pSeries Administration and Support for AIX 5L V5.2 (Test 232)

Exam Objectives and Sub-Objectives:

Following are the objectives of this exam

1. Planning

• Determine device needs (e.g., communication adapters, disk controllers, HBAs, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, etc.)
• Determine the AIX OS level compatibility
• Determine redundancy requirements for levels of availability (e.g., multiple I/O controllers, multiple communication controllers, multiple processors, multiple power supplies, RAID-level protection, dynamic
• CPU deallocation, dead gateway detection)
• Select appropriate IBM resources for system planning
• Describe LPAR features and benefits
• Determine disk requirements

2. AIX Installation and Updates

• Install AIX from Media using CDROM or DVD or tape
• Describe the NIM installation process and configuration
• Identify why install hangs or fails
• Identify installation LED codes
• Describe the purpose of Trusted Computing Base (TCB)
• Describe the Alt Disk installation process and its advantages
• Describe the process to clone a system from a mksysb
• Describe the differences between migration, preservation, and new and complete overwrite installation
• Install software updates (e.g., PTFs)
• Describe the options available for adding and removing filesets (e.g., commit, apply, remove, reject)
• Describe the AIX installation packaging
• Given an operating system or application requirement, select the appropriate AIX installation method
• Manage filesets (eg: bffcreate and inutoc).
• Identify the operating system maintenance level and installed filesets.
• Verify integrity of OS (e.g., lppchk and its flags)
• Describe the differences between installp and rpm

3. Boot Process

• Describe the boot process (cfgmgr, file system mounts, application startup, rootvg varyon, BIST, POST, boot sector load, login enablement)
• Describe the use of the /etc/inittab
• Describe LED codes (121, 223, 229, 551, 552, 553, 581, OC31, OC32)
• Describe how to recover from a hung boot process
• Describe run levels 0 through 9
• Describe the use of the following rc.* files (rc.net, rc.tcpip, rc.boot, rc., rc.local) Show, modify and reset bootlist

 4. Configuration

• Describe the function of the ODM and the locations of its files
• Query ODM
• Describe the function of smit
• Describe the process to run a Linux application under AIX
• Configure the network using the following: TCP/IP, /etc/hosts, hostname, ifconfig, chdev, route, /etc/resolv.conf, etc/netsvc.conf, no, /etc/ntpd.conf
• Configure Ethernet adapter (speed, duplex)
• Use NFS to import/export file systems (e.g., /etc/exports, biod, nfsd)
• Configure, list and modify paging space
• Determine/modify existing device configuration
• Reconfigure system to move from 32-bit to 64-bit and vice versa
• Check for possible exposure in system access files (e.g., /etc/hosts.equiv, .rhosts, .netrc, .forward)

5. Storage and LVM<

• Describe the relationship between physical and logical volumes and volume groups.
• Describe the relationship between logical volumes and filesystems
• Describe the differences between JFS vs. JFS2
• Manage volume groups (varyonvg, varoffvg, mkvg, importvg, exportvg, lsvg)
• Manage logical volumes
• Manage filesystems (mount, fsck, chfs, mkfs, degragfs)
• Describe the relationship between physical partition size and physical disk size
• List the attributes of volume groups, logical volumes, and filesystems that cannot be changed
• Migrate data from one physical volume to another

6. Monitoring and Tuning

• Monitor root mail for error messages
• Monitor file systems? growth to prevent a full file system
• Monitor the error log for hardware and software errors
• Use and interpret output from vmstat and sar to determine performance problems
• Use /etc/tunables for customization of system parameters
• Given system performance problems, select the appropriate tool(s) (e.g., vmstat, iostat, topas, netstat, sar, /proc)
• Use and interpret output from netstat and iostat to determine performance problems
• Use and interpret the output of /proc commands for problem determination
• Configure and monitor syslog for error conditions
• Describe the system commands that document current system configuration
• Use the Resource System Controller (RSCT) to set up resource and system monitoring
• Describe the advantages of using Workload Manager (WLM) for system resource allocation

 7. Problem Determination and Resolution

• Given a system problem, determine which tool (e.g., errpt, diag, netstat, ifconfig, ping, filemon, traceroute) is appropriate for problem determination
• Monitor, interpret and manage the error log using errpt and/or errclear
• Identify reasons to monitor the root user?s mail
• Identify when to use Perf PMRs
• Manage a support call with IBM (e.g., open, severity levels, escalation, closing)
• Determine how to size and configure dump devices
• Describe hot plug processes for replacing devices
• Given user problems, determine appropriate actions (e.g., ckuser, ckgrp, file permissions, resetting failed login attempts, user limits)
• Given a hardware related problem, identify the probable cause
• Given failed disk situations, describe the procedures for replacing the bad disk
• Access rootvg in maintenance mode
• Use alog to examine boot messages to locate startup problems
• Troubleshoot system hangs when trying to start desktop
• Troubleshoot system hangs when trying to start desktop

8. Backup and Recovery

• Describe methods of backing up and restoring the operating system (e.g., mksysb)
• Describe methods of managing / positioning tape backup media for backup and restore purposes
• Describe methods of backing up and restoring data and data structures (savevg and restvg, backup and restore, tar and cpio and pax, gzip and gunzip)
• Describe methods to list / verify contents of backup media
• Describe methods of selectively altering / excluding data during backup and restore process.
• Identify the elements of disaster recovery plans based on business needs
• Describe the differences between full, differential, and incremental backups and their effect on backup and restore windows

9. Daily Management

• Add / delete / alter userids and passwords
• Alter default user profiles and limits (i.e., command shell profiles and /etc/security)
• Describe methods to monitor and manage processes (e.g., ps, kill, nice, fuser, topas)
• Identify and correct errors in shell script examples
• Define AIX file and directory permissions (e.g., user, group, other) and ownership
• Define and/or modify file permissions and ownership (e.g., chmod, chown, chgrp)
• Describe differences between foreground and background processes
• Describe how to check and alter priority of a process
• Describe the differences between local and global variables and how to set, unset and show them
• Describe how to enable System V printing
• Manage the print queuing subsystem
• Edit a file using vi
• Describe methods to read / create / delete / configure email
• Describe use of metacharacters and wildcards within the shell
• Describe how to redirect stdin, stdout, and stderr
• Use cron to schedule tasks
• Control system processes using System Resource Controller (SRC)

Exam Detail: