Over the course of the past 28 years or so, I’ve been called upon to assist clients with resolving existing service-related POWER Systems issues, both hardware and software (configuration / application performance) related. Expediting the resolution of service-related issues is key to maintaining a successful environment. Whether you’re a newly initiated or seasoned system administrator, there are three critical elements involved in expediting service resolution: documentation, preparation and conversation!
System Configuration Documentation
It may seem obvious but still warrants pointing out, one of the best ways to expedite the resolution of any service-related concern with a failing server is to have a very well-documented history of your server’s configuration.
This collection of data should include:
- Documentation used to keep track of any upgrades/downgrades
- Configuration tweaks (either at the direction of the vendor support staff or self-adjusted tweaks made through trial-and-error)
- Temporary fixes (patches, interim fixes) that have been applied between your regular operating system or application maintenance cycles
- Performance measurements for your configuration that reflect how your server normally performs when healthy and meeting expectations. (The latter can also be considered as an operational baseline.)
In a POWER Server environment, there are several commands that can be helpful when documenting your system. Help your service provider get your system back on track with the following groups of commands:
Commands to Document the System (Mostly Hardware) in AIX:
| Command | Example of Syntax or Use of Flags | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| lsattr | Displays attribute characteristics and possible values of attributes for devices in the system. | |
| lsattr –El xxxxxx | List attributes for a specified device (where xxxxxx can be tty#, lp#, etc.) | |
| lscfg | Displays configuration, diagnostic and VPD information about the system. | |
| lscfg –vl mem* | pg | Lists the memory on PCI bus machines (use the ‘*’ as a wild card character). | |
| lscfg –vl xxxxxx | Displays detailed information for specified device xxxxxx . | |
| lscfg –vl sysplanar0 | Lists the machine type, model, S/N on SMP. | |
| lsdev | Displays devices in the system and their characteristics. | |
| lsdev –Cc xxxxxx | List devices; xxxxxx =tty, printer, disk, memory, adapter. | |
| lsdev –Cs scsi | List SCSI devices and show availability. | |
| lsdev –Cs pci | List PCI devices and show availability. | |
| lsdev –Cc adapter –F ‘name class location physloc’ | List adapters with the AIX Location Code and Physical Location Code together. Note: disk, lvm, pdisk, bus, driver, if, tcpip, concentrator, drawer, cdrom, or other classes could be used in place of adapters. | |
| or | ||
| lsdev –CHF “name, status, physloc, location” | ||
| lsfs | Displays the characteristics of file systems. | |
| lslv | Displays information about a logical volume. | |
| lslv –m hd# | Used to identify the boot disk. | |
| lsmcode | Displays the platform system firmware microcode level and the service processor microcode levels | |
| lsps | ||
| lsps –a | Displays the characteristics of all paging spaces. | |
| lsps –s | Displays summary characteristics of paging space. | |
| lspv | Displays information about a physical volume within a volume group. | |
| lspv –l hdisk# | Displays information about a specific disk. | |
| lsvg | Displays information about volume groups. | |
| lsvg –o | Lists volume groups that are varied on. | |
| lsvg –p |
Lists disks in volume group volume group name. |
Commands to Document the System (Configuration/Application) in AIX:
| Command | Example of Syntax or Use of Flags | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| lslpp | Lists software products. | |
| lslpp –l fileset | Used to identify if a fileset is installed. | |
| lslpp –l | grep BROKEN | Lists incomplete ptfs. | |
| lpstat | Displays line printer status information. | |
| instfix | instfix –i | Listing and searching through applied updates on the system. |
| emgr | emgr –l | List installed fixes. |
| odmshow | View the underlying structure of an object class. | |
| odmshow ObjectClass | Where the value of ObjectClass can reflect an object class name (ex. MyObjectClass). | |
| ifconfig | Configures or displays network interface parameters for a network. | |
| ifconfig –a | Display information about all interfaces in the system. | |
| netstat | Display connections, routing tables, stats etc. | |
| netstat –a –i | List the state of all sockets. | |
| netstat –nap | List all connected networks. |
Commands to Document the System (Device Configuration) in the Virtual Input/Output (VIO) Server:
| Command | Example of Syntax or Use of Flags | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| entstat | entstat –all ent# | grep Trunk | Determine if the ent# adapter is a trunk adapter. This is to ensure that there is a link to the outside world via this ent# adapter. |
| lsdev | Displays devices in the system and their characteristics. | |
| lsdev –virtual | List virtual devices | |
| lsdev –type xxxxxx | List devices; xxxxxx =adapter, disk, optical (for cdrom), etc.. | |
| lsdev –dev xxxxxx | List specific devices; xxxxxx =ent#, en#, et#, etc.. | |
| lsdev –dev xxxxxx –attr | List devices and their attributes; xxxxxx =ent#, client#, etc. | |
| lsmap | Displays the mapping between physical, logical, and virtual devices. | |
| lsmap –all | List all virtual SCSI target devices | |
| lsmap –all –net | List all virtual Ethernet adapters | |
| lsmap –vadapter vhost2 | List all virtual target devices and backing devices mapped to the server virtual SCSI adapter vhost2 | |
| lsmap –vadapter ent4 –net | List Shared Ethernet Adapter (sea) and backing device mapped to the virtual server Ethernet adapter ent4. | |
| lsmap –all –type disk lv | List all virtual target devices and backing devices, where the backing devices are of type disk or lv. (type could also be optical or net) | |
| netstat | netstat –state | List the configured network adapters. |
Useful SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) Edition and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Linux Commands (Available if IBM Linux Toolkit is Installed):
| Command | Example of Syntax or Use of Flags | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| lsslot | ||
| lsslot –c pci | Provides the locations of adapters. | |
| lsslot –c pci –s U7879.001.DQD014E-P1-C3 | Verifies that the slot a PCI Adapter was installed in is now occupied. (Using U7879.001.DQD014E-P1-C3 as an example) | |
| bootlist | Set and view the systems boot device order. | |
| bootlist –m normal –o | Display the normal mode bootlist as logical device names. | |
| lsmcode | ||
| lsmcode –d |
Lists microcode and/or firmware levels for specific devices. (eg. scd0, sys0, sdd, scsi0, eth0 etc.) | |
| lscfg | Similar to lscfg in AIX. |
Documentation is the first word to add to your IT creed. Check back for Part 2 of this blog series to read about the other two words to add: preparation and conversation!
About the Author
Marty Clayton is an IBM instructor for Global Knowledge specializing in Power, z/os and Storage. He has over 28 years of experience working in the field.
Related White Papers
Understanding the AIX Object Data Manager
Related Training
IBM i System Administration (OL19G)
Linux System Administration I: Implementation (LX03G)
Power Systems for AIX II: AIX Implementation and Administration (AN12G)
Tips and Tricks for Expediting Service Resolution in Your POWER Server Environment Series
- Tips and Tricks for Expediting Service Resolution in Your POWER Server Environment: Part 1