Show running processes and uptime on the HMC in the restricted shell

The HMC restricted shell doesn't include the "ps" or "uptime" commands which are sometimes very helpful when troubleshooting issues.   Below are a couple of methods to list running processes and find the HMC uptime.

List Running Processes

The HMC is based on Linux, and the Linux kernel stores information about running processes under /proc.   Each running process has a process ID number (PID) and information about each PID is available at /proc/<pid>.  

Based on this, we can create a primitive "ps" command by listing information from each process out of the /proc filesystem using a command like this:

for proc in `ls -d /proc/[0-9]* | sed 's/\/proc\///g'`; do  printf "%-10s" $proc; cat /proc/$proc/status | grep Name | sed 's/Name://g'; done

When you run this, 2 columns are displayed, the first is the PID number, and the second is the command being run.

Here is what the output looks like (I piped it to the "head" command so that only the first 10 lines are shown):

hscroot@hmc1:~> for proc in `ls -d /proc/[0-9]* | sed 's/\/proc\///g'`; do  printf "%-10s" $proc; cat /proc/$proc/status | grep Name | sed 's/Name://g'; done | head
1             init
10            khelper
10266         su
10267         browserjail
10268         firefox
10278         firefox
10286         run-mozilla.sh
10290         firefox-bin
10313         cimserver
10314         cimservermain

Showing the HMC uptime

There are a couple of methods to show the uptime on the HMC from the restricted shell:

You can run "cat /proc/uptime"; the first column listed is the number of seconds the system has been up.   In my opinion this is much better than "who -b" which is described next.

hscroot@hmc1:~> cat /proc/uptime
60182.47 118695.32

Another option is "who -b" which will show the date/time of the system boot based on /var/log/wtmp.  Personally, I don't think this is a very reliable way to do it as it relies on the /var/log/wtmp file.   

hscroot@hmc1:~> who -b
         system boot  2012-11-03 01:52

If you want to convert the /proc/uptime from seconds to days, you can use a command like this which will show the number of days the system has been up:

echo  $(( $(printf "%.0f" "$(cat /proc/uptime | cut -d " " -f 1)") / 60 / 60 / 24))

If you found these commands helpful, you might want to check out EZH - The Easy HMC Command Line Interface.   It provides a simplified, easy to use interface to the HMC command line and includes "uptime" and "ps" commands similar to what is in this posting, plus dozens of other easy to use commands.

 It is very easy to install, and runs within the HMC restricted shell without having to make any modifications to your HMC.   Check it out at http://ezh.sourceforge.net/  There is also a video overview/demo of EZH at http://youtu.be/E8A9s1_i9xA  Below is the list of included EZH commands in the latest version and the corresponding native HMC commands:

LPAR level commands, all start with "lpar".   After EZH install, type "lpar" and hit tab twice to see all commands listed
Function	EZH Command	HMC Native Command
Open a virtual terminal	lparconsole aix1	mkvterm -m p520 -p aix1
Close a virtual terminal	lparconsoleclose aix1	rmvterm -m p520 -p aix1
Show LPAR/profile info	lparinfo aix1	lssyscfg -r prof -m p520 --filter lpar_names=aix1 lssyscfg -r lpar -m p520 --filter lpar_names=aix1
Show command to re-create LPAR (Can be used to easily clone LPAR)	lparclone aix1	No native HMC command available
Show frame an LPAR is on	lparframelookup aix1	No native HMC command available
Display list of LPAR's and Managed systems and there current state	lparls	No native HMC command available
Save running LPAR configuration to profile	lparsaveconfig aix1	mksyscfg -r prof -m p520 -o save -p aix1 -n aix1 --force
Run VIO command (" lsmap -all" in this example)	lparviorun vio1 lsmap -all	viosvrcmd -m p520 -p vio1 -c "lsmap -all"
Power on LPAR	lparpoweron aix1 Optionally specify profile  as second parameter (if not uses default profile)	chsysstate -r lpar -o on -f aix1 -m p520 -n aix1
Power on LPAR to SMS	lparpoweronsms aix1 Optionally specify profile  as second parameter (if not uses default profile)	chsysstate -r lpar -b sms -o on -f aix1 -m p520 -n aix1
Power off LPAR - Operating System shutdown	lparshutdownos aix1	chsysstate -r lpar -o osshutdown --immed -m p520 -n aix1
Power off LPAR - hard shutdown	lparshutdownhard aix1	chsysstate -r lpar -o shutdown --immed -m p520 -n aix1
Delete LPAR	lpardelete aix3	rmsyscfg -r lpar -m p520 -n aix3
List LPAR system attention LED status	lparlsled aix1	lsled -m p520 -r sa -t virtuallpar --filter lpar_names=aix1
Clear LPAR system attention LED	lparclearled aix1	chled -m p520 -r sa -t virtuallpar -o off -p aix1
Display reference code on LPAR	lparrefcode aix1	lsrefcode -r lpar -m p520 -F "lpar_name refcode time_stamp" --filter lpar_names=aix1
Managed system level commands, all start with "frame".   After EZH install, type "frame" and hit tab twice to see all commands listed
Function	EZH Command	HMC Native Command
List managed systems attached to HMC	framels	lssyscfg -r sys -F name
Power on managed system	framepoweron p520	chsysstate -m p520 -r sys -o on
Power off managed system	framepoweroff p520	chsysstate -m p520 -r sys -o off
List attention LED status on managed system	framelsled p520	lsled -m p520 -r sa -t phys
Clear attention LED on managed system	frameclearled p520	chled -m p520 -r sa -t phys -o off
List managed system details, CPU, and memory	frameinfo p520	lssyscfg -r sys -m p520 lshwres -r proc -m p520 --level sys lshwres -r mem -m p520 --level sys
List servicable events for a managed system	framelsevents p520	lssvcevents -t hardware -m p520 --filter status=open
Misc. Commands
Function	EZH Command	HMC Native Command
Show system uptime	uptime	No native HMC command available
List running process PID's and names	ps	No native HMC command available
Show available memory/swap	free	monhmc -r mem -n 0; monhmc -r swap -n 0
Count number of lines	wc -l	No native HMC command available
Edit a file	vi	rnvi -f
Check disk usage	df	monhmc -n 0 -r disk
Source a file	.	source
List LED status of all frames and LPAR's	lsledall	No native HMC command available
List open serviceable events	lsevents	lssvcevents -t hardware --filter status=open
Close all serviceable events	closeallevents	chsvcevent -o closeall
Show HMC version	hmcversion	lshmc -V
Reboot HMC	hmcrestart	hmcshutdown -t now -r