Thread: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
Liang Giap Wee
Date:
Hi,

We are considering using your open source Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1.

May i know if you have a opensource community to help with support issues
should we face problem with during installation? Thanks...

Regards,
Liang Giap, Wee

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
"Kevin Grittner"
Date:
Liang Giap Wee <weelg@sg.ibm.com> wrote:

> We are considering using your open source Postgres on AIX5.3 and
> AIX6.1.
>
> May i know if you have a opensource community to help with support
> issues should we face problem with during installation? Thanks...

Yeah, you'll find that there's an active and responsive user
community.  It is good to pay attention to the descriptions of the
lists, and post to the correct list.  It helps to keep things
organized and to put the issue in front of the right people.  (For
example, this is not a bug; it should have been posted to
pgsql-general.)  You can see the available lists at:

http://www.postgresql.org/community/lists/

I hope that helps.

-Kevin

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
Chris Browne
Date:
weelg@sg.ibm.com (Liang Giap Wee) writes:
> Hi,
> We are considering using your open source Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1.
> May i know if you have a opensource community to help with support issues should we face problem with during
installation?Thanks... 
> Regards,
> Liang Giap, Wee

There is already an FAQ on issues relating to AIX.  It is, in recent
versions, part of the documentation tree:

<http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/static/installation-platform-notes.html>

It is also worth taking a peek at the BuildFarm, and searching for
sites running regular regression tests on AIX:
<http://pgbuildfarm.org/cgi-bin/show_members.pl>

There are six "nodes" running AIX of varying flavors.
--
select 'cbbrowne' || '@' || 'cbbrowne.com';
http://cbbrowne.com/info/internet.html
"MS  apparently now  has a  team dedicated  to tracking  problems with
Linux  and publicizing them.   I guess  eventually they'll  figure out
this back fires... ;)" -- William Burrow <aa126@DELETE.fan.nb.ca>

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
John R Pierce
Date:
On 06/23/10 6:02 PM, Chris Browne wrote:
> There is already an FAQ on issues relating to AIX. It is, in recent
> versions, part of the documentation tree:
>
> <http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/static/installation-platform-notes.html>
>

can I take this opportunity to point out a problem on that page?

In "5.8.1.3. Internet address issues", the bit about ..

    # ifconfig lo0 inet6 ::1/0 delete


In 6.1, localhost may fail to come up at all when you next reboot after
you do that. I had to recreate the ipv6 localhost before it would work
correctly.   I haven't investigated any farther.


<http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/static/installation-platform-notes.html>

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
Chris Browne
Date:
pierce@hogranch.com (John R Pierce) writes:
> On 06/23/10 6:02 PM, Chris Browne wrote:
>> There is already an FAQ on issues relating to AIX. It is, in recent
>> versions, part of the documentation tree:
>>
>> <http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/static/installation-platform-notes.html>
>>
>
> can I take this opportunity to point out a problem on that page?
>
> In "5.8.1.3. Internet address issues", the bit about ..
>
>     # ifconfig lo0 inet6 ::1/0 delete
>
>
> In 6.1, localhost may fail to come up at all when you next reboot
> after you do that. I had to recreate the ipv6 localhost before it
> would work correctly.   I haven't investigated any farther.

Here's a patch that makes this more version-sensitive.

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml
index cd3755b..55d7329 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml
@@ -2257,7 +2257,7 @@ kill `cat /usr/local/pgsql/data/postmaster.pid`
      would <quote>mysteriously</quote> not come up successfully.  This
      appears to be the result of unexpected behavior in the IPv6
      implementation.  It looks like PostgreSQL and IPv6 do not play
-     very well together at this time on AIX.
+     very well together on AIX 5.3.
     </para>

     <para>
@@ -2291,6 +2291,14 @@ hosts=local4,bind4
       </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
     </para>
+
+    <warning> <para> This seemed to work on AIX version 5.3, but is
+    not an elegant solution to the problem.  Others have reported that
+    this removal of IPv6 support caused problems on AIX 6.1,
+    specifically that this <quote>solution</quote> caused loss of
+    localhost. </para>
+    </warning>
+
    </sect3>

    <sect3>
--
(format nil "~S@~S" "cbbrowne" "acm.org")
http://www3.sympatico.ca/cbbrowne/unix.html
In case you weren't aware, "ad homineum" is not latin for "the user of
this technique is a fine debater." -- Thomas F. Burdick

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
Robert Haas
Date:
On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 12:39 PM, Chris Browne <cbbrowne@acm.org> wrote:
> pierce@hogranch.com (John R Pierce) writes:
>> On 06/23/10 6:02 PM, Chris Browne wrote:
>>> There is already an FAQ on issues relating to AIX. It is, in recent
>>> versions, part of the documentation tree:
>>>
>>> <http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/static/installation-platform-notes.=
html>
>>>
>>
>> can I take this opportunity to point out a problem on that page?
>>
>> In "5.8.1.3. Internet address issues", the bit about ..
>>
>> =A0 =A0 =A0 # ifconfig lo0 inet6 ::1/0 delete
>>
>>
>> In 6.1, localhost may fail to come up at all when you next reboot
>> after you do that. I had to recreate the ipv6 localhost before it
>> would work correctly. =A0 I haven't investigated any farther.
>
> Here's a patch that makes this more version-sensitive.

This patch makes it clear that the workaround is no good on AIX 6.1,
but it doesn't seem quite clear about whether the underlying problem
has been fixed in AIX 6.1.  It would be good to understand that.

--=20
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise Postgres Company

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
Chris Browne
Date:
robertmhaas@gmail.com (Robert Haas) writes:
> This patch makes it clear that the workaround is no good on AIX 6.1,
> but it doesn't seem quite clear about whether the underlying problem
> has been fixed in AIX 6.1.  It would be good to understand that.

Better?

--
(format nil "~S@~S" "cbbrowne" "acm.org")
http://www3.sympatico.ca/cbbrowne/unix.html
In case you weren't aware, "ad homineum" is not latin for "the user of
this technique is a fine debater." -- Thomas F. Burdick

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
Alvaro Herrera
Date:
Excerpts from Chris Browne's message of jue jun 24 14:40:30 -0400 2010:
> robertmhaas@gmail.com (Robert Haas) writes:
> > This patch makes it clear that the workaround is no good on AIX 6.1,
> > but it doesn't seem quite clear about whether the underlying problem
> > has been fixed in AIX 6.1.  It would be good to understand that.
>
> Better?

Empty diff?

--
Álvaro Herrera <alvherre@commandprompt.com>
The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc.
PostgreSQL Replication, Consulting, Custom Development, 24x7 support

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
Chris Browne
Date:
alvherre@commandprompt.com (Alvaro Herrera) writes:
> Excerpts from Chris Browne's message of jue jun 24 14:40:30 -0400 2010:
>> robertmhaas@gmail.com (Robert Haas) writes:
>> > This patch makes it clear that the workaround is no good on AIX 6.1,
>> > but it doesn't seem quite clear about whether the underlying problem
>> > has been fixed in AIX 6.1.  It would be good to understand that.
>>
>> Better?
>
> Empty diff?

Oops.  Hopefully this is less empty.

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml
index cd3755b..bde60ce 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml
@@ -2257,7 +2257,7 @@ kill `cat /usr/local/pgsql/data/postmaster.pid`
      would <quote>mysteriously</quote> not come up successfully.  This
      appears to be the result of unexpected behavior in the IPv6
      implementation.  It looks like PostgreSQL and IPv6 do not play
-     very well together at this time on AIX.
+     very well together on AIX 5.3.
     </para>

     <para>
@@ -2291,6 +2291,16 @@ hosts=local4,bind4
       </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
     </para>
+
+    <warning> <para> This is really a workaround of problems relating
+    to immaturity of IPv6 support, which improved visibly during the
+    course of AIX 5.3 releases.  It has worked with AIX version 5.3,
+    but does not represent an elegant solution to the problem.  It has
+    been reported that this workaround is not only unnecessary, but
+    causes problems on AIX 6.1, where IPv6 support has become more
+    mature. </para>
+    </warning>
+
    </sect3>

    <sect3>

--
(format nil "~S@~S" "cbbrowne" "acm.org")
http://www3.sympatico.ca/cbbrowne/unix.html
In case you weren't aware, "ad homineum" is not latin for "the user of
this technique is a fine debater." -- Thomas F. Burdick

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
Robert Haas
Date:
On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 4:50 PM, Chris Browne <cbbrowne@acm.org> wrote:
> alvherre@commandprompt.com (Alvaro Herrera) writes:
>> Excerpts from Chris Browne's message of jue jun 24 14:40:30 -0400 2010:
>>> robertmhaas@gmail.com (Robert Haas) writes:
>>> > This patch makes it clear that the workaround is no good on AIX 6.1,
>>> > but it doesn't seem quite clear about whether the underlying problem
>>> > has been fixed in AIX 6.1. =A0It would be good to understand that.
>>>
>>> Better?
>>
>> Empty diff?
>
> Oops. =A0Hopefully this is less empty.

Yes.  That seems pretty clear and unambiguous.

--=20
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise Postgres Company

Re: Postgres on AIX5.3 and AIX6.1

From
Robert Haas
Date:
On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 11:02 PM, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 4:50 PM, Chris Browne <cbbrowne@acm.org> wrote:
>> alvherre@commandprompt.com (Alvaro Herrera) writes:
>>> Excerpts from Chris Browne's message of jue jun 24 14:40:30 -0400 2010:
>>>> robertmhaas@gmail.com (Robert Haas) writes:
>>>> > This patch makes it clear that the workaround is no good on AIX 6.1,
>>>> > but it doesn't seem quite clear about whether the underlying problem
>>>> > has been fixed in AIX 6.1. =A0It would be good to understand that.
>>>>
>>>> Better?
>>>
>>> Empty diff?
>>
>> Oops. =A0Hopefully this is less empty.
>
> Yes. =A0That seems pretty clear and unambiguous.

Committed.

--=20
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise Postgres Company