MAN pages and general install problems 2

[regcheeseman]

Hi there,

Another newbie I'm afraid!

I have no experience of UNIX but I have to get a old 320 RS6000 box set up. So far I have it working (solved boot problems) and have managed to make a working scsi drive out of bits!
The machione is due to be used at the college for deliver a basic UNIX course as part of an HND, as such it needs to have mail and MAN commands operational.
I have set up users and MAIL works but the MAN command does not because the database is not there (catman -w won't work).
Yes I have checked the archives and thought I'd found the answer but I have found more problems as SMIT INSTALL_ALL doesn't work as 'there are no SMIT screen entries available for this fastpath'
It all seems to say that the UNIX box is missing data - could one of the drives not be working? Would this cause the problem? How do I check?

Nother problem....I haven't got the 4.1 install disk as the college has lost them! Buit I have got the 4.3 disks and licence. Would it be easier to just re-install? How do I install?

Everthing is so easy for a dimwit in Gates world ;-) I can normally only cope with mouse buttons.

Very grateful for any help.

Thank you.

 

[DSMARWAY]

hi,

it is probably easier to install , but how much memory have you got installed on your server ?
How big is your hard disk ?

if you are getting errors , what maintenace level are you running

type , instfix -i | grep -i ml

you can also run lppchk -v to see if any filesets are missing .


To do a re-install to 4.3

at prompt set bootlist so server boots from cd

bootlist -m normal cd0 rmt0 hdisk? hdisk?

then re-boot your machine with the AIX 4.3 install CD in drive

you should get an option to install , select the disk where
you want to install the OS .

Then off you go ?

Once installed , you'll reboot and it will run install
assistant where you enter in hostname , ip address, timezone etc.. ( basic setup)

Then install the maintenace level CD , i think latest is 10
if you got 8 onwards that should do

run smit update_all ( run in preview mode first)

 

[regcheeseman]

Thanks!,

, but how much memory have you got installed on your server ?
How big is your hard disk ?

if you are getting errors , what maintenace level are you running?

Sorry about this but I am completely new to UNIX environment, how do I check these sort of things? It was several days of punishment before I discovered SMIT. I have three 'idiots type' guides but they are really for users.

I take it that when I enter the bootlist command I have to substitute the ? for drive numbers? If so which one as the machine thinks it has 4 hard disks but only two physically present.

Finally, when I do this re-install I have to partition the disks and set up logical volumes - If so, i'm scared.

Cheers!

 

[joekwchen]

Hi

To check how many physical disk your system see, do a "lspv"
To check each hard disk size, do a "lspv hdisk?" where ? = 0,1,2...

To check memory, do a "lsattr -E -l mem?" where ?=0 (usually)

Finally, u need to check out some AIX related web sites on its resource. There's one thread posted quite recently here which provides many good reference site.

 

[DSMARWAY]

hi,
Have a look at site for basic AIX commands

http://www.davearts.com/kunden/tenir/aixcomma.htm

i guess you have a version of aix already installed. To find out which disk is used type in

lslv -m hd5 ( the first hdisk listed will be the disk used
to install your OS ) OR do lsdev -Ccdisk
if you say you have 4 disks , you can use a disk that isn't used , and leave the current one intact , but when you create your bootlist remember only to add the disk which you have installed the new OS to.

To view the bootlist type

bootlist -m normal -o ( view normal mode boot list , you
can change this to service , secure)


When you re-install , it will automatically create the
filesystems required for you to boot , those are

/ , usr, var , tmp , home

any other ones you want , you will have to create yourself.
This will depend on what type of course you want to run ?

To check memory first check how memory memory cards are installed

lsdev -C | grep mem

and the view attributes , lsattr -El mem? ( ?=number)


Maintenance levels are like fixes , patches or in windows terms service packs. You would normally get a CD with your AIX 4.3 installation , if not you can download them ( quite a lot of them) or ask for a CD from IBM

by the way , where are you based ?

 

[regcheeseman]

Thank you for all your replies,

I tried instfix -i | grep -i ml and I get the error 'cannot create a directory in the /tmp directory, check permissions or available space'
Now I'm logged in as root and the space is there, but a few days ago when I was sorting out the MAIL I noticed /tmp volume was closed/synched. Now I cannot see it at all.
Confession - I did delete hdisks 3 and 4 as they were defined but not available, so I assumed no longer existed???? They don't now ;-)

Did the lppchk -v command but doesn't result in any on screen report at all.

Changed the bootlist to bootlist -m normal cd1 hdisk0 hdisk1 and typed reboot but it just returns to login as usual - no install requests. Could be I dont have right boot CD? Am using AIX v4.3.3 5765-c34 vol 1 of 4, is this right?

I have 1Gb disk0 and a 340Mb disk1, mem0 is 16Mb mem1 is 64Mb....wow!

Typing bootlist -m normal -o, returns 'illegal option -o'

I will go and try that website now

PS - I'm based in North Devon College

 

[DSMARWAY]

hi

is your CD drive referenced as cd1 ?
check type lsdev -C | grep -i cd

normally is cd0

with bootlist on this version the -o probably isn't supported.

if its cd0 change bootlist to read cd0 rmt0 hdisk0 hdisk1
make sure cd is in the drive when you reboot the server

do you have a key in this server at the front with different positions i.e. normal , service,secure

if the above still boots from your disk , set bootlist
in service mode

bootlist -m service cd0 rmt0

then reboot , tunr key in service mode .

 

[Yegolev]

You say you cannot see /tmp but how are you looking? I get the feeling your AIX machine is looking like my WinXP machine, hehehe. IBM Certified -- AIX 4.3 Obfuscation

 

[regcheeseman]

Hi - Back again,

Summat up with the server this morning - couldn't access the forum so things have taken a sorry turn....

DSMARWAY - Yep CD is CD1, I've tried bootlist normal and secure but I have the feeling my media is not bootable.
Do I need a boot floppy for AIX 4.1.5?
GREP doesn't work - possibly because it can't write to /TMP file?
Oh and I don't need rmt in the bootlist command if I have no tapedrive? do I?

All this is now academic as I rm'ed as much of the sytem as possible to try and force install and the OS is now completely trashed - my manager can stick his skip-dived unix box where the sun don't shine ;-)
If you can advise on reboot, what boot device I need or if I need a rebuild, how to do it or where to find out I would be very grateful. Can you reformat hard disks and start again - being a Windows administrator I'm pretty good at that


Yegolev - Cannot remember how I was looking at /tmp - could have been windows explorer ;-) - think it was SMIT, I could see the directory with a breakdown of its capacity and how full it was - even said it was closed/synced.
And is your XP box sat in a pile of 'idiots guide to..' books and os software, doused in petrol and waiting for November 5th too?

 

[Yegolev]

The 4.1.5 CD is bootable, you only need a floppy for version 3.

Oh, rm'ing like that is very bad. Right now you probably have no real choice but to reinstall (should be used to that with Windows), which is done by booting from CDROM. There is a thread here started by KOG in which aixqueen gives step-by-step on booting a uchannel box from CDROM. KOG's machine is a J40 but it is about the same as the 380 if I remember correctly, meaning it has a bump console and a key. Note that there is no "format" in AIX, rather that sort of thing is done with `rm` or various LVM commands for moving disks around.

Sounds like you were using `lsvg -l rootvg` to look at /tmp. When the filesystem is listed as closed, that means it is not mounted and therefore you cannot write to it. To fix that you could have just done `mount /tmp` and see if all worked. It might still work depending on what you rm'ed. I suggest pretending the rm command does not exist, it is a lot of trouble. To see what is mounted just type `mount`. To unmount you type `umount /filesystemname`. I think the more intuitive `unmount` works as well.

My XP box is about to be surrounded by idiot books, hopefully they arrive today so I can waste my weekend trying to get this three-legged dog of an OS to do something at all network-wise. I would set it on fire except that I can still play games on it. I'm more inclined to torch the people responsible for the Network Connection Wizard. IBM Certified -- AIX 4.3 Obfuscation

 

[regcheeseman]

Yegolev,

Thanks, appreciate the probs with RM but come Friday I had had enough of the stinking beige box - hovever stable it may be!
Today marks the start of a new week so I may see what I can do, not a great deal without the install disks though I will check the Aixqueen's thread.
That mount /tmp tip may still be useful, so basic but none of the so called network admin guys around here (on completely unjustified money) knew what to do with it because they couldn't call a technician in for an unsupported machine.

My XP is fine, prefer 98 but that's progress for you. However flakey it may be, it's supported, it works, you can get software, joe public can just about cope with it and it means you can actually use your computer for something vaguely interesting........;-)

 

[regcheeseman]

Hi,

Had the morning to play UNIX, trying to boot just results in alternating 223/229 error and flashing drive light in normal mode and a 518 error in service mode.

The 223/229 is an IPL failure - what is IPL - and could it be down to a none bootable SCSI disk or is the hardware wrongly configured?

And 518 is network boot problem??? bearing in mind that Fridays TAZ type RM session has rendered UNIX a fatal blow is there any way I can get round the 518 error. I have read about booting to 200 message flicking switch and pressing reset but no joy. Are there any other tricks I might try or do I just makes use of the current quiet half-term time and hide the box in the basement and blame the students?

Thanks

Clive.