zsnap tool

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The zsnap tool offers a number of enhancements designed to make it easier to capture and deliver problem information to IBM. The tool uses the already installed /usr/sbin/snap command and supports all snap flags on all supported AIX releases.

What's new in Version 1.0.0.6?

Summary Report . The --SYS flag sends to standard out a short summary report to standard out that includes your operating system service level and how many iFixes are installed. Run without the --SYS flag, zsnap generates both a short and detailed summary report in /tmp/ibmsupt/testcase/basic/summary.out.
VIO client information . The --VIOC flag gathers information about NPIV/virtual fibre adapter(s) on the VIO client. Run zsnap with this flag on the AIX LPAR to help the AIX support specialist understand the communication path to the PowerVM VIOS partition.
DEVSCAN basic . If you have installed /usr/local/bin/devscan, then running zsnap with the --SAN flag, causes zsnap to execute devscan, and then gather devscan basic information. Devscan is freely available from AIX Support Center Tools.
ZSNAPCONFIG variable . This feature is not new for 1.0.0.6 but can be helpful for those adminstrators who are accustomed to using many of the same flags every time. When set, zsnap reads a file that contains zsnap flags that would normally be entered on the command line.
Customized pax filenames . Use the --filetext flag to can add text to the name of the completed testcase file. This flag is useful when you send more than one .pax file to IBM.
Add your own file to the testcase . The --addfile flag enables you to specify one or more files to be placed in the "testcase" directory.

Features of zsnap

Because it is an improved tool built around the AIX snap command, customers can feel confident using zsnap instead of using snap to send data to the AIX or PowerHA technical support team.

The zsnap tool

Supports all /usr/bin/snap command flags
Has a SMIT fast path: smit zsnap
Consolidates many snap flags and enhanced zsnap data gathering into easy to remember flags, such as: zsnap --NIM --DUMP --NFS and others.
Sends a testcase directly to IBM from the machine that generated the testcase data without your having to rename the testcase to match your PMR number or FTP the testcase manually. You simply use the --pmr and --ftp flags and zsnap does it for you. It even knows which IBM testcase server to choose so you do not need to.
May fork multiple calls to the snap command to reduce data gathering time.
Eliminates the overwriting of existing snap data by detecting the existence of a previous testcase, thus preventing accidental overwrites.

zsnap adds new support for the following components:

Network File System
Storage Area Network information
"what" output on many AIX base commands
PowerHA debugging information
Cluster Aware AIX debugging data
Network Installation Manager data
MultiPath I/O (MPIO) information
Kerberos debugging information
Pluggable Authentication Module data
Fibre Channel specific information

zsnap adds improved support for the following components

Installation data, including iFix information and oslevel details, and RPM packages
General information including uptime, syslog, critical alogs and cron job listings, and more filesystem data
Boot information including bootlist and bootinfo
Vital Product Data objects, such as raw ODM files
General information like utmp, wtmp files, and what output
Graphics subsystem information
Disk driver data
Network debugging information for TCPIP and NFS

Document Location

Worldwide

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