AIX question

Thu Jun 17 13:34:55 PDT 2004

On Thu Jun 17 11:57 2004 -0700, Jennifer Davis wrote:
> The box is in Atlanta.  The SE is claiming the serial console isn't giving 
> him an option to go to single user mode.  From my understanding he should 
> see a menu whether he is on a serial console, or attached with monitor and 
> IBM keyboard.  I have barely touched AIX, so I'm asking in the hope that 
> someone with many years of AIX experience can pipe up and say "Yes he 
> should be able to see this menu and press 5 to get to single user 
> boot from the serial console".

That's the general approach with most modern AIX boxes (i.e., the ones
without a physical key), but the exact details depend on what
particular model you're dealing with.  If you know the model of the
machine, you may be able to find documentation for it here:

  http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pseries/en_US/infocenter/base/hardware.htm

IIRC, the general approach to booting into single-user mode is to boot
in "service mode" (also sometimes called "maintenance mode"), which
will take you into the menu for a diagnostic tool.  Somewhere on that
menu (or mayeb buried in one of the sub-menus; I forget) is an option
to drop into a single-user shell.

Also, some machines, like the B80 and 6C1, have a special service
processor that pops up a "meta-menu" that allows you to power the
system on or off.  The idea is that when you first plug in the system,
the power light just blinks on and off, indicating that the machine is
at standby.  You can either hit the power button or use this menu to
power the system on from standby mode.  This meta-menu, unlike the
normal firmware menu, requires one of the control pins on the serial
line (DSR?  DTR?  I forget) to be high, or it won't display the menu.
So, if you have one of these models and the power light is blinking,
you might try just hitting the power button.

As of about a month ago (when I changed jobs and moved to the bay
area, which is why I'm now reading this mailing list), I no longer
manage any AIX boxes, but prior to that I had been working with AIX
for almost 10 years (including versions from 3.2.5 to 5.1).  I don't
have direct access to test anything for you, but I can at least
provide some general pointers from memory.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful.

-- 
Mark D. Roth <roth at feep.net>
http://www.feep.net/~roth/