As many of you know, a very useful feature of Redhat Satellite is the ability to execute remote commands on a set of servers. You pick a set of servers and plug in your command and schedule the job. Most of the time these remote commands run just fine, however they can error out if the server is not configured to allow remote command execution. Let’s discuss how to fix this.
If remote command execution is not allowed, you will probably see an error similar to those shown below,
Local permission not set for action type script.run
or
Invalid function call attempted
Note that these two error messages usually mean the same thing. You need to enable remote command execution on the remote server.
First off you need to make sure that the command rhn-actions-control is installed. If it is not then we first figure out which rpm provides the command. You can do so with the command below
# yum whatprovides */rhn-actions-control
Now that we know what to install, lets install it.
# yum -y install rhncfg-actions
Now we enable remote command execution
# rhn-actions-control –enable-all
Now you should be able to reschedule your job against the server via the webUI.
First thing you need to know about ESXi is that it rolls its log after a reboot, meaning if your ESXi server crashes there will be no logs to review and no way of knowing what when to hell and where.
For this reason it is imperative that you setup a remote syslog server and send your logs there. Vmware support will tell you this and shame you if you have not setup remote syslogging.
Fortunately the first hit on google for “ESX syslog how to” will take you directly to the VMware KB article. You can find it here. However this page does not contain directions on how to do this via the Linux rcli, it only contains directions on how to do this via the VMA (management appliance) and from Windows PowerCLI. Really Vmware?
Follow the directions below if you run a real operating system and are not a Windows Admin.
First configure your remote ESXi host to forward syslog to your syslog server.
Hey, take a look at the ugly AIX image that I just stole. Since I ran into the image thought that I would take a bit of time to get my AIX notes together and put my new image to good use.
Here are some of my favorite commands and other info.
prtconf
Shows system config
prtconf
System Model: IBM,9113-550
Machine Serial Number: blahblah
Processor Type: PowerPC_POWER5
Number Of Processors: 4
Processor Clock Speed: 1656 MHz
CPU Type: 64-bit
Kernel Type: 64-bit
LPAR Info: 1 hostname
Memory Size: 15808 MB
Good Memory Size: 15808 MB
Platform Firmware level: SF230_143
Firmware Version: IBM,SF230_143
Console Login: enable
Auto Restart: true
Full Core: false
ipcs -mob
Shows shared memory config
IPC status from /dev/mem as of Fri Dec 28 10:52:23 EST 2007
T ID KEY MODE OWNER GROUP NATTCH SEGSZ
Shared Memory:
m 4194304 0xffffffff --rw-rw---- root system 1 4096
m 6291457 0xffffffff --rw-rw---- root system 1 4096
m 6291458 0xffffffff --rw-rw---- root system 1 4096
m 9437187 0xdd9369d4 --rw-r----- dbpcomf dba 47 1090523136
m 6291460 0xf6e89580 --rw-r----- dbpisv dba 104 8640286720v
Memory and Paging
lsattr -E -l sys0 | grep realmem
To determine how much physical memory resides on the hardware, use the
AIX following command to determine the amount of physical memory:
lsps –a
To determine how much paging space is
installed; use the command above.
To increase Paging Space; use the following AIX path in SMIT (System
Management Interface Tool)
Physical and Logical Storage -> Paging Space -> Change/Show
Characteristics of Paging Space
Do not add a new paging logical volume. Add specified PP’s (as needed)
to the existing paging logical volume. Select logical volume and press
return. Type 1 for the Number of additional logical partitions.
Networking
netstat -v | grep Speed
Show NIC speed
Collect System Dump on an AIX System
Verify dump size by typing sysdumpdev –L at the command line.
Find a repository large enough for the dump.
Type snap –r at the command line to remove any previous dumps.
Type snap -gfkDGL at the command line to create the new dump.
Type snap –c to compress into the pax file.
Intro to SMIT/SMITTY
System Management Interface Tool
smit will run GUI version if $DISPLAY is set, text version otherwise
Use smitty to force use of text version
Important keystrokes (If you don’t have function keys, use ESC+n for Fn):
Function Keys
F3 > Cancel (go back to previous screen)
F4 > List options for a given field
F6 > Show command that SMIT is executing
F7 > Tag item from list (e.g., when selecting software to install)
F10 > Exit SMIT
Useful files:
smit.log >Logs what you’ve done (menu selections, command output, etc)
smit.script > listing of all commands SMIT has executed for you (same as shown by F6)
As far as I know this documentation is specific to Sun T5150s and Sun T5250s. However some of the information below may also pertain to other Sun systems running ILOM.
ILOM Commands
To power on the host, type:
start /SYS
To power off the host, type:
stop /SYS
To reset the host, type:
reset /SYS
How to set the system not to auto boot the OS
Example:
-> set /HOST/bootmode script=”setenv auto-boot? false”
Press Enter and then type:
-> reset /SYS
Accessing the Console from ILOM
start /SP/console
Configuring a Static IP Address Using CLI and Ethernet
Log in to the ILOM using Secure Shell (SSH) over the network, or
by connecting a terminal to the serial port. To establish a Secure Shell (SSH)
connection to the CLI, type the appropriate connection command in the
SSH application. For example, to connect to the ILOM with an IP address
of 129.144.82.20, type the following command:
# ssh -l root 129.144.82.20
Type the following command to set the working directory.
cd /SP/network
Type the following commands to specify a static Ethernet
configuration.
Note – The following values are samples only. You must specify the IP
address, netmask, and gateway appropriate for your ILOM and network
configuration.
set pendingipaddress=129.144.82.26
set pendingipnetmask=255.255.255.0
set pendingipgateway=129.144.82.254
set pendingipdiscovery=static
set commitpending=true
As many of you know, a very useful feature of Redhat Satellite is the ability to execute remote commands on a set of servers. You pick a set of servers and plug in your command and schedule the job. Most of the time these remote commands run just fine, however they can error out if the server is not configured to allow remote command execution. Let’s discuss how to fix this.
