UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

I am new to AIX but not new to unix.

I have an interview for an AIX systems admin position and I know they want someone who has knowledge of High Availability, Failover and LPARs

From my research so far, It appear powerha is used to setup high availability and failover on Power systems but is this the case for all AIX systems or does it differ?

I found documentation on IBM Knowledge Center for setting up High availability using PowerHA but I do not know if this would be the process on all aix systems.

This is the core dilemma you are in.....

You have an interview for a position for someone who has knowledge, and I assume experience, for a technology you are not qualified in; and you are doing your homework to try to quickly learn something from reading about it on line, but which you have no hands on experience.

I think it is best for you to simply tell the people who are interviewing you that you have no hands on experience in the technology; but are willing and able to learn it if they hire you and provide valid references from past employers (or teachers) who will attest to the fact you are good at learning quickly on the job (OJT).

It is must better to be honest with people; instead of trying to fool them. That is my strong advice.

I have interviewed many, many people for tech positions over the years; and it is really easy to spot those who have "crammed for the exam", like you are doing.

As a side note, when I was a university student, I almost never crammed for exams or pulled "all nighters" before tests. I just learned the material as well as I could when the homework was assigned, and the lessons were taught, and the night before the exams I generally when for a nice Italian meal, has a "romantic night" with my girlfriend(s), and got a good night sleep. I graduated second in my class (should have graduated at the top, but the guy who "squeaked pass me" was the son of a powerful tenured professor in the same department .... ), with a 3.81 GPA in Electrical Engineering (Magna Cum Laude) at a top private university in the US. The reason I am mentioning this is that my life has been full of success and experience tells me the that honesty and integrity are the most importantly keys to success.

So, if you want a job, be honest and interview with integrity,

Do not try to pretend you have experience in an area where you have no experience.

And never fake references and experience, as so many people do.

Having said that, it is good to do your homework ahead of time, which you have done; by doing your own research and asking questions in forums like this one. On the other hand, experience here over the decades is that our members do not like helping anyone "cram" for interview questions for a job they are not qualified for:

PS: You can search the forums (or visit the various similar thread at the bottom of this page) for more information / posts @unix.com on AIX high availability.

My apologies. I should have put more context around my question. I was trying to keep my post concise and to the point. Given your lengthy response, I will respond in kind. I am not sure where you got the idea that I am trying to cram and fake my way but I can assure you, that is absolutely not the case. My background is in Directory Servers and IAM products. My last position was administering Ubuntu and Centos systems. My entire career has been spent working in Unix environments of all flavors mostly from an application engineering perspective. The position I am interviewing for was presented to my by a recruiter, as many are, who found my resume online. There is nothing in my resume that mentions anything about administering AIX other than from working with applications on AIX systems. When contacted by the recruiter, I presented him with the facts and told him up front that I had never performed AIX administration and that my only unix admin experience was with Ubuntu and Centos systems. I was very up front with him and gave him several references who could attest to my background and work ethic. I can assure you that I am not trying to present myself as an experienced AIX admin. I am well aware of the fact that this is an impossibility. My goal is to do my research and present myself as being, at least somewhat, intelligent of the task at hand. You do mention presenting oneself with integrity which I absolutely agree with 100%. I am going into this interview with base knowledge, a strong work ethic and a desire to learn. Again, my only goal with doing research is to be able to present myself with some aspect of base intellect at the position.

To reiterate my question which really wasnt answered

is PowerHA applicable on all newer AIX systems as a tool for setting up high availability and failover or is PowerHA specific to Power systems.

I am well that this is most likely a stupid question to the firmly entrenched and highly knowledgeable but I am a firm believer of the old axiom "there are no stupid questions"

I should also mention that I do not know what systems the position will be working with which is why I am asking the question in the first place