Edit: How long has it been since you modified tunables. Some links no longer work. I still follow most of those users on twitter.
Originally posted June 7, 2011 on AIXchange
It’s been awhile since I’ve given you a grab bag of links and tips. I’ll start with a personal experience.
A recent client with an Power server running an Oracle database was migrating from AIX 5.3 to AIX 6.1 Certain settings they specified in their /etc/tunables/nextboot took effect when they booted AIX6, and they couldn’t figure out why Oracle was running so horribly. Jobs that normally ran for a few minutes were taking nearly an hour to process. Luckily, someone noticed some messages regarding changes to restricted tunables. Upon checking /etc/tunables/lastboot.log, they saw:
Setting maxperm% to 30
Warning: a restricted tunable has been modified
Setting maxclient% to 30
Warning: a restricted tunable has been modified
Setting strict_maxperm to 1
Warning: a restricted tunable has been modified
Once they changed /etc/tunables/nextboot and rebooted, Oracle ran like a champ and the machine was fine. So add this to your migration checklist: Try the AIX 6.1 default settings first, then make modifications if needed post-upgrade. And be sure to check the tunable settings that are carried over with a migration.
You know that I frequently link to IBMer Nigel Griffiths-–follow him on Twitter as @mr_nmon. In addition to sharing some hints and tips about IBM Systems Director, he’s posted a number of entries covering options for monitoring entire physical systems (as opposed to monitoring on a virtual server or a VM by VM basis).
For instance, here are 22 things you should do before setting up Systems Director. And here are eight things you should do once you’re running it. The latter installment tells you, among other things, how your boss can run Director from an iPad.
Nigel also offers systems monitoring tips involving Director, lpar2rrd, topas CEC analyzer, IBM Tivoli Monitoring and Ganglia.
Recent AIX Virtual User Group meetings have also included Systems Director info. Listen to the replays, download the presentation materials and sign up for future meetings here.
As I’ve said before, you’ll find a lot of AIX knowledge on Twitter. @nicolettemcf, @cgibbo, @ibmaix, @aixmag, @aixdownunder are just a few of the users I follow. Search on #AIX and I’m sure you’ll find others you like.