Topic: aix
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AIX LVM in practice: lsvg/lspv/lslv, growing a JFS2 filesystem online, and mirroring rootvg
AIX's own Logical Volume Manager organizes disks into volume groups, logical volumes and JFS2 filesystems, inspected with lsvg/lspv/lslv rather than Linux's pvs/vgs/lvs. Growing a filesystem online is one chfs command; mirroring rootvg for availability is a four-step sequence (extendvg, mirrorvg, bosboot, bootlist), not just mirrorvg.
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Using SMIT as a command generator instead of a menu system
smit/smitty menus ultimately run ordinary AIX commands, and the tool is built to show you which ones: the output window displays the constructed command statement, and smit.log/smit.script capture every command and its exact flags with timestamps. Reading smit.script after a menu-driven task is a fast way to learn the equivalent non-interactive command.
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Orienting on an unfamiliar AIX LPAR before you type anything else
AIX 7.2/7.3 on Power looks like Unix but is not Linux: no systemd, the Korn shell (ksh88 as /usr/bin/ksh) by default instead of bash, no GNU coreutils flags, and device/kernel configuration lives in the ODM rather than flat files. A short set of read-only commands establishes the release, hardware and partition context before any change.
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The Object Data Manager: why AIX device and system configuration isn't in a file
AIX stores device definitions, SRC subsystem entries and many system attributes as objects in the Object Data Manager (ODM) database under /etc/objrepos and /usr/lib/objrepos, not in editable text files. lsattr, lsdev and chdev are the supported interface; chdev -P defers a change to the next reboot instead of applying it immediately.
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Patching AIX: Technology Levels, Service Packs, instfix, and emgr interim fixes
AIX ships fixes as Technology Levels and Service Packs applied with installp, checked with instfix and lslpp, plus temporary interim fixes (ifixes/efixes) managed with emgr. Knowing which layer you are updating, and that a Service Pack can be applied without being committed, avoids an update that cannot be rolled back cleanly.
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Backing up and cloning AIX: mksysb, savevg, and low-risk upgrades with alt_disk_copy
mksysb creates a bootable backup of rootvg (savevg backs up a non-root volume group, not bootable, restored with restvg); lsmksysb reads back what a mksysb image contains without restoring it. alt_disk_copy and alt_disk_mksysb clone or update rootvg onto a spare disk so a bootlist change, not a restore, is the fallback if the new level misbehaves.
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Installing open-source packages on AIX: the AIX Toolbox, dnf, and /opt/freeware PATH order
Open-source tools on AIX come from the AIX Toolbox for Open Source Software, installed and updated with dnf (its predecessor yum is not supported on AIX 7.3) via the dnf_aixtoolbox.sh bootstrap script, with packages landing under /opt/freeware rather than /usr/bin. Where PATH puts /opt/freeware relative to the base OS directories decides whether a script gets the GNU or the AIX version of a same-named command.
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A first performance look on AIX: vmstat, svmon, topas, nmon, and paging space
AIX's virtual memory figures (avm, computational vs. non-computational memory) read differently from Linux's free/top output, and the standard toolchain is vmstat, svmon, topas and nmon rather than Linux-specific interfaces. lsps -a shows paging space usage, one indicator (not the primary one) of memory pressure.
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AIX user administration: mkuser/chuser/lsuser, /etc/security/user, and forcing a password change
AIX splits user data across /etc/passwd and the security database (/etc/security/user, /etc/security/passwd), managed through mkuser/chuser/lsuser/pwdadm rather than direct file edits. A new account has no usable password until one is set, and login restrictions such as logintimes live in /etc/security/user, invisible to a plain /etc/passwd read.
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Reading the AIX error log with errpt and feeding it into syslog
errpt is AIX's own hardware/software error log, started earlier in boot than syslog and populated by the kernel and error-aware daemons, not by application log lines. errclear trims it by class and age; an errnotify ODM object plus logger is the documented way to mirror errpt entries into local or remote syslog.
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Managing AIX services with the System Resource Controller: lssrc, startsrc/stopsrc, and rc.tcpip
AIX manages long-running daemons through the System Resource Controller (SRC), a subsystem/group model configured in the ODM's SRCsubsys object class, not systemd units. lssrc/startsrc/stopsrc drive it interactively, while /etc/inittab and scripts like rc.tcpip control what starts automatically at boot.
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AIX networking basics: lsdev -Cc adapter, en/et interfaces, smitty tcpip, and netsvc.conf
AIX exposes each Ethernet adapter as two possible interface types (en for standard Ethernet, et for IEEE 802.3), configures TCP/IP mainly through smitty tcpip / mktcpip rather than a single flat file, and controls name-resolution order with /etc/netsvc.conf or the NSORDER variable; an address set only with ifconfig does not survive a reboot.
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