Chapter 4. Linux for pSeries RAS and problem determination

Problem determination is definitely a key area when it comes to system administration. System administrators tend to spend hours debugging and trying to find out what is wrong with the system. In this chapter, we discuss how to do centralized system logging using the syslog and the evlog . We also discuss Linux rescue methods , and provide tips that allow you to fix boot partition errors, corrupt file systems, and configuration problems.

We also discuss the ppc64 Run Time Abstraction Service (RTAS). RTAS allows you to query and extract information from the pSeries firmware. We share with you the tools developed by the IBM Linux Technology Center to allow you to work more closely with AIX, commands which are used in AIX to extract hardware information, and patch system firmware.

Finally, we discuss common tuning methods in Linux, and explain which tools you can use to tune Linux to allow it to do more for you.