IT Notes - Information Technology Notes

Contents of an IP Routing Table

2006-11-23T17:34:00.000+08:00

Contents of an IP Routing Table

The following are the fields of a typical IP routing table entry:

•	Destination The destination can be either an IP address or a class-based, subnetted, or supernetted network ID. In the Windows 2000 IP routing table, this column is named Network Destination.
•	Network Mask The bit mask that is used to match a destination IP address to the value in the Destination field. In the Windows 2000 IP routing table, this column is named Netmask.
•	Next-Hop The IP address to which the packet is forwarded. In the Windows 2000 IP routing table, this column is named Gateway.
•	Interface The network interface that is used to forward the IP packet.
•	Metric A number used to indicate the cost of the route so that the best route, among potentially multiple routes to the same destination, can be selected. A common use of the metric is to indicate the number of hops (the number of links or routers to cross) en route to the destination.

Routing table entries can be used to store the following types of routes:

•	Directly-attached network routes Routes for subnets to which the node is directly attached. For directly-attached network routes, the Next-Hop field can either be blank or contain the IP address of the interface on that subnet.
•	Remote network routes Routes for subnets that are available across routers and are not directly attached to the node. For remote network routes, the Next-Hop field is the IP address of a local router.
•	Host routes A route to a specific IP address. Host routes allow routing to occur on a per-IP address basis. For host routes, the network ID is a specific IP address and the network mask is 255.255.255.255.
•	Default route The default route is used when a more specific network or host route is not found. The default route destination is 0.0.0.0 with the network mask of 0.0.0.0. The next-hop address of the default route is typically the default gateway of the node.

Oil and Gas Industries - IT

2006-11-21T18:45:00.000+08:00

A lot of people did not realize that IT ( information technology) has contribute a lot in the development and advancement of Oil and Gas industries in the world.

IT, especially in the exploration activity has become one of the "must have" tools. The following is some of the tools that help the Explorarer of oil and gas.

Oasis montaj™ is powerful mapping and processing software for exploration and earth science investigations. > more
GM-SYS profile modeling and 3D modeling extensions add powerful visualization functionality to the Oasis montaj environment. > more
Geosoft DAP is technology for delivering and accessing large geoscientific datasets via the Internet or Intranet. > more

Point of Sale : Hardware Requirements

2006-11-21T16:47:00.000+08:00

Hardware requirements : Based on Point Of Success System (http://www.pointofsuccess.com)

System Requirements and Hardware Recommendations

Point of Success uses common, inexpensive computer hardware and networking components. Any compatible system may be used if it meets these requirements:

Receipt Printers

Point of Success supports any type of POS receipt printer that uses a Windows printer driver. Select one of the following printers to simplify set up of your system:

Ithaca POSJet 1000 (Also known as KITCHENjet 1000) Recommended
Ithaca iTherm 280 Recommended
Epson TM-T88III
Epson TM-T88IV
Epson TM-U220
Star SP200
Star SP500
Star TSP600
Citizen IDP3551
Any Windows-compatible plain paper full page printer. Your report printer can serve as a backup in the event a POS printer stops working.

Cash Drawers

Point of Success works with any make or model of printer-connected cash drawer. Purchase a cash drawer designed to work with your POS printer. Depending upon the printer selected, one or two cash drawers may be used for each printer. See this Knowledge Base article for more information on multiple cash drawers: http://pointofsuccess.mykb.com/Article_5E52B.aspx

Cash drawers connected directly to a computer with serial, parallel or USB ports are not supported.

Box Label Printers

Star TSP-800 (Direct thermal, this printer may be promoted as a receipt printer. It works very well with the 1" high by 4" wide labels, Star part number 37995120, designed for the printer.)
Zebra LP-2844 (Direct thermal, 1" high by 4" wide label stock)
Zebra TLP-2844 (Thermal transfer, 1" high by 4" wide label stock)

Bump Bars

The Point of Success kitchen monitor feature supports the following bump bar hardware:

Logic Controls KB1700 (IBM bump bar compatible legend sheet)

A complete computer is required to use the kitchen monitor feature. Orders may be bumped from the kitchen monitor using a keyboard, mouse, touch screen or bump bar.

Pole Displays/Customer Displays

Point of Success supports pole displays/customer displays:

Epson and compatible two line displays
Partner Tech CD7220

Magnetic Stripe Readers

Point of Success supports magnetic stripe readers for credit card processing and login with an employee card. The magnetic stripe reader (MSR) must be of the keyboard emulation type. HID (Human Interface Device) or OPOS type magnetic stripe readers will not work with Point of Success.

Delivery Mapping

Point of Success works with the following Microsoft mapping software to produce maps, most efficient routing and driving directions:

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005
Microsoft Streets & Trips 2006
Microsoft MapPoint 2004

A Discussion About Ports

A port is used to connect computers to peripheral (accessory) devices. It is very important to determine the POS peripherals that will be connected to each computer so you can plan your use of its ports. Here are the ports that you need to be aware of for your point of sale system:

A parallel port (also called a printer port) is used for connecting a printer to a computer. Parallel ports will normally have a picture of a printer next to it on the back of the computer. Parallel ports have a design limitation that requires a cable of no more than 9 to 12 feet. Use a parallel port to connect a printer to a computer that will sit beside the computer. Parallel printers are not normally appropriate for use as a remote printer in the kitchen.

A serial port (also called an RS-232 port) is used for several types of devices. Touch screens commonly have a serial connector to communicate screen touches to the computer. POS printers are available with serial connectors. Customer displays (also called pole displays) normally use serial ports. The Point of Success Caller ID box requires a serial port. Computers commonly come with only one serial port, so plan your use of serial devices carefully. A serial cable can be up to 150 feet in length when it is constructed with high-quality cable, making a serial printer appropriate for use as a remote kitchen printer.

A USB port (Universal Serial Bus) can be used for printers, touch screens, and any other type of peripheral that incorporates a USB connection. The maximum USB cable length is 5 meters (16.5 feet). Cable length can be extended through the use of a powered USB hub.

An Ethernet port is used to connect a computer or peripheral device to a network. POS printers are also available with Ethernet ports, making these printer models a good choice for a remote printer.

Workstation Computer (order entry and cashier)

Touch panel or touch monitor: Elo Touchsystems LCD touch panel is recommended, with other brands of touch panels and monitors supported. Touch display must support Windows mouse control. Minimum resolution of 800 x 600 is required. Higher resolution touch displays will allow more work area and permit easier navigation. Standard computer monitors are supported with the use of a mouse to navigate the program.
Personal computer running Windows 2000 or Windows XP (Windows XP is recommended for easier network setup). Choose the best combination of price and performance for your needs. Recommended minimum 256 MB RAM.
100 MBPS local area network (LAN) connection when using Point of Success in a network environment. A network switch or hub is required; cross-over cable connections are not supported. Wireless networks are not recommended. Single-user systems are also supported.
Data entry can be accomplished in its entirety using a touch display, but a mouse and keyboard may make customer information entry easier.
Receipt printers: Use of printers from the list above will assure the most trouble-free installation and setup. Other brands and models of receipt printers are supported if a standard Windows printer driver is available for the printer. Less popular receipt printers may require additional print formatting. Point of Success supports multiple printers on each workstation, including remote printers for printing of prep tickets. If a printer will be located more than ten feet from a workstation, an Ethernet or serial printer is recommended. Printers may be shared across a network, offering the ability to connect a printer to any available workstation with printer placement in any convenient location. Special Note: Receipt printer models on individual order entry workstations must match.
Cash drawer designed for your model receipt printer if a computer-controlled cash drawer is desired.
Uninterruptible power supply with AVR (automatic voltage regulation) for every workstation. A UPS will virtually eliminate power-related problems with both software and network.

Manager’s Computer

Standard computer display with at least 1024 x 768 resolution. Manager's workstation software can be used on an order entry workstation if the workstation has a display supporting 1024 x 768 resolution and an attached keyboard and mouse.
Personal computer running Windows 2000 or Windows XP (Windows XP is recommended for easier network setup). Choose the best combination of price and performance for your needs. Recommended minimum 256 MB RAM.
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 or above must be installed.
CD-R drive or other high-capacity removable storage device for data backup.
100 MBPS local area network (LAN) connection when using Point of Success in a network environment. A network switch or hub is required; cross-over cable connections are not supported. Wireless networks are not recommended. Single-user systems are also supported.
Laser or ink jet page printer.
Uninterruptible power supply with AVR (automatic voltage regulation). A UPS will virtually eliminate power-related problems with both software and network.

Database Server Computer

Point of Success uses the Advantage Database Server for managing and protecting data. The database software requires a computer running Windows 2000 or Windows XP (Windows XP is recommended for easier network setup). The computer running the database software must be on at all times when Point of Success is used. The database server computer can be up day and night or started before using Point of Success. It is best to run the database software on a separate server computer, but the database software can also be loaded on the manager’s workstation or other computer on the network. Database software is not required for single-computer operation. Remember to include a UPS for power protection.

Point of Sale : Overview

2006-11-21T15:16:00.000+08:00

What Is POS?

POS or PoS is an abbreviation for point of sale (or point-of-sale, or point of service). This can mean a retail shop, a checkout counter in a shop, or a variable location where a transaction occurs in this type of environment. Additionally, point of sale sometimes refers to the electronic cash register system being used in an establishment. Point of sale systems are used in restaurants, hotels, stadiums, casinos, as well as retail environments -in short, if something can be sold, it can be sold where a point of sale system is in use.

History of POS

POS systems evolved from the mechanical cash registers of the first half of the 20th century. Examples of this type of register were the NCR registers, operated by a crank, and the lever-operated Burroughs registers.

These registers recorded data on journal tapes or paper tape and required an extra step to

transcribe the information into the retailer's accounting system. The next step in

evolution was to move to operation by electricity. An example of this type of register

was the NCR Class 5 cash register. In 1973 new registers that were driven by computers

were introduced, such as the IBM 3653 Store System and the NCR 2150. Other computer-based manufacturers were Regitel, TRW, and Datachecker. 1973 also brought about the introduction of the UPC/EAN barcode readers on the POS systems. In 1986, the POS systems became based on PC technology with the introduction of the IBM 4683.

During the late 1980s and throughout the 90s stand-alone credit card devices were developed so credit card processing could be more easily and securely added. Some popular models include the VeriFone Tranz 330, Hypercom T7 Plus, or Lipman Nurit 2085. These relatively simple devices have evolved in recent years to allow multiple applications (credit card, gift card, age verification, employee time clock) to reside on one device. Some wireless POS systems for restaurants not only allow for mobile payment processing, they also allow servers to process the entire food order right at tableside.

As of 2005, retail POS systems were among the most sophisticated and powerful computer networks in commercial use. In fact, most retail POS systems do much more than just "point of sale" tasks. Even for the smaller tier 4 & 5 retailers, there are many

POS systems available that include fully integrated accounting, inventory management,
open to buy forecasting, customer relation management (CRM), service management, rental, and payroll modules.

****The following notes of POS - Point of Sale - is the summary gathered from t various sources such as the http://en.wikipedia.org and google.com

Next page

Networking - Understanding the IP Routing Table

2006-11-21T13:22:00.000+08:00

Understanding the IP Routing Table

All computers running any version of Windows and the supplied TCP/IP protocol use an IP routing table. The IP routing table stores information about destinations and how they can be reached. There are a series of default entries based on the configuration of the node. You can add entries with TCP/IP utilities or entries can be added dynamically through interaction with routers.

When an IP packet is forwarded, the IP routing table is used to determine:

The next-hop IP address

For a direct delivery (the destination is a neighboring node), the next-hop IP address is the destination address in the packet. For an indirect delivery (the destination is not a neighboring node), the next-hop address is the address of a router.

The next-hop interface

The next-hop interface identifies either a physical interface (for example, a network adapter) or a logical interface (for example, a tunneling interface) that is used to forward the packet.

After the next-hop address and interface are determined, the packet is passed to the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). For LAN technologies such as Ethernet and Token Ring, ARP attempts to resolve the link-layer address (also known as the media access control [MAC] address) for the next-hop address, and forward the packet by using the next-hop interface.

Download - Old Program- Full

2006-11-19T23:39:00.000+08:00

My all time favorite programs. The following link will download the full version of the old program:

FTP Program:

WS_FTP Limited Edition 6 (2 MB)
WS_FTP Limited Edition 5.06 (1 MB)

Yahoo Messenger:

Yahoo Messenger 8.0.0.506 (10 MB)
Yahoo Messenger 7.5.0.647 (8 MB)
Yahoo Messenger 6.1 (5 MB)
Yahoo Messenger 6.0.0.1922 (5 MB)

Mirc:
mIRC 6.2 (1 MB)
mIRC 6.17 (1 MB)
mIRC 5.91 (1 MB)

...and many more in the next posting....

AIX - Handy Command - " While"

2006-11-19T07:18:00.000+08:00

One of my favorite command in the AIX is using the "while condition". Refer to the following:

#while true
>do
>df -k ( or any commands you like e.g ls -lrt;
>sleep 10
>clear
>done

What the above command will do is actual it will display the "df -k" in every 10 sec and keep displaying it until u press the "control c" button. It is so convinience especially if you want to
monitor the progress of "data transfer" or want to monitor same command continously.

Measuring Garments

2006-11-17T23:03:00.000+08:00

Today, I've learnt new things!..How to accurately measuring your garments??!!. There are many ways of doing it, and below is what I found in the internet, the "standard way" of doing it.

Measuring Garments

Tops
	Body width measure 1” below armhole and straight across from side to side.
	Body length measure in a straight line at point where neck trim meets body to bottom of garment (including any bottom trim).
	Armhole measure in a straight line at point where sleeve joins body at the shoulder to the point where the sleeve meets the body at the underarm.
	Sleeve length At the top – measure from point where sleeve meets shoulder seam, straight along fold to bottom of sleeve (including any sleeve trim).
	Center back – measure from center of back where collar joins garment to where the sleeve and shoulder joins, then to the end of sleeve cuff or hem.
	Shoulder to shoulder – measure across the back of the garment along the shoulder seams from the outside edge of one shoulder to the outside of the other.
	Colret width – position ruler end to colret seam at center front and measure across width of colret.
	Cuff width – measure from the point where the cuff is attached to the sleeve to the end of the cuff.
	Bottom band width – measure where bottom band is attached to edge of band.
	Bottom band opening – measure along edge of bottom band.
	Muff pockets : Opening – measure along the pocket opening from the top of the pocket down to the bottom of the pocket opening.
	Length – measure along side of garment from the point parallel to the top of the pocket down to the point where the pocket meets bottom band.
Bottoms
	Waist band : Relaxed – measure distance across waist at center of elastic/band ½” down from top. Stretched – measure elastic waist extended horizontally to maximum width without breaking stitches.
	Length: Total length – measure along outseam from top of elastic to bottom of leg. (A to B) Inseam – measure from crotch seam down to bottom of leg. (C to D)

Size Charts

Measurement guide

Bust / Chest
Measure under arms around fullest part of bust. Be sure to keep tape level across back and comfortably loose.
Natural waist
Measure around natural waist with a loose tape.
Hips
Measure around fullest part of body at top of legs. Keep feet together and tape parallel to floor.
Length
Measure from highest part of shoulder to heel.

Please note that:
The measurements on the charts below are for the actual body measurement.
However, the measurements included in all our listings are for the actual dress measurement.
This guide will help you to choose the dress to be slightly bigger than your actual body size. If your measurement falls between sizes, please order the larger size. Recommended size will be stated in most of the listings. Please ask me if you are unsure about the measurements.

Size Chart for American Women (Inches)

Size Name	Equivalent Dress Size	Bust	Waist	Hips
S	4 - 6	32 - 34	25 - 27	34 - 36
M	8 - 10	35 - 37	28 - 30	37 - 39
L	12 - 14	38 - 40	31 - 33	40 - 42
XL	14 - 16	41 - 43	34 - 36	43 - 45
2X	18 - 20	44 - 46	37 - 39	46 - 48
3X	22 - 24	47 - 49	40 - 42	49 - 51
4X	24 - 26	50 - 52	43 - 45	52 - 54

Size Chart for UK Women (Inches)

Size Name	Equivalent Dress Size	Bust	Waist	Hips
S	6 - 8	32 - 34	25 - 27	34 - 36
M	10 - 12	35 - 37	28 - 30	37 - 39
L	14 - 16	38 - 40	31 - 33	40 - 42
XL	16 - 18	41 - 43	34 - 36	43 - 45
2X	20 - 22	44 - 46	37 - 39	46 - 48
3X	24 - 26	47 - 49	40 - 42	49 - 51
4X	26 - 28	50 - 52	43 - 45	52 - 54

Size Chart for Australian Women (Inches)

Size Name	Equivalent Dress Size	Bust	Waist	Hips
S	6 - 8	32 - 34	25 - 27	34 - 36
M	12 - 14	35 - 37	28 - 30	37 - 39
L	16 - 18	38 - 40	31 - 33	40 - 42
XL	18 - 20	41 - 43	34 - 36	43 - 45
2X	22 - 24	44 - 46	37 - 39	46 - 48
3X	26 - 28	47 - 49	40 - 42	49 - 51

Size Chart for French Women (Centimeters)

Size Name	Equivalent Dress Size	Bust	Waist	Hips
S	34 - 36	79 - 86	64 - 69	86 - 91
M	38 - 40	89 - 94	71 - 76	94 - 99
L	42 - 44	97 - 102	79 - 84	102 - 107
XL	44 - 46	104 - 109	86 - 91	109 - 114
2X	50 - 52	112 - 117	94 - 99	117 - 122
3X	54 - 56	119 - 124	102 - 107	124 - 130
4X		127 - 132	109 - 114	132 - 137

Size Chart for German Women (Centimeters)

Size Name	Equivalent Dress Size	Bust	Waist	Hips
S	30 - 32	79 - 86	64 - 69	86 - 91
M	36 - 38	89 - 94	71 - 76	94 - 99
L	40 - 42	97 - 102	79 - 84	102 - 107
XL	42 - 44	104 - 109	86 - 91	109 - 114
2X	46 - 48	112 - 117	94 - 99	117 - 122
3X	48 - 50	119 - 124	102 - 107	124 - 130
4X		127 - 132	109 - 114	132 - 137

ITIL Components: Overview

2006-11-16T15:22:00.000+08:00

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) defines the organisational structure and skill requirements of an information technology organisation and a set of standard operational management procedures to allow the organisation to manage an IT operation and associated IT infrastructure. The operational procedures are supplier independent and apply to all items of equipment within the IT Infrastructure.

The 'library' itself comprises seven distinct sets: Service Support; Service Delivery; ICT Infrastructure Management; Planning To Implement Service Management; Applications Management; The Business Perspective; and Security Management. Within these sets are the specific descriptions and definitions of the various ITIL disciplines.

ITIL was originally created by the CCTA under the auspices of the British government, and ITIL is a registered trademark of the UK Government's Office of Government Commerce (usually known as the OGC).

The two most commonly used sets (the core sets) are Service Support and Service Delivery. The disciplines within these are as follows:

-Incident Management
-Problem Management
-Configuration Management
-Change Management
-Release Management
-Service Desk

-Service Level Management
-IT Financial Management
-Capacity Management
-Availability Management
-IT Service Continuity Management
-IT Security Management

Certification
There are three levels of certification for ITIL: Foundation Certificate, Practitioners Certificate and Managers Certificate. For those holding these certificates, we are maintaining the ITIL Certification Register. If you are qualified, please feel free to add your details.

ISO 20000
For corporate/organizational certification, the relevant emerging standard is ISO 20000. This is quickly emerging to be a central driver for ITSM, and is conceptually the framework within which ITIL itself operates

The further details about ITIL component will be in the next posting.

ITIL Information - Part 1

2006-11-16T14:42:00.000+08:00

I'm looking for the information on the best practice for managing the IT services. The following information which I found from http://www.itilsurvival.com is exactly match my expectation.
ITIL to my understanding is the best approach to be used in this challenging IT services industry.

For those who are looking for a higher position in the IT company, I think the certification from
ITIL will greatly improve the chances to become one (management post).

What is ITIL?

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of best practices used to deliver high quality IT services. The best practices described in ITIL represent the consensus derived from over a decade of work by thousands of IT and data processing professionals’ world-wide, including hundreds of years of collective experience. Because of its depth and breadth, the ITIL has become the defacto world standard for IT best practices.

Why ITIL Can Help

Many executives express frustration as they attempt to reign in the chaos and expense associated with their IT investments but find little in the way of substantive guidance. The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has emerged as the worlds most widely accepted approach to the management and delivery of IT Services.

Gartner measurements show that the overall results of moving from no adoption of IT Service Management to full adoption can reduce an organization’s Total Cost of Ownership by as much as 48%.

ITIL currently has over 100,000 certified (trained) professionals and consultants, primarily in Europe, Australia and Canada, with only a small fraction of those certified professionals residing or practicing in the U.S.

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) represents a drastically different approach to IT by framing all activity under two broad umbrellas named Service Support and Service Delivery respectively. By focusing on the critical business processes and disciplines needed to deliver services around IT, the ITIL provides a maturity path for IT that is not based on technology. This accessibility allows senior executives to both sponsor and shepherd IT quality improvement efforts. The ITIL has become the most widely accepted approach to IT service management.

ITIL provides a comprehensive, consistent volume of best practices drawn from the collective experience and wisdom of thousands of IT practitioners around the world. By defining IT quality as the level of alignment between the actual services delivered and the actual needs of the business the library serves as a common point of engagement for IT and the other business units.

By adopting IT best practices, what type of advantage can an organization expect?

Beyond the quantifiable benefits, delivered from the implementation of ITIL, there are also qualitative benefits. Successful introduction of IT Service Management with ITIL should deliver type of benefits to organizations:

• Improved Customer Satisfaction
• Improved ROI of IT
• Improved Morale of Service delivery and recipient staff
• Reduced staff turnover
• Lower costs of training, especially as the ITIL standard become widely adopted
• Improved systems/apps availability
• Improved IT employee productivity
• Reduced cost/incident
• Reduced hidden costs that traditionally increases substantially the TCO
• Better asset utilization

The economic impact of an organization adopting ITIL will be felt in all of the areas listed above. The benefits can also be viewed in terms of direct savings and indirect, the later being derived as a result of the strategy but not directly related to the actions being taken, such as minimizing the missed opportunity costs, the cost of not been able to operate. These indirect benefits as well as the direct benefits may vary greatly from one organization to another.

ITIL Success Stories

Has anyone successfully adopted this framework? The answer is a resounding yes. Over the last ten years organizations ranging both in size and industry have successfully integrated the best practices guidance and taken their results to the public.

It has become clear that focusing on the development of a process driven IT organization can yield significant efficiency related savings. What is also interesting is that effectiveness of services delivered has also ranked highly as one of the many positive outcomes of best practice adoption. Moving into the realm of IT Service Management requires the attention and focus of the IT organization as well as many important stakeholders from other business units.

Who in the US has implemented ITIL and what was the outcome?

Many high-profile U.S. organizations have adopted the best practices described in ITIL. Companies such as Procter and Gamble, IBM, Caterpillar, Shell Oil, Boeing, and the Internal Revenue Service have all reported great success and significant operational cost savings as a direct result of ITIL adoption.

Procter and Gamble publicly attributes nearly $125 million in IT cost savings per year to the adoption of ITIL, constituting nearly 10% of their annual IT budget. Similarly, Shell Oil utilized ITIL best practices when they overhauled their global desktop PC consolidation project, encompassing 80,000 desktops. After this project was completed, they can now do software upgrades in less than 72 hours, potentially saving 6000 man-days working days and 5 million dollars.

Part 1 - AIX Command - Daily Used

2006-11-15T16:21:00.000+08:00

Introduction
We all know that AIX has a vast array of commands that enable us to do multitudes of tasks. Depending on what we need to accomplish we use only a certain subset of these commands. These subsets differ from user to user and from need to need. However, there are a few core commands that we all use. We need these commands either to answer our own questions or to provide answers to the support professionals' queries.

In this article we will discuss some of these core commands. The intent is to provide a list that can be used as a ready reference. While the behavior of these commands should be identical in all releases of AIX, they have been tested only under AIX 5.1.

Note that the bootinfo command discussed in the following paragraphs is NOT a user-level command and is NOT supported in AIX 4.2 or later.

Commands

Kernel
To display if the kernel is 32-bit enabled or 64-bit enabled, type:

bootinfo -K

How can I change from one kernel mode to another?

/unix is a symbolic link to the booted kernel. To find out what kernel mode is running, enter ls -l /unix and see what file /unix is linked to. Following are the three possible outputs from ls -l /unix command and their corresponding kernels:

/unix -> /usr/lib/boot/unix_up              # 32 bit uniprocessor kernel

/unix -> /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp              # 32 bit multiprocessor kernel

/unix -> /usr/lib/boot/unix_64              # 64 bit multiprocessor kernel

During the installation process, one of the 32-bit kernels, appropriate to the hardware, is enabled by default. The system can be changed to boot up in 64-bit kernel mode by using the following commands:

ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64    /unix

ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64    /usr/lib/boot/unix

bosboot -ad  /dev/hdiskxx

shutdown -r

The /dev/hdiskxx directory is where the boot logical volume /dev/hd5 is located. To find out what xx is in hdiskxx, run the following command:

 lslv -m hd5

Hardware
64-bit hardware is required to run the 64-bit kernel. All pSeries 64-bit hardware can run either the 64-bit kernel or the 32-bit kernel. If you don't know whether your hardware is 64-bit or not, type the following command:

bootinfo -y

How much real memory does my machine have?

To display real memory in kilobytes, type:

bootinfo -r

lsattr -El sys0 -a realmem

Can my machine run AIX 5.2?

AIX 5.2 runs only on what is called Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP). If you don't know whether your hardware belongs to this class, type the following command:

# /usr/sbin/bootinfo -p

If it does not return the string chrp it is not capable of running AIX 5.2.

In AIX 5.2, the 32-bit kernel is installed by default. The 64-bit kernel, along with JFS2 (enhanced journaled file system), can be enabled at installation time.

What attribute values do the devices in my system have?

To list the current attribute values for the tape device rmt0, type:

lsattr -l rmt0 -E

To list the default attribute values for the tape device rmt0, type:

lsattr -l rmt0 -D

To list the possible values of the login attribute for the tty device tty0, type:

lsattr -l tty0 -a login -R

To display system level attributes, type:

lsattr -E -l sys0

How many processors does my system have?

To display the number of processors on your system, type:

lscfg | grep proc

How many hard disks does my system have and which ones are in use?

To display the number of hard disks on your system, type:

lspv

How do I get detailed configuration of my system?

You can get detailed configuration information for your system with the lscfg -pv command. The -p flag displays platform specific device information. This flag is applicable to AIX 4.2.1 or later. The -v flag displays Vital Product Data (VPD) found in the Customized VPD object class.

For example, to display details about the tape drive rmt0, type:

lscfg -vl rmt0

How do I find out the Chip type, System name, Node name, Model Number etc.?

The uname command provides details about your system.

uname -p	Displays the chip type of the system. For example, powerpc.
uname -r	Displays the release number of the operating system.
uname -s	Displays the system name. For example, AIX.
uname -n	Displays the name of the node.
uname -a	Displays the system name, nodename,Version, Machine id.
uname -M	Displays the system model name. For example, IBM, 7046-B50.
uname -v	Displays the operating system version
uname -m	Displays the machine ID number of the hardware running the system.
uname -u	Displays the system ID number.

AIX
What Version, Release and Maintenance Level of AIX is running on my system?

oslevel -r

lslpp -h bos.rte

How do I change the size of a filesystem?

To increase /usr filesystem size by 1000000 512-byte blocks, type:

chfs -a size=+1000000 /usr

How do I mount a cd?

mount -V cdrfs -o ro /dev/cd0  /cdrom

How do I get the IP address of my machine?

ifconfig -a

host Fully_Qualified_Host_Name

For example, host cyclop.austin.ibm.com.

Which fileset contains a particular binary?

To show the fileset that contains /usr/bin/vmstat, type:

lslpp -w /usr/bin/vmstat

To show the fileset that contains /usr/bin/svmon, type:

which_fileset svmon

How to determine if all filesets of Maintenance Levels are installed on your system?

instfix -i | grep ML

How to determine if a fix is installed on your system?

To determine if IY24043 is installed, type:

instfix -ik IY24043

How to verify if filesets have required prerequisites and are completely installed?

To show which filesets need to be installed or corrected, type:

lppchk -v

How to get a dump of the header of the loader section and the symbol entries in symbolic representation?

dump -Htv

How to determine the amount of paging space allocated and in use?

lsps -a

Volume Groups and Logical Volumes
How to create a volume group?

Use the following command, where spartition_size sets the number of megabytes in each physical partition where the partition_size is expressed in units of megabytes from 1 through 1024. The size variable must be equal to a power of 2 (for example 1, 2, 4, 8). The default value is 4.

mkvg -y name_of_volume_group -s partition_sizelist_of_hard_disks

How to Create a Logical Volume?

mklv -y name_of_logical_volumename_of_volume_groupnumber_of_partition

Queries about Volume Groups

To show volume groups in the system, type:

lsvg

To show all the characteristics of rootvg, type:

lsvg rootvg

To show disks used by rootvg, type:

lsvg -p rootvg

How to Add a Disk to a Volume Group?

extendvg   VolumeGroupName   hdisk0 hdisk1 ... hdiskn

How to Replace a Disk?

1. extendvg VolumeGroupNamehdisk_new

2. migratepv hdisk_bad hdisk_new

3. reducevg -d VolumeGroupNamehdisk_bad

How to Mirror a Logical Volume?

1. mklvcopy LogicalVolumeNameNumberofcopies

2. syncvg VolumeGroupName

Conclusion
Admittedly, a list such as this can be helpful in quickly answering some of your own questions. Obviously it does not cover everything that you might need. You can extend the usefulness of such a list by adding other commands that would answer questions which are not covered here.

Welcome to IT Notes

2006-11-15T15:13:00.000+08:00

Welcome to my IT Notes blogs.