[comp.unix.aix] RS/6000 -- why can't I move /usr somewhere else?

jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend) (12/19/90)

[Repost, it failed last nite.]

(Although the following might sound hostile, it's only because
it's *late* at night and I've been screwing with this bozo problem
that should *not* be this difficult for about the last 6 hours and
*I'M OUT OF COFFEE*!)

I've a RS/6000 w/ 120Mb internal and a Wren V.  When I do the
"software installation" it puts everything on the internal 120
(which I do not want, I need to use 100Mb or so for paging).
So I created a single partition on the Wren (what I want anyway),
fsck/mounted/played with it to make sure it was solid, and copied
all of the stuff from /usr to the Wren.  I then went into /etc/filesystems
and changed the device for /usr (and turned off /local by making
it nonautomount).

I testmounted /usr on the Wren, and things worked just fine.

Then I rebooted.

Among the various messages I get on the LEDs are
558 -- Not enough memory to continue the IPL. (IPL?!?! Yeah, right. :-)
c31 -- Select console display for diagnostics.
and, finally, it comes to rest at:
c99 -- Diagnostics have been completed.  This code is only used when
there is no console.

No console?  Then what was I using all this time?  What's that 65# hunk
of glass on top of the box?

Grrr.  smit might be great for ties who don't want to hire a systems
admin, but it would be nice if there were menu options like "switch
two filesytems".

It would be even better if at *install* time, I could could:
-- format and partition hard drives.
-- assign where I wanted mount points.
-- decide what software to load or not.

IBM, you listening?  How 'bout a version of AIX for those of us who
just want to use the machine and don't need our hands held?  Maybe
AOS or Mach/AOS?  I would guess that most universities wouldn't mind
digging out their source licensing stuff just to have a basic,
clean, unencumbered OS for their students who know their way
around UNIX already...  I know I would in a heartbeat.

(I wish I had AOS. I wish I had AOS. I wish I had AOS.  Damn.  Didn't work
this time, either. :-)
--
J. Eric Townsend     Internet: jet@uh.edu    Bitnet: jet@UHOU
Systems Mangler - UH Dept. of Mathematics - (713) 749-2120
"If you are the system administrator and this is the first time you are
logging into your system, use the login name root." -- IBM RS/6000 docs

marc@arnor.uucp (12/20/90)

I believe that /usr must be in the root volume group.  I think it
needs to get mounted during startup before the other volume groups are
brought up.

You have (or had) a number of choices.

1.  Add the wren to the root volume group.  If you had done this, and
could get away with ignoring which disk data was on, you would have
been done.  Just grow the various file systems and paging space as you
like.

2.  Install with the wren as the root volume group.  There is a menu
path during install for specifying the boot disk and the disk(s) in
the root volume group.  (I don't think its possible (and its certainly
not easy) to move volume groups around after install.)  You could then make
the 120 a second volume group, and put most of the paging space on it.

3.  Install with the wren as the boot disk, but both disks in the root
volume group.

4.  Add the wren to the root volume group, and then move /usr
completely on to it.  This, I think, takes some wizardry and doing
some of the steps in maintenance mode.  But I think its possible.

5.  Install on the wren, then add the 120 to the root volume group
later, and move paging space to it.

--

Marc Auslander       <marc@ibm.com>

jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend) (12/21/90)

In article <MARC.90Dec20083105@marc.watson.ibm.com> marc@arnor.uucp writes:
>You have (or had) a number of choices.
>1.  Add the wren to the root volume group.  If you had done this, and
>could get away with ignoring which disk data was on, you would have
>been done.  Just grow the various file systems and paging space as you
>like.

Bzzzt, but thank you for playing.  If you install the OS on the Wren
(instead of the internal 120) the default paging space gets put
there as well *AND YOU CAN'T GET RID OF IT*!  ie:  I decided to put
*everything* sans paging on the Wren, and allocate the 120 as paging
only.

Everything went fine until I went to remove the default paging
(/dev/hd6?) that was installed on the wren.  I did just what the
docs told me and set the paging space so that it wouldn't be automagically
used on reboot. But, I couldn't get rid of it.  I even grepped for all
occurances of the device in /etc and replaced them with the paging
device I wanted to use.  But the cat came back the very next day.

AIX *still* used the external paging device.  To make things worse,
it uses it *first*.  If I *have* to use the "default installation" paging
device, I should at least be able to change its place in the "what
do I use first queue".  Anybody who has the DASD 120 will agree that it
screams in comparison to a Segate Wren on the SCSI bus...

>2.  Install with the wren as the root volume group.  There is a menu
>[...]
>not easy) to move volume groups around after install.)  You could then make
>the 120 a second volume group, and put most of the paging space on it.

Yeah, great.  So I have to use up 16Mb of really slow paging space
before I get to the fast paging space.

>4.  Add the wren to the root volume group, and then move /usr
>completely on to it.  This, I think, takes some wizardry and doing
>some of the steps in maintenance mode.  But I think its possible.

Um, every time I tried to edit /etc/filesystems and reboot the machine
refused to come back up.  Do you know a trick I don't know?

>5.  Install on the wren, then add the 120 to the root volume group
>later, and move paging space to it.

Again, the *original* paging space won't go away.  Something somewhere
deep inside the pit of AIX insists on activating it.

Just in case I didn't explain earlier, here's how I'd like to set things
up:

Server:
internal drive (the fast DASD 120): / and paging
external drives (scsi): everything else.

Clients:
internal drive (the fast DASD 120): / and paging
nfs mount everything else from the server.

--
J. Eric Townsend     Internet: jet@uh.edu    Bitnet: jet@UHOU
Systems Mangler - UH Dept. of Mathematics - (713) 749-2120
"If you are the system administrator and this is the first time you are
logging into your system, use the login name root." -- IBM RS/6000 docs