AIX

G'day all
I have purchased 2 big IBM H50 RS/6000 enterprise servers. I am led to believe they are running AIX 4.3.3.
Now problem is getting into remote console and turning off remote console and enabling my graphics card which i have installed. Now i was told to remove it, and try again. But i have not been able to get any serial console connection.
Can i get some advice on what i doing wrong, or how i can get these 2 big unit up and running?

Cheers

When you say big and purchased, are we talking a 7026-H50, withdrawn from marketing in 2000? Do you actually have a licence to run AIX? It may come with the server, but it would be wise to check.

You are way back level of OS and possibly firmware too - just like me, I have four H70 and an M80 running AIX 4.3.3

Depending what graphics card you are trying to use, it may just be too new for the server firmware to deal with or the OS may not recognise it. You would be better using the serial console. You can buy the appropriate cable to connect a laptop if need be.

Of course, I may have misunderstood completely. You mention Remote Console, so is that via an HMC? If so, can you go to the real HMC and get the console working there? You have to enable remote console support on the HMC, but I've had lots of trouble with Java too.



Can you give more details of what you are getting/not getting and how you are attempting to do so.



Thanks, in advance,

Robin
Liverpool/Blackburn
UK

If it is the H50 from 2000, these are pre-power4 systems, so they will not run AIX 6 or higher (need POWER4 processor or higher for that).

However, to test your null modem connection, connect at 9600 baud, no parity - with the power off, but unit turned on. You should get some response - this is the systems interface. You "lose" this interface when the system powers on.

If you are not getting any response, try different speeds (e.g., 19200) - maybe someone changed the default speed.

If the system is up and running (power on) it may be that it was configured without a serial console connection active - and then it would be "dead" by definition.

There are several approaches - but just to know if the console is responding at all, I would start from power off. Less noisy too :wink:

Hope this helps!

Thanks Michael.
Just for my own curiosity, what are some of the other ways. Also, with the serial console, do u i need a keyboard and mouse plugged into the server before i run the serial console,
Also, do you by any chance know the default ip address for the HMC as well?

Yes. IIRC it won't even run 5.2 because it was a rs6k-pc (or something such - the same as the 43P-140, which had the same problem) platform. If memory serves right the 6H1/6H0 series was introduced as a successor because of that.

The rs6k would not switch off the serial interface like the modern machines do with the HMC connections. The settings are 8,N,1 at 9600 baud (19200 was introduced with the Regatta, IIRC). You need a nullmodem-cable and a gender-changer. IBM used to sell these cables (for something like $100 apiece, LOL) ready-made, but you can easily build your own with a minimum of soldering expertise. The following pinout might help, which explains also the reason why not every cable works:

RS6000 (AIX) Console Connection Cable Wiring

No. You need either a terminal (like the once ubiquitous IBM3151), which can either emulate a "Wyse60" (recommended) or any other known terminal (be warned, though, that the standard terms like "vt100" were crappily defined in AIX - best works the Wyse60 and the ibm3151, but the latter is emulated correctly only by itself).

I hope this helps.

bakunin

Cheers Bakunin. I managed to get serial console working using putty.
Both the H50 RS/6000 are running AIX 5. Is it possible to remove AIX, and install from scratch a copy linux at all? or am will i have mass issues? Any answers would be most helpful

Great! I saw only now that i forgot to mention terminal emulators instead of physical terminals. putty will work, kermit or its clones will probably too. Anyways, you got it running, so this is only for purposes of completeness, should this question be asked again.

Yes, but perhaps not 5.2. My own pair of 43P-140s are running 5.1, because this supports the rs6k-pc architecture, but (IIRC - it has been a long time since) in 5.2 support for it were dropped. Anything after 5.1 might not work.

No, you *should* have no issues and yes, this is (should be) possible. There is a Linux for the POWER platform (PPC-architecture) and i remember having seen it running on vrious IBM systems, even at the times the H50 was a modern machine. I haven't done it myself in these days (todays pSeries have support for Linux in LPARs built-in and it is quite a common thing), so i can't tell you anything more than this - sorry for being vague.

I hope this helps.

bakunin