AIX-to-Linux Quick Start Comparison

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AIX-to-Linux Quick Start Comparison

Modified from a more-complete UNIXguide.net page.
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Man Pages
Directory Mappings
User Accounts
General Commands
Printers
TCP/IP
System Files
LVM Commands
Miscellaneous Commands
Software
Devices
AFS
Other References

Directory Mappings

AIX

RedHat Linux
/

/dev/sda2 if SCSI
/dev/hda2 if IDE

Root File System

/dev/hd4

Home Directories
O.S. Executables
Temporary Space
System Variable Data

/home

/dev/hd1

/home is in Root File System

/usr

/dev/hd2

/usr is in Root File System

/tmp

/dev/hd3

/tmp is in Root File System

/var

/dev/hd9var

/var is in Root File System

Boot
Paging

/dev/hd5

/boot

/dev/sda1 if SCSI
/dev/hda1 if IDE

Logical Volume type="paging" Partition Id=82="Linux swap"

See also the Filesystem Hierachy Standard (FHS) for a fuller discussion of the "proper" UNIX file system hierarchy.
Linux has three sets of apparently duplicate directories; /bin & /usr/bin, /sbin & /usr/sbin, and /lib & /usr/lib. This can be
a source of confusion. Under AIX for example, ksh is the default shell and it's normal to see #!/usr/bin/ksh in the first
line of a ksh script. Under Linux, bash (the Bourne-Again Shell) is the default shell and ksh is NOT in /usr/bin/ksh,
leading one to believe Linux does not have ksh. Not true. Under Linux, ksh is at /bin/ksh. (Actually, since /bin is a link
to /usr/bin under AIX, ksh is also at /bin/ksh, so to make bilinugual scripts, #!/bin/ksh is best.)
The reason for these apparently duplicate directories is, in the initial boot phases or when Linux boots into single-user
mode (which is the same thing), only the root file system is mounted. It's true that by default, /usr is in the root file
system, but it may not be. It might be configured in its own partition or even NFS mounted from another machine in R/O
mode. Given this, everything needed to boot Linux or will be needed to repair a broken system, needs to be in the root
file system. Yet to keep the root file system as small as possible, all non-essential files are kept under /usr.
This is also why they say that those 5 directories (/bin, /sbin, /etc, /dev, and /lib) must be in the root partition.

User Accounts

AIX

RedHat Linux

Password Files

/etc/passwd
/etc/security/passwd

/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow

Allow/Deny root's
Remote telnet
Login

rlogin=true
in /etc/security/user stanza

Comment out securetty line in /etc/pam.d/login

Recover root's
Password

Boot from CD or Tape,

Installation/Maintenance
Start Limited Shell
getrootfs hdisk0
vi /etc/security/passwd

At grub boot loader screen,

press "e" to edit,
select "kernel" line
press "e" to edit,
Add " s" at end of line
press <Enter> to accept changes,
press "b" to boot,
at shell prompt, passwd root

Create new user

mkuser

useradd

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Delete user

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rmuser

userdel
The same as their userid, both name and number.
E.G. User Name=jasper, User ID=10167, Group
Name=jasper, Group ID=10167

Default User Group staff=Group ID 1

General Commands
Absolute Path tar

AIX

RedHat Linux

tar cvf
foo.tar /etc/passwd

tar Pcvf foo.tar /etc/passwd

ping Broadcast Address ping -c 1 10.224.88.255

ping -b -c 1 10.224.88.255

Admin Helpers

smit or smitty

41 redhat-config-* programs in /usr/sbin

& /usr/bin

Performance Monitor

top
lsof
monitor

System Activity
Reporter

sar

sar
sysstat

I/O Statistics

iostat

iostat
sysstat

Boot-Time Error Log

Display Swap Size

alog -o -t boot

dmesg

lsps -a

free

Printers
Printer Queues

top
lsof

AIX

RedHat Linux

/etc/qconfig

/var/spool/lpd/lp/*

Control Print Server Daemon

startsrc -s lpd
stopsrc -s lpd
lssrc
-s lpd

service cups start

service cups stop
service cups status

Submit Print Jobs

enq
lp
lpr
qprt

lpr

LP Statistics

enq -A
lpq
lpstat
qchk

lpq

Remove Print Jobs

cancel
lprm
qcan
enq -x

lprm

Add Printer Queue

smit mkpq

redhat-config-printer
printtool

Remove Printer Queue

smit rmpq

Default Printer

First Stanza in /etc/qconfig

export LPDEST="pq"

TCP/IP
AIX
lsattr
-E
-l
inet0
Network IP Configuration
/etc/netsvc.conf
Name Service Switch
no -a
Network Parameters

RedHat Linux
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth*
/etc/nsswitch.conf
sysctl -a | grep net

Secondary IP Address

ifconfig en0 alias w.x.y.z

modprobe ip_alias
ifconfig eth0:1 w.x.y.z

Login Prompt/Herald

/etc/security/login.cfg

/etc/issue

System Files
AIX
RedHat Linux
NFS Client Mounted Directories /etc/xtab /var/lib/nfs/xtab
128 GB
2 TB
Max File System Size

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2 GB

Max File Size

(512-byte block size)

64 GB
8192 GB

LVM Commands
Filesystem Table
Device Listing
Disk Information
LVM Concepts

(8-KB block size)

AIX

RedHat Linux

/etc/filesystems

/etc/fstab

lsdev -C

cat /proc/devices

bootinfo -s hdisk#

cat /proc/scsi/scsi0/sda/model

Partition

Logical Extents

Volume

Logical Volume

Journal File System Type

jfs

ext3
reiserfs

Default Volume Group

Display Volume Group
Modify Physical Volume
Prepare Physical Disk
List Physical Volume
Remove disk from volume group
Move logical volumes to another physical volumes
Create volume group

/dev/rootvg

None

lsvg -l rootvg

vgdisplay -v

chpv

pvchange

mkdev -c disk -l hdisk# pvcreate

lspv

pvdisplay

reducevg

vgreduce

migratepv

pvmove

mkvg

vgcreate

Remove Volume Group

varyoffvg
exportvg

vgremove

Volume Group Availability

chvg
varyonvg
varyoffvg

vgchange

Restore Volume Group

Export/Import Volume Group
List Volume Groups
Change Logical Volume Characteristics
List Logical Volumes
Make Logical Volume
Extend Logical Volume
Reduce Logical Volume
Remove Logical Volume

importvg

vgcfgrestore

exportvg/importvg

vgexport/vgimport

lsvg

vgscan

chlv

lvchange

lslv

lvdisplay

mklv

lvcreate

extendlv

lvextend

rmlv

lvremove

Prepare Boot Volumes

bootlist -m normal

grub-install /dev/sda2 if SCSI

grub-install /dev/hda2 if IDE

Extend File System

chfs -a size=# fs-name

(# is 512-byte blocks)

resize2fs

rmlvcopy

lvsplit

Reduce/Split Mirrors
Merge Mirrors
Create Mirrors
Add Mirrors
Create Striped Volumes
System Recovery Tape
Backup
Restore

AIX Reduce LV Procedure lvreduce

lvmerge
mklv -c 2
mklvcopy lv 2
mklv -u 3 -S 64K

lvcreate -i 3 -I 64

mksysb -i /dev/rmt0
savevg -i rootvg

tar cvf /dev/rst0 /

restvg

tar xvf /dev/rst0

Miscellaneous
Commands
Startup script

/etc/rc

/etc/rc.d/rc

Kernel

/usr/lib/boot/unix_up

/boot/vmlinuz (compressed)
/boot/vmlinux (uncompressed)

AIX

RedHat Linux

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lsattr -E -l sys0
no -a

Kernel Parameters

Reconfigure the Kernel

sysctl -a
cd /usr/src/linux
make mrproper
make menuconfig
make dep
make clean
make bzImage
make install
make modules
make modules_install
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.16
cd /boot
mv initrd-2.4.21-20.ELsmp initrd-2.4.2120.ELsmp.save
mkinitrd initrd-2.4.21-20.ELsmp $(uname -r)

chdev -l sys0 -a

vi /boot/grub/grub.conf

List modules
Load module
Unload module
Initialize System
Physical RAM
Kernel Bits
Crash Utility
Trace System Calls
OS Level
Run Level
Tape Control
Core Dump Files

genkex

lsmod
insmod
rmmod

install_assist

netconf

bootinfo -r

free

bootinfo -K

getconf WORD_BIT

crash

lcrash

syscalls

strace

oslevel

uname -r

who -r

runlevel

tctl

mt

/var/adm/ras

Timezone Management

/etc/environment
/etc/profile

/etc/sysconfig/clock

NTP Daemon

/etc/ntp.conf
startsrc -s xntpd
stopsrc -s xntpd
lssrc -s xntpd

/etc/ntp.conf
service xntpd start
service ntpd stop
service ntpd status

Software
Install Software
Uninstall Software
List Installed
Software
Verify Installed
Software

AIX

RedHat Linux

installp -a

rpm -i package

installp -u

rpm -e package

lslpp -L all rpm -qa

lppchk -v

rpm -V package

List Files

lslpp -f
fileset

rpm -ql package

List Installed
Patches

instfix -i

Package Owner

lslpp -w
path

rpm -qf file

SW Directory

/usr/lpp

/var/lib/rpm

Rescan SCSI Bus cfgmgr

Devices
Install Devices
Remove Device

echo "scsi add-single-device 0 1 2 3" > /proc/scsi/scsi

will reprobe for a single device only on Card 0, Channel 1, Device
2, Lun 3, and add it if it is found

AIX
cfgmgr -v

RedHat Linux
/dev/MAKEDEV

rmdev -l

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Device Drivers
CPU
List Terminal

lscfg

Diagnostics

diag

lspci
pnpdump

Whole Disk
CDROM
CDROM File System Type
Rewinding Tape Drive
Non-rewinding Tape Drive
Floppy Drive

/dev/hdisk#

/dev/sda

/dev/cd0

/dev/cdrom

cdrfs

iso9660

/dev/rmt0

/dev/rst0

/dev/rmt0.1

/dev/nrst0

/dev/rfd0

/dev/fd0

AFS
Code Source

lsdev -Cc processor cat /proc/cpuinfo

lsdev -Cc tty

{ c 9 0}
{ c 9 128 }

AIX

RedHat Linux

IBM Transarc's Lab

www.openafs.org

Should be defined as its own file

AFS Cache
system before installing AFS.
/usr/vice/cache 100MB is minimum. 1GB is better.

Same.

Install
Directions

mkdir /tmp/afs
cd /tmp/afs
scp -p
jasper@jasper:/afs/d/software/base/linux/openafs1.2.11/* .
rpm -ivh *rpm
vi /usr/vice/etc/cacheinfo and set the cache size
to 95% of the number of 1K blocks
cd /tmp
of /usr/vice/cache. 95% of 1GB (my standard), is
ftp jasper
cd /afs/d/software/base/AFS_3.6 953850.
get afsinstall.sh
vi /usr/vice/etc/ThisCell
set the cell name to delphion.com.
get afsclient-42.tar
vi /usr/vice/etc/CellServDB
quit
replace all existing lines with
chmod +x afsinstall.sh
>delphion.com # Thomson-Delphion
./afsinstall.sh afsclient-42.tar
rm afsinstall.sh afsclient-42.tar 10.224.88.241 #afs1.delphion.com
To start AFS, service afs start
To allow AFS-authenticated logins, ftp's, etc,
cd /etc/pam.d
cp -p system-auth system-auth.Before.AFS
cp -p --reply=yes /tmp/afs/system-auth systemauth
rm -rf /tmp/afs

@sys
(fs sysname)

rs_aix42

DelphionStandard
Links

/local -> /afs/d/@sys/local

/u -> /afs/d/u
/usr/afsws > /afs/d/@sys/usr/afsws

Other References
FAQ
Online Manual
Technical Support
Phone Number
Free Software
Certification

i386_linux24

AIX

/local -> /afs/d/@sys/local

/u -> /afs/d/u

RedHat Linux

AIX-FAQ

Linux FAQ

AIX 4.3 Books

Linux Documentation Project

RS/6000 TechSupport Red Hat support

1-800-CALL-AIX

1-888-REDHAT1

Bull

Linux Software Map

www.ibm.com

RHCT & RHCE

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