The storage keys feature was added by IBM in AIX 6.1 with the intent of being able to catch illegal memory accesses across different kernel modules. The advantage of this is the ability to pinpoint the exact memory reference causing the problem and hence faster debugging when a problem occurs in the system (such as a system crash).

Support of storage keys by Storage Foundation is in 5.0MP3.

To check if storage keys are enabled use the skeyctl command:
[/]# skeyctl
Storage Key attributes for current boot session:

Number of hardware keys = 8
Number of user keys = 2
Kernel keys = enabled
Exclusive kernel key value = disabled

If the 'Kernel keys' says 'enabled', then the storage keys feature is enabled on the system.

On versions of Storage Foundation older than 5.0MP3 it may be necessary to disable the storage key feature in order to avoid unexpected panics.

To disable storage keys and check the settings for next boot:
[/]# skeyctl -k off
[/]# skeyctl -v boot
Storage Key attributes for next boot session:

Number of hardware keys = default
Number of user keys = default
Kernel keys = disabled
Exclusive kernel key value = disabled

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