IBM RS/6000 44P - Manual (Page 159)

Spare Sector Availability
This selection checks the number of spare sectors available on the optical disk. The
spare sectors are used to reassign when defective sectors are encountered during
normal usage or during a format and certify operation. Low availability of spare sectors
indicates that the disk needs to be backed up and replaced. Formatting the disk does
not improve the availability of spare sectors.
This task can be run directly from the AIX command line. The syntax of the command is
as follows:
diag -c -d < deviceName -T chkspares
SSA Service Aid
This service aid provides tools for diagnosing and resolving problems on SSA-attached
devices. The following tools are provided:
v Set Service Mode
v Link Verification
v Configuration Verification
v Format and Certify Disk
Update Disk-Based Diagnostics
This service aid allows fixes (APARs) to be applied.
This task invokes the SMIT Update Software by Fix (APAR) task. The task allows the
input device and APARs to be selected. Any APAR can be installed using this task.
Update System or Service Processor Flash
This selection updates the system or service processor flash for CHRP system units.
Further update and recovery instructions may be provided with the update. It is
necessary to know the fully qualified path and file name of the flash-update image file
that was provided. If the flash-update image file is on a diskette, the service aid can list
the files on the diskette for selection.
Refer to the update instructions or the system unit’s service guide to determine the level
of the system unit or service processor flash.
When run from online diagnostics, the flash-update image file is copied to the /var file
system. If there is not enough space in the /var file system for the flash-update image
file, an error is reported. If this occurs, exit the service aid, increase the size of the /var
file system and retry the service aid. After the file is copied, a warning screen asks for
confirmation to continue the update flash. Continuing the update flash reboots the
system. The system does not return to diagnostics, and the current flash image is not
saved. After the reboot, the /var/update_flash_image file can be removed.
Chapter 6. Introducing Tasks and Service Aids 141