One of the best kept secrets of the AIX command line is the “apply” command. Never heard of it? Well, welcome to the club. Two colleagues and I had over 60 years’ combined experience on AIX and, between us, we had never once come across “apply”. So, what does it do and why should you […]
Are you using the correct disk driver for your Storwize storage?
With so many customers now using Storwize and SVC storage in their Power environment with VIOS, it is important that we get the configuration of the system correct and supported. In the last few months, I have been involved with customers who already have their Power and Storwize systems up and running. Something I’ve found […]
AIX tech tip: Userproof your scripts, or else…
It must be the techie in me, but I don’t like to make arrangements to meet someone without having a backup plan. What if they don’t make it on time? What if I don’t? I know what you’re thinking: call their mobile. But do I have their mobile number handy? Will we have coverage? Will […]
New E850 packs AIX and Linux-only punch
Big Blue has broadened its Power Systems range with the introduction of a new E850 model. But while other recently introduced models like the E880 and E870 can run AIX, IBM i and Linux, the E850 will run AIX and Linux only, causing eyebrows to be raised. The peerless Timothy Prickett Morgan makes some very […]
ReadySpace launches $300-per-month AIX cloud
An ambitious Southeast Asian cloud specialist has launched a new service based on Power Systems running AIX and Linux. Singapore-headquartered ReadySpace is offering instances of AIX from $300 (U.S.) per month. To launch the service, the company is giving subscribers 50% off their first month. In a statement released today, David Loke, ReadySpace CEO (pictured, […]
AIX tech tip: a tribute to AIX devices
When you have a device connected to AIX, such as a disk or a tape drive, you can discover it using cfgmgr. As you’d expect, it will have the default parameters that are used for the device driver. Sometimes you’ll want to change these parameters – usually to allow you to tune the device for […]
How to use the SVC/Storwize CLI
Over the last five years, I have worked with both SVC and the Storwize Vxxxx family of products with IBM i and AIX on Power Systems. SVC and Storwize share the same software stack and GUI. There are some functions which are only available in SVC but, predominantly, the configuration and management is the same. […]
AIX tech tip: How to scan new devices with a single command
There are things I really love about virtualisation for Power Systems. I probably appreciate some things more than other people do because I got to see how things used to work many years ago. A combination of physical and virtual enhancements has made life a lot easier than it used to be. I remember when […]
Europeans like it bigger, newer and with more Linux
HelpSystems’ first IBM i Marketplace Survey reveals that Europeans run bigger boxes, use more AIX and Linux and are keener on VIOS than their North American counterparts. The survey was run in conjunction with our good friends at IT Jungle in the States and, in October, PowerWire got involved too. You can check out the […]
Masterclass: advanced vSCSI disk monitoring (includes scripts)
In my previous article, I showed how you can use nmon in VIOS to display the performance statistics of hdisks that are mapped to client LPARs. This is achieved by creating a file which nmon reads and then displays the relevant performance data. The script I used required that the virtual target devices (VTDs) mapped […]