AIX 5L Problem Determination - IBM Redbooks

e. Verify that file systems are mounted and accessible using commands
such as mount, df, and ls.
f. Check for software installation problems in install logs and using the lslpp
command.
g. Check syslog.conf to see if additional error logging is enabled.
h. Manage processes and daemons.
i. Diagnose Logical Volume Manager (LVM) problems.
j. Determine if file systems and kernel are compatible (jfs/jfs2).
2. Identify recent system changes preceding the problem.
a. Use the AIX error log report to determine if reboot introduced the problem.
b. Check with customer/vendor for recent software/hardware changes.
c. Identify recent system and application configuration changes.
d. Check for vmtune, schedtune, or wlm tuning changes.
e. Check for changes to printing subsystems.
3. Analyze error messages.
a. Look up the system dump code.
b. Use the alog -t boot -o command to check for a problem during boot.
Section III - Use tools/create solution
To use tools and create a solution:
1. Use system tools to evaluate the problem.
a. Use the vmstat command to look for basic CPU, memory, and I/O
bottlenecks.
b. Use the topas command to look for basic system performance problems.
c. Use the iostat command to identify unusual disk activity.
d. Use the sar command to check for excessive system call and fork rates.
e. Use iptrace, netstat, traceroute, and ping commands to check for
network connectivity and adapter problems.
f. Use tprof to identify abnormal CPU usage.
g. Examine the hung process stack using the crash/kdb and/or dbx
command.
h. Enable debug/verbose modes to gather more information.
i. Use dump/trace tools to examine system behavior.
j. Enable accounting/auditing to monitor application behavior.
4 IBM ^ Certification Study Guide - AIX 5L Problem Determination Tools and Techniques