How to update Virtual I/O Server ?

Follow the below steps to update your VIO server :

1. Shutdown the VIO clients. This would not be required in case of dual VIO setup.

2. Apply the update using the below command (you have to use the proper syntax)

# updateios 

3. Reboot the Virtual I/O server

# shutdown -restart

4. Once the server comes back online, login and check the OS level

# ioslevel

5. After few weeks, you may have to commit the applied filesets

# updateios -commit


Here are the various ways of updating a Virtual I/O server


1. To update Virtual I/O server from a local directory

# updateios -dev /tmp/viopack -install -accept


2. To update Virtual I/O servers from remote filesystem

# mount NFS-server:/share-name /mnt
# updateios -dev /mnt -install -accept


3. To update Virtual I/O server from an Optical drive

# updateios -dev /dev/cd0 -install -accept


4. To commit all the uncommited filesets and then to update Virtual I/O server from an Optical drive and to

# updateios -f -dev /dev/cd0 -install -accept


Now let us look at the various uses of updateios command.

1. To commit  all the applied filesets

# udpateios -commit

2. To clean up after an interrupted installation

# updateios -cleanup

3. To reject all the applied (uncommited) filesets

# updateios -reject

4. To remove a fileststem from Virtual I/O server

# updateios -remove fileset-name

Backup on Virtual I/O Server

BACKUP OF VG STRUCTURE :

You can backup the structure of any volume group so that the configuration data will be stored under /tmp/vgdata. This will be automatically done if you run backupios (and even the configuration data will be automatically backed up).

Here are some commands.

1. To backup the structure of datavg
# savevgstruct datavg

2. To display a list of saved volume groups
# restorevgstruct -ls


3. To restore the structure of datavg on 2 available disks
# restorevgstruct -vg datavg hdisk2 hdisk3

BACKUP OF USER-DEFINED VIRTUAL DEVICES :

You can take a backup of all the user-defined virtual devices using the viobr command. But it requires minimum VIOS level 2.1.2.0.  Backup file includes logical devices like storage pools, SEA, virtual server SCSI/FC/Ethernet adapters, device attributes for disks, optical devices, tape devices, LHEA, ethernet devices/interfaces.

Here are some related commands

1. To take a backup of user-defined virutal devices in an XML file

# viosbr -backup -file filename

2. To view the backup information

# viosbr -view -file filename

3. To restore the virtual device configuration
# viosbr -restore -file filename

4. To validate the backup file
# viosbr -restore -validate -file filename


BACKUP OF VO SERVER :

1. To perform backup on a tape media
# backupios -tape /dev/rmt0

2. To perform backup on a DVD media
# backupios -cd /dev/cd0 -udf

3. To perform backup on a DVD-RAM disk
# backupios -cd /dev/cd0 -udf -accept

4. To take backup on a file (Creates a file called nim_resources.tar)
# backupios -file /mnt

5. To perform mksysb backup
# backupios -file /mnt/vioserver1.mksysb –mksysb

PowerVM

What is PowerVM ?
Licensed software/firmware feature which enables IBM virtualization technology on IBM POWER systems.
Available on Power5, Power6 and Power7 Systems
Allows AIX 5L V5.3 or later and Linux LPARs to run without physical adapters.

It is available in the following 3 editions
1. IBM PowerVM Express Edition 
2. IBM PowerVM Standard Edition
3. IBM PowerVM Enterprise Edition

Virtual I/O server is available as part of the PowerVM Editions (formarley known as Advanced POWER Virtualization) feature.

Virtual I/O Server facilitates:

1. Sharing of physical resources between LPARs on the system.
2. Creating LPARS without requiring additional physical resources like Network Adapter, HBA, SCSI Adapter.
3. Creating more LPARs than there are I/O slots or physical devices.
4. Maximizing use of phyiscal resources on the system

Booting Problem in SOLARIS - Part 3

4. The file just loaded does not appear to be executable
Boot block on the hard disk is corrupted .Boot the system in single user mode with cdrom and reinstall boot block .
#installboot /usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s0

5. bootblk: can’t find the boot program
boot block cannot find the boot programe – ufsboot in Solaris . Either ufsboot is missing or corrupted . In such cases it can be restored from the cdrom after booting from cdrom & mounting the hard disk
# cp /platform/`uname -i`/ufsboot  /mnt/platform/`uname -i`

6. boot: cannot open kernel/unix
Kernel directory or unix kernel file in this directory is not found .Probably deleted during fsck or deleted by mistake. Copy it from the cdrom or restore from the backup tape.
# cp /platform/`uname -i`/kernel/unix /mnt/platform/`uname -i`/kernel

7. Error reading ELF header ?
Kernel directory or unix kernel file in this directory is corrupted. Copy it from the cdrom or restore from the backup tape.
# cp /platform/`uname -i`/kernel/unix /mnt/platform/`uname -i`/kernel

8. Cannot open /etc/path_to_inst
System can not find the /etc/path_to_install file .It might be missing or corrupted and needs to be rebuild.

To rebuild this file boot the system with -ar option :
ok>boot -ar
Press enter to select default values for the questions asked during booting and select yes to rebuild /etc/path_to_install

The /etc/path_to_inst on your system does not exist or is empty. Do you want to rebuild this file [n]? y

system will continue booting after rebuilding the file.


9. Can’t stat /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s0 
When booted from cdrom and done fsck the root partition comes out to be fine but on booting from root disk this error occurs. The device name for / is missing from /dev/dsk directory and to resolve the issue /dev & /devices directories has to be restored from root backup tapes .

Booting problem in SOLARIS - Part 2

2. Making boot device alias

 
In case system can not boot from primary disk and it is needed to make another boot disk to access the data , nvalias command is used .

nvalias command makes the device alias and assigns an alternate name to a physical disk. Physical address of target disk is required which can be had by 

show-disk command on ok>.

ok> nvalias disk7 /iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/dma@3,81000/esp@3,80000/sd2,0
The new aliased disk can be named as boot disk or can be used for booting by refering its name .
ok> setenv boot-device disk7
ok>reset
or
ok> boot disk7

3. Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet ?

 
At ok> type printenv and look for these parameters .
boot-device disk
mfg-switch? false
diag-switch? false

if you see “boot-device net ” or true value for the other two parameter change it to the values above.

In case you wants to boot from network make sure your client is properly configured in boot server and network connections & configuration are proper.

               

Booting problem in solaris - Part 1

1. Booting in single user mode and mounting root hard disk

Most important step in diagnosing the booting problems is booting the system in single user mode and examining the hard disk for possible errors & work out the corrective measure.

Single user mode can be achieved by any of the following methods :-

ok> boot -s (from root disk)
ok> boot net -s (from network)

ok>boot cdrom -s (from cdrom)
Rebooting with command: cdrom -s
Configuring the /devices directory
Configuring the /dev directory |
INIT: SINGLE USER MODE
#
# fsck /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s0
# mount /dev/dsk/c0t3d0s0 /mnt

Perform the required operation on mounted disk , now accessible through /mnt ,& unmount the hard disk after you are done ;

# umount /mnt
# reboot

Two tips for AIX

Tips 1:

When performing AIX installation by a mksysb backup, remember not to perform the following steps.

1. Trigger open firmware prompt
2. setenv real_base 1000000
3. reset-all

It would caused the machine boot up dead lock in firmware prompt.

Solution : Call IBM Engineer to remove card battery in order to dry the cap.

Tips 2:

When you got the message key privileged password, that means someone lock the machine by SMS.

Solution : Call IBM Engineer to remove card battery in order to dry the cap. Then trigger SMS menu and disable password feature.