AIX 5.3 console access

[mikeatkc]

I completed the installation of AIX 5.3 on my new PPC6 system. After the reboot and accepting the licensing, etc. the system seems to boot and in proper state. However, I am unable to access my serial port (S1) as the system does not return the "login:" prompt. I have not setup the network for the ethernet as I'm wanting to confirm the AIX installation.

Any assistance as how I can access my serial port (main console, and properly selected when asked by AIX) is greatly appreciated. Below is the output of my system. I searched the web for a solution but I'm not coming up with anything helpful.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to AIX.
boot image timestamp: 15:01 10/14
The current time and date: 18:59:50 10/15/2008
number of processors: 2 size of memory: 15744MB
boot device: /pci@800000020000200/pci1014,02BD@1/sas/disk@20000:2
kernel size: 15068211; 64 bit kernel
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saving Base Customize Data to boot disk
Starting the sync daemon
Mounting the platform dump file system, /var/adm/ras/platform
Starting the error daemon
System initialization completed.
Setting tunable parameters...complete
Starting Multi-user Initialization
Performing auto-varyon of Volume Groups
Activating all paging spaces
0517-075 swapon: Paging device /dev/hd6 is already active.

The current volume is: /dev/hd1
Primary superblock is valid.

The current volume is: /dev/hd10opt
Primary superblock is valid.
Performing all automatic mounts
Multi-user initialization completed
Checking for srcmstr active...complete
Starting tcpip daemons:
0513-059 The syslogd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 200802.
0513-059 The sendmail Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 204900.
0513-059 The inetd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 184504.
0513-059 The portmap Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 208998.
0513-059 The snmpd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 213096.
0513-059 The hostmibd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 217194.
0513-059 The snmpmibd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 221292.
0513-059 The aixmibd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 188512.
Finished starting tcpip daemons.
Starting NFS services:
0513-059 The muxatmd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 155820.
0513-059 The biod Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 180372.
0513-059 The rpc.lockd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 168092.
Completed NFS services.
0513-059 The ctrmc Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 270470.

 

[heada]

It looks like the next step would be the login prompt. What you might try is to boot into SMS and set the console to the serial port. If this is a HMC attached server, you can access the console over the HMC.

-Aaron

 

[mikeatkc]

There is no HMC access, but I was able to hooked up the Advanced System Management (web interface to manage the hardware, not quite robust as HMC). I accessed the SMS and the default console is set to S1/serial1 with vt100. I can see the output via serial during AIX bootup and shutdown (via the ASM power management) but no login prompt (really baffling).

 

[heada]

If it boots and then tries to go in X11, you wont see a login prompt on the console. Try removing the graphics card and it shouldn't boot into X11 or you can do a boot into maint-mode by booting from the install media and then change the boot mode to text only.

-Aaron

 

[mikeatkc]

What file do I need to view and/or edit to boot into text mode? I thought about the server booting into GUI mode with the output to /dev/lft0(?) but the server does not have a graphic card (not sure if this matter, as AIX installed CDE as part of the installation, which I should investigate and remove CDE/GUI stuff?).

 

[heada]

Boot into maint-mode and use the command:

/usr/dt/bin/dtconfig '-d'

That should disable CDE and boot purely in text mode.

-Aaron

 

[mikeatkc]

No go. I reinstalled AIX w/no Graphics Software (under More Options) thinking this will rid of CDE and rest of GUI stuff (which it did) but the system does not return the login prompt.

Saving Base Customize Data to boot disk
Starting the sync daemon
Mounting the platform dump file system, /var/adm/ras/platform
Starting the error daemon
System initialization completed.
Setting tunable parameters...complete
Starting Multi-user Initialization
Performing auto-varyon of Volume Groups
Activating all paging spaces
0517-075 swapon: Paging device /dev/hd6 is already active.

The current volume is: /dev/hd1
Primary superblock is valid.

The current volume is: /dev/hd10opt
Primary superblock is valid.
Performing all automatic mounts
Multi-user initialization completed
Checking for srcmstr active...complete
Starting tcpip daemons:
0513-059 The syslogd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 200802.
0513-059 The portmap Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 204900.
0513-059 The sendmail Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 208998.
0513-059 The inetd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 196718.
0513-059 The snmpd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 139278.
0513-059 The snmpmibd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 192674.
0513-059 The aixmibd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 118934.
0513-059 The hostmibd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 86178.
Finished starting tcpip daemons.
Starting NFS services:
0513-059 The muxatmd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 225396.
0513-059 The biod Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 229542.
0513-059 The rpc.lockd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 221304.
Completed NFS services.
0513-059 The ctrmc Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 278668.

 

[mikeatkc]

Contacted IBM support and received the below command which solved my problem. It seems the new Power series and AIX does not utilize tty0 but vty0 (some sort of virtual terminal). Anyhow, you can boot into maintenance mode or if you have TCP/IP setup you can type the below command (one-line) at shell prompt (as root) and reboot your server. The "clocal" option was what needed by vty0 to function properly.

chdev -l vty0 -a runmodes='hupcl,cread,brkint,icrnl,opost,tab3,onlcr,isig,icanon,echo,echoe,echok,echoctl,echoke,imaxbel,iexten,clocal'
-a logmodes='hupcl,cread,echoe,cs8,clocal' -P