Chris Paquin

Solaris Network Connection Performance Part I

Open Solaris Solaris 10 Solaris 8

04/30/2008
Monitoring Solaris Ethernet Performance

Netstat -i

This option is used to diagnose the network problems when the connectivity is there but it is slow in response .

Values to look at:

* Collisions (Collis)
* Output packets (Opkts)
* Input errors (Ierrs)
* Input packets (Ipkts)

Network collision rate = Output collision counts / Output packets

Network-wide collision rate greater than 10 percent will indicate

* Overloaded network,
* Poorly configured network,
* Hardware problems.

Input Packet Error Rate = Ierrs / Ipkts.

If the input error rate is high (over 0.25 percent), the host is dropping packets. Hub/switch cables etc needs to be checked for potential problems.

Name Mtu Net/Dest Address Ipkts    Ierrs Opkts    Oerrs Collis Queue
lo0 8232 loopback localhost 43523390 0    43523390 0    0    0
hme0 1500 <hostname> <hostname> 561847305 886 483621617 0    0    0
qfe0 1500 <hostname> <hostname> 13480886 1    1521743 0    0    0

You can also use the following to determine the the ethernet interface link status,and speed on your interface. In the example below I am running these on hme0

ndd -set /dev/hme instance 0
ndd -get /dev/hme link_status
ndd -get /dev/hme link_mode
ndd -get /dev/hme link_speed

If you have only one ethernet interface, you can leave out the instance
command. Otherwise, you can specify the hme instance number there. The
results of the next three commands are either 1 or 0. In each case, the
value means:

link_status: 0=down 1=up

link_mode: 0=half duplex 1=full duplex

link_speed: 0=10Mbps 1=100Mbps

You can also use the following netstat command. Replace ce0 with your ethernet adapter

netstat -k ce0 | egrep ‘link_speed|link_status|link_duplex’
lp_cap_asmpause 1 lp_cap_pause 0 link_T4 0 link_speed 1000
link_duplex 2 link_asmpause 0 link_pause 0 link_up 1 mac_mtu 1522

How to read this junk:
link_up – 0 down, 1 up

link_speed – speed in Mbit/s

link_duplex – 1 half duplex, 2 full duplex, 0 down
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Adding New Services in Solaris 10 –OpenSSH

Solaris 10

04/29/2008
In Solaris 10, Sun introduced the Service
Management Facility. SMF is a framework that handles system boot-up,
process management, and self-healing. It addresses the shortcomings of
startup scripts and creates an infrastructure to manage daemons after
the host has booted. There are still legacy services that use RC scripts to start and shutdown, but most services in Solaris 10 are now handled by SMF.

Below are my notes on how to add a new service. In this instance I was replacing the current version of OpenSSH running on a Solaris10 box with an updated version. My process is not the best, but it works

First logged in on the console and removed the Current Version of OpenSSH.

pkginfo -l | grep -i ssh
PKGINST: SMCossh421
NAME: openssh
VENDOR: The OpenSSH Group

then…

pkgrm SMCossh421

The following package is currently installed:
SMCossh421 openssh
(sparc) 4.2p1

{truncate}

Then I used pkgadd to install the new version of OpenSSH. This package was did not install itself into the SMF, so I had to do it manually.

A little background…

SMF is designed to bring services up in the correct order, according to the
dependencies. These dependencies have to be explicitly declared. For
each item that we want controlled there are two files which we create,
an XML manifest and a shell script method. The manifest defines the
dependencies and the method provides ways to start, refresh and stop
the service. The files are located :-
```
manifests  /var/svc/manifest
methods  /lib/svc/method
```
So here is what I had to do.
First create your shell start stop script and save it in /lib/svc/method. Then chmod it 755. Then create your xml file and save it in /var/svc/manifest/site/myservice.xml. From there you must import the script into the SMF using svccfg utility.

svccfg import /var/svc/manifest/site/myservice.xml

Then check to make sure that you new service was install correctly. You can see below my new service was imported, but not started. And you can also see that my old service still exits (the OpenSSH one)

svcs -a | grep -i ssh
disabled    17:50:12 svc:/network/ssh:default
offline       18:08:33 svc:/network/OpenSSH:default

So I had to remove the old service and start the new one

svccfg delete svc:/network/OpenSSH:default
svcadm enable svc:/network/ssh:default

At this point it failed again, so I used svcs -xv to troubleshoot.

svc:/network/ssh:default (?)
State: maintenance since Tue Apr 29 18:18:23 2008
Reason: Start method failed repeatedly, last exited with status 1.
See: http://sun.com/msg/SMF-8000-KS
See: /var/svc/log/network-ssh:default.log
Impact: This service is not running.

I then checked the logfile listed above and saw that the new version of OpenSSH was configured to look for my host keys in a new location. After a quick copy I was up and running.

svcs -a | grep -i ssh
maintenance 18:18:23 svc:/network/ssh:default

svcadm clear svc:/network/ssh:default

# svcs -a | grep -i ssh
online       18:24:51 svc:/network/ssh:default

Directory containing services logs, /var/svc/log.

Before logging off the console check to make sure that everything is working fine by ssh’ing to localhost.
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For the last few days I have been thinking about taking a trip to Frys to pick myself up another external disk drive, so that I could have a bit of extra storage for the office, as my personal ISOs seem to be taking up way to much space on my already crowded desktop’s harddrive. Plus I need addtional space if I am ever going to convert my running Windows desktop to a VM that I run inside Kubuntu.

For some reason I had the idea to check my giant hardware bin to see if I could round up any additional hard disks. Lo and Behold two 40gb Maxtors, and an external drive enclosure. With all the correct cables, would you believe. Well before I am going to put any of these tiny disks into service I am going to have to verify that both are healthy enough to use. So lets start scanning.

DIsk Utils:

fdisk /dev/hdc
Linux hard drive partitioning utility (DOS has
a utility with the same name). Fdisk’s output shoed that I had a linux partition, which I removed and created a FAT32 partition for use in the office.

cfdisk /dev/hda
Hard drive partitioning utility, menu-based. Some find it easier to use then
the plain-vanilla fdisk.

sfdisk -l -x |more
(as root) List the partition tables (including extended partitions) for all drives on my system.

parted /dev/hda
A
partition manipulation utility for Linux (ext2), and DOS (FAT and
FAT32) hard drive partition. It is for creation, destroying, moving,
copying, shrinking, and extending partitions. You should really like to
backup your data and carefully read info parted before using it.

fsck
Use this one to run filesystem check, which I did on my newly created FAT32 partition

fsck -v /dev/sdc1
fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
dosfsck 2.11 (12 Mar 2005)
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
Checking we can access the last sector of the filesystem
Boot sector contents:
System ID "mkdosfs"
Media byte 0xf8 (hard disk)
       512 bytes per logical sector
     16384 bytes per cluster
        32 reserved sectors
First FAT starts at byte 16384 (sector 32)
         2 FATs, 32 bit entries
  10031616 bytes per FAT (= 19593 sectors)
Root directory start at cluster 2 (arbitrary size)
Data area starts at byte 20079616 (sector 39218)
   2507893 data clusters (41089318912 bytes)
32 sectors/track, 64 heads
         0 hidden sectors
  80291808 sectors total
Checking for unused clusters.
Checking free cluster summary.
/dev/sdc1: 0 files, 1/2507893 clusters

badblocks:
Used to check for bad blocks and display the
results on the screen. Similar to SCANDISK in DOS/Windows.

/var/log$ badblocks -v /dev/sdc
Checking blocks 0 to 40146623
Checking for bad blocks (read-only test): done
Pass completed, 0 bad blocks found.

hdparm:
Installed to /sbin/hdparm on my system. hdparm is the utility that is used to control the settings of your hard
drive, both in the kernel and in the drive itself. Its got a nice man page, so check it out. Below are most of the command line options.

Options:
-a   get/set fs readahead
-A   get/set the drive look-ahead flag (0/1)
-b   get/set bus state (0 == off, 1 == on, 2 == tristate)
-B   set Advanced Power Management setting (1-255)
-c   get/set IDE 32-bit IO setting
-C   check drive power mode status
-d   get/set using_dma flag
-D   enable/disable drive defect management
-E   set cd-rom drive speed
-f   flush buffer cache for device on exit
-F   flush drive write cache
-g   display drive geometry
-h   display terse usage information
-H   read temperature from drive (Hitachi only)
-i   display drive identification
-I   detailed/current information directly from drive
-k   get/set keep_settings_over_reset flag (0/1)
-K   set drive keep_features_over_reset flag (0/1)
-L   set drive doorlock (0/1) (removable harddisks only)
-M   get/set acoustic management (0-254, 128: quiet, 254: fast)
-m   get/set multiple sector count
-N   get/set max visible number of sectors (HPA) (VERY DANGEROUS)
-n   get/set ignore-write-errors flag (0/1)
-p   set PIO mode on IDE interface chipset (0,1,2,3,4,...)
-P   set drive prefetch count
-q   change next setting quietly
-Q   get/set DMA tagged-queuing depth (if supported)
-r   get/set device  readonly flag (DANGEROUS to set)
-R   register an IDE interface (DANGEROUS)
-s   set power-up in standby flag (0/1) (DANGEROUS)
-S   set standby (spindown) timeout
-t   perform device read timings
-T   perform cache read timings
-u   get/set unmaskirq flag (0/1)
-U   un-register an IDE interface (DANGEROUS)
-v   defaults; same as -acdgkmur for IDE drives
-V   display program version and exit immediately
-w   perform device reset (DANGEROUS)
-W   get/set drive write-caching flag (0/1)
-x   tristate device for hotswap (0/1) (DANGEROUS)
-X   set IDE xfer mode (DANGEROUS)
-y   put drive in standby mode
-Y   put drive to sleep
-Z   disable Seagate auto-power

Alom, Ilom, & Elom Part II

Solaris 10 Solaris 8

04/14/2008

Part II of this Post is composed of a list of Alom commands and their Ilom counterparts. This information was taken from a document that was found on Sunsolve. I felt that this section was the most helpfull. Note that the original document has additional commands listed, however I chose to omit those that I felt were less useful.

&amp;lt;!–
@page { size: 5in 11in; margin: 0.79in }
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in }
–&amp;gt;

ALOM	Summary	ILOM
password	Changes the login password of the current user.	set /SP/users/username password
restartssh	Restarts the SSH server so that new host keys generated by the ssh-keygen command are reloaded.	set /SP/services/ssh restart_sshd_action=true
setdate [[mmdd]HHMM \|mmddHHMM[cc]yy][.SS]	Sets ALOM CMT date and time.	set /SP/clock datetime=value
setdefaults [-a]	Resets all ALOM CMT configuration parameters to their default values. The -a option resets the user information to the factory default (one admin account only).	set /SP reset_to_defaults=all
setkeyswitch [normal\|stby\|diag\| locked]	Set the status of the virtual keyswitch. Setting the virtual keyswitch to standby (stby) powers off the server. Before powering off the host server, ALOM CMT asks for a confirmation.	set /SYS keyswitch_state=value
setsc [param] [value]	Sets the specified ALOM CMT parameter to the assigned value.	set target property=value
setupsc	Runs the interactive configuration script. This script configures the ALOM CMT configuration variables.	No equivalent in ILOM
showplatform [-v]	Displays information about the host system’s hardware configuration, and whether the hardware is providing service. The -v option displays verbose information about the displayed components.	show /HOST
showfru	Displays information about the field-replaceable units (FRUs) in a host server.	No equivalent in ILOM
showusers [-g lines]	Displays a list of users currently logged in to ALOM CMT. The display for this command has a similar format to that of the UNIX command who. The -g option pauses the display after the number of lines you specify for lines.	show /SP/sessions
showhost [version]	Displays version information for host-side components	show /HOST
showkeyswitch	Display status of virtual keyswitch.	show /SYS keyswitch_state
showsc [param]	Displays the current non-volatile read-only memory (NVRAM) configuration parameters.	show target property
showdate	Displays the ALOM CMT date. ALOM CMT time is expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) rather than local time. The Solaris OS and ALOM CMT time are not synchronized.	show /SP/clock datetime
ssh-keygen -l ssh-keygen -r ssh-keygen -t {rsa\|dsa}	Generates Secure Shell (SSH) host keys and displays the host key fingerprint on the SC.	show /SP/services/ssh/keys rsa\|dsa set /SP/services/ssh generate_new_key_action=true set /SP/services/ssh generate_new_key_type=[rsa\|dsa]
usershow [username]	Displays a list of all user accounts, permission levels, and whether passwords are assigned.	show /SP/users
useradd username	Adds a user account to ALOM CMT.	create /SP/users/username
userdel username userdel -y username	Deletes a user account from ALOM CMT. The -y option enables you to skip the confirmation question.	delete /SP/users/username delete -script /SP/users/username
userpassword [username]	Sets or changes a user password.	set /SP/users/username password
userperm [username] [c] [u] [a] [r]	Sets the permission level for a user account.	set /SP/users/username role=permissions (where permissions are Administrator or Operator)
Status and Control Commands
showenvironment	Displays the environmental status of the host server. This information includes system temperatures, power supply status, front panel LED status, hard disk drive status, fan status, voltage, and current sensor status.	show -o table -level all /SYS
shownetwork [-v]	Displays the current network configuration information. The -v option shows additional information about your network, including information about your DHCP server.	show /SP/network
console [-f]	Connects to the host system console. The -f option forces the console write lock from one user to another.	start /SP/console
break [-c] break [-D]	Drops the host server from running the Solaris OS software into OpenBoot PROM or kmdb depending upon the mode in which the Solaris software was booted.	set /HOST send_break_action=break set /HOST send_break_action=dumpcore
bootmode [normal] [reset_nvram] [config=configname] [bootscript=string]	Controls the host server OpenBoot PROM firmware method of booting.	set /HOST/bootmode property=value [where property is state, config, or script]
flashupdate -s IPaddr -f pathname [-v]	Downloads and updates system firmware (both host firmware and ALOM CMT firmware). For ILOM, ipaddr must be a TFTP server. If DHCP is used, ipaddr can be replace by the name of the TFTP host.	load -source tftp://ipaddr/pathname
reset [-c] reset [-y] [-c]	Generates a hardware reset on the host server. The -y option enables you to skip the confirmation question.	reset /SYS reset -script /SYS
powercycle [-y][-f] powercycle -y powercycle -f	poweroff followed by poweron. The -f option forces an immediate poweroff, otherwise the command attempts a graceful shutdown.	stop /SYS start /SYS stop -script /SYS start -script /SYS stop -force /SYS start -force /SYS
poweroff poweroff -y poweroff -f	Removes the main power from the host server. The -y option enables you to skip the confirmation question. ALOM CMT attempts to shut the server down gracefully. The -f option forces an immediate shutdown.	stop /SYS stop -script /SYS stop -force /SYS
Poweron	Applies the main power to the host server or FRU.	start /SYS
setlocator [on/off]	Turns the Locator LED on the server on or off.	set /SYS/LOCATE value=value
showfaults [-v]	Displays current valid system faults.	show /SP/faultmgmt
clearfault UUID	Manually repairs system faults.	set /SYS/component clear_fault_action=true
showlocator	Displays the current state of the Locator LED as either on or off.	show /SYS/LOCATE
FRU Commands
setfru -c data	The -c option enables you to store information (such as inventory codes) on all FRUs in a system.	set /SYS customer_frudata=data
Other Commands
help [command]	Displays a list of all ALOM CMT commands with their syntax and a brief description of how each command works. Specifying a command name as an option enables you to view the help for that command.	help
resetsc resetsc -y	Reboots ALOM CMT. The -y option enables you to skip the confirmation question.	reset /SP reset -script /SP
logout	Logs out from an ALOM CMT shell session.	exit

Alom, Ilom, & Elom Part I

Hardware

04/14/2008
Introduction:If you are anything like me, and you have not been a knee deep in Sun hardware for the last 10 years of your life, then you probably get pretty confused between the differences between using Sun’s Alom, Ilom, or Elom. It seems every time I start to get familiar with how to manage one type of server, Sun comes up with something new. After a while, which command you should use where becomes an exercise in trial and Error. Hell, if that command does not work here, then try something else. Anyway, here are some notes that I put together to try to keep things straight.

What’s What?

ILOM:

ILOM is the system Service Processor Sun includes with Sun x64 systems.ILOM, can also be accessed via an integrated HTTPS
server, meaning that a user friendly graphical user interface is
available.

ELOM:

This management system is comprised of a system on a chip that includes the following:
- Service processor (SP)
  -This is the hardware that consists of a dedicated processor that
  communicates through the system serial port. The SP can also
  communicate through an Ethernet port that is shared with the OS
- Embedded server management software – This is embedded software running on the SP.
- Command line
  interface (CLI) – The command-line interface is a dedicated software
  application that enables you to operate the SP and associated software
  using keyboard commands. You can use the command-line interface to send
  commands to the SP. You can connect a terminal or emulator directly to
  the system serial port or connect over the Ethernet using a Secure
  Shell (SSH).
- Web-based interface
  – The web-based interface provides a powerful, yet easy-to-use web
  browser interface that allows you to log in to the SP, and perform
  system management, monitoring, and certain IPMI tasks.
- Remote Console/Java Client
  – The Java Client supports the remote console functionality, which
  allows you to access your server’s graphical display remotely across
  the network, as if you were physically located there. It redirects the
  keyboard, mouse, and video screen, and can redirect input and output
  from the local machine’s CD and diskette drives. It can also redirect
  ISO images of the media for these devices; that is, it can create
  virtual devices based on media images.
ALOM:

The ALOM System Controller and ALOM firmware combine the features of RSC and LOM, as well as adding several new features. ALOM can only be run via telnet (insecure), SSH (secure), or a serial
cable, and is therefore limited to the command line interface.

Whats Where?

LOM

Sun Netra[TM] X1
Sun Netra[TM] T1400/1405
Sun Netra[TM] T1 AC200
Sun Netra[TM] T1 DC200
Sun Fire[TM] V100
Sun Fire[TM] V120
Sun Fire[TM] E2900
Sun Netra[TM] 20
Sun Fire[TM] V1280

ALOM

Sun Fire[TM] V125
Sun Fire[TM] V210
Sun Fire[TM] V215
Sun Fire[TM] V240
Sun Fire[TM] V245
Sun Fire[TM] V250
Sun Fire[TM] V440
Sun Fire[TM] V445

ALOM4v

Sun Fire[TM] T1000
Sun Fire[TM] T2000
Sun SPARC[TM] Enterprise T1000
Sun SPARC[TM] Enterprise T2000
Sun Netra[TM] T2000

ILOM

Sun Fire[TM] X4100
Sun Fire[TM] X4200
Sun Fire[TM] X4500
Sun Fire[TM] X4600
Sun Fire[TM] X4100 M2
Sun Fire[TM] X4200 M2
Sun Fire[TM] X4600 M2
Sun Blade[TM] 6000
Sun Blade[TM] 8000
Sun Netra[TM] X4200 M2
Sun SPARC[TM] Enterprise T5120
Sun SPARC[TM] Enterprise T5220

ELOM

Sun Fire[TM] X2100 M2
Sun Fire[TM] X2200 M2

RSC

Sun Fire[TM] V890
Sun Fire[TM] V490
Sun Fire[TM] V880
Sun Fire[TM] V480
Sun Fire[TM] 280R
Sun Enterprise[TM] 250

SP

Sun Fire[TM] V20z
Sun Fire[TM] V40z

Coming Soon Part II
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mkisofs – Make an iso from a cd or directory

Applications Linux

04/10/2008
This morning while working on getting a CentOS Jumpstart Server setup with a Knoppix rescue boot image I ran across the following simple utility mkisofs. It was not installed on my box so I had to get it via yum.

In the example below I created an iso from a directory knoppix51
mkisofs -o knoppix51.iso knoppix51

Below are the common usage options:
```
mkisofs [-a] [-b boot_image] [-c boot_catalog]
        [-A application_id] [-f] [-d] [-D] [-i include-list]
        [-l] [-L] [-p preparer] [-P publisher] [-r] [-R]
        [-T] [-v] [-V] [-V volid] [-x path] [-z] [-m glob]
        -o filename path
```
Here is how to use mkisofs to make an iso from a cd/dvd

dd if=/dev/dvd of=dvd.iso # for dvd

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=cd.iso # for cdrom

dd if=/dev/scd0 of=cd.iso # if cdrom is scsi

You can also download it from http://freshmeat.net/projects/mkisofs/
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Sun RSC Configuration for the v480 & v490

Hardware Open Solaris Solaris 10 Solaris 8

04/09/2008
Introduction

This page describes how to setup and manage a Sun RSC (Remote Serial Console) on the v480 and v490, as well as the e250 and e450. I omitted the latter two as those systems are ancient.

Before You Begin

Assign an IP address, netmask and gateway to the server. You must
download the RSC utilities version 2.2.3 or later to the server and run
the utilities before you can configure the server’s RSC.

Steps
- Log in as root to the V490 or V890 manageable server.
- Download the RSC version 1.2.3 utilities zip file.Go to http://www.sun.com/servers/rsc.html. Download the zip file appropriate for the Solaris operating system installed on the server:
Solaris 9 or later: rsc2.2.3_packages_s9.zip
Solaris 8: rsc2.2.3_packages_s8.zip
When the download has completed, unzip the file to a temporary directory, and then change directory to the temporary directory.
- Install the RSC version 2.2.3 packages on the manageable server.
Install the following packages on the server using the pkgadd command:
SUNWrsc – the RSC base package for installation on the host machine
SUNWrscd – the RSC documentation package
SUNWrscj – the RSC GUI package to display the RSC GUI

If you are asked whether to install conflicting files, type Y to override the existing version.

Redirecting the Console to the RSC

After RSC software is installed and configured, the system
console is still available as on any normal Sun machine. To enable RSC
as the system console device instead, you must access the server
console, shut down the system, and type the following commands at the
ok prompt:
```
ok diag-console rsc

ok setenv input-device rsc-console

ok setenv output-device rsc-console
```
RSC Commands

The RSC commands are located in the following path:
/usr/platform/SUNW,Sun-Fire-V490/rsc

rsc-config
/usr/platform/SUNW,Sun-Fire-V490/rsc/rsc-config

The command above can be used to configure the RSC.

The rscadm command has many options see below.
```
rscadm - COMMAND DETAILS
  rscadm help => this message
  rscadm date [-s] | [[mmdd]HHMM | mmddHHMM[cc]yy][.SS] => print or set date
  rscadm set <variable> <value> => set variable to value
  rscadm show [variable] => show variable(s)
  rscadm resetrsc [-s] => reset RSC (-s soft reset)
  rscadm download [boot] <file> => program firmware or [boot] monitor
  rscadm send_event [-c] "message" => send message as event (-c CRITICAL)
  rscadm useradd <username> => add RSC user account
  rscadm userdel <username> => delete RSC user account
  rscadm usershow [username] => show user details
  rscadm userpassword <username> => set user password
  rscadm userperm <username> [cuar] => set user permissions
  rscadm shownetwork => show network configuration
  rscadm loghistory => show RSC event log
  rscadm version => show RSC version
```
Below is the SHOW option
```
mail_enabled="false"
ip_mode="config"
ppp_enabled="false"
tpe_link_test="true"
serial_baud="9600"
serial_parity="none"
serial_stop="1"
serial_data="8"
customerinfo=""
ip_addr="xxx.xx.xxx.xxx"
ip_netmask="255.255.xxx.x"
ip_gateway="0.0.0.0"
mailhost=""
mailuser=""
ppp_local_ip_addr="0.0.0.0"
ppp_remote_ip_addr="0.0.0.0"
hostname="xxxxxx"
escape_char="~"
```
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Solaris Network Connection Performance Part I

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Adding New Services in Solaris 10 –OpenSSH

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Linux Disk Utilities

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Alom, Ilom, & Elom Part II

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Alom, Ilom, & Elom Part I

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mkisofs – Make an iso from a cd or directory

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Sun RSC Configuration for the v480 & v490

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