Good back-up of operating system

and all user data on system is MUST before initiating o.s updationtep
 
 
1. Check for current status of file-sets
#lppchk –v      (it won’t give anything as output if all file sets are in consistent state)
                                    (if ask for any requisite ,need to fulfill it prior moving ahead)
2. place all the all the file sets corresponds to ML into  a directory.              (ex :-   
/tmp/ibm/MLXX)
3. cd to that directory                                                                         (ex :- cd /tmp/ibm/MLXX)
4. give following command to prepare the table of content
#inutoc .
5. give the following command to install bos.rte.install file set
#installp –acXgd . bos.rte.install                                                        
6. say smitty update_all
            -for path say .
            -for preview say yes
            -accept the licences
7. the above command will run for some time and should show “OK” on the top at last
            if it generataes some error (fail status or failure) rectify the cause it is pointing towards
9. now go back to the previous menu(press F3 or esc+3) and for preview say “NO”
                        the above command will run for some time and should show “OK” on the top at
last
                        if it generataes some error (fail status or failure) rectify the cause it is pointing
towards
8. check out for current os level
#oslevel –r                               (here it should show the ml level  updated)
( (if updated to mlXX than for AIX 5.3 it will show :-
5300-XX
9. now repeat step no 1-7 for service packs step by step.                   (replace ml with sp at each
step)
10. run the following command to check the current os level with service pack
            #oslevel –s                               (here it should show the sp level  updated)
(if updated to spYY :- 5300-XX-YY)          
11. run the following commands once again at last
#lppchk –v      (it won’t give anything as output if all file sets are in consistent state)
12. u r done with ml updation.
1.check if you have 8 Mb(max.) space free in /tmp
 #df -g /tmp
2.Run the snap command
 #snap -gbc
this will create a file named snap.pax.Z in /tmp/ibmsupt
folder

3.ftp this file in binary mode on your PC.

    ->ftp server_ip
 ->cd /tmp/ibmsupt
 ->bin
 ->prompt
 ->mget snap.pax.Z
 ->bye
this would bought the file in the current path on your PC.
4.Mail this file to ibm support

Very good stuff for you all.

Setting partition-availability priorities for your managed system

To avoid shutting down mission-critical workloads when your server firmware deconfigures a failing processor, you
can use the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to set partition-availablity priorities for the logical partitions on
your managed system. A logical partition with a failing processor can acquire a replacement processor from logical
partitions with a lower partition-availability priority. The acquisition of a replacement processor allows the logical
partition with the higher partition-availability priority to continue running after a processor failure.

To set partition-availability priorities for your managed system using the HMC, follow these steps:

1.    In the navigation pane, open Systems Management and click Servers.

2.    In the work pane, select the managed system whose partition-availability priorities you want to set, click
the Tasks button, and select Configuration > Partition Availability Priority.

3.    Select the logical partitions whose partition-availability priority you want to set, set Availability priority to
the partition-availability priority value that you want to use for all selected logical partitions, and click OK.
You can enter any value from 0 to 255 into Availability priority, or you can select one of the preset choices.
All selected logical partitions are set to the same partition-availability priority value.

4.    Repeat this procedure for other logical partitions to set the partition-availability priority for those logical
partitions.

 Activating a system profile

You can activate many logical partitions at a time by using the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to activate a
system profile. A system profile is an ordered list of partition profiles. When you activate a system profile, the
managed system attempts to activate the partition profiles in the system profile in the order in which the partition
profiles are listed.
Restriction: You cannot activate a system profile that contains partition profiles that specify shared memory.

To activate a system profile using the HMC, follow these steps:

1.    In the navigation pane, open Systems Management and click Servers.

2.    In the work pane, select the managed system, click the Tasks button, and choose Configuration > Manage
System Profiles.

3.    Select the system profile and click Activate.

4.    Select the desired activation settings for the system profile and click Continue.

Shared processors
Shared processors are physical processors whose processing capacity is shared among multiple logical partitions.
The ability to divide physical processors and share them among multiple logical partitions is known as the Micro-
Partitioning™ technology.

Note: For some models, the Micro-Partitioning technology is an option for which you must obtain and enter a
PowerVM™ Editions activation code.

By default, all physical processors that are not dedicated to specific logical partitions are grouped together in a
shared processor pool. You can assign a specific amount of the processing capacity in this shared processor pool to
each logical partition that uses shared processors. Some models allow you to use the HMC to configure multiple
shared processor pools. These models have a default shared processor pool that contains all the processors that do
not belong to logical partitions that use dedicated processors or logical partitions that use other shared processor
pools. The other shared processor pools on these models can be configured with a maximum processing unit value
and a reserved processing unit value. The maximum processing unit value limits the total number of processing unit
that can be used by the logical partitions in the shared processor pool. The reserved processing unit value is the
number of processing units that are reserved for the use of uncapped logical partitions within the shared processor
pool.

You can assign partial processors to a logical partition that uses shared processors. A minimum of 0.10 processing
units can be configured for any logical partition that uses shared processors. Processing units are a unit of measure
for shared processing power across one or more virtual processors. One shared processing unit on one virtual
processor accomplishes approximately the same work as one dedicated processor.

Some server models allow logical partitions to use only a portion of the total active processors on the managed
system, so you are not always able to assign the full processing capacity of the managed system to logical partitions.
This is particularly true for server models with one or two processors, where a large portion of processor resources is
used as overhead. The System Planning Tool (SPT) shows how many shared processors are available for logical
partitions to use on each server model, so use the SPT to validate your logical partition plan.

On HMC-managed systems, shared processors are assigned to logical partitions using partition profiles.
Logical partitions that use shared processors can have a sharing mode of capped or uncapped. An uncapped logical
partition is a logical partition that can use more processor power than its assigned processing capacity. The amount
of processing capacity that an uncapped logical partition can use is limited only by the number of virtual processors
assigned to the logical partition or the maximum processing unit allowed by the shared processor pool that the
logical partition uses. In contrast, a capped logical partition is a logical partition that cannot use more processor
power than its assigned processing units.

For example, logical partitions 2 and 3 are uncapped logical partitions, and logical partition 4 is a capped logical
partition. Logical partitions 2 and 3 are each assigned 3.00 processing units and four virtual processors. Logical
partition 2 currently uses only 1.00 of its 3.00 processing units, but logical partition 3 currently has a workload
demand that requires 4.00 processing units. Because logical partition 3 is uncapped and has four virtual processors,
the server firmware automatically allows logical partition 3 to use 1.00 processing units from logical partition 2.
This increases the processing power for logical partition 3 to 4.00 processing units. Soon afterwards, logical
partition 2 increases its workload demand to 3.00 processing units. The server firmware therefore automatically
returns 1.00 processing units to logical partition 2 so that logical partition 2 can use its full, assigned processing
capacity once more. Logical partition 4 is assigned 2.00 processing units and three virtual processors, but currently
has a workload demand that requires 3.00 processing units. Because logical partition 4 is capped, logical partition 4
cannot use any unused processing units from logical partitions 2 or 3. However, if the workload demand of logical
partition 4 decreases below 2.00 processing units, logical partitions 2 and 3 could use any unused processing units
from logical partition 4.

By default, logical partitions that use shared processors are capped logical partitions. You can set a logical partition
to be an uncapped logical partition if you want the logical partition to use more processing power than its assigned
amount.

Although an uncapped logical partition can use more processor power than its assigned processing capacity, the
uncapped logical partition can never use more processing units than its assigned number of virtual processors. Also,
the logical partitions that use a shared processor pool can never use more processing units than the maximum
processing units configured for the shared processor pool.

If multiple uncapped logical partitions need additional processor capacity at the same time, the server can distribute
the unused processing capacity to all uncapped logical partitions. This distribution process is determined by the
uncapped weight of each of the logical partitions.

Uncapped weight is a number in the range of 0 through 255 that you set for each uncapped logical partition in the
shared processor pool. On the HMC, you can choose from any of the 256 possible uncapped weight values. By
setting the uncapped weight (255 being the highest weight), any available unused capacity is distributed to
contending logical partitions in proportion to the established value of the uncapped weight. The default uncapped
weight value is 128. When you set the uncapped weight to 0, no unused capacity is distributed to the logical
partition.

Uncapped weight is only used where there are more virtual processors ready to consume unused resources than there
are physical processors in the shared processor pool. If no contention exists for processor resources, the virtual
processors are immediately distributed across the logical partitions independent of their uncapped weights. This can
result in situations where the uncapped weights of the logical partitions do not exactly reflect the amount of unused
capacity.
For example, logical partition 2 has one virtual processor and an uncapped weight of 100. Logical partition 3 also
has one virtual processor, but an uncapped weight of 200. If logical partitions 2 and 3 both require additional
processing capacity, and there is not enough physical processor capacity to run both logical partitions, logical
partition 3 receives two additional processing units for every additional processing unit that logical partition 2
receives. If logical partitions 2 and 3 both require additional processing capacity, and there is enough physical
processor capacity to run both logical partitions, logical partition 2 and 3 receive an equal amount of unused
capacity. In this situation, their uncapped weights are ignored.

The server distributes unused capacity among all of the uncapped shared processor partitions that are configured on
the server, regardless of the shared processor pools to which they are assigned. For example, you configure logical
partition 1 to the default shared processor pool. You configure logical partition 2 and logical partition 3 to a different
shared processor pool. All three logical partitions compete for the same unused physical processor capacity in the
server, even though they belong to different shared processor pools.

 
Virtual processors
A virtual processor is a representation of a physical processor core to the operating system of a logical partition that
uses shared processors.

When you install and run an operating system on a server that is not partitioned, the operating system calculates the
number of operations that it can perform concurrently by counting the number of processors on the server. For
example, if you install an operating system on a server that has eight processors, and each processor can perform
two operations at a time, the operating system can perform 16 operations at a time. In the same way, when you
install and run an operating system on a logical partition that uses dedicated processors, the operating system
calculates the number of operations that it can perform concurrently by counting the number of dedicated processors
that are assigned to the logical partition. In both cases, the operating system can easily calculate how many
operations it can perform at a time by counting the whole number of processors that are available to it.

However, when you install and run an operating system on a logical partition that uses shared processors, the
operating system cannot calculate a whole number of operations from the fractional number of processing units that
are assigned to the logical partition. The server firmware must therefore represent the processing power available to
the operating system as a whole number of processors. This allows the operating system to calculate the number of
concurrent operations that it can perform. A virtual processor is a representation of a physical processor to the
operating system of a logical partition that uses shared processors.

The server firmware distributes processing units evenly among the virtual processors assigned to a logical partition.
For example, if a logical partition has 1.80 processing units and two virtual processors, each virtual processor has
0.90 processing units supporting its workload.

There are limits to the number of processing units that you can have for each virtual processor. The minimum
number of processing units that you can have for each virtual processor is 0.10 (or ten virtual processors for every
processing unit). The maximum number of processing units that you can have for each virtual processor is always
1.00. This means that a logical partition cannot use more processing units than the number of virtual processors that
it is assigned, even if the logical partition is uncapped.
A logical partition generally performs best if the number of virtual processors is close to the number of processing
units available to the logical partition. This lets the operating system manage the workload on the logical partition
effectively. In certain situations, you might be able to increase system performance slightly by increasing the
number of virtual processors. If you increase the number of virtual processors, you increase the number of
operations that can run concurrently. However, if you increase the number of virtual processors without increasing
the number of processing units, the speed at which each operation runs will decrease. The operating system also
cannot shift processing power between processes if the processing power is split between many virtual processors.

On HMC-managed systems, virtual processors are assigned to logical partitions using partition profiles.

Abstract: What is the difference between Active Memory Expansion vs. Active
Memory Sharing?

Active Memory Expansion:

* Effectively gives more memory capacity to the partition using compression/decompression of the contents in true
memory
* It is a feature code number for quantity 1 configured for each server (no software needs to be configured) (for
example, POWER 740 = FC4794 = POWER ACTIVE MEMORY EXPANSION)
* Supported on AIX partitions only
* Requires AIX 6.1 or later and POWER7 hardware

Active Memory Sharing:

* Moves memory from one partition to another

* Best fit when one partition is not busy when another partition is busy
* PowerVM hardware feature and PowerVM software required
* Supported on AIX, IBM i, and Linux partitions

Abstract: I wonder if you could confirm how the new "Intelligent Thread" technology
in POWER7 is different from the Processor Folding that has been available for some
time with SMT. Is this just an expansion to include SMT 4, or is it more than that?

Virtual Processor Folding is the process by which the AIX kernel (not Power Hypervisor) stops
dispatch processing for processors when unnecessary. This is a process to lessen the impact of
the tendency to pre-allocate larger numbers of VPs in LPARs to cope with spikes in workload,
activation of new physical processors or moving LPARs onto a systems with more cores.
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/aix/v6r1/index.jsp?
topic=/com.ibm.aix.prftungd/doc/prftungd/virtual_proc_mngmnt_part.htm
Intelligent Threads is the process by which the system will (if enabled) vary the operation of
SMT between 1, 2 and 4 depending on workload and results in more or fewer logical processors.

http://www-03.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/FQ128785

I've pasted a diagram below as well.

Thus, when you say "Processor Folding that has been available for some time with SMT", you're
not quite correct as processor folding is not related to SMT. When you say "Intelligent Thread
technology in POWER7 ... an expansion to include SMT 4" then that is essentially correct, the
expansion being from the SMT1 and SMT2 in both POWER5 and POWER6.

The visual way to think is this is that virtual processor folding happens at the virtual processor
level and that intelligent threads is happening at the logical processor level.

 
 

Abstract: What are the limitations on POWER p of the FC 5735 adapter when
attaching tape drives and disk drives in an AIX environment?

On POWER p it is best to use one port to attach disks drives and one port to attach tape drives
when connecting to FC 5735 . Mixing disks/tapes may slow down tape backups if you are doing
tape backups and heavy disk operations

Abstract: What adapter can be used for FCoE Converged Network Adapter on
PS701?

(#8275) - QLogic 2-port 10Gb Converged Network Adapter (CFFh)

The QLogic 2-port 10 Gb Converged Network Adapter (CFFh) for IBM BladeCenter offers
robust 8 Gb Fibre Channel storage connectivity and 10 Gb networking over a single Converged
Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) link. Because this adapter combines the functions of a network
interface card and a host bus adapter on a single converged adapter, clients can realize potential
benefits in cost, power, and cooling, and data center footprint by deploying less hardware.
Features The expansion card has the following features:

 Combo Form Factor (CFFh) PCI Express 2.0 x8 adapter

 Communication module: QLogic ISP8112
 Support for up to two CEE HSSMs in a BladeCenter H or HT chassis
 Support for 10 Gb Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE)
 Support for Fiber Channel over Converged Enhanced Ethernet (FCoCEE)
 Full hardware offload for FCoCEE protocol processing
 Support for IPv4 and IPv6
 Support for SAN boot over CEE, PXE boot, and iSCSI boot
 Support for Wake on LAN
 Support for BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager for BIOS, UEFI, and FCode

Stateless offload features include:

 IP, TCP, and UDP checksum offloads

 Large and Giant Send Offload (LSO, GSO)
 Receive Side Scaling (RSS)
 Header-data split
 Interrupt coalescing
  NetQueue

Note: VIOS attachment requires VIOS 2.1.3.0, or later. Refer to Software Requirements for
specifics.

 Attributes provided: 8Gb Fibre Channel connectivity and 10Gb CEE port
 Attributes required: Available PCI slot
 For 8406-71Y: (#8275)
 Minimum required: 0
 Maximum allowed: 2 (Initial order maximum: 2)
 OS level required:
 AIX Version 5.3 supported
 AIX Version 6.1 supported
 IBM i 6.1 supported
 IBM i 7.1 supported
 SUSE Linux supported
 Red Hat Linux supported
 Refer to Software Requirements for specific O/S levels supported
 Initial Order/MES/Both/Supported: Both
 CSU: Yes
 Return parts MES: No

The QLogic 2-port 10 Gb Converged Network Adapter requires at least one 10 Gb Ethernet
Pass-Thru Module or BNT 10-port 10 Gb Ethernet Switch Module to be installed in a
BladeCenter H or BladeCenter HT chassis.

For more information, see the following publications:

 QLogic 2-port 10 Gb Converged Network Adapter (CFFh) at-a-glance guide
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0716.html
 QLogic 2-port 10 Gb Converged Network Adapter (CFFh) Installation and User's Guide
(You will need to download the “publication release” EXE file and run it to unpack the pdf)

Abstract:
If I trunk together multiple ports on the same FC 5717 network card, can I expect >
1GBps speeds total through that trunk, or is the card itself limited to a maximum
throughput of a total of 1Gbps?

 
As for FC 5717 performance, each port is capable of running at 1 Gbit per second. Effective
payload rate at user level (what a user level program would see) is the following. This is MTU
1500 and running two TCP sessions per port. Single TCP session per port would be slightly
slower, about 930 Mbits vs 940 Mbits for example.
1 port 940 Mbits or 112 MBytes/sec
2 ports 1880 Mbits or 224 MBytes
3 ports 2820 Mbits or 336 MBytes
4 ports 3761 Mbits or 448 MBytes

That is running dedicated adapter without EtherChannel.

If you use EtherChannel (port aggregation), a lot depends on how the traffic is hashed across the
links in the channel. We recommend the src-dest-port hashing option which will hash a given
TCP connection to a specific link. That keeps packets in order for any given TCP connections.
So any single TCP session will only run on one link of the channel. It takes multiple TCP
sessions to take advantage of the channel. Also, the switch does the hashing inbound to AIX so
you have to select similar hashing there.

This adapter is the first 4-port adapter we have had that can run all 4-ports at speed. This is for
streaming workloads moving larger packets and this is for default MTU 1500.

Abstract: Can customers who have APV (Advanced POWER Virtualization) installed
on their server, upgrade this server to the PowerVM/Enterprise version?

No, the customer can not upgrade to the PowerVM/Enterprise version. APV is basically the same
software as the PowerVM Standard software license. The customer can convert their 5765-G31
and 5765-G34 software licenses shown below to the 5771-PVS PowerVM/Standard license.
However, there is no upgrade path to the PowerVM/Enterprise version. These older installed
servers such as the POWER5 9117-570 with it's APV feature (FC7942) installed, can not
upgrade to the PowerVM/Enterprise version.

9117-570 with this hardware feature and software licenses installed:

FC7942 Advanced POWER Virtualization - Standard
5765-G31 PARTITION LOAD MANAGER
5765-G34 VIRTUAL I/O SERVER

Software licenses above can convert to this PowerVM/Standard software license only:
5765-PVS PowerVM Standard Edition
1. INTRODUCTION TO PARTITIONING
o What is Partition , LPAR ,PPAR
o List Partition characterstics
o List benefits of using partition
o Software licensing,What is POWER hypervisor and its function
o Hardware management console (HMC) and its usage
o What is DLPAR , processor concepts, Virtual I/O,Power VM
2. HARDWARE OVERVIEW
o What are P series hardware .
o Discuss p4,P5,P6,P7 hardware
o What are features implemented in each series
o I/O drawer options
o What is location codes, physical location code convention
o How to see AIX location codes
o Service processor and its role in system
o Advanced System Management Interface
3. HARDWARE MANAGEMENT CONSOLE
o What is HMC ? Its configuration ,HMC hardware and software,
o Taking you through HMC application window
o How to configure new HMC ,User and Network Management in HMC
o Configuring firewall in HMC
o How to connect manged node to HMC
o Real time issues related to HMC and Managed Node
o What are important task AIX HMC manage
4. Integrated Virthual Ethernet Adapter
o Discuss IVE in Power 6
 o Discuss Host Ethernet Adapter, How it used .
o Configure an HEA adapter
o How IVE is compared with SEA .
5. LPAR and Managed Node Power Management
o Managed system power states types
o How they are used in real time
o managed system power on/off option
o What is partition standby , system profile,auto start
o How to power off managed system
o Real time scenario related to Power On /Off
o How to create LPAR , Usage of Memory,CPU and other resources for LPAR
o What are I/O Resources
o Creating logical partition
o Guidelines in creating LPAR in real time
o Activating partition ,its option during activation
o Terminal window , Partition shutdown and restart option
o Creating ,modifying,copying and deleting profile
o Profile backup
o Real time issues and Troubleshooting
6. DYNAMIC RESOURCE ALLOCATION
o What is DLPAR , How it works
o What are all we can DLPAR
o Memory,I/O slots , pre-requise and steps for DLPAR
o Commands during DLPAR
o Command Line option for DLPAR
o Scenario and Isuues in DLPAR
o HMC and LPAR communication ,authentication
o RSCT and RMC usage in DLAPR
o Troubleshooting for DLAPR issues .
7. Processor Concepts
o What is dedicated,shared processor
o New features in P6 related to processor
o What is shared processor pool
o capped and uncapped partition
o What is Virtual Processor ,what they do ,New Feature in P6
o Fold cpu concept ,What is SMT Smiultaneous Multi Threading
o When SMT is used in Real Time
o Option in SMT
8. VIRTUAL I/O
o What is virtual I/O
o Why virtualize I/O, What are benefits of Virtualized I/O
o What are virtual Devices we use in VIO ,Discuss Virtual LAN
o What is Virtual ethernet ,Role of POWER Hypervisor Ethernet Switch
o What is virtual ethernet adapters , How we use them
 o Creating a virtual ethernet adapter
9. VIRTUAL I/O SERVER
o Discuss Virtual I/O server
o Role of Virtual I/O server
o Creating a virtual I/O server and Installation of VIO software
o What is Shared ethernet adapter ,Role of SEA
o Trunking of adapter
o What is Virtual SCSI ,Creating Virtual SCSI server and Client Adapter
o What is Storage Pools ,LVPools and FBPools
o How Client Side Disk are seen
o Discuss Backing Storage Discovery
10. SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
o How to install LPARS ,Various Option in Installation
o What is SMS menu ,How it used in Realtime
o Setting up NIM , How to install LPAR through NIM
o Issues during network boot and Trouble shooting Tips
11. HMC AND MANAGED NODE Maintenance
o What is Backup critical console data and its importance
o What is period we backup CCD in Real Time
o How to restore CCD in Real Time .
o HMC patch management ,Website to Downloand
o How to Upgrade HMC software version
o Different option to upgrade .
o How we use HMC to update Mangaed Node Firmware
o Real Time Steps and Precaution
o Discuss HMC Role today in Sys Admin Job