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The following error message occurred while creating a mirrored logical volume:
# mklv -c 2 -t jfs2 datavg01 10 0516-1814 lcreatelv: Mirror pools must be defined for each copy when strict mirror pools are enabled. 0516-822 mklv: Unable to create logical volume. #
The reason for this is that the mirror pool strictness is set for the volume group. The article Mirror Pools: Understanding Mirror Pool Strictness examines and explains this in more detail.
The attempt to create an unmirrored LV in a VG with mirror pools results in the following error:
# mklv -t jfs2 -p copy1=DC1 datavg01 10 0516-1829 mklv: Every mirror pool must contain a copy of the logical volume. 0516-822 mklv: Unable to create logical volume. #
The cause is the VG‘s Mirror Pool Strictness attribute, which is set to ‘super-strict‘. The article Mirror Pools: Understanding Mirror Pool Strictness examines the importance of Mirror Pool Strictness using examples.
Many IT environments operate their systems in more than one data center. In order not to have any data loss in the event of a failure of an entire data center, the data is mirrored between 2 or more data centers. The mirroring can be realized by the storage (storage based mirroring) or by a volume manager (LVM in the case of AIX) on the server (host based mirroring). In the article Mirror Pools: An Introduction we look at mirroring using AIX Logical Volume Manager and Mirror Pools. The aim is to show how the correct mirroring of logical volumes can be implemented with the help of mirror pools. In larger environments with many physical volumes, maintaining correct mirroring without mirror pools is difficult and a challenge for the administrator.
Recently, when installing Python3 from the AIX toolbox using YUM, we encountered the following error situation:
# yum install python3 ... --> Finished Dependency Resolution Error: Package: python3-3.7.1-1.ppc (AIX_Toolbox) Requires: libssl.a(libssl.so.1.0.2) Error: Package: python3-3.7.1-1.ppc (AIX_Toolbox) Requires: libcrypto.a(libcrypto.so.1.0.2) You could try using --skip-broken to work around the problem You could try running: rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest #
Python3 requires version 1.0.2 of libssl.so and libcrypto.so, but the two libraries cannot be found. These two libraries can either be provided via the RPM package openssl, in the appropriate version, or via AIX. When the AIX toolbox is used, the openssl package is typically not installed, and the AIX OpenSSL libraries are used. Therefore, in our case, the OpenSSL RPM package is not installed. The libraries are then made available by BFF packages of the AIX operating system.
The information about which libraries are made available by AIX is provided via the virtual RPM package AIX-rpm:
# rpm -q --provides AIX-rpm | egrep "lib(ssl|crypto)" libcrypto.a(libcrypto.so) libcrypto.a(libcrypto.so.0.9.8) libcrypto.a(libcrypto.so.1.0.0) libcrypto.a(libcrypto64.so) libcrypto.a(libcrypto64.so.0.9.8) libcrypto.a(libcrypto64.so.1.0.0) libcrypto.so.0.9.7 libcrypto_compat.a(libcrypto.so) libcrypto_compat.a(libcrypto.so.0.9.8) libcrypto_compat.a(libcrypto64.so) libcrypto_compat.a(libcrypto64.so.0.9.8) libssl.a(libssl.so) libssl.a(libssl.so.0.9.8) libssl.a(libssl.so.1.0.0) libssl.a(libssl64.so) libssl.a(libssl64.so.0.9.8) libssl.a(libssl64.so.1.0.0) libssl3.a(libssl3.so) libssl3.so libssl_compat.a(libssl.so) libssl_compat.a(libssl.so.0.9.8) libssl_compat.a(libssl64.so) libssl_compat.a(libssl64.so.0.9.8) #
The output shows that versions 0.9.8 and 1.0.0 of the two required libraries are known to the AIX-rpm package, but the required version 1.0.2 is apparently not available. We take a quick look at the associated archive /usr/lib/libssl.a (or /usr/lib/libcrypto.a):
# ar -X any t /usr/lib/libssl.a libssl.so libssl.so.0.9.8 libssl.so.1.0.0 libssl.so.1.0.2 libssl.so libssl.so.0.9.8 libssl.so.1.0.0 libssl.so.1.0.2 libssl64.so libssl64.so.0.9.8 libssl64.so.1.0.0 #
The archive obviously also provides version 1.0.2. This information is not provided by the AIX-rpm RPM package. This is because a newer version of openssl.base has obviously been installed, but the AIX-rpm package has not been updated. The RPM package currently has the following version:
# rpm -q AIX-rpm AIX-rpm-7.1.5.15-6.ppc #
We update the package now with the command updtvpkg (update virtual package):
# updtvpkg Please wait... # # rpm -q AIX-rpm AIX-rpm-7.1.5.30-7.ppc #
The version number has now changed from 7.1.5.15-6 to 7.1.5.30-7! We can again display which libraries are provided by AIX via AIX rpm:
# rpm -q --provides AIX-rpm | egrep "lib(ssl|crypto)" libcrypto.a(libcrypto.so) libcrypto.a(libcrypto.so.0.9.8) libcrypto.a(libcrypto.so.1.0.0) libcrypto.a(libcrypto.so.1.0.2) libcrypto.a(libcrypto64.so) libcrypto.a(libcrypto64.so.0.9.8) libcrypto.a(libcrypto64.so.1.0.0) libcrypto.so libcrypto.so.0.9.7 libcrypto.so.1.0.0 libcrypto_compat.a(libcrypto.so) libcrypto_compat.a(libcrypto.so.0.9.8) libcrypto_compat.a(libcrypto64.so) libcrypto_compat.a(libcrypto64.so.0.9.8) libssl.a(libssl.so) libssl.a(libssl.so.0.9.8) libssl.a(libssl.so.1.0.0) libssl.a(libssl.so.1.0.2) libssl.a(libssl64.so) libssl.a(libssl64.so.0.9.8) libssl.a(libssl64.so.1.0.0) libssl.so libssl.so.1.0.0 libssl3.a(libssl3.so) libssl3.so libssl_compat.a(libssl.so) libssl_compat.a(libssl.so.0.9.8) libssl_compat.a(libssl64.so) libssl_compat.a(libssl64.so.0.9.8) #
After the update of the virtual package AIX-rpm, the RPM database now also contains the version 1.0.2 of libssl.so and libcrypto.so.
The installation of Python3 is now successful:
# yum install python3 ... Is this ok [y/N]: y ... Installed: python3.ppc 0:3.7.1-1 Dependency Installed: bzip2.ppc 0:1.0.6-3 expat.ppc 0:2.2.4-1 info.ppc 0:6.4-1 libffi.ppc 0:3.2.1-3 libstdc++.ppc 0:6.3.0-2 ncurses.ppc 0:6.1-2 Dependency Updated: readline.ppc 0:7.0-5 Complete! #
Therefore, do not forget to update AIX-rpm when updating BFF packages!
Many AIX and Power System administrators use Microcode Discovery Services to regularly check the versions of adapter firmware and system firmware. The following steps are usually necessary:
– Download the current catalog file catalog.mic.
– Run Inventory Scout to generate the microcode upload file.
– Upload the microcode upload file to IBM http://www14.software.ibm.com/support/customercare/mds/mds
In many cases, the upload is carried out via a browser. The report is shown in the form of an HTML output. Alternatively, you can also upload e.g. with the help of curl and request the data in JSON format.
$ curl -F "mdsData=@ms01-vio1.mup;type=multipart/form" -F "format=json" -H "Expect:" http://www14.software.ibm.com/support/customercare/mds/mds -o ms01-vio1.mup
The returned JSON file contains all information that is otherwise displayed in the browser.
With a small script, the JSON file can be displayed relatively easily in readable ASCII form. We have created the script mds_report for this purpose and made it available in our download area (https://powercampus.de/download). The script expects a microcode upload file as an argument, here is a sample output:
$ mds_report ms01-vio1.mup ms01-vio1.mup upload microcode upload file to IBM ... uploaded Microcode by Host ms01-vio1 IP Addr: X.X.X.X Model: 8205-E6D Serial: XXXXXX Microcode catalog: 2020.07.30 DEVICES INSTALLED LATEST RECOMMEND PKGNAME system AL770_126 AL770_126 None 8231-E1D; 8231-E2D; 8246-L1D; 8246-L1T; 8246-L2D; 8246-L2T; 8202-E4D; 8205-E6D; 8268-E1D; 8493-SV6 HV16 System Firmware sissas0 0422003f 0422003f None PCI Express x8 Ext Dual-x4 3Gb SAS RAID Adapter (CCIN: 574E) ent0,1,2,3 10080180 10240310 Update 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter ent4,5,6,7 0400401800007 0400401800009 Update PCIe2 2-Port 10GbE SFP+Copper or 10GbE SR Adapter fcs0,1,2,3 210301 210313 Update PCIe2 4-Port 8Gb Fibre Channel Adapter, FC 5729 fcs4,5,6,7 0320080270 0325080271 Update 8Gb PCIe2 Low Profile 4-Port FC Adapter hdisk0,1 37343138 37343139 Update Savvio 15K.3 146/300GB SAS Disk Drive cd0 RA65 RA65 None SATA DVD-RAM Drive RMBO0140512 Microcode by Type IMPACT SEVERITY RELDATE LATEST PKGNAME Security SPE 2018.05.27 AL770_126 8231-E1D; 8231-E2D; 8246-L1D; 8246-L1T; 8246-L2D; 8246-L2T; 8202-E4D; 8205-E6D; 8268-E1D; 8493-SV6 HV16 System Firmware Usability ATT 2013.06.06 0422003f PCI Express x8 Ext Dual-x4 3Gb SAS RAID Adapter (CCIN: 574E) Usability ATT 2019.06.20 10240310 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter Usability ATT 2016.11.14 0400401800009 PCIe2 2-Port 10GbE SFP+Copper or 10GbE SR Adapter Usability ATT 2019.06.17 210313 PCIe2 4-Port 8Gb Fibre Channel Adapter, FC 5729 Usability ATT 2020.01.28 0325080271 8Gb PCIe2 Low Profile 4-Port FC Adapter Function ATT 2019.04.30 37343139 Savvio 15K.3 146/300GB SAS Disk Drive New NEW 2014.10.24 RA65 SATA DVD-RAM Drive RMBO0140512 $
The output is very similar to the output in the browser. In the first section “Microcode by Host” the update recommendations for the system firmware and adapter firmware are given. In the second section “Microcode by Type” Impact and Severity, as well as the release date of the last available firmware version are shown.
If access to the Internet is only possible via a proxy, the proxy can be specified using the -x argument, as shown in the following example:
$ mds_report -x http://10.0.0.217:1234 ms07-vio1.mup ms07-vio1.mup upload microcode upload file to IBM ... uploaded Microcode by Host ms07-vio1 IP Addr: X.X.X.X Model: 8408-44E Serial: XXXXXXX Microcode catalog: 2020.07.30 DEVICES INSTALLED LATEST RECOMMEND PKGNAME system SV860_138 SV860_215 Update 8247-21L, 8247-22L, 8247-42L, 8284-21A, 8284-22A, 8286-41A, 8286-42A, 8408-44E, 8408-E8E, 5148-21L, 5148-22L - system-v860.60 sissas0 15511800 19512900 Update PCIe3 RAID SAS Adapter Quad-port 6Gb x8... ses0,1,2,3 1D0B 1D0B None SAS Enclosure Services for Power 8 4U High Function DASD backplane 8408-E8E pdisk0,1 37363135 37363142 Update BP5XX15KHDD 15KRPM 73/146/300/600GB SAS Disk Drive fcs0,1 00010000020025201919 00012000040025700015 Update PCIe2 2-Port 16Gb FC Adapter fcs2,3,4,5 0320080270 0325080271 Update 8Gb PCIe2 Low Profile 4-Port FC Adapter Microcode by Type IMPACT SEVERITY RELDATE LATEST PKGNAME Security HIPER 2020.03.04 SV860_215 8247-21L, 8247-22L, 8247-42L, 8284-21A, 8284-22A, 8286-41A, 8286-42A, 8408-44E, 8408-E8E, 5148-21L, 5148-22L - system-v860.60 Availability ATT 2020.02.25 19512900 PCIe3 RAID SAS Adapter Quad-port 6Gb x8... New NEW 2015.06.03 1D0B SAS Enclosure Services for Power 8 4U High Function DASD backplane 8408-E8E Function ATT 2020.04.16 37363142 BP5XX15KHDD 15KRPM 73/146/300/600GB SAS Disk Drive Usability ATT 2020.02.18 00012000040025700015 PCIe2 2-Port 16Gb FC Adapter Usability ATT 2020.01.28 0325080271 8Gb PCIe2 Low Profile 4-Port FC Adapter $
If you want to use the script more often, you should enter the proxy in the script itself, for this there is the PROXY variable, which can be set as follows:
$ grep ^PROXY mds_report PROXY="http://10.0.0.217:1234" $
(Where 10.0.0.217:1234 is just an example, you have to supply your own values here.)
It is then no longer necessary to specify a proxy using the -x option.
If the script is executed as root on an AIX system, the proxy configuration is automatically adopted from ESA (Electronic Service Agent).
If you need the URLs to download the firmware, you should use the option -u (show download URLs). The links for the firmware versions are then displayed at the end of the output, here is an example:
$ mds_report -u ms03-vio1.mup /appdata/daten/fk450/aix/mds/virt-aix23-vio1.mup upload microcode upload file to IBM ... uploaded Microcode by Host ms03-vio1 IP Addr: X.X.X.X Model: 9009-22A Serial: XXXXXXX Microcode catalog: 2020.07.30 DEVICES INSTALLED LATEST RECOMMEND PKGNAME system VL910_144 VL940_050 Update 9008-22L; 9009-22A; 9009-41A; 9009-42A; 9223-22H; and 9223-42H-system sissas0 19511400 19512900 Update PCIe3 RAID SAS Adapter Quad-port 6Gb x8... pdisk0 36383035 36383035 None AL14SE 600/1200/1800 GB 4K Hard Disk Drive pdisk1,2 41374B30 41374B30 None Ultrastar C15K600-5xx fcs0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 00011000040041500005 00012000040025700015 Update PCIe3 4-Port 16Gb FC Adapter Microcode by Type IMPACT SEVERITY RELDATE LATEST PKGNAME Availability SPE 2020.05.21 VL940_050 9008-22L; 9009-22A; 9009-41A; 9009-42A; 9223-22H; and 9223-42H-system Availability ATT 2020.02.25 19512900 PCIe3 RAID SAS Adapter Quad-port 6Gb x8... Data HIPER 2016.12.01 36383035 AL14SE 600/1200/1800 GB 4K Hard Disk Drive Function ATT 2015.08.18 41374B30 Ultrastar C15K600-5xx Usability ATT 2020.02.18 00012000040025700015 PCIe3 4-Port 16Gb FC Adapter Downloads http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/quickorder?product=ibm/power/900922A&release=all&platform=all&function=fixId&includeSupersedes=0&source=fc&fixids=01VL940_050_027 http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/quickorder?product=ibm/io&release=all&platform=all&function=fixId&includeSupersedes=0&source=fc&fixids=40145679_20200224110413_GRP http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/quickorder?product=ibm/io&release=all&platform=all&function=fixId&includeSupersedes=0&source=fc&fixids=1354333840_20161130155709_GRP http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/quickorder?product=ibm/io&release=all&platform=all&function=fixId&includeSupersedes=0&source=fc&fixids=1448849004_20150813164908_GRP http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/quickorder?product=ibm/io&release=all&platform=all&function=fixId&includeSupersedes=0&source=fc&fixids=427029183_20200213134040_GRP $
The script generally takes less than 1 second to run!
We tested the script on AIX, Linux, and MacOS. Under MacOS there is usually no ksh93. But the installed ksh supports all the necessary features that are required by the mds_report script. If you change the interpreter in the first line of the script to ksh, the script will also run on a Mac.
A good description of Inventory Scout and MDS can be found here: http://gibsonnet.net/blog/cgaix/html/MDS%20reports.html (Chris Gibson)
You can find out how to automate Inventory Scout in our article Automating Inventory Scout
Many administrators use NMON to collect performance data on AIX systems. The collected data can then be visualized graphically with the NMON analyzer for example. Alternatively, one can of course also use njmon. Sometimes you want to take a quick look into an NMON file on the AIX system itself. Of course, this can be done with grep, awk, and other standard UNIX utilities. However, the appropriate command line must always be considered and typed in and the output is not always very readable.
For such a quick look into an NMON file, we have provided the script nmon_printer in our download area. With the nmon_printer you can easily list which data records have been collected in the NMON file:
$ nmon_printer -l aix01_200718.nmon CPU_ALL - CPU Total aix01 CPU01 - CPU 1 aix01 CPU02 - CPU 2 aix01 CPU03 - CPU 3 aix01 CPU04 - CPU 4 aix01 CPU05 - CPU 5 aix01 CPU06 - CPU 6 aix01 CPU07 - CPU 7 aix01 CPU08 - CPU 8 aix01 MEM - Memory aix01 MEMNEW - Memory New aix01 MEMUSE - Memory Use aix01 PAGE - Paging aix01 ... $
To display the data records, in addition to the NMON file, you must also specify the desired data record to be displayed, upper or lower case is irrelevant. Here is an example of CPU_ALL:
$ nmon_printer aix01_200718.nmon cpu_all CPU_ALL Timestamp User% Sys% Wait% Idle% Busy PhysicalCPUs CPU_ALL 00:05:15 17-JUL-2020 1.2 3.0 0.1 95.7 4.2 8 CPU_ALL 00:10:15 17-JUL-2020 1.3 2.7 0.0 96.0 3.9 8 CPU_ALL 00:15:15 17-JUL-2020 1.0 2.3 0.1 96.7 3.3 8 CPU_ALL 00:20:16 17-JUL-2020 5.1 3.0 0.1 91.8 8.2 8 CPU_ALL 00:25:16 17-JUL-2020 1.2 2.7 0.0 96.0 3.9 8 CPU_ALL 00:30:16 17-JUL-2020 1.1 17.5 0.1 81.3 18.5 8 CPU_ALL 00:35:16 17-JUL-2020 1.1 5.8 0.0 93.1 6.9 8 ... $
In some cases, a data record has so many fields that long lines have to be broken and the output becomes somewhat confusing. The data record LPAR has e.g. 23 fields! In such cases, or if you are only interested in certain fields, you can specify the desired fields with the ‘-f‘ option. You can either specify the desired fields separated by commas:
$ nmon_printer -f 0,1,2,13,14,15 aix01_200718.nmon lpar LPAR Timestamp PhysicalCPU EC_User% EC_Sys% EC_Wait% LPAR 00:05:15 17-JUL-2020 0.037 1.23 2.95 0.00 LPAR 00:10:15 17-JUL-2020 0.034 1.28 2.66 0.00 LPAR 00:15:15 17-JUL-2020 0.029 1.03 2.25 0.00 LPAR 00:20:16 17-JUL-2020 0.064 5.14 3.01 0.00 LPAR 00:25:16 17-JUL-2020 0.035 1.21 2.69 0.00 LPAR 00:30:16 17-JUL-2020 0.150 1.08 17.46 0.02 LPAR 00:35:16 17-JUL-2020 0.063 1.13 5.77 0.00 LPAR 00:40:16 17-JUL-2020 0.030 1.13 2.24 0.00 LPAR 00:45:16 17-JUL-2020 0.030 1.06 2.34 0.00 ... $
Or you can also specify ranges (e.g. 0-2 or 13-15):
$ nmon_printer -f 1,5-7 aix01_200718.nmon ioadapt
Timestamp fcs1_read-KB/s fcs1_write-KB/s fcs1_xfer-tps
00:05:15 17-JUL-2020 0.0 27.3 3.0
00:10:15 17-JUL-2020 0.0 0.0 2.6
00:15:15 17-JUL-2020 0.0 13.6 2.8
00:20:16 17-JUL-2020 0.0 13.6 2.3
00:25:16 17-JUL-2020 0.0 13.7 2.3
00:30:16 17-JUL-2020 27.3 4982.5 89.4
00:35:16 17-JUL-2020 13.7 27.3 4.1
00:40:16 17-JUL-2020 0.0 13.6 2.6
00:45:16 17-JUL-2020 0.0 13.6 2.6
...
$
The fields are counted starting from 0.
How often have you searched the lifecycle informations (start of general availability and end of support) for AIX, VIOS, PowerHA or HMC via Google?
This information can also be found easily using the command line of the IBM FLRT API (https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/sas?page=jsonapi). All you need is:
You can get an overview of all AIX versions with the help of the following curl command:
$ curl "https://www14.software.ibm.com/support/customercare/flrt/liteTable?prodKey=aix&format=json"
{"results": [
{
"input": "7200-04-02",
"inputurl": "http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/aix/quickorder?fixids=U887468&function=fixId&includeRequisites=1&includeSupersedes=0&release=7.2&source=flrt",
"ga": "2020.05.15",
"eosps": "2022.11.30"
},
{
"input": "7200-04-01",
"inputurl": "http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/aix/quickorder?fixids=U886355&function=fixId&includeRequisites=1&includeSupersedes=0&release=7.2&source=flrt",
"ga": "2019.11.15",
"eosps": "2022.11.30"
},
...
The output is in JSON format and is greatly shortened in the example.
We packed everything necessary in a small shell script (show_life_cycle) and made it available in our download area (https://powercampus.de/download).
Here is a sample run of the script without arguments:
$ show_life_cycle VERSION GA EOSPS UPDATE UPGRADE 7200-04-02 2020.05.15 2022.11.30 - - 7200-04-01 2019.11.15 2022.11.30 - - 7200-04-00 2019.11.15 2022.11.30 7200-04-01 - 7200-03-04 2020.02.14 2021.09.30 - 7200-04-01 7200-03-03 2019.05.10 2021.09.30 7200-03-04 7200-04-01 7200-03-02 2018.11.16 2021.09.30 7200-03-04 7200-04-01 ...
All AIX versions are listed. However, other products can be selected for display via an argument, e.g. RHEL versions, SLES versions, VIOS versions, HMC versions, PowerHA versions and even HMC models or power systems. A complete list can be found at https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/doc?page=prodTable. Here is a list of the RHEL versions as an example:
$ show_life_cycle rhel VERSION GA EOSPS UPDATE UPGRADE 8.0 2019.05.07 NA - - 7.7 2019.08.06 NA - - 7.6 2018.10.30 NA 7.7 - 7.5 2018.04.10 NA 7.7 - 7.4 2017.07.31 NA 7.7 - 7.3 2016.11.03 NA 7.7 - 7.2 2015.11.19 NA 7.7 - 7.1 2015.03.05 NA 7.7 - 7.0 2014.06.10 2015.03.05 7.7 - 6.10 2018.06.19 NA - 7.6 6.9 2017.03.21 NA 6.10 7.6 6.8 2016.05.10 NA 6.10 7.6 6.7 2015.07.22 NA 6.10 7.6 6.6 2014.10.14 NA 6.10 7.6 6.5 2013.11.21 2014.10.14 6.10 7.6 ...
The output is very long in some cases. An additional argument can be used to specify a prefix for the desired versions, shown here using PowerHA 7.2.2 as an example:
$ show_life_cycle hacmp 7.2.2 VERSION GA EOSPS UPDATE UPGRADE 7.2.2.4 2020.05.28 2021.04.30 - 7.2.3.2 7.2.2.3 2019.09.13 2021.04.30 - 7.2.3.2 7.2.2.2 2018.11.30 2021.04.30 7.2.2.3 7.2.3.2 7.2.2.1 2018.06.29 2021.04.30 7.2.2.3 7.2.3.2 7.2.2 2017.12.15 2021.04.30 7.2.2.3 7.2.3.2 $
If only a connection using a proxy is possible, then the following options are available:
1. The HTTP proxy is specified using the ‘-p‘ option, e.g..:
$ show_life_cycle -p http://10.0.0.3:8000 hmc V9 VERSION GA EOSPS UPDATE UPGRADE V9 R1 M941 2020.05.22 2021.04.30 - - V9 R1 M940 2019.11.22 2021.04.30 - - V9 R1 M931 2019.09.11 2021.04.30 - - V9 R1 M930 2019.05.17 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - V9 R1 M921 2018.11.16 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - V9 R1 M920 2018.08.17 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - V9 R1 M911 2018.05.25 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - V9 R1 M910 2018.03.20 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - $
2. The HTTP proxy is set directly in the script, shell variable PROXY:
$ grep ^PROXY show_life_cycle PROXY="http://10.0.0.3:8000" $
3. If the script is executed as root on AIX, the proxy configuration of the Electronic Service Agent (ESA) is automatically taken over. This can be overwritten by using the command line option ‘-p‘ or by setting the variable PROXY.
The script should run on any UNIX system with a Korn shell (including MacOS). This means that searching via Google for lifecycle data is no longer necessary.
On the subject of Inventory Scout we have an article Automating Inventory Scout and another script for download available!
There are a number of documents on the web for configuring SUMA with a proxy. Some of the older documents still describe the configuration of proxies using SUMA attributes:
# suma -c -a HTTP_PROXY=http://10.0.0.1:49000 0500-019 The -a flag entry HTTP_PROXY=http://10.0.0.1:49000 is not valid. (main, /usr/sbin/suma [767]) 0500-009 An error occurred attempting to save configuration settings. (main, /usr/sbin/suma [768]) # suma -c -a HTTPS_PROXY=https://10.0.0.1:49000 0500-019 The -a flag entry HTTPS_PROXY=https://10.0.0.1:49000 is not valid. (main, /usr/sbin/suma [767]) 0500-009 An error occurred attempting to save configuration settings. (main, /usr/sbin/suma [768]) # suma -c -a HELLO=world 0500-019 The -a flag entry HELLO=world is not valid. (main, /usr/sbin/suma [767]) 0500-009 An error occurred attempting to save configuration settings. (main, /usr/sbin/suma [768]) #
Unfortunately, the attributes HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY are no longer supported by SUMA. This is also documented in the SUMA manual page!
# man suma ... HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY Proxy server and port to use for the HTTP or HTTPS transfers. The SUMA command shares the proxy connectivity settings with the Electronic Service Agent\u2122. The HTTP or HTTPS proxy service configuration can be set up through the SMIT Create/Change Service Configuration menus (use fastpath smitty srv_conn) that allow the server specifications such as IP address, port number, and an optional user ID and password. SUMA no longer supports the settings of the HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY parameters.
The proxy configuration is taken over from ESA (Electronic Service Agent). This means that proxies have to be configured via ESA. Therefore the fileset bos.ecc_client.rte must be installed. However, this should be already installed, as it is a prerequisite for bos.suma.
The proxies can be configured either using SMIT or via the command line. We first show the variant via the command line:
# /usr/ecc/bin/config_conn_path -c PRIMARY -y HTTP_PROXY -t YES -a 10.0.0.1 -x 49000 ########################################################### Testing HTTP Proxy Service Configuration Performing HTTP Proxy Connectivity Test ... SUCCESS #
The IP address of the proxy is specified with the option ‘–a‘, the port number with the option ‘–x‘. If a user is required for authentication, it can be specified with the option ‘–u‘ (the password is requested interactively). The option ‘–t YES‘ ensures that a connection test is made immediately, which was successful here.
In addition to the primary connection (PRIMARY), a secondary (SECONDARY) and tertiary (TERTIARY) connection can also be configured. The current configuration, e.g. for the primary connection, can be shown as follows:
# /usr/ecc/bin/config_conn_path -d PRIMARY #type:ttyport:modem_type:primary_location:secondary_location:prefix:host:port:userid HTTP_PROXY::::::10.0.0.1:49000: #
The keyword ‘PRIMARY‘ can be abbreviated to ‘p‘.
A connection test can be started at any time using the option ‘–t YES‘ or ‘–t y‘:
# /usr/ecc/bin/config_conn_path -c p -t y ########################################################### Testing HTTP Proxy Service Configuration Performing HTTP Proxy Connectivity Test ... SUCCESS #
Alternatively, you can also use SMIT:
# smitty configure_primary … Create/Change Primary Service Configuration Type or select values in entry fields. Press Enter AFTER making all desired changes. [Entry Fields] Connection type [HTTP_Proxy] + Test service configuration [No] + If type is DIRECT_INTERNET, no entry required. If type is HTTP_PROXY, IP address [10.0.0.1] Port number [49000] # Authentication user ID [] Authentication password requested interact ively. F1=Help F2=Refresh F3=Cancel F4=List F5=Reset F6=Command F7=Edit F8=Image F9=Shell F10=Exit Enter=Do
A short test shows that SUMA works with the configured proxies:
# suma -x -a DisplayName=Test -a Action=Preview -a RqType=Latest **************************************** (main, /usr/sbin/suma [990]) Performing preview download. (main, /usr/sbin/suma [991]) **************************************** (main, /usr/sbin/suma [992]) Partition id was unassigned; will attempt to assign it. Partition id assigned value 6 Download SUCCEEDED: /export/nim/suma/installp/ppc/U861910.bff (main, /usr/sbin/suma [1048]) Download SUCCEEDED: /export/nim/suma/installp/ppc/U861907.bff (main, /usr/sbin/suma [1048]) Download SUCCEEDED: /export/nim/suma/installp/ppc/U861904.bff (main, /usr/sbin/suma [1048]) … Total bytes of updates downloaded: 899671552 (main, /usr/sbin/suma [1048]) Summary: (main, /usr/sbin/suma [1048]) 367 downloaded (main, /usr/sbin/suma [1048]) 0 failed (main, /usr/sbin/suma [1048]) 34 skipped (main, /usr/sbin/suma [1048]) DEBUG: Closing file handles (SUMA::Messenger, /usr/suma/lib/SUMA/Messenger.pm [401]) #
Probably everyone has had at least once problems with AIX and run-time linking. For example if a program aborts with the following error when called:
$ progXY exec(): 0509-036 Cannot load program progXY because of the following errors: 0509-150 Dependent module libXXX.a(shr.o) could not be loaded. 0509-022 Cannot load module libXXX.a(shr.o). 0509-026 System error: A file or directory in the path name does not exist. $
In our article AIX and Run-Time Linking, we explain the processes involved in run-time linking and possible errors. We show how to examine executable programs and libraries with the dump command. The meaning of the variables LIBPATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH for dynamic linking is also explained.
The following article deals with WWPN of FC ports in Open Firmware.
Port and node WWNs of FC ports can be found very easily in the Open Firmware, even when the ioinfo command is no longer available, as is the case with new POWER9 firmware. The hardware structure of a POWER system is available in the Open Firmware in the form of a device tree. Hardware components such as PCI bridges, processors and PCI cards are represented as device nodes in this tree.
With the command “dev /” you can access the device nodes, starting with the root node (“/” or slash):
0 > dev / ok
0 >
In the device tree you can navigate with the commands dev, ls and pwd similar to the Unix file system. An ls on the root node shows all available device nodes (as well as some “package nodes” which are not discussed here).
The hierarchy is visualized in the device tree by indenting the device nodes:
0 > ls 0000020939c0: /ibm,serial 000002094ae8: /chosen 000002094d60: /packages 000002094e58: /disassembler ...0000020af578: /cpus 0000020b5200: /PowerPC,POWER7@0 ... 0000020ba640: /memory@0 ... 00000226cad0: /pci@800000020000120 00000229d750: /pci@0 0000022a0018: /pci@2 0000022a28e0: /ethernet@0 0000022b4a28: /ethernet@0,1 0000022c6b70: /pci@4 0000022c9438: /ethernet@0 0000022db580: /ethernet@0,1 000002277fd8: /pci@800000020000121 0000022ed7d0: /fibre-channel@0 0000023026e0: /fp 000002303240: /disk 000002304de0: /tape 000002306270: /fibre-channel@0,1 00000231b180: /fp 00000231bce0: /disk 00000231d880: /tape ... ok 0 >
The example output shows 2 FC ports. Both FC ports are children of the device node pci@800000020000121, which can be found directly under the root node /.
With the command “dev / pci@800000020000121” we first navigate to this node and then display the child or child nodes using “ls“:
0 > dev /pci@800000020000121 ok 0 > ls 0000022ed7d0: /fibre-channel@0 0000023026e0: /fp 000002303240: /disk 000002304de0: /tape 000002306270: /fibre-channel@0,1 00000231b180: /fp 00000231bce0: /disk 00000231d880: /tape ok 0 >
We next move into the device node of the first FC port fiber-channel@0.
With the command “pwd” we check briefly the position in the device tree and then use “ls” to look at the available subnodes:
0 > dev fibre-channel@0 ok 0 > pwd /pci@800000020000121/fibre-channel@0 ok 0 > ls 0000023026e0: /fp 000002303240: /disk 000002304de0: /tape ok 0 >
Each device node has a number of properties, which depend on the type of the underlying hardware component.
The properties of a device node can be displayed with the command “.properties” (the command name begins with a “.“):
0 > .properties ibm,loc-code U5802.001.008C110-P1-C2-T1 vendor-id 000010df device-id 0000f100 ... name fibre-channel ... manufacturer 456d756c 657800 copyright 436f7079 72696768 74202863 29203230 30302d32 30313220 456d756c 657800 device_type fcp model 10N9824 ... port-wwn 10000000 c9b12345 node-wwn 20000000 c9b12345 ... ok 0 >
In addition to the location code, the port WWN (port-wwn) and the node WWN (node-wwn) are displayed.
If you would like to know more about the structure of WWNs, please refer to the article: Numbers: FC World Wide Names (WWNs)
Of course, you can also find out the MAC address of an ethernet port in the same way. With “dev ..” you can move up one level in the device tree, just like in a Unix file system. But you can also abbreviate and go straight to the top, which we do here in the following. Then we display all available device nodes again:
0 > dev / ok
0 > ls
...
00000226cad0: /pci@800000020000120
00000229d750: /pci@0
0000022a0018: /pci@2
0000022a28e0: /ethernet@0
0000022b4a28: /ethernet@0,1
0000022c6b70: /pci@4
0000022c9438: /ethernet@0
0000022db580: /ethernet@0,1
...
ok
0 >
As an example, we select the device node /pci@800000020000120/pci@0/pci@2/ethernet@0.1 and again let us display the properties:
0 > dev /pci@800000020000124/pci@0/pci@2/ethernet@0,1 ok 0 > pwd /pci@800000020000124/pci@0/pci@2/ethernet@0,1 ok 0 > .properties ibm,loc-code U5802.001.008C110-P1-C4-T2 vendor-id 00008086 device-id 000010bc ... name ethernet ... device_type network ... max-frame-size 00000800 address-bits 00000030 local-mac-address 00145eea 1234 mac-address 00145eea 1234 ... 0 >
The MAC address is available here by the property mac-address.
If you want to leave the device tree, you can do this with the command “device-end“:
0 > device-end ok 0 >
We hope this article about WWPN of FC ports in Open Firmware was both helpful and informative.