a preview operation.
Note: It is possible to perform one, two, or all three of the installation
options during a single customization operation.
5. The standby boot image is created and written to the standby BLV using the
bosboot command. You can block this step with the -N flag. You should only
use the -N flag if you are an experienced administrator and have a good
understanding the boot process.
6. If standby BOS file systems were mounted in step 1, they are unmounted.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

201

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7.6.7 Unmounting the standby BOS

The multibos unmount operation, using the -u flag, unmounts all standby BOS
file systems in the appropriate order.

7.6.8 Using the standby BOS shell operation

The multibos shell operation -S flag enables you to start a limited interactive
chroot shell with standby BOS file systems.
This shell allows access to standby files using standard paths. For example,
/bos_inst/usr/bin/ls maps to /usr/bin/ls within the shell. The active BOS files are
not visible outside of the shell, unless they have been mounted over the standby
file systems. Limit shell operations to changing data files, and do not make
persistent changes to the kernel, process table, or other operating system
structures. Only use the BOS shell if you are experienced with the chroot
environment.
The multibos shell operation performs the following steps:
1. The standby BOS file systems are mounted, if they are not already.
2. The chroot utility is called to start an interactive standby BOS shell. The shell
runs until an exit occurs.
3. If standby BOS file systems were mounted in step 1, they are unmounted.
The following is an example of some operations that can be performed in the
multibos shell:
MULTIBOS> lppchk v

Checks system fileset consistency

MULTIBOS> installp -ug bos.games Removes bos.games

MULTIBOS> oslevel r

Reports recommended maintenance

level for standby BOS

7.6.9 Booting the standby BOS

The bootlist command supports multiple BLVs.
As an example, to boot from disk hdisk0 and BLV bos_hd5, you would enter the
following:
# bootlist m normal hdisk0 blv=bos_hd5
After the system is rebooted from the standby BOS, the standby BOS logical
volumes are mounted over the usual BOS mount points, such as /, /usr, /var, and
so on.

202

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The set of BOS objects, such as the BLV, logical volumes, file systems, and so on
that are currently booted are considered the active BOS, regardless of logical
volume names. The previously active BOS becomes the standby BOS in the
existing boot environment.

7.6.10 Removing the standby BOS

The remove operation, using the -R flag, deletes all standby BOS objects, such
as BLV, logical volumes, and file systems.
You can use the remove operation to make room for a new standby BOS, or to
clean up a failed multibos installation. The remove operation performs standby
tag verification on each object before removing it. The remove operation will only
act on BOS objects that multibos created, regardless of name or label. You
always have the option of removing additional BOS objects using standard AIX
utilities, such as Rmlv, rmfs, rmps, and so on. The multibos remove operation
performs the following steps:
1. All boot references to the standby BLV are removed.
2. The bootlist is set to the active BLV. You can skip this step using the -t flag.
3. Any mounted standby BLVs are unmounted.
4. Standby file systems are removed.
5. Remaining standby logical volumes are removed.

7.6.11 Relevant files and logs

All log files are kept in the /etc/multibos/logs directory. The following are
examples of files that may be found in this directory:
op.alog

A circular alog file of all multibos operations.

scriptlog.<timestamp>.txt
A log of commands being run during the current
shell operation.
scriptlog.<timestamp>.txt.Z
A compressed log of commands run during a
previous shell operation.
In addition, the bootlog contains redundant logging of all multibos operations that
occur during boot (For example, the verify that attempts synchronization from
inittab).
Multibos private data is stored in the /etc/multibos/data directory, the logical
volume control block (LVCB) of logical volumes that were the source or target of a

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

203

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

copy, and the /etc/filesystems entries that were the source or target of a copy.
The following are examples of files found in the /etc/multibos/data directory:
acttag

The multibos tag for the active BOS.

sbyfslist

The list of file systems private to the standby BOS.

sbylvlist

The list of logical volumes private to the standby BOS.

sbytag

The multibos tag for the standby BOS.

The following may be seen in the fs field of the logical volumes that were the
source or target of a copy:
mb=<TAG>:mbverify=<integer>
The following may be seen in /etc/filesystems as an attribute of file systems
that were the source or target of a copy:
mb = <TAG>
The user should not modify multibos private data.
To prevent multibos operations from working simultaneously, the directory
/etc/multibos/locks contains lock files. The following is an example of a file that
may be found in this directory:
global_lock : The process ID (PID) of the currently running multibos
operation.
If a multibos operation exited unexpectedly and was not able to clean up, it may
be necessary to remove this file. The user should check that the PID is not
running before removing this file.
This inittab entry (if runnable) is removed upon removal of the standby BOS
using multibos -R.
Note: For more detailed information, refer to the latest
/usr/lpp/bos/README.multibos file, and documentation regarding multibos
command in the AIX Information Center.

7.7 mksysb migration support (5300-03)

System p5 servers support only AIX 5L Version 5.2 and 5.3 leaving out versions
4.3 and 5.1. A customer who has a legacy system running AIX 4.3 or AIX 5L
Version 5.1 has no simple migration path to move to the new hardware and the
new release of the operating system. This feature provides a method to restore a
mksysb and then migrate it to a higher version of the Operating System with a

204

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

single operation using the available Base Operating System installation

mechanisms (for example, tape, optical drive, network.)
A mksysb migration allows you to restore the mksysb from an old system to a
system that supports AIX 5.3 and then migrate the mksysb.
Note: A mksysb migration is not intended for systems that you can migrate
with a traditional migration. This method allows you to bypass the hardware
limitation by restoring the mksysb on the new hardware configuration and
migrate it without running AIX 4.3. The resulting system will be running the
new level of AIX 5L.

7.7.1 Supported levels of mksysb

Any mksysb at AIX 4330-10 and above is supported.
Table 7-3 lists the migration paths supported by the mksysb command.
Table 7-3 Supported migration paths matrix
FROM Target
(pre-migrated)

To 5.1

To 5.2

To 5.3

FROM 4.3
(4330-10)

Yes

Yes

Yes

FROM 5.1

No

Yes

Yes

FROM 5.2

No

No

Yes

FROM 5.3

No

No

No

TO Output
(post-migrated)

7.7.2 Customized bosinst.data file with a mksysb migration

A customized bosinst.data file is required to perform a mksysb migration
installation. Your customized bosinst.data file must meet the following
requirements to be used with a mksysb migration:
The file must be provided using the supplementary diskette method.
The file must be provided using the client file method (NIM).
For additional information about creating this file, see Customizing your
installation. The supplementary CD or DVD method is not supported for a
mksysb migration.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

205

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Note: The file must contain a new variable called MKSYSB_MIGRATION_DEVICE.

This variable specifies the name of the device that contains the mksysb. For
information about the supported values for this variable, see bosinst.data
control_flow stanza descriptions.
The following variables in the CONTROL_FLOW stanza must be set as follows:
PROMPT

Must be set to no.

INSTALL_METHOD

Must be set to migrate.

EXISTING_SYSTEM_OVERWRITE Must be set to yes.

RECOVER_DEVICES

Must be set to no.

A mksysb migration attempts to recover the sys0 attributed for the source system
as specified in the mksysb ODM, but no other device-specific data is recovered
from the source system.
Any user-supplied values for these variable are ignored.
The file should list the disks to be installed in the TARGET_DISK_DATA stanza to
ensure that only those disks are used. A mksysb migration is a combination of an
overwrite installation and a migration installation. The overwrite portion destroys
all of the data on the target disks. The TARGET_DISK_DATA stanza must have
enough information to clearly single out a disk. If you supply an empty
TARGET_DISK_DATA stanza, the default disk for the platform is used, if
available. The following examples show possible values for the
TARGET_DISK_DATA stanza:
Example 7-4 shows a record with disk names only (two disks)
Example 7-4 Record with disk names only

target_disk_data:
PVID =
PHYSICAL_LOCATION =
CONNECTION =
LOCATION =
SIZE_MB =
HDISKNAME = hdisk0
target_disk_data:
PVID =
PHYSICAL_LOCATION =
CONNECTION =
LOCATION =
SIZE_MB =

206

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

HDISKNAME = hdisk1
Example 7-5 shows a record with the physical location specified (1 disk)
Example 7-5 Record with physical locations only

target_disk_data:
PVID =
PHYSICAL_LOCATION = U0.1-P2/Z1-A8
CONNECTION =
LOCATION =
SIZE_MB =
HDISKNAME =
Example 7-6 shows a record by physical volume ID (PVID) (2 disks)
Example 7-6 Record with PVIDs only

target_disk_data:
PVID = 0007245fc49bfe3e
PHYSICAL_LOCATION =
CONNECTION =
LOCATION =
SIZE_MB =
HDISKNAME =
target_disk_data:
PVID = 00000000a472476f
PHYSICAL_LOCATION =
CONNECTION =
LOCATION =
SIZE_MB =
HDISKNAME =

7.7.3 Performing a mksysb migration with CD or DVD installation

You can perform a mksysb migration with a CD or DVD installation of AIX 5.3.

Migration overview
The following is a list of the major tasks performed during a migration.
1. Target system boots from 5300-03.
2. MKSYSB_MIGRATION_DEVICE is found in customized bosinst.data
3. The device is checked to verify it exists

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

207

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

4. The mksysb migration banner is shown on the screen after the console is
configured.
5. The image.data is checked for correctness and the target disks are inspected
for availability and size.
6. The required mksysb migration files are restored from the mksysb, namely,
image.data and /etc/filesystems. The user is prompted to swap CD/DVD if
required for CD Boot installs with mksysb on CD/DVD. After restoration the
user is asked reinsert the product media.
7. The target logical volumes and file systems are created according to the
image.data file and mounted according to the /etc/filesystems file.
8. The mksysb data is restored. The user is prompted to swap CD/DVD if
required for CD Boot installs with mksysb on CD/DVD.
9. The system now looks like an imported rootvg. The installation continues as
a migration from here on.

Prerequisites
The following are the major prerequisites:
All requisite hardware, including any external devices (such as tape, CD, or
DVD-ROM drives), must be physically connected. For more information about
connecting external devices, see the hardware documentation that
accompanied your system.
Before you begin the installation, other users who have access to your system
must be logged off.
Verify that your applications run on AIX 5L Version 5.3. Also, verify that your
applications are binary compatible with AIX 5L Version 5.3. If your system is
an application server, verify that there are no licensing issues. Refer to your
application documentation or provider to verify on which levels of AIX your
applications are supported and licensed. You can also check the AIX
application availability guide at the following Web address:
http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/ibmsw/list/
Verify that your hardware microcode is up-to-date.
There must be adequate disk space and memory available. AIX 5L Version
5.3 requires 256512 MB of memory and 2.2 GB of physical disk space. For
additional release information, see the AIX 5.3 Release Notes at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?t
opic=/com.ibm.aix.resources/53relnotes.htm
Make a backup copy of your system software and data. For instructions on
how to create a system backup, refer to Creating system backups at

208

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topic=
/com.ibm.aix.install/doc/insgdrf/create_sys_backup.htm
in the IBM AIX Information Center. This backup is used during the mksysb
migration installation to restore your system files prior to migration.
If the source system is available, run the pre-migration script on it. Ignore any
messages that pertain to the hardware configuration of the source system
because the migration takes place on the target system. Correct any other
problems as recommended by the script.

Step 1. Prepare your system for installation

Prepare for migrating to the AIX 5.3 BOS by completing the following steps:
1. Insert the AIX Volume 1 disk into the media device.
2. Shut down the target system. If your machine is currently running, power it off
by following these steps:
a. Log in as the root user.
b. Enter shutdown -F
3. If your system does not automatically power off, place the power switch in the
Off (0) position.
Note: You must not turn on the system unit until instructed to do so.
4. Turn on all attached external devices. External devices include the following:
Terminals
CD-ROM drives
DVD-ROM drives
Tape drives
Monitors
External disk drives
5. Turning on the external devices first is necessary so that the system unit can
identify each peripheral device during the startup (boot) process.
6. If your MKSYSB_MIGRATION_DEVICE is a tape, insert the tape for the mksysb in
the tape drive. If your MKSYSB_MIGRATION_DEVICE is a CD or DVD, and there is
an additional CD or DVD drive on the system (other than the one being used
to boot AIX), insert the mksysb CD or DVD in the drive to avoid being
prompted to swap medias.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

209

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7. Insert your customized bosinst.data supplemental diskette in the diskette

drive. If the system does not have a diskette drive, use the network installation
method for mksysb migration.
8. Boot from your installation media
9. The following steps migrate your current version of the operating system to
AIX 5.3. If you are using an ASCII console that was not defined in your
previous system, you must define it.
a. Turn the system unit power switch from Off (0) to On (|).
b. When the system beeps twice, press F5 on the keyboard (or 5 on an
ASCII terminal). If you have a graphics display, you will see the keyboard
icon on the screen when the beeps occur. If you have an ASCII terminal
(also called a TTY terminal), you will see the word keyboard when the
beeps occur.
Note: If your system does not boot using the F5 key (or the 5 key on an
ASCII terminal), refer to your hardware documentation for information
about how to boot your system from an AIX product media.
The system begins booting from the installation media. The mksysb migration
installation proceeds as an unattended installation (non-prompted) unless the
MKSYSB_MIGRATION_DEVICE is the same CD or DVD drive as the one being
used to boot and install the system. In this case, the user is prompted to switch
the product media for the mksysb CD or DVD to restore the image.data and the
/etc/filesystems file. After this happens the user is prompted to reinsert the
product media and the installation continues. When it is time to restore the
mksysb image, the same procedure repeats.
The BOS menus do not currently support mksysb migration, so they cannot be
loaded. In a traditional migration, if there are errors that can be fixed by
prompting the user for information through the menus, the BOS menus are
loaded. If such errors or problems are encountered during mksysb migration, the
installation asserts and an error stating that the migration cannot continue
displays. Depending on the error that caused the assertion, information specific
to the error might be displayed. If the installation asserts, the LED shows 088.

Step 2. Finish the BOS migration

After the installation process begins, the Installing Base Operating System
screen displays.
As the installation progresses, the numbers in the percentage complete field and
the elapsed time field increment to indicate the installation status. After the
mksysb is restored, the base run-time environment is installed, status information

210

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

about other software that is being installed displays. After the BOS installation is
complete, the system automatically reboots.
After the system has restarted, you are prompted to configure your installation of
the BOS.
Note: If there is not enough space to migrate all of the usually migrated
software, a collection of software called a migration bundle is available when
you install additional software later. You must create additional disk space on
the machine where you want to install the migration bundle, and then you can
run smit update_all to complete the installation where the migration bundle
is installed.

If you are not doing the installation from a graphics console, a Graphics_Startup
bundle is created. If the pre-migration script ran on the source system, run the
post-migration script and verify the output files.

7.7.4 Performing a mksysb migration with NIM installation

You can perform a mksysb migration with a NIM installation of AIX 5L.
All requisite hardware, including any external devices (such as tape, CD, or
DVD-ROM drives), must be physically connected. For more information about
connecting external devices, see the hardware documentation that
accompanied your system.
Before you begin the installation, other users who have access to your system
must be logged off.
Verify that your applications run on AIX 5.3. Also, verify that your applications
are binary compatible with AIX 5.3. If your system is an application server,
verify that there are no licensing issues. Refer to your application
documentation or provider to verify on which levels of AIX your applications
are supported and licensed. You can also check the AIX application
availability guide at the following Web address:
http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/ibmsw/list/
Verify that your hardware microcode is up-to-date.
There must be adequate disk space and memory available. AIX 5.3 requires
256 MB of memory and 2.2 GB of physical disk space. For additional release
information, see the AIX 5.3 Release Notes.
Make a backup copy of your system software and data. This backup is used
during the mksysb migration installation to restore your system files prior to
migration.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

211

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

If the source system is available, run the pre-migration script on it. Ignore any
messages that pertain to the hardware configuration of the source system
because the migration takes place on the target system. Correct any other
problems as recommended by the script.

Step 1. Prepare your system for installation

To prepare your system, verify that the following conditions are met:
The target system must be a defined client to the NIM master.
The required customized bosinst.data file described in the prerequisites is a
NIM bosinst.data resource or supplied using the supplemental diskette
method.
To instruct the NIM master to start an installation of the client run the following
command:
# nim -o bos_inst -a source=rte -a spot=spot name -a lpp_source=lpp
source name -a bosinst_data=bosinst_data resource name -a
mksysb=mksysb name client_name
The SPOT file and lpp_source file should be at the AIX 5.3 level.
Alternatively, the mksysb can be allocated to the client first using a separate
alloc operation. Then use the command line or smitty nim to perform a
bos_inst operation on the client. If the mksysb is allocated to the client prior to
the bos_inst operation, the specification of the mksysb is not required.

Step 2. Boot from your installation media

The following steps migrate your current version of the operating system to AIX
5.3. If you are using an ASCII console that was not defined in your previous
system, you must define the console.
After the network boot image is transferred, the system begins booting using the
network resources.
The mksysb migration installation proceeds as an unattended installation
(non-prompted).
The BOS menus do not currently support mksysb migration, so they cannot be
loaded. In a traditional migration, if there are errors that can be fixed by
prompting the user for information through the menus, the BOS menus are
loaded. If such errors or problems are encountered during mksysb migration, the
installation asserts and an error stating that the migration cannot continue
displays. Depending on the error that caused the assertion, information specific
to the error might be displayed. If the installation asserts, the LED shows 088.

212

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Step 3. Finish the BOS migration

After the installation process begins, the Installing Base Operating System
screen displays.
As the installation progresses, the numbers in the percentage complete field and
the elapsed time field increment to indicate the installation status. After the
mksysb is restored, the base run-time environment is installed, status information
about other software that is being installed displays. After the BOS installation is
complete, the system automatically reboots.
After the system has restarted, you are prompted to configure your installation of
the BOS.
Note: If there is not enough space to migrate all of the usually migrated
software, a collection of software called a migration bundle is available when
you install additional software later. You must create additional disk space on
the machine where you want to install the migration bundle, and then you can
run smit update_all to complete the installation where the migration bundle is
installed.
If you are not doing the installation from a graphics console, a Graphics_Startup
bundle is created.
If the pre-migration script ran on the source system, run the post-migration script
and verify the output files.

7.7.5 The nimadm command

The Network Install Manager Alternate Disk Migration (nimadm) command is a
utility that uses NIM resources to perform the following tasks:
Create a copy of rootvg to an unused NIM client hdisk and simultaneously
migrate the rootvg copy to a new version or release level of AIX 5L.
Using a copy of rootvg, create a NIM mksysb resource that has been
migrated to a new version or release level of AIX 5L.
Migrate an existing NIM mksysb resource to a new version or release level of
AIX 5L.
Enhancements were made to the nimadm command in 5300-03 designed to
minimize downtime associated with operating system migrations by performing a
migration utilizing an AIX Version 4.3 or AIX 5L mksysb image.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

213

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

The nimadm command performs an Alternate Disk Migration to a new version or

release of AIX using NIM resources. Currently this utility supports the following
scenarios:
NFS migration
Disk caching migration
The following are new scenarios supported starting with AIX 5300-03:
mksysb to Client
Client to mksysb
mksysb to mksysb

Example scenarios
The following sections describe common scenarios you may find handy.

mksysb to Client
A defined mksysb resource on the NIM environment is restored onto alternate file
systems on the NIM Master. The data is then migrated and written out to
alternate file systems on the clients alternate disk. Free disk(s) are required on
the client.
The syntax for this operation is:
nimadm -s<spot> -l<lpp_source> -c <client> -d<disks(s)> -j<cache vg>
-T <mksysb NIM resource>

Client to mksysb
Copies of the clients file systems are made on the NIM Master. The data is then
migrated and backed up to produce a mksysb resource on the NIM environment.
The syntax for this operation is:
nimadm -s<spot> -l<lpp_source> -c <client>
-O <mksysb>

-j<cache vg>

mksysb to mksysb
A NIM mksysb resource is restored to alternate file systems on the master, the
data is migrated and then backed up to produce a NIM mksysb resource at the
new level.
The syntax for this operation is:
nimadm -s<spot> -l<lpp_source> -j<cache vg>
-T <mksysb NIM resource> -O <mksysb NIM resource>

214

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Advantages to using nimadm

There are several advantages to using nimadm over a conventional migration:
Reduced migration downtime.
The migration is performed while the system is up and functioning
normally. There is no requirement to boot from install media, and the
majority of processing occurs on the NIM master.
Reduced recovery time.
Using nimadm facilitates quick recovery in the event of migration failure.
Since nimadm uses the AIX 5L alt_disk_install to create a copy of rootvg, all
changes are performed to the copy (altinst_rootvg).
In the unlikely event of serious migration installation failure, the failed
migration is cleaned up and there is no need for the administrator to take
further action.
In the event of a problem with the new (migrated) level of AIX 5L, the
system can be quickly returned to the pre-migration operating system by
booting from the original disk.
Flexibility and Customization.
nimadm allows a high degree of flexibility and custimization in the migration
process. This is done with the use of optional NIM custimization
resources: image_data, bosinst_data, exclude_files, pre-migration script,
installp_bundle, and post-migration script.
To use the nimadm command, the following requirements must be met:
1. A configured NIM Master running AIX 5L Version 5.3. ML03 or higher.
2. The NIM master must have the same level of bos.alt_disk_install.rte installed
in its rootvg and the SPOT that will be used to perform the migration.
3. The selected lpp_source NIM resource, and selected SPOT NIM resource
must match the AIX 5L level to which you are migrating.
4. The NIM Master must be at the same or higher AIX 5L level as the level being
migrated to.
5. The NIM client must be registered with the master as a stand-alone NIM
client.
6. The NIM master must be able to execute remote commands on the client
using the rshd protocol.
7. A reliable network, which can facilitate large amounts of NFS traffic, must
exist between the NIM master and the client. The NIM master and client must
be able to perform NFS mounts and read/write operations.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

215

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

8. The client's hardware and software should support the AIX 5L level that is
being migrated to and meet all other conventional migration requirements.
If you cannot meet requirements 1-7, you will need to perform a conventional
migration. If you cannot meet requirement 8, then migration is not possible.
When planning to use nimadm, ensure that you are aware of the following
considerations:
If the NIM client rootvg has TCB turned on, you will need to either
permanently disable it or perform a conventional migration. This situation
exists because TCB needs to access file metadata that is not visible over
NFS.
All NIM resources used by nimadm must be local to the NIM master.
Although there is almost no interference with the client's active rootvg during
the migration, the NIM client may experience minor performance decrease
due to increased disk input/output, NFS biod activity, and some CPU usage
associated with alt_disk_install cloning.
A reliable network and NFS tuning will assist in optimizing nimadm network
performance.

7.7.6 The nim_move_up command

The nim_move_up is a command that facilitates the enablement of new hardware
(namely POWER5 or later servers) in AIX environments. For more information,
see 7.3.3, Smit menu for nim_move_up on page 184.

7.7.7 Debugging a mksysb migration installation

If a mksysb migration assert takes place, the LED will show 088.
If the error takes place after the console is available (you can see messages on
the screen) then use enable the BOSINST_DEBUG variable in the customized
bosinst.data by changing its value to yes and restart the process.
If the error takes place before the console is available (you see the 088 but
nothing has been displayed on the screen) you will need to enable the KDB
kernel debugger and capture debug output.
Note: For more information and examples on mksysb migration installations,
refer to the IBM AIX Information Center publication at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?t
opic=/com.ibm.aix.install/doc/insgdrf/mksysbmigration.htm

216

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414ch07.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7.8 mksysb enhancements (5300-01)

The method used by the mksysb command to restore data through system
backups has changed. Enhancements were added to more fully restore
customized data so that a restored system more closely resembles the system at
the time the backup was performed. This occurs when restoring a backup on the
system that the backup originated from.
These enhancements were added to reduce the amount of additional work that
sometimes needs to occur to restore devices to their customized configuration at
the time of backup.
If devices were removed from or replaced on the system after the backup was
created, that information is restored when you are installing a backup, and the
system shows these devices in a defined state.
These enhancements do not affect installing the backup onto other systems or
cloning.

7.9 DVD install media support for AIX 5L (5300-02)

DVD install media support is now available for AIX 5L.

Chapter 7. Installation, backup, and recovery

217

7414ch07.fm

218

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414abrv.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Abbreviations and acronyms

ABI

Application Binary Interface

AC

Alternating Current

ACL

CHRP

Common Hardware
Reference Platform

Access Control List

CLI

Command Line Interface

AFPA

Adaptive Fast Path

Architecture

CLVM

Concurrent LVM

CPU

Central Processing Unit

AIO

Asynchronous I/O

CRC

Cyclic Redundancy Check

AIX

Advanced Interactive
Executive

CSM

Cluster Systems
Management

APAR

Authorized Program Analysis

Report

CUoD

Capacity Upgrade on
Demand

API

Application Programming
Interface

DCM

Dual Chip Module

DES

Data Encryption Standard

ARP

Address Resolution Protocol

DGD

Dead Gateway Detection

ASMI

Advanced System
Management Interface

DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration

Protocol

BFF

Backup File Format

DLPAR

Dynamic LPAR

BIND

Berkeley Internet Name

Domain

DMA

Direct Memory Access

DNS

Domain Naming System

DRM

Dynamic Reconfiguration
Manager

BIST

Built-In Self-Test

BLV

Boot Logical Volume

BOOTP

Boot Protocol

DR

Dynamic Reconfiguration

BOS

Base Operating System

DVD

Digital Versatile Disk

BSD

Berkeley Software Distribution

EC

EtherChannel

CA

Certificate Authority

ECC

CATE

Certified Advanced Technical

Expert

Error Checking and

Correcting

EOF

End of File

CD

Compact Disk

EPOW

CDE

Common Desktop
Environment

Environmental and Power

Warning

ERRM

CD-R

CD Recordable

Event Response resource

manager

CD-ROM

Compact Disk-Read Only

Memory

ESS

Enterprise Storage Server

F/C

Feature Code

CEC

Central Electronics Complex

FC

Fibre Channel

FCAL

Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

219

7414abrv.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

FDX

Full Duplex

LA

Link Aggregation

FLOP

Floating Point Operation

LACP

FRU

Field Replaceable Unit

Link Aggregation Control

Protocol

FTP

File Transfer Protocol

LAN

Local Area Network

GDPS

Geographically Dispersed
Parallel Sysplex

LDAP

Lightweight Directory Access

Protocol

GID

Group ID

LED

Light Emitting Diode

GPFS

General Parallel File

System

LMB

Logical Memory Block

LPAR

Logical Partition

GUI

Graphical User Interface

LPP

Licensed Program Product

HACMP

High Availability Cluster

Multiprocessing

LUN

Logical Unit Number

LV

Logical Volume

HBA

Host Bus Adapters

LVCB

Logical Volume Control Block

HMC

Hardware Management
Console

LVM

Logical Volume Manager

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language

MAC

Media Access Control

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol

Mbps

Megabits Per Second

Hz

Hertz

I/O

Input/Output

IBM

International Business
Machines

ID

MBps

Megabytes Per Second

MCM

Multichip Module

ML

Maintenance Level

MP

Multiprocessor

Identification

MPIO

Multipath I/O

IDE

Integrated Device Electronics

MTU

Maximum Transmission Unit

IEEE

Institute of Electrical and

Electronics Engineers

NFS

Network File System

NIB

Network Interface Backup

IP

Internetwork Protocol

NIM

IPAT

IP Address Takeover

Network Installation
Management

IPL

Initial Program Load

NIMOL

NIM on Linux

IPMP

IP Multipathing

NVRAM

ISV

Independent Software Vendor

Non-Volatile Random Access

Memory

ITSO

International Technical
Support Organization

ODM

Object Data Manager

OSPF

Open Shortest Path First

IVM

Integrated Virtualization
Manager

PCI

Peripheral Component
Interconnect

JFS

Journaled File System

PIC

Pool Idle Count

L1

Level 1

PID

Process ID

L2

Level 2

PKI

Public Key Infrastructure

L3

Level 3

PLM

Partition Load Manager

220

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414abrv.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

POST

Power-On Self-test

SCSI

POWER

Performance Optimization
with Enhanced Risc
(Architecture)

Small Computer System

Interface

SDD

Subsystem Device Driver

SMIT

System Management
Interface Tool

PPC

Physical Processor
Consumption

SMP

Symmetric Multiprocessor

PPFC

Physical Processor Fraction

Consumed

SMS

System Management
Services

PTF

Program Temporary Fix

SMT

Simultaneous Multithreading

PTX

Performance Toolbox

SP

Service Processor

PURR

Processor Utilization
Resource Register

SPOT

Shared Product Object Tree

PV

Physical Volume

SRC

System Resource Controller

PVID

Physical Volume Identifier

SRN

Service Request Number

PVID

Port Virtual LAN Identifier

SSA

Serial Storage Architecture

QoS

Quality of Service

SSH

Secure Shell

RAID

Redundant Array of
Independent Disks

SSL

Secure Socket Layer

SUID

Set User ID
SAN Virtualization Controller

RAM

Random Access Memory

SVC

RAS

Reliability, Availability, and

Serviceability

TCP/IP

Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol

RCP

Remote Copy

TSA

Tivoli System Automation

Redundant Disk Array

Controller

UDF

Universal Disk Format

UDID

Universal Disk Identification

RIO

Remote I/O

VIPA

Virtual IP Address

RIP

Routing Information Protocol

VG

Volume Group

RISC

Reduced Instruction-Set
Computer

VGDA

Volume Group Descriptor

Area

RMC

Resource Monitoring and

Control

VGSA

Volume Group Status Area

VLAN

Virtual Local Area Network

RPC

Remote Procedure Call

VP

Virtual Processor

RPL

Remote Program Loader

VPD

Vital Product Data

RPM

Red Hat Package Manager

VPN

Virtual Private Network

RSA

Rivet, Shamir, Adelman

VRRP

RSCT

Reliable Scalable Cluster

Technology

Virtual Router Redundancy

Protocol

VSD

Virtual Shared Disk

RSH

Remote Shell

WLM

Workload Manager

SAN

Storage Area Network

RDAC

Abbreviations and acronyms

221

7414abrv.fm

222

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414bibl.fm

Related publications
The publications listed in this section are considered particularly suitable for a
more detailed discussion of the topics covered in this redbook.

IBM Redbooks
For information about ordering these publications, see How to get IBM
Redbooks on page 226. Note that some of the documents referenced here may
be available in softcopy only.
AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Edition, SG24-7463
Advanced POWER Virtualization on IBM eServer p5 Servers: Architecture
and Performance Considerations, SG24-5768
AIX 5L Practical Performance Tools and Tuning Guide, SG24-6478
Effective System Management Using the IBM Hardware Management
Console for pSeries, SG24-7038
IBM System p Advanced POWER Virtualization Best Practices, REDP-4194
Implementing High Availability Cluster Multi-Processing (HACMP) Cookbook,
SG24-6769
Introduction to pSeries Provisioning, SG24-6389
Linux Applications on pSeries, SG24-6033
Managing AIX Server Farms, SG24-6606
NIM from A to Z in AIX 5L, SG24-7296
Partitioning Implementations for IBM eServer p5 Servers, SG24-7039
A Practical Guide for Resource Monitoring and Control (RMC), SG24-6615
Integrated Virtualization Manager on IBM System p5, REDP-4061

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

223

7414bibl.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Other publications
These publications are also relevant as further information sources:
The following types of documentation are located through the Internet at the
following URL:
http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseries/library
User guides
System management guides
Application programmer guides
All commands reference volumes
Files reference
Technical reference volumes used by application programmers
Detailed documentation about the Advanced POWER Virtualization feature
and the Virtual I/O Server
https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/vios/documentation/
home.html
AIX 5L V5.3 Partition Load Manager Guide and Reference, SC23-4883
Linux for pSeries installation and administration (SLES 9), found at:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-pow-pinstall/
Linux virtualization on POWER5: A hands-on setup guide, found at:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/l-dw-linux-pow-virutal.htm
l
POWER5 Virtualization: How to set up the SUSE Linux Virtual I/O Server,
found at:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/eserver/library/es-susevio/

Online resources
These Web sites and URLs are also relevant as further information sources:
AIX 5L and Linux on POWER community
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/p/community/
Capacity on Demand
http://www.ibm.com/systems/p/cod/

224

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414bibl.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

IBM Advanced POWER Virtualization on IBM System p Web page

http://www.ibm.com/systems/p/apv/
IBM eServer pSeries and AIX Information Center
http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pseries/index.htm
IBM System Planning Tool
http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/support/tools/systemplanningtool/
IBM Systems Hardware Information Center
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/eserver/v1r3s/index.jsp
IBM Systems Workload Estimator
http://www-912.ibm.com/supporthome.nsf/document/16533356
Latest Multipath Subsystem Device Driver User's Guide
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=540&context=ST52G7&uid=ssg
1S7000303
Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server information
http://www.novell.com/products/server/index.html
SCSI T10 Technical Committee
http://www.t10.org
SDDPCM software download page
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S4000201
SDD software download page
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=540&context=ST52G7&dc=D430
&uid=ssg1S4000065&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en
Service and productivity tools for Linux on POWER
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/lopdiags
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology
http://www.ibm.com/chips/technology/technologies/soi/
VIOS supported environment
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/vios/documentation/datash
eet.html
Virtual I/O Server documentation
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/vios/documentation/home.h
tml

Related publications

225

7414bibl.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Virtual I/O Server home page

http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/vios/home.html
Virtual I/O Server home page (alternate)
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/vios/home.html
Virtual I/O Server supported hardware
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/vios/documentation/d
atasheet.html
Virtual I/O Server Support Page
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/vios/download/home.html

How to get IBM Redbooks

You can search for, view, or download Redbooks, Redpapers, Hints and Tips,
draft publications and Additional materials, as well as order hardcopy Redbooks
or CD-ROMs, at this Web site:
ibm.com/redbooks

Help from IBM

IBM Support and downloads
ibm.com/support
IBM Global Services
ibm.com/services

226

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414IX.fm

Index
Symbols
$deferevents variable 2, 7
$stack_details variable 23
.BZ format 59
.Z format 59
/, and ? subcommand 7
/etc/environment 15
/etc/filesystems file 208
/etc/inetd.conf, file
AIX Security Expert 167
/etc/inittab, file
AIX Security Expert 167
/etc/perf/ directory 107
/etc/perf/daily directory 106
/etc/rc.tcpip, file
AIX Security Expert 167
/etc/security/user 24
/etc/trcfmt 43
/usr/include/sys/trcmacros.h 50
/usr/lpp/perfagent/config_aixwle.sh 106
/usr/lpp/perfagent/config_topas.sh 106
/var/adm/ras/errlog 52
/var/adm/ras/mtrcdir 47, 49
/var/adm/ras/trcfile 44

Numerics
16 GB pages 71
16 MB pages 71
4 KB pages 71
64 KB pages 71
9116 561 53
9117 53
9117-570 53
9119-590 53
9119-595 53
9406 53

A
acctrpt command 77
process accounting 77
system accounting 80
transaction accounting 83

Copyright IBM Corp. 2007. All rights reserved.

ACL
conversion 70
active dead gateway detection 130
Active Directory 89
adapter statistics 121
addcmd subcommand 2, 5
Administrator Service Processor Failover 55
Advanced Accounting 77
ITUAM integration 84
reporting 77
advanced accounting
LDAP integration 88
AIO 24
IOCP support 24
AIO fast path for concurrent I/O 34
Enhanced Journaled File System 34
I/O optimization 34
Journaled File System 34
kprocs 34
Logical Volume Manager 34
aio_nwait routine 24
aiocb 18
AIX 5L Release Support strategy
Concluding Service Pack 62
Interim Fix 63
Service Pack 62
Technology Level 62
aix MIO module 17
AIX Security Expert
Check Security 168
files 169
groups 166
security configuration copy 169
security level settings 165
smit 173
Undo Security 167
WebSM 165, 173
AIX Security Expert (aixpert) 165
aixpert, command 170
commands
aixpert 165
AIXTHREAD_READ_GUARDPAGES 14
AltiVec 1819
AltiVec instruction 18

227

7414IX.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

Application Resource Management 83

ARM 83
Assamese UTF-8 codeset (AS_IN) 88
at command 66, 180
attribute subcommand 8

B
backbyinode 30
Base Operating System (BOS) 193
Bengali UTF-8 codeset (BN_IN) 88
BLV 194
Boot Logical Volume (BLV) 194
BOS 193
bos.help.msg.en_US.smit 140
bos.msg.LANG.rte 140
bosboot command 40, 4344
bosinst.data 192
EXISTING_SYSTEM_OVERWRITE 193
PHYSICAL_LOCATION 192
SAN_DISKID 192
bosinst.data file 205, 210
CONTROL_FLOW 206

C
cell 143
cfgmgr, command 58
chcore, command 58
chfs 2829
chndaf, command 152
chnfs 132134
chuser command 24
CIO NFS 131
O_CIO flags 132
ckfilt command 137
Client Delegation 133
cmmands
cron 64
Commands
usrck 69
commands 86, 121
acctrpt 77
at 180
backbyinode 30
bosboot 40, 43
cfgmgr 58
chcore 58
chfs 2829
chndaf 152

228

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

chnfs 132134
chuser 24
ckfilt 137
compare_report 187
compress 59
cp 7071
ctctrl 4142
curt 9495
dbx 9
dmadm 148, 151
dmf 143, 145, 147, 152
dmpfmt 57
dmpuncompress 59
dms 149
dms_enable_fs 150151
drmgr 14
drmgr scriptinfo 14
errctrl 11
exportfs 132133
fcstat 121
filemon 99
gencopy 86
genfilt 137
geninstall 8586
geninv 187
gprof 101
hpmcount 116
ifconfig 129130
iostat 109
kdb 10, 64
ld 72
ldedit 72
lscore 58
lsldap 89
mirscan 31
mkfilt 137
mkndaf 151152
mknfsproxy 136
mkprojldap 88
mksysb 183, 217
more 66
mount 134
mtrcsave 48
multbos 193
multibos 196
mv 7071
netpmon 94, 99
nfs4cl 133134
nfso 133

7414IX.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

nfsstat 133
nim_move_up 182, 216
nimadmin 183
niminv 189
nimsh 178
no 129
pagesize 72
ps 67
raso 44
rmndaf 151152
rollback 30
sedmgr 12
snap 49, 57
startsrc 138
stopsrc 138
suma 186187
svmon 94
sysdumpdev 52, 5657, 59
tar 30
topas 101, 106
topasout 107
tprof 94, 99100
trcctl 58
trcdead 47
trcrpt 41, 43, 47
uncompress 59
vmo 73, 120
vmstat 94
xmwlm 106
commands at 66
commands bosboot 44
commands gensyms 96
commands mail 64
common events 43
common OS image 178
compare_report command 187
compiler dbx 9
compiler XL C/C++ 20
Component Trace 40
Component Trace (CT) 58
compress command 59
Concluding Service Pack 62
condition subcommand 8
consistency checkers 10
core file 58
chcore 58
lscore 58
cost 130
cp, command 71

-l flag for the cp and mv commands 70

CreateIoCompletionPort routine 24
cron command 64
cross partition monitoring 101
CT 40
ctctrl command 4142
curt command 9495

D
dbx 2
$deferevents variable 2, 7
$stack_details variable 23
/, and ? subcommand 7
addcmd subcommand 2, 5
attribute subcommand 8
condition subcommand 8
Deferred event 7
frame subcommand 2, 5
mutex subcommand 8
registers subcommand 5
Thread level breakpoint and watchpoint 2, 8
thread subcommand 8
tnext subcommand 9
tnexti subcommand 9
tskip subcommand 9
tstep subcommand 9
tstepi subcommand 9
tstop subcommand 8
tstophwp subcommand 8
tstopi subcommand 9
ttrace subcommand 9
ttracehwp subcommand 8
ttracei subcommand 9
where subcommand 4
dbx command 9
dbx dump command 9
dead interface detection 130
debugger 2
dbx 2
debugging 57
error detection 58
KDB 58
RTEC 58
debugging xmalloc 11
default route 130
Deferred event 2, 7
Delegation 133
Client Delegation 133

Index

229

7414IX.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

exportfs 133
nfso 133
Server Delegation 133
devices 58
mksysb enhancements 217
DIO NFS 131
O_DIRECT flag 132
disaster recovery
GLVM 36
dlopen 16
dmadm, command 148, 151
DMAPI 28, 30
DMAPI managed JFS2 28, 30
backbyinode 30
tar 30
dmf, command 143, 145, 147, 152
dmpfmt, command 57
dmpuncompress command 59
dms, command 149
dms_enable_fs, command 150151
doubletext32 17
DR_MEM_PERCENT 14
dr_reconfig 14
drmgr 14
drmgr scriptinfo 14
dump minidump 51
dump parallel dump 52
dump subcommand 9
dump sysdumpdev 52, 59
dump trcdead 47
dump, command 57
DVD install media 217

error detection 58
error log 56
/tmp/errlog.save 56
/usr/include/sys/err_rec.h 56
Estonian ISO8859-4 codeset (et_EE) 88
ex 2
exportfs 132133
Extended disk service time metrics 109
Extended vscsi statistics 113
external storage 34

E
ed 2
editors
ed 2
ex 2
vi 2
environment file 15
environment variable
AIXTHREAD_READ_GUARDPAGES 14
DR_MEM_PERCENT 14
LD_LIBRARY_PATH 15
LDR_PRELOAD 15
LDR_PRELOAD64 15
LIBPATH 15
errctrl 11

230

F
FAStT boot support enhancements 34
fcstat command 121
ffdc 40, 43, 52
Fibre Channel device driver 121
file
etc/security/login.cfg 141
radiusd.conf 139
File System Freeze and Thaw 28
chfs 2829
fscntl 28
File system Rollback 28, 30
rollback 30
filemon command 99
Firmware levels 53
Firmware Version 122
first failure data capture 40, 43, 52
frame subcommand 2, 5
fscntl 28
functions
dlopen 16
fscntl 28
load 16

G
gencopy 86
gencopy flags 87
genfilt command 137
geninstall 8586
geninstall flags 86
geninv 187
gensyms command 96
Geographic Logical Volume Manager (GLVM) 36
Global Name Space
chnfs 132
Global Namespace
exportfs 132

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414IX.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

global shared library area 16
GLVM 36
gmon.out 101
gprof command 101
gprof profile file 101

H
HACMP 37
GLVM 37
Hardware Management Console 73
HMC 73
configuring 16GB huge pages 73
providing CEC level data to topas 104
hopcount 130
hpmcount command 116
Hypervisor 52

I
I/O pacing 134
IBM Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager 84
ifconfig command 129130
ifconfig monitor flag 130
ifconfig option tcp_low_rto 129
image.data 195
image.data file 208
Inode Creation 28, 31
Installation
1TB disks 178
installation
DVD install media support 217
mksysb migration support 204
targeting install disk 192
Interim Fix 63
IO completion ports 24
IOCP 24
iostat command 109
Extended disk service time metrics 109
Extended vscsi statistics 113
IPFilters 141
IPsec filters
AIX Security Expert group 167
ITUAM 84

J
JFS2 28
DMAPI 28, 30
backbyinode 30

tar 30
File System Freeze and Thaw 28
chfs 2829
fscntl 28
File System Rollback 28, 30
rollback 30
inode creation 28, 31
JS20 19

K
Kannada UTF-8 codeset (KN_IN) 88
KDB 58
kdb
mtrace 48
kdb commad 64
kdb command 10, 121
check subcommand 10
mempool subcommand 121
kerberos 142, 146, 152
kernel 40, 43

L
Latvian ISO8859-4 codeset (lv_LV) 88
ld command 72
LD_LIBRARY_PATH 15
LDAP 89
/etc/security/ldap/ldap.cfg 89
advanced accounting 88
client support for Active Directory 89
ldap.cfg password encryption 89
list LDAP records 89
lsldap 89
mkprojldap 88
ldedit command 72
LDR_CNTRL 73
LDR_CTRL 16
LDR_PRELOAD 15
LDR_PRELOAD64 15
lgpg_regions parameter 73
lgpg_size paramete 73
libaacct.a library 77
LIBPATH 15
library
dlopen 16
LD_LIBRARY_PATH 15
LDR_PRELOAD 15
LDR_PRELOAD64 15
LIBPATH 15

Index

231

7414IX.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

load 16
library variables 15
lightweight memory trace 43
Lightweight Memory Trace (LMT) 58
lightweight memory tracing 41
LMT 43, 58
lmt 41
load 16
Logical Volume Manager 31
mirscan command 31
Logical Volume Manager (LVM) 199
LPAR accounting 80
lpp_source resource 178
lrud daemon 119
lscore, command 58
lsldap
default output 89
lsldap, command 89
LVM 199

mksysb migration with NIM 211

nim_move_up command 216
minidump 51
MIO 17
aix 17
mio 17
pf 17
recov 17
trace 17
mirroring
GLVM 36
mirscan command 31
corrective actions 33
report format 32
mkfilt command 137
mkndaf, command 151152
mknfsproxy 136
mkprojldap, command 88
mksysb comand
bosinst.data file 207
mksysb command 183
/etc/filesystems file 208
bosinst.data
MKSYSB_MIGRATION_DEVICE 207, 209
MKSYSB_MIGRATION_DEVICEMKSYSB_
MIGRATION_DEVICE 210
bosinst.data file 210
CONTROL_FLOW 206
image.data file 208
mksysb migration support 204
mksysb levels supported 205
mksysb migration with NIM 211
MKSYSB_MIGRATION_DEVIC 206
prerequisites 208
TARGET_DISK_DATA 206
mksysb, command 217
enhancements 217
devices 217
Modular I/O 17
monitor, flags 130
more command 66
mount 134
mtrace subcommand 48
mtrcsave command 48
multibos 193
multibos, command 193, 196
booting the standby BOS 202
commands
multibos 193

M
macros 41
mail command 64
Malayalam UTF-8 codeset (ML_IN) 88
Managed System Properties 54
memory
xmalloc 11
Memory Affinity 119
Memory Management
DR_MEM_PERCENT 14
drmgr 14
drmgr scriptinfo 14
memory pools 119
memory trace mode 41
memory_affinity parameter 121
memplace_data parameter 120
memplace_mapped_file parameter 120
memplace_shm_anonymous parameter 120
memplace_shm_named parameter 120
memplace_stack parameter 120
memplace_text parameter 120
memplace_unmapped_file parameter 121
Micro-partition 125
Micro-partition performance enhancements 125
migration
mksysb
debugging 216
mksysb migration support 204

232

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

customizing the standby BOS 201
files and logs 203
flags 195
image.data 195196
mounting the standby BOS 200
rebuild standby BOS boot image 200
removing the standby BOS 203
standby BOS shell 202
Multilanguage Software 85
geninstall 85
multipath routing 130
Multiple Page Size Support 71
mutex subcommand 8
mv, command 7071

N
named shared libraries
doubletext32 17
NAMEDSHLIB 16
Named shared library areas 16
named shared library areas 100
NAMEDSHLIB 16
NAT 141
National language support 88
NDAF 142
adding server to cell namespace 159
adding servers 154
administration client 145, 153
administration server 145, 153
creating and managing cells 155
data backup 164
data recovery 164
data server 146
data servers 153
data set 143
domain 142, 147
installation 153
principal 146
removing a cell namespace 158
removing server from cell namespace 160
replicas 144
roles 160
security 152
NFS 152
roles 152
showing and changing cell attributes 157
troubleshooting 161
checker 163

7414IX.fm
netpmon command 94, 99
network
AIX Security Expert 165, 167
network address translation (NAT) 141
Network Data Administration Facility (NDAF) 142
Network File System 131
Network intrusion detection 137
NFS 131
CIO 131
DIO 131
I/O pacing 134
physical filesystem 142
Release-behind-on-read 134
NFS server grace period 134
nfs4cl 133134
nfso 133
nfsstat 133
NFSv4 132, 161
chnfs 132133
Delegation 133
Client Delegation 133
exportfs 133
nfso 133
Server Delegation 133
exportfs 132
Global Name Space 132
chnfs 132
I/O pacing 134
mknfsproxy 136
mount 134
nfs4cl 133134
nfso 133
nfsstat 133
Referral 132
Replica 132
Replica servers 132
Replication 132
chnfs 133
nfs4cl 133
nfso 133
replica_failover_time 133
server grace period 134
chnfs 134
Server Proxy Serving 135
mknfsproxy 136
NIM
mksysb migration with NIM 211
nim_inventory 191
nim_move_up command 216

Index

233

7414IX.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

nimadm 213
niminv 189
SUMA integration 186
nim 178, 192
nim_inventory 191
nim_move_up command 182, 216
nimadm command 213
planning 216
prerequisite 215
TCB 216
nimadmin command 183
niminv 189
nimsh command 178
NLS 85, 88
Assamese UTF-8 codeset (AS_IN) 88
Bengali UTF-8 codeset (BN_IN) 88
Estonian ISO8859-4 codeset (et_EE) 88
hpmstat command 88
Kannada UTF-8 codeset (KN_IN) 88
Latvian ISO8859-4 codeset (lv_LV) 88
Oriya UTF-8 codeset (OR_IN) 88
Punjabi UTF-8 codeset (PA_IN) 88
no command 129
no command option timer_wheel_tick 129
no option tcp_low_rto 129

STD_AUTH 141
PMAPI 116
hpmcount command 116
POSIX prioritized I/O 18
prioritized I/O 18
process accounting 77
processor utilization register (PURR) 58
ps command 67
Punjabi UTF-8 codeset (PA_IN) 88
PURR 58

O
ODM database 121
Oriya UTF-8 codeset (OR_IN) 88

P
pagesize command 72
parallel dump 52
Performance Management API 116
performance statistics recording 106
performance tool curt 9495
performance tool filemon 99
performance tool netpmon 94, 99
performance tool svmon 94
performance tool tprof 94, 99100
performance tool vmstat 94
pf 17
PFS 142
Physical filesystem (PFS) 142
PHYSICAL_LOCATION 192
Pluggable authentication module 141
/etc/security/login.cfg 141
auth_type 141

234

Q
qaltivec, flags 21
qenablevmx, flags 21
qhot, flags 22
qvecnvol, flag 20

R
RADIUS Enhanced shared Secret 140
RADIUS IP address Pooling 140
Radius Server Support 138
Accounting 138
Authentication 138
Authorization 138
radiusd.conf 139
radius.base 140
rare events 43
RAS 56
core file 58
debugging 57
devices 58
errctrl 11
error log hardening 56
snap command enhancements 57
system dump enhancements 56
trace 57
trcgen 11
trcgenk 11
xmalloc 11
raso command 44
raw socket 23
recov 17
Redbooks Web site 226
Contact us xix
Redundant Flexible Service Processors 52
Referral 132
registers subcommand 5
Release-behind-on-read 134

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

7414IX.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

mount 134
nfs4cl 134
Reliability, Availability, Serviceability (RAS) 56
Replica 132
Replica Servers 132
replica_failover_time 133
replicas 144
master replica location 144
replica clones 144
replication updates 145
Replication
chnfs 133
nfs4cl 133
nfso 133
Replica 132
Replica Server 132
replica_failover_time 133
retransmission timer 128
rmndaf, command 151152
rollback 30
route cost 130
RTEC 58
Run-Time Error Checking (RTEC) 58

S
San boot procedures 35
second failure data capture 40, 44
security
aixpert 165
SED 12
sedmgr 12
sedmgr 12
Server Delegation 133
server grace period
chnfs 134
Server Proxy Serving 135
mknfsproxy 136
Service Pack 62
sfdc 40, 44
shared porduct object tree 178
show locked users 68
Signal
SIGRECONFIG 14
SIGRECONFIG 14
simd 18
single instruction, multiple data 18
snap 57
snap command 49

snap, command 57
snap, commands 57
sockets 23
spot 178
Stack execution disable 12
sedmgr 12
Stateful filters 137
structures
aiocb 18
subroutine
dr_config 14
subroutines
trcgen 11
trcgenk 11
SUID
disabling in AIX Security Expert 167
SUMA 186
NIM integration 186
suma command 186187
svmon command 94
sysdumpdev command 52, 59
sysdumpdev, command 5657
system accounting 80
system dump 56
dmpfmt 57
dump 57
sysdumpdev 56
system trace mode 41

T
tar 30
target install disk
PHYSICAL_LOCATION 192
targeting install disk 192
tcp_low_rto, flags 129
tcp_slowtimo() 128
Technology Level 62
thin server 178
Thread level breakpoint and watchpoint 2, 8
thread subcommand 8
threads
AIXTHREAD_READ_GUARDPAGES 14
time stamp 51
timer_wheel_tick, flags 129
timer-wheel algorithm 128
Tivoli Access Manager 36
Tivoli Access Manager for system p pre-installed
36

Index

235

7414IX.fm

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

tnext subcommand 9
tnexti subcommand 9
topas command 101, 106
cross partition monitoring 101
performance statistics recording 106
topasout command 107
tprof command 94, 99100
trace 17, 57
CT 58
LMT 58
trrctl 58
trace common events 43
trace ctctrl 4142
trace lmt 41, 43
trace macros 41
trace mode 41
trace rare events 43
trace raso 44
trace trcdead 47
trace trcrpt 41, 47
transaction accounting 83
trcctl, command 58
trcdead command 47
trcgen 11
trcgenk 11
trcrpt command 41, 43, 47
tskip subcommand 9
tstep subcommand 9
tstepi subcommand 9
tstop subcommand 8
tstophwp subcommand 8
tstopi subcommand 9
ttrace subcommand 9
ttracehwp subcommand 8
ttracei subcommand 9

lgpg_size parameter 73
memory_affinity parameter 121
memplace_data parameter 120
memplace_mapped_file parameter 120
memplace_shm_anonymous parameter 120
memplace_shm_named parameter 120
memplace_stack parameter 120
memplace_text parameter 120
memplace_unmapped_file parameter 121
vmm_mpsize_support parameter 74
vmstat command 94

W
WebSM now uses PAM 141
where subcommand 4

X
XL C/C++ 20
Xmalloc 11
xmwlm command 106

U
uncompress command 59
usrck 69
usrck flags 69

V
vector arithmetic logic unit 19
Velocity Engine 18
vi 2
vmm_mpsize_support parameter 74
vmo command 73, 120
lgpg_regions parameter 73

236

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414spine.fm

237

To determine the spine width of a book, you divide the paper PPI into the number of pages in the book. An example is a 250 page book using Plainfield opaque 50#
smooth which has a PPI of 526. Divided 250 by 526 which equals a spine width of .4752". In this case, you would use the .5 spine. Now select the Spine width for
the book and hide the others: Special>Conditional Text>Show/Hide>SpineSize(-->Hide:)>Set . Move the changed Conditional text settings to all files in your
book by opening the book file with the spine.fm still open and File>Import>Formats the Conditional Text Settings (ONLY!) to the book files.

AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Addendum

(0.2spine)
0.17<->0.473
90<->249 pages

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

7414spine.fm

238

To determine the spine width of a book, you divide the paper PPI into the number of pages in the book. An example is a 250 page book using Plainfield opaque 50#
smooth which has a PPI of 526. Divided 250 by 526 which equals a spine width of .4752". In this case, you would use the .5 spine. Now select the Spine width for
the book and hide the others: Special>Conditional Text>Show/Hide>SpineSize(-->Hide:)>Set . Move the changed Conditional text settings to all files in your
book by opening the book file with the spine.fm still open and File>Import>Formats the Conditional Text Settings (ONLY!) to the book files.

Back cover

Draft Document for Review March 5, 2007 7:13 pm

AIX 5L Differences Guide

Version 5.3 Addendum
Where the AIX 5L
Differences Guide
left off - ML 5300-01
through TL 5300-06
An experts guide to
the between release
enhancements
AIX 5L Version 5.3
enhancements
explained

This IBM Redbook focuses on the differences introduced in

AIX 5L Version 5.3 since the initial AIX 5L Version 5.3 release.
It is intended to help system administrators, developers, and
users understand these enhancements and evaluate
potential benefits in their own environments.

INTERNATIONAL
TECHNICAL
SUPPORT
ORGANIZATION

Since AIX 5L Version 5.3 was introduced many new features,

including JFS2, LDAP, trace and debug, installation and
migration, NFSv4, and performance tools enhancements
were introduced. There are many other improvements
offered through updates for AIX 5L Version 5.3, and you can
explore them in this redbook.

BUILDING TECHNICAL
INFORMATION BASED ON
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

For clients who are not familiar with the base enhancements
of AIX 5L Version 5.3, a companion publication, AIX 5L
Differences Guide Version 5.3 Edition, SG24-7463 is
available.

IBM Redbooks are developed by

the IBM International Technical
Support Organization. Experts
from IBM, Customers and
Partners from around the world
create timely technical
information based on realistic
scenarios. Specific
recommendations are provided
to help you implement IT
solutions more effectively in
your environment.

For more information:

ibm.com/redbooks
SG24-7414-00

ISBN