Originally posted by: Darkpaw

Using AIX 4.3 (yes, outdated, I know -- but this is a system setup for a specific purpose).

I set the interface up in smitty (smitty tcpip), for interface en0. The system runs fine until it is rebooted. After reboot, everything is blank when I check it with ifconfig. If I go back into smitty again, the settings are all there and correct, so I just hit Enter and it sets it back up.

Why won't this survive reboot? Or am I missing something?
Any help would be appreciated...
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Originally posted by: alethad

I don't understand why you'd be getting this on an initial setup. You did answer the parameter "start now" as yes, right?

Try using smitty chinet.
I've had this issue before when making changes to clusters and the tcpip menu doesn't save the settings but the chinet does.

Try that and see if that works for you.
Just 2 cents.
Good luck.
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Originally posted by: Darkpaw

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, did "start now" with it, and it does start it and the services (says the services are already running as it starts them). But it still has no IP after reboot.

Tried 'smitty chinet' as you suggested, but that had the same effect; lost all IP info after reboot.
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Originally posted by: alethad

Have you checked the settings under the devices menu? Say yes to "apply the changes to the database". Are all the settings there OK? Make sure you set the media speed to full-duplex not auto_negotiate.

You're not throwing errors in the system log or anything are you?
Did you set an entry in the hosts file?
You got me if none of this works. I have to do it with my hands and eyes. :)
Sorry I'm not more help.
Good luck
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Originally posted by: Darkpaw

There are only two devices in the devices menu...en0 and et0. Setting anything for et0 does not do anything. en0 is the only interface that allows any connectivity to it at all. Media speed shouldn't matter. There is an entry in /etc/hosts for this, yes.

Which "database" do you mean? There is no option anywhere in "smitty tcpip" to "apply changes to the database". All it allows is to press "Enter" to apply, which is runs correctly.

Like I said, after it boots and has no ip ("ifconfig -a" shows en0 as the IP 0.0.0.0) if I go into "smitty tcpip", the settings are all there, and after I press Enter to apply them again, everything is back to normal.

There are no errors during boot, and no errors in any logs in /var/adm.

I'm sorry, but I know very little about AIX. Most versions of Unix either allow for some kind of "initial config" or are easily set with a couple config files.

What files are required in AIX for this to boot with the correct IP information? /etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf are both correct, but there must be more to it than just those.
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Originally posted by: alethad

I'm looking at my 4.3 system now.

In the devices menu you'll see the "Apply changes to the database"
Got to smitty devices, then choose communication, then choose adapter, then change/show characteristics of an adapter, then choose the ent0 adapter.

Do you have everything set here? If not set everything here then go to the tcpip menu.

You're right it isn't this hard to set up an adapter but then I've been working with AIX for a long time. I guess I assumed.
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Originally posted by: Darkpaw

Here's what it shows in that menu:

Ethernet Adapter ent0
Description IBM PCI Ethernet Adapt>
Status Available
Location 04-B0
HARDWARE TRANSMIT queue size 64 +#
HARDWARE RECEIVE queue size 32 +#
Full duplex yes +
Enable ALTERNATE ETHERNET address no +
ALTERNATE ETHERNET address 0x000000000000 +
Apply change to DATABASE only no +

So by setting it "database only" to no, shouldn't it be writing out the files? Or is it because it's set to no that it's only changing the database? Almost sounds like it's doing the opposite that it's set as...
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Originally posted by: alethad

You would be correct that the changes should save to ALL files when set to "NO" not just the database file. Having it set to "YES" is good for making changes that won't take effect til after the next reboot.

Here's how I've got mine on my 4.3 box. I've not included my real names & my IP's won't mean anything to you.
I don't know of anything else you have to set other than these 2 config menus.

What does your netstat look like after the reboot? Can you ping anything? What's the system hostname at that point? The tcpip menu sets the hostname of the system for you.

DEVICES
<hr />
Ethernet Adapter ent0
Description IBM 10/100 Mbps Ethern>
Status Available
Location 10-68
TRANSMIT queue size 8192 +#
HARDWARE RECEIVE queue size 256 +#
RECEIVE buffer pool size 384 +#
Media Speed 100_Full_Duplex +
Inter-Packet Gap 96 +#
Enable ALTERNATE ETHERNET address no +
ALTERNATE ETHERNET address 0x000000000000 +
Enable Link Polling no +
Time interval for Link Polling 500 +#
Apply change to DATABASE only no +
=================================================================================

TCPIP
<hr />
HOSTNAME your_host_name

• Internet ADDRESS (dotted decimal) http://204.85.218.XXX

Network MASK (dotted decimal) http://255.255.255.0

• Network INTERFACE en0

NAMESERVER
Internet ADDRESS (dotted decimal) name server IP
DOMAIN Name your domain
Default GATEWAY Address http://204.85.218.X
(dotted decimal or symbolic name)
Your CABLE Type N/A +
START Now no +
<hr />
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Originally posted by: Darkpaw

Can't ping anything after reboot (even the gateway) because the IP is set as 0.0.0.0. The hostname is set correctly, though.

I have a thought...is it possible that it's trying to get an IP via DHCP, then fails (since there is no DHCP for this subnet) and is defaulting to 0.0.0.0? Then when I go into smitty and set the static values, it is fine until after it is rebooted and then tries DHCP again?

That would seem like a likely scenario to me. How do I verify that DHCP is disabled, via smitty?
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Originally posted by: Darkpaw

I think that I may be on to something:

In "smitty tcpip" I go into:

Minimum Configuration & Startup
Further Configuration
Use DHCP for TCPIP Configuration & Startup <--
IPV6 Configuration
Quality of Service Configuration & Startup

and each option has it set to "Now and every restart":

Network INTERFACE any

Use DHCP starting Now and System Restart> +
HOSTNAME []
http://...

But the problem is, if I set this to "Not Now" in the three interfaces I have listed (any, en0, and et0), if I exit smitty and go back in again, the values are reset back to "Now and System Restart". There is no "Never" option, the options only are "Not Now", "Now and System Restart", "Now", and "System Restart".

How can I completely remove DHCP from the picture?
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Originally posted by: alethad

That sounds like a possiblity. Just go ahead & set up DHCP for your subnet.

Do you have this system set up in your DHCP server, right? Do you have it set up in DNS too? Can you check it with *nslookup*? I thought you should always be able to ping your gateway whether you've got DHCP running or not. You can run dhcp as a daemon or not. We don't here since the DHCP is maintained on Windows now. I just let the DNS admin know my system name and I get a static IP from them. They set it up in the dhcp & DNS servers.

I don't have a "Never" option either. I never use this smit menu. But I don't think this is your problem.

I'm not much of a network person. I can troubleshoot stuff though.
Let me know what you find.

Message was edited by: alethad

Message was edited by: alethad
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Originally posted by: Darkpaw

That's just it. I don't want it in DHCP. I don't want DHCP on this subnet, I only am using static IPs.

So AIX will only work with DHCP? There must be a way to shut it off and use static IP only.
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Originally posted by: alethad

I only use static IP's. I'm not running DHCP on my system. If you don't have the dhcpd daemon running you aren't either.

What about DNS? do you have it set up on a DNS server? Can you nslookup you machine when you set up the IP?

Have you checked the router/switch where you have this system plugged into the network? How is the port set up at that end?

Message was edited by: alethad
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Originally posted by: Darkpaw

Once I press "Enter" in smitty, everything is fine. What I need is the DHCP daemon on this box to get deactivated and I think that will stop overwriting everything.

Is this configurable in a menu in smitty in AIX?
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Originally posted by: Darkpaw

It looks like "dhcpcd" is the problem. I assume this is the DHCP client daemon. Upon boot, I can see a message being output to the console for this.

How do I disable this service? I think this might solve the problem...
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Originally posted by: alethad

It is started in the rc.tcpip file. Just comment it out.
I have mine commented out.
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Originally posted by: nh4aix

This article in AIX's information shows how to disable DHCPD:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/topic/com.ibm.aix.security/doc/security/aix_sec_expert_etcrctcpip_services_settings.htm?resultof=%22%64%68%63%70%64%22%20%22%64%69%73%61%62%6c%65%22%20%22%64%69%73%61%62%6c%22%20
Hope it helps,
Joe
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Originally posted by: Darkpaw

I tried another way before seeing this. I commented all the interfaces out of the /etc/dhcpcd.ini file and it doesn't attempt it on reboot now (commenting it out of the file you mentioned would probably have done the same thing).

Thanks for the help.
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Originally posted by: alethad

I was going to ask something else but nevermind.
Message was edited by: alethad

Message was edited by: alethad
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Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

You make these changes permanent by stashing them in /etc/rc.net
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