¶ HP UX
¶ Operating Systems
For many people in the broader Linux-and-UNIX world, HP-UX is a name they’ve heard but rarely touched. It sits in that family of commercial UNIX systems—alongside AIX and Solaris—that shaped entire eras of enterprise computing yet often remain mysterious to those who grew up on open-source platforms. But for the organizations that rely on it, HP-UX is not a relic; it is a living, deliberate, battle-tested operating system with a personality forged in data centers long before “cloud native” or “DevOps” were industry buzzwords. It carries with it decades of engineering aimed at stability, predictability, and performance in environments where failure is not an option.
This course of one hundred articles is an invitation into that world. Not the world as described by dry manuals or obscure installation guides, but the lived experience of understanding HP-UX—its design philosophy, its tooling, its strengths, its subtleties, and the mindset it encourages in those who operate it. Whether you’re an administrator stepping into a legacy environment, an engineer who wants to understand the roots of modern UNIX practices, or a curious learner who appreciates the craftsmanship of mature operating systems, there is something in HP-UX worth discovering.
HP-UX has always stood a little apart from its UNIX peers. It grew out of Hewlett-Packard’s larger hardware-software ecosystem and was engineered with careful attention to enterprise workloads—massive databases, mission-critical applications, high-availability clusters, and environments that demanded uninterrupted service. Where many UNIX-like systems evolved rapidly or shifted directions abruptly, HP-UX has always emphasized steadiness. Its evolution feels like that of a well-maintained bridge: strengthened gradually, inspected constantly, and shaped by the requirements of those who depend on it every hour of every day.
One of the first things you notice when working with HP-UX is how purposefully it is organized. It doesn’t try to mimic Linux distributions or chase new trends; instead, it retains a coherence that comes from decades of tested design. The file hierarchy feels familiar yet thoughtful. The administrative tools have a consistent spirit. And while some commands differ from what you may know on Linux, those differences stem from deliberate engineering choices rather than randomness or historical accident. With time, you begin to appreciate how much of HP-UX was built with the operator in mind.
In this course, we will explore that operator’s perspective. HP-UX is not meant to be a toy system—it’s meant to run applications that matter. That seriousness becomes part of how you approach it. You pay attention to patching not just for features but for long-term support. You learn how its logical volume manager integrates tightly with the rest of the OS. You see how the networking stack was tuned for environments where uptime is not negotiable. You discover why its kernel configuration utilities exist the way they do, and why administrators speak about HP-UX with a kind of practical respect.
But let’s step back for a moment and consider the broader context of HP-UX. When it emerged in the 1980s, UNIX was splintering into numerous variants, each with its own strengths. HP-UX carved out its identity through a strong alignment with PA-RISC hardware, later transitioning to Itanium systems, and through a commitment to reliability above everything else. In high-end data centers, those traits mattered deeply. Banks, manufacturing firms, telecommunications companies, research institutions, and large-scale enterprises built floors of infrastructure on HP-UX. And even today, many of those systems continue running—not out of inertia, but because they are stable, secure, and tightly coupled to workloads that cannot be disrupted.
As the course unfolds, you’ll gain a sense of how HP-UX fits into the lineage of commercial UNIX. You’ll see the influence of System V traditions, the integration of POSIX standards, and the bits of unique character that make HP-UX unmistakably itself. That combination is part of what makes learning HP-UX feel rewarding: it’s familiar enough to understand quickly but distinct enough to broaden your perspective on how operating systems are engineered.
A major theme we’ll return to often is HP-UX’s approach to system management. Tools like SAM and later HP System Management Homepage represent a philosophy of giving administrators structured, centralized control. These aren’t just utilities—they’re expressions of how the OS views administration: organized, predictable, and consistent. Even if you prefer the command line, these tools reveal how HP-UX expects systems to be managed: thoughtfully, with full awareness of the broader environment.
Another key part of HP-UX’s identity is its storage architecture. HP was one of the pioneers of logical volume management, and HP-UX’s LVM remains one of the system’s defining features. Long before LVM became universal in Linux, HP-UX administrators were slicing disks, mirroring volumes, extending storage, and shaping complex storage hierarchies with precision. Understanding HP-UX’s LVM is not just about learning commands—it’s about learning how to think about storage the way large enterprises do, where planning for scale, redundancy, and recovery is simply part of daily life.
Networking in HP-UX has its own flavor too. Whether you’re configuring interfaces, working with VLANs, tuning the TCP/IP stack, or managing routing, you develop an appreciation for the stability and predictability of the system’s networking layer. Nothing feels experimental or half-finished. Settings are explicit. Behavior is documented. It’s an operating system that treats networking as a foundational pillar rather than an optional layer.
Of course, one cannot talk about HP-UX without discussing security. The OS was built for environments where security policies were strict and compliance was not optional. You’ll explore how HP-UX approaches authentication, access control, auditing, patch management, and the kinds of security hardening that enterprise customers expect. This isn’t security in the abstract—it’s the practical kind, the kind that keeps systems safe for years on end.
Then there is the subject of performance and tuning. HP-UX has always been designed for serious workloads—large Oracle databases, huge ERP systems, batch processing engines—and the OS includes tools that reflect those demands. You’ll discover utilities for tracing system calls, measuring CPU scheduling, monitoring memory behavior, and evaluating I/O bottlenecks. Through these articles, you’ll learn not only what the tools do but also how to think about performance on a platform designed to serve thousands of users simultaneously.
High availability is another cornerstone of HP-UX. Technologies like Serviceguard represent a mature, enterprise-ready clustering solution long before clustering became mainstream in Linux environments. We’ll spend time understanding the architecture, the decision-making behind failover processes, and the ways that clustering integrates with applications in real-world deployments. Even if you never manage a production Serviceguard cluster, understanding how it works will deepen your appreciation for what enterprise-grade availability looks like from the inside.
HP-UX is also a window into a broader philosophy of system longevity. Many HP-UX installations run for a decade or more with minimal changes. That longevity is not the result of neglect but of stability engineered into the system. Learning HP-UX means learning how to maintain environments where planning, predictability, and careful updates matter as much as technical skill. This course will treat that philosophy as a lesson in itself—one that applies far beyond HP-UX.
Yet, through all this, HP-UX is also surprisingly approachable. Once you grow accustomed to its nuances, you begin to see its elegance. Commands may differ slightly from what you know, but the design behind them is consistent. The kernel configuration workflow has a certain straightforwardness. The boot process, while distinct, has a clarity that becomes intuitive over time. The layout of system files feels curated. HP-UX is complex, but not chaotic. It rewards patience and curiosity with understanding.
As you progress through these hundred articles, you’ll gain a layered perspective. You’ll learn the practical skills—installation, patching, storage management, networking, tuning, security, troubleshooting. But you’ll also gain something less tangible: a sense of the engineering heritage HP-UX represents. You’ll understand what makes commercial UNIX systems different, why enterprises have relied on them for decades, and what lessons they still offer today, even in an era dominated by Linux and the cloud.
And perhaps most importantly, you’ll come away with confidence. HP-UX can seem intimidating if you’ve never touched it, especially when stepping into environments where workloads have been running longer than some programming languages have existed. But once you learn its principles, the fear dissolves. You begin to see HP-UX not as an arcane artifact but as a system built with care, shaped by real needs, and deserving of the understanding that comes from thoughtful exploration.
This introduction is just the beginning of that exploration. Over the next hundred articles, you’ll build a foundation that lets you navigate HP-UX comfortably, administer it responsibly, and appreciate it deeply. You’ll understand both the technical mechanics and the cultural mindset behind it. And even if HP-UX is not your daily platform, the principles you learn here—discipline, clarity, planning, reliability—will stay with you in whatever operating systems you work with next.
Welcome to the world of HP-UX. Let’s begin.
¶ HP-UX
¶ Beginner Level (Chapters 1–20)
1. Introduction to HP-UX Operating System
2. Understanding the UNIX Architecture
3. Installing HP-UX on Your System
4. Navigating the HP-UX Filesystem
5. Basic Command Line Usage
6. Understanding User and Group Management
7. File Permissions and Security Basics
8. Working with the HP-UX Shell
9. Introduction to Processes and Jobs
10. Managing System Resources
11. Text Editors in HP-UX: vi and nano
12. Basic File Operations: cp, mv, rm, and ls
13. Working with Directories in HP-UX
14. Using the find Command for File Searching
15. Creating and Managing Links: Symbolic vs. Hard Links
16. Basic Networking Concepts in HP-UX
17. Managing Disks and Storage Devices
18. Understanding HP-UX Boot Process
19. Configuring User Environments with .profile and .bashrc
20. Working with Standard Input, Output, and Error
¶ Intermediate Level (Chapters 21–60)
21. Advanced File Management with tar, cpio, and pax
22. Managing System Services with inetd and init
23. Advanced Process Management: ps, top, and kill
24. Job Scheduling with cron and at Commands
25. Working with Permissions and Ownership: chmod and chown
26. Networking Commands: ifconfig, netstat, and traceroute
27. Using HP-UX Performance Monitoring Tools
28. Disk Management: vgcreate, lvcreate, and mkfs
29. Backup and Restore with the HP-UX System
30. System Logging and Log File Analysis
31. Networking Services: DNS, NFS, and FTP
32. Working with Time and Date: date, cal, and timed
33. Customizing HP-UX User Interfaces
34. Advanced User Account Management: passwd, chsh, and usermod
35. File System Types: JFS, VxFS, and NFS
36. Using LVM (Logical Volume Management) for Storage
37. Using Package Management in HP-UX
38. Networking Configuration: Files and Interfaces
39. Understanding Virtual Memory Management
40. HP-UX Security Fundamentals
41. Securing Your System with Firewalls and ACLs
42. Introduction to HP-UX Kernel Tuning
43. Configuring and Using HP-UX Print Services
44. Working with System Performance: sar and vmstat
45. HP-UX System and Hardware Monitoring
46. Disk Quotas and Disk Usage Management
47. File System Management: fsck and mount
48. Automating Tasks with Shell Scripts
49. Working with the HP-UX Networking Services
50. Configuring and Managing System Backups
51. Using Network File Systems (NFS) in HP-UX
52. Security Tools: ssh, sftp, and scp
53. Managing Software Patches in HP-UX
54. Understanding and Managing HP-UX Process Priorities
55. Advanced Networking Configuration: Routing and IPsec
56. Performance Optimization Techniques for HP-UX
57. System Recovery and Troubleshooting Basics
58. Introduction to HP-UX Clustering and High Availability
59. System Resource Limits and Control with ulimit
60. Managing System Services with Service Management Facility (SMF)
¶ Advanced Level (Chapters 61–100)
61. Advanced Shell Scripting and Automation
62. HP-UX Security Features: SELinux and Trusted Computing
63. Managing Kernel Parameters for Optimization
64. Advanced Networking with HP-UX: VLANs, Bonding, and NAT
65. Performance Tuning with HP-UX: Using mpstat and iostat
66. Managing Virtual Machines and Containers on HP-UX
67. Advanced Disk Management: LVM and VxVM Configuration
68. HP-UX Kernel Debugging and Profiling
69. System Performance Metrics and Analysis Tools
70. Building and Managing Custom Kernels in HP-UX
71. Disaster Recovery and System Restoration
72. HP-UX in Cloud Environments
73. Troubleshooting Memory Leaks and Performance Bottlenecks
74. Using DTrace for Advanced System Debugging
75. Advanced Backup and Recovery Techniques with Online JFS
76. HP-UX System Security Auditing
77. Optimizing Multi-Core and Multi-Threaded Performance
78. High Availability Cluster Setup and Management in HP-UX
79. Building Custom System Packages for HP-UX
80. Deep Dive into HP-UX File System Internals
81. Advanced Disk I/O Tuning for HP-UX
82. Managing SAN Storage in HP-UX
83. Network Load Balancing and Failover in HP-UX
84. Using System Management Home Page (SMHP) for System Admins
85. Monitoring and Troubleshooting Networking with tcpdump
86. Integrating HP-UX with Active Directory and LDAP
87. Server Consolidation Strategies for HP-UX Environments
88. Managing Clustered Applications in HP-UX
89. Virtualization with HP-UX: vPars and nPars
90. Configuring and Managing HP-UX Software Arrays
91. Advanced Memory Management and Optimization in HP-UX
92. Advanced Process Scheduling: nice, renice, and priority
93. Understanding and Using System Profiling Tools: ktrace and truss
94. Automating System Monitoring with SNMP and Custom Scripts
95. HP-UX Security Best Practices for System Administrators
96. Integrating HP-UX with Cloud Storage Solutions
97. Configuring HP-UX for Real-Time Applications
98. Advanced Configuration of NFS and NIS Services
99. Monitoring and Managing HP-UX with Remote Tools (SSH, SNMP)
100. Future Trends and Innovations in HP-UX Operating System