Configuring HTTPd

After the local repository is created, it can be shared with and accessed by DNF clients over HTTP (or HTTPS). To do so, you first need to install and start a web server on the local repo server (e.g., Apache or Nginx). This example installs httpd (Apache) and a couple of tools:

# dnf -y install httpd
# dnf -y tcping
# dnf -y lynx

You would then configure the httpd.conf file to allow access to the location of the local repository on the repo server. I like to install the tcping and lynx tools, as well, because they are useful in monitoring and troubleshooting web servers.

The HTTP directives code (Listing 7) provides a sample of the Apache directives that can be added to the httpd.conf file to allow access to the repository directory. You need to restart the HTTP server for the changes to take effect. In this example, /aixtoolbox is the directory that contains the repository.

ServerName sisko.edu.ibm
...
<Directory "/aixtoolbox">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride None
    Require all granted
</Directory>
Alias /aixtoolbox "/aixtoolbox"

The ServerName directive was added so Apache could determine the server's fully qualified domain name during startup. The <Directory> directive encloses a group of directives that apply only to the named directory, sub-directories of that directory, and the files within these directories. In this case, the directory is /aixtoolbox.

The AllowOverride None directive ignores any .htaccess files (providing access without requiring a password). The Require all granted directive allows access from any IP address, and the Alias directive allows documents to be stored in a local filesystem other than under the default Apache DocumentRoot. So, for example, a request for example.com/aixtoolbox would cause the web server to return files in /aixtoolbox.

Also add the stanza

<Location "/server-status">
    SetHandler server-status
    Require ip 127.0.0.1
</Location>

to the bottom section of the file to allow the status of the Apache server to be queried from the command line with the apachectl command. Next, start the Apache server and confirm the httpd daemon is responding:

# apachectl start
# tcping sisko 80
sisko port 80 open.

As shown, it should report that port 80 is open.

Checking the status of the HTTPd server shows it is healthy and ready to respond to HTTP requests (Listing 8).

# apachectl status
   Apache Server Status for localhost (via 127.0.0.1)
   Server Version: Apache/2.4.58 (Unix)
   ...etc...

Now perform another test by connecting to the web server from the command line (with lynx), and confirm you can access the /aixtoolbox location over HTTP on your local repo server (Listing 9).

# lynx http://sisko//aixtoolbox -dump
     Index of /aixtoolbox
     * [1]Parent Directory
     * [2].Version
     * [3]CONTENTS.toolbox
     * [4]LICENSES/
     * [5]README.toolbox
     * [6]RPMS.bygroup/
     * [7]RPMS/
     * [8]SRPMS/
     * [9]contrib/
     * [10]docs/
     * [11]ezinstall/
     * [12]installp/
     * [13]usr/
...etc...

The output from lynx confirms the HTTPd server is functioning. DNF clients can now access the local repo server over HTTP.

Client Access to Local Repo Server

To configure the DNF clients to access the local repo server over HTTP, edit the dnf.conf file and add entries for each repository, along with the HTTP URL for the local repo server. Listing 10 shows a client dnf.conf file configured to access a local repo server named sisko over http:// . Note that the repo IDs and names have all been set to start with My_, to identify a custom local configuration.

[My_AIX_Toolbox]
name=My AIX generic repository
baseurl=http://sisko:80//aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
[My_AIX_Toolbox_noarch]
name=My AIX noarch repository
baseurl=http://sisko:80//aixtoolbox/RPMS/noarch/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
[My_AIX_Toolbox_73]
name=My AIX 7.3 specific repository
baseurl=http://sisko:80//aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc-7.3/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

Once the dnf.conf file is configured, run the dnf repolist command to verify that all the repositories (on sisko) are available to the client. Listing 11 confirms that the repo IDs all start with My_.

# dnf repolist
repo id                   repo name
My_AIX_Toolbox            AIX generic repository
My_AIX_Toolbox_73         AIX 7.3 specific repository
My_AIX_Toolbox_noarch     AIX noarch repository

Running the same command again, this time with the verbose option, shows that the local repo server is in use by the DNF client, as per the Repo-baseurl entry (Listing 12).

# dnf repolist -v | grep Repo-baseurl
Repo-baseurl       : http://sisko:80//aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc
Repo-baseurl       : http://sisko:80//aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc-7.3/
Repo-baseurl       : http://sisko:80//aixtoolbox/RPMS/noarch/

From one of your DNF clients you can now test that the local repo server works (over HTTP). In this example, you install the zoo package from your local repo server and turn on verbose output to see additional information, noting in which repository the zoo package is installed (i.e., from My_AIX_Toolbox; Listing 13).

# dnf -yv install zoo
...etc...
--> Starting dependency resolution
---> Package zoo.ppc 2.10-5 will be installed
...etc..
Installing:
 zoo       ppc       2.10-5           My_AIX_Toolbox              62 k
...etc...
Installed:
  zoo-2.10-5.ppc
Complete!

Back on the repo server, you can search the web server logfile, access_log, for the HTTP GET request for the zoo RPM file from the client:

# grep zoo /var/log/httpd/access_log
10.8.12.141 - - [11/Oct/2024:00:14:14 -0500] "GET //aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc/zoo-2.10-5.aix5.1.ppc.rpm HTTP/1.1" 200 63688

On the DNF client, you can open the dnf.log file with view /var/log/dnf.log and search the log for the installation of the zoo package with DNF (Listing 14).

...
2024-10-11T04:51:46Z DEBUG DNF version: 4.2.17
2024-10-11T04:51:46Z DDEBUG Command: dnf -yv install zoo
...
2024-11-01T01:15:33Z DEBUG ---> Package zoo.ppc 2.10-5 will be installed
...etc...
Installing:
 zoo.......ppc.......2.10-5...........My_AIX_Toolbox...............62 k
...etc...
Installed:
  zoo-2.10-5.ppc
        ...

With these steps complete, you've now configured your AIX DNF client to use a local repo server. Next, I'll review how you can use DNF to manage OSS packages on AIX.

Open Source Packages on AIX

Now that you have DNF installed and a local repo server up and running, you'll want to look at how to install, make operational, and manage OSS packages on AIX. As an example we'll install the open source MariaDB Server from the AIX Toolbox. This popular open source relational database was developed by the original developers of MySQL [10].

From the AIX Toolbox, use DNF to install the MariaDB Server:

dnf -y install mariadb-server

To avoid any out-of-memory messages when starting the database, change the AIX user limits for the root and mysql users, with the chuser command (Listing 15).

# chuser core=-1 cpu=-1 data=-1 fsize=-1 stack=-1 nofiles=-1 core_hard=-1 cpu_hard=-1 data_hard=-1 fsize_hard=-1 stack_hard=-1 nofiles_hard=-1 root
# chuser core=-1 cpu=-1 data=-1 fsize=-1 stack=-1 nofiles=-1 core_hard=-1 cpu_hard=-1 data_hard=-1 fsize_hard=-1 stack_hard=-1 nofiles_hard=-1 mysql

You can verify that the user limits have been changed successfully with the

lsuser -f <username>

command and check that the updated attributes are set to -1.

Now you can start a new root user session with su -, which starts a new root shell with the updated user attributes from the previous step. You can check that the new limits for the root user have taken effect by running the ulimit command before and after the su - command. Note that the majority of resource limits are now set to unlimited (Listing 16).

# ulimit -a
time(seconds)        unlimited
file(blocks)         2097151
data(kbytes)         131072
stack(kbytes)        32768
memory(kbytes)       32768
coredump(blocks)     2097151
nofiles(descriptors) 2000
threads(per process) unlimited
processes(per user)  128
# su -
# ulimit -a
time(seconds)        unlimited
file(blocks)         unlimited
data(kbytes)         unlimited
stack(kbytes)        unlimited
memory(kbytes)       32768
coredump(blocks)     unlimited
nofiles(descriptors) unlimited
threads(per process) unlimited
processes(per user)  128

The next step is to prepare the database server setup to handle the initialization tasks that must be performed before the database server (mysqld) is ready to use. It initializes the database data directory and creates the system tables it contains, initializes the system tablespace and related data structures needed to manage InnoDB tables, loads the server-side help tables, installs the sys schema, and creates an administrative account (Listing 17).

# mysql_install_db --user=mysql
Installing MariaDB/MySQL system tables in '/opt/freeware/var/lib/mysql/data' ...
OK
To start mysqld at boot time you have to copy
support-files/mysql.server to the right place for your system
Two all-privilege accounts were created.
One is root@localhost, it has no password, but you need to
be system 'root' user to connect. Use, for example, sudo mysql
The second is mysql@localhost, it has no password either, but
you need to be the system 'mysql' user to connect.
After connecting you can set the password, if you would need to be able to connect as any of these users with a password and without sudo
See the MariaDB Knowledgebase at http://mariadb.com/kb
You can start the MariaDB daemon with:
cd '/opt/freeware' ; /opt/freeware/bin/mysqld_safe --datadir='/opt/freeware/var/lib/mysql/data'
You can test the MariaDB daemon with mysql-test-run.pl
cd '/opt/freeware/mysql-test' ; perl mysql-test-run.pl
Please report any problems at http://mariadb.org/jira
The latest information about MariaDB is available at http://mariadb.org/.
Consider joining MariaDB's strong and vibrant community:
https://mariadb.org/get-involved/
#

Now you can start the database server with the command:

# echo "/opt/freeware/bin/mysqld_safe --datadir='/opt/freeware/var/lib/mysql/data'" | at now

Next, check that the MariaDB server process is running (Listing 18).

# ps -ef | grep mysqld
   mysql  8323484 18219314   0 21:39:57  pts/1  0:00 /opt/freeware/libexec/mysqld --basedir=/opt/freeware --datadir=/opt/freeware/var/lib/mysql/data --plugin-dir=/opt/freeware/lib64/mariadb/plugin --user=mysql --log-error=/opt/freeware/var/log/mysql/mysqld.log --pid-file=/opt/freeware/var/lib/mysql/mysqld.pid --socket=/opt/freeware/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
    root 18219314 14418290   0 21:39:57  pts/1  0:00 /bin/sh /opt/freeware/bin/mysqld_safe

You can check the status of the server and get a prompt with:

/opt/freeware/bin/mysql -u root mysql
...
MariaDB [mysql]>

At the resulting prompt, type status to see the active status of the database server (Listing 19); then, type exit; to return to the shell, change to the mysql user, and connect to the database server (Listing 20).

MariaDB [mysql]> status
--------------
/opt/freeware/bin/mysql  Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.4.26-MariaDB, for AIX7.1 (powerpc) using readline 5.1
Connection id:          9
Current database:       mysql
Current user:           root@localhost
SSL:                    Not in use
Current pager:          stdout
Using outfile:          ''
Using delimiter:        ;
Server:                 MariaDB
Server version:         10.4.26-MariaDB Source distribution
Protocol version:       10
Connection:             Localhost via UNIX socket
Server characterset:    latin1
Db     characterset:    latin1
Client characterset:    latin1
Conn.  characterset:    latin1
UNIX socket:            /opt/freeware/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
Uptime:                 17 sec
Threads: 6  Questions: 75  Slow queries: 0  Opens: 37  Flush tables: 1  Open tables: 30  Queries per second avg: 0.013
--------------

$ su - mysql
$ /opt/freeware/bin/mysql -u mysql mysql
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 9
Server version: 10.4.26-MariaDB Source distribution
Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
readline: warning: turning on OPOST for terminal
readline: warning: turning on OPOST for terminal
MariaDB [mysql]>

At the prompt on the last line, create a database named MARIAIX:

CREATE DATABASE MARIAIX;

To confirm the database was created successfully, list the databases, with SHOW DATABASES;. Type exit; to return to the shell prompt, and type exit (without the semicolon) to return to the root shell prompt (Listing 21).

MariaDB [mysql]> SHOW DATABASES;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| MARIAIX            |
| information_schema |
| mysql              |
| performance_schema |
| test               |
+--------------------+
5 rows in set (0.000 sec)
MariaDB [mysql]> exit;
Bye
$ exit
#

You can stop the database server with the mysqladmin tool:

mysqladmin -u root -p shutdown

Enter the root password when prompted. However, MariaDB Server is also integrated into the system resource controller (SRC) framework when installed on AIX, meaning you can stop and start it with the built-in AIX commands. You can confirm the mariadb SRC subsystem exists on the system with the command in Listing 22.

# lssrc -Ss mariadb#subsysname:synonym:cmdargs:path:uid:auditid:standin:standout:standerr:action:multi:contact:svrkey:svrmtype:priority:signorm:sigforce:display:waittime:grpname:mariadb::-c "ulimit -n unlimited; ulimit -c 10; ulimit -m unlimited; ulimit -d unlimited; /opt/freeware/libexec/mysqld" :/usr/bin/sh:27:0:/dev/console:/dev/console:/dev/console:-O:-Q:-S:0:0:20:15:9:-d:20::

Now start the database server from the AIX SRC and confirm the mariadb subsystem is now active (Listing 23).

# startsrc -s mariadb
0513-059 The mariadb Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 5636486.
# lssrc -s mariadb
Subsystem         Group            PID          Status
 mariadb                           5636486      active
# ps -fu mysql
     UID      PID     PPID   C    STIME    TTY  TIME CMD
   mysql  5636486  4129208   0 19:39:27      -  0:00 /opt/freeware/libexec/mysqld

You can stop the DB server and confirm the mariadb subsystem is inoperative (Listing 24). Congratulations, you have just used DNF to install your first open source database application and create and manage a MariaDB database on AIX.

# stopsrc -s mariadb
0513-044 The mariadb Subsystem was requested to stop.
# lssrc -s mariadb
Subsystem        Group           PID         Status
 mariadb                                     inoperative