Introduction to HP-UX and Integrity VM

I’m sure many people thinking about HP-UX as an old and complicated UNIX operating system. But is that right? No! Below I will show you how easy you can drive HP-UX… ๐Ÿ˜‰

I’m running the latest release of HP-UX 11.31 on a HP Integrity BL860c blade server. Between the well know 11.11 release of HP-UX and the latest version of HP-UX 11.31 there are lots of changes. The most important change is the entire move from SAM to the HP System Management Homepage (SMH). With the SMH you can configure your HP-UX system very comfortable with a web-based user interface. Another important enhancement is Integrity Virtual Machines! With Integrity VM you can easily virtualize HP-UX, Windows and Linux on a HP Integrity server. Today I want to show you a little bit about these two nice and powerful features. And you can see that HP-UX is not an old and complicated UNIX operating system. ๐Ÿ˜‰ It’s comfortable, powerful and offers lot’s of functionality. But nobody is writing about it. ๐Ÿ˜‰ It’s time to change this.

After setup of HP-UX it’s important to check the network settings. The hostname should be in /etc/hosts, your /etc/resolv.conf should have the right entries and of course you need a /etc/nsswitch.conf. Copy /etc/nsswitch.files to /etc/nsswich.conf and modify the following lines:

hosts: 		files dns
ipnodes:	files dns

These network setting are very important, otherwise you could have several problems.

Let’s go installing Integrity VM.

Insert the HP-UX Application DVD #1 into your DVD drive or ILO Virtual Media.

Logon to your HP-UX system with enabled X11 forwarding!

$ ssh -X root@hpux

Find the DVD drive.

# ioscan -fnC disk 
Class     I  H/W Path     Driver S/W State   H/W Type     Description
=====================================================================
disk      1  0/3/0/0/0/0.1.0.0.0.0.1  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      HSV200
                         /dev/dsk/c3t0d1     /dev/dsk/c3t0d1s2   /dev/rdsk/c3t0d1    /dev/rdsk/c3t0d1s2
                         /dev/dsk/c3t0d1s1   /dev/dsk/c3t0d1s3   /dev/rdsk/c3t0d1s1  /dev/rdsk/c3t0d1s3
disk      0  0/3/0/0/0/0.1.1.0.0.0.1  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      HSV200
                         /dev/dsk/c1t0d1     /dev/dsk/c1t0d1s2   /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1    /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s2
                         /dev/dsk/c1t0d1s1   /dev/dsk/c1t0d1s3   /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s1  /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s3
disk      3  0/3/0/0/0/1.1.0.0.0.0.1  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      HSV200
                         /dev/dsk/c7t0d1     /dev/dsk/c7t0d1s2   /dev/rdsk/c7t0d1    /dev/rdsk/c7t0d1s2
                         /dev/dsk/c7t0d1s1   /dev/dsk/c7t0d1s3   /dev/rdsk/c7t0d1s1  /dev/rdsk/c7t0d1s3
disk      2  0/3/0/0/0/1.1.1.0.0.0.1  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      HSV200
                         /dev/dsk/c5t0d1     /dev/dsk/c5t0d1s2   /dev/rdsk/c5t0d1    /dev/rdsk/c5t0d1s2
                         /dev/dsk/c5t0d1s1   /dev/dsk/c5t0d1s3   /dev/rdsk/c5t0d1s1  /dev/rdsk/c5t0d1s3
disk      5  255/1/0.0.0  sdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      Virtual CD-ROM
                         /dev/dsk/c8t0d0   /dev/rdsk/c8t0d0 

Mount the DVD and start the installation of Integrity VM.

# mount /dev/dsk/c8t0d0 /mnt
# swinstall -s /mnt

Select VMKernelSW

Select Actions -> Install

The system reboots.

Insert the HP-UX Application DVD #2 and install the user interface for Integrity VM.

# mount /dev/dsk/c8t0d0 /mnt
# swinstall -s /mnt 

Select VMMGR

Select Actions -> Install

On my HP BL860c Integrity blade server I need to disable Hyperthreading. Otherwise Integrity VM won’t run and you get the following error message:
Error: An error occurred communicating with WBEM: CIM_ERR_FAILED CIM_ERR_FAILED: @1:An internal error has occurred.

# /usr/sbin/setboot -m off
# reboot

Done!

Now copy your HP-UX installation ISO images to /var/opt/hpvm/ISO-images/hpux and then have some fun with the SMH.

I created two 100 GB LUNs with Command View EVA and presented the LUNs to the HP-UX system.

cveva_create_vdisk

Start you web browser and go to http://hpux:2301

You will be redirected to the SMH and you have to log in with root credentials. In my case I use the root account. It’s a test system.

hpux_smh1

Select Tools and you see what you can manage everything with the SMH. ๐Ÿ™‚

hpux_smh2

I created a volume group to associate the previous generated LUNs. Select Tools โ†’ Disk and File Systems โ†’ Volume Groups โ†’ Create VG…

After you have successfully created a new Volume Group with both LUNs you can create a Logical Volume for the virtual machine.

hpux_smh_add_disks

hpux_create_lv

As you can see I selected โ€œEnable stripingโ€ ! Above I create two EVA LUNs and assoicated each LUN to an EVA controller. ๐Ÿ˜‰ So I can utilize all host ports and the entire cache of my EVA ! That promise lots of performance.

If you finished creating the Logical Volume, let’s build a Link Aggregate with two free NICs. Go to Tools โ†’ Network Interfaces Configuration โ†’ Auto Port Aggregation โ†’ Create Link Aggregate

With Virtual Connect I cannot create a LACP based link aggregation. So I choose Mode โ€œManualโ€ and under Advanced Options I selected โ€œLB_PORTโ€ as Load Distribution Algorithm.

hpux_create_apa

hpux_network

Everything easy right now, isn’t it? And you are working with a powerful and mission critical operating system. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Unbelieveable!

You have done all prerequisites for the virtual machine. Let’s create a โ€œVirtual Switchโ€ and the โ€œVirtual Machineโ€ himself.

Go to Tools โ†’ Integrity Virtual Machines Management โ†’ Integrity Virtual Machines Manager

Continue the following screen by clicking OK

hpux_smh_ivm1

Select Virtual Switches โ†’ Create โ†’ Virtual Switch…

hpux_ivm_vswitch

Let’s create the virtual machine, go to Virtual Machines โ†’ Create โ†’ Virtual Machine…

hpux_create_vm1

hpux_create_vm2

hpux_create_vm3

hpux_create_vm4

hpux_create_vm6

hpux_create_vm7

hpux_create_vm8

hpux_create_vm9

Preferr AVIO devices! They offers more performance. I use it for storage and networking, except the DVD drive.

After your virtual machine is created successfully, change to a shell.

Start the virtual machine with:

# hpvmstart -P ius022

Join the console with:

# hpvmconsole -P ius022

Enter CO and you can see your virtual machine booting into HP-UX setup.

hpux_install_vm

hpux_install_vm2

hpux_install_vm3

hpux_install_vm4

hpux_install_vm5

To change the ISO images during setup, break the console session with <Ctrl>+B, enter EJ for eject and follow the instructions. Type IN for insert, select the ISO image and go back to console with CO to continue the setup procedure. The HP-UX installation with local ISO image should be finished very fast.

So, that’s it ! Enjoy your fresh installed HP-UX virtual machine. ๐Ÿ™‚

As mentioned above HP-UX isn’t a complicated operating system. You can do lot’s of things with the SMH. HP-UX is well documented, too… I hope you enjoyed my little introduction to HP-UX 11.31 on HP Integrity servers. ๐Ÿ™‚ More on HP-UX will follow soon.

Setup a HP ProLiant Linux server

Again a little reminder for me. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Install CentOS/RHEL 5.x

Update the system with yum update

Reboot

# yum install expect
# yum install libnl
# yum install net-snmp

Download HP System Health Application and Command Line Utilities for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (AMD64/EM64T). You get a file like hp-health-8.6.0.24-25.rhel5.x86_64.rpm. Install this package:

# rpm -ivh /home/locadm/hp-health-8.6.0.24-25.rhel5.x86_64.rpm
# service hp-health start
# service hp-asrd start
# chkconfig hp-health on
# chkconfig hp-asrd on

Download HP SNMP Agents for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (AMD64/EM64T). You get a file like hp-snmp-agents-8.6.0.18-17.rhel5.x86_64.rpm. Install this package:

# rpm -ivh /home/locadm/hp-snmp-agents-8.6.0.18-17.rhel5.x86_64.rpm
# /sbin/hpsnmpconfig
# service hp-snmp-agents start
# chkconfig hp-snmp-agents on

Download HP SmartStart CD x64. You get a file like smartstart-8.60-0-x64.zip. Install this file:

# unzip smartstart-8.60-0-x64.zip
# mount -o loop SS860.2010_0909.41-x64.iso /mnt
# /mnt/autorun

Software -> Install ProLiant Support Pack -> …

Reboot

Modify iptables firewall

# vi /etc/sysconfig/iptables
...
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 2301 -j ACCEPT
-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 2381 -j ACCEPT
...
# service iptables restart

Get Multi-path Device Mapper for Linux Software. Go to hp.com -> Support & Drivers -> Download drivers and software (and firmware) -> For product: Linux

Select Multi-path Device Mapper for Linux Software

Select Device Mapper Multipath Enablement Kit for HP StorageWorks Disk Arrays

Download HPDMmultipath-4.4.1.tar.gz

# tar zxvf HPDMmultipath-4.4.1.tar.gz
# cd HPDMmultipath-4.4.1
# ./INSTALL
# reboot

Enable Multipathing

# chkconfig multipathd on
# service multipathd start

Cyberwar

Do you know all that science fiction movies about cyber war and control over people with computer systems and networks. What about the movie โ€œEnemy of the Stateโ€ with Will Smith, a complete life was killed by one mouse click. Or the movie โ€œThe Netโ€ with Sandra Bullock, a similar situation. It’s scary how real these movies became now. 15 years ago people thought about critical possibilities with computer systems and world wide networks, today these doubts become reality. Look at the security problems with OpenBSD and the trouble around Wikileaks.

I don’t like this immense influence of politics and industries and I have no ideas how I can protect my private life! Stop surfing? Stop paying with credit cards, PayPal, etc.? I’m very afraid…

EVA 5000 replacement

Time to say good bye… My HP StorageWorks EVA 5000 was a big challenge. A few years ago I started this project with one HSV110 controller. Step by step I created my own EVA 5000 with parts that I bought everywhere in the world. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Since two years this system is running in my home lab, but it’s old and slow. I upgraded the system to 56 disks but the performance increase was not as mentioned. I decided to sell the entire system, but there was no buyer. But thank god I had the chance to get a pair of EVA 4000 (HSV200-A) controllers. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Today a big package arrived at home! Lot’s of parts for a big upgrade to an EVA 4000. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Say hello to my new storage system: The HP StorageWorks EVA 4000

hsv200

eva4000-1

eva4000-2

The performance raise is phenomenal. The EVA 4000 is 2-3x faster than the old EVA 5000. I didn’t expect this performance increase. ๐Ÿ™‚ That’s absolutely great! I love that new toy… ๐Ÿ˜‰

Oracle Enterprise Linux for SPARC โ€“ Is Solaris dead?

Yesterday I received the news that Oracle plans to port their own Linux, Oracle Enterprise Linux, to SPARC. A pretty cool idea. ๐Ÿ™‚ But after talking with a very good friend I’m not sure if this news is a good news.

Why pay lot’s of money for porting a operating system to a new platform? Oracle owns Solaris and everbody knows that’s a proven and stable operating system for SPARC. Lot’s of application and tools are available for Solaris, too. With the upcoming Solaris 11 release you even get more new features that other operating systems cannot offer.
Or think about mission critical systems. With Solaris and Sun Cluster you have rock solid high available system. Many companies running such configurations several years with success.

From an economic perspective it’s not a good decision, too. Oracle have to invest lot’s of money for the SPARC port and then Oracle have to maintain two similar operating systems for the same target. In another words, Oracle pays for developing four operating systems!!! Solaris SPARC and Solaris x86, OEL SPARC and OEL x86.

That’s not the typical Oracle business! Of course, Oracle supports different platforms but do not offer two identical software products.

Is this perhaps the dead of Solaris? Maybe Oracle plans to port everything to Linux and to stop developing on Solaris? What do you think? Feel free to comment!

RHEL alternatives for a new java environment

To add a new alternative for java execute following commands. Current system is CentOS 4.8 x86 Linux.

# alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /opt/IBMJava2-142/jre/bin/java 100 
--slave /usr/lib/jvm/jre jre /opt/IBMJava2-142/jre 
--slave /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.4.2 jre-1.4.2 /opt/IBMJava2-142/jre 
--slave /usr/bin/rmiregistry rmiregistry /opt/IBMJava2-142/jre/bin/rmiregistry

# alternatives --config java
There are 2 programs which provide 'java'.
 Selectionย ย ย  Command
-----------------------------------------------
*+ 1ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย  /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.4.2-gcj/bin/java
ย ย  2ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย  /opt/IBMJava2-142/jre/bin/java

Enter to keep the current selection[+], or type selection number: 2

In case of the IBM JRE you need to override the symbolic links for /usr/bin/java and /usr/bin/rmiregistry. Otherwise the java executives cannot locate required libs under /opt/IBMJava2-142/jre/bin/classic. This is not required for other JREs for example Oracle/Sun JRE.

# ln -s /opt/IBMJava2-142/jre/bin/java /usr/bin/java
# ln -s /opt/IBMJava2-142/jre/bin/rmiregistry /usr/bin/rmiregistry

I modified the /etc/profile and added the environment variable JAVA_HOME.

Done!

I’m a Daddy – Welcome Lina ! :)

On Monday 29.11.2010 at 8:30 o’clock in the morning my sweet little daughter was born. ๐Ÿ™‚ I saw her and felt in love immediately. ๐Ÿ™‚ She’s sooo nice and so sweet, my little Lina. ๐Ÿ™‚ She weights 3kg and is 50cm large… It’s unbelievable, I’m a very proud daddy. ๐Ÿ™‚

Hot-swap trays for my HP DL185 storage server

Today my hard disk hot-swap trays arrived. ๐Ÿ™‚ Yippiieee… time to complete my storage server. The new hot-swap trays had no labels, so I created them myself. It looks pretty nice!

Next step is getting some more disks and a suitable rackmount-kit. My private datacenter grows and grows. ๐Ÿ™‚

HP Virtual Connect Manager 3.10

Sunday morning I read an interesting article about a VMware installation based on HP BladeSystem with Virtual Connect Flex-10 modules. The article contained lots of screenshots and I saw serveral changes within Virtual Connect Manager. So I decided to upgrade the firmware of my entire HP BladeSystemย including the blade servers and interconnect modules.

The update procedure tooks some time but I had no problems. At the end I started the Virtual Connect Manager and I couldn’t believe it! ๐Ÿ™‚ HP changed lots of web sites to Adobe Flex! Woooowww… But I cannot understand why HP changed to Adobe Flex? The old HTML only version of Virtual Connect Manager runs fine and had a pretty nice look and feel. The new Adobe Flex based GUI is not 100%. I think HP should change the entire Virtual Connect Manager to Adobe Flex. The current solution is not my preferred implementation. ๐Ÿ˜‰