🏢 AIX/HPUX Legacy Debugging Tools

AIX and HP-UX represent enterprise UNIX systems with decades of evolution, featuring specialized debugging tools tailored for mission-critical environments. These systems prioritize stability, scalability, and deep system introspection capabilities.

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🔍 Core Debugging Utilities

AIX: truss / HP-UX: tusc – System Call Tracing

Platform-specific equivalents for tracing system calls and signals.

AIX:

# Trace system calls of a command
truss ls

# Trace specific process
truss -p 1234

# Count syscalls by type
truss -c ./my_program

HP-UX:

# Trace system calls (HP-UX)
tusc ls

# Trace with timing
tusc -T ./my_program

# Follow child processes
tusc -f daemon_program

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AIX: procstack / HP-UX: pstack – Stack Tracing

Display stack traces of running processes.

AIX:

# Show stack trace
procstack 1234

# Detailed symbol information
procstack -v 1234

HP-UX:

# Display process stack
pstack 1234

# Multiple samples
pstack -n 5 1234

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dbx – Debugger

Native debugger for both platforms supporting source-level debugging.

# Load program into dbx
dbx ./program

# Run with arguments
(dbx) run arg1 arg2

# Set breakpoint
(dbx) stop at main

# Show backtrace
(dbx) where

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📊 Performance Analysis Tools

AIX: topas / HP-UX: top – System Monitoring

Enhanced system monitoring utilities.

AIX:

# Comprehensive system view
topas

# Network-focused view
topas -n

# Disk-focused view
topas -D

HP-UX:

# Standard top
top

# Batch mode
top -b -n 1

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AIX: vmstat / HP-UX: vmstat – Memory Statistics

Virtual memory and system performance statistics.

# Basic vmstat
vmstat 2

# Detailed paging info
vmstat -s

# Disk statistics
vmstat -d

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AIX: sar / HP-UX: sar – System Activity Reporter

Historical performance data collection and reporting.

# CPU utilization
sar -u

# Memory usage
sar -r

# I/O statistics
sar -b

# View historical data
sar -f /var/adm/sa/sa01

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🗃️ Filesystem & Storage Diagnostics

AIX: lsof / HP-UX: fuser – File Usage Tracking

Identify processes using files or filesystems.

AIX:

# Show open files
lsof

# Filter by process
lsof -p 1234

# Network connections
lsof -i

HP-UX:

# Files used by process
fuser -v /path/to/file

# Kill processes using file
fuser -k /mounted/filesystem

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AIX: iostat / HP-UX: iostat – I/O Statistics

Disk I/O performance monitoring.

# Extended device statistics
iostat -xt 5

# Logical volume stats (AIX)
iostat -l 5

# Device-specific stats (HP-UX)
iostat -d 5

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AIX: lsvg/lslv / HP-UX: vgdisplay/lvdisplay – LVM Management

Logical Volume Manager diagnostics.

AIX:

# Volume group info
lsvg rootvg

# Logical volume details
lslv lv01

# Physical volume status
lspv

HP-UX:

# Volume group display
vgdisplay /dev/vg00

# Logical volume info
lvdisplay /dev/vg00/lvol1

# Physical volume status
pvdisplay

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🌐 Network Troubleshooting

AIX: netstat / HP-UX: netstat – Network Statistics

Network connection and interface monitoring.

# Active connections
netstat -an

# Listening ports
netstat -an | grep LISTEN

# Interface statistics
netstat -i

# Routing table
netstat -rn

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AIX: iptrace / HP-UX: nettl – Network Packet Capture

Platform-specific packet capture utilities.

AIX:

# Start packet trace
iptrace -d eth0 trace.out

# Stop tracing
stopsrc -s iptrace

# Convert to readable format
ipreport trace.out

HP-UX:

# Configure trace
nettl -tn ether -e ns_ls_ip -m uxmon0

# Start tracing
nettl -tb

# Stop and convert
nettl -tf all

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🧠 Memory Debugging

AIX: svmon – Shared Memory Monitor

Advanced memory usage analysis.

# Global memory usage
svmon -G

# Per-process memory
svmon -P 1234

# Detailed segment info
svmon -S

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HP-UX: glance – System Performance Monitor¹

Comprehensive real-time system monitoring tool.

# Start glance
glance

# Command-line mode
glance -j

# Historical data
glance -r /var/opt/perf/archive

¹ Requires GlancePlus package installation

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🕵️‍♂️ Logs and System Messages

AIX: errpt – Error Report Utility

AIX-specific error log analysis.

# Recent errors
errpt

# Detailed error info
errpt -a

# Errors from specific date
errpt -s 01011200

# Hardware errors only
errpt -N H

# Export to file
errpt -a > error_report.txt

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HP-UX: dmesg / System Logs

Kernel messages and system logs.

# Kernel ring buffer
dmesg | tail

# System event log (HP-UX)
/opt/resmon/bin/resdata -R

# Application logs
tail /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log

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🧰 Advanced Diagnostic Tools

AIX: snap – System Snapshot Utility

Creates comprehensive diagnostic snapshots for support.

# Generate system snapshot
snap -c

# Include application data
snap -c -a

# Custom snapshot
snap -g -o /tmp/custom_snap

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HP-UX: SPI – System Performance Inspector²

Enterprise-level performance analysis framework.

Components: - MeasureWare Agent - Performance Agent - Global Workload Manager

# Start MeasureWare
/sbin/init.d/mwa start

# Performance data collection
parmgr -c config.file

² Commercial product requiring separate licensing

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AIX: kdb – Kernel Debugger³

Low-level kernel debugging interface.

# Boot into kdb
# (At boot prompt) kdb

# Common kdb commands:
# stat           - System status
# trace          - Stack trace
# mem <addr>     - Memory dump
# regs           - Register display

³ Requires boot-time activation and expert knowledge

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🧾 Summary Table

Tool	Platform	Purpose
truss/tusc	Both	System call tracing
procstack/pstack	Both	Stack trace analysis
dbx	Both	Source-level debugging
topas/top	AIX/HP-UX	System monitoring
lsof/fuser	AIX/HP-UX	File usage tracking
iptrace/nettl	AIX/HP-UX	Network packet capture
svmon/glance	AIX/HP-UX	Memory analysis
errpt	AIX	Error log analysis
snap	AIX	Diagnostic snapshot generation
SPI	HP-UX	Enterprise performance monitoring

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🧠 Best Practices

✅ Use platform-native tools for optimal compatibility ✅ Regularly archive sar and errpt data for trend analysis ✅ Leverage snap for comprehensive problem reporting ✅ Monitor LVM health with volume group commands ✅ Combine network and system monitoring for holistic views ✅ Maintain historical baselines for performance comparisons

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🧾 See Also

• Reference: BSD vs GNU Tools
• Patterns: Logging and Telemetry
• Anti-Patterns: Silent Failures
• Enterprise UNIX Administration Guides
• IBM AIX Documentation
• HP Enterprise HP-UX Documentation

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