LinuxHPC.org/Cluster Builder 1.3
AIX Operating System
AIX Operating System
By LinuxHPC.org and Cluster Resources
| AIX Operating System |
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AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive) is a proprietary operating system developed by IBM based on UNIX System V. Before the product was ever marketed, the acronym AIX originally stood for Advanced IBM UNIX.
AIX has pioneered numerous network operating system enhancements, introducing new innovations later adopted by Unix-like operating systems; it is often one of the first operating systems to implement a new innovation in software architecture as a sophisticated software technology.
The scalable AIX 5L 5.3 supports up to 64 central processing units and two terabytes (TB) of random access memory. The JFS2 file system—first introduced by IBM as part of AIX—supports computer files and partitions up to 16 TB in size.
Interfaces
- Graphical
- The Common Desktop Environment (CDE) is AIX's default graphical user interface. As part of Linux Affinity and the free AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications (ATLA), open-source KDE and GNOME desktop are also available.
- System Management Console
- SMIT is the System Management Interface Tool for AIX. It allows a user to navigate a menu hierarchy of commands, rather than using the command line. Invocation is typically achieved with the command smit. Experienced system administrators make use of the F6 accelerator which generates the command line that SMIT will invoke to complete the proposed task. SMIT also generates a log of commands that are performed (smit.log), which can be condensed into a script for automating a series of tasks on numerous systems. SMIT and SMITTY refer to the same program, though SMITTY invokes the text-based version, while SMIT will invoke an X Window based interface if possible; however, if SMIT determines that X Window capabilities are not present, it will present the text-based version instead of failing. Determination of X Window capabilities is typically performed by checking for the existence of the DISPLAY variable.