Course Introduction

• Administration and Course Materials
• Course Structure and Agenda
• Delegate and Trainer Introductions

Session 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE RS6000 (PSERIES)

• Brief History
• Family History
• MCA and PCI Bus system Types
• Symmetrical Multiprocessors
• Scalable Power Parallel Systems

Session 2: OBJECT DATA MANAGER

• ODM Components and Commands
• Object Classes
• Descriptor Information
• Objects
• Searching The ODM
• The ODM Database
• Data Base File Names
• ODM File Locations
• cfgmgr And The ODM
• The Predefined Database Files
• Predefined Devices
• Predefined Attributes
• Customised Devices
• Customised Attributes
• ODM Class Usage
• Additional Device Object Classes
• Predefined Connection
• Customised Dependency
• Customised Device Driver
• Customised Vital Product Data

Session 3: SYSTEM INITIALISATION

• System Startup and The Boot Process
• The Bootlist and BLV
• The Boot Logical Volume
• Repairing the BLV
• Using Bootlists
• Boot Problems
• Service Processors
• Accessing A System That Will Not Boot Normally
• Accessing A Volume Group And Starting A Shell
• Accessing A Volume Group Without Mounting Filesystems
• The LED Display
• Interpreting Flashing LED Codes
• Location Codes
• Understanding SCSI Addressing
• Maintaining Firmware Levels
• AIX Initialisation
• The Three RC Boot Phases
• More about the cfgmgr
• Boot Problem Management

Session 4: DISK MANAGEMENT

• Local Volume Manager Review
• AIX Disk Storage
• Physical Volume and LVM
• Volume Group Descriptor Areas
• Physical and Logical Storage
• Use Of Logical Volumes
• Mirroring
• Stripping
• Volume Group Limits
• Alternative Mirroring and Stripping with RAID
• LVN Configuration Log
• LVM Data
• LVM Identifiers
• VGDA, VGSA and LVCB Control Blocks
• LVM and the ODM
• Physical Volumes and the ODM
• Volume Groups and the ODM
• Logical Volumes and the ODM
• LVM Problems in the ODM
• The rvgrecover Script
• VGDA and Quorum
• Forcing a varyon
• Mirroring
• Disk Replacement Techniques
• Possible Errors After Disk Replacement
• Exporting and Importing Volume Groups

Session 5: BACKING UP YOUR SYSTEM

• Using mksysb
• Creating a System Backup
• mksysb Image Structure
• Verifying a mksysb Tape
• Preparing bosinst.data for Unattended Install
• Cloning
• Reducing a File System
• Alternate Disk Installation
• Installing a mksysb Image On Another Disk
• Cloning the Running rootvg to Another Disk
• Removing an Alternate Disk Installation
• Backing up Non-Root Volume Groups
• Using savevg
• Backup from a Split Mirror

Session 6: PROBLEM SOLVING TOOLS

• Error Log Facility
• Error Log Input Components
• Error Reporting from SMIT
• The errpt Command
• Sample Summary/Intermediate/Detailed Report Output
• Interpreting LVM Error Log Entries
• Error Log Maintenance
• Error Notification Facility
• Notification Methods
• The syslogd Daemon
• Diagnostics
• The diag Command
• Working with diag
• AIX System Dumps

Session 7: PERFORMANCE AND WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT

• Addressing the Problem
• Understanding The Workload And Bottlenecks
• Identifying CPU Intensive Tasks
• Identifying High Priority Processes
• Monitoring CPU Usage with sar
• Monitoring Memory Usage with vmstat
• Monitoring Disk I/O Using iostat
• The topas Command
• The tprof Command
• The svmon Command
• The filemon Command
• Workload Management
• The Performance Diagnostic Tool (PDT)
• PDT Configuration Menu
• PDT File Overview
• The PDT.thresholds File
• Monitoring Files, Directories and Host Availability

Session 8: ADVANCED SECURITY FEATURES

• The Auditing Subsystem
• The Configuration Files
• The Object File
• The Event File
• The Config File
• Using Bin Mode
• Using Stream Mode
• The Audit Command
• Authentication and Access Controls
• Physical Security
• Path Problems
• Encrypted Filesystems in AIX 6.1
• Enhancing Login Security - Login Prompt
• Enhancing Login Security - Restricted Shell
• Customised Authentication Methods
• Two Key Authentication
• Access Control Lists
• ACL Keywords and Format
• The Trusted Computer Base
• The TCB Components
• Checking the TCB
• The sysch.cfg File
• The tcbck Command - Check Mode
• Marking Files As Trusted
• Trusted Communication Path
• Configuring Trusted Path Communications