pSeries systems.
IBM Breaks Barriers Between Linux and UNIX With AIX 5L
AIX 5L Operating System Delivers Premier UNIX Environment for Building and Managing Linux Applications
ARMONK, N.Y. - 23 Apr 2001:
Automated system monitoring and new accounting tools allow customers to collect resource usage statistics to manage costs and control resources.Security - MIT's Kerberos V5 Authentication helps administrators simplify password authentication.
Multi-platform support - In addition to providing superior application performance for POWER-based systems, AIX's potent 64-bit kernel is designed to fully exploit the speed and processing power of Intel's Itanium architecture. [1]
Planned general availability for AIX 5L Version 5.1 is May 4, 2001. The AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications is available at no cost with AIX on a separate CD or via download over the Web at http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/aixos/linux.
About IBM
IBM is the world's number one server company and information technology provider,
with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM helps customers,
business partners and developers in a wide range of industries that leverage the
power of the Internet for e-business. For more information, visit http://www.ibm.com.
The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the following descriptive term ``server'' following it. The IBM e-business logo, AIX, AIX 5L, pSeries, RS/6000 and SP are trademarks of IBM Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries licensed exclusively through The Open Group.
LINUX is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Itanium is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
All other company, product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
(C) 2001 International Business Machines Corporation, all rights reserved
[1] IBM plans to make AIX 5L for Itanium-based Systems generally available as an Early Adopters Release.
IBM AIX 5L Version 5.1 Advanced UNIX Operating System with Linux Affinity Delivers the Most Powerful and Flexible Choice for e-business and Enterprise Servers
(Corrected on April 24, 2001)
In Ordering Information add an entry for Hindi with a feature number of 6907.
At a Glance
AIX 5L offers:
For ordering, contact:
Your IBM representative, an IBM Business Partner, or IBM Americas Call Centers at 800-IBM-CALL (Reference: RE001).
Overview
AIX® is the IBM strategic UNIX® operating system for mission-critical, core business applications. The industrial-strength features and functions of AIX have been well proven over the years in a wide variety of server environments from relatively small, single-processor systems through the massively parallel RS/6000® Scalable POWERparallel® (SP™) servers.
The AIX features include:
AIX 5L Version 5.1 (AIX 5L) represents the next generation of AIX.
Fortified with open technologies from some of the world's top providers, AIX
5L builds on a solid heritage of supplying integrated, enterprise-class support
for RS/6000 and IBM
pSeries systems.
With AIX 5L, IBM:
Key Prerequisites
Exceptions are listed in the Hardware Requirements section.
Planned Availability Date
Description
Scalability and Capacity
Further information on the AIX 5.1 64-bit kernel is available from IBM at:
Networking Technology and Performance
Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS)
System and Networking Security
Network Authentication Service is the IBM implementation of the MIT Kerberos V5 Release 1.1
Interoperability
A set of Linux-compatible routines has been added to AIX 5.1 so that Linux applications using these routines do not have to supply their own libraries.
These tools provide the basis of a development environment for many Linux application developers. The AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications is not supported by IBM and is provided by IBM "AS IS", under the terms of the licenses on the AIX Toolbox CD or Web site.
Base Operating System
Storage
Development and Performance Tools
The compiler products for AIX are available as licensed programs.
System Management
Graphics Enhancements
OpenGL on POWER GXT4000P and GXT6000P graphics adapters will now support 64-bit direct window access (DWA). This is intended to boost performance for 64-bit OpenGL applications by allowing them to render using the OpenGL protocol directly, rather than going through the Xserver and GLX Extension.
New System Support
AIX 5.1 has been enhanced to provide support for up to 32-way SMP scalability and 256 GB memory.
New I/O Support
Tivoli®-Ready
In support of developing systems management standards, Tivoli Management Agent is installed from the base operating system, making AIX Tivoli-ready.
Euro Currency
This program is EuroReady.
Statement of Direction
AIX 5.1 Support on SP System
AIX 5L Version 5.1 is not supported on the RS/6000 SP System at this time.
IBM intends to support AIX 5L Version 5.1 on the RS/6000 SP in the future with the next revision of its:
All statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objective only.
Cluster System Management
IBM plans to make available a cluster systems management functional offering during 3Q2001 from the IBM alphaWorks Web site at http://alphaworks.ibm.com as an Initial Technology Release.
The planned offering will introduce a rich set of distributed systems management functionality on AIX that includes the ability to:
These resources can be monitored around the clock and automatic responses run if the values of resources reach certain levels or thresholds. The automated responses include running any command or script (for example a user-provided pager command or a recovery script), broadcasting a message, sending e-mail, or logging the event to a file. Different responses can be run based on time of day and whether a particular problem occurred or has been resolved.
This is a release of IBM software that has been tested but has not yet met IBM product criteria for customer production environments. IBM plans to provide this offering to customers to enable application development and testing in preproduction environments. IBM does not recommend use of this initial technology in customer production environments. IBM does not plan to provide support for the code and plans to provide it "AS IS," under the terms of the license provided with the code at the alphaWorks site.
These statements represent the current intentions of IBM. IBM development plans are subject to change or withdrawal without further notice. Any reliance on this Statement of General Direction is at the relying party's sole risk and will not create any liability or obligation for IBM.
Reference Information
Refer to Hardware Announcement 101-100 , dated April 17, 2001 (IBM
pSeries 620 Model
6F1 Brings Faster 64-bit Computing to 6-Way Deskside Servers)
Refer to Hardware Announcement 101-101 , dated April 17, 2001 (IBM
pSeries 660 Model
6H1 Brings Enhanced Performance to 64-bit, Mid-Range Rack SMP Servers)
Refer to Hardware Announcement 100-289 , dated October 3, 2000 (IBM RS/6000 POWER GXT6000P and GXT4000P Graphics Accelerators Designed To Deliver Improved Performance)
Refer to Software Announcement 201-093 , dated April 17, 2001 (IBM Performance Toolbox V3 — Obtain and Analyze System Data; IBM Fast Connect Version 3.1 — Enhanced Systems Management)
Refer to Software Announcement 201-092 , dated April 17, 2001 (IBM AIX 5L for POWER Version 5.1 Expansion Pack and Bonus Pack Provide New Programs)
Trademarks
Additional Product Information
Scalability and Capacity
64-bit Kernel
In addition to providing a 32-bit kernel, AIX® 5.1 offers a scalable, 64-bit kernel capable of supporting increased system resources and much larger application workloads on 64-bit hardware. The 64-bit kernel offers scalable kernel extension interfaces, allowing kernel extensions and device drivers to make full use of the kernel's system resources and capabilities.
The expanded capabilities of the 64-bit kernel improve the ability to run an expanding application workload on a single system. This ability is important for a number of reasons.
Server consolidation and workload scalability will continue to require higher capacity hardware systems that support more memory and additional I/O devices. The 64-bit kernel is designed to support these requirements for years to come.
Kernel extensions and device drivers must be compiled in 64-bit mode to be loaded into the 64-bit kernel. The 64-bit kernel, combined with header files and libraries, provides the environment for porting and developing kernel extensions.
64-bit Application Scalability
AIX 5.1 provides a scalable ABI for 64-bit applications. This scalability:
The scalable 64-bit ABI is supported by the 32-bit kernel and the 64-bit kernel.
For example, the 64-bit kernel is designed to support file sizes larger than 1 terabyte. By using the scalable 64-bit ABI, 64-bit applications will be able to use existing interfaces to process these large files. To take advantage of the scalability improvements to 64-bit programs, all 64-bit programs and libraries must be recompiled for AIX 5.1. In addition, existing 32-bit kernel extensions and device drivers used by 64-bit applications may have to be modified in order to support the new 64-bit ABI.
Workload Manager Enhancements
Workload Manager is enhanced to:
Additional capabilities which, Workload Manager offers are:
This function enables multiple instances of the same application to exist in different classes. Using Application Tag API, applications can enable automatic assignment of multiple instances of the same application in different classes.
(This accounting record now includes a 64-bit numeric key representing the name of the WLM class, and the process belonged to.)
These capabilities can be easily managed through Web-based System Manager, SMIT, shell scripts, or command line interfaces. Monitoring is available using the new wlmmon and wlmperf tools.
Very Large Program Support
AIX 5.1 offers new flexibility for 32-bit "maxdata" programs by allowing the segments of the data heap (up to eight 256 MB segments) to be created dynamically.
The large program support previously available did not allow data heap segments to be used for any other purpose, even if the data heap never grew large enough to use all the reserved segments.
The Very Large Program Support will allow the data heap segments to be created dynamically. Until a segment is needed for the data heap, it may be used by shmat and mmap.
In addition, when Very Large Program Support is enabled for an application, segments allocated by shmat and mmap are allocated in descending order instead of ascending order.
Very Large File Support
Cachefs is enhanced to work under the 64-bit kernel and will support large file systems. It will handle files larger than 2 GB, although the cache file does not have to be larger than 2 GB. As a result, data can be accessed faster.
JFS2 Support
JFS2 is a new file system providing the capability to store much larger files than the existing Journaled File System (JFS). It is the default file system for the 64-bit kernel.
Customers have the choice of implementing JFS or taking advantage of the additional 64-bit functionality of JFS2. The following table provides a summary of the differences between JFS2 and JFS.
Functions JFS2 JFS
Fragments/Block Size 512-4096 Block 512-4096
sizes Frags
Architectural Maximum 4 Petabytes 64 GBytes
File Size
Maximum File 1 Terabyte 64 GBytes
Size Tested
Architectural Maximum 4 Petabytes 1 Terabyte
File System Size
Maximum File 1 Terabyte 1 Terabyte
System Size
Number of Inodes Dynamic, limited Fixed, set at
by disk space file system
creation
Directory Organization B-tree Linear
Network Technology and Performance
IP Multi-path Routing and Multiple Gateways with Dead Gateway Detection
Multi-path routing is added to provide users the ability to specify multiple routes to a destination.
Web Serving Enhancements and Dynamic Content and Web Cache Enhancements
A set of APIs provided by Fast Response Cache Architecture (FRCA) enables e-business applications to cache data such as Web content in the Network Buffer Cache (NBC).
Through these APIs, Web serving can be done in the kernel via FRCA and NBC, significantly reducing the path length and increasing the performance of e-business applications for net commerce. FRCA and NBC are enhanced from managing static data to managing dynamically generated data.
FRCA will support the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) Version 1.1, a standard of IETF RFC, including the persistent connection aspect of that protocol.
Dynamic Feedback Protocol (DFP) Support for Load Balancing
DFP is a way to provide load statistics to a load manager (Cisco LocalDirector) so that load elements can be balanced by sending subsequent connections to servers that are more available.
DFP helps improve server response in a Multi-node Load Balanced (MNLB) environment.
TCP Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN)
Enhancements were made to improve performance of TCP/IP over congested networks, especially, for Web serving. All of the following features are configurable:
TCP Splicing
TCP splicing helps push the data-relaying function of a proxy application (from server side socket to the client side socket or vice versa) into the kernel. Performance of proxy applications is improved by reducing the pathway length through which data must travel.
Software products that are expected to take advantage of this function include Network Dispatcher and, potentially, the Web Traffic Express caching proxy server.
Virtual IP Address (VIPA)
This capability allows system administrator to define a virtual IP address for a host and, from a TCP connection standpoint, decouple the IP address associated with physical interfaces. As a result, user connections should not be affected if some interfaces are lost.
Network Interface Takeover
This new feature allows the configuration of multiple adapters, including IBM 10/100 Mbps Ethernet PCI adapter, Gigabit Ethernet-SX PCI adapter, and 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet PCI adapters and allows one or more to be designated as a backup. If any hardware failure (adapter or cable) occurs, the next alternate adapter immediately takes over. This gives has the appearance of "one network interface" to the user and continues to keep network traffic moving with minimal delay.
Network interface takeover is an additional option to EtherChannel, Cisco Systems Network Bandwidth Aggregation, and Load Balancing technology, which:
Sendmail Version 8.11
This new version of sendmail improves performance by having:
Some of the other features include:
Libpcap APIs
This functionality helps enhance the robustness and ease-of-use in gathering network traffic data to improve problem determination for network applications.
The Packet Capture Library, libpcap, provides:
Quality of Service (QoS)
This function is enhanced to allow system administrators the ability to manage polices for the QoS Manager from the command line.
This is important when two or more overlapping policies are installed, policies can then be enforced in order of highest priority.
AIX Multiple-protocol Over ATM (MPOA) — Token Ring Support
Token Ring emulation support for (MPOA) provides improved management and performance of an ATM LAN emulation network by combining multiple-edge routers into a single router image.
This support provides better interoperability between an ATM network utilizing AIX MPOA support and token-ring networks.
MPOA IP Fragmentation
MPOA IP packet fragmentation support provides for instances where there is a heterogeneous network environment with varying Multiple Transmit Units (MTUs).
This capability extends to circumstances where there are network configurations and normal MTU path discovery is not available.
ATM LANE/MPOA RAS Enhancements
The following enhancements to the ATM LANE and MPOA statistics and trace tools gain improved serviceability of installed products.
Virtual LAN (VLAN)
Gigabit EtherChannel Support
The Cisco System Network Bandwidth Aggregation and Load Balancing technology, called EtherChannel, builds upon standard and 802.3 Fast Ethernet to provide the functionality to aggregate a bandwidth of multiple Ethernet interfaces.
AIX 5.1 adds Gigabit EtherChannel support, allowing the aggregation of up to four Gigabit Ethernet ports and an increase of bandwidth capabilities.
System Networking, Analysis, and Performance Pilot (SNAPP)
SNAPP provides a hand-held Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) menu-driven interface for performing AIX administration tasks.
The primary purpose of SNAPP is to allow minimum IP address configuration on a newly preinstalled system that does not have a monitor or ASCII terminal and keyboard connected to it.
Once the AIX system is on the network, remote access can then be used to further configure the system. Users can add new, customized functionality to the SNAPP interface with minimal programming.
The SNAPP application consists of a server and a client.
The client portion may be obtained from the /usr/samples/snapp directory on an AIX system or it may be downloaded from the AlphaWorks™ Web site:
A README is included with the SNAPP client, which contains detailed information about how to install and use the application.
Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS)
Recover from System Hangs
This shdaemon command function aids system administrators by providing a SMIT-configurable mechanism to detect system hangs and initiate the configured action. When a system hang occurs, one of the following actions can take place:
System administrators can set up these actions with appropriate priority and turn them on or off as needed.
An additional benefit of the tool is that it can be set with a threshold low enough that when that level occurs, a log entry is generated. The frequency of log entries can provide a measure of saturation and resource utilization.
Error Log Scalability Enhancements and Error Thresholding/Activity Counters
Enhancements are made to the error log to detect consecutive duplicate errors and help prevent the error log from being overloaded.
These enhancements provide a mechanism to keep track of the number of times an exactly identical error at the bit level occurs within a limited time period. An entry will be added to the error log along with the number of occurrences for this error.
Examples of this type of error include:
This function is automatically enabled.
Automatic Dump Analysis
This tool enables accelerated customer support with less customer interaction time. The Automatic Dump Analysis tool is capable of automatically examining a dump and pulling out (in text) relevant information for forwarding to support entities as an e-mail attachment. This will allow early diagnosis of dumps without having to send the entire dump file.
Error Log Retrieval API for Diagnostics
As part of the error log analysis performed by diagnostics, the errpt command with the -g flag is invoked to get raw data for each error log entry. This data is parsed and then put into a data structure for use by the calling application.
AIX 5.1 provides the calling application an API to get data directly from the error log. This new method for obtaining data from applications is much faster when compared to the errpt raw mode.
With this enhancement, error reports will contain both the error report and the diagnostics analysis. Previously, the error report only showed the error. A separate command was required to see the diagnostic analysis.
With this change the error report will include diagnostic analysis for errors that have been processed. This may include such errors as:
Diagnostic analysis will give an indication of whether the hardware needs replacing or if the error may be safely ignored.
Dump Reliability Improvements
System dump capability has been improved to increase reliability.
These improvements will help ensure that system dumps are consistent and reliable for easy problem determination.
As dumps approach 3 GB in an uncompressed state, situations arise where dumps are incomplete or unavailable to technical support resources. This improvement adds compression as soon as possible, and adds a cron job to estimate dump size and send an error message recommending a larger dump device when it is appropriate.
Because paging space is the default dump device, this enhancement helps avoid the problem of insufficient paging space for dumps. The "snap" command is modified to eliminate an additional copy of the dump when it gathers files for its image. This reduces the space required to take a snap image.
In addition, a new command, snapcore, is available to assist in the problem determination of core dumps. This command can be used to automatically package not only a core dump but also executable files and shared libraries, and send the complete package to technical support personnel.
Generate Core Files Without Requiring Process Termination
AIX 5.1 provides a capability to generate a core file for an application without requiring application termination. This capability helps increase the application availability as well as serviceability.
Allowing the dd Command to Span Volumes
The dd command has been enhanced to allow the ability of writing data to multiple tapes. This new feature prompts users to insert another tape when the tape currently in the tape drive reaches its end.
ANSI Terminal
AIX 5.1 makes available an additional ANSI terminal. This addition helps ease the work of system administrators.
Enhancements to Cron Job Logging
The cron command has been enhanced to provide a more detailed log file, including logging tasks and processes with the crontab to launch them. The cron command can even log the completion time and exit status information.
New Coredump Naming
The coredump naming convention has been changed to keep as many coredumps saved as systems allow. The coredumps will be named "core.pid.time", where "pid" is the process id of the dump process, and "time" is a timestamp in the form of "ddhhmmss."
Kernel Debugger (KDB) Enhancements
KDB improvements include the following options:
AIX System and Networking Security
System Security
Network Authentication Service is the IBM implementation of the MIT Kerberos V5 Release 1.1 Network Authentication Service. Network Authentication Service negotiates authentication and optionally encrypted communication between two points on the Internet or between components on a system.
Services provided will include the Generic Security Service Application Programming Interfaces (GSS-API) Version 2 and the key distribution server, kadm5.
A system can be configured to use Network Authentication Service for user password authentication, which will potentially make AIX 5.1 authentication interoperative with other systems that use the MIT Kerberos V5-based authentication.
Services are provided to allow Kerberos to be configured as the systems default authentication mechanism. When AIX 5.1 is configured to use Kerberos as the default authentication mechanism, all services that use the authentic routine to gain system access will then go to the Kerberos server, key distribution center, to seek user authentication. The users successfully logged in will have a Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT). There will also be a service provided to migrate existing users to Kerberos authenticated users.
Trusted Computing Base allows maintaining an ongoing check on the "intact-ness" of a deployed AIX operating environment and following an initial installation or after applying an update. Installing AIX with, or selection of, the "Optional TCB for AIX 5.1" preinstall feature, enables the use of the AIX "tcbck" command for use in tracking the "state" of system files.
The "tcbck" executable can be run as an interactive command, or set up as a "cron" job, to run overnight to check the consistency of the AIX system, as checked against the file definitions in the sysck database (the /etc/security/sysck.cfg file.)
By specifying the ALL value to the command, all the files in the file system tree will be checked. The Nameparameter can be used to give the path names of individual files to be verified if users prefer to check specific files.
The "tcbck" command cannot repair the AIX deployment, but can point out discrepancies in "owner", "group owner", mode bits, and checksum information of the current "state" of key AIX files.
For more information on tcbck command, visit:
In addition to the Security Audit function that SecureWay® Directory provides, AIX 5.1 offers an AIX LDAP Security Audit Plug-in. This server plug-in, located at /usr/ccs/lib/libsecldapaudit.a, is a parallel auditing service to the SecureWay Directory default audit plug-in.
The purpose of AIX LDAP Security Audit Plug-in is to provide auditing service to the SecureWay Directory server within the AIX audit subsystem. The audit data is written into the AIX audit trails. With the AIX auditing commands, you can:
The AIX LDAP Security Audit Plug-in provides administrators, who are familiar with the AIX system audit, a powerful tool to audit the SecureWay Directory server. The server auditing trails can be easily combined with other AIX audit trails to help administrators to analyze many events.
This feature is added to support the need for a native AIX implementation of the X Single Sign-On (XSSO)/Pluggable Authentication Mechanism (PAM). This stand-alone module library, libpam.a, is located in /usr/lib directory.
The PAM specification defines an API to an XSSO Sign-on Service for use by sign-on applications. The XSSO Service API is independent of the specific authentication mechanisms used.
There are two distinct aspects to a Single Sign-on service:
The principal objective of a Single Sign-on service is that Secondary Sign-on operations can be transparent to the user.
SecureWay Directory Version 3, is a 32-bit LDAP Version 3 function that leverages the mission-critical enterprise strength of DB2® database technology with the flexibility of the LDAP directory standard with the following properties:
Enhanced SecureWay Directory Version 3.2.1 supports the following enhancements:
In addition to the current support of grant or deny access to a specific directory object or an entire directory sub tree, enhancement includes:
Add a true backup/restore directory content, including schema definitions and server configuration, by using DB2 utilities to enhance the performance of Backup/Restore. Existing import/export data to/from LDIF format is still supported for heterogeneous directory interoperability.
A new connection model has been implemented, which enhances the scalability with a pool of threads serving a large number of connections (configurable). Performance is also enhanced by reducing connection time as a list of active threads are maintained to service subsequent connection requests.
Fast Server startup eliminates the first-time, slow-server startup (after it is configured), through the use of the "First Touch" mechanism in such a way that the attribute table is not created until an entry is added that uses that attribute.
It can be used either for client caching functions or for any other management applications that require a notification of directory event unfold.
This is done by client registration to the directory event options such as "Add", "Delete", "Modify", and "ModifyRDN", or any other combinations. The Server will notify the client applications whenever an event of interest is at or below the applications DN.
Support of Directory Audit service improves the security of directory server.
System administrators can use this log facility to examine any suspicious pattern of activity in an attempt to detect a security violation. With time stamp and BindDN recorded in the audit log, the violator can be easily traced and detected.
Audit plug-in support allows any application to receive the audit data and filter to incorporate with other audit information. This feature allows the directory audit data to be a part of the centralized audit facility where the enterprise application is based.
With LDAP extended support, a set of LDAP operations are performed as a unit of work for commit or rollback.
This unit of work is committed to the database only when the EndTransaction-Commit is returned or it is rolled to the prior operation state. This transaction support is limited to a single connection to a single LDAP server. A list of LDAP operations that forms a unit of work should be limited to the moderation (less than 100) number.
Enhanced LDAP operation adds Kerberos V5 and additional authentication mechanisms along with existing Secure Socket Layer (SSL) V3-based authentication using x509v3 public key certificates.
The Kerberos authentication option is used for not only user authentication, but also used for the authentication option for Server replication.
Kerberos-based authentication enables LDAP applications and AIX 5.1 users to participate in a single-signon environment within the Kerberos realm. This enhancement will enforce network security by not transporting the password on the wire.
Kerberos authentication is used for authenticated referrals. This helps to secure/validate the LDAP referral operation by using Kerberos-based authentication.
By using Kerberos cross-realm authentication support, the LDAP application can establish a transient trust with already established Kerberos authentication.
Network Security
AIX 5.1 offers an implementation of the cryptographic API PKCS#11 Version 2.01. PKCS#11 is a de facto industry standard for accessing cryptographic hardware devices.
In addition, AIX 5.1 offers support for IBM 4758 Model 2 cryptographic coprocessor under the operating system PKCS#11 shared object. The PKCS#11 implementation is enhanced to utilize future IBM cryptographic hardware devices through the same shared library.
Applications available to utilize PKCS#11 include the iPlanet server suite. For additional information on PKCS11, refer to the RSA Laboratories Web site at:
The Internet Key Exchange protocol to provide VPN support is enhanced to enable the use of CRL when authenticating remote users or devices.
This is an improvement to scalability of VPNs through the use of Digital Certificates for a large number of users. When CRLs are used, digital certificates provide credentials for authentication, and individual users may be revoked by specifying their certificate number to the CRL.
This simplifies network management by allowing one policy to be defined at the server level, and verifies that the certificate is valid and not contained in the CRL. CRLs may be fetched through HTTP or LDAP using socks4 or socks5 protocol.
The Web-based System Manager user interface for setting up tunnels has been streamlined and simplified. A full-function wizard guides the user through initial IKE tunnel definition. Policy information has been reorganized to make IP Security tunnel configuration more intuitive and require fewer steps.
Other IKE enhancements include the use of the commit bit to synchronize the use of Security Associations, the definition of default policies to simplify the configuration for networks using dynamic IP addresses or DHCP.
System administrators can define a Virtual Private network by one policy and a list of group members. They can also define default policies to specify the security parameters that are to be used when the addresses are dynamically assigned.
IKE support has also been extended to include IP Version 6 protocols. The IP Security functions for AIX 5.1 now include the definition of static filters for IP Versions 4 and 6, manually and dynamically defined private tunnels using IP Security protocol over IP Version 4 and 6 networks.
IKE enhancements include VPN functionality enabling users to import IKE tunnel configurations between Linux and AIX platforms. The ikeconvert script will process a Linux configuration file into an XML format suitable for loading into AIX.
User group definition in IKE databases is optimized through the use of the new ikedb command. This command will take XML text as input to create a group definition in the IKE databases. The group name can then be used in a Key or Data Management tunnel definition.
Maintenance and ease-of-use in configuring IKE groups are enhanced through the implementation of an IKE tunnel default policy. This policy, when configured, permits a system default to be invoked in the absence of a separate configuration.
Name resolver routines have been enhanced to include resolving hostnames through an LDAP server. The ordering of name resolution services can be specified in any of the following formats:
Schema defines the rules for ordering data on a LDAP server. The IBM-HostTable object class, the proposed schema, was accepted by the SecureWay Directory product.
A new command, hosts2ldif, was created to produce an LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) file from /etc/hosts. This LDIF file is used to populate the hosts database on the LDAP server. The LDAP client uses /etc/resolv.ldap to access the information from the LDAP server.
Interoperability
Enhancements to Increase Affinity with Linux
In conjunction with the AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications packaged on separate media, new APIs are added to AIX so that Linux applications using these routines do not have to supply their own libraries.
The goal is to have "compile and go" operability for Linux applications. This does not extend to the kernel and device driver layers.
AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications
The AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications provides the ability to build and execute applications commonly found in Linux distributions. It supports a wide variety of software, including:
Featured software includes:
Other features:
These are packaged using the open source RPM package manager, which reduces the time to produce a package for AIX since most open source applications have already been packaged with RPM. Source RPMs are available for customer use.
Updates to the Web site are expected on a frequent basis.
Base Operating System
NFS Statd Multithreading
The status monitor provides a general framework for collecting network status information. Implemented as a daemon that runs on all NFS configured machines, the status monitor provides a simple protocol that allows applications to easily monitor the status of other machines.
Deactivating Active Paging Spaces
This function provides new flexibility without rebooting after:
Until this release, allocated and activated paging space had to remain active until the next reboot. With this release, paging space can be deactivated without rebooting by using the new "swapoff" command. A new "shrinkps" command:
The use of a shell script reduces the possibility of an unbootable state because users will not be allowed to run out of adequate paging space. The script checks paging space actually in use and adds a buffer for paging space warning threshold.
Malloc Enhancements
AIX 5.1 provides an optional buckets-based extension of the default memory allocator (the malloc subsystem) that improves performance for applications that issue large numbers of small allocation requests.
Each bucket consists of a block of memory that is subdivided into a predetermined number of smaller allocatable blocks of uniform size. Organizing allocatable memory in this fashion often provides faster access for allocation requests falling within the range of sizes defined by the buckets.
When this capability is enabled, allocation requests that fall within a predefined range of block sizes are processed by Malloc Buckets. All other requests (for example, those outside the defined range of sizes) are processed in the usual manner by the default allocator. Up to 128 buckets are available per heap (refer to the Malloc Multiheap documentation for details on this capability).
Number of buckets, bucket sizing factor, and other configuration values are specified via an environment variable prior to process startup. More information on configuring the MALLOCTYPE and MALLOCBUCKETS environment variables is available in the book "General Programming Concepts: Writing and Debugging Programs."
SVR4 Printing Subsystem
AIX 5.1 provides the UNIX® System V style file spooling subsystem and makes it available as an administrator configurable option. Enabling this option allows users who are more comfortable with System V printer utilities to more easily use AIX 5.1.
System V Packaging Commands
System V Packaging Commands are available for customers to create and install a package in the System V packaging format. These commands are:
Multithreaded AutoFS
AutoFS is enhanced to support the multithreaded automountd daemon. This allows automountd to provide more jobs than before.
In addition to fulfilling mount requests, the new automountd handles requests such as:
It is 64-bit enabled, which permits it to be run in either 32-bit or 64-bit kernel.
The /proc Filesystem
The /proc file system provides access to the state of each process and thread in the system.
The file system is mounted over /proc. Standard system call interfaces, such as open(), read(), write(), lseek(), are used to access /proc files. Programs such a debuggers can use /proc to control a process being debugged. /proc provides the ability to:
Increased Concurrent Group per Process Limit
The number of concurrent groups per process has been increased from 32 to 64. The concurrent group set is used to control access to files and programs. Increasing this value allows users greater flexibility in classifying and protecting system resources.
Administrators who require access to resources belonging to a large number of groups will be able to access those resources without having to change their concurrent group set.
Increased Argument List Limit
The argument list limit has been increased to 512 K from 24 K (24 K is the traditional AIX limit and system default).
Applications can specify the length of command line argument and the length of the environment (stream length) list in bytes. Users will be able to use the default or automatically specify an upper limit (512 K) for their application.
Storage
DMAPI — Data Management API
AIX 5.1 includes the implementation of the DMAPI, as defined in the XDSM API specification.
DMAPI is a technology, which enables the development of relatively portable data management applications, such as hierarchical storage management (HSM), by providing the underlying JFS support and programming interface for those applications. DMAPI is available on the 32-bit kernel only.
LVM Scalability — Variable Logical Track Group (LTG)
The LVM now has a constant max transfer size of 128 K, (which is known within LVM as the LTG). Enhancements are provided to allow a Volume Group (VG) LTG size to be specified at VG creation time and to change the LTG size of an existing volume group.
Different LTG sizes of 128 K, 256 K, 512 K, and 1024 K are now supported and verification for the sizes of 512 K and 1024 K are underway. The different LTG sizes pend on the max transfer size of the member disks of the volume group.
LVM Mirror Write Consistency
MWC helps ensure data integrity on logical volumes in the event of a system crash during mirrored writes.
The existing method achieves this by logging when a write operation occurs. The LVM makes an update to a log (MWC log) that identifies what areas of the disk are being updated prior to performing the write of the data. This results in a performance degradation during random writes.
There are now two ways of handling MWC: Active and Passive. The existing method is Active MWC and the new MWC is called "Passive."
The Active MWC method (existing MWC) is still supported and is the default mode when a mirrored logical volume is created.
Passive MWC reduces the instance of having to update the MWC log on the disk. This method logs that the logical volume has been opened but does not log the writes. If the volume group is not deactivated before reboot (crash), then the LVM starts a forced synchronization of the entire logical volume when the system restarts. Data consistency exists for reads that occur during the synchronization so that applications can start using data as soon as the volume group is varied on.
The new Passive MWC method is intended to provide better random write performance on mirrored logical volumes when compared to the Active MWC method.
Hot Spare Disk Support in Volume Group
The LVM previously shipped with AIX took no action when partitions went stale or disks went missing other than logging an error in the error log.
The new ability of LVM to optionally provide hot spare disks within a volume group and automatically synchronize stale partitions helps to increase the availability of mirrored data.
In addition, the Logical Volume Manager will attempt to reactivate a missing disk. If the disk cannot be restarted, then its mirror copy will be migrated to a hot spare disk if such disk with proper size exists.
Hot Spot Management in Logical Volume Group
LVM provides the ability to move physical partitions (smallest possible data unit in a volume group) to any member disk of the volume group. Sometimes it is necessary to migrate partitions to new disk for maintenance (for example, disk replacement). This migration may also achieve a performance gain for I/O if there happened to be high-traffic partitions all located on a single disk and some were migrated to other member disks.
Currently, there are no tools at LVM level that will identify the partitions by the number of I/O structures. There are tools that provide similar information like iostat and filemon, but they do not directly identify the partitions at the LVM level. Hot spot management provides two commands — one that will identify the hot spots and another that migrates the hot spot to a different location.
Development and Performance Tools
AIX Developer Kit, Java™ 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.3.0
Java 2 Standard Edition Version 1.3 comes with a host of enhancements to Java classes and APIs, including:
The IBM implementations, which are fully compliant with J2SE 1.3, include these enhancements too. AIX Developer Kit, Java 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.3 has been engineered with the following features to deliver high performance and scalability to the most demanding e-business applications:
Other highlights of the AIX Developer Kit, Java 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.3.0 include:
JCE provides a framework and implementations for encryption, key generation and key agreement, and Message Authentication Code (MAC) algorithms. Support for encryption includes symmetric, asymmetric, block, and stream ciphers. The software also supports secure streams and sealed objects. For a general overview of JCE, visit:
The IBM JCE implementation provides more cryptographic algorithms than the Sun implementation.
CMP provides support to online interactions between Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) components.
For example, a management protocol might be used between a Certificate Authority (CA) and a client system with which a key pair is associated, or between two CAs that issue cross-certificates for each other.
For a full description of CMP, refer to RFC 2510 and 2511 for CRMF. These RFCs are available at:
As public-key cryptography begins to see wide application and acceptance, interoperability standards are necessary for smooth implementation. Even though vendors may agree on the basic public-key techniques, compatibility between implementations is by no means guaranteed.
Interoperability requires strict adherence to an agreed-upon standard format for transferred data.
IBM PKCS implementation supports the following RSA standards: PKCS #1, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, and #12. For more information, visit:
S/MIME provides the Java classes needed to encode and decode S/MIME messages. This implementation provides a limited S/MIME parser geared to understanding and extracting PKCS #7 ContentInfo and PKCS #10 CertificationRequest objects from a S/MIME messages.
For more information on S/MIME, refer to RFC 2311 (S/MIME Version 2 Message Specification) at:
JSSE enables secure Internet communications and implements a Java version of SSL and TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols. It includes functionality for data encryption, server authentication, message integrity, and optional client authentication.
For more information, visit:
JAAS provides a security model for the Java platform, which permits access to Java-controlled resources based on the identity of the user on whose behalf the Java program is running, rather than the source of the code.
Additional information about AIX Developer Kit, Java 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.3.0 is available at:
AIX Developer Kit, Java 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.3.0 is also available on the Web at:
Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) Parser for Java, Version 3.1.1
AIX 5.1 provides the XML Parser for Java, Version 3.1.1, which is packaged with AIX Developer Kit, Java 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.3.0.
The XML parser can be used to parse the XML data stream for processing applications. It contains classes and methods for parsing, generating, manipulating, and validating XML documents.
The XML parser for Java incorporates the following:
For more information on XML, visit:
Performance Analysis Tools Enhancements in AIX Base OS
Performance Analysis Tools include the following new tools:
In addition, the Performance Analysis Tools include the following enhancements:
The following tools have been withdrawn in AIX 5.1:
Consult manual pages for svmon, truss, and locktrace for similar functionalities supported by those tools.
Inventory Scout
Inventory Scout searches the user's system for microcode levels and compares those levels with an IBM database of latest levels. When used with Web-based Microcode Discovery Service, an html report is generated for the user and includes links to the latest levels of microcode for the system (with the exception of SP™ systems).
Inventory Scout gathers Vital Product Information (VPD) from the user's machine and, when used with Web-based VPD Capture Service, uploads it to the IBM MRPD database. This VPD is useful in determining the correct components to ship when a Miscellaneous Equipment Specification (MES) upgrade is ordered.
Expanded tar/cpio Formats
A new archive format "pax," compatible with the proposed IEEE POSIX 1003.2b standard, is added to the existing "pax" archive utility. This format is 64-bit ready and fully extensible and customizable by users for their own additional file information. It supports:
In addition, this archive format can even be read by older pax and tar utilities.
Enhancements to dbx
Additional Administrative Tools
Several new enhancements for administrators have been added:
Enhancements to Compiler Products for AIX
Available as licensed programs, the C++, C, and FORTRAN compiler products have been updated to support AIX 5.1. In particular, the compilers will exploit the 64-bit large datatype (LDT) model and execution on both 32-bit and 64-bit kernels. Support for AIX 5.1 will be available through the following product releases:
Support for the AIX 5.1 64-bit large datatype and execution on both 32-bit and 64-bit kernels will be available via APARs IY16228 and IY16948.
System Management
Web-based System Manager
Web-based System Manager for AIX 5.1 represents a significant advance over previous releases by providing a new management console capable of managing multiple hosts.
As in previous releases, Web-based System Manager applications can be accessed from PC-clients running Web-browsers such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft™ Internet Explorer that accept the Java plug-in. These applications can also be accessed either locally or remotely without a Web-browser on AIX 5.1 graphical workstations.
In addition, Web-based System Manager delivers a capability to run a Window PC-clients natively, significantly increasing the Web-based System Manager's performance.
New functions include:
These resources can be monitored around the clock and automatic responses run if the values of resources reach certain levels or thresholds.
The automated responses include running any command or script (for example a user-provided pager command or a recovery script), broadcasting a message, sending e-mail, or logging the event to a file. Different responses can be run based on time of day and whether a particular problem occurred or has been resolved.
There is a command line interface for this functionality and a GUI with the Web-based System Manager monitoring application.
Web-based System Manager Application Support
A set of Web-based System Manager plug-ins are available. All of the application function of prior releases is included with new functions and enhancements. The complete set of application functions will include:
The Host Overview plug-in provides a central location for users to quickly gather information on the status and health of a machine.
Information provided in the Host Overview contents includes static information such as operating system level, IP address, machine type and serial number, available processors, available memory and paging space, and size of the base JFS filesystems.
In addition, dynamic information such as processors online, CPU cycles used, memory and paging space utilized, and percentage used of the base JFS file systems is provided and kept up-to-date.
This task-oriented plug-in performs backup and restores. Supported tasks will include backup and restore operations for the system (mksysb), volume groups, logical volumes, file systems, and individual files.
The Custom Tools plug-in enables users to add new tools to the Web-based System Manager console.
Two types of tools can be defined — Web-tools and command tools. Web-tools are defined by a URL and launch a browser when invoked. Command tools refer to any action that can be invoked by a command on the managed host. This could be a simple AIX command or an application program.
Actions that generate their own user interface (for example, a Motif-based application) can be launched as a custom tool only when the client is running on the managed host. Once defined, tools appear as icons in the Custom Tools container. The user can define unique icons and descriptive text for each tool.
The Devices plug-in displays the inventory of physical and logical devices and their status.
Both physical (organized by system connections) and logical (categorical) views are provided. The Devices plug-in furthers error-free system management with significant design enhancements for RAID.
New features include an easy-to-use PCI Hot Plug configuration wizard, which allows quick configuration of all PCI Hot Plug devices within your system.
This plug-in permits the management of the Journaled File System (JFS), JFS2, CD-ROM file systems, Network File System, and Cache File Systems.
The Web-based System Manager monitoring application is the GUI to the RSCT subsystem and allows the administrator to set up monitoring for many resources on the managed system, including filesystems, programs, processors, adapters, and kernel information, such as CPU statistics and memory allocation.
These resources can be monitored around the clock and automatic responses run if the values of resources reach certain levels or thresholds. The automated responses include running any command or script (for example, a user-provided pager command or a recovery script), broadcasting a message, sending e-mail, or logging the event to a file. Different responses can be run based on time of day and whether a particular problem occurred or has been resolved.
A rich set of predefined conditions and responses are installed by default to allow the administrator to begin monitoring immediately. These predefined conditions and responses can also be adjusted or copied to fit the individual needs of the customer environment.
In addition, the Events plug-in provides a convenient log of events that have occurred on the managed system while the Web-based System Manager graphical user interface is running.
The system also maintains an audit log of events that have occurred on the managed system regardless of whether a Web-based System Manager is running. The audit log can be viewed from either the Web-based System Manager or the command line.
The Network plug-in provides user interfaces for configuring and managing network communications. It includes configuration and management of TCP/IP, PPP, NIS, NIS+, and VPN.
The SNMP plug-in provides both SNMP configuration and monitoring capabilities.
The NIM plug-in performs network installations of the base operating system and applications. NIM includes the ability to define groups of machines for common install operations.
The PC services plug-in allows administrators to manage the IBM Fast Connect server, file and printer sharing, and user sessions.
Two print subsystems are provided with AIX 5.1. With the traditional print subsystem, plug-ins are provided for managing printers, print servers, queues, and jobs. In addition, a limited set of functions are available for the new System V print subsystem.
With the Processes plug-in, administrators can view details and kill and reprioritize executing processes. Processes may be displayed in a sortable and filterable table or in a tree that shows child-parent relationships.
The software plug-in allows the administrator to view installed software, reject or commit installed software, and install new software.
The System Environments plug-in provides access to basic operating system properties and utilities such as time and date, language utilities, and shutdown.
The Users and Groups plug-in provides management capabilities for users, groups, and administrative roles. The users and groups plug-ins can be used to define and manage disk quotas.
This release will include several significant enhancements, which will allow the administrator to designate disks as "hot spares" for volume groups.
This will minimize the need to bring the system down due to a disk failure, manage and monitor disk I/O bottlenecks for increased system performance with "Hot Spot Management", and dynamically deallocate paging spaces, which will reduce system downtime.
Additional enhancements are included in the volumes application for those working with "Big" Volume Groups.
The Workload Manager plug-in allows administrators to define and manage system workload configurations and classes of processes via Web-based System Manager.
Workload Manager helps ensure that defined processes obtain the appropriate level of system resources such as memory, CPU, and disk I/O bandwidth. Current status of these system resources can be viewed via Web-based System Manager.
Accessibility Enhancement to Web-based System Manager Framework and Applications
Accessibility enhancement includes the following features:
This toolkit can be downloaded from the IBM AlphaWorks site:
These accessibility features can increase ease of use for all users. For example, keyboard shortcuts speed interaction for "power" users.
Non-European Monetary Union (EMC) Support
Additional ISO8859-15 locales are added into the code set so that certain countries which are not a part of the European Monetary Union (EMU) may still conduct business with EMU countries.
This limited set of locales includes el_GR (Greece), Et_EE (Estonia), Lv_LV (Latvia), Lt_LT (Lithuania), Ar_AA (Arabic), Vi_VN (Vietnam), and Zh_TW (Traditional Chinese).
Hindi Enablement
AIX 5.1 adds basic enablement and locale support for Hindi. Hindi characters can be entered, viewed, and printed from an AIX system. This enablement provides printing capability for the following printers:
Additional Locales
New locales are introduced in AIX 5.1.
Languages Locales
Arabic ar_AE, ar_BH, ar_EG, ar_JO, ar_KW, ar_LB,
ar_OM, ar_QA, ar_SA, ar_SY, and ar_TN
English en_CA, en_IN, en_IE, en_IE EURO,
and en_NZ
French fr_LU, and fr_LU EURO
German de_AT(R), de_AT EURO, de_LU,
and de_LU EURO
Serbian sr_YU, and sh_YU
Spanish es_AR, es_CL, es_CO, es_MX, es_PE, es_US,
es_UY, and es_VE
Hindi HI_IN
Enhancements to Input Method Editor for GBK Locale
AIX 5.1 supports additional popular input method editors such as Intelligent ABC, Pinyin, BiaoXing Ma, Internal Code, ZhengMa for GBK codes on AIX GBK locale.
Korean 103 Keyboard Support
This feature provides an alternate Korean keyboard with 103 keys. It includes the Korean / English switch key, which is called Hangul and located between the space bar and the right Alt key. There will also be a Chinese key, called Hanja, located between the left Alt key and the space bar.
Graphics Enhancements
OpenGL on POWER GXT4000P and POWER GXT6000P will now support 64-bit direct window access (DWA). This is intended to boost performance for 64-bit OpenGL applications by allowing them to render using the OpenGL protocol directly rather than going through the Xserver and GLX Extension
System Support
AIX 5.1 adds support for:
AIX 5.1 has been enhanced to provide support for up to 32-way SMP scalability and 256 GB memory.
I/O Support
AIX 5.1 supports the following I/O with both the 64-bit and 32-bit kernel, unless otherwise indicated:
Storage Interfaces
Communications and Connectivity (PCI bus type)
Specialized Adapters
Offering Information
Product information is available through Offering Information (OITOOL) at:
Publications
Publications can be viewed using the Documentation Library Service, which offers easier access to online documentation with a single integrated graphical user interface. This user interface allows users to read, navigate, and search online HTML documentation. The Documentation Library Service also contains a Print Tool button. When you click this button, you see a list of books that can be downloaded in a single printable file for printing on your local printer. You have the option of customizing this list to include your own book for printing. This serves customers who want to view books online as well as read documents in hardcopy format.
Technical Information
Hardware Requirements
IBM Power, POWER2, Personal Computer Power Series® 830 and 850 desktop systems, IBM PowerPC systems, or POWER3 systems with the following exceptions:
AIX 5.1 supports system with at least 64 MB of physical memory, 128 MB of initial disk paging space, and requires 536 MB disk storage for the operating system for a total of 664 MB of disk storage.
All POWER graphics adapters supported on AIX 4.3.3 will also be supported on the AIX 5.1 32-bit kernel.
Additionally, the following POWER graphics adapters will be supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit kernels:
AIX 5.1 will not support the following hardware features:
AIX 5.1 does not support the following Graphic Input Devices in 64-bit kernel; the devices are supported under 32-bit kernel:
Software Requirements
AIX 5.1 supports system with at least 64 MB of physical memory, 128 MB of initial disk paging space, and requires 536 MB disk storage for the operating system for a total of 664 MB of disk storage.
To install the SecureWay Directory, your computer must meet the following minimum system requirements.
For the latest information on supported versions of AIX, refer to the client README file in /usr/ldap/readme/(lang)/readme/client.txt or using a Web browser, at:
A minimum of 64 MB RAM is required (128 MB is strongly recommended).
For the latest information on supported versions of AIX, refer to the server README file in /usr/ldap/readme/(lang)/readme/server.txt or using a Web browser, at:
In addition to the client requirements, the server requires the following:
ATTENTION: You must have a secure Web server to ensure that the transmission of your administration data is secure. For instructions, consult online documentation.
Program Specifications: AIX 5L Version 5.1 is a UNIX operating environment, designed to handle the needs and requirements of a wide variety of systems and applications. It is designed for use in technical and commercial environments, and to be scalable on a wide variety of hardware platforms.
AIX 5L Version 5.1 provides:
Compatibility
AIX 5L Version 5 Binary Compatibility — 32-bit Applications from AIX: Version 4 Releases
AIX Version 4.1, 4.2, or 4.3 applications written for RS/6000 POWER-, POWER2-, POWER3-, and PowerPC-based models can be executed on AIX 5L Version 5 without recompilation for same and newer models in that processor family (POWER, POWER2, POWER3 or PowerPC). The exceptions to this statement would be applications compiled using POWER2, POWER3, or PowerPC specific compiler options but executed on models other than POWER2, POWER3, or PowerPC, respectively, or applications using:
Applications compiled on AIX Version 5 will not operate properly on systems running any level of AIX Version 4.
Any program that must run in all environments — POWER, POWER2, POWER3, and PowerPC (601 and newer PowerPC processors) — must be compiled using the common mode option of the compiler. Programs compiled to exploit POWER2 or POWER3 technology must be run on the same processor type. Programs compiled to exploit PowerPC-based technology must be run on PowerPC-based processors. Existing binaries need not be recompiled to operate on the target processors.
AIX Version 5 Binary Compatibility — 64-bit Applications from AIX: Version 4 Releases
64-bit applications produced using AIX Version 4 will not execute on AIX Version 5. These applications will need to be recompiled from the source on AIX Version 5 to execute on this version of AIX. 64-bit applications produced using AIX Version 5 on any of the 32-bit or 64-bit processor models will execute without recompilation on the 64-bit processor models. 32-bit applications produced using AIX Version 5 on either 32-bit or 64-bit processor models will execute without recompilation on both models.
X11R5/X11R6 Compatibility Issues On AIX Version 5: The AIX Version 5 X-server uses the X-Consortium release 6 of X (commonly known as X11R6). The libraries shipped by IBM with XllR6 are backward compatible and the client applications which access these libraries work as on AIX Version 4. As on AIX Version 4, IBM will also ship X11R3, X11R4, X11R5 compatibility installation options for maximum customer flexibility.
The broad majority of applications using X fall into this category and will not see any difficulty. However, a small minority of X-applications use the loadable extension facility provided by the X-server.
The X-server allows for the addition of new functionality through its extension mechanism. For each extension, part of the extension is loaded into the X-server before it can be executed. X11R6 has modified how this mechanism works in the course of improvements to X, and it is this part of the extension that must be made compatible with X11R6 to execute properly. All extensions supplied by IBM have been made compatible. In some circumstances, a customer may have an extension which will not work with X11R6, for example, a customer:
In these cases, the extension will need to be made compatible with X11R6 before they will execute properly. Customer-developed extensions and sample X-consortium extensions will need to be recompiled with the X11R6 environment. For third-party extensions, the customer should contact the vendor for a X11R6 compatible update.
Customers using non-IBM display adapters may also be using vendor-supplied software specific to those devices that uses X11R6 Server capabilities. If so, this software must be compatible with X11R6 to operate properly. The customer should contact the particular vendor of the display adapter for this software.
IBM plans to provide a porting guide with AIX Version 5 to assist customers and vendors developing adapters or extensions for AIX.
Between AIX Versions 3 and 5: All AIX applications using AIX Version 3 Release 3.2 or greater, for POWER-, POWER2-, and PowerPC-based models, that are written in accordance with the guidelines in this announcement and other AIX announcements will run on AIX Version 5 without recompilation for those same models. The exceptions to this statement would be applications compiled using POWER2 or PowerPC specific compiler options but run on models other than POWER2 or PowerPC or applications using:
Applications created on a system using AIX Version 5 may not function properly on a system using AIX Version 3. Applications must have been created using the AIX shared libraries for these binary compatibility statements to apply.
Planning Information
Direct Customer Support: Direct customer support is provided by IBM Support Line. This fee service enhances customers' productivity by providing voice and electronic access into the IBM support organization. IBM Support Line will help answer questions pertaining to usage, and suspected software defects for eligible products.
Installation and technical support is provided by Global Services. For more information call 800-IBM-4YOU (426-4968).
Packaging: The AIX 5L for POWER Version 5.1 package contains the following items:
AIX 5L Version 5.1 delivers IPLA and LI documentation in electronic softcopy.
Your Proof of Entitlement (PoE) for this program is a copy of a paid sales receipt, purchase order, invoice, or other sales record from IBM or its authorized reseller from whom you acquired the program, provided that it states the license charge unit (the characteristics of intended use of the program — for example, number of processors, number of users) and quantity acquired.
Information about how you may obtain program services will be provided by the party (either IBM or its authorized reseller) from whom you acquired the program.
Security, Auditability, and Control
AIX 5L for POWER Version 5.1 uses the system and network security features for security and auditability. These features are:
For a more detailed description of the security features, refer to the AIX System and Networking Security section of this announcement.
The customer is responsible for evaluation, selection, and implementation of security features, administrative procedures, and appropriate controls in application systems and communication facilities.
Ordering Information
New Licensees
License entitlement for AIX 5L Version 5.1 is based on the maximum number of processors within a system, including SP systems that are based on the number of processors in each node. For example, a system ordered with a four-processor configuration will be licensed for use on four processors.
Upgrades
License upgrade charges for AIX 5L Version 5.1 are based on the number of processors to be used within a system, including SP systems that are based on the number of processors to be used in each node. For example, an SP system originally purchased/leased with four nodes, which has four processors on each node, with AIX Version 4 used on all four processors on the nodes, would require a quantity of 16 processors for the AIX 5L license upgrade.
AIX 5.1 is available at an upgrade price for those customers currently licensed for the following qualifying programs: AIX V3 or AIX V4.
OTC(1)
Program Feature
Description Number Number
AIX 5L Version 5.1 5765-E61 0001
Upgrade Features 0002
Feature number 9001 is required for asset registration.
Software Subscription for AIX
Priced upgrades for AIX Version 4.x to AIX 5L Version 5.1 are available with this announcement. However, it is IBM's intent to only provide future upgrades through either the Software Subscription for AIX (5692-SSO) offering currently available today or a similar subscription offering. In addition, IBM intends to enhance the future subscription offerings with enhancements including more streamlined order processing capabilities.
Customers, who purchased protection for AIX Version 4 (5765-C34) under Software Subscription for AIX (5692-SSO) or Software Protection Plan for AIX and UNIX Operating System Base Software (5692-ADV), are entitled to receive AIX 5L Version 5.1 (5765-E61) at no charge. Eligible customers should add the applicable CD media supply feature number from the table below to their existing 5692-SSO or 5692-ADV record.
Media
Eligible Supply
Program Feature Feature
Description Number Number(2) Number
Media supply delivered on CD-ROM
From 5765-C34 AIX V4 5692-SSO 0919
to 5765-E61 AIX V5
AIX Base 1-2 User 5692-ADV 4828
License (times number 5692-SSO 4829
of nodes) 6328
6329
Eligible
Program Feature
Description Number Number(2)
AIX Designated 5692-ADV 4830
System Users 5692-SSO 4831
6330
6331
AIX Network Users 5692-ADV 4832
in units of 1 5692-SSO 4833
6332
6333
AIX Network Users 5692-ADV 4834
in units of 250 5692-SSO 4835
6334
6335
New Licensees for Future Upgrades of 5692-SSO: To register for future upgrades of products from Software Subscription for AIX for programs described in this announcement, specify 5692-SSO and feature number 9001 for asset registration, and the applicable billing features with quantity equal to the number of licenses in the Software Subscription for AIX contract. Use the table below as reference to select the appropriate billing feature.
ASC
Support
Program Feature
Description Number Number
AIX 5L Version 5.1 5692-SSO 0001
per processor
Customization Options: Select the appropriate feature numbers to customize your order with delivery options desired. These features can be specified on the initial or MES orders.
Example: If publications are not desired for the initial order, specify feature # 3470 to ship media only. For publications only to ship, specify feature number 3430.
Feature Description Number Initial Shipments Serial number only (suppresses shipment 3444 of media and documentation) Ship media only (suppresses initial 3470 shipment of documentation) Ship documentation only (suppresses 3430 initial shipment of media) Update Shipments Ship Media updates only (suppresses 3470 update shipment of documentation) Ship documentation only (suppresses 3430 update shipment of media) Expedite Shipments Local IBM office expedite 3445 (for IBM use only)
Expedite shipments will be processed to receive 72-hour delivery from the time IBM Software Delivery and Fulfillment (SDF) receives the order. SDF will then ship the order via overnight air transportation.
System Program Order (SPO) (5692-A5L): A 5692-A5L SPO is mandatory for shipments of program distribution and publications. The individual licensed program orders (for example, 5765-E61) are for registration and billing purposes only. No shipment occurs under these orders.
To receive shipment of machine-readable materials on a CD-ROM requires an SPO (5692-A5L). Billing for the media type selected is generated under the SPO. To prevent additional billing expenses, place only one SPO order per machine.
Select one of the following (5692-A5L) feature numbers for the licensed program hardcopy entitled publications, along with feature number 9001 for asset registration to be shipped on a given date
Program Feature Program Name Number Number AIX 5L for POWER Version 5.1 5765-E61 0919
The following list of licensed program products are supported under AIX 5L for POWER Version 5.1. The supply feature numbers that ship under 5692-A5L SPO are:
Program Feature Program Name Number Number Distributed SMIT 2.2 for AIX 5696-902 0514 MQSeries(R) for AIX, V5.2 5765-B73 0719 Performance Toolbox V3.0 5765-E74 0922 Performance AIDE V3.0 5765-E68 0917 Fast Connect V3.1 for Windows(TM) 5765-E72 0923 AIXLink/X.25 V1.1.5 5696-926 0517 AIXLink/X.25 Light Capacity 5696-926 0521 DCE V3.1 for AIX 5639-I35 0895 DCE V3.1 for AIX Base Services 5639-I37 0896
These programs can also be ordered on AIX Version 4 SPO (5692-AIX).
Basic Machine-Readable Material: Select one of the following priced feature numbers for media type under 5692-A5L. The media process charge is a one-time, non-discountable charge per SPO order when media is selected.
Media
Process
Media Charges
Feature Feature
Media Type Number Number
CD-ROM 3410 1004
Documentation: The amount of translation varies by language. Translated softcopy documentation planned availability varies by language and manufacturing geography. Translations will become available, over time, as translations released by language-specific country translation centers. Check with your IBM representative to determine availability of a specific translation in your area. The following features are only available under 5692-A5L.
Translated Language Documentation Brazilian Portuguese 2980 Catalan 2997 Czech 2975 English 2924 French (Universal) 2928 German (Universal) 2929 Hungarian 2976 Italian 2932 Japanese-Kanji 2962 Korean 2986 Polish 2978 Russian 2979 Slovakian 2994 Spanish (Universal) 2931 Traditional Chinese 2987
Preinstall Cultural Convention Section: A matrix of logic is used at time of manufacture to select preinstall cultural convention (locale). System keyboard is used as primary selection criteria. In situations where a single keyboard is used across multiple locales, selection is refined by the country of origin for the hardware order. The following do not have unique pSeries keyboards and therefore must be explicitly ordered via software feature number:
Feature Cultural Convention Number Albanian 6995 Byelorussian 6916 Estonian 6902 Hindi 6907 Latvian 6900 Lithuanian 6901 Macedonian 6913 Simplified Chinese 6989 Ukrainian.6917 Vietnamese 6905
Preinstall PII Language Section (Language Dependent Screens, Panels, and Messages):
Feature Language Number Brazilian Portuguese 5980 Czech 5975 French (Universal) 5928 German (Universal) 5929 Hungarian 5976 Italian (Universal) 5932 Japanese-Kanji (Shift JIS) 5962 Korean 5986 Polish 5978 Russian 5979 Spanish (Universal) 5931 English 5924 Catalan 5997 Simplified Chinese 5989 Traditional Chinese 5987 Slovakian 5994 Install C-locale 5999
Preinstall: The preinstall option is only valid if accompanied by a hardware system order for the preinstalled AIX 5L Version 5.1 operating system specifying the preinstall option.
It is recommended that backup media be chosen with preinstalled orders. Not all of the software offered under the licensed program will be preinstalled on the system disk. To take delivery of backup media, media feature 3410 must be specified. Software preinstalled on the hard disk does not include all of the function included on the media.
The 5765-E61 order and SPO 5692-A5L must be for the same system type/system number and must have the same scheduled shipment date.
Feature number 5005 must be specified under the individual licensed program 5765-E61 and the 5692-A5L SPO to facilitate preinstall of the licensed program on the system disk.
In addition to feature numbers 5005 and 0919 for preinstall of AIX under SPO (5692-A5L), you must select the appropriate "preinstall designation feature" from the table below.
For Authorized Assemblers, feature number 7305 must be specified under the individual licensed program 5765-E61 and the 5692-A5L SPO to facilitate preinstall of the licensed program on the system disk. In addition to feature number 7305 for preinstall of AIX under SPO (5692-A5L), you must select the appropriate "preinstall designation feature" from the table below.
Feature Description Number Optional TCB for 5.1 0925 Optional Preinstall OpenGL for AIX 5.1 0926 Optional Preinstall PHIGS for AIX 5.1 0927 Optional Preinstall 64-Bit Kernel 0932
The preinstall option is available at no additional charge.
Single Pallet Delivery: Single Pallet Delivery consolidates pSeries or RS/6000 hardware, AIX Version 5 or Version 4 and selected AIX licensed program orders into a single delivery. Effective with this announcement, LPPs that ship on AIX 5L Version 5.1 SPO will have their entitled publications and media consolidated with the pSeries or RS/6000 system unit into a single delivery. The software orders affected are those LPPs ordered with the AIX 5L Version 5.1 SPO "Built-to-Order" structure, designated as single pallet delivery, and tied to the same preinstalled pSeries or RS/6000 system order. To order "single pallet delivery," select feature number 3483 under 5692-A5L.
Under SPO 5692-A5L, feature number 3470 can be used to suppress hardcopy documentation. To order entitled hardcopy documentation only, order feature number 3430.
Licensing: IPLA. PoE are required for all authorized use.
Limited Warranty Applies: Yes
Program Services: Available until April 30, 2004
Money-Back Guarantee: Two-month, money-back guarantee
Copy and Use on Home/Portable Computer: No
Volume Orders (IVO): Yes, contact your IBM representative.
Passport Advantage Applies: No
Passport Advantage Subscription Applies: No
Support Line: Yes
AIX/UNIX Upgrade Protection Applies: Yes
Entitled Upgrade for Current AIX/UNIX Upgrade Protection Licensees: Yes
AS/400® Software Subscription Applies: No
Variable Charges Apply: No
Educational Allowance Available: Yes, 15% education allowance applies to qualified education institution customers.
The prices provided in this announcement are suggested retail prices for the U.S. only and are provided for your information only. Dealer prices may vary, and prices may also vary by country. Prices are subject to change without notice. For additional information and current prices, contact your local IBM representative.
OTC
Program Feature
Description Number Number OTC
AIX 5L Version 5.1 5765-E61 0001 $ 0
Media Process 5692-A5L 1004 50
Charge CD-ROM
OTC
Program Feature Upgrade
Description Number Number OTC
Upgrade Features 5765-E61 0002 $325
AIX V3/4 to V 5.1
New Licensees for Future Upgrades of 5692-SSO
ASC
Program Feature
Description Number Number ASC
AIX 5L Version 5.1 5692-SSO 0001 $175
per processor
Customer Financing: IBM Global Financing offers attractive financing to credit-qualified commercial and government customers and Business Partners in more than 40 countries. IBM Global Financing is provided by the IBM Credit Corporation in the United States. Offerings, rates, terms, and availability may vary by country. Contact your local IBM Global Financing organization. Country organizations are listed on the Web at:
Order Now
Use Priority/Reference Code: RE001
Phone: 800-IBM-CALL
Fax: 800-2IBM-FAX
Internet: ibm_direct@us.ibm.com
Mail: IBM Atlanta Sales Center
Dept. RE001
P.O. Box 2690
Atlanta, GA 30301-2690
You can also contact your local IBM Business Partner or IBM representative. To identify them, call 800-IBM-4YOU.
Note: Shipments will begin after the planned availability date.
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