AIX 4.3.3. Do's & Dont's ... TOP TEN 2

[bimux]

Hello, I am looking for a quick list of do's and dont's under AIX.
To be used as a guideline for new or existing installs.

Please list a few most important things to do or to configure under AIX.

Thanks !
)

 

[bi]

Hi, bimux. I'll be watching this thread because I think it will be interesting to read what people will contribute. I suspect you'll get more than 10 responses!

Here's my two cents:

I recommend mirroring at least rootvg in case you have a disk failure, and the other vgs as well. I've never had a rootvg disk go out on me, but I have had other disks fail. It was a relief that the lvs were mirrored and my users didn't have downtime. You might lose some time in performance, but I think it is worth it, if you can afford the disks.

Make regular mksysb tapes so you can recover in case you lose a system.

Regularly look at Tek-Tips (and pay attention to aixqueen's and MikeLacey's advice!). You would be amazed how many other people have the same or similar problems and questions you do.

 

[MikeLacey]

Hello both,

Thanks for the comments there bi, though - from the Top Experts list - I'm way down the list these days too busy I'm afraid.

Bi is right -- You should definitely mirror your disks. Mirror your disks and pay attention to the error log, to find out when you have a problem. Mirror your disks and your careful mksysb work will never need to be used in anger. Mirror your disks. (did I mention that)

And the mksysb stuff as well - On office based systems, that don't do much at the weekend, I always have the Sunday backup as a mksysb; in this way I always have a recent system backup. Mike
michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com
Email welcome if you're in a hurry or something -- but post in tek-tips as well please, and I will post my reply here as well.

 

[aixqueen]

1) set paging space, set system environments
2) set network up...no paramenters, ipforwarding, and cloned routes turned off
3) mksysb done on the system from the start
4)
SOME FILES THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE A PAPER COPY OF:

Some of the Files and directories that you need to preserve:
/var/spool/mail
/var/spool/cron/atjobs/
/var/spool/cron/crontab/
/var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/
/usr/local/
/usr/local/bin/
/etc/uucp/
/etc/passwd
/etc/group
/etc/hosts
/etc/qconfig
/etc/gated.conf
/etc/exports
/etc/services
/etc/hosts.equiv
/etc/hosts.lpd
/etc/inetd.conf
/etc/filesystems
/etc/environment
/etc/uucp/
/etc/rc* (if changed)
/etc/security/group
/etc/security/.profile
/etc/security/limits
/etc/security/login.cfg
/etc/security/passwd
/etc/security/environ
/etc/sendmail.cfg
/usr/sbin/exportfs
/etc/yp/ (if using yellow pages)
/etc/netgroups
/var/adm/ras/codepoint.cat
/var/adm/ras/errtmplt
/var/adm/ras/errlog
/var/spool/cron/crontabs/
/etc/objrepos/*
/var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/smit/sm_cmd_hdr

System Settings For:
Do you need /usr/sbin/strload?
paging space
size of /tmp
size of /var/tmp
dump directory and extra dump areas.
directory sizes and number of logical partitions

System Environments:Change show characteristics of OS
nproc
maxuprox
mbufs
data cache buffers
high and low water marks
maximum data files
ulimit

Specialized commands for the database that may be in /etc/
or /usr or / including mount points for cdroms, /usr/local/bin/
custom scripts etc.

Have a paper copy of the system....maybe modify this script
and run it on your system (keep in a file drawer...)

# saveyosys.sh
# This is a script that creates important input
# for your system in case of a major disaster
# It should be run periodically, whenever a
# change is made to the system, or new equipment
# added. The output should be printed out and
# saved offsite and on site.
# It is suggested that you have a mksysb, backups
# and bootable disks or install media in addition
# to this script output. We do not guarantee
# this script will give you everything you
# will need in the event of a disaster.
# It is a tool to assist you in gathering needed
# data and information. Hope it helps.

dat=`date +%m%d%y`
exec > saveyosys.$dat
echo `date`
echo `hostname` ; echo "command: hostname"
echo `ifconfig en0` ; echo "command: ifconfig en?"
echo `ifconfig et0`
echo "command oslevel"
echo `oslevel`
echo ""
echo "paging space currently on system command: lsps -a"
lsps -a
echo ""
echo "Physical volume ids command: ipl_varyon -i"
ipl_varyon -i
echo ""
echo "Volume groups"
lsvg
echo "status of volume groups command: lsvg volumegrp"
for VG in `lsvg`
do
lsvg $VG
echo ""
echo "Physical volumes in $VG command: lsvg -p volumegrp "
lsvg -p $VG
echo ""
echo "Logical Volumes and filesystems in $VG command: lsvg -l vg"
echo ""
lsvg -l $VG
done
echo ""
echo "Physical Volume command: lspv | awk print 1 "
for PV in `lspv | awk '{print $1}'`
do
echo ""
echo "Physical status of $PV command: lspv phyical volume"
lspv $PV
echo ""
echo "LV details on $PV command: lspv -p physical volume"
lspv -p $PV
done
echo ""
echo "Filesystems"
lsfs
echo ""
echo "details"
grep -v "#" /etc/filesystems
echo ""
echo "List devices"
echo "lsattr -F attribute value -l device"
for DEVICE in `lsdev -C | grep -v "Logical volume"| grep -v \
"Volume group" | awk '{print $1}'`
do
echo "$DEVICE"
lsattr -F "description attribute value" -l $DEVICE
echo ""
done
echo ""
echo " inittab file"
grep -v "#" /etc/inittab
echo ""
echo " printer file"
grep -v "#" /etc/qconfig
echo ""
echo "passwords"
grep -v "#" /etc/passwd
echo "hosts"
grep -v "#" /etc/hosts
echo ""
echo "services"
grep -v "#" /etc/services
echo ""
echo "scsi devices "
lsdev -Cs scsi
echo " "

Be safe, gather ye data while you may!

It is also probably a good idea to have a subdirectory somewhere on your machine
that has the following directories backed up for emergencies, since these files
tend to corrupt often.
/var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/custom
/var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/smit
/etc/objrepos
/var/adm/ras/errtmplt
/var/adm/ras/codepoint.cat
/var/adm/ras/errlog

 

[bimux]

Thank you all for your input !
This is most apreciated !

)