S1000-007 IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty Questions and Answers

Thelslppcommand lists the installed filesets and can be used to verify if a specific interim fix has been installed by checking the fileset version. Theemgrcommand is used to manage interim fixes (emergency fixes) on AIX, including listing installed interim fixes, which helps in determining if a specific fix has been applied.References:= IBM AIX Documentation, IBM AIX Documentation

In AIX, error entries related to a system crash are preserved by writing them to Non-Volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM). These entries are processed and logged to the system error log when the system comes back up. This ensures that critical error information is not lost during a system crash.References:= IBM AIX Documentation

Thesmit.scriptfile records all commands executed through SMIT (System Management Interface Tool). By checking this file, the administrator can find the exact command that was run previously. This log file is useful for auditing and replicating commands executed via SMIT.References:= IBM AIX Documentation

If a session hangs after entering the password, it is most likely due to problems with the authentication mechanism. This could be due to issues with the configuration of authentication services, network delays in authentication if using network-based authentication (such as LDAP), or misconfigurations in the PAM (Pluggable Authentication Module) settings. The other options, such as thepasswddaemon, full file systems, or network failures, are less likely to cause a login hang at this stage.References:= IBM AIX Documentation

Therpmcommand is used to install, update, and manage packages from the AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications. This toolbox provides GNU and open source tools for AIX, and therpmcommand handles the package management of these tools.References:= IBM AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications

The umask value of 027 for the root user means that newly created files will have default permissions of 0640. This is because the umask value subtracts permissions from the default file mode (0666 for files). Specifically, 0666 (default) - 027 (umask) = 0640. This results in read and write permissions for the owner, and read permissions for the group.References:= IBM AIX Documentation

An EtherChannel network device provides network redundancy and load balancing by combining multiple physical network adapters into a single logical interface. If one adapter fails, traffic will automatically flow through the other available adapters in the channel, ensuring continuous network availability.References:= IBM AIX EtherChannel Documentation

Configuring both ethernet adapters as IEEE 802.3ad link aggregated withsrc_dst_portmode provides network resilience and better performance. This configuration uses link aggregation to combine the two adapters into a single logical interface, which balances the traffic load and provides redundancy in case one adapter fails.References:= IBM AIX Link Aggregation Documentation

The two connection methods supported for a NIM master to initiate operations on a NIM client arenimshandrsh. Thenimsh(NIM shell) is a secure and efficient method, whilersh(remote shell) is an older, less secure method. Both are used for remote command execution and communication between the NIM master and clients.References:= IBM AIX NIM Documentation

Theno -acommand in AIX displays the current values of all network options, including those related to TCP/IP packet routing. This command helps the administrator to verify if the system is configured for packet routing across multiple networks. The other commands listed do not provide information related to TCP/IP packet routing settings.References:= IBM AIX Documentation

To apply changes to the inter-disk policy for all logical volumes within a volume group, thereorgvgcommand is used. This command reorganizes the physical partitions within the volume group according to the new policy, helping to balance the I/O load and avoid disk hot spots while preserving the existing data.References:= IBM AIX Documentation

Themlcvtermcommand is used to open a console to an AIX virtual machine that is controlled by a Hardware Management Console (HMC). According to the IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty Study Guide, themlcvtermcommand allows you to open a terminal window to the console of a logical partition (LPAR) running AIX.

 The /etc/hosts file is used by the system for local name resolution on the server, so if the IP address of the server has been changed, but the /etc/hosts entry has not been updated, the ping command will fail. This is explained in the IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty Study Guide, under the topic "Using the mktcpip Command".

Amksysbimage can be used to boot an AIX system and perform maintenance tasks. However, when using Network Installation Management (NIM), the administrator may need to create a SPOT (Shared Product Object Tree) resource from themksysbimage. The SPOT resource provides the necessary boot files and maintenance environment to boot the client system and perform the required tasks, such as varying on therootvgand troubleshooting the issue.References: IBM AIX NIM Documentation

The lspv command displays information about physical volumes on the system, and it retrieves the information from the Object Data Manager (ODM). The ODM is the database that stores information about the system's hardware configuration, including the PVID of each disk. The Iquerypv command directly queries the disk for its PVID, and is therefore able to display the correct PVID. Reference: IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty Study Guide, page 546.

The mksysb command is used to create a backup image of an AIX system. This image contains a backup of the rootvg volume group of the system, which includes all the operating system files, configuration files and installed applications. This is documented in the IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty Study Guide. More information on this can be found at https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/ssw_aix_72/com.ibm.aix.cmds3/mksysb.htm.

The command used to monitor SAN I/O performance/throughput is iostat -DIRT 60 10. The iostat command is used to monitor I/O performance and throughput on a SAN device. The DIRT (Disk I/O Response Time) flag can be used to display the response time for each I/O request. The last two arguments, 60 and 10, are the interval (in seconds) and the number of iterations respectively. This command will monitor I/O performance/throughput every 60 seconds for 10 iterations.

Themount -acommand in AIX mounts all file systems that are specified in the/etc/filesystemsfile and have the attributemount=true. This ensures that only those file systems that are configured to be automatically mounted are actually mounted when this command is executed. It does not mount all defined file systems, only those marked for automatic mounting.References: IBM AIX Documentation – mount

The IBM AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications provides a collection of open-source software packages that can be installed on AIX systems. However, IBM does not offer standard or extended support for these open-source packages. The software is provided as-is, meaning that users can utilize the software but are responsible for managing and troubleshooting it without official support from IBM.References: IBM AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications

According to the IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty Study Guide, the lsmcode command is used to list the microcode of the system. The -A flag is used to list the microcode level and the active microcode level of the system. This command can be used to confirm the system firmware level which is required to use the IBM Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT).

When an administrator encounters a "failure replaying log" error duringfsck, it indicates that the log device associated with the file system is corrupted. The next step is to format the log device using thelogformcommand. Runninglogform /dev/ulv11will reinitialize the log device, clearing any corruption and allowingfsckto proceed without errors. This process effectively resets the log, which is necessary for file system recovery.References: IBM AIX Documentation – logform

This command displays system configuration information, including the number of processors, amount of memory, and list of devices on the AIX partition. This command is part of the AIX Operating System, and is documented in the IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty Study Guide. More information on this command can be found at https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/ssw_aix_72/com.ibm.aix.cmds3/prtconf.htm.

When a customer calls with a complaint about slow workload performance, it is important to ask for additional details to help pinpoint the source of the issue. This could include details such as which application or process is running slowly, what errors are appearing, how long the issue has been occurring, etc. Having this information will help the administrator to determine the cause of the problem and determine the best course of action. Reference: IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty Study Guide (page 5-29).

When a customer reports slow workload performance without additional details, the first step should be to gather more information. This includes asking specific questions about the nature of the workload, when the slowdown occurs, any recent changes to the system, and other pertinent details. This information is crucial for diagnosing the issue accurately and determining the appropriate course of action. Arbitrarily increasing resources like CPU or memory without understanding the root cause may not resolve the issue and can lead to inefficient resource usage.References: IBM AIX Performance Tuning Guide

Thenimclientcommand on the AIX client system can be used to rebuild the/etc/niminfofile. This command allows the client to reinitialize its configuration and communicate with the NIM master to recreate the necessary configuration file.References:= IBM AIX NIM Documentation