ANS AIX setup

[Leografix]

I haven't yet tried is to get one of the early Asante or Farallon 10/100 PCI cards and see if that will map close enough to the Apple 100Base-TX PCI card to force 100 Mbs operation (the Apple driver cannot auto-sense, btw, which is why speeds run at the "safe" fallback---it was built to use Apple hardware, and at the time, Apple only had the 100Base-TX Card).

Well, in meantime I discovered some strange behaviour of NICs, especially the Apple 10/100MBps, Product number sa0025, stated as compatible to the ANS. When using AIX 4.1.4.0 it "notices" both speeds (10 and 100 MBps) but only "defines" the 100 MBps functionality - which leaves this unusable to the BOS while the 10MBps can be used. When using AIX 4.1.5.0 it completly drops the 10 MBps functionality and oly leaves the defined but still unusable 100 MBps. Really odd.

I also noticed something else. I tested an NIC from SEC which is basically a NIC from DEC providing 10 MBps on three different ethernet interfaces (RJ45, Thick, and the AAUI dunno the real name for it). Both AIX versions determine that NIC as "Apple 10 MBps card" - which leads me to the conclusion that Apple has written some sort of "universal driver" for a bunch of several non-Apple cards but I might be wrong here.

Leo, I believe you had quite an adventure working your ANS up to 4.1.5 and getting as close as you could on patch level, didn't you? That process would be interesting.

It isn´t as spectecular as it might appear. There is something not-documentated about AIX versions for the ANS. While Apple names a full 4.1.4.0 install, a 4.1.4.1 update and a 4.1.5.0 update there also exists a 4.1.5.0 FULL INSTALL - the one I´m owning and using by now. This one also contains different languages (which 4.1.4.x misses). 4.1.4.x just contains different language keyboard mappings but no additional OS languages. 4.1.5.0 contains everything. This 4.1.5.0 also contains Netscape and some other stuff like PCMCIA software and else - but no "updated" drivers for Apple hardware, at least I didn´t find any. In addition AIX 4.1.4.x includes "root SMIT" which is changed to "....Missing Message 436" in 4.1.5.0.

So I din´t really have any troubles on "upgrading" the OS.

The area where the ANS is most compatible with the RS/6000 is in AIX, of course. But even here, things become difficult pretty quickly. Getting an IBM compiler to work reliably can be challenging....

As You are already mentioning it I´m looking for a gcc compiler as I noticed that Apache packages are not distributed as full installs but have to be compiled form source code - or I was simply to dumb to find the right packages...

I can use my DDS-3 DAT, too, but I have to set the blocking and options by hand, because it shows up as a generic SCSI DAT.

Mine is a generic, too but works like a charm. I´m already used to make bootable backups after every new configuration or change...

Leo probably has spent more time forcing AIX filesets onto his machine; I am lucky enough to have all the Apple Upgrades (though I paid full $$ for them). I did have a DAT with the old fixdist, but that went missing somewhere, much to my chagrin.

And I already thought about asking You for all the fixes as these already have got completly lost, too. sigh...

As I mentioned, I am able to run the IBM AppleTalk stack on my ANS, and the IBM AppleShare server (along with the SMB and NetWare servers, which I leave off).

Now this is funny! I´ve been talking to some pSeries and RS series Pro´s of IBM Germany. Guess what: they NEVER heard of "IBM AppleShare server" before! And at least two of them are AIX 4 Pros that have written the very useful book I´m using by now. Although I´m looking for these stacks and server versions, too, I already managed to get myself IPtech´s "uShare" and Helios´ "NetWorker" but I still can´t use these as I still don´t know how to configure my TCP/IP stuff.

Which reminds me, Leo....I have a full list of filesets for the "official" Apple AIX 4.1.4-4.1.5 Update, and I **think** I know which are controlled for export (mostly stuff like compilers and all encryption stuff). Do you want me to post it for you?

Sure! I will tell a bit more about my plans later on. For now: if You need some FTP space, let me know ;-)

If you do, could you let me know if you were able to get any further Maintenance Packages to take? Thanks.

Of course! Right now I´m contacting several IBM users and other Pro´s that might help me. Primary aim is to get some 100 MBps working which results in ordering several 3Com and IBM cards. The two Farallon cards I own do NOT provide 100MBps...

PS: I love my ANS, with all its foibles and frustrations (like the RAID card with the 5-year CMOS battery that, once it dies, cannot remember the RAID config if the ANS is shutdown).

Although I do not understand my ANS as nearly as deep as You already do I simply love it, too. Now for my plans. I want to re-animate this machine as a server for the interent - nothing spectecular about this. But: talking to Helios, IPTech and IBM (Apple did not answer at all by now .... doesn´t astonish me at all) it MIGHT be possible for me to re-distribute all AIX for the ANS stuff. So maybe I´m allowed to offer anything available for free for other ANS owners who want to try with AIX. But this is future talking and will take a lot of time. For now I would be very happy

- to get the TCP/IP configuration done which means the ANS gets it´s IP adress dynamically from my D-Link router

- integrating it into my LAN as an AppleShare server (AppleShare stack included in 4.1.5.0 already)

- providing an old-school HTML Apache-served website, maybe later on also with MySQL, Perl, PHP....

- finding some more tray adapters. Although I have the opportunity to mount some more drives in the back (carrier will be made by me) I really would like to use some more drives in the trays

So there are TONS of work to do and even more TONS of problems to solve for me.

J

 

[Leografix]

By the way:

A little list of hard disks that I was able to format and use:

IBM Ultrastar DDYS-T36950 36,7 GB * Seagate Cheetah ST318203LW 18,8 GB * Seagate ST32272W 2 GB

It destroyed (!) completly my 146 GB Seagate Cheetah ST3146807LW - this disk is recognized with several utilities on my Macs and my Win PC but can not be formatted or else. Stuff for the dustbin.

The original 2 GB Seagate ST32550W is also gone. All OSses I´m using at least try to format this one but leaves it as "0 MB capacity", the same model just Compaq-branded isn´t even recognized.

J

UPDATE: it even takes a Maxtor Atlas 10K IV 36 GB drive...

 

[caryn]

Hey Leo!

I'm a Unix Systems consultant, and I specialize in what I call "salvage work" and in multi-OS environments---salvage work is going in and putting right a company's central IT that successive (or the same) CIOs or VPs of IT have screwed up.

IBM shipped an 3rd-Party OEM AppleShare server (not Helios) with AIX 4.1.5 as a paid extra. I'll dig out the Options CD and get the name and maintenance level, and let you know (I'm off to the VA for a Dr. visit in about 5 mins). You will have to back out the Apple TCP/IP stack and AppleShare stuff first, or things get very confusing. But the IBM OEM server worked---I installed and configured it at several sites back in the mid-1990s. Never could get Apple AppleShare to work.

Gotta run. More later.

caryn

 

[Leografix]

Every once in a while I´m re-reading this thread as it contains some very useful information - but I always stumble over "Austin, TX" in caryn´s name. Did You know that "Shiner" (code name for the ANS) was or is a beer that is made in Austin TX? As the legend tells some of the ANS developers were very fond of this beer which led them to use "Shiner" as the code name.

Wouldn´t surprise me at all if You caryn are one of these guys ;-)

J

 

[Leografix]

Today I got my RAM upgrade from OWC (thanks for this hint about Other World Computing, indeed very fast delivery via US priority mail) and now my ANS runs on 512 MB RAM - took me some time to eliminate the "missing" former RAM modules from the database but now this box really runs much faster. I didn´t expect that speed jump...

J

 

[caryn]

No...I'm not part of the Shiner team, former or otherwise. I did a lot of consulting work with Apple in California in the mid to late 1980s, I think my last gig there was in 1990? Maybe '91.

I am definitely a Apple girl, though. I actually worked on the project that made the Apple IIe (and subsequently the Apple IIc) function as an AppleShare Network Workstation (useful experience for networking and sharing, netboots, &c).

One of the reasons I know a fair amount about the ANS is that I know a lot about AIX and the RS/6000 series (and its successors with the fancy names), and about Apple products from the IIe & IIc to the Mac---and even the White Elephant of the Apple II vs Macintosh war, the Lisa (aka Apple III for a while).

I've always been infuriated by the nonsense that Apple lets DOS box losers get away with---the classic line "Macs don't network", or the other great line "Macs don't play well with others". Macs could network before DOS Boxes could, Macs supported a robust file and print sharing architecture as part of their native OS long before DOS even could handle one network stack and an application in those pitiful 640 KB of RAM (I know way too much about QEMM). But DOS Bozons keep saying it, and Apple never addresses it (even now).

Leo....No worries...I'm just kinda swamped at the moment. Were you able to get ECC DIMMs from OWC (good company for a mail-order biz). You don't always have to delete the previous RAM to get the new RAM recognized, of course; the ODM checks all the devices known to the BOS whenever the machine initiates IPL (Initial Program Load). New stuff is turned up (though for some stuff, you'll want a driver, obviously), and old stuff is turned down (this is usually "Available" and "Defined").

The 32GB limit actually surprises me---I would have thought 18.2 would be the max for the ANS & 4.1.5.

"Shiner" is only beer to people who grew up drinking beer made from rice (aka "American Pilsner" and "American Lager"). It is slightly superior to Miller, but more expensive, so...ick. Now, there were also Apple projects codenamed Becks, St. Pauli Girl, and ESB, and those are beers worthy of the name. I do like St. Pauli Girl, but I confess I'm more of a Bass girl myself, though if I have a real choice and plenty of extra $$ I go for Samuel Smith's Pale Ale or Oatmeal Stout.

Gotta run...

caryn

Who Lives On The Anvil of The Sun

 

[Leografix]

I am definitely a Apple girl, though. I actually worked on the project that made the Apple IIe (and subsequently the Apple IIc) function as an AppleShare Network Workstation (useful experience for networking and sharing, netboots, &c).

This is one of my next projects after setting up the ANS: networking my Apple IIe. I will have to find the necessary hard- and software for it first. Would be a shame to let a machine in mint condition just do some dust fetching...

Leo....No worries...I'm just kinda swamped at the moment. Were you able to get ECC DIMMs from OWC (good company for a mail-order biz).

Just bought eight regular EDOs with 64 MB each from OWC and I have to say that OWC / US Priority Mail was a good team in my case: fast and simply easy.

The 32GB limit actually surprises me---I would have thought 18.2 would be the max for the ANS & 4.1.5.

Well, it formats those drives but fails to verify them after about 12 GB. Up until now my 30 GB drives don't show any malfunction so I may be lucky with it.

"Shiner" is only beer to people who grew up drinking beer made from rice (aka "American Pilsner" and "American Lager"). It is slightly superior to Miller, but more expensive, so...ick. Now, there were also Apple projects codenamed Becks, St. Pauli Girl, and ESB, and those are beers worthy of the name. I do like St. Pauli Girl, but I confess I'm more of a Bass girl myself, though if I have a real choice and plenty of extra $$ I go for Samuel Smith's Pale Ale or Oatmeal Stout.

We do have some US beer over here but I'm not very fond of it to be honest. "St. Pauli Girl" sounds very amusing to me indeed I think I will stick to local labels ;-) When firing up the ANS it says "ShinerESB" so I suppose the development team was very fond of beer in any sorts...

J

Living close to the Alps

 

[ChristTrekker]

Thanks, caryn, for the lengthy explanations. I think I've managed to wrap my brain around how the "LV" concept works as an abstraction layer. In other Unices, a physical disk partition is seen as the logical unit, but here multiple disks and/or partitions thereof can be grouped together as a logical unit. OK, simple enough.

My question remains how to best set these up. I think for the time being I'll ignore the ability to have a volume span drives. With aging drives that just seems to be asking for trouble when a failure inevitably occurs. (I imagine that having a third of your physical drive pulled out from beneath you would wreak havoc regardless how it is logically managed.) So what I need to do is sketch out how to assign my volumes among the disks so that if one disk fails, I can minimize the pain of recovery.

OTOH, I could just say "screw it" and put all three disks into one volume and mount it at /, right? It's not like I have anything critical riding on this.

Oh, and I'm going to pretend the RAID card doesn't even exist.

 

[ChristTrekker]

As You are already mentioning it I´m looking for a gcc compiler

Ever find one?

 

[porter]

As You are already mentioning it I´m looking for a gcc compiler

Ever find one?

I use gcc 3.4.3 on AIX 4.3.3.

 

[ChristTrekker]

As You are already mentioning it I´m looking for a gcc compiler

Ever find one?

I use gcc 3.4.3 on AIX 4.3.3.

Leo and I are both on the ANS. If you managed to get AIX 4.3.3 on an ANS, that's a neat trick, and I want to know how to do it!

 

[porter]

It may just need a relink on the ANS system to comply with the libraries on the earlier AIX.

This is the URL I used...

ftp://ftp.thewrittenword.com/packages/by-name/gcc-3.4.3/powerpc-ibm-aix4.3.3.0/gcc-3.4.3.lpp.tar.Z

Also look at http://www.bullfreeware.com/listaix43.html

Have far does it get in the install?

 

[ChristTrekker]

It may just need a relink on the ANS system to comply with the libraries on the earlier AIX.
This is the URL I used...

ftp://ftp.thewrittenword.com/packages/by-name/gcc-3.4.3/powerpc-ibm-aix4.3.3.0/gcc-3.4.3.lpp.tar.Z

Also look at http://www.bullfreeware.com/listaix43.html

Have far does it get in the install?

Huh...I found those earlier but had no idea I might be able to use them. I assume I can use smit to install an lpp?

How would I relink the binaries? I've never heard of that before.

 

[porter]

Huh...I found those earlier but had no idea I might be able to use them. I assume I can use smit to install an lpp?
How would I relink the binaries? I've never heard of that before.

What we need to do is find what linkages break. Are they looking for shared libraries that don't exist, or entries within shared libraries (AIX has a different way of dealing with libraries, eg libraries contain members which can be shared objects).

To build gcc you need to get as far as getting a bootstrap compiler going.

Try installing with smit, if that fails find out why. Next step is to unpack the lpp file which can be done, but I can't remember how I've done it in the past. Then see if you can put the pieces in place manually.

 

[ChristTrekker]

(Holy smoke! 189MB! Took over 12 hours to grab that.)

Try installing with smit, if that fails find out why. Next step is to unpack the lpp file which can be done, but I can't remember how I've done it in the past. Then see if you can put the pieces in place manually.

I couldn't quite figure out how to get smit to do it, but it pointed me in the direction of installp so I looked up how to run that manually. Here are the results:

Installation Summary
--------------------
Name                        Level           Part        Event       Result
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TWW.gcc343.rte              3.4.3.7         USR         APPLY       CANCELLED
TWW.gcc343.man              3.4.3.7         USR         APPLY       CANCELLED
TWW.gcc343.librun           3.4.3.7         USR         APPLY       CANCELLED
TWW.gcc343.doc              3.4.3.7         USR         APPLY       CANCELLED

Now I need to look up what I can do with a .bff file, to get at its contents. I found a page on making LPP/BFF packages, and it looks like it contains source and binary. If I can get to it, it should be possible to finagle a manual installation.