This group really amazes me when I received so many responses within a day or
two of my request on a subject not related to Sun systems. Thank you SO
VERY VERY MUCH to the following Sun-Managers:
- Tim Evans
- Scott Michell
- Russ Bebb
- Frank Pardo
- Jay Holt
- Milt Webb
- Jack Reiner
- Susan Domingo
- Saeed Mostofizadeh
- James Mularadelis
- Rich (rsk@itw.com)
- Brian Puchalski
Original Question:
=================
My immediate assignment is to manage the IBM Risc 6000 AIX systems. I'm
looking for a UNIX system admin book that converts the SUN and/or Solaris
system admin commands to the AIX unix commands. I'd bought a couple of
AIX sys admin books but did not find anything like how to build a new kernel,
what the system config file(s) are, etc.
Also, is there an AIX user support group similar to this Sun-Managers
format that I can join?
I apologize for sending this question to this group. But I'm so used to
all of you during the past years that I know some of you would point me
to the right direction. I thank you all whole-heartedly.
Responses:
=========
Tim Evans writes:
You don't say if you're running AIX 3.x or 4.x, but if you have AIX 3.2.x,
you'll want to look at /usr/lpp/bos/bsd*. This is AIX basics for folks who
have a BSD background. It should get you started.
See the AIX FAQ on the Web at http://www.emerson.emory.edu/services/aix-faq/
or at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/aix-faq/
There is an AIX admin mailing list. To join, send mail to
listserv@pucc.princeton.edu with the text (I think),
"subscribe aix-l your_email_address".
===============================================================================
Scott Michell writes:
Here's some info on the AIX-L mailing list; substitute SIGNON for SIGNOFF in
the following instructions to subscribe.
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 10:33:20 -0400
From: BITNET list server at PUCC <LISTSERV@pucc.princeton.edu>
Reply-To: AIX-L-Request@pucc.princeton.edu
To: Scott Mitchell <smitch@eratos.erin.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Your subscription to list AIX-L
Dear networker,
Your subscription to list AIX-L (IBM AIX Discussion List) has been accepted.
You may leave the list at any time by sending a "SIGNOFF AIX-L" command
to
LISTSERV@PUCC.BITNET (or LISTSERV@PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU). Please note that
this
command must NOT be sent to the list address (AIX-L@PUCC) but to the
LISTSERV
address (LISTSERV@PUCC).
The amount of acknowledgement you wish to receive from this list
upon
completion of a mailing operation can be changed by means of a "SET
AIX-L
option" command, where "option" may be either "ACK" (mail
acknowledgement),
"MSGACK" (interactive messages only) or "NOACK".
Contributions sent to this list are automatically archived. You can obtain
a
list of the available archive files by sending an "INDEX AIX-L" command
to
LISTSERV@PUCC.BITNET (or LISTSERV@PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU). These files can then
be
retrieved by means of a "GET AIX-L filetype" command, or using the
database
search facilities of LISTSERV. Send an "INFO DATABASE" command for
more
information on the latter.
===============================================================================
Russ Bebb writes:
I did find
Majordomo@dmshome.youngstown.oh.us
with body
subscribe aix-digest
===============================================================================
Frank Pardo writes:
AIX looks like Unix to a programmer, but *not* to a sysadmin. All the
procedures are very different from what you're used to. The good news is
that (1) the man pages are pretty good, and (2) a great deal of admin
work is nicely automated by the GUI-based "smit" software. As a matter
of fact, IBM routinely urges people to use "smit" instead of directly
editing system control files, because "smit" also maintains a database
of the system's current status and configuration, which you might
forget, or be unable, to update manually. (And you can even run "smit"
in a character mode, e.g. in an xterm window on another machine...)
Here are the titles I promised you yesterday:
Power RISC System/6000
Dipto Chakravarty
McGraw-Hill
ISBN 0-07-011047-6
$39.95 (as of 11/94)
AIX RS/6000 System and Administration Guide
James W. DeRoest
McGraw-Hill
ISBN 0-07-036439-7
$39.95 (as of 4/95)
Both of these are in "The J. Ranade Workstation Series". Mr. Ranade has
been putting out books on IBM systems for a dozen years or more.
===============================================================================
Jay Holt writes:
Try the following Book:
"Essential System Administration"
from O'Reilly & Associates
ISBN: 1-56592-127-5
===============================================================================
Milt Webb writes:
I can tell you one thing that took me a while to discover. There are very
few tunables in AIX. Things like shared memory, etc. are dynamically
configured based on need.
I don't think I have ever built a kernel on AIX.
===============================================================================
Jack Reiner writes:
The system manager support group is
IBM-AIX
To: listserv@pucc.princeton.edu
Subject:
Body: SUBSCRIBE AIX-L <your full name>
As far as books go, none are especially great and the official IBM ones are
horrible. I mainly rely on _AIX RS/6000_ by James W. DeRoest published
by McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-036439-7 I ordered it from Barnes & Noble on
5th Avenue (NYC) 212-807-0099
I have never found a SunOS or Solaris to AIX translation book, if you find
one please let me know.
A big caveat: AIX is not UNIX! No matter what IBM says, if you try to do
things from a UNIX point-of-view, you will be frustrated. IBM developed AIX
internally; AIX is not derived from either BSD or AT&T. Often, when I am
on the telephone with IBM support (which has actually been pretty good - I
rate them as more technically competent than Sun's telephone support), I am
told to use commands which are clearly not UNIX. IBM may claim that they are
UNIX extensions, but I do not believe it.
The startup file sequence is different, the file system is different at the
low level (although it looks the same to a user), etc.
Keep my email and telephone numbers. Call me if you need.
===============================================================================
Saeed Mostofizadeh writes:
I do'not know any list, but use smit or smity (IBM admintool). It is
very comprehensive.
===============================================================================
James Mularadelis writes:
never heard of such a specific book.. there are a few that deal in
generalities.. did you check out the ibm admin guides? they do a
pretty decent job of describing commands and how to do things like
configure disks and the like.
try the usenet group: comp.sys.aix
haven't seen any rs6000 groups that are very active. you could check
out ibm's home page for rs6000s (http://www.austin.ibm.com)
also try and get your hands on an ibm tech library cd.. you can browse
it through info explorer and it has quite a bit of detail on the
system.
===============================================================================
Rich (rsk@itw.com) writes:
There are two that I found at the Unix Guru Universe web site
(which lives at http://www.polaris.net/ugu/ by the way):
IBM AIX General - To subscribe mail to LISTSERV@PUCC.BITNET, enter one line
in the subscription request: SUBSCRIBE AIX-L your-first-name your-last-name
IBM AIX on ESA - To subscribe mail to LISTSERV@PUCC.BITNET, enter one line
in the subscription request: SUBSCRIBE AIXESA-L your-first-name
your-last-name
I'd also recommend that you stockpile whatever-it-is that you use to
cope with bad software releases; AIX is easily the worst of the commonly
available Unix implementations, and represents an infinite time sink
for Unix administrators. With a structure that only a bunch of ex-JCL
weenies could love, it makes bad releases like Solaris 2.3
look like a walk in the park. My advice to you is to forget to plug it
into the surge protector and to make sure that it's up-and-running
during every thunderstorm that passes through.
===============================================================================
Brian Puchalski writes:
As in SunOS 5.x, AIX has a dynamically linking kernel. By configuring kernel
preferences under SMIT or using the appropriate "chdev" or "chattr (I think)"
commands. This is equivalent to the SunOS 5.x "/etc/system" file that is used
to modify specific kernel parameters.
AIX stores its kernel information and other system configuration parameters in
something called the Object Data Repository (ODM) which is a proprietary
relational database management system built into AIX. You can use the "lsdev"
and "lsattr" commands to "peek" into the ODM to see how various AIX parameters
are set.
You might want to begin subscribing to a couple of publications: AIXpert and
RS/Magazine, that contain useful and informative discussions.
===============================================================================
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