AIO: The Fast Path to Great Performance
July 19, 2017
Asynchronous input and output (AIO) is an essential performance feature of AIX. Without it, our world would be a much slower place.
ArticlesTake a Holistic View
June 19, 2017
If your enterprise system has gotten more complex over the last few years, with new applications and users, it may be time to revisit your hardware configuration to optimize performance. Companies benefit when they practice taking a holistic view of enterprise systems every two years or so, says Jaqui Lynch, a solutions architect and independent […]
ArticlesUnderstanding and Tuning CPU Throughput
June 14, 2017
Few topics related to AIX performance analysis and tuning are more misunderstood than CPU throughput: how databases, applications, middleware and utilities use CPUs in an IBM Power Systems environment. What follows is a basic primer on determining CPU throughput and usage in your AIX systems. By combining this knowledge with performance statistics, you can tune […]
ArticlesWhy AIX Fits Well With Hybrid Cloud Strategies
June 1, 2017
In the last two years, we have seen a dramatic upswing in the number of IBM clients that are investing in full-scale projects to modernize their critical IT infrastructure. Some are looking to optimize their software licenses by consolidating workloads onto smaller footprints and moving nonessential capacity to offsite clouds. Others are developing new applications […]
ArticlesSlicing Time: Curing the Context Switch in AIX
May 17, 2017
Now that we’ve laid a solid groundwork for performance analysis, I'll show you how to tune your systems based on information you’ve gleaned from your diagnostic data.
Why Organizations Should Reconsider Their Current Chargeback Systems
April 1, 2017
Imagine Mary, Fred and George are gathered for a budget meeting with Ellen, their company’s CIO, to discuss another budget shortfall. Ellen asks, “What caused this million-dollar shortfall?” George says, “We think it’s related to the decision by accounting to shift one of their major workloads from our Power Systems* platforms to our VMware tower. […]
ArticlesHow to Download Fixes
March 18, 2017
I still find customers that are unsure of how to download fixes, so I want to cover the steps that I use when I download fixes, using AIX 7.2 as an example.
ArticlesSelected AIX Versions Can Soon Be Licensed Monthly
March 14, 2017
IBM made an interesting announcement today. The Standard editions of AIX 7.1 and AIX 7.2 will soon be available to be licensed on a monthly basis under Passport Advantage. This is another example of Power Systems and AIX making their platforms cloud-ready as they transition to a hybrid cloud model. So far we have C […]
ArticlesSPLAT: The Simple Performance Lock Analysis Tool
February 14, 2017
Understanding locking activity and how it affects the performance of databases, applications and the OS itself is an essential part of every AIX specialist's diagnostic arsenal.
ArticlesAnalyzing System Dumps
February 8, 2017
A system dump indicates a severe problem with an AIX system. System dumps usually halt the system, necessitating a reboot.