Product Notes for AIX Systems

• The klog command's -setpag flag is supported on AIX 4.2.1 and 4.3.3 only

  To use the klog command's -setpag flag, you must install the indicated AIX APAR (Authorized Program Analysis Report), available from IBM, on a machine running the indicated AIX version:

  • APAR IY07834 on AIX 4.2.1 machines

  • APAR IY07835 on AIX 4.3.3 machines

  To determine if the APAR is installed, issue the following command:

  % instfix -i -k APAR_identifier

  IBM provides an APAR for the indicated (latest) AIX versions only. Therefore, the -setpag flag does not work correctly on machines running the base level of AIX 4.2 or 4.3, or AIX 4.3.1 or 4.3.2.

• Change to AFS installation procedure for AIX 4.3.3

  If version 4.3.3.0 or higher of the AIX bos.rte.security fileset is installed (usually true on a machine using the AIX 4.3.3 kernel), you must modify the procedure documented in OpenAFS Quick Beginnings for enabling integrated AFS login. Instead of editing the /etc/security/login.cfg file, you edit the /usr/lib/security/methods.cfg file. To determine which version of the bos.rte.security fileset is installed, issue the following command:

  # lslpp -L bos.rte.security

  The change affects Step 3 in the section titled Enabling AFS Login on AIX Systems in each of two chapters in OpenAFS Quick Beginnings: Installing the First AFS Machine and Installing Additional Client Machines. For the complete text of the modified step, see Documentation Notes.

• No support for the NFS/AFS Translator with base level of AIX 4.2

  AFS does not support the use of machines running the base level of AIX 4.2 as NFS/AFS Translator machines. The AFS distribution does not include the required kernel extensions file, formerly installed by convention as /usr/vice/etc/dkload/afs.ext.trans. Do not set the NFS variable to the value $NFS_NFS in the AFS initialization script (by convention, /etc/rc.afs). Machines running AIX 4.2.1 and higher are supported as NFS/AFS Translator machines. They use the afs.ext.iauth kernel extensions file instead.

• NFS/AFS Translator cannot coexist with NFS/DFS Gateway

  A machine running AIX 4.2.1 or higher cannot act as both an NFS/AFS Translator and a NFS/DFS Gateway Server at the same time, because both translation protocols must have exclusive access to the AIX iauth interface. An attempt by either file system to access the iauth interface when the other file system is already using it fails with an error message.

• No support for NFS Version 3 software on NFS clients

  Do not run NFS Version 3 software on NFS client machines that use an NFS/AFS Translator machine running AIX. The NFS3 client software uses the readdir+ NFS command on directories, which can cause excessive volume lookups on the translator machine. This can lead to timeouts, especially when used in the /afs directory or other directories with many volume mount points. Use NFS Version 2 instead.

• No support for Large File Enabled Journalled File System as AFS server partition

  AFS does not support use of AIX's Large File Enabled Journalled File System as an AFS server (/vicep) partition. If you configure a partition that uses that file system as an AFS server partition, the File Server ignores it and writes the following message to the /usr/afs/logs/FileLog file:

  /vicepxx is a big files filesystem, ignoring it

  AFS supports use of the Large File Enabled Journalled File System as the cache partition on a client machine.

• PASSWORD_EXPIRES variable not set on AIX

  The AIX secondary authentication system does not support setting the PASSWORD_EXPIRES environment variable during login.

• The chuser, chfn and chsh commands are inoperative

  The chuser, chfn, and chsh commands are inoperative on AFS machines running AIX. AFS authentication uses the AIX secondary authentication system, and sets the registry variable in the /etc/security/user file to DCE for the default user. That is, the setting is

  registry = DCE

  as described in the sections of OpenAFS Quick Beginnings that discuss enabling AFS login on AIX systems. However, when the registry variable has any value other than registry = files, AIX does not allow edits to /etc/passwd and related files, and so disallows the chuser, chfn and chsh commands. Attempts to edit entries by running these commands on the command line result in error messages like the following.

  • From the chuser command:

    You can only change the HOME directory on the name server.

  • From the chfn command:

    You can only change the User INFORMATION on the name server.

  • From the chsh command:

    You can only change the Initial PROGRAM on the name server.

  From within SMIT, using the chuser function results in an error message like the following:

  3004-716: You can only change the HOME directory on the name server

  It is not possible for AFS Development to alter this behavior, because AIX imposes the restriction. Sites that wish to run these commands must develop a solution appropriate for their needs.