It may happen that a virtual terminal (vterm) from an HMC GUI only showes a black screen, even though the Lpar is running perfectly. Here's a solution to this problem:

• Login to the HMC using ssh as hscroot.
• Run lssscfg -R sys to determine the machine name of your lpar on the HMC.
• Run mkvterm -m [machine-name] -p [partition-name].
• You can end this session by typing "~." or "~~." (don't overlook the "dot" here!).
• Now go back to your HMC gui via WebBased System Manager and start-up a new vterm. It works again!

Permanently change hostname for inet0 device in the ODM by choosing one of the following:

Command line method:

# chdev -l inet0 -a hostname=[newhostname]

# smitty hostname

# uname -S [newhostname]

# /etc/rc.net

# hostname [newhostname]

There is a way to mount a share from a windows system as an NFS filesystem in AIX:

1. Install the CIFS software on the AIX server (this is part of AIX itself: bos.cifs_fs).
2. Create a folder on the windows machine, e.g. D:\share.
3. Create a local user, e.g. "share" (user IDs from Active Directory can not be used): Settings -> Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Advanced tab -> Advanced button -> Select Users -> Right click in right window and select "New User" -> Enter User-name, password twice, deselect "User must change password at next logon" and click on create and close and ok.
4. Make sure the folder on the D: drive (in this case "share") is shared and give the share a name (we'll use "share" again as name in this example) and give "full control" permissions to "Everyone".
5. Create a mountpoint on the AIX machine to mount the windows share on, e.g. /mnt/share.
6. Type on the AIX server as user root:

   # mount -v cifs -n hostname/share/password -o uid=201,fmode=750 /share /mnt/share

7. You're done!

Before switching to 64bit mode, make sure the hardware supports it.

To verify what is running and what the hardware can support, run the following as root:

# echo "Hardware:\t`bootinfo -y` bits capable"
Hardware: 64 bits capable
# echo "Running:\t`bootinfo -K` bits mode"
Running: 32 bits mode
# ls -l /unix /usr/lib/boot/unix
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 21 Aug 15 2006 /unix -> /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 21 Aug 15 2006 /usr/lib/boot/unix -> /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp

# ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /unix
# ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /usr/lib/boot/unix
# bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
# shutdown -Fr

# ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /unix
# ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /usr/lib/boot/unix
# bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
# shutdown -Fr

The command /usr/sbin/bootinfo has traditionally been used to find out information regarding system boot devices, kernel versions, and disk sizes. This command has been depricated in favor of the command /usr/bin/getconf. The bootinfo man page has been removed, and the command is only used in AIX by the booting and software installation utilities. It should not be used in customer-created shell scripts or run by hand.

The getconf command will report much of the same information that bootinfo will:

What was the device the system was last booted from?

# getconf BOOT_DEVICE
hdisk0

# getconf DISK_SIZE /dev/hdisk0
10240

# getconf DISK_PARTITION /dev/hdisk0
16

$ getconf HARDWARE_BITMODE
64

# getconf KERNEL_BITMODE
64

# getconf REAL_MEMORY
524288

In order to keep users and all their related settings and crontab files synchronized, here's a script that you can use to do this for you:

sync.ksh

HACMP is capable of using an alternative MAC address in combination with its service address. So, how do you set this MAC address without HACMP, just using the command line? (Could come in handy, in case you wish to configure the service address on a system, without having to start HACMP).

# ifconfig enX down
# ifconfig enX detach
# chdev -l entX -a use_alt_addr=yes
# chdev -l entX -a alt_addr=0x00xxxxxxxxxx
# ifconfig enX xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
# ifconfig enX up

# ifconfig enX down
# ifconfig enX detach
# chdev -l entX -a use_alt_addr=no
# chdev -l entX -a alt_addr=0x00000000000

When you have a lot of Putty screens, or if you frequently login to a host through a jump server, it's very easy to set the title of the Putty window, for exmaple to the hostname of the server you're currently logged into. This way, you'll easily recognize each telnet screen, and avoid entering -possibly destructive- commands in the wrong window:

echo "\033]0;`hostname`\007"

On occasion I have the need to establish trust relationships between Unix boxes so that I can script file transfers. In short, here's how you leverage SSH to do that. Using the example of trying to connect from server "a" to get a file on "b" follow this example:

• Connect to "a".
• Type: ssh-keygen -t rsa
• The default directory for keyfiles will be ~/.ssh/ (if you do not want to be prompted, leave passphrase blank).
• Copy the contents of .ssh/id_rsa.pub (there should only be one line).
• Place this line on "b", in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.

This is a short procedure how to creat an AIX DVD from a base set of 8 AIX 5.3 CD's:

1. Copy all CD's using "cp -hRp" to a directory, start with the last CD and work towards the first one. You can do this on either an AIX or a Linux system.
2. Check that <directory>/installp/ppc contails all install images.
3. If not already, remove <directory>/usr/sys/inst.images. This directory also might contain all installation images.
4. Create a link <directory>/usr/sys/inst.images pointing to <directory>/installp/ppc.
5. Find all .toc files in the directory structure and, if necessary, change all vol%# entries to vol%1 (There should be at least 2 .toc files that need these updates). You have to change vol%2 to vol%1, vol%3 to vol%1, etcetera, up till vol%8.
6. Create an ISO image with RockRidge extentions:

   # mkisofs -R -o  
   

# lsdev -Cc cdrom
cd0 Available 3F-09-00-0,0 SCSI DVD-RAM Drive
cd1 Available 3F-09-00-5,0 16 Bit LVD SCSI DVD-ROM Drive

# lscfg -vl cd0
cd0  U1.9-P2-I1/Z2-A0  SCSI DVD-RAM Drive (4700 MB)
        Manufacturer................IBM
        Machine Type and Model......DVRM00203
        ROS Level and ID............A132
        Device Specific.(Z0)........058002028F000010
        Part Number.................04N5272
        EC Level....................F74471
        FRU Number..................04N5967

# rpm -ihv --ignoreos <filename>

# rpm -ihv --ignoreos /tmp/ibm-scsi-dvdram.dvrm00203-A151.rpm
ibm-scsi-dvdram.dvrm00203  #############################

# diag -d cd0 -c -T "download -s /etc/microcode -f"

# diag -d cd0 -c -T "download -s /etc/microcode -f"
Installation of the microcode has completed successfully.
The current microcode for cd0 is IBM-DVRM00203.A151.
Please run diagnostics on the device to ensure that it is
functioning properly.

# /usr/sbin/burn_cd -d /dev/cd0 /install/aix53ml4dvd.iso