Shell History

AIX (in common with other Unix versions) logs a lot of information including a list of all the commands executed in each shell. Unfortunately you first have to correctly configure it. The most important files are controlled by the following variables:

HISTSIZE = Maximum size of the history file

HISTFILE = Location/filename used to record commands executed.

Smit commands are also recorded

LOG = Smit menus accessed (default = $HOME/smit.log)

SCRIPT = Commands/scripts run by smit (default = $HOME/smit.script)

Creating separate use history files

This is a sample ".profile" to create separate histories for each user that switches user to root:

[[ ! -d $HOME/histories ]] && mkdir $HOME/histories

alias free="/home/root/scripts/free"

alias prompt=". /home/root/scripts/prompt"

# Set Putty Window Title

H=$(hostname) ; N=$(host $H | awk '{print $NF}')

echo "\033]0;$H - $N\007"

#----------------------------------------------

 

[[ ! -d $HOME/histories ]] && mkdir $HOME/histories

HISTSIZE=65536

HISTFILE=$HOME/histories/."$(who am i | nawk '{print $1}')_history"

LOG=$HOME/histories/smit.log.$(logname)

SCRIPT=$HOME/histories/smit.script.$(logname)

alias smit='smit -l $LOG -s $SCRIPT'

alias smitty='smit -l $LOG -s $SCRIPT'

# add timestamps to history

export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %z"

 

Extended History for each user

Separate history files for each day by changing “/etc/profile”:

# Change the location and size of the users history

FILEDATE=`date +%m%d%Y`
HISTFILE=/var/adm/shell/history/$LOGIN.sh.history.$ FILEDATE
HISTSIZE=65536

export HISTFILE HISTSIZE

Time stamp your entries in the shell history by changing “/etc/environment”

# Added for extended shell history
EXTENDED_HISTORY=ON

cat .kshrc

TTY=$(tty|cut -f3-4 -d/)

export HISTFILE=$HOME/.sh_hist$(echo ${TTY} | tr -d '/')

Time stamp your entries in the shell history by changing “/etc/environment”:

# Added for extended shell history
EXTENDED_HISTORY=ON

Use: history -t to get a timestamp with every command that is executed.