System Admin

[Jayant Sinha]

We have recently installed HP/ UX 11i Servers. Please let me know the important tips for system adminstration, i.e. for kernel tuning, monitoring log files, taking backups and memory/ disk management.

[Pete Randall]

Here are some similar threads:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=621045&admit=-682735245+1154441715774+28353475

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=39219&admit=-682735245+1154441759206+28353475



Pete

[Jaime Bolanos Rojas.]

Jayant,

There is so much to go into, and so many variables, first thing, make sure that new installed servers are properly patch, this is the first and most important for stability.

For kernel tuning, it will depend so much on the applications that you are running, number of users, amount of hardware, etc, etc, databases...

Monitoring logs, is an every unix system job, keep on system the syslog.log file, and other type of logs, you can also have a centralized server to keep your logs.

Taking backups, this is my preference, I would use Data Protector to do backups, if you are looking for something that came with the OS, fbackup will do the trick.

Memory, for that one, buy enought, just enought so your system does not have to swap, memory is "cheap" nowdays.

Disk management, use vxfs with online jfs, it will make your life a lot easier.

Regards,

jaime.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Javant:

You might want to puruse the "Managing Systems and Workgroups" guide:

http://docs.hp.com/en/B2355-90950/B2355-90950.pdf

Regards!

...JRF...

[A. Clay Stephenson]

I will give you an answer commensurate with the quality of your question. Tune the kernel well, monitor all log files carefully, take most excellent backups frequently, and manage disk and memory usage carefully.
-------------------------------------------
Your question is so broad and general in nature that it is almost pointless to try to answer. It appears that you bought HP-UX equipment so the answer was HP-UX; now what is the question? You simply can't approach system administration as an afterthought; it should have been an integral part of the procurement process.

The good news is that managing HP-UX is ~95% the same as managing any other flavor of UNIX. HP-UX has differences in the way disk storage is managed; kernel tuning is a little bit unique (e.g. pseudoswap). One of the biggest deviations from the "norm" is that HP-UX uses /sbin/init.d and /sbin/rcN.d directories for startup processes whereas the more typical UNIX'es use /etc/init.d and /etc/rcN.d directories.

HP offers training for administrators experienced in UNIX as well as for novices.

[inventsekar_1]

Jayant Sinha,

A Big question.

Highly difficult to give "the important tips for system adminstration, i.e. for kernel tuning, monitoring log files, taking backups and memory/ disk management."

solutions:
1. JRF given the link to a good pdf.

2. This collection provides documentation for the HP-UX 11i v2 Operating Environments:
http://docs.hp.com/en/oshpux11iv2.html

3. when u have a doubt, post it here. u will get good response.

Keep learning,
Sekar