Introduction

Ever faced a situation where you need to open a ticket and upload logs to IBM?

What do you usually do? Log in to each affected partition, collect the required logs, copy them to your local machine, and then upload them to the respective site.

Especially when multiple systems involved? That's a lot of manual effort just to collect and upload logs.

Starting with AIX 7.3 TL4 SP1 on Power11 systems, a new centralized log collection capability enables HMC to remotely collect diagnostic logs from AIX partitions. Administrators can trigger log collection for multiple partitions directly from the HMC interface, with all logs automatically uploaded to a central location for analysis.

Key Benefits

• Time Savings: Collect logs from multiple partitions with a few clicks instead of manual login and file transfers.
• Administrator Control: Partition administrators explicitly authorize log collection, ensuring security and compliance.
• Simplified Operations: All collected logs are centrally stored on HMC for easy access and analysis.

How to Enable (One-Time Setup)

Before HMC can collect logs, enable authorization on each AIX partition as root:

# ctsethmcffdc -o on
2634-052 FFDC log collection has been enabled.
HMC can now collect logs from this LPAR.

This setting persists across reboots. To disable later:

# ctsethmcffdc -o off

Collecting Logs from HMC

Once enabled, use the HMC interface to:

1. Select "Service Management"
2. Choose "Create Serviceable event"
3. Fill the required information and submit

HMC automatically collects, packages, and uploads the logs. You'll be notified when ready for review.

Use Case Example

When multiple partitions experience issues, instead of logging into each system individually and manually transferring files, simply select all affected partitions in HMC and request log collection. All diagnostic logs are automatically collected and centrally available within minutes.

Prerequisites

• AIX 7.3 TL4 SP1
• Power11 hardware
• HMC level 1120 or higher
• RSCT level 3.3.4.0 or higher

Conclusion

This feature streamlines diagnostic log collection for AIX environments, reducing operational overhead while maintaining administrator control through the authorization mechanism. Customers with Power11 systems can immediately benefit from faster troubleshooting and simplified log management.