IBM AIX 7 Administration Interview Questions & Answers

Question 1. How Do I Know If My Volume Group Is Normal, Big, Or Scalable?

Answer :

Run the lsvg command on the volume group and look at the value for MAX PVs. The value is 32 for normal, 128 for big and 1,024 for scalable volume group.

Question 2. How Do I Create A Volume Group?

Answer :

Use the following command, where s partition_size sets the number of megabytes (MB) in each physical partition where the partition_size is expressed in units of MB from one through 1,024. (It’s one through 131,072 for AIX 5.3.)

mkvg -y name_of_volume_group -s partition_size list_of_hard_disks

The partition_size variable must be equal to a power of two (for example: one, two, four or eight). The default value for standard and big volume groups is the lowest value to remain within the limitation of 1,016 physical partitions per physical volume. The default value for scalable volume groups is the lowest value to accommodate 2,040 physical partitions per physical volume.

Question 3. How Can I Change The Characteristics Of A Volume Group?

Answer :

You use the chvg command to change the characteristics of a volume group.

Question 4. How Do I Create A Logical Volume?

Answer :

#mklv -y name_of_logical_volume name_of_volume_group number_of_partition

Question 5. How Do I Increase The Size Of A Logical Volume?

Answer :

To increase the size of the logical volume represented by the lv05 directory by three logical partitions, for example, type extendlv lv05 3.

Question 6. How Do I Display All Logical Volumes That Are Part Of A Volume Group (e,g, Rootvg)?

Answer :

You can display all logical volumes that are part of rootvg by typing the following command: #lsvg -l rootvg/

Question 7. How Do I List Information About Logical Volumes?

Answer :

Run the following command to display information about the logical volume #lv1: lslv lv1.

Question 8. How Can I Clone The Rootvg?

Answer :

You can run the alt_disk_copy command to copy the current rootvg to an alternate disk. The following example shows how to clone the rootvg to hdisk1: alt_disk_copy -d hdisk1.]

Question 9. How Do I Replace A Disk?

Answer :

1. extendvg VolumeGroupName hdisk_new
2. migratepv hdisk_bad hdisk_new
3. reducevg -d VolumeGroupName hdisk_bad

Question 10. How Do I Mirror A Logical Volume?

Answer :

mklvcopy LogicalVolumeName Numberofcopies

syncvg VolumeGroupName

Question 11. How Can I Display Or Set Values For Network Parameters?

Answer :

The no command sets or displays current or next boot values for network tuning parameters

Question 12. How Do I Get The Ip Address Of My Machine?

Answer :

Type one of the following: ifconfig -a or host Fully_Qualified_Host_Name. For example, host cyclop.austin.ibm.com.

Question 13. How Do I Identify The Network Interfaces On My Server?

Answer :

Either of the following two commands will display the network interfaces: lsdev -Cc if or ifconfig -a. To get information about one specific network interface, for eaxample tr0, run the command ifconfig tr0.

Question 14. How Do I Activate A Network Interface?

Answer :

To activate the network interface tr0, run the command ifconfig tr0 up.

Question 15. How Do I Display Routing Table, Interface And Protocol Information?

Answer :

To display routing table information for an Internet interface, type netstat -r -f inet. To display interface information for an Internet interface, type netstat -i -f inet. To display statistics for each protocol, type netstat -s -f inet.

Question 16. How Will You Create A File If A Disk Is Given To You?

Answer :

#mkvg –y datavg –s 128 hdisk1 (pv name)
#mklv -y datalv –t jfs2 datavg 1
#crfs –v jfs2 –d datalv –g datavg –a size=10M –m /fs1

Question 17. Difference Between Jfs & Jfs2?

Answer :

JFS:

JFS is normal filesystem. We cannot create large files in JFS.

Files can be access dynamically.

Max file system size=1TB
Max file size=64GB
Inode size=128b

JFS2:-

Can create a large size filesystems.

Files can be access accordingly as required. (not randomly or sequentially)

Max files system size=4PB
Max file size=4PB
Inode size=512

Question 18. How Will You Find The Inode Number?

Answer :

# ls –li

# istat /etc/passwd

Question 19. How Will You Find Ltg Size?

Answer :

#lsvg vgname

#lquerypv –M hdiskname

Question 20. How Will You Change Ltg Size?

Answer :

#rmdev -l hdiskx

#chdev -l hdiskx -a max_transfer=0*80000

#mkdev -l hdiskx

Question 21. How Will You Find Whether A Quorum Is Up Or Not?

Answer :

# lsvg vg name

Question 22. How To Copy A Lv From One Vg To Another?

Answer :

# cplv -v <new vm name> <sourcel name>

Question 23. Mirroring Concept?

Answer :

Check disk size belong to vg , take two same size disk to mirror

# bootinfo –s hdisk2
#lsvg –p rootvg

Add one more disk of same size of already have disk having rootvg.

# extendvg rootvg hdisk2
# lsvg –p rootvg

Now mirror vg with background sync LV. It sync LVs in background with new LVs

# mirrorvg –s rootvg
Create a boot image
# bosboot –ad /dev/hdisk2
#bosboot –ad /dev/hdisk1

Add a blv

record of newly added disk, first check and then add.

# bootlist –m normal -o
#bootlist –m normal hdisk2 hdisk1

Question 24. How Will You Unmirror A Vg If A Pv Gets Failed?

Answer :

First check the blv record using,

# bootlist –m normal –o
Remove the old blv record, using
# chpv –c hdisk2
# bootlist –m normal hdisk1
# bootlist –m normal hdisk2

Now unmirrorvg

# unmirrorvg rootvg hdisk2
# reducevg rootvg hdisk2
#lsvg –p rootvg
# lspv
# bootlist –m normal –o

Question 25. How Will You Change A Pp Size?

Answer :

PP size can be changed using a T-factor. If not then add a partitions in VG by adding one disk.

# chvg –t3 rootvg

Question 26. T – Factor?

Answer :

T – factor means that it will change the pp size to increase the efficiency of vg

#chvg –t16 datavg

Cal-if suppose that datavg pp size is 1016 we can take t factor is 16 then it comes to 2048 and pv contains in vg is 2.

Question 27. What Is The Default Pp Size In Aix?

Answer :

128MB

Question 28. How Will You Rename A Vg?

Answer :

Unmount all filesystems in VG.

# umount /test (mount point name)

#varyoffvg datavg

#exportvg datavg0

Importvg with new name

# importvg –y newvg hdisk4

Question 29. What Is Major Number?

Answer :

A major number refers to a type of device. A device number is a major number, and a minor number specifies a particular device of that type or sometimes the operation mode of that device type.

Question 30. What Will You Do If A Disk Gets Failed?

Answer :

diag command

Question 31. How To Enable & Disable Quorum?

Answer :

1. # chvg –vy pv_name
2. # chvg –vn pv_name
3. #chvg –Qn vgname
4. #chvg –Qs vgname

Question 32. What Are The Types Of Error?

Answer :

1.H/W error

2. S/W error

3. Operator error

4. Unknown error.

Question 33. What Are The Error Levels Severity?

Answer :

1. permanent

2. Temporary

3. Informational

4. Unknown.

Question 34. What Is The Command To See The Error Log?

Answer :

# errpt –a

# errpt –d H [H/W]

# errpt –d S [S/W]

Question 35. What Is The Command To Clear The Error Log?

Answer :

# errclear

Question 36. What Is The Command To Increase The Size Of Error Log When It Is Full?

Answer :

#usr/lib/errdemon –s ____ [ size ]

Question 37. What Is The Command To Start , Stop, Restart And List A Demon?

Answer :

# startsrc –g [ Demon name ]

# stopsrc [Daemon name ]

# refresh [Demon name ]

# lssrc –al

Question 38. When Does Error Daemon Start In Boot Process?

Answer :

rc.boot phase 3

Question 39. Which File That Error Daemon Stay?

Answer :

/usr/lib/errdemon

Question 40. Two States Of Device Availability And Explain Them?

Answer :

Available state and defined state. When device is in defined state it means it cannot use. Not in ready state. Run cfgmgr try to make available known in the system that device. Available state means that device is ready to use

# lsdev –Cc disk

It displays which disks are available

Question 41. How Will You Check Whether A Device Is Installed Or Not?

Answer :

# lsdev –Cc disk

Question 42. How To Change A 64 Bit Kernel To 32 Bit Kernel?

Answer :

1. Modify the /usr/lib/boot/unix directory and the /unix directory to be   a symbolic link to the binary for the desired kernel.
2. Run the bosboot command to write a new system boot image.
3. Reboot the system.

The path name of the 64-bit kernel is /usr/lib/boot/unix_64, and the path name of the multiprocessor versions of the 32-bit kernel is

/usr/lib/boot/unix_mp.
# ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /unix
# ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_mp /usr/lib/boot/unix
# lslv -m hd5
# bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
# shutdown -Fr
# bootinfo -K (should now be 32)

Question 43. How To Change A 32 Bit Kernel To 64 Bit Kernel?

Answer :

To truly change the kernel to 64-bit from 32-bit, the system must be at the AIX® 5.1 or AIX 5.2levels.

# bootinfo –y

It shows a kernel is either 32-bit or 64-bit.

To truly change the kernel to 64-bit from 32-bit, the system must be at the AIX® 5.1 or AIX 5.2levels.

# bootinfo –y

It shows a kernel is either 32-bit or 64-bit.

To change to a 64-bit kernel, enter the following commands:

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

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

# lslv -m hd5

# bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice

# shutdown -Fr

Question 44. How Many Vgs Can Be Created In A Lvm?

Answer :

255 any no. of vg can create.

Question 45. Types Of Vg & Explain About Them?

Answer :

Normal vg -32 pv, 256 lv

# mkvg –y normvg –s 128 hdisk4

Big vg :- 128pv,512lv

# mkvg -B –y bigvg –s 128 hdisk9

Scalable vg: -1024pv, 4096 lv

# mkvg –S –y scalvg –s  512 hdisk1

Question 46. How To Convert A Normal Vg To Big & Scalable Vg And Also Big To Scalable Vg?

Answer :

#chvg –B vgname      /big vg

# chvg –S/-G vgname  /scale vg

Question 47. What Is Vgda, Vgsa?

Answer :

VGDA: Volume Group Descriptor Area. It contains the information about volume group to which the physical volume belongs to. It also contains the information about physical partitions, logical partitions and logical volumes.

VGSA: Volume Group Status Area it contains the information about physical partition from all physical volumes of the same volume group. It contains the status of VG.

Question 48. What Are The Two States Of Installation?

Answer :

Applied and commit state

In applied state if want to do any changes on installed software then we can do

But in commit the changes are not allowed to do. Once did installation.

A committed fileset update cannot be rejected.

Output from the installp -s command, which is used to get a list of applied software fileset updates and updates that are available to be either committed or rejected.

Question 49. How Will You Reject A Committed Fileset?

Answer :

# installp –r –g fileset name

Question 50. How Will You Check Whether Software Is Installed Or Not?

Answer :

# lslpp -L |grep -i   (software_name)

Question 51. What Are The Types Of Odm Database ?

Answer :

Pre-defined database PdDv, PdAt
Customised database CuDv, CuAt

Question 52. Odm Commands.

Answer :

odmcreate: To customize Odm

To remove ODM: odmdrop

odmdelete: To remove object from ODM

To see info in ODM  odmget

To change the fields in object class  odmchange

To add object to ODM odmadd

Question 53. Types Of Installation?

Answer :

1. New and complete overwrite
2. Migration
3. Preservation

Question 54. Where Does Log Files Resides?

Answer :

AIX logs messages as specified in /etc/syslog.conf file.

Question 55. How To Unlock User Account?

Answer :

chuser –a account=true username

Question 56. How To Lock A User’s Account?

Answer :

#chuser account_lock=true username

Question 57. How Do U Take Backup Of File Systems?

Answer :

#backup -f /dev/rmt0

Question 58. How Will U Restore A File From Already Take Backup Using Backup?

Answer :

#restore -xvqf /dev/rmt0

Question 59. How Will U Append A File To A Previous Archive Take By Tar?

Answer :

#tar -cvf /dev/rmt0

Question 60. What Command To Take Backup Other Vg’s?

Answer :

# savevg –if /dev/rmt0 /vgname

Question 61. What Command To Restore Backup Of Non – Rootvg?

Answer :

# restvg  –x –d –f /dev/rmt0