IT OutSourcing Device HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work

(R1.0)
Third-Party Product Support Dept. 2010-3

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Modification Record
Version R1.0 Release Time 2010-3-19 Chen Xilin 1st release Draft Revisor Revising Reason Revising Content

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Contents
Chapter 1 DAILY...........................................................................................................................................4 1.1 Quick Eyeball Check.........................................................................................................................4 1.2 bdf.......................................................................................................................................................4 1.3 Core File Information........................................................................................................................4 1.4 tmp......................................................................................................................................................5 1.5 Backup................................................................................................................................................6 1.6 SAM logs...........................................................................................................................................7 1.7 Array Check.......................................................................................................................................7 Chapter 2 WEEKLY.......................................................................................................................................8 2.1 Backup ..............................................................................................................................................8 Chapter 3 MONTHLY...................................................................................................................................9 Chapter 4 YEARLY.....................................................................................................................................10 Chapter 5 SOMETIMES..............................................................................................................................11 Chapter 6 USERS.........................................................................................................................................12

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HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work

Chapter 1 DAILY
1.1 Quick Eyeball Check
Open all the doors on the Servers and arrays - check to see that all lights are green and control panels show no problems. There are some solid and flashing lights which are normal Service Processor - flashing green - OK 0 0 - flashing red numerals - OK High Voltage Power Supply - flashing yellow - OK Console/Lan SCSI I/O card - flashing yellow - OK Do a quick visual check on all cables for wear and/or abuse. Visually check all connections for looseness.

1.2 bdf
As root, run bdf. Check to see if all the file systems that should be mounted are, and that none of the file systems are full or getting that way. It is a good idea to keep a record of bdfs concentrating on file sizes. Try to get a feel for how fast the data is growing and on which file systems. This will give you an idea on when certain file systems need to be: enlarged new storage areas (hard disks and/or arrays) needed files trimmed old data removed or archived It will also give you an idea of how much storage each of your clients is now using and will allow you to make a fairly accurate guess as to how much they will be using in the future.

1.3 Core File Information

Core files are important for locating system errors. Currently the only ones who can effectively use core files are HP themselves. They will normally call into the system, and run check programs against the core files to find problems. Unless you are saving the core files to solve a problem they should be deleted.

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HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work If you are using them for problem solving you need to make sure that the core and crash dumps need to run to completion. If the dump area is to small it will not complete and HP will not be able to find the answers to the problem in the file. Provide an area on one of the drives, or arrays, as large as your system memory plus 50%. Not only must the system dump the entire contents of its memory into that area, it must also have some extra room to compress the files it creates. As root, remove ALL core and crash dumps unless instructed not to by HP or PRC. Standard memory (core) dumps will normally go to

/var/adm/crash by

default. Diagnostic memory dumps

(if

Hewlett-Packard Diagnostics is running) will go to /tmp/syscore. A typical command to remove all core files more that 24 hours old

find / -name "core" -mtime 1 -exec rm -rf {} \; >/dev/null

modify this as necessary to find and remove by size or date.

1.4 tmp
/tmp is exactly what it says - it is a temporary holding place. Things that
wind up here are temporary in nature and can (and should) be removed on a regular basis. A good rule of thumb is to remove anything that has been there for 14 days. You can write a little script and put it in cron to do it automatically for you. Users have a tendency to work store little projects in

/tmp.

They should be

encouraged to set up an area in their /home directory. They should also be encourage not to make it a dumping place for tons of little programs and junk they seldom if ever use. Keep their area neat, clean and small. Remove all sub-directories except /tmp/syscore certain HP

diagnostics will use this directory. Remember to check all /tmp sub-directories on the computer. Usually each

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HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work program has its own /tmp directory. The /tmp subdirectory can be found on most systems at these locations:

/.sso/.gateway/tmp /.sso/.gateway/tmp/tmp /.sso/.lib/tmp /.sso/.lib/tmp/tmp /.sso/.opsys/tmp /.sso/.opsys/tmp/tmp /.sso/.oracle/tmp /home/ftp/pub/patch/tmp /tmp /usr/tmp /var/adm/sw/patch/tmp /var/tmp /var/opt/pd/tmp /var/spool/cron/tmp

1.5 Backup
Different clients require different backup strategies and these should be worked out with them at contract time. There are standard practices for backing up any and all data stored on the computer. One of the most common practices is to backup incrementally every evening and do a full backup sometime on the weekend. Incremental means to backup only those files which have changed during the day. This saves tape and time when initially but becomes a very time

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HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work consuming and exacting task when restoring lost or corrupted files. Full means backup everything whether it has changed or not. Every evening means at a time when the system can be taken down to single user mode and it will not affect any clients. Weekends means the same as every evening except the downtime is longer because you have more to back up. Create a cron to do it for you. Remember that DDS tapes have a finite lifespan - about 50 uses is the maximum.

1.6 SAM logs

SAM keeps track of a lot of information and stores it in log files in many, many places on the hard drive. The information in these files is important and should be checked out on a regular basis. These files, if allowed to grow unchecked, will take over the hard drive and fill their respective file systems to capacity. SAM provides a way to view the log files, and keep them in control by giving you a quick and easy way to either delete them or trim them to default sizes. As root, - sam - Routine tasks - System Log Files check to find errors, intrusions, etc. trim as necessary

1.7 Array Check

Arrays and their configuration is a topic discussed later on in this workbook. As root, run arraydsp this will give you the array numbers you will need for the vgdisplay command. You can also find the array numbers from the menu on each of the arrays. Then run

vgdisplay -v [array number]

on every array

to do a complete check on all of the components of the array. Look for "good" displayed by each hard drive. If the word good is missing from any of the drives that drive needs to be replaced.

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HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work

Chapter 2 WEEKLY
2.1 Backup
I probably should just copy the backup part from the daily section above - and maybe I will. The only difference is that this backup will take longer because it is a full backup and it should be done at the most remote part of the weekend when you think nobody in their right mind should be awake enough to be on a computer. I will try to give more specific information on backups later in this epistle. However, for now ... Different clients require different backup strategies and these should be worked out with them at contract time. There are standard practices for backing up any and all data stored on the computer. One of the most common practices is to backup incrementally every evening and do a full backup sometime on the weekend. Incremental means to backup only those files which have changed during the day. This saves tape and time when initially but becomes a very time consuming and exacting task when restoring lost or corrupted files. Full means backup everything whether it has changed or not. Every evening means at a time when the system can be taken down to single user mode and it will not affect any clients. Weekends means the same as every evening except the downtime is longer because you have more to back up. Create a cron to do it for you.Remember that tapes have a finite life - about 50 uses is the maximum. Where are these backup tapes stored? Who is responsible for making sure the tapes are safe and that they are in some kind of arrangement that makes them easy to find. For instance are they stored by client/date or by machine/date or just thrown in a box. somewhere. Is the documentation on each backup tape complete enough to insure that everyone knows what it is and where it is from and what kind of program did the backup

- tar, sam, cpio, etc.

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HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work

Chapter 3 MONTHLY
This is easy - outside of all the other work you have to do on a daily basis - at least once a month clean the dust from the door grills on the arrays, JBOD, power modules and fan units. Big deal you can do it in your sleep, right? Just dont forget to do it.

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HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work

Chapter 4 YEARLY
As if you had nothing else to do, on a yearly basis you need to find out the status of the contracts that concern your computer. Are the service contracts for hardware and software current and renewed? And, make sure the batteries in the SCSI I/O cards are in good shape. They need to be replaced every other year.

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HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work

Chapter 5 SOMETIMES
Backups are wonderful things and they save much time and aggravation to the end user if they are done correctly and when they are supposed to be done. But there are those times when, no matter how careful you are and how much planning and thought you put into the backup procedure - somebody is going to lose something that came and went between backups. Just for the heck of it, on the spur of the moment and without taking the computer down to single users level Ill pop a tape in the drive and backup an area I think gets the most traffic. I write the date and time on the label and store it with the rest. I cant tell you how many times that single tape has had the needed files on it. Magic stuff.

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HP Minicomputer Routine Maintenance Work

Chapter 6 USERS
Users hold a special place in the heart of every System Administrator. And its real close to the relationship between System and Network Administrators. Yet without these people SysAdmins wouldnt have a job. Grin and bear it. Think of how boring the job would be without the intensely insidious random interruptions, lost files, unresponsive monitors, modems and CPUs, printers that wont print and plotters that wont plot.

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