Need help to schedule weekly AIX reboot 1

[MCubitt]

We're running an AIX 5.1 server with Oracle 9.2.0.1.0 running on it and several databases.

The AIX appears to log itself out of our network every now and again (Mondays, so far) - could be a timeout variable?

Anyway, I have been asked to restart the AIX server weekly since that is also what we do with our existing IBM AS/400 machine.

I need to know how to correctly shut down databases, listeners and the server so that it reboots and logs in automatically as if nothign ever happened!

My knowledge of Unix is very limited (attended a Hands on Intro to Unix).

Thanks

 

[alexhu]

2. the system console will always prompt for a login when the system is rebooted - it doesn't mean you have to log in though

3. After the login prompt appears on the console the system is generally available for login, BUT your database(s) may not have started up (depending on their size and quantity)

Alex

 

[MCubitt]

Thanks yet again.

To clarify, I need not worry about the login screen after teh shutdown -r then, it will soon enough disappear and teh system will reboot?

Although the databases may not be ready immediately after the login screen (once the system has restarted) it will only be a matter of time that it will, i.e. I do nto have to log on, I just have to wait. As this shutdown will happen overnight it will be several hours before anyone starts to use it. I just do not want to have to run into work each Monday to login (walking to work on a Monday is hard enough!)

Thanks!

 

[alexhu]

You don't ever have to do anything with the console

I support a system which is over 100 miles from my home and can reboot it quite happily

Everything is started from /etc/inittab, there is no need for user intervention - unless it goes wrong of course

Alex

 

[MCubitt]

Thanks again. I have learned more through this post than 1 week on a "Introductory course"!

Thanks to all.

 

[bi]

MCubitt, regarding your question about the login screen coming up after you type shutdown -r:

This is normal (but annoying) behavior. It's worrisome when you first encounter it and it seems to take forever to continue, but it will.

 

[Yegolev]

mcubitt: you will learn soon enough to avoid the graphical console, we will try to help you with this. =) you will get into the mindset soon enough.

once you are comfy with this bit we can see why you are losing connection... unless i missed that part above. and just what do you mean by that phrase? i assume you are connecting to the DB from somewhere else and your connection goes poof?

alexhu: you must have a very stable machine, or a trustworthy operator, hehe.

IBM Certified -- AIX 4.3 Obfuscation

 

[westminster]

Hi,

Thanks for a much detail explanation on startup of oracle database. It really enlightened me. But I have one doubt with the shutdown script.

As pointed out by "bi", the rc.oracle needs to be included in /etc/inittab so that once system startup it will invoke the /etc/rc.oracle script.

What about shutting down the system? It wasn't included in /etc/inittab. So how will the system knows to execute rc.shutdown? In Solaris, there is a K99shutdown(example), so called K* scripts so that system will execute all the scripts starting from K* in /etc/rc2.d prior shutting down.

Pls advise.

Thanks.

 

[MCubitt]

Yegolev: I have opened a seperate issue for the cause of the problem.

http://www.tek-tips.com/gviewthread.cfm/lev2/3/lev3/20/pid/52/qid/649503

to view.

Thanks

 

[MCubitt]

By the way... I scheduled the shutdown last night (well, 1am this morning) and it worked a treat. Thanks to all for your help and advice.

I would be interested to read a reply to westminster's query so I know if the database was shut down in a controlled manner.

Thanks.

 

[alexhu]

westminster, mcubitt

This is not Solaris - it is AIX

To quote from the man page for shutdown;

'The system administrator can place local customized shutdown procedures in a shell script named /etc/rc.shutdown. This script runs at the beginning of the shutdown if it exists. If the script runs but fails with a non-zero return code, the shutdown stops.'

If you shut the system down and watch your terminal or console as it is doing so you will see the database(s) shut down correctly.

Just never use 'shutdown -F' as this ignores rc.shutdown.

Alex

 

[Yegolev]

shutdown -F does not ignore rc.shutdown on my systems. it just does not broadcast the shutdown to the users. i always use -F or -Fr, hits rc.shutdown every time.

the one you have to look out for is "halt -q", hehe.

IBM Certified -- AIX 4.3 Obfuscation

 

[alexhu]

I stand corrected - my memory is not what it was :-(

Alex