FLRT help: Scripting help

Other Scripts and Documentation

FLRT allows administrators of IBM systems to monitor recommendations and assist in service planning. For AIX only, FLRT supports the ability to create a script, running on your machine, that can periodically query FLRT online for recommended updates. The documentation, commands and sample script provided on this page apply to the AIX operating system only.

If you currently use a script, refer to the sample scripts below for changes you might need to make to your existing script.

Getting Started

To take advantage of the FLRT scripting capabilities, use an HTTP retrieval program, such as wget, to query FLRT for the recommended software levels for your machine.

Make sure your machine has network access to http://esupport.ibm.com/customercare/flrt/query.

Write a script to query FLRT by reading the FLRT scripting documentation listed below. Or, start with one of the sample ksh scripts provided on this page.

The scripts provided are sample scripts only. You must create your own script based on your environment. If you want to use one of the script samples as a starting point, please modify it to suit the needs of your machine. Comment out sections for software that is not running on your machine. Place your script in a directory where execution will have write authority so that it can create temporary files for processing.

Scripting Documentation

Two example scripts are provided.

Script #1 : Generate FLRT Inventory File and FLRT Report

The first allows inventory collection from multiple partitions. It uses ssh to pull version information for operating system, VIOS and other products. When the script is called, use the host names of the AIX partitions as parameters. Use the vios: prefix if the partition is VIOS type.


Script #1 : Usage
Flag/ParameterDescription
-f <type>Specify the output type: "html", "btext", "text", or "xml".
<host1> <host2> <...>Specify a list of hostnames to gather partition information. The script uses ssh to pull information.

After executing the script, you will receive the output below. This output may be saved to a file and used on the FLRT website as an inventory file.

Script #1 : Output
# ./flrt_multi_inv.ksh ipv4-072 vios:ipv4-071 ipv4-073
reportname~FLRT Report 03 Apr 2013 01:54:33 PM
system.mtm~9133-55A
system.fw~SF240_259~release~2009.01.01~eosps~2099.09.09
system.fw~SF240_259~update~SF240_418~release~2012.11.19~eosps~2099.09.09
ipv4-072.aix~7100-00-03~release~2011.05.12~eosps~2013.09.10
ipv4-072.aix~7100-00-03~update~7100-00-08~release~2012.12.12~eosps~2013.09.10
ipv4-072.aix~7100-00-03~upgrade~7100-02-01~release~2012.11.09~eosps~2015.11.09
ipv4-071.vios~2.2.2.1~release~2012.11.09
ipv4-071.vios~2.2.2.1~fix VIOS_2.2.2.1_IV31624.121114
ipv4-071.vios~2.2.2.1~fix VIOS_2.2.2.1_IV32091.121116
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.aix~6100-05-01~release~2010.04.24~eosps~2012.07.18
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.aix~6100-05-01~update~6100-05-09~release~2012.07.18~eosps~2012.07.18
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.aix~6100-05-01~upgrade~6100-08-01~release~2012.11.09~eosps~2015.11.09
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.gpfs~3.4.0.6~release~2011.06.02
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.gpfs~3.4.0.6~update~3.4.0.20~release~2013.03.11

Script #2 : Generate FLRT Recommendation using Inventory File

The second script uses an inventory file that was saved from the FLRT web page or generated from Script #1. Here is an example of a saved inventory file:

You must provide a FLRT inventory file, below is an example FLRT inventory. This may be generated from Script #1 or through our FLRT Power Recommendation Tool.

Script #2 : Example Inventory
# cat sample.inventory.txt
reportname=Sample Inventory for FLRT
mtm=9133-55A
fw=SF240_259
p1.parnm=ipv4-071
p1.os=vios
p1.vios=2.2.2.1
p2.parnm=ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com
p2.os=aix
p2.aix=6100-05-01-1016
p2.gpfs=3.4.0.6
p3.parnm=ipv4-072
p3.os=aix
p3.aix=7100-00-03-1115

And here is an example of the output using that inventory:

Script #2 : Output
# ./flrt_inventory.ksh sample.inventory.txt
reportname~Sample Inventory for FLRT
system.mtm~9133-55A
system.fw~SF240_259~release~2009.01.01~eosps~2099.09.09
system.fw~SF240_259~update~SF240_418~release~2012.11.19~eosps~2099.09.09
ipv4-071.vios~2.2.2.1~release~2012.11.09
ipv4-071.vios~2.2.2.1~fix VIOS_2.2.2.1_IV31624.121114
ipv4-071.vios~2.2.2.1~fix VIOS_2.2.2.1_IV32091.121116
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.aix~6100-05-01~release~2010.04.24~eosps~2012.07.18
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.aix~6100-05-01~update~6100-05-09~release~2012.07.18~eosps~2012.07.18
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.aix~6100-05-01~upgrade~6100-08-01~release~2012.11.09~eosps~2015.11.09
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.gpfs~3.4.0.6~release~2011.06.02
ipv4-073.austin.ibm.com.gpfs~3.4.0.6~update~3.4.0.20~release~2013.03.11
ipv4-072.aix~7100-00-03~release~2011.05.12~eosps~2013.09.10
ipv4-072.aix~7100-00-03~update~7100-00-08~release~2012.12.12~eosps~2013.09.10
ipv4-072.aix~7100-00-03~upgrade~7100-02-01~release~2012.11.09~eosps~2015.11.09

Syntax details for writing your own script

HTTP GET URL: http://esupport.ibm.com/customercare/flrt/query


Product codes

For the complete list of codes for all supported products, refer to FLRT products and codes. The entry in the Codes column represents the HTTP attribute to use in the script for the indicated product.


Values for HTTP attributes

The following list shows samples of the attribute values to use with the HTTP attribute codes for some of the products supported in FLRT.

ProductHTTP attributeSample value
AIXsseq6u9999-99-99 or 9999-99-CSP
General Parallel File Systemsg6mspversion (for example, 3.3.0)
Hardware Management Consoleswg20version (for example, 6.1.2)
PowerHAsgl4g4version (for example, 5.4.1.0)
Parallel Environmentsg6mu7version (for example, 4.2)
Parallel ESSLsg4pslversion (for example, 3.3.0)
Virtual I/O Serversgs8jyversion (for example, 2.1.3)

The following list entails HTTP attributes that are used for product family or non-product items, along with sample values for those attributes.

HTTP attributeSample value
mtm9999-XXX (for example, 9119-FHA or 8233-E8B)
delima delimiter character used for returning results (default=' ')
disk*DS9999 (for example, DS5200)
dsfwdisk firmware version (for example, 7.60.x)
fwAA999_999 or 999_999 (for example, AM720_064 or 720_064)
formattext | btext | html (default='text')
ghzcpu speed in decimal gigahertz (for example, 1.9)

* For FLRT to report on more than one disk system for the same partition or host, disk product codes must be modified with a suffix. These suffixes are used by FLRT to associate disk software data in the HTTP request with disk hardware data. The suffixes are of the form "_g9" where "9" represents a positive integer. Parameter names for versions of disk software components must have the same suffix as the parameter name of the disk hardware version that they are associated with. Any positive integer may be used as long as associated product versions use the same integer, and unassociated product versions use distinct integers.

For example, suppose that a host contains a DS5100 disk system running controller firmware 7.50.x, and a DS4500 system running 6.23.x firmware. Valid parameters corresponding to this configuration would be:

disk_g3=DS5100 dsfw_g3=7.50.x disk_g1=DS4500 dsfw_g1=6.23.x


Example of wget command:

Note that although the following command wraps in the browser, there are no spaces in the URL part of the command:

./wget "http://esupport.ibm.com/customercare/flrt/query?format=text&mtm=9117-570&ghz=4.7&sseq6u=5300-04-03&fw=SF240_219"