PureApplication in Malaysia

Last week I helped to facilitate an IBM PureApplication pattern camp in Kuala Lumpur, where we helped PureApplication customers and business partners from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam to build their own patterns. While there was snow and ice back home in Raleigh, it was very bright and warm in Kuala Lumpur!

kualalumpur

Along the way we had a chance to discuss best practices for script packages and scripting, high availability and disaster recovery, multi-system deployment, IBM Bluemix running directly on PureApplication System, and best practices for backup. It’s exciting to see PureApplication growing in Southeast Asia!

Applying maintenace to your PureApplication instance using the command-line interface

The PureApplication Knowledge Center documents how to apply maintenance to your instance using the virtual system management console. If you have maintenance that you want to apply to a large number of virtual system instances, you may wish to automate the application of this maintenance using the command-line interface. The Knowledge Center also documents how you can find and apply ifixes and fixpacks to your virtual system instances using the CLI. The following interactive session using the PureApplication CLI demonstrates how you can do this. First, we apply an ifix to an instance:

[ibmadmin@smoonen pure.cli]$ bin/pure -h 172.21.72.32
User name: smoonen
Password:
Welcome to the IBM PureApplication System CLI.  Enter 'help' if you
need help getting started.
>>> import time
>>> # Locate the virtual system instance
>>> instance = deployer.virtualsysteminstances.list({"deployment_name":"WebSphere advanced cluster"})[0]
>>> # Show me the names of the available fixes
>>> [fix['name'] for fix in instance.findFixes()]
[u'scott-efix', u'8.5.5.4-WS-WASProd-TFPI54321_8.5.5004.20150101_1412']
>>> # Apply the efix to all of the applicable nodes
>>> efix = [fix for fix in instance.findFixes() if fix['name'] == 'scott-efix'][0]
>>> operation = instance.applyFixes([ {'vmtemplate': template, 'vmfixes': [efix] } for template in efix['applicableto'] ])
>>> for x in range(30) :
...    if operation.status != 'PENDING' and operation.status != 'ACTIVE' : break
...    time.sleep(30)
...    operation.refresh()
...
{
  "complete_time": "2016-01-19T06:30:15.479Z",
  "name": None,
  "operation_id": "o-f846360f-2f02-458c-873e-6cabbff4335f",
  "parameters": (nested object),
  "result": "{
     "ODRNode.11453175791583.MAINTENANCE": "SUCCESS",
     "IHSNode.11453175791582.MAINTENANCE": "SUCCESS",
     "CustomNode.11453175791585.MAINTENANCE": "SUCCESS",
     "DmgrNode.11453175791584.MAINTENANCE": "SUCCESS"
  }",
  "return_value": (nested object),
  "role": "MAINTENANCE",
  "status": "COMPLETED",
  "submit_time": "2016-01-19T06:29:20.119Z",
  "type": "configuration",
  "virtualapplication": (nested object)
}
>>>

You follow a similar procedure, using slightly different method names, to apply a fixpack rather than an ifix:

>>> fixpacks = instance.findFixpacks()['candidate_fixpacks']
>>> # List available fixpacks
>>> for name in fixpacks.keys() :
...   print name + ': ' + str([fixpack['version'] for fixpack in fixpacks[name]])
...
IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment: [u'8.5.5.5']
IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server: [u'8.5.5.5']
WebSphere Customization Toolbox: [u'8.5.5.5']
Web Server Plug-ins for IBM WebSphere Application Server: [u'8.5.5.5']
>>> # Update WAS ND
>>> operation = instance.applyFixpack('IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment', '8.5.5.5')
>>> # Follow similar procedure as earlier to monitor for operation completion
>>> # Repeat to update other products

Powering off your PureApplication System using the command-line interface

The PureApplication knowledge center documents how you can initiate a shutdown of your PureApplication System using the system console, by navigating to the System | System Settings page and clicking the “Shut down the system” link in the Power section:

shutdown

Alternately, you can use the following statement in the PureApplication command-line interface to initiate a shutdown:

[ibmadmin@smoonen pure.cli]$ bin/pure -h 172.17.16.209
User name: smoonen
Password:
Welcome to the IBM PureApplication Software CLI.  Enter 'help' if you
need help getting started.
>>> admin.racks[0]._restattrs["target_state"] = "shutdown"
>>>

Adding a network interface to your PureApplication VM: RedHat

Previously I described how you can add an additional network interface to an existing AIX LPAR on PureApplication System. The instructions are similar if you want to add an interface to an existing RedHat 6.x VM. You should follow the same procedure in the UI to add the new interface to the virtual machine. An asynchronous job is scheduled to add the address; after the job completes, take note of the MAC address and IP address:

new-address

Then, login to the virtual machine. Locate the network interface by finding its MAC address, and configure it using the new IP address and the subnet mask for the associated IP group:

[virtuser@ipas-pvm-073-020 ~]$ sudo bash
bash-4.1# ifconfig -a | fgrep -i 00:50:56:8f:1e:a4
eth2      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:56:8F:1E:A4
bash-4.1# ipcalc -bn 172.20.72.4 255.255.248.0
BROADCAST=172.20.79.255
NETWORK=172.20.72.0
bash-4.1# cat > /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth2 << EOF
> TYPE=Ethernet
> DEVICE=eth2
> BOOTPROTO=none
> BROADCAST=172.20.79.255
> NETMASK=255.255.248.0
> NETWORK=172.20.72.0
> STARTMODE='auto'
> USERCONTROL='no'
> ONBOOT=yes
> _nm_name='static-eth2'
> IPADDR=172.20.72.4
> EOF
bash-4.1# ifup eth2
Determining if ip address 172.20.72.4 is already in use for device eth2...
bash-4.1#

This configuration will persist across reboot.

Business cards

Business cards

In the age of LinkedIn and mobile apps like Bump (now defunct), it may seem like business cards are becoming obsolete. Up to this point in time I’ve never felt the need to create a business card for myself.

However, I learned on my recent trip to Southeast Asia that the giving and receiving of business cards is very much alive and well. In this region of the world it is an important way of showing honor and respect.

In Southeast Asia, when you give and receive a business card, you should hold it with both hands, with the card facing the recipient. When you receive a card, you should read it carefully and slowly. If you are sitting down to a meeting, you should place the cards you have received in front of you for the duration of the meeting. And you should always keep cards in a card case, not in your pocket.

So, in order to prepare for future trips, I’ve finally printed my own set of business cards and bought a card case.

The PureApplication family grows

The PureApplication family grows

Congratulations to my fellow PureApplication team members for their achievement in releasing IBM PureApplication Software for US Federal Services this month!

Previously, PureApplication was available in four forms: PureApplication System, a fully integrated appliance with x86 and POWER models; PureApplication Service, running in the IBM SoftLayer public cloud; PureApplication Software, allowing customers to use the PureApplication engine in their own VMWare or PowerVC private clouds; and PureApplication Software on Azure, supporting deployment to the Microsoft Azure public cloud.

Beginning this month, IBM now has PureApplication Software offerings for Amazon’s GovCloud and Commercial Cloud Services (C2S) cloud regions. PureApplication is the premier way to deploy IBM middleware to Amazon EC2.

Multiplication tables

Multiplication tables

For some time now, we’ve been using the BigBrainz math game to help the kids practice their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.

I’m very impressed with the game. The little bit of artificial stress that is added when your math fact is crucial to defeating a “boss” seems to really help reinforce their memorization compared to flash cards!

Asher has made enormous progress in just the last week on his multiplication tables with daily BigBrainz practice. If you’re looking for a simple and fun way to reinforce multiplication tables and other math facts for your children, I highly recommend BigBrainz.

Fortune

We went shopping for Christmas presents recently and also stopped for dinner at a local Chinese buffet. The kids and I were planning to play chess once we were back home. I was amused to find this fortune in my cookie:

fortune

I think it was trying to tell me that I was to play the white pieces.