A usefull command to update software on your AIX server is install_all_updates. It is similar to running smitty update_all, but it works from the command line. The only thing you need to provide is the directory name, for example:

# install_all_updates -d .

# install_all_updates -d /cdrom -Y -s

Use this procedure to quickly configure an HACMP cluster, consisting of 2 nodes and disk heartbeating.

Prerequisites:

Make sure you have the following in place:

• Have the IP addresses and host names of both nodes, and for a service IP label. Add these into the /etc/hosts files on both nodes of the new HACMP cluster.
• Make sure you have the HACMP software installed on both nodes. Just install all the filesets of the HACMP CD-ROM, and you should be good.
• Make sure you have this entry in /etc/inittab (as one of the last entries):

  clinit:a:wait:/bin/touch /usr/es/sbin/cluster/.telinit

• In case you're using EMC SAN storage, make sure you configure you're disks correctly as hdiskpower devices. Or, if you're using a mksysb image, you may want to follow this procedure EMC ODM cleanup.

• Create the cluster and its nodes:

  # smitty hacmp
  Initialization and Standard Configuration
  Configure an HACMP Cluster and Nodes
  

  Enter a cluster name and select the nodes you're going to use. It is vital here to have the hostnames and IP address correctly entered in the /etc/hosts file of both nodes.
• Create an IP service label:

  # smitty hacmp
  Initialization and Standard Configuration
  Configure Resources to Make Highly Available
  Configure Service IP Labels/Addresses
  Add a Service IP Label/Address
  

  Enter an IP Label/Address (press F4 to select one), and enter a Network name (again, press F4 to select one).
• Set up a resource group:

  # smitty hacmp
  Initialization and Standard Configuration
  Configure HACMP Resource Groups
  Add a Resource Group
  

  Enter the name of the resource group. It's a good habit to make sure that a resource group name ends with "rg", so you can recognize it as a resource group. Also, select the participating nodes. For the "Fallback Policy", it is a good idea to change it to "Never Fallback". This way, when the primary node in the cluster comes up, and the resource group is up-and-running on the secondary node, you won't see a failover occur from the secondary to the primary node.
  
  Note: The order of the nodes is determined by the order you select the nodes here. If you put in "node01 node02" here, then "node01" is the primary node. If you want to have this any other way, now is a good time to correctly enter the order of node priority.
• Add the Servie IP/Label to the resource group:

  # smitty hacmp
  Initialization and Standard Configuration
  Configure HACMP Resource Groups
  Change/Show Resources for a Resource Group (standard)
  

  Select the resource group you've created earlier, and add the Service IP/Label.
• Run a verification/synchronization:

  # smitty hacmp
  Extended Configuration
  Extended Verification and Synchronization
  

  Just hit [ENTER] here. Resolve any issues that may come up from this synchronization attempt. Repeat this process until the verification/synchronization process returns "Ok". It's a good idea here to select to "Automatically correct errors".
• Start the HACMP cluster:

  # smitty hacmp
  System Management (C-SPOC)
  Manage HACMP Services
  Start Cluster Services
  

  Select both nodes to start. Make sure to also start the Cluster Information Daemon.
• Check the status of the cluster:

  # clstat -o
  # cldump
  

  Wait until the cluster is stable and both nodes are up.

# lspv | grep hdiskpower4
hdiskpower4   000a807f6b9cc8e5    None

• Create an concurrent volume group:

  # smitty hacmp
  System Management (C-SPOC)
  HACMP Concurrent Logical Volume Management
  Concurrent Volume Groups
  Create a Concurrent Volume Group
  

  Select both nodes to create the concurrent volume group on by pressing F7 for each node. Then select the correct PVID. Give the new volume group a name, for example "hbvg".
• Set up the disk heartbeat network:

  # smitty hacmp
  Extended Configuration
  Extended Topology Configuration
  Configure HACMP Networks
  Add a Network to the HACMP Cluster
  

  Select "diskhb" and accept the default Network Name.
• Run a discovery:

  # smitty hacmp
  Extended Configuration
  Discover HACMP-related Information from Configured Nodes
  

• Add the disk device:

  # smitty hacmp
  Extended Configuration
  Extended Topology Configuration
  Configure HACMP Communication Interfaces/Devices
  Add Communication Interfaces/Devices
  Add Discovered Communication Interface and Devices
  Communication Devices
  

  Select the disk device on both nodes by selecting the same disk on each node by pressing F7.
• Run a Verification & Synchronization again, as described earlier above. Then check with clstat and/or cldump again, to check if the disk heartbeat network comes online.

The EOM date (end of marketing) has been announced for AIX 5.3: 04/11; meaning that AIX 5.3 will no longer be marketed by IBM from April 2011, and that it is now time for customers to start thinking about upgrading to AIX 6.1. The EOS (end of service) date for AIX 5.3 is 04/12, meaning AIX 5.3 will be serviced by IBM until April 2012. After that, IBM will only service AIX 5.3 for an additional fee. The EOL (end of life) date is 04/16, which is the end of life date at April 2016. The final technology level for AIX 5.3 is technology level 12. Some service packs for TL12 will be released though.

IBM has also announced EOM and EOS dates for HACMP 5.4 and PowerHA 5.5, so if you're using any of these versions, you also need to upgrade to PowerHA 6.1:

• Sep 30, 2010: EOM HACMP 5.4, PowerHA 5.5
• Sep 30, 2011: EOS HACMP 5.4
• Sep 30, 2012: EOS HACMP 5.5

If you need to run an MD5 check-sum on a file on AIX, you will notice that there's not md5 or md5sum command available on AIX. Instead, use the following command to do this:

# csum -h MD5 [filename]

When you want to mount an NFS file system on a node of an HACMP cluster, there are a couple of items you need check, before it will work:

• Make sure the hostname and IP address of the HACMP node are resolvable and provide the correct output, by running:

  # nslookup [hostname]
  # nslookup [ip-address]
  

• The next thing you will want to check on the NFS server, if the node names of your HACMP cluster nodes are correctly added to the /etc/exports file. If they are, run:

  # exportfs -va

• The last, and tricky item you will want to check is, if a service IP label is defined as an IP alias on the same adapter as your nodes hostname, e.g.:

  # netstat -nr
  Routing tables
  Destination   Gateway       Flags  Refs  Use    If  Exp  Groups
  
  Route Tree for Protocol Family 2 (Internet):
  default       10.251.14.1   UG      4    180100 en1  -     -
  10.251.14.0   10.251.14.50  UHSb    0         0 en1  -     -
  10.251.14.50  127.0.0.1     UGHS    3    791253 lo0  -     -
  

  The example above shows you that the default gateway is defined on the en1 interface. The next command shows you where your Service IP label lives:

  # netstat -i
  Name  Mtu   Network   Address         Ipkts   Ierrs Opkts
  en1   1500  link#2    0.2.55.d3.75.77 2587851 0      940024
  en1   1500  10.251.14 node01          2587851 0      940024
  en1   1500  10.251.20 serviceip       2587851 0      940024
  lo0   16896 link#1                    1912870 0     1914185
  lo0   16896 127       loopback        1912870 0     1914185
  lo0   16896 ::1                       1912870 0     1914185
  

  As you can see, the Service IP label (in the example above called "serviceip") is defined on en1. In that case, for NFS to work, you also want to add the "serviceip" to the /etc/exports file on the NFS server and re-run "exportfs -va". And you should also make sure that hostname "serviceip" resolves to an IP address correctly (and of course the IP address resolves to the correct hostname) on both the NFS server and the client.

Searching for an easy way to create high-quality graphs that you can print, publish to the Web, or cut and paste into performance reports? Look no further. The nmon_analyser tool takes files produced by the NMON performance tool, turns them into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, and automatically produces these graphs.

You can download the tool here:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-nmon_analyser/

Restoring from tape:

First change the block size of the tape device to 512:

# chdev -l rmt0 -a block_size=512

# tctl -f /dev/rmt0 status

rmt0 Available 09-08-00-0,0 LVD SCSI 4mm Tape Drive
attribute     value description                          user_settable

block_size    512   BLOCK size (0=variable length)       True
compress      yes   Use data COMPRESSION                 True
density_set_1 71    DENSITY setting #1                   True
density_set_2 38    DENSITY setting #2                   True
extfm         yes   Use EXTENDED file marks              True
mode          yes   Use DEVICE BUFFERS during writes     True
ret           no    RETENSION on tape change or reset    True
ret_error     no    RETURN error on tape change or reset True
size_in_mb    36000 Size in Megabytes                    False

# cd /tmp
# restore -s2 -xqvf /dev/rmt0.1 ./image.data

Change the /tmp directory (or a directory where you would like to store the /image.data file from the mksysb image) and restore the /image.data file from the mksysb:

# cd /tmp
# restore -xqvf [/location/of/mksysb/file] ./image.data

# restore -Tqvf [/location/of/mksysb/file]

Create a new image.data file by running the following command:

# cd /
# mkszfile

# vi /image.data

lv_data:
VOLUME_GROUP= rootvg
LV_SOURCE_DISK_LIST= hdisk0 hdisk1
LV_IDENTIFIER= 00cead4a00004c0000000117b1e92c90.2
LOGICAL_VOLUME= hd6
VG_STAT= active/complete
TYPE= paging
MAX_LPS= 512
COPIES= 2
LPs= 124
STALE_PPs= 0
INTER_POLICY= minimum
INTRA_POLICY= middle
MOUNT_POINT=
MIRROR_WRITE_CONSISTENCY= off
LV_SEPARATE_PV= yes
PERMISSION= read/write
LV_STATE= opened/syncd
WRITE_VERIFY= off
PP_SIZE= 128
SCHED_POLICY= parallel
PP= 248
BB_POLICY= non-relocatable
RELOCATABLE= yes
UPPER_BOUND= 32
LABEL=
MAPFILE= /tmp/vgdata/rootvg/hd6.map
LV_MIN_LPS= 124
STRIPE_WIDTH=
STRIPE_SIZE=
SERIALIZE_IO= no
FS_TAG=
DEV_SUBTYP=

lv_data:
VOLUME_GROUP= rootvg
LV_SOURCE_DISK_LIST= hdisk0
LV_IDENTIFIER= 00cead4a00004c0000000117b1e92c90.2
LOGICAL_VOLUME= hd6
VG_STAT= active/complete
TYPE= paging
MAX_LPS= 512
COPIES= 1
LPs= 124
STALE_PPs= 0
INTER_POLICY= minimum
INTRA_POLICY= middle
MOUNT_POINT=
MIRROR_WRITE_CONSISTENCY= off
LV_SEPARATE_PV= yes
PERMISSION= read/write
LV_STATE= opened/syncd
WRITE_VERIFY= off
PP_SIZE= 128
SCHED_POLICY= parallel
PP= 124
BB_POLICY= non-relocatable
RELOCATABLE= yes
UPPER_BOUND= 32
LABEL=
MAPFILE= /tmp/vgdata/rootvg/hd6.map
LV_MIN_LPS= 124
STRIPE_WIDTH=
STRIPE_SIZE=
SERIALIZE_IO= no
FS_TAG=
DEV_SUBTYP=

cat /image.data | while read LINE ; do
  if [ "${LINE}" = "COPIES= 2" ] ; then
    COPIESFLAG=1
    echo "COPIES= 1"
  else
    if [ ${COPIESFLAG} -eq 1 ] ; then
      PP=`echo ${LINE} | awk '{print $1}'`
      if [ "${PP}" = "PP=" ] ; then
        PPNUM=`echo ${LINE} | awk '{print $2}'`
        ((PPNUMNEW=$PPNUM/2))
        echo "PP= ${PPNUMNEW}"
        COPIESFLAG=0
      else
        echo "${LINE}"
      fi
    else
      echo "${LINE}"
    fi
  fi
done > /image.data.1disk

Transfer the /image.data file to the NIM master and store it in the location you desire. It is a good idea to place the file, or any NIM resource for that matter, in a descriptive manor, for example: /export/nim/image_data. This will ensure you can easily identify your "image_data" NIM resource file locations, should you have the need for multiple "image_data" resources.

Make sure your image.data filenames are descriptive also. A common way to name the file would be in relation to your clientname, for example: server1_image_data.

Run the nim command, or use smitty and the fast path 'nim_mkres' to define the file that you have edited using the steps above:

From command line on the NIM master:

# nim -o define -t image_data -a server=master -a location=/export/nim/image_data/server1_image_data -a comments="image.data file with broken mirror for server1" server1_image_data

# smit nim_mkres

                       Define a Resource

Type or select values in entry fields.
Press Enter AFTER making all desired changes.

                               [Entry Fields]
* Resource Name            [server1_image_data]
* Resource Type             image_data
* Server of Resource       [master]
* Location of Resource     [/export/nim/image_data/server1_image_data]
  Comments                 []

  Source for Replication   []

# lsnim -t image_data

# lsnim -t image_data
server1_image_data     resources       image_data

# lsnim -l server1_image_data
server1_image_data:
   class       = resources
   type        = image_data
   Rstate      = ready for use
   prev_state  = unavailable for use
   location    = /export/nim/image_data/server1_image_data
   alloc_count = 0
   server      = master