Rob McNelly
Contributor
Rob McNelly is a Senior AIX Solutions Architect doing pre-sales and post-sales support for IBM Premier Business Partner Meridian IT Inc. in Deerfield, Ill. He is a technical editor and a former administrator within IBM's Integrated Technology Delivery and Server Operations division. Rob was named an IBM Power Systems Champion (www.ibm.com/developerworks/champion) in October 2011. Rob can be reached at rob.mcnelly@gmail.com.
A note from Rob:
“I enjoy camping, hiking, biking and backpacking through the mountains of Arizona. I’ve also learned to enjoy Ragnar races, and sprint triathlons. I always look forward to spending time on Arizona’s closest beach which is located in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. I enjoy scuba diving from live-aboard diving boats. My favorite trip was hiking to the blue waters of Havasupai, and I’m planning on hiking the Grand Canyon in the near future. Long ago, I realized that I would rather live in a hot, dry climate than shovel snow.”
Networking, Hanging NIM Operations and AIX Quirks
February 16, 2023
I enjoyed this perspective on the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) from IBM Champion Andrey Klyachkin: “You know this eternal problem, don’t you? Datacenter guys laid the cable from an AIX server to some port on some network switch. Of course, everything was written on some sheet of paper many years ago. But years went after […]
ArticlesProblem-Solving via the Internet, the Importance of Patching and More
January 20, 2023
Recently, I helped mount a filesystem on a Windows system that was being exported from an AIX system. The client wasn’t sure it would work—and there were challenges—but fortunately I found some guidance by googling. Following these instructions, I was able to export a test filesystem from an AIX machine in my lab. Then I […]
ArticlesCloud, IBM Support, AIX History and More
December 6, 2022
Recently my wife and I traveled cross-country via car. We spent time with family in Virginia and then drove north through Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York state. After celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday, we circled back through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico before returning home to Arizona. Over two weeks, we covered […]
ArticlesRob McNelly on ‘Lights-Out Data Center’ Issues, the Latest IBM Announcements and More
October 19, 2022
Though I’ve heard about lights-out data centers for years, I truly don’t envision a future where humans will never set foot on the raised floor. We’ll always need hands and eyes in the room to perform tasks on our systems. Case in point: Recently I serviced a customer that had three of their four fibre […]
ArticlesOpen Firmware Macros Tips, and a Closer Look at Power10 Servers
September 2, 2022
There are several ways to boot LPARs on IBM Power Systems servers. For example, you can boot to your OS of choice—AIX, IBM i, or Linux—or to SMS or open firmware. While most of us are familiar with all of these options, if you’re not, check out this IBM Support document. I’ll highlight the section […]
ArticlesPower10 and the Impact of Upgrading
August 2, 2022
Recently, after settling into a new home, I upgraded my cable modem and router. I was fine with the internet service I had, but for the same cost, I was able to go from ~100Mbps to ~1000Mbps download speeds. Obviously those numbers may vary depending on your connection (wired versus wireless), your equipment, and the […]
ArticlesIBM Virtual Event Highlights the Latest on Power10 and News on AIX Toolbox Open-Source Support
July 1, 2022
IBM is hosting a Power10 virtual event on Thursday, July 14, at 11 a.m. EDT. You can register here and you’ll find the event description below: “Businesses are facing continued uncertainties. Resource availability. Volatility in demand and in costs. Now, more than ever, this requires flexible and reliable technology to deliver. Join us for a […]
VideoMigrating LPARs to the Cloud
April 26, 2022
Today I want to talk about migrating LPARs to the cloud. Where are you on your cloud journey? Have you just begun thinking about it? Are all of your systems currently running in the public cloud? Are you running a proof of concept or some test and development machines in the cloud? Have you decided […]
ArticlesTips on the HMC, VIOS, LPAR and More
April 20, 2022
It’s always nice to hear from readers. Even better is when I can confirm that my information is helping techies in the real world. My colleague Eric Hopkins recently put my invscout script to work for one of his clients. Here’s his story: I have a customer who has smartly blocked outbound traffic to the […]
ArticlesA New Home for the RFE Community
March 18, 2022
I’ve written about the Request for Enhancement (RFE) process in the past, but recently, Brian Veale notified us of the new IBM Power Systems Ideas portal. This is a site where you can present your ideas about improving products and services and interact with IBM developers. You’ll need an IBM ID to submit suggestions, comment and vote. […]