VIO:

ioslevel –> VIO version

oem_platform_level –> AIX version of VIO server

HMC:

lshmc -V –> list the version of your HMC

We all know that vi (or any other text editor) can easily edit a text file such as the inittab.  We also know that nobody is perfect, and that mistakes do happen (escape characters, wrong formatting etc.)  The problem is, when editing the inittab, if you make an error in the wrong place, you can render the system unbootable.  This is because the inittab is an important part of the boot sequence for an lpar, and once the boot sequence get mucked up, bad things start to happen.

This guide will go over the correct ways to edit the inittab without the risk of breaking the lpar altogether. (The only way to recover from some inittab errors are to network boot and fix from there…)

lsitab -a -> list contents of the inittab

lsitab identifier -> find specified identifier in inittab and display entry

chitab identifier:run_level:action:command -> change the run level, action and command of the specified identifier

mkitab identifier:run_level:action:command -> create new entry in the inittab

mkitab -i search_term identifier:run_level:action:command -> create new entry in the inittab after specified identifier

rmitab identifier -> remove specified entry from the inittab

Often times in a script I’ll want to strip output based on a delimiter or columns.  I found myself constantly fighting with IFS and trying to make sense of delimiters that don’t follow a common pattern.  My two ways of extracting columns from a file/variable are as follows:

echo $variable | cut -f 2 -d “:” –> (-f to select column, -d to select delimiter)

echo $variable | awk ‘{ print $2 }’

Believe it or not, for someone that started off with no formal shell training or anything, this took me awhile to figure out.  Cut has its ups and downs but I will say this, awk is without a doubt worth learning.  In its entirety.

Anyways, this was just a quick update on how to extract columns from data using cut and awk

This tutorial will be heavily related the the Vi Tutorial.  I suggest if you need more help or explanations with this, please visit that post for further explanation.

When using KSH, you can select the default history editor type.  To do this we use the “set -o” command.

$ set -o vi -> use vi as your command history editor

$ set -o emacs -> use emacs as your command history editor

$ set -o gmacs -> use gmacs as your command history editor

This will in turn allow you to use vi to edit the line that you are currently typing.  This will help for command history recall and editing and reissuing commands with errors etc.

Once you have issue the “set -o vi” command, you will use basic vi techniques to navigate and edit your history:

<esc> + k -> This will bring up your most recent command, and initiate the history recall session.  From now on you will be using vi on your current line

k -> up

j -> down

h -> left

l -> right

x -> delete char

A -> append to line

i -> switch to insert mode

These are simply a handful of commands you can issue to edit and view your history.  Again, recall the two posts (Vi Intro and Vi for Certification)

<esc>+’=’ -> This command will give you a list of possible files/directories that exist based on your input.  For instance, if you are in a directory with “text.txt, terminal.out, erlog.out” and you issue “$ ls te<esc>+’='”, you will get:

1)  terminal.out

2) text.txt

<esc>+\ -> This command will complete the file name as far as it can, similar to file name completion in BASH using <Tab>.

I hope this quick tutorial on command history recall and editing has helped you.  Remember you can add “set -o vi” to your profile to ensure it is set every time you log onto the lpar.

Secondly, when nesting quotes in a script or command, be sure you a) alternate quotation styles when nesting and b) ensure your order of end-quoting matches.

A quick overview of meta characters is below.

Remember, anything in double quotes may be read by the shell interpreter and therefore any meta characters need to be escaped if you want them to take the literal meaning.

Single quotes and backticks take the literal meaning of characters

Here is IBM’s take on the matter

Meta Characters

• pipe (
  |

  )

• ampersand (
  &

  )

• semicolon (
  ;

  )

• less-than sign (
  <

  ) and greater-than sign (
  >

  )

• left parenthesis (
  (

  ) and right parenthesis (
  )

  )

• dollar sign (
  $

  )

• backquote (
  `

  ) and single quotation mark (
  ‘

  )

• backslash (
  \

  )

• double-quotation marks (
  “

  )

• newline character
• space character
• tab character

test -e file
[ -e file ]
[[ -e file ]]

x=2
test $x -eq 1
[ $x -eq 2 ]
[[ $x -eq 3 ]]

File Test Operators

File status can be examined using several operators.

Parameter:     Meaning
-s file     size greater than zero
-r file      exists and is readable
-w file      exists and is writable
-x file      exists and is executable
-u file      exists and has the SUID bit set
-g file       exists and has the SGID bit set
-k file      exists and has the SVTX sticky bit set
-e file       exists
-f file      exists and is an ordinary file
-d file      exists and is a directory
-c file      exists as a character special file
-b file      exists and is a named pipe file
-p file      exists and is a named pipe file
-L file      exists and is a symbolic link

-O file       file exists and its owner is the effective user id
-G file       file exists and its group is the effective group id
-S file       file exists as a socket special file

file1 -ef file2       file1 is another name for file2
file1 -nt file2       file1 is newer than file2
file1 -ot file2       file1 is older than file2
-t des       file descriptor des is open and associated with a terminal device

Numeric Expressions

For use with arithmetic

Expression        Result
exp1 -eq exp2      exp1 is equal to exp2
exp1 -ne exp2      exp1 is not equal to exp2
expl -lt exp2      exp1 is less than exp2
exp1 -le exp2      exp1 is less than or equal to exp2
exp1 -gt exp2      exp1 is greater than exp2
exp1 -ge exp2     exp1 is greater than or equal to exp2

String Expressions

While examining strings use the following
Parameter        Meaning
-n str      string is non-zero in length
-z str     string is zero in length
str1 = str2     str1 is the same as str2
str1 != str2     str1 is not the same as str2

[[ str = pattern ]]     str matches pattern
[[ str != pattern ]]      str does not match pattern
[[ str1 < str2 ]]     str1 is before str2 in the ASCII collation seq.
[[ str1 > str2 ]]     str1 is after str2 in the ASCII collation seq.
[[ -o opt ]]     option opt is on for this shell

General FTP Commands

Here is a quick script to move files from your AIX box to your Windows share.

ftpmove(){

ftp -n <<-EOF
open fully_qualified_server_name
user username password
cd path/to/file
put file_to_copy_to_windows

get file_to_copy_to_aix

EOF
}

ftpmove

One of the things I like to tell people is that anything hardware related, the commands HAVE to be AIX commands in order to update the ODM.  In the example of nfs exports, we see that while you can issue a simple “exportfs” command, the tried and true method in UNIX, issueing the “mknfsexp” command with the “-B” flag will update the /etc/exports file making the export persistent.

This is a simple lesson, but it teaches something much more important.  Try not to rely on your background knowledge of UNIX if you are moving over from another environment.  A wise man once told me, over and over again, AIX is not UNIX!

“lssyscfg” will return system configuration information stored on the HMC.  This can be used to extract information on partitions, partition profiles, managed systems, system profiles.  This is a very useful tool for developing an understanding of a large environment that is managed by an HMC.

Usage:

lssyscfg -r sys -F “name” -> List all CEC’s on HMC
lssyscfg -r lpar -m [CEC] -F “name” -> List all LPARs on CEC
lssyscfg -r lpar -m [CEC] –filter “lpar_names=[lpar]” -> List information on specific LPAR

MAN Page:

lssyscfg – list system resources

lssyscfg -r {lpar | prof | sys | sysprof | cage | frame} [-m managed-system | -e managed-frame] [--filter "filter-data"] [-F [attribute-names] [--header]] [--help]

lssyscfg lists the attributes of partitions, partition profiles, or system profiles for the managed-system. It can also list the attributes of the managed-system, and of all of the systems managed by this Hardware Management Console (HMC).

lssyscfg can also list the attributes of cages in the managed-frame, the attributes of the managed-frame, or the attributes of all of the frames managed by this HMC.

-r

The type of resources to list. Valid values are lpar for partitions, prof for partition profiles, sys for managed systems, sysprof for system profiles, cage for managed frame cages, and frame for managed frames.

-m

The name of either the managed system to list, or the managed system which has the system resources to list. The name may either be the user-defined name for the managed system, or be in the formtttt-mmm*ssssssss, where tttt is the machine type, mmm is the model, and ssssssss is the serial number of the managed system. The tttt-mmm*ssssssss form must be used if there are multiple managed systems with the same user-defined name. This option is required when listing partitions, partition profiles, or system profiles. This option is optional when listing managed systems, and if it is omitted, then all of the systems managed by this HMC will be listed. This option is not valid when listing managed frame cages or managed frames.

-e

The name of either the managed frame to list, or the managed frame which contains the cages to list. The name may either be the user-defined name for the managed frame, or be in the form ttttmmm*ssssssss, where tttt is the type, mmm is the model, and ssssssss is the serial number of the managed frame. The tttt-mmm*ssssssss form must be used if there are multiple managed frames with the same user-defined name. This option is required when listing managed frame cages. This option is optional when listing managed frames, and if it is omitted, then all of the frames managed by this HMC will be listed. This option is not valid when listing partitions, partition profiles, system profiles, or managed systems.

–filter

The filter(s) to apply to the resources to be listed. Filters are used to select which resources of the specified resource type are to be listed. If no filters are used, then all of the resources of the specified resource type will be listed. For example, specific partitions can be listed by using a filter to specify the names or IDs of the partitions to list. Otherwise, if no filter is used, then all of the partitions in the managed system will be listed. The filter data consists of filter name/value pairs, which are in comma separated value (CSV) format. The filter data must be enclosed in double quotes.The format of the filter data is as follows:

“filter-name=value,filter-name=value,…“

Note that certain filters accept a comma separated list of values, as follows:

“”filter-name=value,value,…“,…“

When a list of values is specified, the filter name/value pair must be enclosed in double quotes. Depending on the shell being used, nested double quote characters may need to be preceded by an escape character, which is usually a ‘\’ character. Unless otherwise indicated, multiple values can be specified for each filter.

Valid filter names for partitions:

lpar_names | lpar_ids | work_groups

Only one of these three filters may be specified.

Valid filter names for partition profiles:

lpar_names | lpar_ids

Either the name or the ID of the partition which has the partition profiles to be listed must be specified. Only one partition name or ID can be specified.

profile_names

Valid filter names for system profiles:

profile_names

This option is required when listing partition profiles. This option is not valid when listing managed systems, managed frame cages, or managed frames.

-F

A delimiter separated list of attribute names for the desired attribute values to be displayed for each resource. If no attribute names are specified, then values for all of the attributes for the resource will be displayed. When this option is specified, only attribute values will be displayed. No attribute names will be displayed. The attribute values displayed will be separated by the delimiter which was specified with this option. This option is useful when only attribute values are desired to be displayed, or when the values of only selected attributes are desired to be displayed.

–header

Display a header record, which is a delimiter separated list of attribute names for the attribute values that will be displayed. This header record will be the first record displayed. This option is only valid when used with the -F option.

–help

Display the help text for this command and exit.

List all systems managed by this HMC:

lssyscfg -r sys

List only the user-defined name, machine type and model, and serial number for all of the systems managed by this HMC, and separate the output values with a colon:

lssyscfg -r sys -F name:type_model:serial_num

List the managed system system1:

lssyscfg -r sys -m system1

List all partitions in the managed system, and only display attribute values for each partition, following a header of attribute names:

lssyscfg -r lpar -m 9406-570*12345678 -F –header

List the partitions lpar1, lpar2, and lpar3:

lssyscfg -r lpar -m system1 –filter “”lpar_names=lpar1, lpar2,lpar3″”

List only the names, IDs, and states of partitions lpar1, lpar2, and lpar3, and separate the output values with a comma:

lssyscfg -r lpar -m system1 –filter “”lpar_names=lpar1, lpar2,lpar3″” -F name,lpar_id,state

List all partition profiles defined for partition lpar2:

lssyscfg -r prof -m system1 –filter “lpar_names=lpar2″

List the partition profiles prof1 and prof2 defined for the partition that has an ID of 2:

lssyscfg -r prof -m system1 –filter “lpar_ids=2, “profile_names=prof1,prof2″”

List all system profiles defined for the managed system:

lssyscfg -r sysprof -m 9406-520*100128A

List the system profile sysprof1:

lssyscfg -r sysprof -m system1 –filter “profile_names= sysprof1″

List all frames managed by this HMC:

lssyscfg -r frame

List the managed frame myFrame:

lssyscfg -r frame -e myFrame

List all cages in the managed frame:

lssyscfg -r cage -e 9119-59*000012C

None

None

chsyscfg, mksyscfg, rmsyscfg, lshwres