AIX 7.1 – DSM dgetmacs.I received an email this week from a colleague that worked with me on the NIM Redbook back in 2006. He was experiencing an issue with DSM and NIM. He was attempting to use the dgetmacs command to obtain the MAC address of the network adapters on an LPAR. The command was failing to return the right information.
This was the output from his attempt with dgetmacs:
# dgetmacs -n lpar1 Using an adapter type of "ent". Could not dsh to node lpar1. Attempting to use openfirmware method to collect MAC addresses. Acquiring adapter information from Open Firmware for node lpar1. dgetmacs: 2760-185 Issuing the command
"/op No adapters found for node lpar1. Could not get mac address for this aix node "lpar1"
I experienced this very issue during the writing of the AIX 7.1 Differences Guide Redbook. And given that I was in Austin, sitting in the same building as the AIX development team, I was able to speak with the developers directly about the issue. At that time they provided me with the following workaround.
First they asked me to check the size
of the /usr
# ls –l /usr -rw-r--r-- 1 bin bin 3905 Aug 08 09:54
They were surprised to find that the file appeared to be “too small”. They promptly sent me the catalog file from one of their development AIX 7.1 systems. I replaced the file as follows:
# cd
/usr # ls -ltr IBMhsc* -rw-r--r-- 1 bin bin 3905 Aug 08 09:54 IBMhsc.netboot.cat # cp -p IBMhsc.netboot.cat
IBMh # cp /tmp # ls -ltr IBMhsc* -rw-r--r--
1 bin bin 3905 Aug 08 09:54
IBMh -rw-r--r-- 1 bin bin 26374 Dec 23 11:24 IBMhsc.netboot.cat
This fixed the problem for me during the residency.
So I asked my friend to do the same (after I sent him the message catalog file). He ran the dgetmacs command again and this time it returned the MAC address for all the network adapters in his LPAR. Success!
# dgetmacs -n lpar1 Using an adapter type of "ent". Could not dsh to node lpar1. Attempting to use openfirmware method to collect MAC addresses. Acquiring adapter information from Open Firmware for node lpar1.
#
Node
lpar
lpar
This then allowed him to network boot his LPAR and install AIX 7.1 via NIM.
# nim -o bos_inst -a bosi dnetboot
Status: Invoking /opt dnetboot Status: Was successful network booting node lpar1.
I thought this might have been resolved in the latest service pack for AIX 7.1. However, both of us have the latest service pack installed (i.e. TL0 SP2 for AIX 7.1).
# oslevel -s 7100-00-02-1041
If anyone encounters this problem, feel
free to contact me (aix
For more information, please refer to section 5.2.7 Using DSM and NIM, in the AIX 7.1 Differences Guide Redbook:
http
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Hi Attila, sorry to hear you are having trouble. I don't have a Pureflex environment to test this...so I don't have any advice to offer right now. I'd suggest a call to IBM support for help. Please report back if you get an answer. Thanks for your comment. Cheers. Chris
Hi, Chris! I have a problem with dsm/lpar_netboot running AIX on pureflex system p460 node. I am using AIX 7100-02-02 NIM server. I try to get the mac address via dgetmacs without success. With dsh mode it works well. The openfirmware mode is not working. It almost immediately responses with message "could not find any ethernet adapter" or something else. The lpar state does not change from "Stopped" to "Openfirmware" or to any other state. All lpars - nim server also - are in the same pureflex chassis. Do you have any idea? All my automation scripts are based on this connection and it works well in other non-pureflex environment. Thanks a lot Attila
Would setting LANG to C be a usable workaround? With LANG=C, AIX does not consult message catalogue files and uses built-in message strings compiled in with the source code.
Just updated my NIM master to 7.1 TL2. Looks like the file has now been updated! # lslpp -l bos.msg.en_US.rte Fileset Level State Description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: /usr/lib/objrepos bos.msg.en_US.rte 7.1.2.0 COMMITTED Base OS Runtime Messages - U.S. English # ls -ltr /usr/lib/nls/msg/en_US/IBMhsc.netboot.cat -rw-r--r-- 1 bin bin 32017 May 30 2012 /usr/lib/nls/msg/en_US/IBMhsc.netboot.cat
Hi Vincent, thanks for the comment. Just so we are all clear, I don't work for IBM but I have raised this issue with IBM (unofficially) in the past. If you haven't already, I'd recommend that you (and anyone else experiencing this issue) open a PMR with IBM for this problem. If I find a permanent (official) IBM solution to this problem I will most certainly update my blog. Thanks again for your comment. Cheers. Chris
Hello Chris, updated to 7.1 TL5 so the dsm.core fileset is now at 7.1.1.16: (0)ux60331:/space/715 62# lslpp -L dsm.core Fileset Level State Type Description (Uninstaller) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- dsm.core 7.1.1.16 A F Distributed Systems Management Core But still the wrong cat file: (0)ux60331:/space/715 63# ls -l /usr/lib/nls/msg/en_US/IBMhsc.netboot.cat -rw-r--r-- 1 bin bin 3905 Aug 08 2010 /usr/lib/nls/msg/en_US/IBMhsc.netboot.cat cp /usr/lib/nls/msg/C/IBMhsc.netboot.cat /usr/lib/nls/msg/en_US/IBMhsc.netboot.cat corrected the problem. Can anyone at IBM please correct this: obviously a 2 year old problem!! Unless something happens, the next servicepack update will corrupt the cat file again! cheers, Vincent
Hi Chris, are we copying "/usr/lib/nls/msg/C/IBMhsc.netboot.cat" to replace the /usr/lib/nls/msg/en_US/IBMhsc.netboot.cat ? ta sk
Hello ! Any update on this issue ? ls -l /usr/lib/nls/msg/en_US/IBMhsc.netboot.cat -rw-r--r-- 1 bin bin 3905 Jun 27 2010 /usr/lib/nls/msg/en_US/IBMhsc.netboot.cat oslevel -s 7100-01-03-1207