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Full Table of Contents

Contents
About This Guide
IRIX Admin Manual Set
What This Guide Contains
Conventions Used in This Guide
How to Use This Guide
Target Audience of This Guide
Additional Resources
The IRIX Reference Pages
The IRIX Release Notes
The IRIX Help System
The Silicon Graphics World-Wide Web Site
1. - Introduction To System Configuration and Operation
Principles Of Good System Administration
Accounts and Passwords
Superuser (root) Account
Access to the root Account
User Privacy
Checking the Password File
Hardware Affects Software
Software Upgrades Affect Users
Notifying Users of Scheduled Maintenance
System Shutdown Procedures
Malicious Activities
Maintaining a System Log Book
Collecting User Requests
Tasks of the System Administrator
Administration Tools
2. - Making the Most of IRIX
IRIX Shell Shortcuts
Using Regular Expressions and Metacharacters
C Shell Shortcuts
Tcsh Shell Shortcuts
Bourne Shell Shortcuts
Korn Shell Shortcuts
General IRIX Shortcuts
Displaying Windows on Alternate Workstations
Creating a Custom Shell Window
Finding and Manipulating Files Automatically
Using find to Locate Files
Using find to Copy Directories or Directory Hierarchies
Automated Editing with sed
Recursive Commands Under IRIX
Automating Tasks with at(1), batch(1), and cron(1M)
at(1) Command
batch(1) Command
cron(1M) Command
The /etc/nologin File
Using Mouse Shortcuts
Using the Mouse to Copy and Paste Text
Using the Mouse to Create a New Shell Window
Creating New Reference Pages
Creating a Pure-Text Reference Page using vi
Individual System Monitoring Tools
The savecore Utility
The icrash Utility
The fru (Field Replacement Unit) Analyzer
Viewing Your System Log With sysmon
Monitoring Systems with Availmon
Registering and Configuring availmon
Configuring an availmon Site Log File
Running availmon On Other Systems
Administering availmon
Using availmon with Automatic Reporting
Using availmon at Secure Sites with Internal Report Mailing
Using availmon at Secure Sites without Report Mailing
availmon Reports
Mailing availmon Reports
Viewing availmon Reports
3. - System Startup and Shutdown
Starting the System
Shutting Down the System
Shutting Down from Multiuser Mode
Turning Off from Single-user Mode
IRIX Operating Levels
How init Controls the System State
Entering the Multiuser State from System Shutdown
Powering Up the System
Early Initialization
Preparing the Run Level Change
Changing Run Levels
Run-level Directories
Going to Single-user Mode From Multiuser Mode
/etc/inittab and Power Off
4. - Configuring The IRIX Operating System
Checking System Configuration
Checking Installed Hardware With hinv
Checking Installed Software With versions
Checking Graphics Hardware With gfxinfo
Basic System Identification With uname
Getting Printer Status With lpstat
Checking Options With chkconfig
Altering the System Configuration
Setting Options With chkconfig
Changing Other System Defaults
Setting the System Display
Changing Processors on Multi-Processor Systems
Changing the Name of a System
Setting the Network Address
Setting the Default Printer
Setting the Time Zone
Changing the Date and Time
5. - Configuring User Accounts and Managing User Issues
User Login Administration
User ID Numbers
Group ID Numbers
Adding User Accounts Using Shell Commands
Adding User Groups Using Shell Commands
Changing a User's Group
Deleting a User from the System
Deleting a Group from the System
Locking a User Account
Temporarily Changing User Groups
Changing User Information
Changing a User's Login Name
Changing a User's Password
Changing a User's Login ID Number
Changing a User's Default Group
Changing a User's Comments Field
Changing a User's Default Home Directory
Changing a User's Default Shell
Configuring The User's Environment
Available Login Shells
C Shell Configuration Files
Bourne and Korn Shell Configuration Files
Configurable Shell Environment Variables
Configuring Default File Permissions With umask
Configuring Special Login Shells
Communicating with Users
Electronic Mail
Message of the Day
Creating a Message of the Day
Remote Login Message
Creating a Remote Login Message
News
Write to a User
Write to All Users
6. - Configuring Disk and Swap Space
Useful Disk Usage Commands
The du(1) Command
The df(1) Command
The quot(1M) Command
The diskusg(1) Command
File Compression and Archiving
The quotas(4) Subsystem
Managing Disk Space with NFS
Managing Disk Space with Disk Partitions
Reducing Wasted Disk Space
Swap Space
Adding Virtual Swap Space
Listing Swap Space With The swap -l Command
Checking Swap Activity With The swap -s Command
Negative swap space
Increasing Swap Space on a One-Disk System
Increasing Swap Space on a Multidisk System
7. - Managing User Processes
Monitoring User Processes
Monitoring Processes With top
Monitoring Processes With osview
Monitoring Processes With sar
Monitoring Processes With ps
Prioritizing Processes With nice
Changing the Priority of a Running Process
Terminating Processes
Killing Processes by Name with the killall(1M) Command
8. - Managing cadmin
Administering the CADMIN Object System
The cadmin Object System
The Objectserver
The Directoryserver
The File Manager
The Desks Overview
The Media Daemon
The Soundscheme Audio Server
Starting the cadmin Daemons
Stopping the cadmin Daemons
Stopping the Objectserver
Stopping the Directory Server
Stopping the File Manager
Stopping the Desks Overview
Stopping the Media Daemon
Stopping the Soundscheme Daemon
Troubleshooting the cadmin Object System
Troubleshooting the Objectserver
Troubleshooting the Directoryserver
9. - Maintaining the File Alteration Monitor
Troubleshooting fam
Basic fam Troubleshooting
If You Are Using a Foreign NIS Master
10. - Using The Command (PROM) Monitor
How to Enter the Command (PROM) Monitor
Summary of Command Monitor Commands
Getting Help in the Command Monitor
Using Command Monitor Commands
Using the Command Line Editor in the Command Monitor
Syntax of Command Monitor Commands
Syntax of Command Monitor File Names
Syntax of ARCS PROM File Names
Running the Command Monitor
Reinitializing the Processor from the Command Monitor
Setting a PROM Password
Copying Hard Disks From the Command Monitor
The Command Monitor Environment
Displaying the Current Environment Variables
Changing Environment Variables
Setting the Keyboard Variable
Removing Environment Variables
Booting a Program from the Command Monitor
Booting The Default File
Booting a Specific Program
Booting the Standalone Shell
Booting across the Network
Booting across the Network with bootp
Booting Across A Larger Network
Booting from a Disk or Other Device
11. - System Performance Tuning
Theory of System Performance Tuning
Files Used for Kernel Tuning
Overview of Kernel Tunable Parameters
The Types of Parameters
Application Tuning
Checking Application Performance
Tuning an Application
Looking At/Reordering an Application
Analyzing Program Behavior with prof
Reordering a Program with pixie
What About Commercial Applications?
Monitoring the Operating System
Receiving Kernel Messages and Adjusting Table Sizes
Using timex(1), sar(1), and par(1)
Using timex
Using sar
Using sar Consecutively with a Time Interval
Using sar Before and After a User-Controlled Activity
Using sar and timex During the Execution of a Command
Using par
Wrap-up of sar, par, and timex
Checking Disk I/O
Using Logical Volumes to Improve Disk I/O
Using Partitions and Additional Disks to Improve Disk I/O
Adding Disk Hardware to Improve Disk I/O
Checking for Excessive Paging and Swapping
Checking CPU Activity and Memory Allocation
Checking The CPU
Checking Available Memory
Determining the Amount of System Memory
Maximizing Memory
Tuning The Operating System
Operating System Tuning Steps
Finding Current Values of Parameters
Changing Parameters and Reconfiguring the System
Backing Up the System
Changing a Parameter
Creating and Booting a New Kernel With autoconfig
Recovering from an Unbootable Kernel
A. - IRIX Kernel Tunable Parameters
Format of This Appendix
General Parameters
cachefs_readahead
cachefs_max_threads
nbuf
callout_himark
ncallout
reserve_ncallout
ncsize
ndquot
nproc
maxpmem
syssegsz
maxdmasz
nm_clusters
ecc_recover_enable
vnode_free_ratio
System Limits Parameters
maxup
ngroups_max
maxwatchpoints
nprofile
maxsymlinks
Resource Limits Parameters
ncargs
rlimit_core_cur
rlimit_core_max
rlimit_cpu_cur
rlimit_cpu_max
rlimit_data_cur
rlimit_data_max
rlimit_fsize_cur
rlimit_fsize_max
rlimit_nofile_cur
rlimit_nofile_max
rlimit_rss_cur
rlimit_rss_max
rlimit_stack_cur
rlimit_stack_max
rlimit_vmem_cur
rlimit_vmem_max
rsshogfrac
rsshogslop
shlbmax
Paging Parameters
bdflushr
gpgsmsk
gpgshi
gpgslo
maxlkmem
maxfc
maxsc
maxdc
minarmem
minasmem
tlbdrop
vfs_syncr
maxpglst
IPC Parameters
IPC Messages Parameters
msgmax
msgmnb
msgmni
msgseg
msgssz
msgtql
IPC Semaphores Parameters
semmni
semmns
semmnu
semmsl
semopm
semume
semvmx
semaem
IPC Shared Memory Parameters
shmmax
shmmin
shmmni
sshmseg
Streams Parameters
nstrpush
nstrintr
strctlsz
strmsgsz
strholdtime
strpmonmax
Signal Parameters
maxsigq
Dispatch Parameters
ndpri_hilim
ndpri_lolim
runq_dl_maxuse
runq_dl_nonpriv
runq_dl_refframe
slice_size
EFS Parameters
efs_inline
dwcluster
autoup
Loadable Drivers Parameters
bdevsw_extra
cdevsw_extra
fmodsw_extra
vfssw_extra
munlddelay
CPU Actions Parameters
nactions
Switch Parameters
dump_all_pages
panic_on_sbe
sbe_log_errors
sbe_mfr_override
sbe_report_cons
corepluspid
r4k_div_patch
mload_auto_rtsyms
xpg4_sticky_dir
tty_auto_strhold
reset_limits_on_exec
ip26_allow_ucmem
restrict_fastprof
reboot_on_panic
svr3pipe
nosuidshells
posix_tty_default
restricted_chown
use_old_serialnum
subnetsarelocal
Timer parameters
fasthz
itimer_on_clkcpu
timetrim
NFS Parameters
portmap_timeout
sm_timeout
GraceWaitTime
first_retry
normal_retry
lockd_grace_period
lock_share_requests
lockd_blocking_thresh
nfs_portmon
svc_maxdupreqs
Socket Parameters
unpst_sendspace
unpst_recvspace
unpdg_sendspace
unpdg_recvspace
udp_hashtablesz
tcp_sendspace
tcp_recvspace
tcp_hashtablesz
VINO Parameters
vino_mtune_dmrbpages
Extended Accounting Parameters
do_procacct
do_extpacct
do_sessacct
use_astbl
narsess
dfltash
minash
maxash
asmachid
dfltprid
B. - Troubleshooting System Configuration Using System Error Messages
Cadmin Objectserver Messages
Disk Space Messages
General System Messages
File Permission Issues
IP (Network) Address Issues
Default Internet Address
Duplicate IP Address
Ethernet Cable Issues
login and su Issues
login Messages
su Messages
Network Bootup Issues
Operating System Rebuild Issues
Power Failure Detected
SCSI Controller Reset
syslogd Daemon Issues
System Clock and Date Issues
Time Server Daemon Messages:
System Restarting Information
Trap Held or Ignored
Memory and Swap Messages
Growreg Insufficient Memory
Panic Page Free
Physical Memory Problems
Recoverable Memory Errors
Savecore I/O Error
Swapping and Paging Messages
Other Memory Messages
System Panic Messages
C. - IRIX Directories and Files
IRIX Root Directories
Other Important IRIX System Directories
Important IRIX System Files
IRIX Device Special Files
ASCII Conversion Table
D. - Encapsulated PostScript File v.3.0 vs. PostScript File Format
E. - Bibliography and Suggested Reading
Index
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