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flarcreate

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Apr 13, 2004
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Is it true that flarcreate does (basically) a sys-unconfig when ran so that your files in /etc like defaultrouter, etc., are not backed up?

I just found that bit of information out yesterday which leaves me more and more convinced on a daily basis, the more I learn about Solaris, is that compared to AIX it really pales in comparison and is, to me, hard to be taken as a true enterprise OS. I am beginning to equate Solaris with Windows.

Comparing Solaris to AIX in volume management is like comparing, well there is no comparison. For example, to mirror the root in Solaris you have to reboot! That is nonsense. Creating logical volumes and filesystems and the lack of volume groups is ridiculous. The Solaris Volume Manager is really inadequate. Also, AIX has the jfslog functionality and I don't find any jfs log equivalents in Solaris.

Comparing Solaris error reporting to AIX's error reporting is lacking. The AIX errpt and FFDC as was as the RAS features are extremely useful. The err logging uses circular logs too that can be grown in size, etc.

Backing up the rootvg in AIX saves the OS installation and can be restored. The flarcreate as I found out doesn't save the /etc config files; you have to create a script to save and restore them using jumpstart, etc. How can this be on a enterprise OS?

Working on Solaris domains is another area the pales compared to AIX and the IBM SP2 and Regatta with their implementation of the HMC (Hardware Management Console) which makes managing partitions so much easier than how Sun implements theirs.

Adding disks (I guess could go back to volume management) is so much easier on AIX.

Connectivity to a Mainframe is easier and better with AIX.

Really, I am struggling to find an answer as to how Solaris has been able to become such an enterprise OS when AIX seems to have so much more capability. If someone could explain this to me I am open to listening to arguemnts, but as of now I am convinced that Solaris really does not do much R&D and development on Solaris like IBM does with AIX. It also appears to me that Solaris basically took BSD and modified some things and then shipped it. Truly, it seems that Solaris is nothing more than BSD and seems to piggyback off the *BSD and Linux developments.

I am open to convincing arguments. And no this is not a flame, but rather an attempt to learn others opinions and how Solaris is regrades as enterprise capable.
 
My experience is just about opposite of yours. I started with Sun and now I'm working also with IBM. They both have their issues IMO.

You're definately correct about the (lack of) ease of backing up a Solaris system. Many people have create custom jumpstart CD's that will restore a specific system (1 CD + as many tapes as required). (Also see: Not many things touch the bare metal restore (mksysb w/all drivers installed) of AIX.

The volume management works "good enough". Yeah, nothing fancy there. Solaris 8 and above does come with a "logging" filesystem though. Essentially the same thing as a jfs2 filesystem with inline logging on AIX. This is installed by default and all you need to do to activate it is add the "logging" option to the applicable line in the /etc/vfstab:
/dev/md/dsk/d0 /dev/md/rdsk/d0 / ufs 1 no logging

Most workcenters that are serious about volume management purchase Veritas. This is better than AIX's and most commands are very similar. (ie importvg vs vgimport)

Although, I haven't played with Sun Cluster Manager, I hear it's better than HACMP (which I do have some experience with).

Personally, I like Sun's package manager much better than any of AIX's "installp". Now that AIX is using rpm heavily though... I also hear that Sun is now testing the waters with rpm.

Also, the ammount of free software available on Sun is amazing. and its mirrors are just great.

As for mainframe connectivity... I've got both Solaris and AIX systems connected to an IBM mainframe only for the purpose of backing up of SAN volumes. It's pretty much a wash for us. I don't see much of a difference in either.

I can't tell you how many times things have gotten screwed up in smit's ODM. I prefer running commands myself and editing files than leaving things up to a GUI (or whatever you'd call smitty). Unfortunately, due to the high salary of admins, Sun is trying to get people to use their new smit-like tools. This is because it's obviously easier to get people to use pretty point and click tools than to actually know the real insides of a system. In my opinion, this is dangerous.

Anybody else want to give their 2 cents?
 
You mention there is jfs-equivalent logging for Solaris. How do you create a new log? In AIX I can run: mklv to create a new jfs log and if there are problems with the log in the volume group there is logform which will initialize a new log. Also, if there are many filesystems in a volume group and a tremendous amount of writes you can create up to 256 logs in AIX. Is this possible with Solaris?

The Sun package manager isn’t bad and I have used it with BSD for quite some time.

However, one thing I cannot find with Solaris is the `instfix`:
instfix -i | grep ML
All filesets for 4.3.0.0_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4.3.1.0_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4.3.2.0_AIX_ML were found.
Not all filesets for 4320-02_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4.3.3.0_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4330-01_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4330-02_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4330-03_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4330-04_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4330-05_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4330-06_AIX_ML were found.
Not all filesets for 4330-07_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4330-08_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 4330-09_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for AIX43ML were found.
All filesets for 4330-10_AIX_ML were found.
And
instfix -ciqk 4330-07_AIX_ML | grep ':-:'
4330-07_AIX_ML:Java.adt.includes:1.1.8.6:1.1.8.4:-:AIX 4330-07 Update
4330-07_AIX_ML:Java.adt.src:1.1.8.10:1.1.8.8:-:AIX 4330-07 Update
4330-07_AIX_ML:Java.rmi-iiop.docs:1.1.8.10:1.1.8.8:-:AIX 4330-07 Update
4330-07_AIX_ML:Java.rmi-iiop.lib:1.1.8.10:1.1.8.8:-:AIX 4330-07 Update
4330-07_AIX_ML:Java.rte.bin:1.1.8.10:1.1.8.8:-:AIX 4330-07 Update
4330-07_AIX_ML:Java.rte.classes:1.1.8.10:1.1.8.8:-:AIX 4330-07 Update
4330-07_AIX_ML:Java.rte.lib:1.1.8.10:1.1.8.8:-:AIX 4330-07 Update
4330-07_AIX_ML:Java.security.lib:1.1.8.10:1.1.8.8:-:AIX 4330-07 Update

To find which filesets are missing to bring you current and consistent.

Also, the `oslevel` commands that are extremely useful especially because of upgrades and maintenace:
#oslevel -r
4330-10

#oslevel -q
Known Maintenance Levels
------------------------
4.3.3.0
4.3.2.0
4.3.1.0
4.3.0.0

#oslevel -r -q
Known Recommended Maintenance Levels
------------------------------------
4330-10
4330-09
4330-08
4330-07
4330-06
4330-05
4330-04
4330-03
4330-02
4330-01
4320-02

Out of the box though, with AIX there is a volume manager, which is enterprise capable. In my Solaris class I asked the instructor if you have 40 systems that have gigs of data and hundreds of filesystems, how would you use the Solaris Volume Manager to manage the disk? His answer was, “I wouldn’t.” This isn’t a problem with AIX with the LVM.

The ODM can become corrupt and give problems, however, in the 9+ years I have been working with AIX those problems have not been frequent and have not been significant. Plus, it beats having to edit 6 files by hand when making a change because the ODM contains the info and the low-level commands edit the ODM.

I know I am more comfortable with AIX than Solaris but I find a lot lacking in Solaris that makes administering a system easier and better.
 
Sun doesn't have quite the same concept of maintenance levels as AIX. AIX bundles fixes together and comes up with with a maintenance level. Sun has "releases" which include bundled software as well as patches. I wouldn't necessarily recommend moving to a new release of the current version of Solaris unless you actually need some specific software. The closest concept to AIX maintenance levels is probably Sun Recommended Patches. In my experience, 99% of issues are addressed with applying these patches. Obviously review them before applying though.

Most current Sun patch administration typically involves running something like PatchPro to analyze what hardware and patch level your currently at and downloading (optionally applying/backing out) later patches. The PatchPro utility has the ability to notify admins via email about new patch information. I'm in the process of implimenting this across all my Sun boxes right now.

Many admins manually review patches (monthly,weekly,whatever) to see if there are any patches that are absolutely NEEDED. Then only those patches are applied. I'm a fan of this approach. I've had very few issues with Solaris. Keeping less than X levels behind the latest kernel revision also isn't a bad idea.


As for the logging filesystems, this is closer to the jfs2 version of inline logging (which I prefer to jfs filesystems anyway). All logging is done within the actual filesystem logical volume and creating another logical volume isn't necessary. This isn't a a particularly strong point of Sun's. Less of a chance for corruption though. There's supposed to be a performance gain too, but I haven't really noticed it.


Again, if you're serious about managing data, I'd recommend Veritas (which is also now available for AIX).
 
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