Systems Management Guide PDF
Systems Management Guide PDF
Systems Management Guide PDF
IBM Systems
IBM Systems Director Systems Management Guide
Version 6.2.1
GC30-4176-06
IBM Systems
IBM Systems Director Systems Management Guide
Version 6.2.1
GC30-4176-06
Note
Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on
page 677.
Contents v
Establishing command-line access to a remote Service processors and resource types . . . . 435
system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 Viewing the IBM BladeCenter and System x
Launching a Web browser . . . . . . . . 392 management summary . . . . . . . . . . 436
Configuring Microsoft Windows Remote Downloading and activating BladeCenter I/O
Desktop Connection . . . . . . . . . . 393 module plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Establishing Remote Desktop Connection . . . 393 Configuring integrated management modules . . 438
Establishing Virtual Network Computing Integrated management module task support
communications . . . . . . . . . . . 394 and features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Establishing IBM BladeCenter or RSA Changing the integrated management module
communication . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 IP address by way of the Server resource . . . 440
Launching the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Changing the network port on an integrated
Connection Tool . . . . . . . . . . . 394 management module . . . . . . . . . . 440
Launching a VMware ESX or ESXi hypervisor Configuring integrated management module
virtual machine connection . . . . . . . . 395 security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Establishing a remote Xen console session . . . 395 Configuring the Try DHCP setting for integrated
Using the serial console . . . . . . . . . 395 management module . . . . . . . . . . 441
Enabling Secure Sockets Layer after discovery 441
Chapter 9. Managing agents . . . . . 399 Enabling Secure Sockets Layer before discovery 442
Common agent services . . . . . . . . . . 399 Discovering scalable systems that have multiple
Resource manager . . . . . . . . . . . 400 nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Agent manager . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Discovering a scalable BladeCenter system with
Common agent . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 multiple nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Logging Platform Agent . . . . . . . . . . 402 Discovering a scalable System x system . . . 443
Importing agent packages . . . . . . . . . 408 Changing the password for the Remote Supervisor
Installing agents using the Agent Installation Adapter or management module . . . . . . . 443
Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 Managing power state settings on IBM BladeCenter
Restarting agents . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 and System x servers . . . . . . . . . . . 444
Restarting Common Agent . . . . . . . . 412 Power On/Off task support using out-of-band
Restarting Platform Agent . . . . . . . . 413 communication . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
Setting the agent manager for IBM Systems Power On/Off task support using Wake on
Director Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 LAN technology on System x . . . . . . . 445
Viewing the agent manager properties . . . . 415 Power On/Off task support by way of the
Adding a new agent manager . . . . . . . 415 operating system on System x and blade servers 445
Setting the active agent manager . . . . . . 417 Changing the power state on System x and IBM
Deleting an agent manager . . . . . . . . 417 BladeCenter hardware . . . . . . . . . 446
Using a remote agent manager with IBM Enabling collection of SNMP-based inventory by
Systems Director . . . . . . . . . . . 418 way of management modules . . . . . . . . 446
Managing the agent manager used by a Using hardware-log information from System x
Common Agent . . . . . . . . . . . 420 service processors and IBM BladeCenter products . 447
Viewing the agent manager configuration . . . . 423 Hardware-log information using out-of-band
Securing Common Agent managed systems . . . 424 and in-band communication . . . . . . . 447
Changing the agent registration password . . . 424 Viewing hardware-log information . . . . . 448
Migrating common agents to a different agent Refreshing hardware-log information . . . . 449
manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 Clearing the hardware-log information . . . . 449
Binding Platform Agent to specific IP addresses 427 Providing hardware-log information. . . . . 450
Disabling IBM Systems Director agents . . . . . 427 Using locator LED settings on IBM BladeCenter
and System x servers . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Locator LEDs and out-of-band and in-band
Chapter 10. Managing IBM
communication . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
BladeCenter and System x systems. . 429 Identifying hardware with the locator LED . . 451
Supported IBM BladeCenter products . . . . . 429 Solving hardware problems using
Service processor communication. . . . . . . 429 light-path-diagnostic LEDs on IBM BladeCenter
In-band communication requirements . . . . 429 and System x servers . . . . . . . . . . . 452
Out-of-band communication requirements . . . 430 Light-path-diagnostic LED information . . . . 452
Out-of-band communication and the standard Viewing light-path-diagnostics status . . . . 454
TCP Command Mode protocol . . . . . . 432 Viewing detailed light-path-diagnostics
Out-of-band communication and the secure TCP information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Command Mode protocol . . . . . . . . 433 Changing the resource for viewing
Out-of-band communication and the standard light-path-diagnostics LED information . . . . 455
CIM protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 Configuring templates . . . . . . . . . . 455
Out-of-band alert-forwarding strategies. . . . 434
Contents vii
In the Virtualization Detail perspective . . . . 586 Authenticating IBM Systems Director users
Viewing resources in the Platform Managers and stored in the Microsoft Active Directory domain. 637
Members view . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Authenticating IBM Systems Director users
Viewing resources in the Virtual Servers and Hosts stored in LDAP. . . . . . . . . . . . 638
view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Editing user properties . . . . . . . . . 641
Viewing virtualization properties . . . . . . . 588 Authorizing users to IBM Systems Director . . . 641
Configuring virtual resources . . . . . . . . 589 User authorization. . . . . . . . . . . 641
Configuring Power Systems platform managers 589 Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
Configuring storage resources . . . . . . . 594 Permissions and roles required to run smcli
Managing host systems . . . . . . . . . . 596 commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
Entering maintenance mode . . . . . . . 596 Authorizing users to manage resources . . . . 648
Exiting from maintenance mode . . . . . . 596 Assigning a role to a user or user group . . . 648
Starting the virtualization service on a host . . 596 Copying a role to another user . . . . . . 649
Stopping the virtualization service on a host . . 597 Creating a role . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
Managing virtual farms . . . . . . . . . . 597 Managing roles . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
Adding a host to a virtual farm . . . . . . 597 Ending the session for another user . . . . . 651
Creating a virtual farm . . . . . . . . . 597 Managing user groups in IBM Systems Director 652
Deleting a virtual farm from IBM Systems Managing credentials in IBM Systems Director . . 653
Director and VMware VirtualCenter . . . . . 599 Managing shared credentials . . . . . . . 654
Removing a virtual farm from IBM Systems Managing mappings . . . . . . . . . . 658
Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599 Configuring the authentication registry . . . . 660
Editing a virtual farm . . . . . . . . . 600 Managing targeted credentials . . . . . . . 661
Removing a host from a virtual farm . . . . 600 Managing access . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
Starting the virtualization service on a farm . . 600 Accessing a secured system with request access 666
Stopping the virtualization service on a farm 601 Accessing a secured system with configure
Viewing virtual farms . . . . . . . . . 601 access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
Managing virtual servers . . . . . . . . . 602 Configuring access to CIM using X509
Connecting to a platform manager . . . . . 602 certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
Disconnecting from a platform manager . . . 602 Revoking access to a secured system . . . . 668
Creating virtual servers . . . . . . . . . 603 Managing access to agentless managed systems 669
Creating a virtual disk for Xen . . . . . . 617 Accessing a managed system with configure
Deleting a virtual server permanently . . . . 617 system credentials . . . . . . . . . . . 669
Editing host resources . . . . . . . . . 618 Communication protocols and supported
Editing virtual servers . . . . . . . . . 618 encryption algorithms . . . . . . . . . . 669
Accessing the Xen remote console . . . . . 620 Encrypting passwords for database configuration 670
Managing power operations on virtual servers 620
Relocating virtual servers . . . . . . . . 623 Appendix. Accessibility features for
Launch VMware ESX Manager User Interface 631 IBM Systems Director . . . . . . . . 673
Launch VMware VirtualCenter Console . . . 631
Accessibility options in IBM Systems Director . . 673
Launch VMware Infrastructure Client . . . . 632
Keyboard navigation in IBM Systems Director . . 674
Launch Microsoft Virtual Server Console . . . 632
Using a screen reader with IBM Systems Director 675
Important: These notices provide information or advice that might help you avoid
inconvenient or difficult situations.
Publications
APAR Readme 6.2.0
Provides information about APARs fixed in IBM Systems Director version
6.2.0.
Release Notes® 6.2.0 and Release Notes 6.2.1
Provides information about hardware requirements for running IBM
Systems Director components, supported IBM Systems Director hardware,
operating systems, databases, and workgroup and enterprise
systems-management software.
Hardware and Software Support Guide
Provides information about hardware requirements for running IBM
Systems Director components, supported IBM Systems Director hardware,
operating systems, databases, and workgroup and enterprise
systems-management software.
Planning, Installation, and Configuration Guide for AIX®
Provides detailed instructions to install and configure each component of
IBM Systems Director on system running AIX using the standard
installation option.
Planning, Installation, and Configuration Guide for IBM i
Provides detailed instructions to install and configure each component of
IBM Systems Director on system running IBM i using the Standard
installation option.
Planning, Installation, and Configuration Guide for Linux on Power Systems™
Provides detailed instructions to install and configure each component of
IBM Systems Director on system running Linux for Power Systems using
the Standard installation option.
Planning, Installation, and Configuration Guide for Linux on x86
Provides detailed instructions to install and configure each component of
IBM Systems Director on system running Linux for System x® using the
Standard installation option.
Planning, Installation, and Configuration Guide for Linux on System z®
Provides detailed instructions to install and configure each component of
IBM Systems Director on system running Linux for System z using the
Standard installation option.
You can also search this Web page for documents that focus on IBM Systems
Director and specific IBM hardware; such documents often contain
systems-management material. The following book is available for IBM Systems
Director V6.1:
Implementing IBM Systems Director 6.1
Tip: Be sure to note the date of publication and to determine the version of IBM
Systems Director software to which the Redbooks publication refers.
Further information
Also see the following resources for further information about IBM Systems
Director:
v For alerts, discussions, news, parts and product information, and specific
troubleshooting workarounds for IBM Systems Director, see the Support &
downloads Web site at http://www.ibm.com/support/us/en/.
Tip: To locate the information that you need, enter Systems Director in the
Search field and click Search. You can then narrow your results by document
type or product category, or use additional search terms.
v For white papers, technotes, tips, and other documents related to IBM Systems
Director, see the Techdocs Web site at http://w3.ibm.com/support/techdocs/
atsmastr.nsf/Web/Techdocs.
Tip: To locate the information that you need, either select the categories that you
want to search or select UNMARKED to search all categories. Then enter
Systems Director in the for: field and click Search.
v For solutions to all types of situations that other customers have encountered,
see the IBM Systems Director customer forum at www.ibm.com/
developerworks/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=759.
Web resources
Listed here are the Web sites and information center topics that relate to IBM
Systems Director.
Forums
v IBM Systems Director
www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=759
View the IBM Systems Director forum Web site on ibm.com to discuss
product-related issues pertaining to IBM Systems Director, IBM Systems Director
UIMs, and IBM Systems Director extensions. This Web site includes a link for
obtaining the forum using a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed.
v IBM Systems Director SDK
If you have any comments about this book or any other IBM Systems Director
publication, go to the IBM Systems Director information center Web site at
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r2x/index.jsp. There you
will find the feedback page where you can enter and submit comments.
Accessibility
IBM strives to provide products with usable access for everyone, regardless of age
or ability.
The reference topic Accessibility features for IBM Systems Director provides details
about the accessibility support, tips, and workarounds of the product.
Note: For technical details about the accessibility support in IBM Systems Director,
see the Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs). You can request VPATs
from the Web at http://www.ibm.com/research/accessibility/requests/
accvpat.nsf/bidxjs?OpenForm.
License information
Before deploying this product, ensure that you have the necessary licenses.
You are authorized to use Management Server and Agent components only on IBM
machines.
Processor is a unit of measure by which the IBM Systems Director for IBM Power
Systems program can be licensed. Processor (commonly called a processor core or
CPU) is a functional unit within a computing device that interprets and executes
instructions. A processor consists of at least an instruction control unit and one or
Server is a unit of measure by which the IBM Systems Director for IBM x86 servers
program can be licensed. A Server is a physical computer that is comprised of
processing units, memory, and input/output capabilities and that executes
requested procedures, commands, or applications for one or more users or client
devices. Where racks, blade enclosures, or other similar equipment is being
employed, each separable physical device (e.g., a blade or a rack-mounted device)
that has the required components is considered itself a separate Server.
The IBM Systems Director for IBM x86 servers program uses a per Server charging
metric. An authorization is required for each server running the IBM Systems
Director for IBM x86 servers program and for each server being managed by the
IBM Systems Director for IBM x86 servers program.
Processor is a unit of measure by which the IBM Systems Director for Linux on
System z program can be licensed. Processor (commonly called a processor core,
CPU, or engine) is a functional unit within a computing device that interprets and
executes instructions. A processor consists of at least an instruction control unit
and one or more arithmetic or logic unit. With multicore technology each core is
considered a processor. Authorizations for the IBM Systems Director for Linux on
System z program must be acquired for all activated processors available for use
for the server.
In addition to the authorization required for the IBM Systems Director for Linux
on System z program directly, you must obtain authorizations for this program
sufficient to cover the processor cores managed by the program. For IBM System z
machines, the authorization required for the IBM Systems Director for Linux on
System z program is based on the following:
1. When the IBM Systems Director for Linux on System z program is installed on
or managing engines with the Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) feature, you
must acquire an authorization for each activated engine with the IFL feature on
that machine.
2. When the IBM Systems Director for Linux on System z program is installed on
or managing general purpose engines, you must acquire an authorization for
each activated general purpose engine on that machine.
The IBM Systems Director program includes APIs called Representational State
Transfer (REST) APIs and Advanced External Application Launch (AEAL) function.
The IBM Systems Director REST APIs and AEAL function are described in the
documentation, available through the IBM Systems Director Information Center.
You may develop applications using the Program's REST APIs and/or AEAL
function solely for testing and deployment within your Enterprise and only in
Warranty
The Specified Operating Environment for the IBM Systems Director program may
be located in the Planning section of the IBM Systems Director Information Center.
The IBM Systems Director program contains Upward Integration Modules (as
described in the documentation) for third party system management products to
manage IBM hardware platforms with IBM Director Agent components. There is
no warranty or support service available for the Upward Integration Modules
when you use a third party system management product.
The following applies to use of IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition V 9.7.
Use Limitations: Use by Principal Program
"Use by Principal Program" means that neither you nor any application,
program, or device external to the Principal Program is authorized to
directly use or access the services of IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition V
9.7 in any way. The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition V 9.7 program is
provided exclusively for use by the Principal Program. You may access
IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition V 9.7 only to perform administrative
functions, such as backup, recovery, and authorized configuration but may
not directly use the IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition V 9.7 program for
any productive use.
IBM provides the IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition V 9.7 program without
obligation of support and "AS IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE
WARRANTY OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT OR NON-INTERFERENCE AND
ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Chapter 1. Overview 3
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you purchase an authorization to the IBM
Systems Director Storage Control 4.2.1 (5765-ASM) product, the terms of the "IBM
International Program License Agreement", including this License Information, will
then apply to your use of the IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition V 9.7 program.
Through a single user interface, IBM Systems Director provides consistent views
for viewing managed systems, determining how these systems relate to one
another, and identifying their statuses, thus helping to correlate technical resources
with business needs. A set of common tasks included with IBM Systems Director
provides many of the core capabilities required for basic management, which
means instant out-of-the-box business value. These common tasks include
discovery, inventory, configuration, system health, monitoring, updates, event
notification, and automation across managed systems.
IBM Systems Director Server provides a central point of control for aggregating
and managing discovered systems based on a service-oriented architecture. It can
be installed on one or more systems, called management servers. Systems that
connect to the IBM Systems Director Web interface on the management server
through a Web browser are called browser systems.
The operating-system agents serve as the control point for accessing operating
system and host information that might not be accessible through an out-of-band
interface (such as remote supervisor adapter (RSA), Baseboard Management
Control (BMC), and BladeCenter Management Module). These agents run on
operating-system-based and hardware-based endpoints, called systems, that can be
discovered and managed by IBM Systems Director. The level of system
management depends on the agent that is installed on the system: Common Agent
or Platform Agent. Each agent provides a different footprint size, level of
performance, and set of management functions.
IBM Systems Director can discover and manage some systems on which neither of
these operating-system agents is installed, but the level of management is limited.
This figure shows where the IBM Systems Director Server and operating-system
agents are installed in a basic IBM Systems Director environment.
Chapter 1. Overview 5
Management server
FQM0501-0
Management server
The management server is a system that has IBM Systems Director Server installed.
It provides a central point of control for aggregating and managing discovered
systems based on a service-oriented architecture.
IBM Systems Director Server stores data about discovered systems, their attributes,
and their relationships to other resources in a relational database. You can access
information that is stored in this database even when the managed systems are not
available. IBM Systems Director Server includes a default database, Apache Derby,
although you can choose to use any supported database (including the
high-performance DB2 database).
IBM Systems Director Server includes two interfaces that the system administrator
can use to manage their environment: a Web user interface and a command-line
interface. The system that you use to interact with these interfaces is called the
browser system.
Common Agent
Common Agent provides a rich set of security, deployment, and management
function.
Common Agent is available for all Power Systems, System x, IBM BladeCenter,
System z systems, and some non-IBM systems, when the system is running a
supported operating system.
Notes:
v Systems running AIX require Common Agent to be installed. These systems
cannot be managed with Platform Agent.
v For a detailed list of operating systems that are supported for Common Agent,
see the Planning information.
Common Agent replaces Level 2: IBM Director Agent version 5.20. IBM Systems
Director 6.x supports agent systems running either the new Common Agent
version 6.x or the older Level 2: IBM Director Agent version 5.20.
The functionality that is available for Common Agent managed systems varies
based on the operating system and hardware in an environment, and includes the
following functionality:
v Discover systems
v Collect comprehensive platform and operating system inventory data
v Monitor health and status
v Manage alerts
v Remotely deploy and install Common Agent
v Perform remote access, including transferring files
v Perform power management function
v Additional event support
v Monitor processes and resources, and set critical thresholds send notifications
when triggered
v Manage operating system resources and processes
v Manage updates
Additionally, using Common Agent instead of Platform Agent provides enhanced
scalability through asynchronous system management, which reduces the demands
on IBM Systems Director Server. Firewall management is simplified, too, because
Common Agent requires that you keep fewer ports open.
Note: Throughout the IBM Systems Director documentation, the term Common
Agent (with both words capitalized) refers to the IBM Systems Director Common
Agent, which includes subagents that provide specific management capabilities for
IBM Systems Director. IBM Systems Director can also discover and perform limited
management on other common agents that use the common agent services (CAS)
architecture. When referring to these common agents generically, lowercase text is
used.
Chapter 1. Overview 7
For information about resource managers and agent managers, see “Common
agent services”.
Platform Agent
Platform Agent is well suited for environments that require a smaller footprint
without sacrificing a high level of manageability. It provides a subset of Common
Agent function used to communicate with and administer the managed systems,
including hardware alerts and status information.
Platform Agent is available for all IBM Power, System x and IBM BladeCenter, and
System z, IBM System Storage systems, and some non-IBM systems.
For IBM i, Platform Agent is part of the IBM Universal Manageability Enablement
for i Licensed Program Product that ships with the base operating system.
Platform Agent 6.1.x is the upgrade replacement to Level 1: IBM Director Core
Services version 5.20.3. IBM Systems Director Server 6.1 and 6.1.x support systems
running either IBM Director Core Services version 5.20.3 or Platform Agent 6.1.x.
Common Agent 6.1.1 supports systems running Platform Agent 6.1.x.
Note: The version level of Platform Agent might not match the version levels of
IBM Systems Director Server or Common Agent.
The function available for Platform Agent managed systems is limited to the
following tasks, and varies based on operating system and hardware.
v Discover systems
v Collect limited platform inventory data
v Monitor health and status
v Manage alerts
v Remotely deploy and install Common Agent
v Perform limited remote access
v Perform limited restart capabilities
Agentless managed systems must support the Secure Shell (SSH) or Distributed
Component Object Model (DCOM) protocol, or the Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP) interface. IBM Systems Director discovers Agentless managed
systems by verifying the IP addresses on your network and scanning the ports of
those addresses using the SSH or DCOM protocols. By default, IBM Systems
Director uses the range of addresses that are in the IP domain of the management
server. You can discover a specific IP address or range of IP addresses using the
IBM Systems Director Web interface.
For a detailed list of function that is supported by Agentless managed systems, see
the “Planning for IBM Systems Director” section in the information center at
publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r2x/topic/
com.ibm.director.plan.helps.doc/fqm0_r_planning.html.
From the Web interface, you can use the Find a Resource task to find resources and
use the Navigate Resources task to view and work with these resources.
To view the relationships between systems, view the topology map view for a
system by selecting the system and then clicking Actions > Topology Perspectives.
A submenu of applicable perspectives is displayed.
Chapter 1. Overview 9
To view resources associated with a system, select the system and then click
Actions > Related Resources. A submenu of applicable related resources is
displayed.
You can use the lssys -I command to obtain a list of valid system types for
commands such as discover.
User interfaces
There are several methods for managing an IBM Systems Director environment: a
Web interface and a command-line interface (smcli).
Web interface
You can use the IBM Systems Director Web interface to conduct comprehensive
systems management through a graphical user interface. Data is securely
transferred between the Web browser and Web interface through HTTPS.
The system on which you logged in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface is
referred to as the browser system. You log in to the IBM Systems Director through a
supported Web browser using this URL:
http://System_Name:Port_Number/ibm/console
where System_Name is the name of the system on which IBM Systems Director
Server is installed and Port_Number is the first (lower) of two consecutive port
numbers that you specified for the Web server to use. The default ports for the
Web server are 8421 and 8422. If you use port 8422, make sure that you specify
https to indicate a secure port.
Command-line interfaces
You can use the systems management command-line interface interactively using
the smcli utilities. This command-line interface (CLI) is an important primary
interface into IBM Systems Director and can be used either as an efficient way to
accomplish simple tasks directly or as a scriptable framework for automating
functions that are not easily accomplished from a graphical user interface. For
security reasons, the CLI runs only on the management server.
Tips:
v The IBM Systems Director smcli supports most commands that were available in
previous releases through the discontinued dircli utility.
v For security, the CLI runs only on the management server. You can run the CLI
remotely using a remote-access utility, such as Secure Shell (SSH) or Telnet.
Chapter 1. Overview 11
v Organizing logical sets of resources into groups
v Starting, stopping, and scheduling tasks in IBM Systems Director
v Integrating third-party management software and other programs into the IBM
Systems Director Web interface
v Managing auditing
v Encrypting interprocess communication
v Managing Common Agent registration and authentication
v Authenticating users through a configured user registry available from the
operating system, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), or domain
controller
v Creating roles and authorizing users and user groups to access certain systems,
groups, and tasks
v Managing credentials to support single sign-on authentication, even when
services span different systems
v Installing, upgrading, and promoting agents
Discovery manager
Discovery manager performs physical and virtual system discovery and inventory
of related resources on the network.
Status manager
Status manager provides an at-a-glance view of the health of your managed
resources (including systems, operating systems, applications, processes, and
security).
The status of discovered systems is automatically retrieved and displayed, and this
display can be customized in several ways—using one of the system status and
health tasks, navigating to a specific resource, or using the command line interface.
Configuration manager
Configuration manager is used to integrate new hardware into your environment,
configure systems after installation, or do one-off configurations for problem
resolution. Configuration manager leverages a set of well defined templates that
can be applied to servers, storage, and network resources even if the resources are
comprised of very different technologies.
Automation manager
Automation manager provides tools to notify an administrator or run a predefined
tasks automatically when a certain event occurs.
Chapter 1. Overview 13
Update manager
Update manager provides tools for maintaining current versions of operating
systems, device drivers, firmware and BIOS, and IBM Systems Director agent and
server code on managed systems without an upgrade or migration of the installed
product.
Virtualization manager
Virtualization manager provides tools for managing the lifecycle of virtual
resources.
Note: For the full set of virtualization support, it is recommended that you use
IBM Systems Director VMControl. See the Virtualization Management summary
page for more information.
Network Management
Network Management provides management functions for network devices,
including discovery, inventory, health and status monitoring, and configuration.
You can use the IBM BladeCenter and System x management plug-in to:
v Change power settings
v Manage hardware logs
v Identify hardware using the locator LED
v Turn off light-path diagnostic LEDs
This plug-in provides functions to discover, monitor status, configure, and update
these virtual servers. It also generates information used in the Welcome panel
summary view and includes support for Linux on System z and z/VM systems
running on IBM System z mainframes.
Chapter 1. Overview 15
discovery, health and status monitoring, configuration, updates, and virtualization.
It also provides platform-specific functions.
You can use the IBM Power Systems management plug-in to:
v Manage the following Power Systems environments that might include servers
with any supported processor versions running AIX, IBM i, or Linux:
– Power Systems managed by the Hardware Management Console
– Power Systems managed by the Integrated Virtualization Manager
– A Power Systems server with a single image (a nonpartitioned configuration)
– A Power Architecture® BladeCenter server under the control of a BladeCenter
management module
v Perform management tasks on systems that are under the control of HMC and
IVM, including managing power, creating virtual serves, editing virtual server
resources, and relocating virtual servers between host systems.
v Perform management tasks that are available from the IBM Systems Director
Web interface for supported versions of AIX and IBM i.
You can use the IBM System Storage management plug-in to:
v Add storage systems to IBM Systems Director using a proxy provider
v Configure storage systems
v Manage storage devices
v Update a SAN configuration profile
v Launch storage management applications
v Use integrated SCM features to manage integrated RAID Controllers,
BladeCenter SAS modules, and BC-S RAID SAS modules
v Use embedded management interfaces for DS3000, DS4000, and DS6000, and
TotalStorage Productivity Center (TPC) to manage SAN Volume Controller
(SVC), DS8000® and ESS storage devices
v Support for automation plans based on events and event actions from storage
resources
v Support for IBM System Storage Area Network products
For a complete list of available plug-ins and for information about how to
download and install the plug-ins, see the IBM Systems Director Web site at
www.ibm.com/systems/management/director/plugins/.
The Active Energy Manager plug-in helps you to monitor and manage the power
and cooling needs of IBM servers and IBM BladeCenter systems. Non-IBM systems
can also be monitored using metering products, such as power distribution units
(PDU), sensors, and integration with facility software. You can use Active Energy
Manager to:
v Allocate less power and cooling infrastructure to your IBM servers.
v Reduce power usage on select IBM servers.
v Plan for the future by viewing trends of power usage over time.
v Determine power usage for all components of a rack.
Active Energy Manager is a licensed plug-in that supports Windows, Linux on
Power Systems, and Linux on System x platforms.
The BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager plug-in helps you to quickly replace and
recover blades in your environment. You can use this plug-in to:
v Pre-assign MAC and WWN addresses, as well as storage boot targets for up to
100 chassis or 1400 blade servers.
v Create addresses for blade servers, save the addresses to a configuration file, and
deploy the addresses to the blade slots in the same chassis or in up to 100
different chassis without any blade servers installed in the chassis.
v Automatically replace a failed blade from a designated pool of spare blades.
BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager is a for-fee plug-in that supports all platforms
that IBM Systems Director supports.
The Service and Support Manager plug-in, which includes the Electronic Service
Agent™ tool, identifies and reports hardware problems and service information
automatically to IBM for service and support. All information sent to IBM is stored
in a secure IBM database and used for improved problem determination. You can
use Service and Support Manager to:
v Place service calls to IBM automatically if the system is under a service
agreement or warranty.
v Collect and send scheduled system inventory and diagnostic inventory to an
IBM database. This inventory information is available to IBM support
representatives when they are solving your problem.
v Communicate with IBM using a secure Internet connection using encryption and
authentication.
Service and Support Manager is a free plug-in that is supported on the following
operating systems when installed on the IBM Systems Director management
server:
v Windows for 32–bit and 64–bit systems
v Linux on System x for 32–bit and 64–bit systems
v Linux on Power Systems
v Linux on System z
v AIX
Chapter 1. Overview 17
IBM Systems Director Network Control plug-in
The Network Control plug-in provides facilities to discover, inventory, and monitor
network devices, launch vendor applications for configuration of network devices,
and see groups of network devices.
Note: IBM Systems Director Network Control V1.1 is not supported on IBM
Systems Director. When you install or upgrade to IBM Systems Director V6.2, the
Manage page displays Network Management in place of IBM Systems Director
Network Control.
The Storage Control plugin lets you manage an expanded set of storage
subsystems and Fibre Channel switches.
You can use Storage Control to discover and collect inventory, and monitor device
health. These subsystems include the IBM DS8000 family (DS8100, DS8300, DS8700,
DS8800), the SAN Volume Controller, and the IBM Storwize V7000, as well as the
Brocade Fibre Channel switches.
Important: You must use IBM DB2 Enterprise Edition v. 9.7 (GA version only; fix
packs are not supported) as the database application for Systems Director to use
Storage Control. Migration from other databases within Systems Director to DB2 is
not supported.
For more information about Storage Control, see this topic: IBM Systems Director
Storage Control 4.2.1.
The Transition Manager for HP® Systems Insight Manager™ plug-in enables you to
discover systems that are being managed by HP Systems Insight Manager and
smoothly make the transition to managing the systems in IBM Systems Director.
Transitioned systems can be either IBM and non-IBM hardware. After the transition
is complete, you can manage the systems using IBM Systems Director which can
provide superior systems-management features for IBM hardware. Additionally,
you can still manage the systems using HP® Systems Insight Manager™.
IBM PowerVM Workload Partition Manager for AIX (WPAR Manager) is a plug-in
for IBM Systems Director that provides a centralized point of control for managing
workload partitions (WPARs) across a collection of managed systems running AIX.
Workload Partition Manager can manage heterogeneous environments of managed
systems at different AIX technology levels. However, to exploit full management
Upward integration
IBM Systems Director lets you to make the most of your existing enterprise
management structure by upwardly integrating with many workgroup and
enterprise-management products.
IBM Systems Director upward integration modules (UIMs) and management packs
enable non-IBM workgroup and enterprise-management products to interpret and
display data that is provided by Common Agent and Platform Agent. IBM Systems
Director UIMs and management packs provide enhancements to the
enterprise-management products that you can use to collect inventory data, view
IBM Systems Director event notifications, and for some UIMs, distribute IBM
Systems Director software packages.
With the IBM Systems Director UIMs and management packs, you can use your
enterprise-management software to manage systems that have Platform Agent or
Common Agent software installed on them.
For more information about upward integration modules, see IBM Systems
Director Upward Integration Modules in the IBM Systems information center on
the Web at publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/topic/uims/
fqs0_main.html.
You can also configure IBM Systems Director Server to forward alerts (such as
SNMP) to higher-level enterprise managers, including CA Unicenter NSM, HP
OpenView NNM, HP OpenView Operations for Windows, Tivoli Netview, Tivoli
Management Framework, Microsoft Systems Center Operations Manager, and
Microsoft Systems Management Server.
Meeting customer demand for a Web-based interface, IBM Systems Director 6.x
delivers cutting-edge usability built on industry-accepted Web-interface standards.
Chapter 1. Overview 19
Use these topics to find answers to some of the questions you might have about
IBM Systems Director 6.x.
The Welcome page gives you information about all of your systems with fast-path
options to detailed information and tasks. The Welcome page lets you start your
work with a clear picture of your current systems-management environment.
Figure 2. The Welcome page displaying the Start, Manage, and Learn tabs
The following links are available at the top of the Welcome page:
Find a resource
Provides a way to quickly and easily find one or more resources in your
systems-management environment.
Find a task
Provides a way to quickly and easily find any task in IBM Systems
Director.
About
Displays the version of your IBM Systems Director installation.
Web resources
Displays other information resources that are available on the Web.
Provides the tasks to perform getting started discovery (also called initial
discovery) in your systems-management environment, request access to your
discovered resources, and collect inventory from your resources. Then, use the next
steps provided on this page to make IBM Systems Director more productive. A
user must have the AllPermission permission to view this page; otherwise, it is not
displayed. For more information, see “Security.”
Chapter 1. Overview 21
Figure 3. The Welcome page interface displaying the Start page
Getting Started
Provides tasks and information that you can use to get started with IBM
Systems Director.
Status chart
Provides status information about resources that IBM Systems Director has
discovered. This information includes the number of operating systems
that are managed by way of the Common Agent, Platform Agent, or no
agent; the number of systems to which you do not have access, and the
number of systems on which inventory has not been collected. Click any of
these links to display detailed information about the affected systems and
resources.
Optional tasks
Provides optional tasks for getting started including discovery, inventory,
and navigate resources.
Next Steps
Provides typical tasks for setting up IBM Systems Director, including
registering with IBM, creating thresholds and event automation plans,
checking for updates, installing Common Agent on systems, setting up
security, and configuring your systems.
Provides information that you can use to determine whether IBM Systems Director
and its plug-ins are ready to use. The message associated with each plug-in
changes based on whether the plug-in is ready to use. The links provided for each
plug-in include the plug-in Summary page on which you have quick access to
your environment's data and applicable tasks. If a plug-in is not ready to use, this
page provides links to the applicable tasks that you must perform to complete
setup or configuration of the plug-in. After the getting started discovery (also
called initial discovery) is completed, the Manage page is displayed by default
when you view the Welcome page.
The Manage tab includes an icon that is displayed if any problems exist with one
or more plug-ins.
Note: The Manage page displays only the plug-ins that the user is authorized to
use. If a user is not authorized to use any plug-ins, the Manage page is not
displayed.
The icon displayed is tied to the plug-in states that are displayed on the Manage
page:
Chapter 1. Overview 23
If one or more plug-ins are in an Error state, the Error-connecting icon is
displayed on the Manage tab.
Chapter 1. Overview 25
Plug-in title
Click the plug-in title to display the plug-in summary page. The summary
page provides tasks and information that you typically use in that plug-in.
Readiness icons
Each plug-in title has one of the following icons next to its name denoting
whether the plug-in is ready for use:
Ready
The plug-in is correctly installed and configured.
Collecting data
The process to determine whether a plug-in is ready to use has
started and might take a long time. To determine when the plug-in
is ready, click Refresh (located at the bottom of the page) and if
the plug-in is ready the status icon will change.
Setup required
The plug-in is not set up correctly or the set up is currently
incomplete. A message and additional links are displayed
providing information about any required setup, such as additional
configuring, enabling of firewall support, identifying applicable
types of servers required by that plug-in, or other setup activities.
Error connecting
The plug-in has failed to connect to the applicable destination,
which might be the management server, a Web site, or another
destination.
Plug-in links
Each plug-in section provides links that you can use to complete any
configuration or setup activities.
Refresh
Click to refresh the ready-for-use information. It also reports that last time
the information was refreshed.
Provides a list of available tutorials and other information center links. If the link
is to a tutorial, the link opens a tutorial section in the “Learning and tutorials”
section of the IBM Systems Director information center. Hover help for each link
provides a description for that tutorial.
Tutorial links
Provides links to available tutorials for installed plug-ins.
Tip: The tutorials are launched from the Internet. You must have access to
the Internet to view them. For more information about e-learning and
tutorials, see “Learning and tutorials.”
Hover help
Provides a description for each tutorial.
To get started with IBM Systems Director, complete the following steps:
1. If this is the first time using IBM Systems Director, the Welcome page is
displayed automatically. Otherwise, in the IBM Systems Director navigation
area, click Welcome.
2. On the IBM Systems Director Welcome page, view the Getting Started section
on the Start page. This section provides status information about resources that
IBM Systems Director has discovered. This information includes the number of
operating systems that are managed by way of the Common Agent, Platform
Agent, or no agent; the number of systems to which you do not have access,
and the number of systems on which inventory has not been collected. Click
any of these links to display detailed information about the affected systems
and resources.
Chapter 1. Overview 27
Note: If you have not performed discovery yet, discovery and system access
information is reported only for the management server.
In the Optional tasks area, the tasks that are commonly used when setting up
IBM Systems Director are provided.
3. View the Next Steps section on the Start page. This section provides typical
tasks for setting up IBM Systems Director, including registering with IBM,
creating thresholds and event automation plans, checking for updates, installing
Common Agent on systems, setting up security, and configuring your systems.
To determine whether plug-ins are ready for use, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome.
2. On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab.
3. Browse the Manage page to determine the plug-ins that are in your IBM
Systems Director installation and whether they are ready for use. Each plug-in
has one of the following icons beside its name denoting whether the plug-in is
ready for use or requires additional setup or configuration:
Ready
The plug-in is correctly installed and configured.
Collecting data
The process to determine whether a plug-in is ready to use has started
and might take a long time. To determine when the plug-in is ready,
click Refresh (located at the bottom of the page) and if the plug-in is
ready the status icon will change.
Setup required
The plug-in is not set up correctly or the set up is currently incomplete.
A message and additional links are displayed providing information
about any required setup, such as additional configuring, enabling of
firewall support, identifying applicable types of servers required by
that plug-in, or other setup activities.
Error connecting
The plug-in has failed to connect to the applicable destination, which
might be the management server, a Web site, or another destination.
4. If a plug-in reports that it has a problem, click the displayed links to complete
the setup and configuration.
5. Complete the setup tasks listed for the plug-in.
6. On the Manage page, click Refresh. IBM Systems Director checks the plug-in.
The affected plug-in is now ready to use and its status is updated.
To view the IBM Systems Director Server summary, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome.
2. On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab.
3. On the Welcome page, scroll to the IBM Systems Director Server section of the
page and click the IBM Systems Director Server section heading. The IBM
Systems Director Server summary is displayed.
4. View the IBM Systems Director status section. This section provides the
following information:
v The management server name. Click the name to view the properties page
for the server.
v The current status for IBM Systems Director Server and, if applicable, its last
restart date and time. The Status field displays a local system health rating
that warns you when the IBM Systems Director Server is experiencing
problems that could jeopardize performance or stability. If a problem is
detected, a message ID is also provided. When you can click on the message
ID, a new window opens with a recommended operator response.
v The number of systems discovered. Click this link to display the discovered
systems.
v The type of authentication used.
v The known ports that are in use. Click All possible ports to view
information about ports that IBM Systems Director might use.
Note: This link opens the IBM Systems Director information center and
requires Internet access.
v The location of any trace and error logs.
v The database version number and driver that is installed.
v Current management server statistics: processor use, memory use, storage
use, and the number of active users.
v In the Common tasks area, the following links are provided:
System discovery
Click System discovery to discover systems by specifying a single IP
address, host name, or IP address range or by using a discovery
profile.
Collect and view inventory
Click Collect and view inventory to open the View and Collect
Inventory task, with which you can collect the most current
inventory from a resource or view the inventory of a resource.
Find a task
Click Find a task to quickly and easily find any task. Then, you can
run the selected task.
Find a resource
Click Find a resource to quickly and easily find a particular resource.
Navigate resources
Click Navigate Resources to view, work with, and navigate among
resources in your systems-management environment, including view
and manage discovery options on an individual resource level.
5. View the Users and roles section. This section provides the following
information:
Chapter 1. Overview 29
v The number of users that do not have access to any resources. Click this link
to view the Users page that displays the affected users.
v The number of users that are defined in your IBM Systems Director Server
environment. Click this link to view the Users page that displays the defined
users.
v The number of roles that are defined in your IBM Systems Director Server
environment. Click this link to view the Roles page.
v In the Common tasks area, the following links are provided:
Manage Users
Click Manage Users to specify basic properties for each authorized
user and assign access to each user using roles.
Manage Roles
Click Manage Roles to create, edit, or delete roles that are used to
assign access to users.
Add a role
Click Add a role to create a role.
You also can reach the summary page by using Find a Task. For more information,
see “Finding a task.”
Related reference
You can learn more about IBM Systems Director in the following ways:
v In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome. On the Welcome
page, click the Learn tab. View the available tutorials to expand your skills with
IBM Systems Director.
v On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab. For each plug-in, click the plug-in
section heading to view its Summary page.
v Go to the IBM Systems Director information center at http://
publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r2x/index.jsp to review scenarios
and other information resources.
v Go to the IBM Systems Director customer forum. For more information, see
“Accessing the IBM Systems Director customer forum.”
v To familiarize yourself with other information resources available on the Web,
click Related Web Resources.
Viewing updates
You can view updates that you can choose to apply to your IBM Systems Director
environment.
To view updates, in the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome to
view the Welcome page and complete any of the following steps:
v On the Welcome page, in the upper right-corner, click Update IBM Systems
Director. The Update IBM Systems Director page is displayed.
v On the Start page, in the Next Steps section, click Check for updates on
discovered systems.
1. On the Check for Updates page, select the types of updates for which you
want check and click OK. Using the Check for Updates page, you can start
managing updates in the following ways:
– Select the systems to keep in compliance with the latest updates.
Viewing tutorials
You can view tutorials to learn quickly how to use tasks and feature provided by
IBM Systems Director.
Tip: The tutorials are launched from the Internet. You must have access to the
Internet to view them. For more information about e-learning and tutorials, see
“Learning and tutorials.”
If you have trouble viewing a tutorial, make sure that you install version 8.0 or
later of Adobe Flash Player from www.adobe.com/downloads/ and ensure that
your browser security settings are not preventing the interactive content from
displaying. Also, make sure that the system on which you install the IBM Systems
Director components meets the defined hardware requirements.
Related concepts
Viewing updates
You can view updates that you can choose to apply to your IBM Systems Director
environment.
To view updates, in the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome to
view the Welcome page and complete any of the following steps:
v On the Welcome page, in the upper right-corner, click Update IBM Systems
Director. The Update IBM Systems Director page is displayed.
v On the Start page, in the Next Steps section, click Check for updates on
discovered systems.
1. On the Check for Updates page, select the types of updates for which you
want check and click OK. Using the Check for Updates page, you can start
managing updates in the following ways:
– Select the systems to keep in compliance with the latest updates.
– Create an update group to contain the updates for your selected systems.
– Configure a connection to the Internet.
– Run or schedule a check for updates.
Chapter 1. Overview 31
2. In the Run - Check for Updates window, click OK to start Check for Updates
immediately. IBM Systems Director checks for any updates that are available
from the IBM Web site. A message is displayed stating that the Check for
Updates has run.
3. Click Show Updates. The Show Updates page is displayed.
v On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab. On the Manage page, view the
Update Manager section and click Check for Updates. The Check for Updates
page described in the preceding step is displayed.
Viewing tutorials
You can view tutorials to learn quickly how to use tasks and feature provided by
IBM Systems Director.
Tip: The tutorials are launched from the Internet. You must have access to the
Internet to view them. For more information about e-learning and tutorials, see
“Learning and tutorials.”
If you have trouble viewing a tutorial, make sure that you install version 8.0 or
later of Adobe Flash Player from www.adobe.com/downloads/ and ensure that
your browser security settings are not preventing the interactive content from
displaying. Also, make sure that the system on which you install the IBM Systems
Director components meets the defined hardware requirements.
Related concepts
Navigation area
The navigation area of IBM Systems Director Web interface provides
categories of tasks that can vary depending on your IBM Systems Director
installation. The navigation provides links to tasks you can perform on
your resources. Examples of typical tasks might include Navigate
Resources, Inventory, Health Summary, and Automation and Settings.
Content area
When you open the Web interface, by default you see the Welcome page
for IBM Systems Director in the content area. The content area changes
depending on the item you select in the navigation area. You can
customize aspects of the content area using the Navigation Preferences. For
more information, see “Setting navigation preferences.”
View list
In the navigation area, this list provides the following alternate view
selections:
Chapter 1. Overview 33
All tasks
Displays all the tasks that are available in your IBM Systems
Director installation. This is the default view.
My tasks
Displays a customized list of tasks. For more information, see
“Customizing the Web interface.”
IBM Systems Director
Displays only IBM Systems Director tasks.
Help
Displays the help system.
Logout
Logs out of IBM Systems Director.
From the Start page, you can also link to the system discovery task, which enables
you to discover systems by specifying a single IPv4 or IPv6 address, a single host
name, or a single IP address range or by using a discovery profile. System
discovery also is available from the Inventory section of the navigation area.
After you install IBM Systems Director and start the IBM Systems Director Web
interface for the first time, you are presented with a Discover button on the Start
tab of the Welcome page. Use the associated task to perform agent-based discovery
on only your local subnet and, optionally, request access to the systems that are
discovered.
The first time you perform getting started discovery, use the Start page. If you
want to perform another getting started discovery, you need to run a system
discovery using the Default getting started discovery profile.
To perform the first getting started discovery, complete the following steps:
1. Launch the IBM Systems Director Web interface and click the Start tab of the
Welcome page.
2. Click Discover. The Discover Network page is displayed.
3. Choose either of the following methods to request access to the discovered
systems:
Use user ID and password
Prompts you for a user ID and password that is then used to request
access to all the discovered systems. Access is granted to those systems
that accept the provided credentials.
Request access later
Discovers the systems but does not attempt to request access to any of
them. You can then use the request access tasks provided by IBM
Systems Director to manually request access at a later time.
4. Click Discover. A status icon displays the status of the discovery task, and the
dynamic elements on the page (for example, the pie chart) change to reflect the
current statistics of the set of discovered resources.
You will see Discovery completed in place of the Discover button after all the
discovery requests are sent. However, systems continue to appear as they
respond to the discovery request and manageable objects are created.
Note: The time it takes for discovery to finish processing varies depending on
such factors as network performance and the number of systems that are
discovered. Avoid managing newly discovered resources for a time after the
discovery task finishes, because associated processing continues to run.
After discovery is completed, use the navigate resources task to view and work
with the resources.
Note:
v Discover only those resources that you intend to manage with IBM Systems
Director. For example, if the management interfaces of your networking
equipment are on a single subnet, yet you do not intend to manage your
networking equipment with IBM Systems Director, do not discover devices on
that subnet.
v When discovering a large number of resources, network traffic associated with
the discovery process might cause timeouts that result in some discoverable
resources remaining undiscovered. To help prevent this problem, use one or
more discovery profiles. Using a discovery profile enables you to target specific
resources and limit the number of communication protocols used during
Chapter 1. Overview 35
discovery. Limiting the number of communication protocols used when
discovering a large number of resources helps avoid problems caused by
network traffic collisions and timeouts.
1. Open the System Discovery page using either of these two methods:
v On the Start page on the Welcome page, click System discovery under
Optional tasks.
v In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand
Inventory and then click System Discovery.
The System Discovery page is displayed.
2. Select one of the following discovery methods:
Table 1. System discovery methods
To do this task: Complete these steps:
Use a single IPv4 or IPv6 address 1. Select Single IPv4 address or Single
IPv6 address from the Select a discovery
option field.
2. In the IP address field, type the IP
address of the system that you want to
discover.
3. If you want to discover only a specific
resource type, select it from the Select
the resource type to discover list.
Use a range of IPv4 or IPv6 addresses 1. Select Range of IPv4 addresses or Range
of IPv6 addresses from the Select a
discovery option field.
2. For the IP address range that contains
the systems that you want to discover,
type the complete low-end IP address in
the Starting IP address fields and the
last piece of the high-end IP address in
the Ending IP address field.
3. If you want to discover only a specific
resource type, select it from the Select
the resource type to discover list.
Use the host name of a system 1. Select Single host name from the Select
a discovery option field.
2. In the Host name field, type the host
name of the system that you want to
discover.
3. If you want to discover only a specific
resource type, select it from the Select
the resource type to discover list.
Use an existing discovery profile 1. Select Select a discovery profile to run
from the Select a discovery option field.
2. Select the profile that you want to use
from the Discovery profile to run field.
Create and use a discovery profile 1. Click Create new profile under
Advanced Tasks.
2. Use the Discovery Profile wizard to
create a discovery profile. After saving
the profile, the System Discovery page
display automatically, and the profile
you created is already selected.
Note: After a resource is discovered, the virtual systems that are associated with
that resource are also discovered.
v To view the results of a specific discovery that ran at a previous time or a
discovery that is scheduled to run at a later time, use the Discovery jobs task.
v To view all discovered resources, use the Navigate Resources task.
Note: The time it takes for discovery to finish processing varies depending on
such factors as network performance and the number of systems that are
discovered. Avoid managing newly discovered resources for a time after the
discovery task finishes, because associated processing continues to run.
When the discovery process completes, the status icon and text message disappear
and the Discover Now and Schedule buttons become active again.
The default resource view is a table view. When you click on a group, you drill
down to the group members which can be more groups or individual systems and
their resources.
Chapter 1. Overview 37
Navigate Resources is available in the navigation pane and from the Welcome
page. The All Systems group is equivalent to All Managed Objects group in IBM
Director 5.20.
The IBM Systems Director Web interface provides a number of ways to view
information about your resources as well as manage the resources. The most
typical ways are through tables and the properties view. Most tasks and plug-ins
provide information and function using tables, although the amount of information
and function varies depending on the task or plug-in.
Information and functions also are provided using the properties view. The
properties view is always available for any resource by selecting the resource and
clicking Actions > Properties.
Some tasks and plug-ins, most notably Navigate Resources, also provide Topology
Perspectives. When you select this feature, you can view a collection of related
resources, such as systems and their storage, and see the relationships among the
resources using a topology map. You also can toggle from the map view to a
resource view or relationship view.
Table view
The table view can display a list of the resources or tasks. Tables are the basic way
that information is displayed in IBM Systems Director.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the table view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Actions
Opens a list of available actions. These actions include those that are
provided in the toolbar and elsewhere on the page as well as actions that
are common to all tables. For common table actions, see “Table navigation
in IBM Systems Director.”
Resource area
Displays the content of the resource area depending on the resources that
you have chosen to view. To see the members of a group, click on a group
in the table. The view drills down to view the group members in the table
and another step is added to the breadcrumb path. For example, if you
click Common-Agent systems in the table, all systems in your
environment that have Common Agent installed are displayed. The
resource view functions in the same way regardless of the resources that
you have chosen to view.
To perform an action on a resource in the view, right-click the resource and
select an action.
Tip: To got to a specific page, type a number in the provided entry field
and press Enter. If you specified an number that is not valid, the page in
the table does not change.
Properties view
The properties view displays a list of properties and other detailed information
associated with the selected resource. Using the properties view, you can access
troubleshooting information and other important details about a resource from
anywhere in the IBM Systems Director Web interface. This view is available for all
resources from the Actions menu and from the resource's pop-up menu.
Depending on the selected resource, the properties view can provide information
about any configuration settings, jobs, thresholds, or event automation plans that
can affect the resource as well as dynamic troubleshooting information such as
Chapter 1. Overview 39
active status, inventory, and event log. Also, the properties view provides access to
any tasks that can be performed on the selected resource by way of the Actions
menu.
You can access the properties view from any view by selecting a resource and
clicking Actions > Properties.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the properties view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Actions
Contains actions that are applicable to the resource displayed in the
Properties view.
Additional properties
If present, this area provides links to customized properties views provided
by the plug-in.
Resource area
Displays the content of the resource area that varies depending on the
resource that you have chosen to view. While the General page is always
displayed by default, the following additional pages can be provided
depending on the resource type:
For information about additional topology perspectives, see the following topics:
v “Storage topology views”
v “The update topology perspective”
v “Viewing resources in virtualization perspectives”
Note: The properties view is always available for any resource; select the resource
and click Properties.
Chapter 1. Overview 41
Map view:
The map view shows a graphical view of your resources and their relationships.
You can drill down and view the relationships among these resources and other
resources in your environment. You can also view and edit resource properties.
You can click on any displayed system icon or on any relationship line to select a
resource or relationship; then right-click on that selected resource to display a list
of available actions.
You can access the topology map view by selecting one or more resources and then
clicking Actions > Topology Perspectives > Basic. After you have entered the map
view, you can change to the resource view or relationship view. You can access the
map view from the resource view or relationship view by clicking Actions > Map
View.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the map view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Toolbar
The toolbar contains the following toolbar buttons and menu:
Zoom Area Selects the part of the topology that you want to increase or decrease in size.
Pan Provides a way for you to drag the topology map to reposition it in the
topology viewport.
Hover Help Displays detailed information about a resource or relationship line when a
mouse hovers over it.
Zoom Out (F2) Incrementally reduces the total area of the topology you want to view.
Zoom In (F3) Incrementally enlarges the total area of topology you want to view.
Zoom To Fit (F4) Scales the entire topology to fit into the topology viewport.
Print Graph Prints the entire topology. A Web browser window opens containing a JPEG
image of the graph. You can either print the graphic using your Web-browser
print feature or save the graphic as a local image.
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off
for the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
Print Viewport Prints only the current resources and relationships that are displayed in the
topology viewport. This view might be only a portion of the overall topology.
A Web browser window opens containing a JPEG image of the graph. You can
either print the graphic using your Web-browser print feature or save the
graphic as a local image.
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off
for the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
Hide Palette View Hides the support area that displays the palettes.
Show Palette View Shows the support area that displays the palettes.
Map area
Enables you to drill down and view the relationships between resources in
a graphical format. You can right-click on a resource to display a list of
available actions. You can perform mouse actions on the topology map
such as scrolling, repositioning, and resizing. You also can use the
Overview palette to easily reposition the resources and relationships that
are displayed in the map.
Support area
Contains the Overview, Details, and Filter palettes. Click Hide Palette
View on the navigation toolbar to close the support area. Click Show
Chapter 1. Overview 43
Palette View on the navigation toolbar to open the support area. See
“Navigating topology maps” for more information.
Overview palette
Provides a view of the entire topology map with a rectangle surrounding
the portion of the map displayed in the map viewport. You can click and
drag within the Overview palette to reposition the topology. See
“Reordering, minimizing, and hiding palettes” for more information.
Details palette
Provides a way to work with the properties of your resources. When you
select a resource or relationship in the topology, all of its properties appear
in the properties page within the Details palette. To change editable
properties, click Edit to open the Edit Properties window, change the
property, and click OK. See “Viewing properties and details” for more
information.
Filter palette
Provides a way to select the resources that you want to see in the topology
map. You can filter your selections by status and by resource type. When
filtered, the affected resources and relationships are grayed out in the map.
The Filter palette also provides a Results page that displays the results of
searching the map view. See “Filtering the topology map” for more
information.
Resource view:
The resource view displays a list of the resources in the current topology map
view.
You can access the resource view from the map view or relationship view by
clicking Actions > Resource View.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the resource view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Actions
Opens a list of available actions. These actions include those that are
provided in the toolbar and elsewhere on the page as well as actions that
are common to all tables. For common table actions, see “Table navigation
in IBM Systems Director.”
Map View
Click to change to the topology map view of the selected resource
and its related resources.
Resource View
The currently selected view, it displays the resource view of the
selected resource and its related resources.
Relationship View
Click to change to the selected resource, its related resources, and
their relationships.
Depth Indicate the number of relationships from the root node to the
object that is farthest away from that node. Using this menu, you
can select the depth of related resources that you want to view in
the table.
Chapter 1. Overview 45
Resource area
The content of the resource area depends on the resources that you have
chosen to view. To see the members of a group, click on a group in the
table. The view drills down to view the group members in the table and
another step is added to the breadcrumb path. For example, if you click
Common-Agent systems in the table, all systems in your environment that
have Common Agent installed will be displayed. The resource view
functions in the same way regardless of the resources that you have chosen
to view.
To perform an action on a resource in the view, right-click the resource and
select an action.
Tip: To got to a specific page, type a number in the provided entry field
and press Enter. If you specified an number that is not valid, the page in
the table does not change.
Relationship view:
The relationship view shows the relationships among the resources in the current
topology map view. You can see the name of each resource, its type of relationship
to another resource, and the related resource. Before you can access the
relationship view, you must enter Topology Perspectives.
You can access a relationship view from the map view by clicking Actions >
Relationship View.
Note: After you enter the map view, there are two additional alternate views: the
relationship view and the resource view. Having entered the map view you can
change among the three alternate views.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the relationship view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Actions
Contains actions for the selected resource and its related resources in a
relationship view.
Opens a list of available actions. These actions include those that are
provided in the toolbar and elsewhere on the page as well as actions that
are common to all tables. For common table actions, see “Table navigation
in IBM Systems Director.”
Map View
Click to change to the topology map view of the selected resource
and its related resources.
Resource View
Click to change to the resource view of the selected resource and
its related resources.
Relationship View
The currently selected view, it displays the selected resource, its
related resources, and their relationships.
Depth Indicate the number of relationships from the root node to the
object that is farthest away from that node. Using this menu, you
can select the depth of related resources that you want to view in
the table.
Chapter 1. Overview 47
are highlighted. Additionally, if you click Search, all of the pages of a table
are searched for the provided string; only the rows that contain the string
are displayed in the table.
Relationship area
The content of the relationship area depends on the resources that you
have chosen to view. For example, if you click Virtual Servers and Hosts,
the relationships that pertain to your virtual systems and hosts will be
displayed in the relationship view. A relationship between two resources is
displayed in each row. The relationship view functions in the same way
regardless of the types of relationships you have chosen to view.
To perform an action on the resources in the relationship view, right-click
the resource name in a row. The pop-up menu provides a submenu for
each resource in the relationship. Select an action for the resource you want
to affect. The action you select is performed on the selected resource within
the relationship.
Tip: To got to a specific page, type a number in the provided entry field
and press Enter. If you specified an number that is not valid, the page in
the table does not change.
Note: Do not confuse the resource view and relationship view with the navigation
tables that are used throughout the IBM Systems Director Web interface. These
views display only the resources and relationships that you selected to display in
the topology perspective.
The map view shows a graphical view of your resources and their relationships. If
a resource provides the topology map view as an alternate view, Topology
Perspectives is available in the Actions menu.
Chapter 1. Overview 49
Viewing resources in the resource view:
The resource view displays a list of the resources in the current topology map
view.
To view and use the resource view, complete the following steps:
1. In a topology map or relationship table, click Actions > Resource View.
2. In the table view, click a resource in the list to drill down and see more
resources and their relationships.
3. If you want to perform tasks or other actions on your resources, select one or
more resources; then, click Action and click a task.
Tips:
v You also can right-click the resource and select a task from the pop-up menu.
v You can run some tasks on multiple resources simultaneously. To perform an
action on multiple resources, select the resources, right-click on one of the
selected resources, and select a task from the pop-up menu.
The relationship view shows the relationships among the resources in the current
topology map view. You can see the name of each resource, its type of relationship
to another resource, and the related resource. Before you can access the
relationship view, you must enter Topology Perspectives.
To view and use the relationship view, complete the following steps:
1. In a topology map or resource view, select a resource and click Actions >
Relationship View. The resource view shows a list of the relationships among
your resources. A relationship between two resources is displayed in each row.
The resource view provides the following information about the relationships:
From In the resource view, the resource that is the starting point of a
relationship. For example, if System A is the host for Virtual Server 1,
then System A is the starting point of the relationship.
Relationship type
The type of relationship between two resources. Relationships might be
physical to physical, physical to virtual, or virtual to virtual. Consider
the following examples:
v A physical to physical relationship might be an IBM Power system to
a disk unit.
v A physical to virtual relationship might be a host system to a virtual
server.
v A virtual to virtual relationship might be a virtual server connected
to a virtual LAN.
To In the resource view, the resource that is the ending point of a
relationship. For example, if System A is the host for Virtual Server 1,
then Virtual Server 1 is the ending point of the relationship.
2. To perform actions on a resource in a relationship, select a relationship row.
Then, click Actions, select either the To or From resource, and click a task.
Tips:
v You also can right-click the resource and select a task from the pop-up menu.
v Use the pop-up menu or the Actions menu to perform actions on either of
the resources represented in the relationship.
50 IBM Systems Director Systems Management Guide
Changing between resource views:
After you have entered the topology map view, you can change to alternate views
of the resources and relationships that you chose to view in the topology map
view.
You first must enter the topology map view before you can change to the
relationship table or resource table views. If a task provides the topology map
view, the Topology Perspectives action is available in the Actions menu.
After you enter the topology map view, you can change to the relationship view or
the resource view and then return to the map view. All views are available in the
Actions menu and the view that you are currently using is checked.
Also, the properties view is always available from the Actions menu. Select a
resource and then click Actions > Properties.
You can customize the view that you want displayed when you open a resource in
the topology map. This setting is provided for accessibility requirements and
screen reader support; the setting affects only the view that is shown when the
resource is opened. After you have opened the resource, you can switch to a
different view. By default, this option is not selected; therefore, the topology view
is the default view. When this setting is selected, the topology view is not initially
displayed when you select Topology Perspectives.
Chapter 1. Overview 51
How do I view my inventory?
In IBM Director Console version 5.20, you could view inventory by dragging the
task onto a managed system or group. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface,
the Inventory section of the navigation area provides a task to view and collect
inventory for a system or group.
You can choose from several predefined inventory profiles that filter only the
inventory items that you want to display.
Collecting inventory
Use the View and Collect Inventory task to collect inventory data for systems that
have already been discovered and accessed by IBM Systems Director Server.
Before you can view inventory for a resource, you must discover that resource
using System Discovery. Inventory collection uses inventory collection profiles. You
can use an existing profile to collect inventory for a system. If the inventory
collection profile does not exist for the type of inventory data you want to collect,
you must first create the inventory collection profile and make sure that it contains
the appropriate settings.
Note: Inventory is displayed for only those systems that are in a state other than
no access. To change the access state, select the system or systems and click
Actions > Security > Request Access.
To collect inventory for one or more systems, perform the following steps:
1. Open the View and Collect Inventory page using either of these two methods:
v On the Welcome page, click View and collect inventory under Optional
tasks.
v In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand
Inventory and then click View and Collect Inventory.
The View and Collect Inventory page is displayed.
2. In the Target Systems list, select the system for which you want to view or
collect inventory data. If the target system that you want to view is not in the
target systems list, perform the following steps to add the system to the list.
a. Click Browse to open the Context Chooser. The Context Chooser displays a
list of system groups.
b. In the list of groups, drill down to the individual target system for which
you want to view inventory data in the group that contains that target
system.
Note: You can select the entire group or you can drill down to select
individual target systems as targets within a group.
c. Select one or more target systems that you want to add.
d. Click Add. The selected target systems are displayed in the Selected list.
e. Click OK.
3. In the View by list, select the inventory profile that you want to use.
4. Click Collect Inventory. The Run - Collect Inventory page is displayed.
5. Use the Run - Collect Inventory page to set up optional functions and options
of your inventory collection task:
Schedule
Use the Schedule tab to set the inventory collection task to run
Note: Click Display Properties if you want to view the properties of the job.
The Active and Scheduled Jobs page is displayed and provides information
about the job including status, progress, a list of targets, a history, and error
logs.
When inventory collection is completed, you can view the inventory data list and
table by clicking Refresh View.
Viewing inventory
Use the View and Collect Inventory task to view and manage an extended set of
resources and relationships for systems that have already been discovered. The
inventory that is displayed includes physical, logical, and virtual hardware;
software applications, operating systems, middleware, firmware, BIOS, and
diagnostic information; network information; and system-contained resources. Also,
IBM Systems Director displays the inventory data for the inventory items that are
collected.
Before you can view inventory data for a resource, you must collect the inventory
data for that resource.
Note: Inventory is displayed for only those systems that are in a state other than
no access. To change the access state, select the system or systems and click
Actions > Security > Request Access.
Chapter 1. Overview 53
Note: You can select the entire group or you can drill down to select
individual target systems as targets within a group.
c. Select one or more target systems that you want to add.
d. Click Add. The selected target systems are displayed in the Selected list.
e. Click OK.
3. In the View by list, select the inventory profile that you want to use.
4. Click Refresh View. The inventory data for the selected resource is displayed.
Note: If you click Refresh View before any inventory has been collected by IBM
Systems Director Server, an empty table is displayed and the Last collected
value will be none. Before you try to view inventory, make sure that you
discover the applicable resources and collect the inventory for them.
The following table shows a list of tasks in IBM Director 5.20, and the
corresponding path to access those tasks in IBM Systems Director 6.x. For
step-by-step instructions for accessing a task in IBM Systems Director 6.x, click the
applicable link.
Start a task from the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area in any of
the following ways:
v Click Find a Task. On the Find a Task page, you can search for and start a
specific task. For more information, see “Finding a task.”
Note: You can select a noninteractive task and click Actions > Run to schedule
the task to start immediately or at a later time. For more information, see
“Scheduling tasks.”
v Expand the sections in the navigation pane to view and click available tasks.
v Expand Task Management and click External Application Launch. You can
configure other applications to run from the IBM Systems Director Web
interface. For more information, see “Integrating external applications.”
v Click My Startup Pages. Any pages that you have saved to your Startup page
are displayed here. A saved page includes any tasks that can be run from that
page. For more information, see “Customizing the Web interface.”
v Click any of the tasks available in the navigation area.
Start a task from the IBM Systems Director Web interface content area in any of the
following ways:
v In a table view, right-click a resource and select a task.
Tip: You can run some tasks on multiple resources simultaneously. To perform a
task on multiple resources, select one or more resources. Then, right-click one of
the selected resources and select a task.
v In a table or topology map view, select one or more resources. Then, click
Actions and click a task.
v In the topology map view, right-click a resource and select a task.
v In the topology map view, select the resource. Then, in the Details palette,
right-click the resource and select a task.
v For applicable tasks, you can select Run Now or Schedule. You can schedule a
task to start immediately or at a later time. For more information, see
“Scheduling tasks.”
Chapter 1. Overview 55
To create a hardware event automation plan, complete the following steps:
1. On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab if the Manage page is not
displayed.
2. In the Automation Manager section, click Automation Plans.
3. On the Event Automation Plans page, click Create.
4. In the Event Automation Plan wizard, the Welcome page is displayed. Click
Next.
5. On the Name and description page, type a descriptive name for the event
automation plan that you are creating. Optionally, you also can type a
description of the plan. Click Next.
6. On the Targets page, select the systems that the event automation plan will
monitor for specific generated events. Select the systems in the Available list
and click Add > to move them to the Selected list. Click Next.
7. On the Events page, select Common from the Events list.
8. In the Event types list, select the categories of common events that you want
to monitor. You can select more than one category of events; however, you
must provide information for some of the categories. Provide this information
before you select another category of events. The following list describes the
hardware-related categories of common events that you can select as well as
the information each set requires.
Hardware
These categories of events are generated by the following hardware
and hardware components: processors (CPUs), disks, fans, memory,
network and switches, power supplies, security, servers, RAID or
storage arrays, and blade servers. None of these categories provide
additional settings.
Monitors
These events are generated by the monitors for microprocessor use,
memory use, and disk use. When you select one of these categories of
events, you must set the threshold values for the monitors. Then, a
threshold monitor is automatically created on the specified systems for
you. For more information, see “Managing monitors” and “Managing
thresholds.”
Table 3. Categories of monitor events and available threshold settings
Categories of
events Available threshold settings
Processor use If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
check box. Then, select the percentage of processor use for the threshold.
When processor use is equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the
monitor will generate a Processor Use event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the percentage of processor use for the threshold.
When processor use is equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the
monitor will generate a Processor Use event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the amount of memory, in MB, to monitor for the
threshold. When the memory use is equal to or greater than the
threshold settings, the monitor will generate a Memory Use event with a
warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Disk use If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
check box. Then, select the percentage of disk capacity for the threshold.
When the used disk capacity is equal to or greater than the threshold
setting, the monitor will generate a Disk Use event with a critical
severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the percentage of disk capacity for the threshold.
When the used disk capacity is equal to or greater than the threshold
setting, the monitor will generate a Disk Use event with a warning
severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
9. When you are satisfied with the specified event filters, click Next.
10. On the Events actions page, click Create.
11. In the Create Actions window, select an event action.
In most event automation plans, you will use one or more of the following
basic event actions:
v Send an alphanumeric page (using TAP)
v Send an e-mail (Internet SMTP)
v Send an e-mail to a mobile phone
v Start a program on a system
v Start a program on the management server
v Start a program on the system that generated the event
For information about event action types, see “Event actions.”
12. Click OK.
13. Complete the fields for the event action that you selected. For some event
action types, you can include event-specific information as part of the text
message. Including event information is referred to as event-data substitution.
You can use event-data-substitution variables to customize event actions. For
more information, see “Event-data-substitution variables.”
14. If you selected a basic event action, you can determine whether your settings
are correct by clicking Test.
15. If you selected a basic event action and you are satisfied with the settings,
click OK to save the event action.
16. When you are satisfied with your selected event actions, click Next. The new
event action is displayed in the Event action page.
Chapter 1. Overview 57
Note: You can create and select more than one type of event action for your
event automation plan.
17. On the Time range page, click All day (24 x 7) to enable the plan to be active
all the time.
18. Click Next.
19. On the Summary page, verify the details of the event automation plan. If you
need to make changes, click < Back.
20. When you are done editing the event automation plan, click Finish.
To log into IBM Systems Director Server, complete the following steps:
1. Point your browser to the following URL:
http://System_Name:Port_Number/ibm/console
where System_Name is the name of the system on which IBM Systems Director
Server is installed and Port_Number is the first (lower) of two consecutive port
numbers that you specified for the Web server to use. The default ports for the
Web server are 8421 and 8422. If you use port 8422, make sure that you specify
https to indicate a secure port.
2. Type the user ID and password that correspond to an authorized IBM Systems
Director administrator user ID and password.
3. Click Log in.
Note: A security alert window might be displayed before logging in. This is
due to incorrect configuration of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. For
information see “Configuring Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) between IBM Systems
Director and the Web browser client.”
Notes:
Note: If you do not actively use the IBM Systems Director Web interface for 30
minutes, the automatic-timeout feature will log out your user ID from IBM
Systems Director Server.
When a user is logged on more than once, you will see a number, such as (2), next
to the user's state on the Users page.
Navigation area
The navigation area of IBM Systems Director Web interface provides
categories of tasks that can vary depending on your IBM Systems Director
installation. The navigation provides links to tasks you can perform on
your resources. Examples of typical tasks might include Navigate
Resources, Inventory, Health Summary, and Automation and Settings.
Content area
When you open the Web interface, by default you see the Welcome page
for IBM Systems Director in the content area. The content area changes
depending on the item you select in the navigation area. You can
customize aspects of the content area using the Navigation Preferences. For
more information, see “Setting navigation preferences.”
View list
In the navigation area, this list provides the following alternate view
selections:
Help
Displays the help system.
Logout
Logs out of IBM Systems Director.
Note: In addition to these settings, you can customize navigation preferences for
table and topology views. For information see “Setting navigation preferences.”
Any changes take effect the next time you log in to IBM Systems Director.
The new message appears immediately for future login attempts, you do not need
to restart the server.
Related reference
“Command-task file parameters” on page 137
The Web interface provides page controls in the upper-right corner in the Select
Action list. Also, when you have more page tabs that can be displayed in the
width of the Web interface, an arrow is displayed that you can click to view the
additional tabs.
To manage and close open pages, complete any of the following steps:
v In the IBM Systems Director Web interface, click Manage Open Pages from the
Select Action list that is located in the upper-right corner of the Web interface
content area. On the Manage Open Pages page, you can close all pages by
clicking Close All Pages, close selected pages by selecting one or more pages
and clicking Close Page, or view a selected page by clicking the page link.
v To close a page that you are viewing, click Close Page from the Select Action
list.
v To close a page, click X on the page tab.
v When applicable, click the OK or Cancel buttons on the page.
The following links are available at the top of the Welcome page:
Find a resource
Provides a way to quickly and easily find one or more resources in your
systems-management environment.
Find a task
Provides a way to quickly and easily find any task in IBM Systems
Director.
About
Displays the version of your IBM Systems Director installation.
Web resources
Displays other information resources that are available on the Web.
Getting Started
Provides tasks and information that you can use to get started with IBM
Systems Director.
Status chart
Provides status information about resources that IBM Systems Director has
discovered. This information includes the number of operating systems
that are managed by way of the Common Agent, Platform Agent, or no
agent; the number of systems to which you do not have access, and the
number of systems on which inventory has not been collected. Click any of
these links to display detailed information about the affected systems and
resources.
Optional tasks
Provides optional tasks for getting started including discovery, inventory,
and navigate resources.
Next Steps
Provides typical tasks for setting up IBM Systems Director, including
registering with IBM, creating thresholds and event automation plans,
checking for updates, installing Common Agent on systems, setting up
security, and configuring your systems.
The Manage tab includes an icon that is displayed if any problems exist with one
or more plug-ins.
Note: The Manage page displays only the plug-ins that the user is authorized to
use. If a user is not authorized to use any plug-ins, the Manage page is not
displayed.
The icon displayed is tied to the plug-in states that are displayed on the Manage
page:
Readiness icons
Each plug-in title has one of the following icons next to its name denoting
whether the plug-in is ready for use:
Ready
The plug-in is correctly installed and configured.
Collecting data
The process to determine whether a plug-in is ready to use has
started and might take a long time. To determine when the plug-in
is ready, click Refresh (located at the bottom of the page) and if
the plug-in is ready the status icon will change.
Setup required
The plug-in is not set up correctly or the set up is currently
incomplete. A message and additional links are displayed
providing information about any required setup, such as additional
configuring, enabling of firewall support, identifying applicable
types of servers required by that plug-in, or other setup activities.
Error connecting
The plug-in has failed to connect to the applicable destination,
which might be the management server, a Web site, or another
destination.
Plug-in links
Each plug-in section provides links that you can use to complete any
configuration or setup activities.
Refresh
Click to refresh the ready-for-use information. It also reports that last time
the information was refreshed.
Tutorial links
Provides links to available tutorials for installed plug-ins.
Tip: The tutorials are launched from the Internet. You must have access to
the Internet to view them. For more information about e-learning and
tutorials, see “Learning and tutorials.”
Hover help
Provides a description for each tutorial.
In the Welcome banner area, you can get a quick view of system status by viewing
the following icons next to Compliance or Problems:
v Warning
v Critical
For more detailed information, click Compliance, to view the Active Status
(compliance) page or click Problems to view the Problems page.
Each applicable IBM Systems Director system generates a numeric value that aligns
it with one of the following three severity levels:
Critical
A system that has generated an event with a severity of 5 or 6 is the most
severe and is identified in IBM Systems Director as being in a Critical state.
These systems have already lost or will imminently lose data, have had
system down time, or are on the verge of losing some other services.
System operation might be impacted if the problem is left uncorrected.
Warning
A system that has generated an event with a severity of 3 or 4 is identified
in IBM Systems Director as being in a Warning state. These systems can
escalate to a Critical state if left uncorrected. System operation might not
be impacted and normal use of the hardware can continue.
Informational
A system that has generated an event with a severity of 1 or 2 is identified
in IBM Systems Director as being in an Informational state. These systems
are operating normally and typically, no action is required.
To get started with IBM Systems Director, complete the following steps:
1. If this is the first time using IBM Systems Director, the Welcome page is
displayed automatically. Otherwise, in the IBM Systems Director navigation
area, click Welcome.
2. On the IBM Systems Director Welcome page, view the Getting Started section
on the Start page. This section provides status information about resources that
IBM Systems Director has discovered. This information includes the number of
operating systems that are managed by way of the Common Agent, Platform
Agent, or no agent; the number of systems to which you do not have access,
and the number of systems on which inventory has not been collected. Click
any of these links to display detailed information about the affected systems
and resources.
Note: If you have not performed discovery yet, discovery and system access
information is reported only for the management server.
In the Optional tasks area, the tasks that are commonly used when setting up
IBM Systems Director are provided.
3. View the Next Steps section on the Start page. This section provides typical
tasks for setting up IBM Systems Director, including registering with IBM,
creating thresholds and event automation plans, checking for updates, installing
Common Agent on systems, setting up security, and configuring your systems.
You can learn more about IBM Systems Director in the following ways:
v In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome. On the Welcome
page, click the Learn tab. View the available tutorials to expand your skills with
IBM Systems Director.
v On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab. For each plug-in, click the plug-in
section heading to view its Summary page.
v Go to the IBM Systems Director information center at http://
publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r2x/index.jsp to review scenarios
and other information resources.
v Go to the IBM Systems Director customer forum. For more information, see
“Accessing the IBM Systems Director customer forum.”
v To familiarize yourself with other information resources available on the Web,
click Related Web Resources.
To determine whether plug-ins are ready for use, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome.
2. On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab.
3. Browse the Manage page to determine the plug-ins that are in your IBM
Systems Director installation and whether they are ready for use. Each plug-in
has one of the following icons beside its name denoting whether the plug-in is
ready for use or requires additional setup or configuration:
Ready
The plug-in is correctly installed and configured.
Collecting data
The process to determine whether a plug-in is ready to use has started
and might take a long time. To determine when the plug-in is ready,
click Refresh (located at the bottom of the page) and if the plug-in is
ready the status icon will change.
Setup required
The plug-in is not set up correctly or the set up is currently incomplete.
A message and additional links are displayed providing information
about any required setup, such as additional configuring, enabling of
firewall support, identifying applicable types of servers required by
that plug-in, or other setup activities.
Error connecting
The plug-in has failed to connect to the applicable destination, which
might be the management server, a Web site, or another destination.
Viewing updates
You can view updates that you can choose to apply to your IBM Systems Director
environment.
To view updates, in the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome to
view the Welcome page and complete any of the following steps:
v On the Welcome page, in the upper right-corner, click Update IBM Systems
Director. The Update IBM Systems Director page is displayed.
v On the Start page, in the Next Steps section, click Check for updates on
discovered systems.
1. On the Check for Updates page, select the types of updates for which you
want check and click OK. Using the Check for Updates page, you can start
managing updates in the following ways:
– Select the systems to keep in compliance with the latest updates.
– Create an update group to contain the updates for your selected systems.
– Configure a connection to the Internet.
– Run or schedule a check for updates.
2. In the Run - Check for Updates window, click OK to start Check for Updates
immediately. IBM Systems Director checks for any updates that are available
from the IBM Web site. A message is displayed stating that the Check for
Updates has run.
3. Click Show Updates. The Show Updates page is displayed.
v On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab. On the Manage page, view the
Update Manager section and click Check for Updates. The Check for Updates
page described in the preceding step is displayed.
Viewing tutorials
You can view tutorials to learn quickly how to use tasks and feature provided by
IBM Systems Director.
Tip: The tutorials are launched from the Internet. You must have access to the
Internet to view them. For more information about e-learning and tutorials, see
“Learning and tutorials.”
If you have trouble viewing a tutorial, make sure that you install version 8.0 or
later of Adobe Flash Player from www.adobe.com/downloads/ and ensure that
your browser security settings are not preventing the interactive content from
displaying. Also, make sure that the system on which you install the IBM Systems
Director components meets the defined hardware requirements.
To view the IBM Systems Director Server summary, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome.
2. On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab.
3. On the Welcome page, scroll to the IBM Systems Director Server section of the
page and click the IBM Systems Director Server section heading. The IBM
Systems Director Server summary is displayed.
4. View the IBM Systems Director status section. This section provides the
following information:
v The management server name. Click the name to view the properties page
for the server.
v The current status for IBM Systems Director Server and, if applicable, its last
restart date and time. The Status field displays a local system health rating
that warns you when the IBM Systems Director Server is experiencing
problems that could jeopardize performance or stability. If a problem is
detected, a message ID is also provided. When you can click on the message
ID, a new window opens with a recommended operator response.
v The number of systems discovered. Click this link to display the discovered
systems.
v The type of authentication used.
v The known ports that are in use. Click All possible ports to view
information about ports that IBM Systems Director might use.
Note: This link opens the IBM Systems Director information center and
requires Internet access.
v The location of any trace and error logs.
v The database version number and driver that is installed.
v Current management server statistics: processor use, memory use, storage
use, and the number of active users.
v In the Common tasks area, the following links are provided:
System discovery
Click System discovery to discover systems by specifying a single IP
address, host name, or IP address range or by using a discovery
profile.
Collect and view inventory
Click Collect and view inventory to open the View and Collect
Inventory task, with which you can collect the most current
inventory from a resource or view the inventory of a resource.
Find a task
Click Find a task to quickly and easily find any task. Then, you can
run the selected task.
Find a resource
Click Find a resource to quickly and easily find a particular resource.
Navigate resources
Click Navigate Resources to view, work with, and navigate among
You also can reach the summary page by using Find a Task. For more information,
see “Finding a task.”
Related reference
The Web interface also provides navigational actions for resources by way of the
Actions menu and the complementary pop-up menu that is displayed when you
right-click a resource. These actions vary depending on the resource. When you
click a resource, the default navigational task occurs; the default task, too, can vary
depending on the resource. For example, if you click a group, the members of that
group are displayed. When you right-click a group, the first navigational action
provided in the pop-up menu is View Members, which displays the members of
the group. If you click a resource, the Properties page for that resource is
displayed. When you right-click a resource, Properties is provided at the bottom of
the pop-up menu.
As you navigate from one resource to another or drill down from a resource to its
subcomponents, a breadcrumb path is displayed at the top of the page as a
navigational signpost. The breadcrumb path is extended each time you drill down.
If you navigate to a related resource, the breadcrumb path is updated to the
current location. The last link in the path identifies your current location in the
resource navigation. If you right-click on this last link, a menu is displayed. This
menu provides the same options as the Actions menu at this current location. The
following examples illustrate specific resources and the pop-up menus that are
displayed when you right-click the breadcrumb path:
v When you view members of a group, the breadcrumb path displays the menu
associated with that group.
v When you view blade servers in a chassis, the breadcrumb path displays the
menu associated with the chassis.
v When you view a resource in a topology map, the breadcrumb path displays the
menu associated with that resource.
Related concepts
Resource views
The IBM Systems Director Web interface provides a number of ways to view
information about your resources as well as manage the resources. The most
typical ways are through tables and the properties view. Most tasks and plug-ins
provide information and function using tables, although the amount of information
and function varies depending on the task or plug-in. In this section, Navigate
Resources is used to describe navigating tables in general.
Information and functions also are provided using the properties view. The
properties view is always available for any resource by selecting the resource and
clicking Actions > Properties.
Some tasks and plug-ins, most notably Navigate Resources, also provide Topology
Perspectives. When you select this feature, you can view a collection of related
resources, such as systems and their storage, and see the relationships among the
resources using a topology map. You also can toggle from the map view to a
resource view or relationship view.
Table view
The table view can display a list of the resources or tasks. Tables are the basic way
that information is displayed in IBM Systems Director.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the table view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Toolbar
Provides frequently used tasks as buttons. Available buttons vary,
depending on the task page. In this example, the Create Group button is
provided, but on other task pages, the Create Group button might not be.
Actions
Opens a list of available actions. These actions include those that are
provided in the toolbar and elsewhere on the page as well as actions that
are common to all tables. For common table actions, see “Table navigation
in IBM Systems Director.”
Resource area
Displays the content of the resource area depending on the resources that
you have chosen to view. To see the members of a group, click on a group
in the table. The view drills down to view the group members in the table
and another step is added to the breadcrumb path. For example, if you
click Common-Agent systems in the table, all systems in your
environment that have Common Agent installed are displayed. The
resource view functions in the same way regardless of the resources that
you have chosen to view.
Tip: To got to a specific page, type a number in the provided entry field
and press Enter. If you specified an number that is not valid, the page in
the table does not change.
Properties view
The properties view displays a list of properties and other detailed information
associated with the selected resource. Using the properties view, you can access
troubleshooting information and other important details about a resource from
anywhere in the IBM Systems Director Web interface. This view is available for all
resources from the Actions menu and from the resource's pop-up menu.
Depending on the selected resource, the properties view can provide information
about any configuration settings, jobs, thresholds, or event automation plans that
can affect the resource as well as dynamic troubleshooting information such as
active status, inventory, and event log. Also, the properties view provides access to
any tasks that can be performed on the selected resource by way of the Actions
menu.
You can access the properties view from any view by selecting a resource and
clicking Actions > Properties.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the properties view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Actions
Contains actions that are applicable to the resource displayed in the
Properties view.
Additional properties
If present, this area provides links to customized properties views provided
by the plug-in.
Resource area
Displays the content of the resource area that varies depending on the
resource that you have chosen to view. While the General page is always
displayed by default, the following additional pages can be provided
depending on the resource type:
General
Displays the basic resource properties. This page is displayed by
default.
Active Status
Displays any problems, compliance concerns, and other issues.
Applied Activities
Displays any jobs, thresholds, software packages, activations, or
event automation plans that are associated with the resource.
For information about additional topology perspectives, see the following topics:
v “Storage topology views”
v “The update topology perspective”
v “Viewing resources in virtualization perspectives”
Note: The properties view is always available for any resource; select the resource
and click Properties.
Map view:
The map view shows a graphical view of your resources and their relationships.
You can drill down and view the relationships among these resources and other
resources in your environment. You can also view and edit resource properties.
You can click on any displayed system icon or on any relationship line to select a
resource or relationship; then right-click on that selected resource to display a list
of available actions.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the map view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Toolbar
The toolbar contains the following toolbar buttons and menu:
Table 4. Toolbar buttons and menu
Icon Name Description
Actions menu Contains actions for the topology as a whole, as well as pop-up menu items
for resources currently selected in the topology. For example, to display the
properties of the currently selected resource, click Actions > Properties.
Search the map Searches the map for resources that have a name containing the word or
phrase provided.
Select Selects resources in the topology.
Pan Provides a way for you to drag the topology map to reposition it in the
topology viewport.
Hover Help Displays detailed information about a resource or relationship line when a
mouse hovers over it.
Zoom Out (F2) Incrementally reduces the total area of the topology you want to view.
Zoom In (F3) Incrementally enlarges the total area of topology you want to view.
Zoom To Fit (F4) Scales the entire topology to fit into the topology viewport.
Print Graph Prints the entire topology. A Web browser window opens containing a JPEG
image of the graph. You can either print the graphic using your Web-browser
print feature or save the graphic as a local image.
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off
for the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
Print Viewport Prints only the current resources and relationships that are displayed in the
topology viewport. This view might be only a portion of the overall topology.
A Web browser window opens containing a JPEG image of the graph. You can
either print the graphic using your Web-browser print feature or save the
graphic as a local image.
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off
for the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
Hide Palette View Hides the support area that displays the palettes.
Show Palette View Shows the support area that displays the palettes.
Map area
Enables you to drill down and view the relationships between resources in
a graphical format. You can right-click on a resource to display a list of
available actions. You can perform mouse actions on the topology map
such as scrolling, repositioning, and resizing. You also can use the
Overview palette to easily reposition the resources and relationships that
are displayed in the map.
Support area
Contains the Overview, Details, and Filter palettes. Click Hide Palette
View on the navigation toolbar to close the support area. Click Show
Palette View on the navigation toolbar to open the support area. See
“Navigating topology maps” for more information.
Overview palette
Provides a view of the entire topology map with a rectangle surrounding
the portion of the map displayed in the map viewport. You can click and
drag within the Overview palette to reposition the topology. See
“Reordering, minimizing, and hiding palettes” for more information.
Filter palette
Provides a way to select the resources that you want to see in the topology
map. You can filter your selections by status and by resource type. When
filtered, the affected resources and relationships are grayed out in the map.
The Filter palette also provides a Results page that displays the results of
searching the map view. See “Filtering the topology map” for more
information.
Resource view:
The resource view displays a list of the resources in the current topology map
view.
You can access the resource view from the map view or relationship view by
clicking Actions > Resource View.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the resource view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Actions
Opens a list of available actions. These actions include those that are
provided in the toolbar and elsewhere on the page as well as actions that
are common to all tables. For common table actions, see “Table navigation
in IBM Systems Director.”
Map View
Click to change to the topology map view of the selected resource
and its related resources.
Resource View
The currently selected view, it displays the resource view of the
selected resource and its related resources.
Relationship View
Click to change to the selected resource, its related resources, and
their relationships.
Depth Indicate the number of relationships from the root node to the
object that is farthest away from that node. Using this menu, you
can select the depth of related resources that you want to view in
the table.
Tip: To got to a specific page, type a number in the provided entry field
and press Enter. If you specified an number that is not valid, the page in
the table does not change.
Relationship view:
The relationship view shows the relationships among the resources in the current
topology map view. You can see the name of each resource, its type of relationship
to another resource, and the related resource. Before you can access the
relationship view, you must enter Topology Perspectives.
You can access a relationship view from the map view by clicking Actions >
Relationship View.
Note: After you enter the map view, there are two additional alternate views: the
relationship view and the resource view. Having entered the map view you can
change among the three alternate views.
Use the following example and descriptions to learn about the relationship view.
Breadcrumb path
Provides a collection of links that show the navigation path to the current
view. You can click any of these links to go back in the path.
Actions
Contains actions for the selected resource and its related resources in a
relationship view.
Opens a list of available actions. These actions include those that are
provided in the toolbar and elsewhere on the page as well as actions that
are common to all tables. For common table actions, see “Table navigation
in IBM Systems Director.”
Map View
Click to change to the topology map view of the selected resource
and its related resources.
Resource View
Click to change to the resource view of the selected resource and
its related resources.
Relationship View
The currently selected view, it displays the selected resource, its
related resources, and their relationships.
Depth Indicate the number of relationships from the root node to the
object that is farthest away from that node. Using this menu, you
can select the depth of related resources that you want to view in
the table.
Relationship area
The content of the relationship area depends on the resources that you
have chosen to view. For example, if you click Virtual Servers and Hosts,
the relationships that pertain to your virtual systems and hosts will be
displayed in the relationship view. A relationship between two resources is
displayed in each row. The relationship view functions in the same way
regardless of the types of relationships you have chosen to view.
To perform an action on the resources in the relationship view, right-click
the resource name in a row. The pop-up menu provides a submenu for
each resource in the relationship. Select an action for the resource you want
to affect. The action you select is performed on the selected resource within
the relationship.
Tip: To got to a specific page, type a number in the provided entry field
and press Enter. If you specified an number that is not valid, the page in
the table does not change.
Note: Do not confuse the resource view and relationship view with the navigation
tables that are used throughout the IBM Systems Director Web interface. These
views display only the resources and relationships that you selected to display in
the topology perspective.
To view and use the resource view, complete the following steps:
1. In a topology map or relationship table, click Actions > Resource View.
2. In the table view, click a resource in the list to drill down and see more
resources and their relationships.
3. If you want to perform tasks or other actions on your resources, select one or
more resources; then, click Action and click a task.
Tips:
v You also can right-click the resource and select a task from the pop-up menu.
v You can run some tasks on multiple resources simultaneously. To perform an
action on multiple resources, select the resources, right-click on one of the
selected resources, and select a task from the pop-up menu.
To view and use the relationship view, complete the following steps:
1. In a topology map or resource view, select a resource and click Actions >
Relationship View. The resource view shows a list of the relationships among
your resources. A relationship between two resources is displayed in each row.
The resource view provides the following information about the relationships:
From In the resource view, the resource that is the starting point of a
relationship. For example, if System A is the host for Virtual Server 1,
then System A is the starting point of the relationship.
Relationship type
The type of relationship between two resources. Relationships might be
physical to physical, physical to virtual, or virtual to virtual. Consider
the following examples:
v A physical to physical relationship might be an IBM Power system to
a disk unit.
v A physical to virtual relationship might be a host system to a virtual
server.
v A virtual to virtual relationship might be a virtual server connected
to a virtual LAN.
To In the resource view, the resource that is the ending point of a
relationship. For example, if System A is the host for Virtual Server 1,
then Virtual Server 1 is the ending point of the relationship.
2. To perform actions on a resource in a relationship, select a relationship row.
Then, click Actions, select either the To or From resource, and click a task.
Tips:
v You also can right-click the resource and select a task from the pop-up menu.
v Use the pop-up menu or the Actions menu to perform actions on either of
the resources represented in the relationship.
You first must enter the topology map view before you can change to the
relationship table or resource table views. If a task provides the topology map
view, the Topology Perspectives action is available in the Actions menu.
After you enter the topology map view, you can change to the relationship view or
the resource view and then return to the map view. All views are available in the
Actions menu and the view that you are currently using is checked.
Also, the properties view is always available from the Actions menu. Select a
resource and then click Actions > Properties.
Navigating tables
Navigating tables is a common task in IBM Systems Director. Most resources and
information are displayed in tables.
Viewing properties
The properties view displays a list of properties and other detailed information
associated with the selected resource. Using the properties view, you can access
troubleshooting information and other important details about a resource from
anywhere in the IBM Systems Director Web interface. This view is available for all
resources from the Actions menu and from the resource's pop-up menu.
For information about viewing properties in a topology map view, see “Viewing
properties and details.”
Note: Filtering is not persistent; filter settings are not remembered for subsequent
uses of the list.
To filter information in any table, complete the following steps:
1. Click Actions > Show Filter Row. An additional row at the top of each column
is displayed. This row contains Filter links.
2. Click Filter to open the selectable filtering criteria for a column.
Printing tables
If a table is only one page long (that is, you can view the entire table on the page),
you can use your Web browser to print the table information. Otherwise, to print
tables that are more than one page long, you can export the table data to a CSV
file that you can subsequently import into a spreadsheet program and print using
that program.
If you want to increase the number of table rows that are displayed on one page,
see “Setting table-navigation preferences” for information.
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off for
the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
To export data from any IBM Systems Director Web interface table, complete the
following steps:
1. Click Actions > Export.
2. In the file download window for your Web browser, click Save to Disk and
then click OK.
3. If your Web browser requires a location selection, provide it and click Save.
The data is exported and a CSV file is saved in the location that you provided.
Tip: You can print a multiple-page table using a CSV file. Import the CSV file into
a spreadsheet program and use the program's print feature.
You can add a resource to your Favorites from many places in the IBM Systems
Director Web interface. Whenever the Actions menu or a pop-up menu provides
the Add to > Favorites selection, you can add the resource to your Favorites. To
add a resource to your Favorites, complete the following steps:
1. In an IBM Systems Director Web interface table, navigate to the resource that
you want to save.
2. Optional: If you want to add multiple resources to your Favorites at once,
select each resource in the table that you want to save.
3. Right-click the resource (or a selected resource) and then click Add to >
Favorites. A confirmation message is displayed.
The resources must be in a group. If the resources are not in an appropriate group,
use the Create Group wizard to create a group. For information, see “Managing
groups.”
To view the Health Summary, navigate to the Health Summary page. In the IBM
Systems Director navigation area, expand System Status and Health and click
Health Summary.
Note: You cannot adjust the Name column; it is always the first column.
4. Click the Width tab. The Width page provides an adjustable width setting (in
pixels) for each column displayed in the table.
Note: You also can adjust column width by dragging the column handles in
the table-column header.
5. If you want to change the settings on the page to the system-defined default
values, click Restore Defaults.
6. When you are satisfied with your settings, click OK to save the settings and
close the page. To save the setting but not close the page, click Apply. To close
the page without saving the settings, click Cancel. To reset the settings to the
system-defined values, click Restore Defaults. You still must click OK or
Apply to save the restored settings.
to load the mouse with the Pan cursor, then click and drag inside the topology map.
v Press the Ctrl and arrow keys on the keyboard to scroll in four directions.
Resizing A resizing function is provided to enlarge the topology map. Click and drag the small gray
triangle in the lower right portion of the topology map to resize the viewable area in the
topology map. Dragging the small gray triangle only resizes the size of the viewable area; it
does not resize the topology.
Note: Resizing the topology map causes the entire page to resize within the interface.
Select a resource Click the resource icon or a resource label.
Select multiple To select two or more resources at the same time, click the first resource. Then press the Ctrl
resources key while using the mouse to select as many resources as you want.
Deselect resources Click the resource again, or click on the background within the topology map. Alternatively,
select the deselect action from the Actions menu.
Select a relationship Click the relationship line.
Select multiple To select two or more relationships at the same time, click the first relationships. Then, hold
relationships the Ctrl key down using the mouse to select as many relationships as you want.
Deselect a Click the relationship line again, or click on the background within the topology map.
relationship
4. For large topology maps, use the Overview palette to view of the entire
topology map with a rectangle surrounding the portion of the map displayed
in the map viewport. You can click and drag within the Overview palette to
reposition the topology.
5. Optional: If you want to perform tasks or other actions on your resources,
select one or more resources. Then, you can either right-click on the resource or
click the Actions menu. Both menus provide tasks and actions that are
available for the selected resources. These tasks and actions fall into three
categories:
v Specific tasks or actions that are applicable to a selected resources in the
map. For example, if you select a system in a map, these actions might
include Create Group, Power On, Access Control and Encryption Key Reset.
If applicable, alternate views might be available. For example, Relationship
View displays a table of a selected resource and its related resources, and
lists their relationships.
v Globally available tasks and actions. For example, these task might include
Create and Create Like if they are applicable to a resource.
v Actions specific to maps such as graph mode, zoom, and layout.
6. If you want to navigate to an earlier part of your path, click the applicable part
of the breadcrumb path located above the map.
Note: If you want to reorder or adjust the size of the palette, see “Reordering,
minimizing, and hiding palettes.”
3. To view all of the resource properties information, click Actions > Properties.
On the Properties page, the resource area displays one or more pages. The
number of pages and the types of information they include vary depending on
the resource. The General page is displayed by default.
You also can change editable properties. For more information, see “Editing
properties.”
You can determine the type of relationship that a line indicates in any of the
following ways:
v In the topology map, click a relationship line. Then, view the Details palette. The
relationship type is listed in the Details palette.
v In the topology map, right-click a resource at either end of the relationship line
and then click Relationship View. The relationship table view is displayed. The
information is listed in the Relationship Type column.
v On the topology map toolbar, click the Hover Help icon . Then, move the
mouse pointer over the relationship line to view information about the
relationship, including the relationship type.
Note: Filtering is not persistent; filter settings are not remembered for subsequent
uses of the map.
The search results also are displayed in the Filter palette on its Results page.
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off for
the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
To print a topology map, complete the following steps in the topology map view:
1. To print the entire topology, click the Print Graph icon from the toolbar. A
Web browser window opens containing a JPEG image of the graph.
2. You can either print the graphic using your Web-browser print feature or save
the graphic as a local image.
3. To print only the current resources and relationships that are displayed in the
topology map view, click the Print Viewport icon from the toolbar. The
currently displayed resources and relationships might be only a portion of the
overall topology. A Web browser window opens containing a JPEG image of the
graph.
4. You can either print the graphic using your Web browser print feature or save
the graphic as a local image.
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off for
the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
To export data for an entire topology map, complete the following steps in a
topology map view:
1. Click Actions > Export.
The data is exported and a CSV file is saved in the location that you provided.
Each palette has arrow icons on the title bar as applicable. For example, if a palette
is the top palette in the support area, its title bar includes only a down arrow. The
middle palette include both up and down arrow icons. To reorder a palette, click
the applicable up or down arrow icons until the palette is in the order that you
prefer. To save the new palette order to use whenever you use the topology map
view, select Remember palette state in Navigation Preferences. For more
information, see “Setting topology-navigation preferences.”
To minimize or hide palettes, complete the following steps in the topology map
view:
v To minimize a palette, click the Minimize icon on the palette title bar to the
right. The palette minimizes and only the palette title bar is displayed.
v To maximize the palette, click the Maximize icon on the palette title bar to the
right. The palette maximizes and is fully displayed.
v To completely hide all of the palettes, click the Hide Palette View icon on
the navigation toolbar. The support area is closed.
v To show the support area and the palettes, click the Show Palette View icon
Topology-relationship descriptions
Relationships between different resources are displayed as lines, and the direction
of the relationship is shown by the direction of the arrow attached to each line. As
you work with the topology map, it is important to understand that relationship
types are differentiated by the lines.
Editing properties
If a resource property is editable, you can edit it in the properties view.
To view the applied activities associated with a resource, complete the following
steps:
1. Select the resource for which you want to view the applied activities.
2. Click Actions > Properties.
3. On the Properties page, click the Applied Activities tab.
The Applied Activities page displays a list of any jobs, thresholds, software
packages, activations, and event automation plans that are associated with the
resource.
To edit the location information for a resource, complete the following steps:
1. On the Properties page, if the General page is not displayed, click the General
tab to view the General page.
2. In the Additional Properties area, click Location.
3. Click Edit.
4. In the Edit Properties window, make the updates to the location information.
5. Click OK.
To edit the location information for all of the systems in a group, complete the
following steps:
1. In Navigate Resources, right-click the group that you want to update.
2. Click Edit Location.
3. In the Edit Location window, select the boxes next to the information that you
want to update.
Note: Only the information in the fields that you select will be updated.
Changes made to other fields will not be saved.
4. Make the updates to the location information.
5. Click OK.
Renaming a resource
You can rename a resource in the IBM Systems Director database. If the name that
was set for the resource when it was discovered is not easily usable for you, you
can rename the resource.
Note: Consider how renaming a resource might affect other aspects of your
managed environment. For example, changing the name of a managed resource
that an event filter specifies as an event sender causes any associated event
automation plan to fail unless you update the sender name in the event filter.
Related reference
chsys command
Removing a resource
You can remove a resource from the IBM Systems Director database. Removing a
resource from the database also removes any additional resources that are
associated with it but does not affect the actual resources. However, removing a
resource from the database is useful when you are removing a resource from your
systems-management environment.
Resources have a properties that determines whether they can be removed. If the
property does not permit removal, this task is not available for the resource.
To remove one or more resources from the IBM Systems Director database,
complete the following steps:
1. Navigate to the resource that you want to remove.
2. Select the resource. Then, click Actions > Remove.
3. In the Remove window, OK.
4. A confirmation message is displayed. Click OK.
The selected resource is removed from the IBM Systems Director database.
Managing groups
You can use IBM Systems Director to organize logical sets of resources into groups.
Depending on the type of group that you create, you can use groups to easily
identify and categorize new resources when they are discovered. You can schedule
tasks to run on groups of resources. Using an event automation plan, you can
automatically run tasks on groups of resources. You can create, edit, import, and
export customized groups of resources. Groups are displayed in Navigate
Resources, Health Summary, wizards, and throughout the IBM Systems Director
Web interface.
Groups
You can use IBM Systems Director to organize logical sets of resources into groups.
Group types
You can create dynamic and static groups in IBM Systems Director.
Dynamic groups
Dynamic groups are based on specified system criteria. You can create a
dynamic group by specifying criteria that the attributes and properties of
the systems must match. IBM Systems Director automatically adds or
removes systems to or from the group when their attributes and properties
change and affect their matches to the group criteria.
For example, a dynamic group might contain all systems that have Linux
installed.
Note: The JS21 and JS22 blade servers are not displayed in this
group. They are displayed in the Power Systems group that is
contained in the IBM Power Systems group.
– x86 Blade Servers
– BladeCenter Servers
– BladeCenter Ethernet Switches
– BladeCenter Fibre Channel Switches
– BladeCenter InfiniBand Switches
– BladeCenter SAS Switches
– BladeCenter InfiniBand Switches to Ethernet Bridges
– BladeCenter InfiniBand Switches to Fibre Channel Bridges
– BladeCenter Pass-Through Modules
v Operating Systems
– Windows Systems
– Linux Systems
– AIX Systems
– IBM i Systems
– z/OS® Systems
v System x
– System x Servers
– Servers with Service Processors
– VMware Hosts
– MSVS Hosts
– Xen Hosts
– Scalable Systems
- Scalable Virtual Servers and Members
- Scalable Systems and Members
v System z
– Hardware Management Console and Managed System z Servers
– z/VM Hosts
– z/VM Virtual Servers
– Linux on System z
– z/VM Manageability Access Points
v IBM Power Systems
Note: The JS21 and JS22 blade servers are displayed in this group
also.
– AIX/Linux Virtual Servers
– IBM i (formerly i5/OS®) Virtual Servers
– Virtual I/O Server Appliances
– Isolated Workloads and Hosts
– AIX Workload Partitions (WPAR)
– Linux Containers
v Storage Systems
All groups provided by Storage Management. For information, see
“Storage groups.”
– Systems and Volumes
– Storage Subsystems and Volumes
– SMI-S Providers
– Internal RAID
– Network Storage
– BladeCenter Storage
– Generic Systems
Groups by Agent
Systems categorized into subgroups by the degree of management
capability available in the IBM Systems Director systems-management
environment. This default group provides the following subgroups:
v Systems with No Agent
v Systems with Platform Agent
v Systems with Common Agent
Groups by Status
Dynamic groups that contain systems for which there are unresolved
hardware status events. This default group provides the following
subgroups:
v Systems with Problems
v Systems not in Compliance
Groups by Access
Dynamic groups that contain systems depending on their current access
state. This default group provides the following subgroups:
v Systems with No Access
v Systems with Partial Access
v Systems with Full Access
Groups with Thresholds
Any groups to which you have applied a threshold.
Note: If you have migrated event automation plans from versions of IBM
Director earlier than version 6.1, event automation plans that use threshold
values are migrated to this group.
Personal Groups
Any groups that you have created or are exclusively associated with your
IBM Systems Director user ID. These subgroups include the Favorites
group.
These predefined groups are available only if you have installed and activated the
Service and Support Manager plug-in. Service and Support Manager categorizes
systems into subgroups based on their service monitoring status.
For more information on Service and Support Manager groups, see “Service and
Support Manager.”
Storage groups:
These predefined storage groups are shipped with IBM Systems Director so that
you can start working on storage configuration quickly, and can understand which
systems have which storage devices attached.
Do not delete or make changes to these predefined storage groups. Instead, make a
copy of one that you want to change and make changes to the copy.
BladeCenter Storage
Contains all systems that have IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller
Module storage for IBM Systems Director. This group is used to define
discovered storage contained within the IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID
Controller Module itself. IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module
storage is included in this group as well as in the Network Storage group.
Update groups:
Update groups can be static or dynamic. Both types can be used in compliance
policies.
Static update groups
Contain individual updates that were explicitly chosen. Once established,
the membership changes only when you manually add or delete updates.
Static update groups can be used as a baseline for future comparison or
update deployment.
Dynamic update groups
Automatically contains updates based on selected update types. The
membership of this group changes as update information changes.
Virtualization groups:
IBM Systems Director organizes logical sets of resources into groups. Virtualization
manager provides a set of default or predefined groups for virtual resources.
The following table lists the names and descriptions of the groups provided by
virtualization manager.
Table 7. Virtualization manager groups
Group Description
Virtualization Groups Groups for managing virtualization
Platform Managers Systems capable of managing hosts or farms
The criteria available for selection are derived from inventory. For example, you
can quickly group existing systems by creating a dynamic group using the criterion
Windows operating system. You can further refine the systems that can be in the
dynamic group by using logical AND with an additional criterion selection of
“Windows systems with critical problems.” Then, create an event automation plan
to notify you when these systems have problems. You also can schedule tasks to
run on all systems that match a certain criterion, such as Collect AIX Inventory
on a group called AIX systems.
Option Description
If you selected Any or Managed System The Define page is displayed. Continue to
the next step.
If you selected Update The Updates page is displayed. Go to step
15 on page 117.
9. On the Define page, click Add. The Add Criterion window is displayed.
10. Refine the criteria from which you can select.
Option Description
If you selected Any 1. In the Resource category list, select the
type of resource with the criteria that
you want to evaluate.
2. In the Type of device to add list, select
the device type to further refine the
available criteria.
If you selected Managed System In the Type of system to add list, select the
system type to further refine the available
criteria.
a. In the Select criteria to refine group contents list, expand the tree and
select a criterion for the dynamic group to evaluate. Your selection is
displayed below the list.
b. Click Operators to select how you want the criterion evaluated by the
value you provide.
c. Click Value to select the value by which you want to evaluate the
criterion. If you want to specify a custom value, select Use entry from
below and type the custom value in the field.
Notes:
a. You cannot add a group's parent to itself. For example, if you define the
parent group location for Group1 to be Personal Groups, then you cannot
add Personal Groups to Group1.
b. If you select a resource to add, but the Add button is unavailable, then the
selected resource is not a valid selection due to its member type.
10. Click Next.
11. On the Summary page, verify the details of the group. If you need to make
changes, click Back; otherwise, click Finish.
Editing a group
You can edit a group to change its name and description. If you are editing a static
group, you can edit the members of the group. If you are editing a dynamic group,
you can edit the membership criteria.
The group is updated with your changes and is displayed in the Navigate
Resources. A confirmation message about the group change is displayed also.
Related reference
chgp command
chusergp command
Deleting a group
When a group is no longer useful, you can delete it.
While you can delete the Favorites and Health Summary groups, the next time you
open Health Summary, the groups are recreated. However, they will not have any
members.
If you delete a group that was used when scheduling a job, the job remains and is
active, but it does not run because it does not have a target system against which
to run.
Related reference
mkgp command
To add one or more resources to an existing static group, complete the following
steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources.
2. Navigate to the resource or resources that you want to add to a static group.
3. Select one or more resources. Then, click Actions > Add to > Existing Group.
4. In the Add to Existing Group window, select one or more groups from the
Available list and click Add >. You also can drill down into a group and select
a subgroup. If you want to remove a group or resource, select it from the
Selected list and click < Remove.
Note: If the Add > button is unavailable, you cannot add your selected
resource to the selected group because of one of the following reasons:
v The selected group is a dynamic group. You can select only a static group.
The selected resources are added the static group. A confirmation message about
the addition is displayed. Click View Group to view the affected group
immediately.
Related reference
chgp command
chusergp command
Exporting a group
You can export a group to archive or back up the criteria that define a group. After
a group is exported, you can distribute it to a new instance of IBM Systems
Director Server by importing the group through the IBM Systems Director Web
interface.
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off for
the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
The group is exported and an XML file is saved to the location that you provided.
Related reference
lsgp command
Importing a group
You can import a previously exported group so that you can distribute that group
to a new instance of IBM Systems Director Server.
Note: To import groups from versions prior to IBM Systems Director 6.1, make
sure you use Group Export to export the group in the earlier version of IBM
Director.
When the import is completed, a confirmation message is displayed and the group
is displayed in the Personal Group in Navigate Resources. If you want to view the
When you select a launched task, the task can be displayed in one of the following
ways:
v In another instance of your Web browser. The task provides its own Web
interface.
v As a separate program on your system desktop.
v The IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program is displayed and opens the
task that you selected.
IBM Systems Director provides some tasks that still require a client-based
application. This application is called the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks
program. The IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program can open the
following tasks:
v Event Action Editor (used to create advanced event actions)
v Event Filter Builder (used to create advanced event filters)
v File Transfer
v Command Automation (formerly called Process Management - Tasks)
v Remote Session
v SNMP Browser
v MIB Management
Finding a task
IBM Systems Director provides a wealth of tasks that you can use to manage your
system-management environment. While many tasks can be found in the IBM
Systems Director Web interface navigation area, the Actions menu, or in pop-up
menus, you can quickly and easily find any task using Find a Task. Then, you can
run the selected task. If it is a targeted task, a list of available target systems is
provided.
To find a task, you must be authorized to use that task. If it is a targeted task, you
must also have authorization to access the systems. For more information see
“Security.”
To find tasks quickly in the IBM Systems Director Web interface, complete the
following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Find a Task.
Starting tasks
You can choose from several methods of starting tasks in the IBM Systems Director
Web interface.
Start a task from the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area in any of
the following ways:
v Click Find a Task. On the Find a Task page, you can search for and start a
specific task. For more information, see “Finding a task.”
Note: You can select a noninteractive task and click Actions > Run to schedule
the task to start immediately or at a later time. For more information, see
“Scheduling tasks.”
v Expand the sections in the navigation pane to view and click available tasks.
v Expand Task Management and click External Application Launch. You can
configure other applications to run from the IBM Systems Director Web
interface. For more information, see “Integrating external applications.”
Start a task from the IBM Systems Director Web interface content area in any of the
following ways:
v In a table view, right-click a resource and select a task.
Tip: You can run some tasks on multiple resources simultaneously. To perform a
task on multiple resources, select one or more resources. Then, right-click one of
the selected resources and select a task.
v In a table or topology map view, select one or more resources. Then, click
Actions and click a task.
v In the topology map view, right-click a resource and select a task.
v In the topology map view, select the resource. Then, in the Details palette,
right-click the resource and select a task.
v For applicable tasks, you can select Run Now or Schedule. You can schedule a
task to start immediately or at a later time. For more information, see
“Scheduling tasks.”
Some tasks in IBM Systems Director require a client-based application: the IBM
Systems Director Launched Tasks program. This program is installed automatically
the first time you use a task that requires it. Because the IBM Systems Director
Launched Tasks program opens outside of the IBM Systems Director Web interface,
Java Web Start (JWS) is required. If your Web browser does not have JWS installed
already, a prompt is displayed to download and install JWS. If your Web browser
has a version of JWS installed that is not compatible with the IBM Systems Director
Launched Tasks program, a compatible version of JWS is installed automatically.
For more information, see “Starting the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks
program.”
Related reference
runtask command
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off for
the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
However, if the Java Web Start installation does not succeed as expected, complete
the following steps to enable the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program
and start launched tasks using the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program:
1. Download the Java Web Start software to your browser system. For more
information, see “Downloading Java Web Start.”
Note: When starting tasks from the IBM Systems Director Web interface using
Mozilla Firefox, the Opening launch.jnlp window might open and display a
message asking what to do with the .jnlp file. To make sure that the launched
task can proceed and that this message is not displayed in the future, it is
recommended that you select Open with Java Web Start Launcher and Do this
automatically for files like this from now on.
Related reference
Option Description
For Windows and AIX Click Download Now.
For Linux 1. Select the applicable (Java Runtime
Environment) JRE for your browser
system.
2. Click Download Now.
2. Select to save the file to your hard disk drive or open and run the file
immediately, as applicable for your operating system.
3. When the JWS installation is complete, retry the launched task that you wanted
to use.
Updating the Firefox Web browser to use the IBM Java Web Start program:
In order to launch tasks, including those that use the IBM Systems Director
Launched Tasks program, the Firefox Web browser must use the IBM Java Web
Start program that is installed with the IBM Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
To update the Firefox Web browser, version 2.0.0.6, to use the IBM Java Web Start
program, complete the following steps:
1. In the Web browser, click Tools > Options.
2. In the Options window, click Content from the toolbar.
3. On the Content page, click Manage.
Note: If the JNLP file type is not available, see “Associating the JNLP file type
with the Java Web Start program (Firefox).”
5. In the Change Action window, select Open them with this application and
click Browse.
6. Navigate to the Java Web Start program, javaws.exe, located in the IBM JRE
directory.
7. In the bin directory, select the javaws.exe program and click Open.
8. In the Change Action window, click OK.
9. In the Download Actions window, click Close.
10. In the Options window, click OK. The Java Web Start program and the IBM
JRE are now configured for use with the IBM Systems Director Launched
Tasks program and other launched tasks.
Associating the JNLP file type with the Java Web Start program (Firefox):
If, while updating the Firefox Web browser to use the IBM Java Web Start
program, you determine that the JNLP file type is not available for configuration
by way of the Firefox Web browser, you must associate the JNLP file type with the
IBM Java Web Start program.
To associate the JNLP file type with the Java Web Start program, complete the
following steps:
1. Click the IBM Systems Director task that required Java Web Start.
2. In the Open with list, select Other.
3. Navigate to the Java Web Start program, javaws.exe, located in the IBM JRE
directory.
4. In the bin directory, select the javaws.exe program and click Open.
5. In the Opening launch.jnlp window, click Do this automatically for files like
this from now on.
6. Click OK. The task launches.
Updating the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser to use the IBM Java Web
Start program:
In order to launch tasks, including those that use the IBM Systems Director
Launched Tasks program, the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser must use
the IBM Java Web Start program that is installed with the IBM Java Runtime
Environment (JRE).
To update the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser, versions 6.0 or 7.0, to use
the IBM Java Web Start program, complete the following steps:
1. Start the Windows Explorer program.
2. Click Tools > Folder Options.
3. In the Folder Options window, click the File Types tab.
4. On the File Type page, select the JNLP file type and view the information in
the Details area.
Note: If the JNLP file type is not available, see “Associating the JNLP file type
with the Java Web Start program (MSIE).”
Note: Be sure to type a space between the information and the new string.
11. Click OK.
12. In the Edit File Type window, click OK.
13. In the Folder Options window, click Close. The Java Web Start program and
the IBM JRE are now configured for use with the IBM Systems Director
Launched Tasks program and other launched tasks.
Associating the JNLP file type with the Java Web Start program (MSIE):
If, while updating the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser to use the IBM
Java Web Start program, you determine that the JNLP file type is not available for
configuration, you must associate the JNLP file type with the IBM Java Web Start
program.
To associate the JNLP file type with the Java Web Start program, complete the
following steps:
1. Start the Windows Explorer program.
2. Click Tools > Folder Options.
3. In the Folder Options window, click the File Types tab.
4. On the File Types page, click New.
5. In the File Extension field, type jnlp and click OK.
6. On the File Types page, select JNLP in the Registered file types list and click
Advanced.
7. In the Edit File Type window, clear the Confirm open after download check
box and click New.
8. In the New Action window, select the Use DDE check box.
9. In the Action field, type &Launch.
10. In the Application field, type javaws.
11. In the Topic field, type System.
12. Click Browse.
13. Navigate to the Java Web Start program, javaws.exe, located in the IBM JRE
directory.
14. In the bin directory, select the javaws.exe program and click Open.
15. Click OK.
16. In the Edit File Type window, click OK.
It is not required that you use SSL to secure the network traffic between your
management server and client browser. However, configuring SSL ensures data
integrity and data confidentiality between the management server and Web
browser client. This protection is especially important if you access the IBM
Systems Director from outside your network or if you use the launched tasks
feature of the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
Note: Make sure that the host name you specify in the Common Name field of the
SSL certificate matches the host name that you specify in the URL that you use to
access the Web interface. For example, if you specify a long name for the host
name in the Common Name field of the certificate, you must specify a long name
in the URL. If these host names do not match, you might receive errors when you
try to open the Web interface or start launched tasks. Follow the instructions in the
following procedure to make sure that you specify the correct host name in the
Common Name field of the certificate.
To replace the default certificate with a new certificate and to change the keystore
password for SSL, complete the following steps:
1. Delete the default certificate. For information see “Deleting the default
certificate.”
2. Create a new certificate. You can create either a self-signed certificate or request
and receive a CA signed certificate.
v To create a self-signed certificate, see “Creating a self-signed certificate.”
v To request and receive a CA signed certificate, see “Requesting a CA signed
certificate” and “Receiving a CA signed certificate.”
3. Update the Web container properties. For information see “Updating the Web
container properties.”
4. Update the Web browser with the new certificate. For information see
“Updating the Web browser with the new certificate.”
IBM Systems Director Server provides, by default, a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
certificate that supports HTTPS connections between IBM Systems Director Server
and the Web browser client. You must delete this default certificate before you can
replace it with either a self-signed certificate or a CA signed certificate. Also, you
must change the keystore password.
2. Start the IBM Key Management program by typing the applicable command.
Option Description
For Linux install_root/jre/bin/ikeyman
For Windows install_root\jre\bin\ikeyman.exe
Option Description
For Linux install_root/lwi/security/keystore/
ibmjsse2.jks
For Windows install_root\lwi\security\keystore\
ibmjsse2.jks
Self-signed certificates are certificates that you create yourself for private use. After
you create a self-signed certificate, you can use it immediately. Because anyone can
Before you complete this procedure, you must delete the default certificate. For
information see “Deleting the default certificate.”
Notes:
1. Back up any files before you edit them.
2. Messages and settings might differ depending on your Web browser and the
version of Java Web Start that you are running.
Note: This host name must match the host name that appears in the URL you
specify in your Web browser to reach IBM Systems Director Server. In most
cases, you must specify the fully-qualified host name. However, if you use a
short name in your URL, you must specify a short name for the Common
Name.
6. In the Organization field, type the name of your organization.
7. In the Country or region list, accept the default value.
8. In the Validity Period field, specify the lifetime of the certificate in days or
accept the default value.
9. Click OK.
10. To change the default keystore file password, click Key Database File >
Change Password.
11. In the Change Password window, specify and confirm a new password and
click OK.
12. To exit the IBM Key Management program, click Key Database File > Exit.
Next, you must update the Web container properties. Go to “Updating the Web
container properties.”
You can request a digital certificate from a certificate authority (CA). Because
certificate authorities are public entities that issue certificates to identify other
entities, CA signed certificates provide a level of public trust. Therefore, this type
of certificate is better suited for your production environment.
Note: This host name must match the host name that appears in the URL you
specify in your Web browser to reach IBM Systems Director Server. In most
cases, you must specify the fully-qualified host name. However, if you use a
short name in your URL, you must specify a short name for the Common
Name.
5. In the Organization field, type the name of your organization.
6. In the Country or region list, accept the default value.
7. In the Enter the name of a file in which to store the certificate request field,
type a file name or click Browse to select a file in which to store the certificate
request, for example, DirServerSecPubCertreq.arm.
8. Click OK.
9. Send the certificate-signing request file to the CA. See the CA Web site for
specific instructions about requesting a new certificate. You can request either a
test certificate or a production certificate from the CA. However, in a
production environment, you must request a production certificate.
After the certificate authority (CA) accepts the certificate-signing request, the CA
processes the request and verifies your identity. The CA sends the signed certificate
back to you by way of e-mail. You must receive and save the new certificate in the
default keystore file.
Before you complete this procedure, you must create and submit a
certificate-signing request. For information see “Requesting a CA signed
certificate.”
Notes:
1. Back up any files before you edit them.
2. Messages and settings might differ depending on your Web browser and the
version of Java Web Start that you are running.
3. This procedure documents how to receive a signed certificate with a file
extension of .arm from a CA into the IBM Key Management program. If your
certificate has a different file extension, see the IKeyMan User's Guide. Go to the
IBM Support and Download Web site at www.ibm.com/support/us and search
using the document number SC23-6510-00.
Note: The e-mail message from the CA might include supplemental text in
front of the certificate and after the certificate. For example, you might see the
text BEGIN CERTIFICATE in front of the certificate and END CERTIFICATE after
the certificate. In this case, make sure that you cut and paste the supplemental
text along with the certificate text.
2. Save the certificate file in the applicable directory:
Option Description
For Linux install_root/lwi/security/keystore
For Windows install_root\lwi\security\keystore
Option Description
For Linux install_root/jre/bin/ikeyman
For Windows install_root\jre\bin\ikeyman.exe
Option Description
For Linux install_root/lwi/security/keystore/
ibmjsse2.jks
For Windows install_root\lwi\security\keystore\
ibmjsse2.jks
Option Description
For Linux install_root/lwi/security/keystore
For Windows install_root\lwi\security\keystore
Next, you must update the Web container properties. Go to “Updating the Web
container properties.”
Because you changed the keystore password, you must update the Web container
properties with the new keystore password.
Before you perform this procedure, you must create a new certificate. You can
create either a self-signed certificate or request and receive a CA-signed certificate:
v To create a self-signed certificate, see “Creating a self-signed certificate.”
v To request and receive a CA signed certificate, see “Requesting a CA signed
certificate” and “Receiving a CA signed certificate.”
Notes:
1. Back up any files before you edit them.
2. Messages and settings might differ depending on your Web browser and the
version of Java Web Start that you are running.
Option Description
For Linux install_root/lwi/conf
For Windows install_root\lwi\conf
Notes:
a. Specify only plain text values for the passwords in the sslconfig file.
b.
5. Specify com.ibm.ssl.keyStorePassword.secure_port=new_password Where
v secure_port is the secure port that IBM Systems Director Server uses. Use the
secure port value indicated in your properties file.
v new_password is the password that you set in one of the following steps:
– Step 11 on page 129 in “Creating a self-signed certificate”
– Step 19 on page 132 in “Receiving a CA-signed certificate”
6. Specify the default password ibmpassw0rd for the truststore file, in plain text:
com.ibm.ssl.trustStorePassword.secure_port=ibmpassw0rd
where secure_port is the secure port that IBM Systems Director Server uses.
Use the secure port value indicated in your properties file.
7. Delete the line sslEnabled=true from the sslconfig file.
8. Save the sslconfig file.
9. Restart IBM Systems Director Server by completing the applicable steps.
Option Description
For Linux Type the following command: smstart
When you restart IBM Systems Director Server, the sslconfig file is used to
automatically create a new webcontainer.properties file and encrypt the new
password in this file. After the new webcontainer.properties file has been
created, IBM Systems Director Server deletes the sslconfig file because it is no
longer needed.
10. After you start and connect to IBM Systems Director Server, you can delete
the webcontainer.properties.bak file manually.
Next, you must update the Web browser with the new certificate. Go to “Updating
the Web browser with the new certificate.”
You must update your Web browser with the new certificate.
Before you perform this procedure, you must update the Web container properties.
For information see “Updating the Web container properties.”
To update the Web browser with the new certificate, complete the following steps.
Option Description
For Microsoft Internet Explorer A Security Alert window is displayed, for
example, you might see the following
message: The security certificate was
issued by a company you have not chosen
to trust. View the certificate to
determine whether you want to trust the
certifying authority. Continue to step 2
on page 135.
For Firefox A Website Certified by an Unknown
Authority window is displayed. Click
Accept this certificate permanently and
then click OK. You Web browser is updated
with the new certificate.
You can restrict the use of the external-application task to specific users. For more
information, see “Authorizing users to IBM Systems Director.”
External-application tasks
External-application tasks are user-defined tasks that are displayed in the IBM
Systems Director Web interface. They can start a command, process, or application
that is external to IBM Systems Director and runs on the browser system or
management server.
All IBM Systems Director tasks (including native IBM Systems Director tasks, tasks
added by installing plug-ins, and external application tasks) are either targeted,
untargeted, or both, depending on how the task can be started.
Targeted tasks
Targeted tasks are tasks for which a resource is specified when the task is
started. Targeted tasks are started by right-clicking a resource and selecting
the task. Typically, a targeted task performs an action on the resource
specified as the target. Examples of targeted tasks are Remote Session and
SNMP Browser.
When an external application is started as a targeted task, information
about the specified target is provided. If one or more system attribute
names are configured, the available values for each target are passed to the
application using environment variables. If no system attributes are
configured, the IP address, MAC address, and computer name are passed
to the application by way of environment variables.
Untargeted tasks
Untargeted tasks are tasks for which no resource is specified when the task
is started. Untargeted tasks are started in the following ways:
v By selecting the task in the IBM Systems Director Web interface
navigation pane
v By selecting the task from the Actions menu or pop-up menu
Untargeted tasks perform actions that are not specific to a targeted
resource, perform actions that apply to all resources, or provide their own
interface for selecting resources on which to perform actions.
Tasks that are both targeted and untargeted
A task can be both a targeted task and an untargeted task, with behavior
reflecting the manner in which the task is started. The Inventory task is an
example of such a task: if started from a resource’s pop-up menu, it
displays information for that resource only; if started from the IBM
Systems Director Web interface navigation pane, it displays information for
all resources.
The Command-task parameters table lists the parameters that can be specified in a
command-task file. Parameters are listed here in alphabetical order.
UNIX or Linux
bash –c
If this parameter is omitted or set to false,
the command string is issued without
starting a persistent shell. If this parameter
is set to true, any command output to the
shell is displayed in a command window
that you can scroll and later close.
System.Property.x=Name
Note: Only some commands will accept parameters at invocation as they are
seen by the server as two separate commands. This is a limitation of the
operating system or application.
v When the external-application task is defined on the management server (the
system running IBM Systems Director Server), the task title is displayed on all
instances of the IBM Systems Director Web interface. To start the application
successfully, the necessary applications, files, and any resources that are required
by the application must reside on the browser system from which you want to
start the task.
v For information about passing target attributes to the external application, see
“Environment variables for external-application tasks.” When using the
CMDTASK_IP_ADDRESSn and CMDTASK_MAC_ADDRESSn environment variables in a
command string, always remember to append a number at the end of the
variable name to specify which TCP/IP address or MAC address will be
returned.
v Because command-task files are Java properties files, the backslash (\) must be
represented by a double backslash, as in dir c:\\*exe /s.
v An interactive task runs on the local system (the system from which you are
activating it). To create an interactive task that runs on the management server
or browser system, you must specify both a CommandString parameter and a
CommandString.Server parameter. Use environment variables to pass system
attributes to the external application.
v A noninteractive task runs on the system on which IBM Systems Director Server
is installed. To create a noninteractive task, you must specify a
CommandString.Server parameter. Use environment variables to pass system
attributes to the external application. If the task requires that system attributes
be passed in the environment, ensure that the system attributes are named
correctly.
Note: These tasks must not invoke IBM Systems Director commands.
v A console/server synchronized task runs an interactive task and a noninteractive
task. You would create a synchronized task when an interactive task depends on
a noninteractive task running simultaneously in order to function. The
noninteractive task is started first. The interactive task is started after a
successful launch of the noninteractive task. Because both tasks are required to
provide function to a user, they are considered to be one console/server task.
To create a console/server synchronized task, specify both a
CommandString.Server parameter and a CommandString parameter. The
CommandString.Server value is launched as a noninteractive task (on the
management server) and its CommandString counterpart is launched as an
interactive task (on the browser system). Use environment variables to pass
system attributes to the external applications.
v To create a group heading to serve as a parent for group of related
external-application tasks in IBM Systems Director Web interface, create an
interactive task without a CommandString or CommandString.Server parameter.
Note: You are responsible for ensuring the validity and functionality of your
environment variables.
Tip: Only specify the environment variables that are necessary to start the external
application. This is especially true if the external-application task targets multiple
resources.
You can access the value associated with a system property using the echo
command. The following table provides an example.
Table 10. Examples of using the echo command
Operating system Command example
Linux echo $CMDTASK_IPV4ADDRESS0_0
Windows echo %CMDTASK_IPV4ADDRESS0_0%
The following table lists system properties. Note that this might not be a complete
list.
Table 11. System properties
System property Environment variable name
AgentDate CMDTASK_AGENTDATE_x
AgentType CMDTASK_AGENTTYPE_x
AgentVer CMDTASK_AGENTVER_x
Architecture CMDTASK_ARCHITECTURE_x
ComputerName CMDTASK_COMPUTERNAME_x
CurrentTimeZone CMDTASK_CURRENTTIMEZONE_x
DisplayName CMDTASK_DISPLAYNAME_x
EncryptionEnabled CMDTASK_ENCRYPTIONENABLED_x
EndpointType CMDTASK_ENDPOINTTYPE_x
HasLicense CMDTASK_HASLICENSE_x
ImageSet CMDTASK_IMAGESET_x
IPHosts CMDTASK_IPHOSTv_x
IPv4Address CMDTASK_IPV4ADDRESSv_x
Managed-resource types are used to specify targets for the external application task
with the Client.x.Resource parameter. For information about this parameter, see
“Command-task file parameters.”
Note: The information provided in this table is for reference only, and might not
include third-party managed-resource types or resource types supported in future
versions of IBM Systems Director.
Table 12. IBM Systems Director resources and managed-resource types
Managed-resource type Resource
OperatingSystem com.tivoli.twg.engine.TWGNativeManagedObject
com.tivoli.twg.tier.TieredManagedObject
SystemChassis com.ibm.sysmgt.chassis.bcchassis.BCChassisManagedObject
Server com.ibm.sysmgt.platform.LogicalPlatform
com.ibm.sysmgt.platform.PhysicalPlatform
com.ibm.sysmgt.platform.Platform
com.ibm.sysmgt.spm.server.partition.Partition
Chassis com.ibm.sysmgt.spm.server.rioe.RIOEnclosure
The sample command-task files are provided to assist advanced users and vendors
who want to create command-task files.
This example shows a command task to open a Telnet session and hold the
window open while a user types the user ID and password. With the –hold option,
you also receive an error message if the Telnet command is not performed
successfully.
# Parameters for all operating systems:
Targeted=one
ShellRequired=true
For information about the parameters that you can use, see “Command-task file
parameters.”
3. Define the task that you want to run using one of the CommandString
parameters or define a group heading. For important considerations about
specifying the command-string parameter, see “Considerations for
command-string parameters.” For information about the CommandString
parameter, see “Command-task file parameters.”
4. Optional: Define other parameters as needed.
5. Save and close the file.
The IBM Systems Director Web interface supports the code pages listed in the
following table.
Table 13. Code pages supported by the IBM Systems Director Web interface
Language Code page
Brazilian Portuguese 850
English 850
French 850
German 850
Italian 850
Spanish 850
Japanese UTF8
Korean UTF8
Simplified Chinese UTF8
Traditional Chinese UTF8
Important: You are responsible for ensuring that the data in the resource bundles
is valid for the intended purpose.
1. Create at least two properties files for resources (one default file and one
English file). For example, if you created a command-task file with the file
name “apple”, create two resource-bundle files named
appleResources.properties and appleResources_en.properties. For each
additional non-English title you must create additional resource bundles for
each locale that you defined. For example, if you provide French and Spanish
titles as well, you must create the appleResources_fr.properties and
appleResources_es.properties files. In the properties file, use the keyword
TitleKey to define the title, and, optionally, DescriptionKey to define a
description of the task. For example:
TitleKey=title
DescriptionKey=description
where title is the translated title of the task and description is a translated string
that describes the task. The description string is displayed in the Description
column on the External Application Launch page.
2. Using the translation services available to you, obtain translations of the title
text in all the languages that you intend to support. Translators will require
code page information if they are contracted to provide translated character
strings.
Note: If your translation service will translate the resource bundles you are
using, no subsequent steps should be necessary.
3. Copy the resource-bundle files to the applicable directory on the management
server.
Table 14. Location of resource-bundle files by operating system
Windows \Program Files\IBM\Director\classes\CmdTask\resources
installation
Linux /opt/IBM/director/classes/CmdTask/resources
installation
where resources represents the directory that contains resource files for a specific
external-application task.
Note: This task requires the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program.
This program is installed automatically the first time you use a task that requires
it. For information about the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program, see
“Starting the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program.”
Important:
v When the external-application task is defined on the management server (the
system running IBM Systems Director Server), the task title is displayed on all
instances of the IBM Systems Director Web interface. To start the application
successfully, the necessary applications, files, and any resources that are required
by the application must reside on the browser system from which you want to
start the task.
v When you start an external-application task, the resulting application runs
according to the settings that are present on the system where the application is
started. You can change settings by defining system attributes within the
command-task file. For information about the System.Attribute parameter, see
“Command-task file parameters.”
v You can restrict the use of the external-application task to specific users. For
more information, see “Authorizing users to IBM Systems Director.”
Before you can launch an external Web-based application from IBM Systems
Director, you must register the external application using a template file. Once
registered, the external application launch points will be visible as either targeted
or untargeted tasks within IBM Systems Director, depending on the launch point
definitions. The vendor instructions, as well as the template file, should provide
more information about the names of the tasks as they will be displayed in IBM
Systems Director.
Scheduling tasks
You can use Scheduler (also called the Run window) to schedule noninteractive
tasks to be run at an exact date and time. You can define a schedule to repeat a
task automatically at a given interval, such as every Saturday at 2:00 a.m. You can
define a specific number of repeats, such as every Saturday at 2:00 a.m. for the
next 6 weeks. Scheduler also provides automatic notification for job status and task
completion.
Related concepts
Noninteractive tasks
Noninteractive tasks, such as inventory collection or system identification, do not
depend on immediate user input and can be scheduled to occur on multiple
systems at any time. Interactive tasks, such as remote control and file transfer,
cannot be scheduled because they directly interact with only one client at a time.
Because you can run a job more than once, there is a record called a job instance
that represents each execution of the job. For example, you might have a job that is
scheduled for every day at noon. You could view the results for a specific
execution of the job, such as the Tuesday run as opposed to the Monday run, by
viewing the job instance record.
Scheduling a task
When you create a job, you can schedule one or more noninteractive tasks to run
on one or more target systems.
Note: If you select a dynamic group, be aware that the group members used
for the scheduled task are those members present in the group when you create
this scheduled job. Subsequent changes in dynamic group membership are
ignored. For example, if you schedule to collect inventory using a dynamic
group and the group membership changes, the target systems originally part of
the group are used for the inventory collection. The changed group
membership is ignored.
Important:
Although you can select multiple target systems when you create, edit, or copy
the job, the Scheduler does not evaluate the following criteria until the task is
actually run:
v Whether the target systems support the task that you are scheduling
v Whether the task is appropriate for multiple systems
If the scheduled job fails any of these criteria, an error is logged in the job
instance record. Each job instance record provides detailed status information
on the History page and a log file that you can view from the Log page. For
more information, see “Viewing job-instance records” and “Viewing
job-instance logs.”
4. Click the Schedule tab. On this page, you can choose to run the job
immediately or schedule the job to run at a later time.
a. A job name is required and the Name field provides a unique default name.
To change the default name, type a job name in the field.
b. To run the job immediately, click Run Now and go to step 7 on page 154.
Otherwise, click Schedule.
c. In the Schedule list, select how frequently you want the job to run. The
default setting is Once. Other values are Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly,
Yearly, or Custom. Also, you can specify whether to run the job on the
weekend.
d. Select the date and time to run the job for the first time.
e. Select the time range for the job to repeat.
5. Rarely, a task might require setting additional parameters and the Parameters
page is provided. Click the Parameters tab. If the task provides default values,
they are displayed on this page. If the settings are blank, you must enter all the
settings; otherwise, the Scheduler cannot save the job.
6. Click the Notification tab. On this page you can customize a notification that is
sent by e-mail.
a. Select from the available criteria to customize when the e-mail notification is
sent. You can specify that the e-mail be sent when one of the following
criteria is met:
v When the job begins.
v When the job completes successfully.
v When the job fails. You can further customize this criterion by setting
either the percentage of target systems on which the job had errors or the
number of systems on which the job had errors. Therefore, if the job runs
Tip: Make sure that you know the time and time zone to which the
respective systems' clocks are set.
b. Select whether you want the job to fail if a system is offline or if you want
the job to run when the system is online again.
8. Click OK to save the job.
Click Cancel to exit from the Run window without saving the job.
If the job is created successfully, a message is displayed on the page from
which you started the Scheduler. If the job creation fails, a message is displayed
in the Run window so that you can correct the job.
Tip: Make sure that you know the time and time zone to which the
respective systems' clocks are set.
b. Select whether you want the job to fail if a system is offline or if you want
the job to run when the system is online again.
7. Click OK to save the job.
Click Cancel to exit from the Run window without saving the job.
If the job is created successfully, a message is displayed on the page from
which you started the Scheduler. If the job creation fails, a message is displayed
in the Run window so that you can correct the job.
To view information about active and scheduled jobs, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, expand Task Management and
click Active and Scheduled Jobs.
2. On the Active and Scheduled Jobs page, scan for the job that you want. For
each job, the following information provided:
Name The name of the job.
Status The current status of the job. The following list describes the available
job states:
Active Indicates that the job has run once and is scheduled to run
again.
Also on the Properties page, you can perform applicable tasks on the selected job.
Click Actions to view the available tasks that you can perform.
Related reference
lsjob command
Tip: You also can find this information by selecting a system and viewing its
Properties. On the Properties page, click the Applied Activities page to view
information about any jobs that are associated with the system.
Also on the Properties page, you can perform applicable tasks on the selected job.
Click Actions to view the available tasks that you can perform.
Also on the Properties page, you can perform applicable tasks on the selected job.
Click Actions to view the available tasks that you can perform.
Related reference
lsjobhistory command
rmjobhistory command
Also on the Properties page, you can perform applicable tasks on the selected job.
Click Actions to view the available tasks that you can perform.
Related reference
lsjobhistory command
The new job is saved and is displayed on the Active and Scheduled Jobs page.
Attention: To avoid a potential error, check to make sure that the job that you
want to edit is not scheduled to run during the time that you want to edit it. Check
the Next Run column to make sure the job will not run during the time you intend
to edit it.
The edited job is saved and is displayed on the Active and Scheduled Jobs page.
Note: You cannot suspend most job instances that are currently running.
Right-clicking on the job will show if the job supports suspending currently
running jobs or not. If you suspend the job, the suspension will affect only the job
instances that have yet to run.
Restriction: The Cancel Running Job Instance task only applies to jobs that
support cancellation, such as Discovery.
Note: The Last Run Status column will display Running for currently running
jobs.
3. Click Cancel Running Job Instance. A confirmation window opens.
4. Click OK to confirm cancelation of the job. On the Active and Scheduled Jobs
page, in the Last Run Status column, the state is changed to Complete.
Deleting a job
Delete a existing job when you no longer need it.
The job is deleted and is no longer displayed on the Active and Scheduled Jobs
page.
Related reference
rmjob command
Managing auditing
Audit infrastructure plays a pivotal role in helping organizations adhere to
compliance standards. IT administrators prepare for compliance audits by using
event log managers and robust change management software to allow tracking and
documenting authentication and controls in IT systems. With IBM Systems
Director's auditing capabilities, you can track what takes place on an IBM Systems
Director Server by viewing four categories of audit data : Security, Task, System
Configuration, and System Triggers. In addition, IBM Systems Director plug-ins
can use these existing categories or define new categories to audit their important
events. Use IBM Systems Director Server Auditing to enable and disable auditing
on IBM Systems Director Server, select which audit records to log (by choosing
which categories to enable), view and change the current audit settings, view audit
log events, and delete audit log events.
Tip: For your awareness, auditing can be managed using the following smcli
commands:
chaudit
Use the chaudit command to modify audit settings.
lsaudit
Use the lsaudit command to list audit settings and categories.
lsauditlogs
Use the lsauditlogs command to list a specific number of audit log
messages for one or more audit categories.
Audit records
The audit records provide information that is necessary to track basic, important,
high-level actions. You can select from several categories of information to audit,
including security, task, system configuration and system triggers.
Audit records are displayed in this category when an IBM Systems Director
plug-in is installed.
To set the server auditing preferences for IBM Systems Director Server, complete
the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand Security
and click Server Auditing.
2. On the Server Auditing page, if you want to disable auditing, clear the Enable
Auditing check box.
3. Select the categories of information that you want to audit. Use the Add and
Remove buttons to move items between the Available list and the Selected list.
You can select from the following auditing categories.
Security
This category enables auditing for security-related events in IBM
Systems Director, such as user authentication, authorization, access
privileges, and user administration.
Task When this category is selected, audit records are logged when IBM
Systems Director tasks start or end.
System configuration
This category captures all actions or events that a systems administrator
performs to configure the systems, such as deployment, install, and
configuration actions on server, storage, and network.
System triggers
This category captures the events that are automatically generated by
the system to indicate triggers such as status change, failure, or
scheduling.
4. When you are satisfied with your settings, click OK to save the settings and
close the page. To save the setting but not close the page, click Apply. To close
the page without saving the settings, click Cancel. To reset the settings to the
system-defined values, click Restore Defaults. You still must click OK or
Apply to save the restored settings.
For information about viewing audit logs, see “Viewing the audit log.”
Note: The audit log is in event format and can be viewed on the Event Log page.
To view the audit log when auditing is enabled, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand Security
and click Server Auditing.
2. On the Server Auditing page, click View Audit Log. It will navigate to the
Event Log page.
Encryption
IBM Systems Director contains a security feature that encrypts all data in
interprocess communications, except transport-layer datagrams used during
discovery. This encryption feature implementation is available only for IBM
Director, versions 5.20.3 and earlier.
This encryption feature provides automatic key management. You can select an
encryption algorithm from the provided libraries:
v IBM Java Cryptography Extension (JCE)
v OpenSSL
JCE provides ciphers for all Java-based platforms, including IBM i and Linux;
OpenSSL provides ciphers for 32-bit Windows operating systems.
The following table outlines how data is transmitted between IBM Systems
Director Server and IBM Director Agent version 5.20, managed systems, depending
on whether encryption is enabled.
Table 15. Encryption state and data transmitted between IBM Systems Director Server
andIBM Director Agent version 5.20
IBM Director Agent version IBM Director Agent version
5.20 (encryption enabled) 5.20 (encryption disabled)
IBM Systems Director Encrypted Unencrypted
Server (encryption enabled)
IBM Systems Director No data transmission Unencrypted
Server (encryption disabled) possible
If you have more than one management server in your environment, make sure
you consider the following situation:
v Two management servers have discovered each other and each are displayed in
the other's IBM Systems Director Web interface as systems.
v One management server (server A) has encryption enabled.
v The other management server (server B) either has encryption disabled or has
encryption enabled now but had it disabled when it was discovered and the
communication has not ended since the discovery.
You can delete each system from the Web interface of the other to end the
unencrypted communication. If you run multiple management servers that can
discover each other, you can enable encryption on both management servers before
they are started or before they can discover each other. You can also use the dircli
lsmo command to check for previous communication. For more information, see
“System commands.”
Notes:
v Encryption is not supported on systems running NetWare or systems running
64-bit versions of Windows.
v Neither out-of-band communications nor communication used by Internet tools,
such as Telnet or File Transfer Protocol (FTP), are encrypted.
v There is a performance penalty when you enable encryption. Encrypting data
packets and exchanging encryption keys has an effect on the speed with which
System commands
Enabling encryption
You can enable encryption on the management server. This encryption feature
implementation is available only for IBM Director, versions 5.20.3 and earlier.
To enable encryption on IBM Director Agent, versions 5.20.3 and earlier, complete
the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand Settings
and click Encryption Preferences.
2. On the Encryption Preferences page, select the Enable encryption of data check
box.
3. Click Apply.
4. The Save Encryption Settings window opens. Click OK to confirm enabling the
encryption algorithm and synchronizing the keys. The keys are sent to all
affected systems. A confirmation message is displayed.
5. Click OK to save the change and close the page.
Disabling encryption
You can disable encryption on the management server. Encryption must be enabled
previously. This encryption feature implementation is available only for IBM
Director, versions 5.20.3 and earlier.
To disable encryption on IBM Director Agent, versions 5.20.3 and earlier, complete
the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand Settings
and click Encryption Preferences.
2. On the Encryption Preferences page, clear the Enable encryption of data check
box.
3. Click Apply to save the change.
4. The Save Encryption Settings window opens. Click OK to confirm disabling the
encryption algorithm.
5. A confirmation message is displayed. Click OK to save the change and close
the page.
To change the encryption algorithm for systems running IBM Director Agent,
versions 5.20.3 and earlier, complete the following steps:
To resend encryption keys to all systems running IBM Director Agent, versions
5.20.3 and earlier, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand Settings
and click Encryption Preferences.
2. On the Encryption Preferences page, click Resend Keys.
3. In the Resend Encryption Keys window, click Resend to resend the keys. When
the operation is completed, the confirmation message is displayed.
4. To close the page, click OK.
To set a new encryption key for one system running IBM Director Agent, versions
5.20.3 and earlier, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. On the Navigate Resources page, navigate to the managed system for which
you want to reset the encryption key.
3. Right-click the system and click Encryption Key Reset.
Note: You can select more than one system to reset encryption keys.
4. In the Encryption Key Reset window, click Reset to reset the key.
IBM Systems Director Server generates a new, unique key for the managed system
and displays a confirmation message.
Discovery
Discovery is the process by which IBM Systems Director Server identifies and
establishes connections with network-level resources that IBM Systems Director can
manage, such as computers, switches, or printers. You can use getting started
(initial) discovery or system discovery to identify resources within your
environment, collect data about those resources, and establish connections with
them.
Before you can use IBM Systems Director to manage a device, that resource must
be discovered by IBM Systems Director Server. After a resource has been
discovered, it becomes a system that IBM Systems Director can manage.
Note: The discovery process discovers only systems and other types of resources
that can be managed by IBM Systems Director. In other words, just because you
can "ping" a resource does not mean that IBM Systems Director can discover it.
You can view discovery and inventory information and perform discovery and
inventory tasks on the Start tab of the Welcome page or by using the Discovery
Manager plug-in.
Click Discover on the Start tab of the Welcome page to perform getting started
discovery. Clicking the Discover button also removes the button from the page.
Note: The Discover button remains visible until you discover resources besides the
local operating system and server.
If the Discover button is not visible or if you already ran a getting started
discovery, you can run a getting started discovery by using the Default getting
started discovery profile. Getting started discovery discovers the following types of
managed resources on the local subnet:
v IBM Systems Director Common Agent, version 6.1 or later, managed systems1
v IBM Systems Director Platform Agent, version 6.1 or later, managed systems1
v IBM Director Agent, versions 5.10 and 5.20, managed systems2, 3
The getting started discovery process updates the pie chart on the Start tab of the
Welcome page to indicate the number of system types discovered. A similar pie
chart appears on the Discovery Manager summary page. You can view all the
discovered systems on the Navigate Resources page.
Note: The time it takes for discovery to finish processing varies depending on
such factors as network performance and the number of systems that are
discovered. Avoid managing newly discovered resources for a time after the
discovery task finishes, because associated processing continues to run.
Getting started discovery does not discover every type of managed resource. For
more information about how to discover other types of managed resources, see
“System discovery.”
System discovery
System discovery in version 6.2 enables you to discover a resource for a single
IPv4 or IPv6 address or host name or many resources of the same type that occur
in a densely populated single range of IP addresses. You can also use a discovery
profile to discover more specific categories of resource types, specify multiple
ranges of IP addresses, or automatically request access to or collect inventory for
discovered resources.
System discovery is able to detect the same kinds of resources as getting started
discovery, but also is able to discover the following types of resources:
v BladeCenter chassis by way of a management module or an advanced
management module
v eServer™ 325, 326, and 326m model servers discovered by way of an ISMP
service processor1
v IBM Power servers with service processors
v IBM Power systems being managed by Hardware Management Console (HMC)
v IBM Power systems being managed by Integrated Virtualization Manage (IVM)
v System x servers with service processors
v System x servers discovered by way of an integrated management module or by
way of an IPMI baseboard management controller (BMC)
v System x server discovered by way of a Remote Supervisor Adapter or Remote
Supervisor Adapter II
v System z servers being managed by (HMC)
v Systems that are cloned or that use a mirrored image2
v Printers, switches, and bridges enabled for SNMP3
v Storage devices
1. Although the service processor in the eServer 325, 326, and 326m models is
called an ISMP, it is a BMC.
2. To discover a system that uses a mirrored image, the system must be
properly configured. For more information, see “Discovering systems that
use a mirrored image.”
3. Pass-through modules do not provide SNMP support.
The discovery process discovers only systems and other types of resources that can
be managed by IBM Systems Director. In other words, just because you can "ping"
a resource does not mean that IBM Systems Director can discover it.
Discover only those resources that you intend to manage with IBM Systems
Director. For example, if the management interfaces of your networking equipment
are on a single subnet, yet you do not intend to manage your networking
equipment with IBM Systems Director, do not discover devices on that subnet.
As system discovery runs, the System Discovery page refreshes the list of
discovered resources in the Discovered Manageable Systems table. You also can
While the discovery process is active, the System Discovery page also displays
additional elements:
v An icon and text message that states whether the discovery process is running
or stopping
v A Stop button that enables you to stop the discovery process that is updating
the Discovered Manageable Systems table
v A New discovery button that enables you to run another system discovery in
addition to the one that is currently active. If you run a new discovery, the new
discovery updates the Discovered Manageable Systems table. When you run a
new discovery, you must use the Discovery jobs task to view the results of the
current discovery.
Note: The time it takes for discovery to finish processing varies depending on
such factors as network performance and the number of systems that are
discovered. Avoid managing newly discovered resources for some time after the
discovery task finishes, because associated processing continues to run.
IP addresses
System discovery can use a single IP address, a single host name, or a single range
of IP addresses to discover manageable resources. When using a discovery profile,
you have options to specify multiple IP addresses and address ranges and import
IP address information in a text file. You can also exclude individual IP addresses,
IP address ranges, or entire subnets from discovery.
System discovery in IBM Systems Director version 6.2 supports both the IPv4 and
IPv6 protocols. Whether you specify a single IP address on the System Discovery
page or import a list of IP addresses, discovery requires that IP addresses adhere to
the following rules:
v The maximum permitted range of IP addresses is 256.
v For IP address ranges, the specified starting address must be less than the
ending address, where only the last piece of the starting and ending addresses
are unique. The following examples are valid patterns: a.a.a.b-a.a.a.c for an IPv4
address or a:a:a:a:a:a:a:b-a:a:a:a:a:a:a:c for an IPv6 address, where for each
example b is less than c.
v All addresses in a valid IPv4 address range must occur in the same Class C
subnet.
v When the interface allows (for example, when using the Discovery Profile
wizard), IPv6 address compression might be used to replace one or more
consecutive instances of 0 in an address. For example, using address
compression, this address DD01:0:0:0:0:0:0:1C would be written as DD01::1C.
v The IPv6 loopback address (0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 or ::1) is not supported.
v Prefix-length and scope ID for IPv6 addresses are not supported.
Note: After creating the file, import it at the time you configure a discovery
profile. To create a discovery profile, click Create new profile on the System
Discovery page. For more information, see “Discovery profiles.”
Importing a file that lists IP addresses to include and exclude applies only to the
current discovery. To permanently exclude IP addresses from discovery, specify
that IBM Systems Director permanently ignore the IP addresses. Excluding IP
addresses in this way means that Systems Director does not communicate with or
manage resources by using the excluded IP addresses. For more information, see
“Permanently excluding IP addresses from discovery.”
The following restriction applies when using IPv6 in-band for agentless-managed
systems, Platform Agent managed systems, and Common Agent managed systems.
Restriction: All discoverable operating systems that IBM Systems Director version
6.2 can manage by using IPv4 can also be managed by using IPv6 in-band, except
for Windows 2003 and Windows XP. Microsoft does not officially support DHCPv6
client with Windows 2003 or Windows XP, and so neither is fully IPv6 compliant.
Restriction:
v IPv6 support for managing IBM BladeCenter servers out-of-band requires
Advanced Management Module Firmware v3.54 (BPET54B) or higher.
v IPv6 support for managing IBM Power Systems servers out-of-band through
Hardware Management Console (HMC) requires HMC V7R350 SP1, V7 R710 or
higher.
v IPv6 support for managing Power Systems servers out-of-band through
Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM) requires IVM/Virtual I/O Server
(VIOS) 2.1.3 or higher.
v IPv6 support for managing Power Systems servers out-of-band using Flexible
Service Processor (FSP) is currently not available. This restriction does not apply
to Power Systems managed with IVM or HMC.
v IPv6 support for managing IBM System x servers out-of-band using Integrated
Management Module (IMM) is not available.
For more information about IBM Systems Director support for IPv6, see “IPv6
compliance”.
Related reference
IPv6 compliance
Discovery profiles
System discovery can use a discovery profile to discover manageable resources. A
discovery profile is a group of discovery settings that are saved on IBM Systems
Director Server. Settings for the profile include the type of resources to be
discovered, and whether to automatically request access to or collect inventory for
discovered resources. IBM Systems Director includes several default profiles that
you can use, or you can create profiles to suit your specific requirements.
Several options exist for working with discovery profiles. You can use the System
Discovery page to run an existing profile or create a uniqe profile. Use the Manage
Discovery Profiles page to create, copy, edit, delete, or run discovery profiles.
Choosing to create or edit a discovery profile launches the Discovery Profile
wizard, which helps you configure the profile.
Typically, a default discovery profile searches the primary subnet for the specified
target resources. Default profiles automatically use the IP address range of the
current subnet, as determined by the last start of the IBM Systems Director Server.
You can also create a profile that you base on a default profile. Simply changing
the IP addresses might be sufficient to create a profile that suits your needs.
When discovering a large number of resources, network traffic associated with the
discovery process might cause timeouts that result in some discoverable resources
remaining undiscovered. To help prevent this problem, use one or more discovery
profiles. Using a discovery profile enables you to target specific resources and limit
the number of communication protocols used during discovery. Limiting the
number of communication protocols used when discovering a large number of
resources helps avoid problems caused by network traffic collisions and timeouts.
When you need to create a unique profile, the Discovery Profile wizard assists you
in identifying the type (and subtype) of resource that you want to discover and
configuring the necessary protocols. For more information about creating, editing
and deleting profiles, see “Managing discovery profiles”.
The communication protocols that IBM Systems Director Server uses during
discovery depend on the protocols used by the target resource type. You need to
decide about the different protocols only when you create or edit a discovery
profile. The Discovery Profile wizard helps you select and configure the correct
protocol for the type of resource that you want to discover.
When discovering a large number of resources, network traffic associated with the
discovery process might cause timeouts that result in some discoverable resources
remaining undiscovered. To help prevent this problem, use one or more discovery
profiles. Using a discovery profile enables you to target specific resources and limit
the number of communication protocols used during discovery. Limiting the
number of communication protocols used when discovering a large number of
resources helps avoid problems caused by network traffic collisions and timeouts.
Note: Additional discovery protocols are routinely created by vendors. For more
information about communicating with a device that uses a protocol that is not
listed here, contact the manufacturer or software provider for that device.
1. Common Agent version 6.2 and Platform Agent version 6.2 include support for IPv6. Previous versions of these
agents do not support IPv6 addresses.
2. Discovery of IBM Director Agent, versions 5.10 and 5.20, and IBM Director Core Services, versions 5.10 and 5.20,
is provided only as a step toward upgrading the discovered agents to a more recent version. IBM Systems
Director version 6.2 does not support managing IBM Director Agent, version 5.10 or IBM Director Core Services,
version 5.10. For more information, see “Version compatibility of IBM Systems Director components.”
3. IPv6 is not supported for IBM Director Agent, versions 5.10 and 5.20 or IBM Director Core Services, versions
5.10 and 5.20.
Note: A system that has not been discovered does not show up anywhere on
this page.
v In the Common tasks area, the following links are provided:
System Discovery
Use the System Discovery page to run a discovery. Discover specific
types of resources for a single IP address or host name or a single IP
address range, or you can use a discovery profile to customize the
discovery settings.
Collect and view inventory
Use the View and Collect Inventory page to collect the most current
inventory from a resource or view the inventory of a resource.
Navigate resources
Use the Navigate Resources page to view and manage discovery
options on an individual resource level.
5. View the Access and Authentication section. This section provides the
following information:
v The number of systems that are accessible.
v A pie chart and corresponding list that indicate the access levels of the
systems, broken down into the following three categories:
Systems with no access
IBM Systems Director is not authenticated to these systems and is
unable to perform any tasks on them.
Systems with partial access
IBM Systems Director has full access to some remote service access
points for these systems but no access to others.
Note: A system with partial access has multiple access points, but
not all these access points are accessible. To gain full access, you
must configure credentials to authenticate with each of the access
points. For more information, see “Accessing a secured system with
configure access” and “Accessing a secured system with request
access”.
Systems with full access
IBM Systems Director is fully authenticated and, barring other
inhibitors, able to perform tasks on these systems.
Click any of the category list items to see a breakdown of the systems in that
category.
v In the Common tasks area, the following links are provided:
Request access for 'no access' systems
Use the Request access for 'no access' systems page to view the list of
systems that are in the no access state. Also use this page to request
access, with a user ID and password, for any of the listed 'no access'
systems.
You also can reach the summary page by using Find a Task. For more information,
see “Finding a task.”
After you install IBM Systems Director and start the IBM Systems Director Web
interface for the first time, you are presented with a Discover button on the Start
tab of the Welcome page. Use the associated task to perform agent-based discovery
on only your local subnet and, optionally, request access to the systems that are
discovered.
The first time you perform getting started discovery, use the Start page. If you
want to perform another getting started discovery, you need to run a system
discovery using the Default getting started discovery profile.
To perform the first getting started discovery, complete the following steps:
1. Launch the IBM Systems Director Web interface and click the Start tab of the
Welcome page.
2. Click Discover. The Discover Network page is displayed.
3. Choose either of the following methods to request access to the discovered
systems:
Use user ID and password
Prompts you for a user ID and password that is then used to request
access to all the discovered systems. Access is granted to those systems
that accept the provided credentials.
Request access later
Discovers the systems but does not attempt to request access to any of
them. You can then use the request access tasks provided by IBM
Systems Director to manually request access at a later time.
Note: The time it takes for discovery to finish processing varies depending on
such factors as network performance and the number of systems that are
discovered. Avoid managing newly discovered resources for a time after the
discovery task finishes, because associated processing continues to run.
After discovery is completed, use the navigate resources task to view and work
with the resources.
Note:
v Discover only those resources that you intend to manage with IBM Systems
Director. For example, if the management interfaces of your networking
equipment are on a single subnet, yet you do not intend to manage your
networking equipment with IBM Systems Director, do not discover devices on
that subnet.
v When discovering a large number of resources, network traffic associated with
the discovery process might cause timeouts that result in some discoverable
resources remaining undiscovered. To help prevent this problem, use one or
more discovery profiles. Using a discovery profile enables you to target specific
resources and limit the number of communication protocols used during
discovery. Limiting the number of communication protocols used when
discovering a large number of resources helps avoid problems caused by
network traffic collisions and timeouts.
1. Open the System Discovery page using either of these two methods:
v On the Start page on the Welcome page, click System discovery under
Optional tasks.
v In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand
Inventory and then click System Discovery.
The System Discovery page is displayed.
2. Select one of the following discovery methods:
Note: After a resource is discovered, the virtual systems that are associated with
that resource are also discovered.
v To view the results of a specific discovery that ran at a previous time or a
discovery that is scheduled to run at a later time, use the Discovery jobs task.
v To view all discovered resources, use the Navigate Resources task.
Note: The time it takes for discovery to finish processing varies depending on
such factors as network performance and the number of systems that are
discovered. Avoid managing newly discovered resources for a time after the
discovery task finishes, because associated processing continues to run.
When the discovery process completes, the status icon and text message disappear
and the Discover Now and Schedule buttons become active again.
Note: You can also use the reset_diragent_keys command to perform these steps.
See “reset_diragent_keys command” for information.
1. For the specified mirrored systems, view and compare the UID entries on the
host and the mirrored system to ensure that the UID entries are unique. For
Common Agent managed systems, perform a similar comparison for the Tivoli
GUID entries.
2. For all mirrored systems, delete the UID entry that might have been
duplicated.
Platform Instructions
AIX, Linux Run the following command: rm -f /etc/ibm/director/twgagent/
twgagent.uid
IBM i (formerly Remove the following file: /etc/ibm/director/twgagent/
i5/OS) twgagent.uid
Windows For all mirrored systems, delete the following value in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\
ComputerName\ComputerName key
Value: TWGMachineID
3. For Agentless managed systems, proceed to step 4 on page 187. For Common
Agent managed systems generate a new Tivoli GUID and a new UID. For
Platform Agent managed systems, generate a new UID:
Platform Instructions
AIX, Linux Run the following command: /opt/ibm/director/bin/genuid
And, for Common Agent managed systems, also run the following
commands:
1. /opt/ibm/director/agent/runtime/agent/bin/endpoint.sh
stop
2. LANG=C;/usr/tivoli/guid/tivguid -Write -New
3. /opt/ibm/director/agent/runtime/agent/bin/endpoint.sh
start
4. If the mirrored system does not use SSH, go to step 10 on page 188.
5. If you must determine the ssh key, run the following command: ssh-keygen
-lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub.
6. If the mirrored system uses SSH, stop ssh:
Platform Instructions
AIX Run the following command: stopsrc -s sshd
Linux Run one of the following commands:
v /etc/init.d/sshd stop
v service sshd stop
IBM i The command you must run depends on which version of the
operating system you are running.
Windows Consult the documentation for the SSH client that you are using.
Platform Instructions
AIX, Linux Run the following commands:
1. rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
2. rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
3. rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
IBM i The command syntax depends on which version of the operating
system you are running.
8. If your SSH client requires that you explicitly regenerate the SSH host keys,
run the commands to regenerate them.
Note: Some SSH clients require that you run specific commands to regenerate
the SSH host keys, but some regenerate the SSH host keys when you restart
SSH.
Platform Instructions
AIX, Linux Run the following commands:
Note: In the following commands, " represents two single
quotation mark characters (').
1. /usr/bin/ssh-keygen -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key -N ’’ -t
rsa1
2. /usr/bin/ssh-keygen -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key -N ’’ -t
rsa
3. /usr/bin/ssh-keygen -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key -N ’’
-t dsa
IBM i How you regenerate the SSH host keys depends on which version
of the operating system you are running.
Windows Determine if you must manually regenerate the SSH host keys by
consulting the documentation for the SSH client that you are using.
Platform Instructions
AIX Run this command: startsrc -s sshd
Linux Run one of the following commands:
v /etc/init.d/sshd start
v service sshd start
IBM i The command syntax depends on which version of the operating
system you are running.
Windows Consult the documentation for the SSH client that you are using.
10. For Platform Agent managed systems and Agentless managed systems, go to
the next step. For Common Agent managed systems, from the C:\Program
Files\IBM\Director\agent\runtime\agent\bin\ directory, run endpoint.bat
start.
11. Run system discovery to discover the cloned system:
a. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface, click Inventory > System
Discovery.
b. Specify either the IP address or the host name of the cloned system, then
click Discover Now.
When you are viewing results of a system discovery, keep in mind the following
points:
v The discovery process discovers only systems and other types of resources that
can be managed by IBM Systems Director. In other words, just because you can
"ping" a resource does not mean that IBM Systems Director can discover it.
v Some results indicate multiple IP addresses on the same discovered resource that
might represent separate operating systems, components, or other items.
Consider the following examples:
– Results indicate two IP addresses for a particular server that uses an
integrated management module (IMM). In this case, one IP address represents
the external IP of the IMM and the other IP address is a USB network
connection. Both discovered resources are valid.
– Results indicate multiple operating systems for a particular server that uses
more than one network interface card. In this case, successfully requesting
access to the discovered resources removes multiple occurrences of the
operating system.
v The discovery process might create an operating system resource for any device
that supports the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol. For example, discovery results
might show a IBM BladeCenter chassis resource and an operating system
resource for a single managed resource (the chassis). If that managed resource is
something other than an operating system (for example, a switch, a BladeCenter
chassis, and so on), then the associated operating system resource is invalid.
Either ignore or remove the associated operating system resource. Requesting
access to such an invalid operating system resource might lead to errors and
further confusion.
To use the System Discovery task to view the system discovery results as you
discover systems, complete the following steps:
1. Open the System Discovery page using either of these two methods:
v On the Start page on the Welcome page, click System discovery under
Optional tasks.
v In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand
Inventory and then click System Discovery.
The System Discovery page is displayed.
2. Discover systems by using one of the available methods.
3. View systems as they are discovered in the Discovered Manageable Systems
table.
Note: When you are viewing results of a system discovery, consider the
following items:
v Displayed results include resources discovered by other IBM Systems
Director users who are accessing the same management server to perform
discoveries. So the Discovered Manageable Systems table displays results
that might include additional resources that are not located at the target IP
addresses or host names that you expect.
After the discovery process completes, all the discovered manageable systems are
displayed in the Discovered Manageable Systems table. The table maintains the
information until you close the Systems Discovery page, at which time it is cleared.
Note: Any discovered manageable system also is listed in one or more groups on
the Navigate Resources page.
To use the Discovery Jobs task to view the results of a specific system discovery
task, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand Inventory >
System Discovery. The System Discovery page displays.
2. Under Advanced Tasks, click Discovery jobs. The Active and Schedule Jobs
page displays. The entries in the Discovery jobs table include only those jobs
under which system discovery tasks ran.
Note: By using the Discovery Jobs task, the Active and Scheduled Jobs page
displays the Discovery jobs table, which displays only discovery-related jobs. If
you use the Active and Scheduled Jobs task, the resulting Active and
Scheduled Jobs table lists all jobs, including those jobs that are not related to
system discovery.
3. In the Discovery jobs table, click the job that represents the system discovery
for which you want to view the results. The properties page for the selected
entry displays.
4. Click the Discovered Systems tab to view the Discovered Manageable
Systems table, which contains results for the system discovery task.
Each system discovery task runs under a specific job. As long as that job is not
deleted, you can use the Discovery jobs task to view results for the associated
system discovery.
Note: Typically, it is easier to use the System Discovery page to view the results of
a currently running system discovery task. However, when you click New
Discovery on the System Discovery page to run an additional discovery while the
previous discovery is still running, you must use the Discovery Jobs task (or the
Active and Scheduled Jobs task) to view results for the previous discovery.
Before you start creating a profile, determine if a profile exists that at least in part
suits your needs. For example, IBM Systems Director for 6.2 includes several
default profiles created to find specific types of resources. To examine a default
profile more closely, on the Manage Discovery Profiles page, select the profile that
you want to examine, then click Edit. (Using Edit on a default profile enables you
to examine all the profile settings, but it does not allow you to change any of
them.)
After you exit the Discovery Profile wizard, the new discovery profile appears in
the Discovery Profiles table on the Manage Discovery Profiles page and in the list
of available profiles to run on the System Discovery page.
Note: When working with discovery profiles, you can select one or more
profiles at a time. If you select multiple profiles, you have only the options of
running them or deleting them.
Table 19. Discovery profile actions
To do this task: Complete these steps:
Create a discovery profile based on an 1. Select the profile on which you want to
existing profile base the new discovery profile.
2. Click Create Like. The Discovery Profile
wizard is displayed. The profile name
defaults to Copy of (original profile name),
but the remaining fields retain the same
values and selections as the original
profile.
3. Edit the profile properties as needed,
clicking Next to continue through the
wizard.
4. Click Finish to exit the wizard. The new
discovery profile appears in the
Discovery Profiles table on the Manage
Discovery Profiles page and in the list of
available profiles to run on the System
Discovery page.
Edit an existing discovery profile 1. Select the profile that you want to edit.
2. Click Edit. The Discovery Profile wizard
is displayed.
3. Edit the profile properties as needed,
clicking Next to continue through the
wizard.
4. Click Finish.
Delete an existing discovery profile 1. Select the profile that you want to delete.
2. Click Delete. A confirmation message is
displayed.
3. Click OK in the confirmation message
box to delete the selected profile. The
deleted profile no longer appears in the
Discovery Profiles table on the Manage
Discovery Profiles page or in the list of
available profiles to run on the System
Discovery page.
Note: Any scheduled event that uses a
deleted profile continues to run as
scheduled. When the scheduled event tries
to run the deleted profile, the event fails.
Note: If the /data/IPPreference.properties file exists, open the file with a text
editor, then go to the next step.
2. Type the IP addresses that you want to exclude:
com.ibm.director.agent.excluded.ip.prefix=<IP_addresses>
where IP_address is one or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses or address ranges that
you want to exclude.
v To exclude one or more individual IP addresses, use a comma character (,) to
separate the IP addresses:
com.ibm.director.endpoint.excluded.ip.prefix=192.168.53.1,192.168.53.22
Note:
For Systems Director to ignore the excluded IP addresses, you must restart the
management server.
Before you can collect inventory for a resource and view the inventory data, you
must discover the resource by using System Discovery and also have access to it.
After you collect inventory, you can view the inventory items, their attributes, and
the values of those attributes by using the Refresh View option. The inventory
items that are displayed include physical, logical, and virtual hardware; software
applications, operating systems, middleware, firmware, BIOS, and diagnostic
information; network information; and system-contained resources.
Inventory data comprises three parts: inventory item, inventory attribute, and
inventory value.
Inventory item
A distinct part of a resource that makes up the whole. The inventory item
might fall into the following categories: basic system information,
hardware inventory, or software inventory. For example, hardware
inventory might include a physical card as an inventory item.
Inventory attribute
The details about an inventory item, for example, the attributes for a
physical card might include the name, the date it was last changed, a
description, FRU number, manufacturer date, physical element
manufacturer, physical element model, physical element serial number, and
more.
Inventory value
The data associated with the inventory attribute, for example, the name of
a physical card, or the serial number of the physical card.
IBM Systems Director uses profiles to manage the inventory collection tasks that
you create and run. An inventory collection profile is a group of settings that are
saved on IBM Systems Director Server that indicate the type of resources collected
during the collection process. Using IBM Systems Director Web interface, you can
run an inventory collection profile on specific systems (targets), and you can
schedule a profile to run at specific times or in response to specific events.
Note: The All Inventory profile is the one you must run if you intend to
use update manager.
Basic System Information
This profile collects inventory from system resources.
All Hardware Inventory
This profile collects inventory from physical and virtual devices.
All Software Inventory
This profile collects inventory from software resources.
Software Images Discovery
This profile collects inventory from software images.
These profiles are read-only. They cannot be deleted or edited. They can, however,
be copied. You can use the existing profiles to create your own profiles by using
the Create like option. Or you can create your own inventory collection profile
without any preconfigured settings by using the Create option.
If you do not want to use any of the profiles that are shipped with IBM Systems
Director, you must create and configure a profile that meets your needs before
collecting or viewing inventory.
Note: To help reduce network traffic, specify the lowest possible number of
agents.
18. To instruct IBM Systems Director Server to automatically try again after failed
collection attempts, select Retry failed agents.
19. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
20. Click Finish.
After creating an inventory collection profile, you can run it from the View and
Collect Inventory page.
To copy, edit, or delete an inventory collection profile, the profile must already
exist. You can also use this page to create a new inventory collection profile that
you can then manage. See “Creating an inventory collection profile” for
instructions.
Note: When working with inventory collection profiles, you can select one or
more profiles at a time. If you select multiple profiles, you have only the
options of running them or deleting them.
Table 20. Inventory collection profile actions
To do this task: Complete these steps:
Copy an existing inventory collection profile 1. Select the profile that you want to copy.
2. Click Create like. The Create Like
Inventory Profile wizard is displayed.
The profile name defaults to Copy of
(original profile name), but all the rest of
the fields are populated with the same
entries and selections as is in the original
profile.
3. Edit the profile properties as needed,
clicking Next to continue through the
wizard.
4. Click Finish. The new profile based on
the original profile will appear in the
table on the View and Collect Inventory
page.
Edit an existing inventory collection profile 1. Select the profile that you want to edit.
2. Click Edit. The Edit Inventory Profile
wizard is displayed.
3. Edit the profile properties as needed,
clicking Next to continue through the
wizard.
4. Click Finish.
Delete an existing inventory collection 1. Select the profile that you want to delete.
profile 2. Click Delete. A confirmation message is
displayed.
3. Click OK in the confirmation message
box. The selected profile is deleted and is
no longer displayed in the table on the
View and Collect Inventory page.
Note: Any scheduled event that uses a
deleted profile will continue to run until it
tries to run the deleted profile, at which
point the event will fail.
Collecting inventory
Use the View and Collect Inventory task to collect inventory data for systems that
have already been discovered and accessed by IBM Systems Director Server.
Note: Inventory is displayed for only those systems that are in a state other than
no access. To change the access state, select the system or systems and click
Actions > Security > Request Access.
To collect inventory for one or more systems, perform the following steps:
1. Open the View and Collect Inventory page using either of these two methods:
v On the Welcome page, click View and collect inventory under Optional
tasks.
v In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand
Inventory and then click View and Collect Inventory.
The View and Collect Inventory page is displayed.
2. In the Target Systems list, select the system for which you want to view or
collect inventory data. If the target system that you want to view is not in the
target systems list, perform the following steps to add the system to the list.
a. Click Browse to open the Context Chooser. The Context Chooser displays a
list of system groups.
b. In the list of groups, drill down to the individual target system for which
you want to view inventory data in the group that contains that target
system.
Note: You can select the entire group or you can drill down to select
individual target systems as targets within a group.
c. Select one or more target systems that you want to add.
d. Click Add. The selected target systems are displayed in the Selected list.
e. Click OK.
3. In the View by list, select the inventory profile that you want to use.
4. Click Collect Inventory. The Run - Collect Inventory page is displayed.
5. Use the Run - Collect Inventory page to set up optional functions and options
of your inventory collection task:
Schedule
Use the Schedule tab to set the inventory collection task to run
immediately or at a specified time and date in the future. You can also
schedule the task to repeat at a specified frequency.
Notification
Use the Notification tab to specify options for an email notification that
you can receive as the inventory collection process progresses.
Options
Use the Options tab to specify the time to use for the system time and
how to handle unavailable systems.
6. When you are finished with the Run - Collect Inventory page, click OK. An
inventory collection job is created and an informational message is displayed
about the job.
When inventory collection is completed, you can view the inventory data list and
table by clicking Refresh View.
Viewing inventory
Use the View and Collect Inventory task to view and manage an extended set of
resources and relationships for systems that have already been discovered. The
inventory that is displayed includes physical, logical, and virtual hardware;
software applications, operating systems, middleware, firmware, BIOS, and
diagnostic information; network information; and system-contained resources. Also,
IBM Systems Director displays the inventory data for the inventory items that are
collected.
Before you can view inventory data for a resource, you must collect the inventory
data for that resource.
Note: Inventory is displayed for only those systems that are in a state other than
no access. To change the access state, select the system or systems and click
Actions > Security > Request Access.
Note: You can select the entire group or you can drill down to select
individual target systems as targets within a group.
c. Select one or more target systems that you want to add.
d. Click Add. The selected target systems are displayed in the Selected list.
e. Click OK.
3. In the View by list, select the inventory profile that you want to use.
4. Click Refresh View. The inventory data for the selected resource is displayed.
Note: If you click Refresh View before any inventory has been collected by IBM
Systems Director Server, an empty table is displayed and the Last collected
value will be none. Before you try to view inventory, make sure that you
discover the applicable resources and collect the inventory for them.
Be sure to turn off the Web browser option to block pop-up windows for the URL
that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
Note: You can save the file only to a file system that is accessible from the
system running IBM Systems Director Server.
The IT Registry and Context Menu Service databases to which you will connect
must already exist.
Using the IT Registry and Context Menu Service Registration page in the IBM
Systems Director Web interface, you can register with either or both an IT Registry
or Context Menu Service database. After initial registration, if you want to remove
the capability of products to start IBM Systems Director tasks, you can unregister
to remove all connection settings and previously registered data for tasks and
resources for the currently connected IT Registry and Context Menu Service
databases. You can also register again to connect to different IT Registry and
Context Menu Service databases.
1. Set up the JDBC jars for the database that you are using.
a. Obtain the JDBC jars using one of the following two methods:
v Copy the JDBC jars from the installed instance of the database.
v Download the JDBC jars from the Web site for IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL
Server, or Oracle® Database.
b. Place the jars into the /lib directory of the appropriate plug-in for your
database:
v com.ibm.lwi.database.drivers.db2_8.1.0.0-LWI
v com.ibm.lwi.database.drivers.oracle_8.1.0.0-LWI
v com.ibm.lwi.database.drivers.sqlserver_8.1.0.0-LWI
Note: You must register an application on all servers that will use it.
a. Fill in all required fields with the connection settings for the IT
Registry database and the Context Menu Service database.
b. Click Test Connections to test if the connection settings that you
entered are valid. If the connection test fails, check your entered
values.
c. Click Register to apply the connection settings to register with the
targeted IT Registry and Context Menu Service databases.
Unregister with IT Registry and Context Menu Service databases
If you are already registered with IT Registry and Context Menu
Service databases but want to unregister, you only need to click
Unregister. This will remove all connection settings and previously
registered data for tasks and resources for the currently connected IT
Registry and Context Menu Service databases
Note: The fields will already contain the connection settings for the
connection databases with which you are already registered.
Register with different IT Registry and Context Menu Service databases
If you are already registered but want to change and connect to
different IT Registry and Context Menu Service databases, you can
register again using the values for the new databases. You do not need
to unregister with the initial IT Registry and Context Menu Service
databases before reregistering.
Complete the following steps to register with different IT Registry and
Context Menu Service databases.
Notes:
v The fields will already contain the connection settings for the
connection databases with which you are already registered.
v Reregistration will complete for both databases, regardless of
whether you changed values for either one.
a. Replace the contents of each applicable field with the connection
settings for the new IT Registry and Context Menu Service
databases.
After IBM Systems Director registration is complete and the other product is also
enabled to use IT Registry and Context Menu Service, the IBM Systems Director
tasks will appear in the context menus of the other product and can be launched
by selecting that menu item.
Related reference
After IBM Systems Director registration is complete and the other product is also
enabled to use IT Registry and Context Menu Service, the IBM Systems Director
tasks will appear in the context menus of the other product and can be launched
by selecting that menu item.
IT Registry
When you register with the IT Registry, entries are added to the IT Registry
database for resources that IBM Systems Director has discovered.
The Context Menu Service, which is a component of the Tivoli Integrated Portal
(TIP), facilitates launch-in-context capability between products. The
launch-in-context capability enables one application to invoke a function or launch a
user interface that is provided by another application while also passing in data
that the function or user interface can immediately process. Context Menu Service
enables launch-in-context by allowing a product to register launch points for itself
and locate launch points for other products. Launch points provide information that
allows an application to invoke a function or user interface from another
application.
When you register with the Context Menu Service, entries are added to the
Context Menu Service database so that other programs can start IBM Systems
Director tasks outside of IBM Systems Director.
In order for your configuration settings to take affect, they must be deployed to the
appropriate managed resource (device or system). When you deploy a
configuration plan, the configuration settings contained in all templates contained
by the plan are applied to the resource. In Current Configuration, you can list
configuration settings for one resource, make some or no changes to the settings,
then deploy it to a different resource.
You must understand the following terms to effectively configure systems using
IBM Systems Director.
Configuration setting
Real-time values associated with a particular aspect of a system or device,
such as login information or SNMP options, which can be saved as a
configuration template or as a configuration plan.
You can save configuration settings from a system and convert them into
configuration templates or configuration plans. You also can create
configuration settings from scratch.
Configuration template
A version of configuration settings that are not on a given system, but are
stored for future deployment.
You can deploy a configuration template on a system even if it is not a
member of a configuration plan.
Configuration plan
A set of configuration templates used to configure a system.
Configuration settings
A particular system's configuration can be accessed and viewed. Changes can be
made if necessary, and the configuration setting for an individual resource can be
stored as a configuration template or as a configuration plan.
All specific configuration settings are described in the documentation for their
specific devices. As an example, the configuration settings for IBM BladeCenter
and System x are described in the documentation for IBM BladeCenter and System
x. The configuration settings for storage devices are described in the IBM Systems
Director Storage Systems documentation.
Configuration templates
A configuration template is a stored version of device parameters and settings,
which can be reused or deployed at a later time.
Target types
A configuration template can have one of the following target types. However, the
listed types might vary, depending on the installed settings in your environment:
Appliance
BladeCenter chassis
BladeCenter H chassis
BladeCenter HT chassis
BladeCenter S chassis
BladeCenter T chassis
Ethernet Switch
Fibre Switch
InfiniBand Switch
Operating System
Operating System (via CIM protocol)
Server (via CIM protocol)
Stand alone server
Storage Switch
Tips:
v When you make changes to a configuration template that is already contained in
one or more configuration plans, the changes apply to these configuration plans.
v If you want to delete a configuration template that is contained in one or more
configuration plans, remove that configuration template from all associated
configuration plans first, and then delete the configuration template.
Note that you can delete a configuration template that is in one or more
configuration plan, but you will receive a warning message.
v When you create a configuration plan, you can determine the order of the
configuration templates within the configuration plan. This order is not checked
at creation time to determine whether certain resources require that other
resources be defined first.
If an inappropriate order is chosen, errors might be issued when the
configuration plan is deployed. When deploying a configuration plan, check the
status to determine whether it succeeded and analyze any errors received.
v You can automatically deploy certain types of templates. The order that they are
deployed in is specified in the automatic deploy sequence list for each template
type. This list can be modified at any time. Additionally, the list is modified
automatically when templates that specify automatic deployment are added (by
modifying the properties or creation of a new template), or deleted.
Note: You cannot automatically deploy network templates, and this extends to
the network plans that contain them.
Configuration plans
A configuration plan is used to configure systems and resources. A configuration
plan is a group of configuration templates that are deployed in a sequence.
Note: You cannot automatically deploy network templates, and this extends to the
network plans that contain them.
Types
A type is the category of resource associated with a configuration plan. These are
the types for a configuration plan. All configuration templates within a given
configuration plan must also be of the same type as the configuration plan.
Chassis
Devices such as management modules and switches
Network
Network components
Server Server components
Storage
Storage devices and other related resources
Operating System
Operating system components
Note: You cannot automatically deploy network templates, and this extends to the
network plans that contain them.
An entire configuration plan or individual configuration templates can be
designated as automatically deploy. If an entire configuration plan is designated as
For example, assume that configuration plan plan1 and configuration plan plan2
are of the same plan type. If plan1 is already set to automatically deploy, and you
then designate plan2 as automatically deploy, plan2 will become designated as
automatically deploy for this plan type, and plan1 will no longer be designated as
automatically deploy. A warning will be displayed in this situation.
Do not delete these predefined configuration plans. Do not edit or change them. To
modify them, use the Create Like task, make a copy, and then change the copy. Do
not delete or modify the predefined configuration templates within the predefined
configuration plans.
If a license is expired, you will be prevented from using the affected configuration
setting. If a license is required for systems, you can be prevented from using the
affected configuration settings on unlicensed systems. If you have an expired
license, the following items are subject to these restrictions:
v Current configuration settings that have a license entitlement
v Configuration templates that contain a license entitlement configuration setting
v Configuration plans including at least one template containing a license
entitlement configuration setting
Option Description
To monitor for the deployment of Click Configuration Template, then select
configuration templates Deployed.
To monitor for the deployment of Click Configuration Plan, then select
configuration plans Deployed.
The Event Automation Plans page displays the new event automation plan.
To view the configuration setting for a particular system, complete the following
steps:
1. From the Navigate Resources area, select a system.
2. Click Actions > Properties to view the current properties of the system:
v If the system has resources that can be configured by IBM Systems Director,
a Configuration tab will be present.
v If the system does not have resources that can be configured by IBM Systems
Director, there will be no Configuration tab. You cannot perform any of the
remaining steps in this procedure.
v The communication state such a: online or offline, and access state such as
locked or unlocked will also determine if the configuration tab is displayed
for a system.
3. Click Configuration to see the configuration settings for this system.
As an alternative, you can start this task from the navigator area by selecting
System Configuration > Current Configuration
As an alternative, you can start this task from the navigator area by selecting
System Configuration > Current Configuration
The configuration settings added to the configuration plan might not be in the
order that you would want them to be deployed on a system. From any table that
displays the configuration plan, click Actions > Edit to change the order of the
configuration templates.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Note: You cannot automatically deploy network templates, and this extends
to the network plans that contain them.
If you enable automatic deploy, the template is appended to the end of the
automatic deploy sequence list for the relevant type. To re-order the list, go to
Actions > Automatic Deploy Sequence.
8. Click Continue. The Configuration Settings page is displayed.
9. Enter configuration information.
10. Click Save to create the new configuration template. The new configuration
template will be displayed in the configuration template table.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Note: You cannot automatically deploy network templates, and this extends to
the network plans that contain them.
If you enable automatic deploy, the template is appended to the end of the
automatic deploy sequence list for the relevant type. To re-order the list, go to
Actions > Automatic Deploy Sequence.
7. Click Continue. The Configuration Settings page is displayed.
8. Enter configuration information. You cannot change the values in the Template
type and Configuration to create a template fields.
9. Click Save. The new configuration template is created, and will be displayed in
the configuration template table.
Using the edit function, you can change the settings that the configuration
template defines, whether the template is automatically deployed, and so on. You
cannot change the target type of the configuration template. Changing the settings
on a template will not modify anything that has already been deployed to a
system. It will only affect anything that is deployed using the template after it has
been modified.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Note: You cannot use the Edit button to change the template-specific settings:
template name, description, or automatic deploy setting. To change
template-specific settings, follow these steps:
a. Click the name of the template in the Configuration Template table.
b. The template properties window opens. Click the Edit button at the bottom
of the page.
c. Change any settings as required in the Edit Properties window.
d. Click OK to accept your changes.
For a template that supports automatic deploy, if you enable that function, and
it was not already enabled, the template is appended to the automatic deploy
sequence list. If you disable that function and it was previously enabled, the
template is removed from the list. To re-order the list, go to Actions >
Automatic Deploy Sequence.
Note: You cannot automatically deploy network templates, and this extends to
the network plans that contain them.
5. Click Save. The changes will be applied to the configuration template.
Tip: You can select Actions > Properties to change other attributes of the
configuration template such as the name, description, and automatic deploy status.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Each configuration template has a target type. Each system has a set of resources.
When a configuration template is deployed to a system, the configuration template
is deployed only on those resources that are of the same type as the configuration
template.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
To view the list of devices and systems on which a configuration template has
been deployed on, complete the following steps:
1. From the Configuration manager summary page, click View Configuration
Templates. The Configuration Templates page is displayed.
2. Select a configuration template.
3. Click Actions > View Deployed Targets. A list of devices and systems on
which the configuration template has been deployed is displayed.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
If there is already a configuration template with the same name as the one you are
trying to import, a message is displayed and the configuration template is not
imported. For the import to succeed, rename the existing configuration template.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
If you delete a template that has automatic deploy enabled, it is removed from the
automatic deploy sequence list.
If you have not already done so, create configuration templates before creating a
configuration plan. You can also create configuration templates based on a target
resource when a list of these resources is displayed.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Deploy a configuration plan on one or more systems from the Configuration Plan
page, or by using the automatically deploy feature. Configuration plans can also be
deployed using automation manager with an event action plan.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
To import and XML file containing a configuration plan, complete the following
steps:
1. From the Configuration manager summary page, click View Configuration
Plans. The Configuration plans page is displayed.
2. Click Actions > Import.
3. Select the XML file to be imported from the local system.
4. Click Open.
5. The information in the file is verified to ensure that it contains a valid
configuration plan. If so, it is added to the configuration plans page.
If there is already a configuration plan with the same name as the one that you are
trying to import, a message is displayed and the configuration plan is not
imported. You are advised to rename the existing one in order for the import to
succeed.
The import of a configuration plan will not create the configuration templates
listed in the configuration plan file. The configuration plan import assumes that
the configuration templates listed in the plan are already present on the target
system. If a configuration template that is listed in the configuration plan file exists
in the database, it will be associated to the imported configuration plan.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Deleting a configuration plan does not delete the configuration templates that are
included in that configuration plan.
Before you can view the status of any resources, IBM Systems Director must first
discover and be able to access those resources. After a system has been discovered,
IBM Systems Director automatically monitors the system and its resources.
IBM Systems Director provides several tools and views to monitor and manage the
resources within your environment. Use the following System Status and Health
tasks to view the system's status:
Performance Summary
The Performance Summary task provides tools that enable you to select a
variety of monitors with which you can examine the servers, virtual
servers, or operating systems that you have discovered. Use this page to
dynamically view, monitor, and work with processor pools, memory pools,
networks, and other critical areas of your environment.
Health Summary
The Health Summary task displays several resource-monitoring tools on a
single page. Together, these tools provide a single, consolidated interface
with which you can quickly view the status of important areas of your
environment, monitor critical resources, and view the contents of
user-defined health summary groups.
Monitors
The Monitors task provides the tools that you need to retrieve real-time
status and quantitative data for specific properties and attributes of
resources in your environment. You can also set thresholds for the
monitors, graph the data that monitors retrieve, and drill down to quickly
view the status of resources for each system and the name of the monitor
so that you can view its properties.
Thresholds
The Thresholds task offers a consolidated view of all the thresholds that
you have created to monitor the dynamic properties of your resource. This
task saves you from searching for them all in the Monitors task.
Problems
The Problems task lists only those elevated status set entries that are
problem status set entries that have been reported to IBM Systems Director
Server. Note that the data listed here is a subset of what is listed on the
The status of an entire system reflects the status of the component on the system
that has the most severe status. For example, if a component within a system has a
status of critical, the entire system will have a status of critical, even if the critically
impacted component is not critical to the system.
The System Status and Health tasks simplify your work as a system administrator
by providing consolidated views of the health and status of your entire
environment. Specifically, the Health Summary task displays information about the
resources that IBM Systems Director has discovered. You can customize the content
that is displayed on the System Status and Health pages with information that is
specific to your business processes and organizational structure. In addition, you
can view detailed real-time data by adding monitors to the dashboard.
Use the System Status and Health tasks to perform the following functions:
v Determine the health and performance of resources in your environment.
v Identify the causes behind changes in the health of a resource.
v Display charts that indicate real-time usage data for resources.
v Set thresholds to quickly determine whether the resources are in an abnormal
state.
v Run tasks on resources in response to status changes or system management
needs.
v Take action to resolve issues for resources.
v Launch the event log viewer.
The approach you use to manage resources depends on how you prefer to view
them and what you are looking for when checking their statuses. Examples of
approaches that you can use for different situations are as follows:
v After connecting a new hardware device to your network, you might want to
check the status of the hardware. Rather than navigate to the Health Summary
Critical
Warning
Informational
OK
Click any of the category list items to see a breakdown of the systems in that
category.
v In the Status tasks area, the following links are provided:
Health summary
Use the Health Summary page to quickly view the status of
important areas of your environment, monitor critical resources, and
view the contents of user-defined health summary groups.
View problems
Use the Problems page to view the elevated status for categories that
are part of the problems composite category and ignore or delete the
entries. The problems composite category includes all categories,
such as hardware status and threshold status, except compliance.
View active and ignored status
Use the Active Status page to view all status set entries for resources
in your environment and ignore or delete the entries.
Groups by status
Use the Groups by status page to view a list of groups that represent
resources grouped by status.
Selecting the target resources and the monitor view populates the Performance
Summary table. The entry for each row is generated by your choice of target
resource. The monitor view that you choose determines the available columns.
The Performance Summary page displays multiple pages. Which pages display
depends on your IBM Systems Director installation. A base installation displays at
least a Processor page and a Memory page.
Using the Health Summary task to view the status of your environment
The Health Summary task displays several resource-monitoring tools on a single
page. Together, these tools provide a single, consolidated interface with which you
can quickly view the status of important areas of your environment, monitor
critical resources, and view the contents of user-defined health summary groups.
Before you can view the status of any resources, IBM Systems Director must first
discover and be able to access those resources.
IBM Systems Director provides multiple ways to check the status of a specific
resource in your environment. Use the Health Summary page to see a consolidated
view of the health and status of your system resources, storage resources, and
thresholds. These indicators help to identify areas within your environment that
might have problems or issues that you need to resolve. You can view the status of
several resources and quickly view details for those resources that are causing a
problem.
Note: You are not required to first collect inventory for a resource for it to be
displayed on the Health Summary page.
To view the status and health of your environment resources from the centralized
location of the Health Summary page, complete the following steps:
Scoreboard
The scoreboard displays a table in which each row represents an area or category
of information. Each element of the table, including column headers, row headers,
and cell data, is potentially clickable and displays specific data. Each column
header in the scoreboard identifies a severity status associated with the
corresponding categories. At the intersection of each row and column is a number
that represents the number of resources that adhere to the conditions of both the
row and the column that intersect. Each resource is counted only once, regardless
of the number of issues it has. Clicking the number displays the resources. Only
the systems to which you have access are displayed on the scoreboard. Before you
can view the status of any resources, IBM Systems Director must first discover and
be able to access those resources.
The scoreboard displays the status of important areas of your environment using
three severity levels; critical, warning, and informational. A system that reports
multiple severities is always grouped under the highest severity. For example, if a
system has both critical and warning events, it is shown under critical and is not
listed under warning. From the totals, icons, and category names in the scoreboard,
you can drill down to view various details about the systems that are reporting
system health and performance issues.
In order for IBM Systems Director to monitor the vital signs related to the health
and performance of a target system, the target system must have Common Agent
or Platform Agent installed on it. Agentless managed systems are also counted if
they are configured to report performance issues and if they have one of the
following protocols installed:
v Secure shell (ssh)
v Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), an extension of the Microsoft
Component Object Model (COM) to support objects distributed across a
network.
v Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
Examples of agentless-managed systems are management modules and Remote
Supervisor Adapters (RSAs).
By default, IBM Systems Director counts and displays the totals for the following
status categories:
Compliance
Identifies software-update and compliance-related status issues. The
compliance status category is populated only when a compliance policy is
re-validated due to a variety of different events.
Problems
Includes all types of issues including hardware, software, inventory, and
power-related status issues.
To display information in the dashboard, you must first set up and configure the
monitors to indicate the information that you want retrieved. By default, the
dashboard is initially empty. To add charts to the dashboard, you must use the
Monitors task to display existing monitors and target systems. From the Monitors
page, you can find the appropriate monitors and then add them to the dashboard.
You can add only one monitor to the dashboard for each graph. Additionally, you
can add only bar and line graphs for group monitor thumbnails in the dashboard.
Health summary
The Health Summary section of the Health Summary page displays selected
resources that you have chosen to watch closely. With this section, you can quickly
view and monitor the resources that are most important to you. You can perform
actions on a resource by using the Actions menu. You can also drill down to
display the properties and other details for each resource. To display information
in the health summary, you must first set up and configure the groups that you
want to display.
To view the health summary, expand System Status and Health in the IBM
Systems Director Web interface navigation pane and click Health Summary. The
scoreboard, dashboard, and health summary display the status and health of your
environment.
The Favorites group and the Systems with Problems group both appear in the
health summary by default. You can add or remove groups of resources from the
health summary. You can also create new health summary groups.
After you have discovered applicable resources, use the Health Summary Group
Editor wizard to add the most important or critical systems in your environment to
a health summary group. After a health summary group has been created, you can
add the group to the health summary.
The scoreboard counts and then displays only those systems that have been
discovered and are accessible, and have reached a critical, warning, or
informational level. Before you can view the status of any resources, IBM Systems
Director must first discover and be able to access those resources.
The scoreboard is a table that comprises columns, rows, and individual totals in
cells. You can drill down from the icons (column headers), category names (row
headers), or totals (in the cells) to view various details about the systems that are
reporting system health and performance issues.
Totals If you click a totals number in the scoreboard, you are presented with a list
of entries that contains the number of systems in the list equal to the
number on which you clicked. For example, if two systems in your
Note: If there are no resources with a particular status for a category, the
intersecting cell will display a hyphen (-) instead of a number.
Before you can display any graphical monitors on the dashboard, IBM Systems
Director must first discover the systems that you want to monitor. After you have
discovered the applicable systems, you can add them to a group. You can then add
individual monitors to the dashboard.
To configure the dashboard to display the monitors you want, complete the
following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand System
Status and Health and click Health Summary.
2. In the dashboard, click Show Monitors. The Monitors page is displayed.
3. To select one or more target resources, click Browse. The Context Chooser is
displayed.
4. Use the Context Chooser to add one or more resources or groups of resources
as a target:
a. To add a group, select the group that you want to add as a target. To add a
single resource, drill down from the group that includes the resource that
you want to add and select the resource.
b. Click Add.
c. Continue selecting groups or resources as needed.
d. When you are finished adding targets, click OK.
5. From the Monitor selection page, select the monitor view that you want to be
displayed for the targets that you selected.
6. Click Show Monitors. The Monitor View page listing monitors for the targets
that you selected is displayed.
7. Right-click the monitor that you want to be displayed on the dashboard and
select Add to dashboard.
After adding a monitor to the health summary, navigate to the Health Summary
page to verify that the monitor is displayed in the dashboard.
By default, the health summary displays the status of systems that belong to the
health summary favorites group and the Systems with Problems group. To add
additional systems to the health summary, choose one of the following methods:
v Add additional systems to the health summary favorites group.
v Add additional systems to another group and add that group to the health
summary using either the Navigate Resources task or the Actions menu in the
health summary.
Before you can add or remove a system from the health summary favorites group,
IBM Systems Director must discover that system.
By default, the health summary displays the status of systems that belong to the
health summary favorites group.
Note: The health summary also displays the Systems with Problems group by
default.
To add or remove systems in the health summary favorites group to be displayed
in the health summary, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand System
Status and Health and click Health Summary. The scoreboard, dashboard,
and health summary display the status and health of your environment.
2. In the health summary, right-click Favorites and select Edit. The Group Editor
Wizard opens and the Welcome page is displayed.
3. Click Next. The Name page is displayed and the Name and Description fields
are filled out for your favorites group.
4. Leave the Name and Description fields as they are and click Next. The Type
page is displayed. You cannot change any values on this page.
5. Click Next. The Define page is displayed.
6. To add systems to the group, select the systems or criteria in the list on the
left and click Add.
7. To remove systems from the group, select the systems or criteria in the list on
the right and click Remove.
8. Continue modifying resources or criteria as needed.
9. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
10. Click Finish.
To add a group to the health summary using the Actions menu on the health
summary, complete the following steps:
After adding a group to the health summary, navigate to the Health Summary
page to verify that the group is displayed. You can configure the columns that are
displayed in the health summary to make it easy to quickly identify the status of
the resources that you are monitoring. As a best practice, ensure that the columns
that are related to health and status are always displayed in the health summary.
To add a resource group to the health summary using the Navigate Resources task,
complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Navigate to the group that you want to add to the health summary.
Note: If the group that you want to add does not exist, create it.
3. From the Navigate Resources table, right-click the group that you want to add
to the Health Summary page and select Add to > Health Summary. The
Navigate Resources table is displayed.
Note: If you right-click a system instead of a group, you can add that system
to either the Favorites group or another group of your choosing. Adding the
system to the favorites group will automatically add it to the health summary.
After adding a group to the health summary, navigate to the Health Summary
page to verify that the group is displayed.
To remove a group from the health summary, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand System
Status and Health and click Health Summary. The scoreboard, dashboard, and
health summary display the status and health of your environment.
2. In the health summary, right-click the group that you want to remove and click
Remove. A confirmation message is displayed.
3. Click Remove. The group is removed.
Before you can view the status of any resources, IBM Systems Director must first
discover and be able to access those resources.
To view the status of a specific resource using the Navigate Resources task,
complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation pane, click Navigate
Resources.
Note: If you know the name of the resource that you want to view, use the
Find a Resource task to navigate to it even more quickly.
2. In the Groups column, click the type of resource that you want to find.
3. Click the name of the resource you want to view. The table displays the state,
problems, and compliance status of the resource.
All tasks for this scenario occur within the IBM Systems Director Web interface, so
the scenario assumes some familiarity with browsing the interface and using it to
perform tasks. Also, each of the following steps describes only one way to perform
the action, even if an alternative method exists.
For this scenario, the letter names for the disk drives to monitor are drive c, drive
d, and drive e.
To create a custom monitor view for disk drives and use it within an event
automation plan, perform the following steps:
1. Select the resources that you want to monitor:
a. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
b. Drill down to select the resources that you want to monitor, and select
them.
c. Click Actions > System Status and Health > Monitors. If System Status
and Health > Monitors is not a choice available to you, one or more of the
resources you selected are not eligible for monitoring. Make sure to select
only resources that can be monitored.
The Monitors task is displayed with the systems that you specified in step 1b
already selected.
2. Start creating a monitor view by clicking Actions > Create. The Create View
page is displayed.
3. On the Create View page, in the Name field, type a name for the monitor
group that you are creating.
4. From the Show list, select Selected Resources.
5. Select the monitors for the individual disk drives that you want to monitor:
a. In the Selected Resources table, select SystemName > Director Agent >
Disk Monitors, where SystemName is the name of the system that contains
disk drives that you want to monitor. Monitor information for the disk
drives is displayed.
b. In the Selected Resources table, select the monitors that you want to
include in this monitor group. For example, select Drive C: % Space Used,
Drive D: % Space Used, and Drive E: % Space Used.
c. After selecting the monitors, click Add to add them to the monitor group,
then click OK.
When triggered, the event automation plan reports the percentage of space used on
the disk drives, which it identifies by the associated letter names.
All tasks for this scenario occur within the IBM Systems Director Web interface, so
the scenario assumes some familiarity with browsing the interface and using it to
perform tasks. Also, each of the following steps describes only one way to perform
the action, even if an alternative method exists.
For this scenario, the letter names for the cluster drives to monitor are drive m and
drive n.
To create a custom monitor view for cluster drives and use it within an event
automation plan, perform the following steps:
1. Select the resources that you want to monitor:
a. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
b. Drill down to select the resources that have the cluster drives that you want
to monitor, and select them.
c. Click Actions > System Status and Health > Monitors. If System Status
and Health > Monitors is not a choice available to you, one or more of the
resources you selected are not eligible for monitoring. Make sure to select
only resources that can be monitored.
The Monitors task is displayed with the systems that you specified in step1b
already selected.
Note: If you want to monitor drives on more than one system, for each system
that contains drives that you want to monitor, repeat step 5a through step 5c.
The Monitors page is displayed, and the Monitor Views table includes the
monitor view that you created.
6. Click the name of the monitor view that you created. The Monitor View page is
displayed.
7. Activate thresholds for the monitors. For each monitor for which you want to
create a threshold, perform the following actions:
a. Right-click the name of the monitor, then select Activate Threshold. The
Threshold page is displayed.
b. On the Threshold page, specify the threshold values and options that you
want to use, then click OK.
Tip: In this scenario, the maximum threshold value must be a high value of
75% or more disk space used. The monitor reports only the percentage of
free space. To report when the disk has 75% or more disk space used, the
threshold must be set for a low value of 25% or less free disk space.
The Monitor View page is displayed, and the table shows that the new
thresholds are active.
8. Create an event filter to be activated by the thresholds that you created
previously:
a. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click
Automation > Event Filters. The Event Filters page is displayed.
b. Click Create to create the filter. The Create Event Filter wizard is displayed.
c. On the Welcome page, click Next. The Filter Name page is displayed.
d. On the Filter Name page, type the name you want to give this event filter,
then click Next. The Filter Type page is displayed.
e. On the Filter Type page, select a filter type of Threshold event filter, then
click Next. The Event Type page is displayed.
f. On the Event Type page, select an event type of Custom. This scenario
assumes that the event filter does not include IBM i message queue events.
Remember: To report a high value for the percentage of disk space used,
the threshold is set to report a low value for the percentage of disk space
free.
The selected event type is added to the Selected list.
i. After you add all the necessary thresholds, click Next.
j. On all subsequent pages (until the Summary page is displayed), accept the
default values or specify the values that you want to use, then click Next.
k. On the Summary page, review the settings for the event filter. Click Back if
you want to change any settings. When you are satisfied with the settings,
click Finish to create the event filter.
9. Create the event automation plan that uses the event filter you created in the
previous step:
a. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click
Automation > Event Automation Plans. The Event Automation Plans page
is displayed.
b. Click Create to create the event automation plan. The Create Event
Automation Plan wizard is displayed.
c. On the Welcome page, click Next. The Name and Description page is
displayed.
d. On the Name and Description page, type a name for the event automation
plan, then click Next. The Targets page is displayed.
e. On the Targets page, use the Show list and the Available table to select the
target systems that you want to be affected by the event automation plan.
For each target system that you select, click Add.
f. After you add all the targets, click Next. The Events page is displayed.
g. On the Events page, from the Events list, select Advanced Event Filters.
The Event Filters table is displayed.
h. From the Event Filters table, select the event filter that you created
previously, then click Next. The Event Actions page is displayed.
i. On the Event Actions page, select one or more event actions that you want
to occur when this event automation plan is triggered, then click Next. The
Time Range page is displayed.
j. On the Time Range page, specify the time range that determines when the
event automation plan is active, then click Next. The Summary page is
displayed.
k. On the Summary page, review the settings for the event automation plan.
Click Back if you want to change any settings. When you are satisfied with
the settings, click Finish to create the event automation plan.
When triggered, the event automation plan reports the percentage of free space on
the cluster drives. (In this case, the measurement desired is the percentage of space
used on the cluster drives, which you have to manually compute from the known
free space.) The data reported by the event automation plan identifies the cluster
drives by their associated letter names.
Monitors
Monitor views are groups of commonly supported monitors. Some monitors that
are included in a monitor view might be unavailable to you because the managed
resource does not support them. Several factors determine which monitors are
available to use. Determining factors might include the operating system, hardware
configuration, and software configuration of the managed resource. Creating a
custom monitor view might make available to you additional monitors not
included in the default monitor views.
Thresholds
A threshold is a high or low limit that you do not want the monitored system
resource to exceed. For both the high threshold and the low threshold, you have
the option of specifying a warning value and a critical value. For example, the
high threshold for a monitor that measures the percentage of used space on a disk
drive might have a warning value of 80 and a critical value of 90.
The next step in using monitors and thresholds is to combine them with one or
more event actions in an event action plan, making it possible to automate
troubleshooting and corrective responses to predetermined events. For more
information, see “Events, filters, and actions in event automation plans.”
Monitor views
Use the Monitors task to monitor critical system resources on your managed
systems. IBM Systems Director arranges available monitors in groups called
monitor views. Each view represents a list of the most commonly available
monitors in a category, for example, monitors that are supported by AIX. Use
existing monitor views or create your own views that contain the selections of
individual monitors that you find useful.
Note: The monitor views described in the following topics are only those views
that ship with Systems Director. Installing an advanced plug-in might install one or
more additional monitor views that are not described here. For more information,
see the documentation for that plug-in.
When you create a monitor view, the Create View page presents all the available
monitors in each category, not just the most common monitors. Creating your own
monitor view makes available additional monitors that are not in the commonly
used sets of monitors included in the default monitor views.
Polling intervals (or how often data collection is performed) for monitors depend
on the managed system or device. In general, using the default settings, data
collections occur every 5 - 10 seconds, and the display refreshes every 10 - 20
seconds. Polling intervals affect the minimum granularity and timeliness of any
thresholds applied to a monitor.
Note: To change the polling intervals for virtualization manager monitors, see
“Changing virtualization monitor polling intervals.”
Related tasks
“Changing virtualization monitor polling intervals” on page 255
The following table lists some of the most commonly available monitors from the
AIX Monitors view and the data that each monitor retrieves.
Note: Several factors determine the availability of the individual monitors listed in
the following table. Determining factors might include the operating system,
hardware configuration, or software configuration of the managed resource.
Depending on those factors, some monitors listed in the following table might be
unavailable to you, and some monitors that are not listed might be available.
When you create a monitor view, the Create View page presents all the available
monitors in each category, not just the most common monitors. Creating your own
monitor view makes available additional monitors that are not in the commonly
used sets of monitors included in the default monitor views.
For more information about available monitors, look at the information for the
specific view in which you are interested.
For example, when viewing a list of resources (not groups) on the Navigate
Resources page, click Actions > Columns to add columns to or remove columns
from the table. Some of the available columns to add or remove are monitors that
are included in the Column Management Monitors view.
The following table lists some of the most commonly available monitors from the
Common CIM Monitors view and the data that each monitor retrieves.
Note: Several factors determine the availability of the individual monitors listed in
the following table. Determining factors might include the operating system,
hardware configuration, or software configuration of the managed resource.
Depending on those factors, some monitors listed in the following table might be
unavailable to you, and some monitors that are not listed might be available.
Table 23. Monitors commonly available in the CIM Monitors view
Monitor name Data retrieved
CPU Utilization Rate at which the CPU is running
Disk % Space Available Percentage of available disk space
Disk Space Remaining (MB) Amount of remaining (available) disk space
(in megabytes)
The following table lists some of the most commonly available monitors from the
Common Monitors view and the data that each monitor retrieves.
Note: Several factors determine the availability of the individual monitors listed in
the following table. Determining factors might include the operating system,
hardware configuration, or software configuration of the managed resource.
Depending on those factors, some monitors listed in the following table might be
unavailable to you, and some monitors that are not listed might be available.
Table 24. Monitors commonly available in the Common Monitors view
Monitor name Data retrieved
Active Processors Number of available processors
CPU Utilization Rate at which the CPU is running
Disk 0 Workload Workload managed by disk 0
Disk % Space Used Percentage of space used on the disk
Disk Space Used (MB) Amount of space used on the disk (in
megabytes)
Locked Memory (MB) Amount of memory locked (in megabytes)
Memory Usage (MB) Memory being used (in megabytes)
Paging Space Remaining (MB) Amount of remaining paging space (in
megabytes)
Paging Space Reserved (MB) Amount of reserved paging space (in
megabytes)
Paging Space Total (MB) Total amount of paging space (in megabytes)
Paging Space Used (MB) Amount of used paging space (in
megabytes)
Time for Servicing Transfers in relation to The percentage of time that the physical disk
Active Time of /dev/hdisk0 (%) is busy servicing a transfer request
compared to the time the disk is active (the
time when transfer requests are outstanding)
Total Space of Filesystem / (MB) Amount of total disk space (in megabytes)
for the specified filesystem
Total Space of Filesystem /home (MB) Amount of total disk space (in megabytes)
for the specified filesystem
Total Space of Filesystem /opt (MB) Amount of total disk space (in megabytes)
for the specified filesystem
Total Space of Filesystem /tmp (MB) Amount of total disk space (in megabytes)
for the specified filesystem
Total Space of Filesystem /usr (MB) Amount of total disk space (in megabytes)
for the specified filesystem
Total Space of Filesystem /var (MB) Amount of total disk space (in megabytes)
for the specified filesystem
Used Space of Filesystem / (MB) Amount of disk space used (in megabytes)
for the specified filesystem
The SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) Monitors view contains only
one monitor: Network Bytes Transferred. The Network Bytes Transferred monitor
retrieves the total number of bytes (using SNMP) transmitted or received by the
resource.
The following table lists the monitors included in the VIOS Monitors view and the
data that each monitor retrieves.
Note: Several factors determine the availability of the individual monitors listed in
the following table. Determining factors might include the operating system,
hardware configuration, or software configuration of the managed resource.
Depending on those factors, some monitors listed in the following table might be
unavailable to you, and some monitors that are not listed might be available.
Table 25. Monitors commonly available in the VIOS Monitors view
Monitor name Data retrieved
Active Memory Sharing Enabled Whether memory sharing is enabled.
Possible values are:
v TRUE
v FALSE
Active Time of /dev/hdisk0 for processing The percentage of time that the physical disk
request (%) is active (bandwidth utilization for the
drive) or, in other words, the total time disk
requests are outstanding.
Note: To use virtualization monitors on an IBM Power system, you must first
enable utilization data collection on the managed system. Use the Hardware
Management Console (HMC) or the Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM) to
enable utilization data collection. For more information, see Setting the HMC to
collect resource utilization data for managed systems.
The following table lists the monitors included in the Virtualization Monitors view,
supported resources, and the pages in the IBM Systems Director Web interface
where you can display the monitors.
Table 26. Monitors included in the Virtualization Monitors view, including supported
resources
Monitor Supported resources Pages
CPU Utilization % v Host v Performance Summary -
v Virtual server Processor tab
v Processor pool1 v Virtual Servers and Hosts
v Monitors
Related tasks
“Viewing the performance summary” on page 226
Use parameters to set different polling intervals for one, several, or all the
virtualization platform services. For example, when you are monitoring a large
number of managed resources on a specific platform, you might want a longer
polling interval for that platform than for other platforms where you are
monitoring fewer managed resources.
The following table lists the parameters by name, describes the parameter, and
gives the default value.
Note: Consider the default value to be the minimal value. There is no maximum
value.
Table 27. Parameters for virtualization monitor polling intervals
Parameter name Description Default value (in
milliseconds)
DirectorPollingInterval The frequency at which the management 30000
server polls the platform services.1
PlatformPollingInterval The frequency at which the platform 30000
services poll a managed resource.2
PowerPlatformPollingInterval The frequency at which the Power Systems 60000
platform services poll a managed resource.3
PowerPlatformUtilizationPollingInterval The frequency at which thePower Systems 60000
platform services poll a managed resource
for utilization data.3
PowerPlatformAllocationPollingInterval The frequency at which the Power Systems 60000
platform services poll a managed resource
for allocation data.3
PowerPlatformPhysPortStatsCollectionInterval The amount of time between HEA physical 60000
port counter samples.3
ZvmPlatformPollingInterval The frequency at which the z/VM platform 120000
services poll a managed resource.3
VmwarePlatformPollingInterval The frequency at which the VMware 30000
platform services poll a managed resource.3
HypervPlatformPollingInterval The frequency at which HyperV platform 30000
services poll a managed resource.3
vsmmetric.properties
All polling interval values in the sample file are the default values, measured in
milliseconds. A number sign (#) at the beginning of a line means that the line is
commented out. All entries in the sample file are commented out. Remove the
number sign (#) for each entry that you want to use.
# This file contains properties that are used to control polling intervals for
# virtualization monitors. After making changes to this file, restart the Systems
# Director server for the changed value to take effect. When defined, more
# specific polling intervals are always honored and override the more common
# polling intervals.
# Represents the frequency at which the management server polls the platform
# services.
# DirectorPollingInterval=30000
# Represents the frequency at which the platform services poll a managed resource.
# PlatformPollingInterval=30000
# Represents the frequency at which the Power Systems(tm) platform services poll a
# managed resource.
# PowerPlatformPollingInterval=60000
# Represents the frequency at which the Power Systems(tm) platform services poll a
# managed resource for utilization data.
# PowerPlatformUtilizationPollingInterval=60000
# Represents the frequency at which the Power Systems(tm) platform services poll a
# managed resource for allocation data.
# PowerPlatformAllocationPollingInterval=60000
# Represents the amount of time between HEA physical port counter samples
# PowerPlatformPhysPortStatsCollectionInterval=60000
# Represents the frequency at which the z/VM(r) platform services poll a managed
# resource.
# ZvmPlatformPollingInterval=120000
# Represents the frequency at which the VMware platform services poll a managed
# resource.
# VmwarePlatformPollingInterval=30000
# Represents the frequency at which the HyperV platform services poll a managed
# resource.
# HypervPlatformPollingInterval=30000
Note: If the vsmmetric.properties file exists, open the file with a text editor,
then go to step 3.
2. Copy and paste the contents of the sample virtualization polling interval file.
3. If the parameter line that you want to modify begins with a number (#)
character, remove the number character. A number sign (#) at the beginning of
a line means that the line is commented out.
4. Type a new value in the place of the current value. All parameter definitions
use the following format: parameter_name=value. For example:
# This line is a comment. The following line is a parameter definition
DirectorPollingInterval=30000
For information about the parameters that you can use, see “Parameters for
virtualization monitor polling intervals.”
5. Modify other parameters as needed.
6. Save and close the file.
For the changed values to take effect, restart the IBM Systems Director server.
Related reference
“Monitor views” on page 242
Managing monitors
The Monitors task provides the tools that you need to retrieve real-time status and
quantitative data for specific properties and attributes of resources in your
environment. You can also set thresholds for the monitors, graph the data that
monitors retrieve, and drill down to quickly view the status of resources for each
system and the name of the monitor so that you can view its properties.
Note: For a list of items that you should consider while working with resource
monitors and event automation plans, see “Resource-monitor threshold settings
change unexpectedly”.
Related concepts
“Dashboard” on page 229
Related tasks
“Viewing the performance summary” on page 226
Related reference
“Monitors and thresholds” on page 241
Viewing a monitor
Use the Monitors task to view the monitors you have set for your resource.
Ensure that the resources on which you create the monitor views have the
appropriate level of agent running on them. Agent level requirements for creating
monitors are as follows:
v Common monitors are available only for systems running Common Agent or
IBM Director Agent version 5.20.
v Common CIM monitors are available for all Common Agent managed systems
(except for Linux on System x Common Agent managed systems), all Windows
Platform Agent managed systems, and Linux on System z Platform Agent
managed systems.
v No common monitors or common CIM monitors are available for Agentless
managed systems.
Note: Add is activated only when an item that can be monitored, such as CPU
Utilization, is selected. If you select any items that cannot be monitored, Add
remains deactivated.
8. Click OK.
The monitor view will no longer appear in the Monitors Views table.
Graphing a monitor
Use the Monitor View task to view graphical representations of the monitors on
your resource.
Managing thresholds
The Thresholds task offers a consolidated view of all the thresholds that you have
created to monitor the dynamic properties of your resource. This task saves you
from searching for them all in the Monitors task.
Related reference
“Monitors and thresholds” on page 241
Viewing a threshold
Use the Thresholds task to view thresholds that are set for the monitors on your
resources or use the Navigate Resources task to view thresholds for a specific
resource.
To view a threshold, complete the following steps that apply to the method that
you want to use:
1. View thresholds that are set for the monitors on your resources:
a. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand System
Status and Health > Thresholds. The Thresholds page with a table listing
applicable thresholds and information about each threshold is displayed.
b. View the properties for the threshold in the table or click the threshold to
view additional properties and details.
2. View thresholds for a specific resource:
a. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
b. Navigate to the resource for which you want to view the threshold.
c. From the Navigate Resources table, right-click the resource and select
System Status and Health > Thresholds. The Thresholds page is displayed.
Creating a threshold
You can create a threshold by activating a threshold on a specific monitor.
A monitor must have a threshold status of None before you can create a threshold
for it.
Tip: You can configure an event automation plan to send an e-mail notification
when a specified resource reaches a predefined threshold. When creating the event
automation plan, select a threshold common event and configure the event action
to send an e-mail to the appropriate recipient. For more information about
threshold common events, see “Selecting common categories of events for
filtering”.
The threshold status value in the Monitor View table will change from None to
Activated and the threshold settings will be displayed
Editing a threshold
Use the Thresholds task to edit thresholds that are set for the monitors on your
resource.
Activating a threshold
You can activate thresholds that have been previously deactivated.
A threshold must be in the deactivated (disabled) state before you can activate it.
The threshold status value in the thresholds table will change from deactivated to
activated.
Deactivating a threshold
You can deactivate thresholds that have been previously activated.
A threshold must be in the activated (enabled) state before you can deactivate it.
The threshold status value in the thresholds table will change from Activated to
Deactivated.
Deleting a threshold
You can delete thresholds that you no longer want associated with your monitors.
Status set entries that are reported by resources in your environment are tracked
by IBM Systems Director. You can use IBM Systems Director to quickly navigate to
and display these entries. You can also control the entries that are displayed and
collected by IBM Systems Director.
You can perform the following actions on status set entries that are tracked by IBM
Systems Director:
Delete Clears a status set entry. When a status set entry is deleted, the individual
status set entry is removed from IBM Systems Director tasks that might
display it; however, future occurrences of the entry are still tracked and
counted by IBM Systems Director.
Ignore Deactivates a status set entry. When a status set entry is deactivated for a
system or a specific entry type, the systems continues to generate that
entry and the entry still occurs. However, IBM Systems Director tracks its
status in only the event log. Future occurrences of the entry that occur for
the specified system are not displayed or counted by IBM Systems Director
unless you reactivate the status set entry.
Activate
Activates a status set entry that has been deactivated. When a status set
entry is activated, the individual status set entry and all future occurrences
of the entry are tracked and counted by IBM Systems Director.
You can view status set entries for only those resources to which you have access.
You can use the Ignore, Activate, and Delete actions to control the entries that are
displayed and collected.
You can view status set entries for only those resources to which you have access.
To view the status information for a specific resource, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. In the table view, drill down to the resource that you want to view within the
group that contains that resource.
3. Select the resource that you want to view.
4. Click Actions > System Status and Health > Active Status. The active status
set entries are listed for the resource.
Note: In a targeted launch scenario, only status that applies to the target is
displayed.
You can use the Ignore, Activate, and Delete actions to control the entries that are
displayed and collected.
You can view status set entries for only those resources to which you have access.
To view status set entries for a group of resources, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. In the table view, select one or more groups from the list.
3. Click Actions > System Status and Health > Active Status. The active status
set entries are listed for the resources that belong to the selected group.
Note: In a targeted launch scenario, only status that applies to the targets is
displayed.
You can use the Ignore, Activate, and Delete actions to control the entries that are
displayed and collected.
When status set entries are activated for a system or a specific entry type, IBM
Systems Director tracks them.
When a status set entry is deactivated for a system or a specific entry type, the
systems continue to generate that entry and the entry still occurs. However, IBM
Systems Director does not track its status. Future occurrences of the entry on the
specified system will not be displayed or counted.
You can display entries that have been deactivated and then reactivate them. You
can also delete individual entries to clear the specific occurrence of the entry but
not future occurrences.
When a status set entry is deleted, the individual status set entry is removed from
IBM Systems Director tasks that might display it; however, future occurrences of
the entry are still tracked and counted by IBM Systems Director.
An entry is deleted for only that instance. If the entry occurs again in the future,
IBM Systems Director will collect it.
Viewing events
Use the Event Log task to view events that are stored in the event log. The event
log includes all events that are received by the management server from any
resource to which you have authorization to view events.
You can view all events, events for a specific managed resource or group, or events
that are filtered using a specific criteria.
Note: The event log does not automatically refresh. To refresh the information in
the table, change the event filter or click Refresh.
Note: The number of events that are displayed is limited by the event-log
preferences settings. By default, the event log displays the last 500 events that
occurred over the last 24 hours. Use the Event Log Preferences page to change
the event log preferences.
You can use the Delete action to control the events that are displayed.
Deleting an event
You can delete individual events that you do not want IBM Systems Director to
display in the event log.
Note: Use the server preferences settings page to set the maximum number of
events that are stored in the management server log file.
3. When you are finished modifying the event log preferences, click OK.
When you create an event automation plan in the Event Automation Plan wizard,
on the Events page select Advanced Event Filters from the Events list. the Event
Filters table displays all available event filters, including the one created from the
event log.
The SNMP Systems table displays information about the SNMP resource,
including all the managed objects defined in the MIB module and the MIB itself.
You can inspect the objects or perform actions on them.
Note: To configure your SNMP devices, see “Accessing a secured system with
configure access”.
When IBM Systems Director Server starts, it loads a default set of compiled MIB
files that are commonly used. If you have updated the list of MIB files to load,
your most recent selections are loaded.
MIB data is stored in its own persistent-storage file, name.mibdata, where name is
the MIB definition name. These files are located in the install_root\data\snmp
directory. By deleting these files and loadedmibs.dat, you can remove all MIB data
in IBM Systems Director but retain other persistent-storage data.
A message displays that indicates whether the compilation was successful. The
message provides a link to view logs.
To view a list of the process monitors that exist on a managed system, complete
the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Navigate to the resource for which you want to view the process monitors.
3. Right-click the resource and select System Status and Health > Process
Monitors. The Process Monitors page, which lists all the process monitors
created for the selected resource, is displayed.
The new process monitor is displayed in the Process Monitors table on the Process
Monitors page.
To remove one or more process monitors from a managed resource, complete the
following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Navigate to the resource from which you want to remove one or more process
monitors.
3. Right-click the resource and select System Status and Health > Process
Monitors. The Process Monitors page, which lists all the process monitors
created for the selected resource, is displayed.
4. Select one or more process monitors that you want to remove.
5. Click Delete to remove the selected process monitors and any associated
thresholds. A confirmation dialog displays.
6. Click OK. The selected process monitors and any associated thresholds are
removed and no longer appear in the Process Monitors table.
Note: Because Systems Director stores the recordings in binary format, you must
use the smcli resource-monitor recording commands to work with the recordings.
lsresmonrec
Use the lsresmonrec command to list information about previously configured
resource-monitor recordings.
mkresmonrec
Use the mkresmonrec command to record resource-monitor values.
rmresmonrec
Use the rmresmonrec command to delete one or more resource-monitor recordings.
Important: If you are using predefined IBM Systems Director roles, you must have
SMAdministrator authority to use the automation tasks in the IBM Systems
Director Web interface.
IBM Systems Director provides the Event Automation Plan wizard as a quick and
simple way to create event automation plans that meet most systems-management
needs. Using the Event Automation Plan wizard, you can create plans that monitor
for the most typical situations in systems-management environments, including,
but not limited to, the following examples:
v Critical hardware events from all systems in your environment
v Processor (CPU) use in a specific group of systems, such as all servers running
Linux
v All Common Agent managed systems to determine whether Common Agent
goes offline
v The status of updates that are underway
v Disk space use in systems, such as those that store database data
Then, in response to the situations that you are monitoring, you can choose to send
a page or e-mail, or you can start a program on a system. For more information
about creating event automation plans and using the Event Automation Plan
wizard, see “Creating an event automation plan.”
The Event Automation Plan wizard also provides advanced event actions and
event filter options that you can use to create event automation plans that can
meet very specific needs in your systems-management environment.
When you create an event automation plan, you include a filter and one or more
actions. Finally, you apply the event automation plan to an individual system,
several systems, or a group of systems.
Events
An event is an occurrence of significance to a task or system, such as the
completion or failure of an operation. In a systems-management environment, IBM
Systems Director Server receives events from many sources.
These sources include, but are not limited to, the following programs and
protocols:
v Systems Director Program native events generated by the management server.
v IBM Systems Director native events generated by Common Agent. For more
information, see “Common Agent.”
v Common Information Model (CIM) indications from the Common Information
Model Object Manager (CIMOM) that is installed as part of Common Agent and
Platform Agent.
v Microsoft Windows event log.
v Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).
v SNMP traps through out-of-band communication, that is, communication that is
not through Common Agent or Platform Agent.
v Platform Event Traps (PET) through out-of-band communication with systems
that support Alert Standard Format (ASF) and Intelligent Platform Management
Interface (IPMI).
v Service processor notifications through out-of-band communication.
In IBM Systems Director, an event can be in one of the following categories: alert
and resolution. Typically, an alert is the occurrence of a problem relating to a
system. A resolution is the occurrence of a correction or solution to a problem.
Event filters
A filter specifies one or more events that you want your event automation plan to
process. The event automation plan ignores any event instances that do not meet
the specifications of the filter. Typically, you will use the common event filters that
are provided in the Event Automation Plan wizard. Occasionally there are
situations where you will want to create a sophisticated event filter. The event
filters described in this section are available for such implementations. Using these
filters, you can specify details for an event such that it covers very specific
problems and occurrences. To create filters quickly, default values are provided;
however, you can customize the settings.
You can use a filter to capture a single event or multiple events. When designing
an event filter, first determine whether the following criteria are met:
v Can all the target systems generate all the events that you want to filter?
If a system cannot generate the event that you want to filter, the filter will not be
effective on that system. In such instances, you can apply the event automation
plan to those systems, but it will have no effect. For example, if an event filter is
based on an event for BladeCenter products and that event automation plan is
applied to systems that do not include BladeCenter products, the event filter has
no events to filter, and therefore, no actions are performed. If you understand
this concept, you can create more complex event automation plans, and you can
reduce the number of event automation plans you must build and maintain.
v Can you use the same event actions for all targeted systems to respond to the
event?
v Are the other filter options besides the event type common for all targeted
systems? These settings include the number of times the filter is active, the
severity of the event, and other attributes.
In addition to selecting the event types to filter, you also can select from four types
of event filters: Simple, Duplication, Exclusion, and Threshold. Each filter offers
different options for processing the selected event types.
Related concepts
“Events” on page 276
“Event actions” on page 280
The default installation of IBM Systems Director and its default plug-ins publish
their events in the Event Type tree when one of the following software starts:
However, optional plug-ins might vary in whether the events are published when
one of these software starts. When the events are published depends on how the
optional plug-ins are implemented.
If you add a plug-in to your IBM Systems Director installation, the plug-in might
publish its events either when it is added to the installation or when the plug-in
sends its first event. If the plug-in publishes when it sends its first event, only that
event is published.
Note: Events from the Windows event log are displayed in the Windows event log
tree in the Event Type Filter Builder. Events from WMI are displayed in the
Common Information Model (CIM) tree.
In addition to any simple event filters that you create, IBM Systems Director
provides the following predefined, read-only simple event filters in the Event
Filters page.
Note: You cannot change predefined event filters; they are read-only. However,
you can copy a predefined filter and change the copy. For more information, see
“Copying an event filter.”
All events
Processes any events that occur on any system, except for
Windows-specific and IBM i-specific events.
Common Agent offline
Processes only those events that are generated by the Common Agent
when it goes offline
Critical events
Processes only those events that have a Critical severity.
Disk Use
Processes only those events that are generated when the currently available
hard disk space in a system changes with respect to availability.
Environmental sensor events
Processes only those events that are associated with the condition of a
system environment, such as voltage and temperature.
Fatal events
Processes only those events that have a Fatal severity.
Hardware Predictive Failure Analysis events
Processes only those events that are generated when a Predictive Failure
Analysis is detected for a hardware component.
Informational events
Processes only those events that have a Informational severity.
Memory use
Processes only those events that are generated when the currently available
memory in a system changes with respect to availability.
Minor events
Processes only those events that have a Minor severity.
Some of these predefined filters use the severity of events to determine which
events can pass through; other filters target a specific type of event. Using one of
these predefined event filters ensures that the correct event type or event severity
is selected.
Related tasks
“Copying an event filter” on page 321
“Viewing predefined filter criteria” on page 322
You can use this filter in two ways: with or without specifying the number of times
to ignore an event (Count).
To specify only a time range (Interval), the Count setting must be set to zero
(Count = 0). The first occurrence of an event that meets the filter criteria triggers
associated actions and starts a countdown of the interval. For example, if you
specify a 10-second interval, a 10-second timer starts when an event meets the
filtering criteria. Because Count is set to 0, all other instances of an event that
meets the criteria do not trigger associated actions during the interval.
If you also specify a number of times to ignore an event (Count), it applies within
the specified time range (Interval). After the first occurrence of an event that meets
the filtering criteria, the Count setting specifies the number of times an event must
meet the criteria again before associated actions are triggered.
For example, if you set Count to 9, an event meeting the criteria is allowed to
occur nine times within the interval. When an event meets the criteria for a tenth
time within the interval, the associated actions are triggered, the count is reset, and
the interval is reset.
For the duplication filter to trigger the associated event actions a second time, the
count must be exceeded within the reset interval. For example, if Count = 3 and
Interval = 5 minutes, the event action is invoked for the fourth occurrence of the
event that occurs within 5 minutes. Then, the count and interval are reset. A fourth
occurrence of the event must occur in a 5-minute interval again.
This filter type is useful when you want to create a filter based on a severity or a
category of events, but you want to exclude some specific event types. Instead of
creating event filters for each event that you want to include, you can specify the
event types that you want to exclude. By using exclusion event filters, it is easier
to remove events that you do not want to monitor.
For example, using this filter type you can monitor the Windows Security event
log events, but exclude security alerts 528, 551, and 552.
An event triggers associated actions if, within the specified interval, the event
occurs the number of times specified in the Count field.
For example, you can define a threshold filter to monitor frequently occurring
heartbeat events and forward the event to IBM Systems Director Server only when
the heartbeat event is received for the 100th time during a specified amount of
time. Count is set to 100 and Interval is set to 5 minutes. When the specified event
is received for the 100th time within 5 minutes, the event actions are invoked, and
the Count and Interval settings are reset. To invoke the event actions a second
time, the specified event must be received 100 times within an interval of 5
minutes again. If only 90 events are received within the 5 minutes, the Count and
Interval settings are reset.
Another example is to create a threshold filter such that, if a user attempts to log
on with a bad password five times within five minutes, the event automation plan
will trigger associated event actions.
Event actions
Event actions specify the action that IBM Systems Director takes in response to a
specific event or events. Using the Event Automation Plan wizard, you can easily
create an event automation plan that will send you an e-mail or pager notification
in response to an event. Additionally, the Event Automation Plan wizard provides
other advanced event actions that you can use in response to an event.
IBM Systems Director has several predefined types of event actions. With the
exception of “Add to the event log”, you must customize each action that you
want to use.
If you migrate an event action plan from IBM Director, version 5.20 or earlier, to
IBM Systems Director 6.1 or later, these actions will be removed from the event
automation plan. If the resulting event automation plan has no event actions
remaining, the plan will be in a deactivated state.
Related tasks
“Creating an event action” on page 308
“Editing an event action” on page 309
“Copying an event action” on page 309
“Deleting an event action” on page 310
“Saving and not saving an event-action history” on page 311
“Viewing an event-action history” on page 311
“Viewing event action properties” on page 314
Note: You cannot use this action to post a message to a secure news
server.
Result The specified message is posted to the newsgroup.
Example
This action can be useful as an additional logging mechanism outside of
IBM Systems Director. Use this event action when you want to send
information to a newsgroup after a specified event is generated. The
message might notify members of a technical support organization when a
critical server is having problems.
Note: If you want to include a text message in the page and your pager supports
alphanumeric pages, use the Send an alphanumeric page (using TAP) event action.
Note: This event action can send e-mail messages to Lotus Notes® IDs.
Requirements
If you are concerned about the availability of the internal mail server,
consider using an outside SMTP provider.
Result The specified e-mail address receives the e-mail message.
Example
Use this event action to send a message to administrators that need to
track the status of a group of servers.
Note: For out-of-bind events, the system that is the source of the
events has no MOID.
source_app
This token has a value of “IBM_DIRECTOR”, which means that the
source application is IBM Systems Director.
source_app_version
This token has a value that corresponds to the version of IBM
Director Server that is currently installed.
managed_object_type
This token has a value that corresponds to the type of managed
object (in this case, the component type) that is associated with the
type of source event. Some examples of managed objects:
v managed_object_type="BCChassis"
v managed_object_type="UPD"
v managed_object_type="Fan"
http_port
This token has a value of an HTTP port number, such as
http_port=8421.
https_port
This token has a value of an HTTP secure port number, such as
https_port=8422.
Note: Note: If the EIF probe is unavailable, the Tivoli Event Integration
Facility events are queued and delivered when the probe becomes
available.
Example
When IBM Systems Director Server receives an event, you can forward the
event to a Tivoli Business Service Manager (TBSM) by using the EIF probe.
The event action sends the event to the probe. Then, the probe forwards
lsevtacthist command
Note: You cannot test this event action before including it in an event
automation plan. The Test menu item under the template menu is not
supported by this action.
Note: You can create noninteractive tasks using the Command Automation
task.
Related tasks
“Testing an event action” on page 310
Note: You cannot test this event action before including it in an event
automation plan. The Test menu item under the template menu is not
supported by this action.
Tip: You can use event-data-substitution variables for the target group
name or the new group name. For example, you can dynamically set the
target group to the static group that contains the system that generated the
event. For more information, see “Event-data-substitution variables.”
Related concepts
“Event-data-substitution variables” on page 314
Tip: You can use event-data-substitution variables for the target group
name or the new group name. For example, you can dynamically set the
target group to the static group that contains the system that generated the
event. For more information, see “Event-data-substitution variables.”
Related concepts
“Event-data-substitution variables” on page 314
Note: In IBM Systems Director, versions 6.1.x and 6.2.x, when the
associated event is not received within the specified interval, the alarm
triggers the action only one time or generates only one event. This
behavior is different than in IBM Director 5.x, where the alarm continually
triggers the action during the specified interval until the event associated
with the action is received.
For example, you can monitor Common Agent to go offline on a system. If
Common Agent does not return online within a given amount of time, you
can power off that system.
Note: You also can stop the monitoring process by setting the timer value
to 0. This capability is useful if you want to stop the process without
deleting the event action or the event automation plan.
Note: You also can stop the monitoring process by setting the timer value
to 0. This capability is useful if you want to stop the process without
deleting the event action or the event automation plan.
Even though these events are generated by their respective operating systems (or
an optional layer that is installed on the operating system), IBM Systems Director
does not process these events unless you create an event automation plan to do so.
When you install IBM Systems Director, it has one predefined active event
automation plan: Log All Events. However, this event automation plan does not
log these Windows-specific or IBM i-specific events. You must create an event
automation plan with a simple-event filter that contains the event types for one or
more of these events. Then, you must apply this event automation plan to the
systems running Windows or IBM i.
When IBM Systems Director starts on a system running IBM i, the process is the
same with comparable code to twgescli.exe that is included in IBM Systems
Director for IBM i.
You also can reach the summary page by using Find a Task. For more information,
see “Finding a task.”
The event automation plan is saved and is displayed on the Event Automation
Plans page.
Related reference
mkevtautopln command
mkevtautopln command
To create and begin an event automation plan, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, expand Automation and click
Event Automation Plans.
2. On the Event Automation Plans page, click Create.
3. In the Event Automation Plan wizard, the Welcome page is displayed. Click
Next.
4. On the Name and description page, type a descriptive name for the event
automation plan that you are creating. Optionally, you also can type a
description of the plan. Click Next.
5. On the Targets page, select the systems that the event automation plan will
monitor for specific generated events. Select the systems in the Available list
and click Add > to move them to the Selected list. Click Next.
The types of events that you can select and the ways that you can filter events are
broadly divided between the following categories:
v Common event filters
v Advanced event filters
Common event filters are predefined simple filters that monitor for events of
common interest in systems management. For example, the Disks event filter is
triggered by any hard disk events and the Fans event filter is triggered by any fan
events. The Event Automation Plan wizard provides several common event filters
so you can create typically required event automation plans quickly and easily. For
more information about event filters, see “Event filters.”
If you want to monitor specific events that are not included in the common event
filters, then you must select advanced event filters. You also can create more
sophisticated event filters that are triggered when duplicates of an event are
received, when events occur a specific number times over a range of time, or when
a specific event is received but you want to exclude another event. For information
about specifying specific events, see “Selecting specific events for filtering.” For
more information about event filters, see “Event filters.”
You can select the events that you want to filter. When these events occur, your
event automation plan can respond with one or more customized event actions.
Common event filters are predefined simple filters that monitor for events of
common interest in systems management. For example, the Disks event filter is
triggered by any hard disk events and the Fans event filter is triggered by any fan
events. The Event Automation Plan wizard provides several common event filters
so you can create typically required event automation plans quickly and easily. For
more information about event filters, see “Event filters.” For more information
about advanced event filters, see “Selecting specific events for filtering.”
Complete the following steps to select common categories of events for filtering in
your event automation plan:
1. On the Events page, select Common from the Events list.
2. In the Event types list, select the categories of common events that you want to
monitor. You can select more than one category of events; however, you must
provide information for some of the categories. Provide this information before
you select another category of events. The following list describes the categories
of common events that you can select as well as the information each set
requires.
General
The error severity criterion is associated with events in general.
Table 29. Categories of events for IBM Systems Director and event severity
Categories of
events Available settings
Event severity You can filter events by their severity. Select one or more of the following
criteria to create this filter:
v Fatal
v Critical
v Minor
v Warning
v Informational
v Unknown
Hardware
These categories of events are generated by the following hardware and
hardware components: processors (CPUs), disks, fans, memory, network
and switches, power supplies, security, servers, RAID or storage arrays,
and blade servers. None of these categories provide additional settings.
Thresholds
These events are generated by the monitors for microprocessor use,
memory use, and disk use. When you select one of these categories of
events, you must set the threshold values for the monitors. Then, a
threshold monitor is automatically created on the specified systems for
you. For more information, see “Managing monitors” and “Managing
thresholds.” The available monitors can vary depending on the selected
target systems. Different target systems might support different
monitors. If you selected multiple target systems, the monitors that are
displayed for selection are those that are supported by at least one of
the selected target systems.
Table 30. Categories of monitor events and available threshold settings
Categories of
events Available threshold settings
CPU utilization If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
check box. Then, select the percentage of processor use for the threshold.
When processor use is equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the
monitor generates a Processor Use event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the percentage of processor use for the threshold.
When processor use is equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the
monitor generates a Processor Use event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the amount of memory, in MB, to monitor for the
threshold. When the memory use is equal to or greater than the
threshold settings, the monitor generates a Memory Use event with a
warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Disk % space If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
used check box. Then, select the percentage of disk capacity for the threshold.
When the used disk capacity is equal to or greater than the threshold
setting, the monitor generates a Disk Use event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the percentage of disk capacity for the threshold.
When the used disk capacity is equal to or greater than the threshold
setting, the monitor generates a Disk Use event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the temperature, in degrees Celsius, to monitor
for the threshold. When the temperature is equal to or greater than the
threshold settings, the monitor generates an Ambient Temperature event
with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the temperature, in degrees Celsius, to monitor
for the threshold. When the temperature is equal to or greater than the
threshold settings, the monitor generates an Ambient Temperature
(externally metered) event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Current If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
check box. Then, select the amperage capacity to monitor for the
threshold. When the current is equal to or greater than the threshold
settings, the monitor generates a Current event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the amperage capacity to monitor for the
threshold. When the current is equal to or greater than the threshold
settings, the monitor generates a Current event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Amperage If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
Capacity check box. Then, select the amperage capacity to monitor for the
threshold. When the amperage capacity is equal to or greater than the
threshold settings, the monitor generates an Amperage Capacity event
with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the amperage capacity to monitor for the
threshold. When the amperage capacity is equal to or greater than the
threshold settings, the monitor generates an Amperage Capacity event
with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Average Input If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
Power check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Input Power event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Input Power event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Average Input If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
Power (AC) check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Input Power (AC) event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Input Power (AC) event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Input Power (DC) event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Average Input If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
Power check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
(externally equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
metered) Average Input Power (externally metered) event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Input Power (externally metered) event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Average Output If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
Power check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Output Power event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Output Power event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Average Output If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
Power (AC) check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Output Power (AC) event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Output Power (AC) event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Average Output If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
Power (DC) check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Output Power (DC) event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the watts for the threshold. When the watts are
equal to or greater than the threshold setting, the monitor generates an
Average Output Power (DC) event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the speed of effective processor use for the
threshold. When the effective processor use is equal to or greater than
the threshold setting, the monitor generates an Effective CPU Speed
event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Exhaust If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
Temperature check box. Then, select the temperature, in degrees Celsius, to monitor
for the threshold. When the temperature is equal to or greater than the
threshold settings, the monitor generates an Exhaust Temperature event
with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the temperature, in degrees Celsius, to monitor
for the threshold. When the temperature is equal to or greater than the
threshold settings, the monitor generates an Exhaust Temperature event
with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Humidity If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
check box. Then, select the percentage of humidity to monitor for the
threshold. When the humidity is equal to or greater than the threshold
settings, the monitor generates a Humidity (percentage) event with a
critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the percentage of humidity to monitor for the
threshold. When the humidity is equal to or greater than the threshold
settings, the monitor generates a Humidity (percentage) event with a
warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
Humidity If you want the monitor to generate a critical event, select the Critical
(externally check box. Then, select the percentage of humidity to monitor for the
metered) threshold. When the humidity is equal to or greater than the threshold
settings, the monitor generates a Humidity (externally metered)
(percentage) event with a critical severity.
If you want the monitor to generate a warning event, select the Warning
check box. Then, select the percentage of humidity to monitor for the
threshold. When the humidity is equal to or greater than the threshold
settings, the monitor generates a Humidity (externally metered)
(percentage) event with a warning severity.
Note: You can set a threshold for both critical and warning events.
3. When you are satisfied with the specified event filters, click Next.
You can select the events that you want to filter. When these events occur, your
event automation plan can respond with one or more customized event actions. If
you want to monitor specific events that are not included in the common event
filters, then you must select advanced event filters. You also can create more
sophisticated event filters that are triggered when duplicates of an event are
received, when events occur a specific number times over a range of time, or when
a specific event is received but you want to exclude another event. For information
about event filter types, see “Event filters.” For information about quickly creating
common event filters, see “Selecting common categories of events for filtering.”
To select specific events for filtering in your event automation plan, complete the
following steps:
1. On the Events page, select Advanced event filters from the Events list.
2. Select an event filter or create a new one.
v If you want to use an existing event filter, select the filter, then click Next.
v If you want to use an existing event filter after you edit it, select the filter,
then click Edit.
v If you want to use a new filter that is based on an existing filter, select the
filter you want to modify, then click Create Like.
v If you want to use a new filter that you create, click Create.
3. Use an Event Filter wizard to create or edit the event filter. For more
information about using the Event Filter wizard to create or edit an event filter,
see “Creating an event filter”. After you finish using the Event Filter wizard to
save the new or modified event filter, the filter is displayed on the Advanced
Event Filters page.
4. Select the filter that you created or edited, then click Next.
Events Reference
In most event automation plans, you use one or more of the following common
event actions:
v Send an alphanumeric page (using TAP)
v Send an e-mail (Internet SMTP)
v Send an e-mail to a mobile phone
v Start a program on a system
v Start a program on the management server
v Start a program on the system that generated the event
If you want to run more complex actions, then you must select an advanced event
action. For information about event action types, see “Event actions.”
Complete the following steps to specify the time range for the event automation
plan activation:
1. On the Time range page, choose the period of time over which you want to
collect the events. You can select All day (24 x 7) to enable the plan to be active
all the time. Or you can select Custom to choose specific days for the plan to
be active.
2. If you selected All day (24 x 7), go to step 6. Otherwise, in the Days list, select
the day for which you want to set the start and end times of the time range.
3. Select the All day check box if you want the 24 hours of the selected week day
monitored. However, if you want to monitor less than the 24 hours of the
selected week day, select the start time of the time range from the Start time
list and the end time of the time range from the End time list.
4. Click Add. The day and time range that you specified is added to the event
automation plan and is displayed at the bottom of the Time range page.
5. If you want to specify additional time ranges, repeat steps 2 through 4 for each
time range that you want to specify. If you want to remove one of the time
ranges you specified, select that range and click Remove.
6. When you are satisfied with the specified time ranges, click Next.
7. On the Summary page, verify the details of the event automation plan. If you
need to make changes, click < Back.
8. When you are done editing the event automation plan, click Finish.
The event automation plan is saved and is displayed on the Event Automation
Plans page.
To deactivate and then activate an event automation plan, complete the following
steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, expand Automation and click
Event Automation Plans.
Chapter 6. Automating tasks 305
2. On the Event Automation Plans page, select the event automation plan that you
want to deactivate.
Note: You can deactivate more than one event automation plan at a time.
3. Click Actions > Deactivate. The event automation plan is deactivated. On the
Event Automation Plans page in the Status column, the state is changed from
Active to Inactive. A message is displayed on the page stating that the event
automation plan was deactivated successfully.
4. When you want to activate the event automation plan, select the plan and click
Actions > Activate. The event automation plan is activated. On the Event
Automation Plans page in the Status column, the state is changed from Inactive
to Active. A message is displayed on the page stating that the event automation
plan was activated successfully.
Related reference
evtautopln command
Note: You can delete more than one event automation plan at a time.
3. Click Delete.
4. In the confirmation window, click Delete.
The event automation plan is deleted and is no longer displayed on the Event
Automation Plans page. A message is displayed on the page stating that the event
automation plan was deleted successfully.
Related reference
rmevtautopln command
chevtautopln command
evtautopln command
Suspending all event automation plans can be useful when you want to
temporarily turn off all event actions associated with the event automation plans.
For example, if you have automation plans that notify you when a server
encounters various problems, you can suspend all event automation plans while
you work on the server. After you resolve the problem, you can resume all event
automation plans for the server.
To suspend and then resume event automation plans, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Navigate to the group that contains the resource for which you want to
suspend all the event automation plans.
3. Right-click the resource, then select Automation > Suspend Event Actions.
After you suspend event actions, no event triggers any event automation plan
for the selected resource, except the Log All Events plan. In the Suspended
Action Plans column for the specified resource, the state changes from False to
True.
Note: For more information about adding the Suspended Action Plans column
to the table, see “Setting table-column preferences”.
4. When you want to resume having event actions on the resource trigger event
automation plans, right-click the resource, then select Automation > Resume
Event Actions. After you resume event actions, event actions for the resource
again trigger event automation plans. In the Suspended Action Plans column,
the state changes from True to False.
Related tasks
“Setting table-column preferences” on page 98
Note: The Actions button does not provide any event-filter specific actions
because there are none available on the Properties page.
Related reference
lsevtautopln command
The event action is saved and is displayed on the Event Actions page.
Related concepts
“Event actions” on page 280
Related reference
mkevtactemail command
mkevtactstpgm command
mkevtactsttask command
The event action is saved and is displayed on the Event Actions page.
mkevtactemail command
mkevtactstpgm command
mkevtactsttask command
The following event actions cannot be tested because critical information is not
available until a system generates the event and triggers an event automation plan:
v Start a program on the system that generated the event
v Start a task on the system that generated the event
v Update the status of the system that generated the event
To make sure that an event action can be tested, select the event action and click
Actions > Properties. The Properties page for the event action states whether the
event action can be tested.
testevtact command
The event action is deleted and is no longer displayed on the Event Actions page.
A message is displayed on the page stating that the event action was deleted
successfully.
Related reference
rmevtact command
Saving the history of an event action can provide useful information. For example,
an event automation plan can include an event action that reduces disk-space used
by running a program to remove temporary files. When you start saving the
history for this event-action, the following information is recorded:
v The date and time when the event action ran and, later, when the cleanup
program ran
v Whether the program ran successfully
v The event that triggered the event filter.
To start and then stop saving the history of an event action, complete the following
steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, expand Automation and click
Event Actions.
2. On the Event Actions page, select the event action with the history that you
want to start saving.
Note: You can start saving the history for more than one event action at a time.
3. Click Actions > Start Saving History. The history of the event action is now set
to be saved. On the Event Actions page in the History column, the value is
changed from Not saved to Saved. A message is displayed on the page stating
that saving of the event-action history was started successfully.
4. When you want to stop saving the history for an event action, select the event
action and click Actions > Stop Saving History. The history of the event action
is set to no longer be saved. On the Event Actions page in the History column,
the value is changed from Saved to Not saved. A message is displayed on the
page stating that saving the event-action history was stopped successfully.
Related reference
evtacthist command
Saving the history of an event action can provide useful information. For example,
an event automation plan can include an event action that reduces disk-space used
by running a program to remove temporary files. When you start saving the
history for this event-action, the following information is recorded:
v The date and time when the event action ran and, later, when the cleanup
program ran
v Whether the program ran successfully
v The event that triggered the event filter.
To view the history for an event action, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, expand Automation and click
Event Actions.
2. On the Event Actions page, select the event action for which you want to view
the history.
3. Click Actions > Properties.
4. On the Properties page, click the History tab to view the event-action history.
Each log entry in the history provides the following information about each
time the event action was used:
Date The date and time on which the event was generated.
Launch Status
Event action launch status, which indicates whether the action was
launched successfully. Possible values are successful and failed.
Completion Date
The date and time when the event action completed.
Completion Status
Event action completion status, which indicates whether the action ran
successfully. Possible values are successful, failed, and not performed.
The Not Performed status is specific to three event actions: Modify an
event and send it, Start a program on a system, and Start a task on a
specified system. If you do not configure any modifications to make to
an incoming event, the event is not sent again and the event action
status is considered not performed. For the latter two events, if the
specified system cannot be found when the event action is invoked,
then the action cannot be performed.
Managed Resource
Target system on which the event occurred.
Event Type
The type of event that was generated. The event types are categorized
by hardware, device, or software.
Category
The mode of the event. Possible categories are:
Alert A problem occurred.
Resolution
A problem was resolved and is no longer a problem.
lsevtacthist command
The log entry is deleted and is no longer displayed on the History page. A
message is displayed on the page stating that the log entry was deleted
successfully.
Note: The Actions button does not provide any event-action specific actions
because there are none available on the Properties page.
Related reference
lsevtact command
Event-data-substitution variables
For some types of actions, you can include event-specific information as part of the
message text. Including event information is referred to as event-data substitution.
You can use event-data-substitution variables to customize the message text sent
by an action.
The following examples show how you can use event-data-substitution variables in
the message text associated with a customized event action:
v &severity - &text on &system
v Event &text received from &system at &time on &date
Tip: When you use event-data-substitution variables, do not use punctuation after
the variable, for example:
Event received from &system.
Example: 7/23/2007
&time The localized time at which the event occurred.
Example: Informational
&system
The IP address or host name of the system on which the event was
generated. The system name is either the name of the system running
Common Agent or, in the case of an SNMP device, the TCP/IP address.
Example: moonlite
&sender
The name of the system that sent the event. This can be different from the
&system value if the event was forwarded or transmitted through an
intermediate system. This variable returns a null value if the name is
unavailable.
Example: moonlite
&group
The group to which the target system belongs and that is monitoring the
system. This variable returns a null value if the group is unavailable.
Example: TestHardwareGroup
&category
The category of the event, either Alert or Resolution. For example, if the
system goes offline, the category is Alert. If the system goes online, the
category is Resolution.
Example: Alert
&pgmtype
The fully qualified representation of the event type using internal type
strings (ComponentCategory.ComponentType).
Example: 1185219178228
&rawsev
The nonlocalized string of event severity. Non-localized string of the event
severity.
Example: 1883481972341237
&snduid
The unique ID of the event sender.
Example: 7F153619BA2D7861
&sysuid
The unique ID of the system that is associated with the event.
Example: 4309132478791324
&prop:file_name#property_name
The value of the property string property_name from property file file_name.
file_name can include the absolute directory path or the relative path to the
IBM\Director\classes directory.
Note: For IBM i, you must use the absolute directory path.
The properties file contains key=value pairs. property_name is the name of a
key in the properties file. The value of the specified property is returned.
The value can be any string, depending on the purpose and contents of the
properties file.
Examples:
&prop:logging.properties#SystemErr.level = INFO
&prop:encoding.properties#zh = UTF-8
&prop:security.properties#enableAuthentication = TRUE
&sysvar:variable_name
The string value of a variable, variable_name, previously set in the IBM
Systems Director sysvar file. Variables can be set in this file using the Set
an event system variable event action. The variable name and value can
be any string. This variable returns null if a value is unavailable. For
information about the event action, see “Set an event system variable.”
&sysvar:DEBUG_SETTING = DEBUG_ON
&sysvar:IP = 9.3.44.150
&slotid:slot_id
The nonlocalized ID slot_id is the identifier of event details contained
within the event. An event might include any number of event details. This
substitution variable is used to retrieve those details. The user must know
the identifier of the event detail that they want. The value can be any
string as defined by the component that generates the event.
You create event filters so that you can use them in your automation plans. As you
create or edit event filters, you specify the types of events and event characteristics
that you want to include in the filter. The filter is triggered when those included
events are encountered during the processing of an automation plan.
To create an event filter, edit an existing filter, or create a filter that is based on an
existing filter, complete the following steps:
Note: The Event Filter wizard determines which panels to display based on your
choices. Different panels display depending on the type of events and event
characteristics that you choose to include.
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, expand Automation and click
Event Filters.
2. Perform only one of the following actions.
v If you want to create an event filter, click Create.
v If you want to edit an existing event filter, select the filter you want to edit,
then click Edit.
v If you want to create an event filter that is like an existing filter, select the
existing filter, then click Create Like.
3. On the Welcome page, click Next.
4. On the Filter Name page, type a name and description for the event filter,
then click Next. Although it is not required, a description does help you sort
and manage your event filters.
5. On the Filter Type page, select the type of filter that you want to create, then
click Next. For more information about the different filter types, see “Event
Filters”.
6. On the Event Type page, complete one of the following actions to select the
type of event that you want to include, then click Next.
v Select Default to include events of all types, except for Windows-specific
events. Optionally, you can include IBM i message queue events.
v Select Common to include the most common systems-management event
types, except for Windows-specific events. Optionally, you can include IBM
i message queue events. Click the name of an event type to see a
description and any additional settings. If an entry has additional settings,
make sure to select the event type and each setting that you want to
include.
v Select Custom to specify event types by category, type, and value.
Optionally, you can include IBM i message queue events. The Available
table is a hierarchical list of event types. Click an entry in the table or the
breadcrumbs above the table to navigate within the hierarchy. Select an
where
v library is the library for the event monitor
v message_queue is the message queue for the event monitor
v messageID (optional) is the ID of the event monitor
The IBM i.Message Queue field automatically provides the common
message queue event prefix, which is OS/400.msgq. You type only the
unique portion of the message queue event. Consider the following
examples that assume the library is QSYS and the message queue is
QSYSOPR:
v To specify all message IDs, type QSYS/QSYSOPR
v To specify a message ID of CPF1234, type QSYS/QSYSOPR.CPF1234
v To specify any message ID that starts with the characters CPF, type
QSYS/QSYSOPR. Then, on the Event Text page, specify that you want to
look for the characters CPF. For more information on the Event Text
page, see step 12 on page 320
b. Click Add to add the message to the list of Selected IBM i event types.
c. When you are finished adding messages, click Next.
8. If the Excluded Event Type page appears, specify the event types that you
want to exclude, then click Next. Otherwise, go to the next step. Excluded
events do not trigger the filter. You specify the event types to exclude in the
same way that you specified the event types to include in step 6 on page 318
Optionally, you can exclude IBM i message queue events. To exclude available
Windows-specific events, select Custom.
9. If the Excluded IBM i Event Type page appears, specify the IBM i messages
that you want to exclude. Otherwise, go to the next step. Excluded events do
not trigger the filter. You specify the messages to exclude in the same way that
you specified the messages to include in step 7
10. On the Severity and Category page, specify the severities and categories that
you want to include, then click Next. Select Default to include events of all
severities and categories. Select Custom to specify one or more severities and
categories.
11. On the Event Sender page, you can add any specific event senders that you
want to include in the filter. The filter is triggered when a specified sender
generates an event that you included in the filter. Choosing Default includes
events sent from any managed resource.
a. Select a sender from the Systems list, then click Add to add it to the
Selected senders list.
b. To add a sender that does not appear in the Systems list, type the name of
the sender in the Additional sender field, then click Add.
c. When you are finished adding senders, click Next.
The event filter is saved and is displayed on the Event Filters page.
Events Reference
Note: IBM Systems Director includes some predefined event filters that you
cannot edit. You can create an event filter that is like a predefined filter by
using Create Like, but you cannot directly edit it.
3. Click Edit. The Edit Event Filter wizard is displayed.
4. Use the Edit Event Filter wizard to edit the event filter. The Edit Event Filter
wizard uses the same panels as the Create Event Filter wizard. For more
information about using an Event Filter wizard to create or edit an event filter,
see “Creating an event filter”. After you finish using the Edit Event Filter
wizard to save the event filter, it is displayed on the Advanced Event Filters
page.
The edited event filter is saved and displayed on the Event Filters page.
Related concepts
“Events that are available for filtering” on page 277
“Simple event filter” on page 278
“Duplication event filter” on page 279
“Exclusion event filter” on page 280
“Threshold event filter” on page 280
Related tasks
“Selecting specific events for filtering” on page 303
“Viewing the automation manager summary” on page 293
The new filter that is based on a preexisting filter is saved and displayed on the
Event Filters page.
Related concepts
“Events that are available for filtering” on page 277
“Simple event filter” on page 278
“Duplication event filter” on page 279
“Exclusion event filter” on page 280
“Threshold event filter” on page 280
Related tasks
“Selecting specific events for filtering” on page 303
“Viewing the automation manager summary” on page 293
Note: The Actions button does not provide any event-filter specific actions
because there are none available on the Properties page.
Related tasks
“Viewing the automation manager summary” on page 293
Related reference
lsevtfltr command
If you want to see what event filter criteria are included in a predefined event
filter, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, expand Automation and click
Event Filters.
2. On the Event Filters page, select the predefined filter that you want to view.
3. Click Actions > Properties.
Related concepts
“Simple event filter” on page 278
Note: You can select to delete more than one event filter at a time.
3. Click Delete.
4. In the confirmation window, click Delete.
The event filter is deleted and is no longer displayed in the Event Filters page. A
message is displayed on the page stating that the filter was deleted successfully.
Related tasks
“Viewing the automation manager summary” on page 293
Related reference
rmevtfltr command
Using CLI commands to export and import event automation plans, event filters,
and event actions makes it easier and faster to use multiple instances of your
plans, filters, and events. For example, you can export a set of event filters then
import them to other systems. Or, after exporting some event automation plans to
a development environment, you can modify and test them safely, then import
them to the systems in your production environment.
Use any XML editor to create or edit an XML file. Importing the XML file creates
the event automation plan, event filter, or event action, but does not update or
replace any existing plan, filter, or action. The import process checks and compares
the event automation plans, event filters, and event actions that you are importing
with the plans, filters, and events that reside on the management server. The
import process then reports any errors and conflicts.
Note:
v Command automation is supported only on systems on which Common Agent
is installed.
v Remember that anything a system-account user can do from a command line
can be done to the system, regardless of the user who is logged in to the
managed system.
The command runs within the Qshell environment and enables you to
access the IBM i system commands.
v For managed systems running Windows, preface the command with the
following string to ensure that it runs in a Windows command-shell
window:
cmd /c
c. In the Timeout field, type a timeout value, in seconds. The timeout value
specifies the number of seconds to wait for the command either to return a
completion code or time out. Make sure that the timeout value is long
enough.
d. Select the Log check box if you want to log any output produced by the
command, for example, a directory listing.
e. Either accept the default user ID (or the existing user ID if you clicked Edit
or Create Like) or type a new user ID that has the required authority to
perform the command. If you want to run the process using an alternative
user account and override the default user ID, you can specify a user ID
and password in the Login group box.
Note: You either must specify an alternative user ID or remove the default user
ID from the registered function and add a new default user ID that has the
required authority to perform the command.
4. Click OK to save the command definition.
Note:
v Command automation is supported only on systems on which Common Agent
is installed.
v Using the Command Automation task to start interactive programs, for example
notepad.exe, is not supported.
Update manager enables you to monitor your systems for needed updates by
automatically checking for available product updates and identifying which
systems need attention. It also provides you with the ability to schedule the
installation of updates at convenient times for your network and users.
Update manager compares information about updates loaded into it with system
inventories to determine whether updates are needed. To populate update manager
with available updates, you can use either of the following functions:
v Check for updates: If an Internet connection is available, the check for updates
task automatically contacts the update repository and downloads information
about the latest available updates into update manager.
v Import updates: If no Internet connection is available, you can manually
download supported updates from www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/ and then
import them into update manager.
After updates are loaded into update manager, it compares the update information
to collected system inventories to determine whether your systems are current.
Update manager enables you to examine recently acquired updates and install any
needed updates.
To keep your systems up to date, update manager needs current information about
available updates. You can use either of the following methods, depending on your
Internet connection status, to refresh the update information:
v If an Internet connection is available, schedule a frequent, recurring Check for
updates task to automatically download update information.
v If no Internet connection is available, regularly monitor www.ibm.com/support/
fixcentral/ and import updates that your systems might need into update
manager.
As a best practice, plan to update to the latest update or patch for your release of
IBM Systems Director at least twice a year. Maintaining this schedule will help to
eliminate unnecessary exposure to problems that are already resolved in more
current updates and patches. Staying farther back on maintenance can also inhibit
the ability of your service representative to provide a formal fix without first
requiring the application of a more current update or patch.
Installing agents
Update commands
Notes:
– If a system is not accessible, the update menu actions are not displayed for it.
You cannot select a system that is not accessible in any of the system selection
actions, for example on the System page in the Installation wizard, on the
Installation staging wizard, and so on.
– If you want to monitor update management and compliance status on any
systems that are not accessible, you must first run inventory collection on
them. Most update manager methods cannot determine the applicability of
updates to a system unless inventory was previously collected on the system.
v Update another, different instance of IBM Systems Director Server.
Note: No Common Agent is required in this case because Secure Shell (SSH)
performs the update.
– Power Systems target systems managed by Integrated Virtualization Manager
and running Virtual I/O Server version 1.5.2.1-FP11.1 or later
Note: No Common Agent is required in this case because SSH performs the
update.
v Migration, fix packs, service packs, and interim fixes for Virtual I/O Server
version 1.5.2.1-FP11.1 or later
v Device driver and firmware updates, or UpdateXpress System Pack updates, for
System x servers running Linux or Windows
Notes:
– Support is provided for servers running all agent levels, including IBM
Director V5.2 agents and Agentless managed system.
– Support is provided for the application of System x device driver and
firmware updates to IBM Director 5.20 systems. This support includes IBM
Director 5.20 Common Agent managed system, Platform Agent managed
system, and Agentless managed system.
– Support is not provided for the application of System x device driver and
firmware updates to IBM Director 5.10 systems.
v IBM BladeCenter I/O Module Firmware
Notes:
– Applying IBM BladeCenter device driver and firmware updates to IBM
Director 5.20 systems is supported.
– Applying IBM BladeCenter device driver and firmware updates to IBM
Director 5.10 systems is not supported.
– For these devices, inventory is provided by SNMP.
v IBM BladeCenter Management Modules, Advanced Management Modules, and
Passthrough Modules
Notes:
– Applying IBM BladeCenter device driver and firmware updates to IBM
Director 5.20 systems is supported.
– Applying IBM BladeCenter device driver and firmware updates to IBM
Director 5.10 systems is not supported.
– For these devices, inventory is provided by SNMP.
v External storage firmware, including IBM BladeCenter external storage firmware
for IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module and IBM BladeCenter SAS
Connectivity Module
Note: You cannot update a newer version of any IBM Director or IBM Systems
Director component to an older version of the same component. You need to first
uninstall the newer component and then install the older component.
Managing agents
Installing agents
Predefined update groups can be used to facilitate working with updates for a
particular platform or operating system.
These are terms you will encounter when you are working with AIX updates:
Network Installation Manager (NIM) master
An AIX system that has been designated as a focal point to receive updates
and install them on other AIX systems, known as NIM clients.
Network Installation Manager (NIM) client
An AIX system that is installed from a NIM master.
Technology Level
The twice yearly AIX releases, which contain new hardware and software
features and service updates. The first of the twice yearly technology levels
is restricted to hardware features and enablement, as well as software
service. The second of the twice yearly technology levels includes
hardware features and enablement, software service, and new software
features.
Make sure that you install all parts of a technology level. Back up your
system before installing a technology level.
Service Pack
A collection of service-only updates (also known as PTFs) that are released
between Technology Levels to be grouped for easier identification. These
fixes address highly pervasive, critical, or security-related issues.
Maintenance Level
The service updates (fixes and enhancements) that are necessary to
upgrade the Base Operating System (BOS) or an optional software product
to the current release level.
Recommended level
The level of a service pack that is recommended for a given AIX
technology level. Not all technology levels have a recommended service
pack level.
Latest level
The most recent level of service pack or technology level.
Be aware of these tips and restrictions when you are working with AIX updates:
v Back up your system before installing a technology level.
v Updates can be installed only within a release of AIX. You cannot perform a
migration to a new version of AIX with update manager.
v You cannot perform a new overwrite installation of AIX with update manager.
v AIX 5.3 TL6 SP4 and later releases are supported, as well as AIX 6.1 and later
releases.
v To perform an installation or installation staging for AIX updates, your system
must meet these requirements:
– An AIX NIM master is required to stage and install the updates.
– A NIM environment is required.
– The AIX NIM master and the AIX managed systems (NIM clients) require a
Common Agent.
– The NIM master must be correctly initialized and configured.
– During installation, IBM Systems Director automatically adds the target AIX
system as a NIM client of the NIM master.
v The updates will always be staged to a NIM master. IBM Systems Director
update manager creates a separate file system named /export/um_lpp_source if
it does not exist. The size is initially set to 1G, but IBM Systems Director update
manager will increase the size if the available space is not large enough to hold
the update files.
v Installation of an update that requires a license acceptance must be done
manually on the AIX target system. There are cases in which an update
contained in a technology level or a service pack can require license acceptance.
The ability to accept a license is not supported from the user interface and must
be performed by installing the file set through the System Management Interface
Tool (SMIT) interface and responding yes to the query ACCEPT new license
agreements?.
director install\data\updateslib\HMC\Update_ID
directory, where director install is the location of the IBM Systems Director
installation. Subsequently, if the Install task is chosen, installation instructions
are displayed to upgrade the Hardware Management Console manually using
the CD installation.
These are the configurations supported for updating Power Systems firmware:
v Standalone POWER5 and later systems running Linux or AIX, with the Common
Agent installed
v POWER5 Power Systems and later systems managed by Hardware Management
Console and running Linux, AIX, or IBM i (formerly i5/OS)
v POWER5 Power Systems and later systems (POWER6 Power Systems, and so
on) managed by Integrated Virtualization Manager, with Virtual I/O Server
1.5.2.1 and later fix packs
These are terms you will encounter when you are working with Virtual I/O Server
updates:
Network Installation Manager (NIM) master
An AIX system that has been designated as a focal point to receive updates
and install them on other Virtual I/O Server systems, known as NIM
clients.
Network Installation Manager (NIM) client
A Virtual I/O Server system that will use a NIM master for migration.
Fix pack
A fix pack updates your Virtual I/O Server release to the latest level. A fix
pack update can contain product enhancements, new functions, and fixes.
Service Pack
A Service Pack applies to only one Virtual I/O Server level. A Service Pack
contains critical fixes for issues found between fix pack releases. A Service
Pack does not update Virtual I/O Server to a new level, and it can only be
applied to the fix pack release for which it is specified.
Interim fix (iFix)
An interim fix (iFix) applies to only one Virtual I/O Server level and
provides a fix for a specific issue.
Migration image
A Migration image supports the upgrade from a Virtual I/O Server version
to a newer version.
Be aware of these tips and restrictions when you are working with Virtual I/O
Server updates:
v Only Virtual I/O Server 1.5.2.1-FP11.1 and later releases are supported.
v You cannot use IBM Systems Director update manager to perform a fresh
installation of Virtual I/O Server.
v To perform an installation or installation staging for the Virtual I/O Server
migration image, your system must meet the following requirements:
– A NIM environment is required.
– An AIX NIM master is required to migrate Virtual I/O Server to higher
release, such as from Virtual I/O Server 1.5.2.1-FP11.1 to 2.1.0.0.
– Do not update the NIM master when you are migrating Virtual I/O Server
using that NIM master.
– The operating system level for the NIM master must be AIX 6.1 or later.
v Do not migrate to Virtual I/O Server 2.1.0.0 directly from a lower version such
as 1.5.2.1-FP11.1 because Virtual I/O Server 2.1.0.0 is not officially supported by
IBM Systems Director. Install the fix pack or Service Pack for Virtual I/O Server
2.1.0.0 directly when you are migrating from a version earlier than Virtual I/O
Server 2.1.0.0. The update manager for Virtual I/O Server extension will
automatically install Virtual I/O Server 2.1.0.0 and the selected fix pack or
service pack for you.
Consider the following items when updating the system firmware on multi-node
systems:
v Before starting any system firmware update processes, ensure that the
multi-node systems are discovered with both inband mode and OOB mode. See
Note: Maintenance is not delivered for every manager at each update or patch. For
example, a version 6.2.1 update might be released for automation manager without
the release of a corresponding update for configuration manager.
Related tasks
Planning to update
Related reference
lsagent.agent
lssys command
lsver command
For systems that are to be monitored for update management and compliance
status, you must:
v Make sure that the systems are discovered and accessible.
Chapter 7. Updating systems 339
v Collect inventory on the systems. Most update manager methods cannot
determine the applicability of updates to a system unless inventory was
previously collected on the system.
Tip: Use the IBM Systems Director Pre-Install Utility to scan systems and identify
potential problems that could prevent IBM Systems Director from updating
successfully.
Pre-Installation Utility
To specify settings, go to the Update Manager summary page, click Getting started
in the upper right of the page, and complete the Getting Started wizard. Then click
Settings in the upper right of the page, and complete the pages that follow.
Note: To check for updates, the IBM Systems Director Server must have
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) Internet access. This access can be through a
direct connection or through a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) proxy. If an
IPv4 connection is unavailable, updates can be imported.
10. Optional: Click Test Connection if you want to test the connection settings
that you have specified.
11. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
12. This page lists the types of updates that will be added to the update group to
monitor the selected systems, and when a check for updates is run. Verify the
information on this page:
v If the information is correct, click Finish. The common launch-task window
is displayed to schedule a check for updates for the selected systems.
Schedule this check to run on a recurring basis, not just once.
v If the information is incorrect, click Back to return to previous pages and
correct the information.
13. Specify notification and schedule settings for the task that is being launched.
In addition to launching a check for updates task, the wizard creates an
update group using the default update criteria for the systems that were
selected. A compliance check is created for each selected system to ensure that
it complies with this newly created group.
Related tasks
Navigating tables
This task is used to specify details about the update process. This task also
specifies settings that are unique to AIX and IBM BladeCenter systems.
Note: To check for updates, the IBM Systems Director Server must have
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) Internet access. This access can be through a
direct connection or through a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) proxy. If an
IPv4 connection is unavailable, updates can be imported.
4. Click Location.
a. Specify the amount of disk storage on the management server that will be
allocated for update files when they are downloaded. Type the maximum
size in megabytes. Update files will not occupy more disk space than the
maximum value specified here.
b. Specify the storage location to use for the update files when they are
downloaded.
5. If you are monitoring AIX systems, click AIX and specify the necessary
information in the page.
6. If you are monitoring Virtual I/O Server systems, click Virtual I/O Server and
specify the necessary information in the page.
7. If you are monitoring IBM BladeCenter systems, click BladeCenter and specify
the necessary information in the page.
8. Click OK.
Related tasks
Navigating tables
If the AIX NIM master is not chosen before an installation staging for an AIX
update is performed, the Settings function is displayed as part of the installation
staging operation.
If the AIX NIM master is not chosen before an installation or uninstallation task for
an AIX update is invoked, the same situation occurs; the Settings function is
displayed as part of the operation.
Note: There is a 64 character limit on the length of the relative path and file names
for updates installed from TFTP servers with SNMP. This includes updates to IBM
BladeCenter Management Modules and IBM BladeCenter Passthrough Modules.
The 64 character limit is for the sum of the lengths of:
v The relative path to updates field
Therefore, the relative path to updates field must be kept as short as possible if
IBM BladeCenter Management Modules or IBM BladeCenter Passthrough Modules
will be updated.
No such length limit applies to switch module updates installed from TFTP or FTP
servers.
Some IBM BladeCenter updates support only using FTP, and some support only
using TFTP. View the update properties to see the supported protocols. If an
update supports both TFTP and FTP, TFTP is used.
If the Virtual I/O Server NIM master is not chosen before an installation staging
for a Virtual I/O Server upgrade is performed, the Settings function is displayed as
part of the installation staging operation.
If the Virtual I/O Server NIM master is not chosen before an installation task for a
Virtual I/O Server upgrade is invoked, the same situation occurs; the Settings
function is displayed as part of the operation.
Note: The NIM master is required only when upgrading Virtual I/O Server to a
later release.
To specify the Virtual I/O Server setting, complete the following steps:
1. From the Settings task, click Virtual I/O Server. The Virtual I/O Server page is
displayed.
2. Click Browse to see a context chooser with a list of systems.
3. Choose the system that is the NIM master.
4. Click OK.
To instruct update manager to take most defaults and update IBM Systems
Director almost automatically, complete the following steps:
1. From the IBM Systems Director Web interface Welcome page, click Update IBM
Systems Director. When the check for updates task completes, the updates
needed by the IBM Systems Director Server are displayed in the table.
2. Optional: If your management server does not have an IPv4 connection to the
Internet, you can download IBM Systems Director updates from
www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/ and then use update manager to import
and install the updates. See “Downloading IBM Systems Director updates
without an Internet connection” for more information.
3. Click Download and Install to run or schedule the update.
4. After the installation is complete, restart IBM Systems Director to activate the
updates.
Related tasks
installneeded command
You can use advanced actions to manually check for IBM Systems Director updates
and selectively run or schedule update tasks. This update method enables you to
manage and monitor all steps in the update process and can be useful if problems
are encountered during an automatic update.
To use advanced actions to update IBM Systems Director, complete the following
steps:
1. From the Welcome page, click Update IBM Systems Director.
To manually download and import IBM Systems Director updates, complete the
following steps:
1. Go to www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/. The Fix Central page opens.
Complete the following steps on the Fix Central page to locate and download
the needed update package:
a. From the Product Group list, select IBM Systems Director.
b. From the Product list, select IBM Systems Director if it is not already
selected.
c. From the Installed Version list, select your current version.
d. From the Platform list, select All.
e. Click Continue. The Select fixes page is displayed.
f. Select the fix group that you want to download and then click Continue.
The Download options page is displayed.
g. Select the Download using Download Director and Include prerequisites
and corequisite fixes (you can deselect the ones you don't need later)
options, and then click Continue. The Terms and conditions page is
displayed.
h. Select I agree if you agree to the terms and conditions. The Download files
using Download Director page is displayed.
i. Click Download now to start the download of the update package. The
update package downloads to the designated location.
where updates_path is the full local directory path that contains the
files that were extracted from the downloaded update package.
IBM Systems Director Web interface
Complete the following steps to import and install the updates:
a. From the IBM Systems Director Web interface Welcome page, click
Update IBM Systems Director.
b. On the Update IBM Systems Director page, click Stop to stop the
task that checks for new updates and instead displays options for
downloading and importing updates.
c. In the Path field, type the full local directory path that contains the
files that were extracted from the downloaded update package.
d. Click Import and Install to run or schedule the import and
installation of the updates.
4. After the installation is complete, restart IBM Systems Director to activate the
updates.
Related tasks
Fix Central
This function does not show information for systems for which you have not
collected inventory.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
The list of needed updates is produced by comparing the updates that IBM
Systems Director has knowledge of to the inventory on your systems. This task
does not list as needed any update that IBM Systems Director does not know
about. An important part of keeping your systems up-to-date is running the Show
needed updates function and reviewing the results.
Notes:
v If you do not see an update that you expected to see, you can view all
updates that are available for a system by selecting Show all available
updates.
v Certain listed updates, for example UpdateXpress System Pack updates for a
IBM BladeCenter blade server or chassis, are actually update collections that
contain one or more member updates that are combined into one installable
image. To view the member updates within the update collection, right-click
on the update collection and select “Update”. For more information, see your
product documentation.
Update tasks such as Install can be done from this page by clicking Actions and
selecting an available task.
Related tasks
Navigating tables
Related reference
installneeded command
This function does not show information for systems for which you have not
collected inventory.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
This function can be used on systems or system groups. If you select a system
group, this task will display only those systems within the group that have
available updates.
To see a list of updates available for a system, complete the following steps:
1. From the Update Manager summary page, locate the Updates section.
2. Click Show needed updates. The Show Needed Updates page is displayed.
3. From the Show Needed Updates page, click Show all available updates. The
Show Available Updates page is displayed.
4. Examine the table. There is one line for each update and details about the
update.
Update tasks such as Install can be done from this page by clicking Actions and
selecting an available task.
Related tasks
Navigating tables
This function does not show information for systems whose inventory you have
not collected.
Update tasks such as Uninstall can be done from this page by clicking Actions and
selecting an available task.
To change which update properties are displayed on the table, their position in the
table, or the field sizes, click Actions > Columns.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Navigating tables
From this path, you can optionally choose to perform a check for updates based on
the compliance policy of the system.
Tip: Schedule a check for updates to run periodically and frequently, at least once
a week.
Related reference
checkupd command
Update types:
The various operating systems and firmware that can be updated by IBM Systems
Director have unique update types. The update type is used when a check for
updates is scheduled, or when a compliance policy is created for a system.
These are the update types for System x and IBM BladeCenter systems.
System x and Blades
Categories
ASR Driver
Automatic Server Restart Driver
BIOS System BIOS updates
BMC/H8
BMC/H8 Updates
CD ROM / DVD
Chipset-INF
Server Chipset Device Drivers/INF files
Diagnostics
Diagnostic flash updates
Fibre Fibre Channel updates
Hard Disk Drive
Hard disk drive firmware updates
Hot Plug
Active PCI Device Driver updates
iSCSI Internet SCSI updates
Network
Network Device Driver and firmware updates
PLD Code
CPLD and FPGA firmware updates
RSA RSA Firmware updates
RSA II
RSA II firmware updates
When chosen from the Getting Started wizard, all System x updates are selected by
default.
These are the update types for Hardware Management Console systems.
All Used to request all updates.
These are the update types for IBM Systems Director and IBM Director.
IBM Director
5.20 IBM Director 5.20
6.1 IBM Systems Director 6.1
6.2 IBM Systems Director 6.2
These are the update types for IBM i (formerly i5/OS) systems.
PTF Groups
Operating System PTF Groups
Include IBM DB2 UDB, High Impact or Pervasive and other PTF
Groups. The list of PTF groups varies depending on the IBM i
version being updated.
IBM WebSphere® Application Server PTF Groups
Includes updates for IBM WebSphere Application Server products
supported by IBM i. The list of PTF groups varies depending on
the IBM i version being updated.
These are the update types for IBM Power I/O firmware.
All Used to request all updates.
Update to latest level
Remain on the same version and release, but update to the latest
modification level.
These update types are used for Virtual I/O Server systems.
All Request all updates on FSP, including migration, fix packs, service packs,
and interim fixes.
Latest Update
Remain on the same release, but update to the latest fix pack, service pack
level, and interim fix.
Latest Upgrade
Request the latest release of Virtual I/O Server and the most current
interim fix on the latest release. When a Virtual I/O Server system is
chosen from the Getting Started wizard, this type is the default value.
You can choose to download the installable files for the update to the management
server if you have interest in installing the update, and want to make the
installation process run faster when it is scheduled. Downloading the updates
ahead of installation ensures that the valuable time allocated for system
maintenance (when typically systems are not available to the users) is not spent on
tasks such as downloading, which does not require exclusive system access.
You are not required to run the download task. If the installable files for the
update have not been downloaded when the installation task is scheduled, the
download task is automatically be invoked before the installation task.
Navigating tables
Related reference
importupd command
When you select the download task on an update menu, a panel is displayed to
guide you through visiting the appropriate Web site, downloading the update, and
then copying the installable files for the update.
After an update has been manually downloaded, it can be managed the same way
as any other update.
Importing updates
Use the Import update function to copy one or more updates from a directory on
the management server to the update library.
importupd command
Exporting updates
Use the Export function to copy updates from the update library to a target
directory on the management server. The target directory must be accessible to the
management server.
lsupd command
To modify the System x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration file for a
particular System x or IBM BladeCenter system, complete the following steps:
1. Open the file in a text editor. The System x and IBM BladeCenter platform
configuration file is named director install/data/xbc_platforms.cfg where director
install is the directory in which IBM Systems Director has been installed.
2. Using the guidelines in the file itself, add the machine type, operating system,
and architecture combination for the system that you want to manage.
3. Save the file.
Now this system will be listed by update manager and update tasks can be
performed for this system.
This capability applies to System x and IBM BladeCenter systems. A blank System
x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration file is created automatically on the
management server the first time that any System x or IBM BladeCenter update
criterion is displayed. You can customize this file for systems that have not been
discovered by IBM Systems Director so that their updates can be downloaded.
The System x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration file has this name:
director install/data/xbc_platforms.cfg
where director install is the directory in which IBM Systems Director has been
installed.
In the System x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration file, each entry is on
a separate line The file has these fields, separated by commas:
Machine type
The 4-digit machine type of the System x or IBM BladeCenter server.
Operating system
The operating system running on the System x or IBM BladeCenter server.
Attention: The values that you specify for Operating system and Architecture are
case sensitive. For these two fields, please use an example entry as a basis for a
new entry to avoid errors.
Tasks used with the System x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration file
Use the System x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration file to select the
machine type and operating system criteria for an update group, or to control the
check for updates task. For each of these update manager tasks, consider these
points:
Check for updates (selected from the Update Manager summary)
If the System x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration file contains
machine type and operating system entries, the Check for Update panel
will display these values. You can use them as you would any other
selection on this page.
If an entry in the System x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration
file contains a wildcard, all values that match the wildcard will be selected
when this entry is selected.
Check for Updates (selected in the context of a system and then choosing
Custom)
The System x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration file is not
needed because the machine type and operating system information is
provided by the selected system.
Create an update group
The values in the System x and IBM BladeCenter platform configuration
file are displayed when you are creating update groups. Create a dynamic
update group and choose the entries from the System x and IBM
BladeCenter platform configuration file that you are interested in.
This sample file can be used to download updates for systems that are not present
in your environment.
The entries are commented out. Remove the number sign (#) for each entry that
you want to use.
Installation staging
Use installation staging to copy the files that comprise an update to an appropriate
location for eventual installation. That location might not be the system that the
update is to be installed on. This task is not required. If you skip this step, the
update is staged when it is needed. This task is provided to save time during
installation maintenance windows, in order to minimize system downtime and
unavailability.
If the installable files for an update have not been previously downloaded, a
download is run before the installation staging is performed.
Navigating tables
Related reference
installupd command
lsupd command
From any place within update manager where you can display a system, click
Actions > Topology Perspectives.
By default, a topology perspective contains all resources related to the system. The
Updates perspective limits the resource types to update-related resources that are
installed on, needed by, or applicable to the system. The following resources types
are included in the Updates perspective:
v systems
v updates
v update collections
Click the displayed resources to see the relationships displayed in the Properties
table.
Update relationships indicate how an update relates to other updates and target
systems. The Topology view is a good way to illustrate update relationships.
This is a list of all update relationships. To simplify this discussion, the term
'update' refers to either an individual update or an update collection, unless
otherwise noted.
appliesTo
Indicates systems that an update can be installed on at this time. You can
view updates that can be installed on a system by navigating the appliesTo
relationship from the system's Related Resources submenu.
federates
Specifies the individual updates that are contained in an update collection.
installedOn
Indicates systems where the update is currently installed. You can view
where a specific update is installed by following the installedOn
relationship from the update's context menu.
This displays the systems where the update is installed using a table view.
Updates that have recently become available are of importance to you, as they can
be critical fixes or useful enhancements. Use the Show all known updates function
to periodically display these new updates, read their details, and decide whether to
download and install them on your systems.
The All updates group, which is predefined, can be used to perform similar work.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Navigating tables
Related reference
lsupd command
You can obtain details about an update, such as general properties, installation
requirements, installable files, and documentation.
If an update has not been downloaded and you attempt to view the contents of an
associated documentation file, the download task will be run so that the files can
be read.
To view properties and documentation for an update, complete the following steps:
1. From any place where an update is displayed, click the update name. A page of
general information about the update is displayed, including: name, ID, size,
version, and so on.
2. Click the General tab to see general information about the update.
In this list, the term 'update' is used to refer to an update or update group.
Note: Certain listed updates, for example UpdateXpress System Pack updates
for a IBM BladeCenter blade server or chassis, are actually update collections
that contain one or more member updates that are combined into one
installable image. To view the member updates within the update collection,
right-click on the update collection and select “Update”. For more information,
see your product documentation.
Name The name of the update.
Description
A description of the update.
Acquired Date
The date that this update was acquired by update manager.
Build Date
The date that the update was built. An example is the date that the
source for the update was compiled.
Build Number
The build number of the update.
Category
The category of update.
Downloaded
Whether the update has been downloaded to the management server.
Filenames
The names of the files for the update.
Package Type
The package type of the update.
Platform
The hardware platform that the update applies to.
lsupd command
If there is a specific area of concern or detail that you are looking for, searching
update documentation can point you to the updates that you are most interested
in.
Only the latest documentation for an update in its supersede chain is displayed. If
you have a situation where update A supersedes update B, the documentation for
update A is displayed rather than the documentation for update B, since update A
is the most recent update in the supersede chain.
The Update Manager summary page contains a search field that searches the
documentation files of updates that are available for management. The search is
limited to updates that have been downloaded to the management server. For each
update, only those files that are human readable are available for searching.
You can use operators in your searches to obtain more accurate search results. Here
are examples of the supported search operators and their meanings:
Linux Matches anything that contains Linux.
Linux*
Matches anything that begins with Linux.
Linux server
Matches anything that contains either Linux or server or both.
Linux OR server
Same as Linux server.
+Linux +server
Matches anything that contains both Linux and server.
Linux AND server
Same as +Linux +server.
+Linux -Blade
Matches anything that contains Linux and does not contain Blade.
clock~ Matches anything like clock, such as block, click, clocks, and so on.
(Linux OR server) AND Blade
Matches anything that contains Blade and also contains Linux or server or
both.
Navigating tables
Related reference
lsupd command
You can view the updates required by an update by navigating the requires
relationship on the update menu. The requires relationship navigation will display
the updates required by the currently selected update. The updates are displayed
in a navigator table view.
This table view can be switched by the user to a topology map to display a
graphical layout instead of a table. In the topology map, the required relationships
between the updates are displayed.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
To view the required updates for a specific update, complete the following steps:
1. From any list of updates, select the update whose required updates you want
to display.
2. Click Actions > Related Resources > Needed Updates. A table of the needed
updates is displayed.
Related tasks
Navigating tables
Related reference
lsupd command
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Although you can view the member updates in an update collection, you are
advised not to install these individual members separately. Instead, install the
entire update collection.
Related reference
lsupd command
One update supersedes another if installation of the one update will make the
other no longer needed.
You can see the updates that are superseded by a given update by selecting
supersedes on the Related Resources submenu at the top of the update menu. It is
possible that an update does not supersede any other. It is also possible that an
update is not superseded by any other
This table view can be switched by the user to a topology map to display a
graphical layout instead of a table. In the topology map, the superseded
relationships between the updates are displayed.
Related reference
lsupd command
For a given update, a parent update collection is an update collection that contains
this update, as well as possibly others. Not all updates will have a parent update
collection.
Although you can view the member updates in an update collection, you are
advised not to install these individual members separately. Install the entire update
collection.
lsupd command
Managing groups
Update groups:
Update groups can be static or dynamic. Both types can be used in compliance
policies.
Static update groups
Contain individual updates that were explicitly chosen. Once established,
the membership changes only when you manually add or delete updates.
Static update groups can be used as a baseline for future comparison or
update deployment.
Dynamic update groups
Automatically contains updates based on selected update types. The
membership of this group changes as update information changes.
It is advisable to view the individual members of an update group so that you are
aware of the updates that are being used for compliance policies.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
Managing groups
Navigating tables
Managing groups
Tip: Use the IBM Systems Director Pre-Install Utility to scan systems and identify
potential problems that could prevent IBM Systems Director from updating
successfully.
Note: Even if the installation of your update is successful, the version numbers
that are displayed for a particular updated IBM Systems Director component might
not match across version displays. For example, after successfully updating
Platform Agent 6.2 to 6.2.1, the Platform Agent version that is displayed in the file
set remains as 6.2. This does not impact functionality, though, and you can ignore
it.
Related tasks
Navigating tables
Pre-Installation Utility
installupd command
installneeded command
If an update has not been downloaded, this task is not available. This task removes
the installable files for an update, but descriptive information about the update is
cleanupd command
Uninstalling updates
It might be necessary to remove an update from a system or group of systems. Use
the Uninstall updates task to do this. Not all updates support the uninstall task.
For updates that cannot be uninstalled, it might be possible to roll them back to an
earlier version by installing an older version on top of the current one.
Navigating tables
Related reference
uninstallupd command
You can use the installneeded command line tool to simply update IBM Systems
Director servers and agents, or you can add optional parameters to install other
update types. The tool performs the entire update process from beginning to end
with a single command. The basic flow consists of collecting inventory on the
target system, importing or acquiring updates, running compliance, installing
needed updates, then running inventory and compliance again.
This topic describes several high-level uses for the installneeded command. See the
installneeded command topic for more detailed information.
v To update IBM Systems Director Server 6.2.x from the FSP, issue the following
command:
smcli installneeded -v -F
This command will use the server on which it is run as the target. It will
automatically acquire IBM Systems Director Server updates from the FSP and
install them. The -v option specifies “verbose” and is useful for tracking
progress or seeing problems. The -F option specifies “force”, without which the
command will ask for confirmation before installing each update.
The following options and operands are also useful when updating IBM Systems
Director Server:
-I Installs updates that are already in the updates repository. For example:
smcli installneeded -v -I
import_path
Installs updates after you import them from the supplied path. For
example:
smcli installneeded -v c:\dir621updates
See the installneeded command topic for more detailed information about these
options and operands.
v To update Common Agent 6.x or Platform Agent 6.x with the latest update level
from the FSP, complete the following steps from an IBM Systems Director 6.2.x
server:
1. Issue the following command to determine the OID of the system:
smcli lssys -o
netvj165, 0xa98
netvj165.vrow.netfinity.com, 0xa39
2. Issue the following command to update the agent:
For example:
smcli installneeded -v -n 0xa39 -F
smcli installneeded -v -n netvj165.vrow.netfinity.com -F
The following options and operands are also useful when updating Common
Agent or Platform Agent:
-I Installs updates that are already in the updates repository. Use the
following format for the command:
smcli installneeded -v -n {system_oid | system_name} -I
-i Specifies an IP address or host name to identify the system instead of
the system OID or system name. This could be useful if you are
using a script to update the system after using other CLI commands
to discover and request access to the system. If both the server MEP
and operating system MEP have the same IP address, you must use
another parameter along with the command to install the updates
without user intervention. Use the following format for the
command:
smcli installneeded -v -t system_type -i ip_address -F
For example:
smcli installneeded -v -t OperatingSystem -i 10.11.9.165 -F
For example:
smcli installneeded -v -n 0xa39 -F c:\dir612updates
v To install other types of updates, complete the following steps:
1. Issue the following command to determine the update type or types to
specify:
smcli installneeded --list
2. Issue either of the following commands to install the updates:
– smcli installneeded -v -n {system_oid | system_name} -F -u
update_type
– smcli installneeded -v -t system_type -i ip_address -F -u
update_type
For example:
– Install System x and IBM BladeCenter updates from the FSP to the system
with a system OID of 0xa39:
smcli installneeded -v -n 0xa39 -F -u systemxandbc
The user then discovers and accesses a Linux agent and plans to perform
Linux updates on the agent after the agent side setup is complete. There are
correct and incorrect commands to use for this action:
– Incorrect:
smcli installneeded -v -t OperatingSystem -i 10.11.9.165 -F -u linux -I
This command would find no updates to install. Even though the smcli
installneeded -v -F command already ran the check for updates task on
a Linux server, -u was not specified and therefore defaulted to “-u
Director”. Only IBM Systems Director updates were acquired from the
FSP, and no Linux updates were placed in the repository for installation.
– Correct:
smcli installneeded -v -t OperatingSystem -i 10.11.9.165 -F -u linux
This command would complete a check for updates task for Linux
updates from the FSP and install them.
See the installneeded command topic for more detailed information about
these options and operands.
Related tasks
installneeded command
lssys command
Use the Update Manager summary page to view information about compliance
policies for your systems. All compliance policy tasks are initiated from the System
tasks group in the Update compliance section on this page.
Note: Compliance status does not change on the monitored systems until a check
for updates task is complete and compliance has completed. This status change can
take up to 10 minutes after the check for updates task completes.
1. To view or edit update compliance policies, click Change compliance policies
from the Update Manager summary page. A list of systems is displayed.
2. Select a system from the list to edit its compliance policy.
Compliance policies
Use compliance policies to monitor your systems and inform you when systems
are missing specific updates.
The first section on the Update Manager summary page is the Update Compliance
section. This section provides a quick summary of the update health of your
systems and provides several system-related tasks.
Tips
If you see the term Inherited Compliance Policy, or an Inherited field in a table when
you are viewing this information, there is a compliance policy on the parent group
for the system. The policy can be removed from the system only by removing it
from the system parent group.
To add an update to the compliance policy for a system, complete the following
steps:
1. From any panel that has a list of updates displayed, click Add to >
Compliance Policy.
2. Select the system or system group to be monitored for the update.
3. Click OK. The selected update is added to the compliance policy for the
system.
4. Click Save to save the compliance policy.
The target system or system group is checked against its associated compliance
policy automatically when the system or update inventory changes.
If you create a static update group where some of the updates supersede others,
the compliance policy verifies that the latest superseding update is installed. The
recommendation that comes from this type of compliance policy will be to install
the latest update in the supersede chain.
When a compliance policy is created with this group, the compliance policy
verifies that the latest supersede update (UpdateA in this case) is installed, and if it
is not the recommended action is to install the latest update in the supersede chain
(UpdateA in this case). Even if both UpdateB and UpdateC are installed, the
compliance policy indicates 'out of compliance' unless UpdateA is installed. If
UpdateB and UpdateC are not found on the system, but UpdateA is present on the
system, the compliance policy indicates that the system is in compliance.
This function does not give you information about all your systems, just those that
are being monitored by compliance policies.
The system-compliance status indicator represents the highest severity among all of
the compliance policy updates that are not installed on the system. There are four
compliance categories, represented by icons:
To identify systems that are out of compliance, complete the following steps:
1. On the Update Manager summary page, find the Update Compliance section.
2. Examine the pie chart and icons to its right. The number of systems in each
compliance category is displayed.
Use this procedure only if one or more of your systems is out of compliance, as
indicated by the Compliance column in the list of systems being monitored, or as
indicated by the pie chart on the Update Manager summary page.
The Compliance column visually indicates that a system is not in compliance. The
status severity is the highest severity of all the updates needed by the system.
Navigating tables
In order to use remote access, one or more systems must have been discovered and
unlocked, and have support for at least one remote access task.
Distributed Command
The Distributed Command task launches the Distributed Shell.
Restriction: To use this task, you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
File management
Use the File Management task to manage files and directories on a remote system.
From the IBM Systems Director Web interface, you can use the File Management
task to manage files on a remote system. File management task operations include
rename, delete, upload, download, and the creation of new folders.
If you use the File Management task to perform an upload or download, you can
transfer individual files and directories between the following systems only:
v The browser system and the management server
v The browser system and a managed system
The IP address that IBM Systems Director has for the system is used to launch the
Web browser with http protocol.
The Remote Command Line task opens a non-graphical Remote Command Line
window in the IBM Systems Director Web interface. You can communicate with a
remote system by issuing its operating system's commands at the command-line
prompt in the window.
Generally, you can have multiple remote command-line sessions active at the same
time.
When you connect to a system that is running UNIX or Linux, Remote Command
Line uses the secure shell (ssh) protocol. If the ssh server on the system does not
respond, Remote Command Line attempts to connect using the Telnet protocol.
For a system running IBM i, Remote Command Line uses the Telnet protocol only.
The Remote Command Line function does not use SSH to connect to switches. For
switch resources, telnet is always used.
If your system does not have one of the following applications installed, you must
first install and configure it on your browser system.
BladeCenter and RSA Remote Control
Launch the Web interface for remote control of IBM BladeCenter or Remote
Supervisor Adapter (RSA) systems.
Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Connection
Launch this application for Windows systems.
Virtual Network Computing
Launch Virtual Network Computing (VNC) for AIX and Linux systems.
Microsoft Windows Hyper-V Virtual Machine Connection Tool
Launch the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Connection Tool.
VMware ESX or ESXi hypervisor virtual machine
Launch a VMware ESX or ESXi hypervisor virtual machine connection.
Setting up remote control
As mentioned above, if your system does not have one of the above
applications installed, you must first install and configure it on your
browser system. To install and configure a remote control application:
1. From the Remote Access Summary page, click Set up remote control.
2. On the Setup Remote Control page, click the check box next to Use
Remote Desktop to control Window systems.
3. Complete required fields.
4. Click Apply and then OK.
Virtual Network Computing must be installed first in order to use it with remote
control.
You can use the remote Xen console window to establish a fully active command
session with a remote Xen server or host. The remote Xen server or host must be
started and have access granted in order to establish communications. This session
is non-graphical, so a command line window opens when it is started.
Serial Console
The Serial Console task launches the serial console.
Restriction: To use this task, you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX 6.1F or higher. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
The serial console gives you the ability to open console windows to one or more
POWER managed systems. Each window provides access to the system’s serial
console, accessed out-of-band.
The following resource types are supported by the Serial Console task:
v Server
For the remote control functions, you do not choose which function to run. It is
chosen based on the target system.
To use the Distributed Shell, you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
When you use the Distributed Shell to execute a command on one or more
managed systems in parallel, the command is executed on each remote target and
the output from each target is returned to the IBM Systems Director Server.
After the command executes on the selected targets, the Command Output pane is
displayed in the Distributed Shell page to show the output of the command from
each target, as well as errors from those targets. Click Cancel to return to the
Distributed Shell page where you can run additional commands.
Remember:
v When specifying a name for the command, if another command is already saved
under the same name, an error message displays.
v The name you specify cannot contain spaces.
v The Name field is used to create a file of the same name.
v The created files will be stored in the /opt/ibm/sysmgt/dsm/saved_commands
directory.
To use the Distributed Shell, you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
Before doing this task, a set of Operating System targets must be discovered and
you must request access to those targets.
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Select the Operating System targets for which you want to run the command
by clicking on the box next to the target in the Select column.
3. Click Actions and select Distributed Command. The Distributed Shell page is
displayed.
4. Type the command name in the Command field. For example, date, for the
date command.
5. Click Run. The command is executed on the selected targets and the output is
displayed on the Command Output pane.
To use the Distributed Shell you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
Before doing this task, a set of Operating System targets must be discovered and
you must have access to those targets.
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Navigate to the group of type Operating Systems.
3. Right-click the group and select System Configuration > Remote Access >
Distributed Command. The Distributed Shell page is displayed.
4. Type the command name in the Command field. For example, date, for the
date command.
5. Click Run. The command is executed on all the members of the selected group
and the output is displayed on the Command Output pane.
To use the Distributed Shell, you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
Before doing this task, a set of Operating System targets must be discovered and
you must have access to those targets.
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Navigate to a target.
3. Right-click the target and select System Configuration > Remote Access >
Distributed Command. The Distributed Shell page is displayed.
4. Click Save As.
5. Type the Name and Description for the saved command.
6. Click Save.
To use the Distributed Shell, you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
Before doing this task, a set of Operating System targets must be discovered and
you must have access to those targets.
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Navigate to a target.
3. Right-click the target and select System Configuration > Remote Access >
Distributed Command. The Distributed Shell page is displayed.
4. Click Browsed Saved Commands .... The Saved Commands window is
displayed.
Important:
v When you use the File Management task to transfer (upload or download) files:
– You can use the task with only one system at a time. You cannot transfer files
to multiple systems or to a group.
– Files are transferred in chunks through a queue on the management server
and the receiving Common Agent. If the chunk is not processed by the queue
before the timeout limit is reached, the transfer will fail. Such failures can
occur when other tasks are running on the same Common Agent, or when the
queue is full. Give careful consideration to transferring large files using file
management.
To use the File Management task to manage files, complete the following steps:
1. From the Remote Access Summary page, click File Management. The Targets
page is displayed.
2. Select the targets for file management, using the Add and Remove buttons to
move a system from the left (Available) column to the right (Selected) column.
Note: The Choose Target window does not display locked systems.
3. Click OK. The File Management page is displayed.
4. Right-click on a file or directory and select a management operation: Rename,
Delete, New Folder, Upload File or Download File.
5. Optional: Alternatively, you can access the File Management page from the
Navigation pane by clicking System Configuration > Remote Access > File
Management.
6. Optional: Right-click on a file or directory and select Properties to view
properties not displayed in the default view of the File Management page, such
as Created, Type, and Attributes.
7. Optional: Click Actions > Columns to select additional properties to display on
the File Management page. Select the properties by using the Add and Remove
buttons to move a property from the left (Available) column to the right
(Selected) column.
When using the hardware command line feature, you might see panels displaying
various actions performed by IBM Systems Director in order to accomplish this
task. These panels require no action from you, and can be ignored.
Note: If the window is disabled for input after you click OK, you must ensure
that the server is in the browsers trusted zone. You can perform the following
steps for Internet Explorer:
a. Launch Internet Explorer.
b. Select Tools > Internet Options > Security.
c. Select Trusted sites.
d. Click Sites. The Trusted sites window opens.
e. In the Add this website to the zone: field, type https://<server ip address>
for example, https://10.10.6.120. Click Add.
f. Click Close on the Trusted sites window and then click OK to close out the
Internet Options window.
Perform these steps for Firefox:
a. Launch Firefox.
b. Select Tools > Options > Security.
c. Select Exceptions. The Allowed Sites - Add-ons Installation window opens.
d. In the Address of web site field, type https://<server ip address> for
example, https://10.10.6.120. Click Allow.
e. Click Close on the Allowed Sites - Add-ons Installation window and then
click OK to close out the Options window.
5. Communicate with the system by issuing commands.
6. Optional: You can select text within the hardware command line window and
click Edit > Copy to copy the selected text to the clipboard. You can also
import clipboard text into a hardware command line window by clicking Edit
> Paste.
7. When you are finished, click File > Close to terminate the session.
Note: If the window is disabled for input after you click OK, you must ensure
that the server is in the browsers trusted zone. You can perform the following
steps for Internet Explorer:
a. Launch Internet Explorer.
b. Select Tools > Internet Options > Security.
c. Select Trusted sites.
d. Click Sites. The Trusted sites window opens.
e. In the Add this website to the zone: field, type https://<server ip address>
for example, https://10.10.6.120. Click Add.
f. Click Close on the Trusted sites window and then click OK to close out the
Internet Options window.
Perform these steps for Firefox:
a. Launch Firefox.
b. Select Tools > Options > Security.
c. Select Exceptions. The Allowed Sites - Add-ons Installation window opens.
d. In the Address of web site field, type https://<server ip address> for
example, https://10.10.6.120. Click Allow.
e. Click Close on the Allowed Sites - Add-ons Installation window and then
click OK to close out the Options window.
7. Optional: Alternatively, you can establish command-line access to a remote
system by using Navigate Resources to navigate to the system.
a. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
b. Navigate to the system on which you want to establish command-line
access.
c. Right-click the system and select System Configuration > Remote Access >
Remote Command Line
d. Follow steps 5 and 6 above.
8. After the Remote Command Line is enabled for input, you can communicate
with the remote system by issuing its operating system's commands.
9. When you are finished, close the Remote Command Line tab to terminate
command-line access.
When using this feature, you might see panels displaying various actions
performed by IBM Systems Director in order to accomplish this task. These panels
require no action from you and can be ignored.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with the Available
table, see “Navigating tables.”
If you are using a web browser on a Linux system to connect to a Windows agent,
you will need to configure and use the tsclient application.
Note: The Windows panel interfaces and text vary slightly depending on the
version of Windows that you are running.
You can ignore the section Connect your remote computer to the host computer;
this action is performed automatically by IBM Systems Director.
If you are using a Linux browser, you must install and configure the tsclient
application.
To launch the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Connection Tool, complete the following
steps:
When using this feature, you might see panels displaying various actions
performed by IBM Systems Director in order to accomplish this task. These panels
require no action from you and can be ignored.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with the Available
table, see “Navigating tables.”
To use the serial console, you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX 6.1F or higher. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
When you use the serial console to open console windows to one or more POWER
managed systems, each window provides access to the system’s serial console,
accessed out-of-band.
Note: The defaults cannot be changed when displaying the serial console using
the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
Note: This task requires the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program. This
program is installed automatically the first time you use a task that requires it. For
information about the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program, see
“Starting the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program.”
To use the serial console, you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX 6.1F or higher. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
Before doing this task, you must have access to the target's managing hardware
control point.
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Navigate to the target for which you want to display a serial console.
3. Right-click the target and select System Configuration > Remote Access >
Serial Console. A separate window is displayed for the selected target.
4. Login to the console with the target's userid and password.
Note: This task requires the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program. This
program is installed automatically the first time you use a task that requires it. For
information about the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program, see
“Starting the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program.”
Before doing this task, you must have access to the target's managing hardware
control point.
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources.
2. Navigate to the group containing System type objects for which you want to
display a serial console.
3. Right-click the group and select System Configuration > Remote Access >
Serial Console. A separate window is displayed for the selected group.
4. Optional: You can also select multiple individual targets from Navigate
Resources. After you specify your targets, select System Configuration >
Remote Access > Serial Console from the Actions pull-down menu.
5. Login to each target using target's userid and password.
Note: This task requires the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program. This
program is installed automatically the first time you use a task that requires it. For
information about the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program, see
“Starting the IBM Systems Director Launched Tasks program.”
To use the serial console, you must be logged into IBM Systems Director Server
running on AIX 6.1F or higher. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
Note: Throughout the IBM Systems Director documentation, the term Common
Agent (with both words capitalized) refers to the IBM Systems Director Common
Agent, which includes subagents that provide specific management capabilities for
IBM Systems Director. IBM Systems Director can also discover and perform limited
management on other common agents that use the common agent services (CAS)
architecture. When referring to these common agents generically, lowercase text is
used.
The goal of common agent services is to reduce infrastructure cost, complexity, and
redundancy by providing a common agent that can be used by multiple
management products instead of multiple separate agents that each provide
essentially the same functionality.
To achieve this goal, one or more resource managers (such as IBM Systems Director
Server) use an agent manager to communicate with the common agents that are
installed on managed resources. This architecture is illustrated in Figure 25.
IBM Systems
Director Server
Resource manager
Figure 25. The elements of common agent services in the default configuration for IBM Systems Director
Resource manager
Installed on the management server, the resource manager is the management
application that uses the agent manager for security and credential management.
IBM Systems Director Server is the resource manager for IBM Systems Director.
Multiple resource managers can use the same agent manager and manage the same
common agents.
v Each common agent can use exactly one agent manager.
v Each resource manager can use exactly one agent manager.
v Each resource manager can manage many common agents.
Agent manager
The agent manager provides authentication and authorization services for installed
common agents and resource managers. It also maintains a registry of
configuration information about Common Agent managed systems.
IBM Systems Director uses only one active agent manager at a time to
communicate with common agents. If no agent manager is active, IBM Systems
Director is not able to manage common agents.
v Each common agent can use exactly one agent manager.
v Each agent manager can be used by many resource managers.
v Each agent manager can be used to manage many common agents.
Notes:
v The agent manager that is embedded with IBM Systems Director Server can be
used by any number of instances of IBM Systems Director Server, but it is not
configured for use with other management application products.
v If you will use the embedded agent manager, you need to supply credentials
when you configure it that are used if you change agent managers. These
credentials depend on your operating system:
– On AIX or Linux, you can specify any credentials. You do not need to use the
root user ID or even an operating system user ID.
– On Windows, use the same administrator credentials that you used to install
IBM Systems Director.
Common agent
Installed on managed systems, the common agent reports information about the
managed system to the resource manager and performs tasks on the managed
system as directed by the resource manager.
Note: Throughout the IBM Systems Director documentation, the term Common
Agent (with both words capitalized) refers to the IBM Systems Director Common
Agent, which includes subagents that provide specific management capabilities for
IBM Systems Director. IBM Systems Director can also discover and perform limited
management on other common agents that use the common agent services (CAS)
architecture. When referring to these common agents generically, lowercase text is
used.
v Each common agent can use exactly one agent manager.
v Each common agent can be managed by one or more instances of IBM Systems
Director Server.
When you discover a system that has a common agent on it, the IBM Systems
Director Web interface will list the system with a protocol of 'CAS'. The system
will initially have no access, but you can register the agent with the agent manager
using one of the following two methods, depending on the mode you used to
install common agent services:
Managed mode common agent services
Common agent services registers the common agent with the agent
manager during installation.
Unmanaged mode common agent services
Requesting and gaining access to the system registers the common agent
with the default agent manager that is configured with IBM Systems
Director Server.
[PlatformAgent.Logging]
codeset_dir =
config_type = cclog
logging_type = ita_logdefault
nlspath =
start_logdaemon = none
use_logdaemon = false
[PlatformAgent.Logging.cclog]
PlatformAgent.organization = IBM
PlatformAgent.logger.className = ccg_pdlogger
PlatformAgent.logger.listenerNames = PlatformAgent.loggerfl PlatformAgent.ffdc
PlatformAgent.loggerfl.className = ccg_levelfilter
PlatformAgent.loggerfl.level = ALL
PlatformAgent.loggerfl.listenerNames = PlatformAgent.loggerhd
PlatformAgent.loggerhd.className = ccg_filehandler
PlatformAgent.loggerhd.fileName = agent.log
PlatformAgent.loggerhd.formatterName = PlatformAgent.fmt
PlatformAgent.loggerhd.maxFileBytes = 4096000
PlatformAgent.loggerhd.maxFiles = 3
PlatformAgent.fmt.className = ccg_basicformatter
PlatformAgent.ffdc.className = ccg_ffdc_filecopy_handler
PlatformAgent.ffdc.baseDir = PlatformAgent-FFDC
PlatformAgent.ffdc.filesToCopy = agent.log
PlatformAgent.ffdc.triggerFilter = PlatformAgent.lf
PlatformAgent.lf.className = ccg_levelfilter
PlatformAgent.lf.level = ERROR
PlatformAgent.tracer.className = ccg_pdlogger
PlatformAgent.tracer.listenerNames = PlatformAgent.trfl
Note: If the className value is set to NULL, a warning message does not
appear on the IBM Systems Director Web interface. It instead appears on
the agent console. A default logger with the name
PlatformAgent_default_message.log is created for logging the warning
message information.
PlatformAgent.logger.listenerNames
Specifies a list of names that procures events from the specified logger,
filter, or handler. Ensure that the names are the names of objects that are
defined in the same properties file. Separate the names in the list with
spaces. By default, Platform Agent supports two listeners: logger and
FFDC. To disable the FFDC, remove the PlatformAgent.ffdc entry.
PlatformAgent.loggerfl.className
Specifies the class name for the logging level filter. This property is not
configurable; do not change it.
Note: For the correct behavior, set this value higher than 10 KB. If it is set
to less than 10 KB, the maxFileBytes size of the rollover files cannot be
interpreted if the log messages are high.
where YYYY.MM.DD is the numeric year, month, and day from the
timestamp of the event that triggered the FFDC action.
When you modify any configuration, use PALog.INI.bkp to ensure that the
property ITA logging initialization File I/O takes place properly.
If both of these files are deleted, ITA fails to initialize the logger and throws an
error message. The location of the error file is ./tmp/italog_error.log on Linux
and %TEMP%/italog_error.log on Windows.
ITA logs only the initialization error messages in to the error log file.
The agent packages that IBM Systems Director Server uses are Tivoli Provisioning
Manager automation packages with a file extension of .tcdriver for 6.1.x packages
and .jar for 6.2 packages.
Use the following procedure to import one or more agent packages for distribution
using the Agent Installation Wizard.
1. Download the installation package from the IBM Systems Director Downloads
Web Site at www.ibm.com/systems/management/director/downloads/.
2. Copy the package files to a directory on the management server.
3. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Release Management >
Agents. The available agent and subagent package groups are listed.
All of the agent packages that are found in the specified path are imported, and a
confirmation message appears indicating that the packages were successfully
imported.
After the agent packages are successfully imported and appear in the agent
package groups, you can install the packages using the Agent Installation Wizard.
Related tasks
“Installing agents using the Agent Installation Wizard”
Related information
IBM Systems Director Server requires a number of agent packages that can be
deployed to managed systems using the Agent Installation Wizard.
Note: If you install IBM Systems Director Server 6.2.1 from the DVD media, the
6.2 agent packages are imported, unless you are installing from the AIX DVD
media, in which case no agent packages are imported. If you install IBM Systems
Director Server from the Web download file, no agent packages are imported for
any operating system. So, regardless of the installation method that you use, you
need to download the 6.2.1 agent packages separately.
The imported agent packages are located in the dynamic group “Agent Package
Groups” and can be accessed by clicking Release Management > Agents in the
navigation area. You use the Agent Installation Wizard to select one of these agent
packages to install and one or more systems on which to install the agent package.
Then, the wizard creates an agent installation job that can run immediately or at a
scheduled time.
Note: If you install IBM Systems Director Server 6.2.1 from the AIX DVD media,
no agents are automatically imported. However, the 6.2.1 agent packages for
remote deployment are provided on the media so that you can easily import them
manually.
Complete the following steps to install agents using the Agent Installation Wizard:
1. Start the Agent Installation Wizard. You can start the wizard in multiple ways:
Notes:
v Depending on how you started the Agent Installation Wizard, one or
more agent packages might already be displayed in the Selected list.
v The Agent Installation Wizard can install only one agent package at a
time. If more than one agent package is displayed in the Selected list,
you will not be able to advance to the Systems page.
c. Click Next.
4. In the Agent Installation Wizard Systems page, complete the following steps:
a. Select the managed systems on which you want to install the agent package
in the Available list.
b. Click Add. The selected systems are displayed in the Selected list.
Notes:
v Depending on how you started the Agent Installation Wizard, one or
more systems might already be displayed in the Selected list.
v Depending on the agent package being installed, some selected systems
might not be valid targets for installation. The wizard checks the selected
systems for some or all of the following criteria to ensure that the
systems are valid targets for installing the selected agent package before
allowing you to continue:
– operating system family
– operating system version
– operating system distribution
– operating system name
– server architecture
c. Click Next.
5. In the Agent Installation Wizard Summary page, review the Selected Agents
and Selected Systems lists to ensure that they are correct.
v If the selections are not correct, click Back and make the necessary changes.
v If the selections are correct, click Finish.
After you click Finish, the Run - Install Agent window opens.
6. In the Run - Install Agent window, click the Schedule tab. On this page, you
can choose to run the job immediately or schedule the job to run at a later time.
a. A job name is required and the Name field provides a unique default name.
To change the default name, type a job name in the field.
Tip: Make sure that you know the time and time zone to which the
respective systems' clocks are set.
b. Select whether you want the job to fail if a system is offline or if you want
the job to run when the system is online again.
9. Click OK to save the job.
Click Cancel to exit from the Run window without saving the job.
If the job is created successfully, a message is displayed on the page from
which you started the Scheduler. If the job creation fails, a message is displayed
in the Run window so that you can correct the job.
The job created by the Agent Installation Wizard will transfer the agent
self-extracting script and the agent response file into the following directory,
which depends on your version and agent level, on the target system:
6.x Common Agent
/tmp/commonagent_tmp
6.x Platform Agent
/tmp/platformagent_temp
5.x Common Agent
install_root/SwDistPk
After the files are copied, the installation file sets are extracted into the /tmp
directory and installed. The files are then removed after a successful
installation. You need to ensure that there is sufficient space on the target
Note: For more information about error log files, see “Information to provide
to the IBM Technical Support Center or IBM Systems Director customer forum”.
You can view the status of the agent installation job by clicking Task Management
> Active and Scheduled Jobs.
Related tasks
Verify that the systems meet the requirements for the agents you will install.
“Importing agent packages” on page 408
Related information
Restarting agents
The following topics contain information about stopping, starting, and checking
the status of Common Agent and Platform Agent.
Before you stop Common Agent, warn users to finish their work or stop the
processes that they are running.
Before you stop Platform Agent, warn users to finish their work or stop the
processes that they are running.
Note: Stopping Platform Agent does not also stop the CIM server. If you
want to stop the CIM server, type the following command and press Enter:
Note: If you choose to use a restart option instead of stop and start, the
cimlistenerd, tier1slpinst, and cimserverd commands each also have that
option:
/etc/init.d/cimlistenerd restart
/etc/init.d/tier1slpinst restart
/etc/init.d/cimserverd restart
v If you are running IBM i, type the following command on a command line
and press Enter:
STRTCPSVR SERVER(*CIMOM)
v If you are running Windows, go to the Services panel (Start Menu > Settings
> Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services) and start the following
services in the specified order:
a. IBM Cimlistener Service
b. IBM SLP SA
c. IBM SLP Attributes Service
d. IBM WMI+A Service
3. Obtain the status of Platform Agent to ensure that it started successfully.
You can configure how IBM Systems Director interacts with the common agent
services architecture to secure your Common Agent managed systems and to
improve scalability and performance.
Important: Setting the agent manager incorrectly will prevent IBM Systems
Director Server from communicating with common agents.
To view information about the configured agent manager, use the following
procedure:
1. Click Settings > Agent Manager Configuration.
2. Optional: Click the name of a listed agent manager.
The following properties are displayed for agent managers in the IBM Systems
Director Web interface:
Active Whether or not the agent manager is the active agent manager for IBM
Systems Director Server.
CAS Version
The common agent services version of the agent manager.
IP Address
The IP address of the agent manager.
Name The globally unique identifier (GUID) of the system on which the agent
manager is installed.
Note: For descriptions of resource managers and agent managers, see “Common
agent services”.
Note: The agent recovery service listens for registration failures on this
port number in addition to port 80.
Make the new agent manager active
If selected, this check box sets the new agent manager as the active
agent manager for IBM Systems Director Server.
IBM Systems Director uses only one agent manager at a time to communicate with
common agents. This agent manager is the active agent manager. If no agent
manager is active, IBM Systems Director will not be able to manage common
agents.
Important: Changing the active agent manager in IBM Systems Director migrates
all of the common agents that are registered with the previously active agent
manager to the new active agent manager. This has two implications:
v Depending on the number of common agents that are registered with the
previously active agent manager, the migration process could take some time,
during which some common agents might not be available for management by
IBM Systems Director.
v After the common agents are migrated to the new active agent manager, they
will no longer be able to be managed by any management applications
(including other installations of IBM Systems Director) that use the agent
manager from which they were migrated. In order to manage the migrated
common agents with other management applications, the management
applications must be configured to use the new active agent manager.
Note: You cannot delete the active agent manager. If you need to delete the active
agent manager, you must first make a different agent manager active.
To delete an agent manager from the Agent Manager Configuration page, use the
following procedure:
1. Click Settings > Agent Manager Configuration.
2. In the Agent Manager Configuration page, select the agent manager you want
to delete, and then click Delete. The Delete Selected Agent Managers window
prompts you for confirmation.
3. Click OK in the Delete Selected Agent Managers window.
The agent manager is removed from the Agent Manager Configuration page, and
IBM Systems Director Server will no longer use the agent manager to communicate
with common agents.
Deleting an agent manager from the Agent Manager Configuration page does not
uninstall the agent manager or delete any agent manager data.
If you need to manage the same common agents with more than one instance of
IBM Systems Director Server, all of the instances of IBM Systems Director Server
must use the same agent manager.
The agent manager can run under one of the following types of enterprise
application server environments:
IBM WebSphere Application Server
Agent manager can use an existing installation of a supported version of
IBM WebSphere Application Server. The agent manager applications can be
installed in the same application server as your other products, or it can be
in an application server that is dedicated to the agent manager.
lightweight runtime environment
The agent manager applications can be installed in the same lightweight
runtime instance as your other products, or it can use an instance that is
dedicated to the agent manager.
Before beginning this procedure, ensure that you have the following information
available:
v the host name or IP address of the agent manager you will use
v the user name and password of the IBM Systems Director user that will be used
to register IBM Systems Director Server with agent manager
v the agent registration password that is used to register common agents with
agent manager
v the public communications port used by agent manager
Common agents
IBM Systems Director can use agent managers that conform to the common agent
services architecture, version 1.4 and later.
Before beginning this procedure, ensure that you have the following information
available:
v the host name or IP address of the agent manager you will use
v the user name and password of the IBM Systems Director user that will be used
to register IBM Systems Director Server with agent manager
v the agent registration password that is used to register common agents with
agent manager
v the public communications port used by agent manager
Agent manager
Common agents
Notes:
v To manage a common agent with more than one instance of IBM Systems
Director Server, you must register all IBM Systems Director Server instances with
the same agent manager. For this purpose, you can use the agent manager that
is embedded in any of the IBM Systems Director Server instances.
v To manage a common agent with both IBM Systems Director Server and a
different management application, you must register both management
applications with the same agent manager. For this purpose, you can use the
agent manager that is embedded in IBM Systems Director Server.
v An alternative to changing the agent manager that is used by Common Agent is
to configure IBM Systems Director Server to use the agent manager that is used
by Common Agent. Doing so will configure all Common Agent managed
systems managed by that IBM Systems Director Server to use the new agent
manager. See “Setting the active agent manager”.
where install_root is the root directory of your IBM Systems Director installation.
The IP address of the agent manager is displayed.
v On the management server: Issue the following command (all on one line):
/opt/freeware/cimom/pegasus/bin/slp_query
--type=service:management-software.IBM:usma --address=agent_ip
Linux
Where options are the options that you specify based on the information
in the slptool command topic.
Platform Agent 5.20.3x
/opt/ibm/icc/slp/bin/slp_query
--type=service:management-software.IBM:usma --address=agent_ip
Windows
rm -rf /opt/ibm/director/agent/runtime/agent/cert/*
Windows
DEL /F /S /Q install_root\agent\runtime\agent\cert\*.*
Tip: This generally means changing each of the following lines to specify a
value of localhost:
PatchService.Host=localhost
CatalogueService.Host=localhost
CertManagement.Host=localhost
AgentQuery.Host=localhost
Registration.Server.Host=localhost
TrustedCertificateQuery.Host=localhost
AgentManagerQuery.Host=localhost
5. Save and close the endpoint.properties file.
6. Stop and restart the Common Agent by issuing the following commands:
or Linux
/opt/ibm/director/agent/runtime/agent/bin/endpoint.sh stop
/opt/ibm/director/agent/runtime/agent/bin/endpoint.sh start
Windows
install_root\agent\runtime\agent\bin\endpoint.bat stop
install_root\agent\runtime\agent\bin\endpoint.bat start
You can also use this procedure to verify that an agent manager is running.
Note: The public HTTP port of the agent manager embedded with IBM Systems
Director Server is 9513. If you are using an agent manager with a different public
HTTP port, substitute that port number.
If the agent manager is running, a Web page opens listing information about the
agent manager, including the following items:
v version
v instance ID
v server name
v ports used by the agent manager
v aliases for the root certificate, root key, agent manager certificate, and agent
manager key
v the paths and file names for the root keystore file, the root keystore password
file, the agent manager keystore file, the agent manager truststore file, and the
certificate revocation list file
v key size
v whether a secure connection is used for certificate revocation list download
v certificate revocation list time to live
v the database type and version used by agent manager
To change the agent registration password, you first update the agent manager,
and then redistribute the agentTrust.jks truststore file to unregistered common
agents and to IBM Systems Director Server and any other resource managers that
remotely install common agents.
where
v new_password is the new agent registration password.
v install_root is the root directory of your IBM Systems Director Server
installation.
v app_server_root is the root directory of the IBM WebSphere Application
Server installation.
On AIX or Linux, this is typically /opt/IBM/AgentManager.
On Windows, this is typically C:\Program Files\IBM\AgentManager.
This script updates the value of the Registration.Agent.Access.Password
property in the AgentManager.properties file.
3. Start the IBM Key Management utility. Type one of the following commands:
where:
v install_root is the root directory of your IBM Systems Director Server
installation.
v app_server_root is the root directory of the IBM WebSphere Application
Server installation.
On AIX or Linux, this is typically /opt/IBM/AgentManager.
On Windows, this is typically C:\Program Files\IBM\AgentManager.
4. Open the agentTrust.jks truststore file.
a. In the IBM Key Management window, click Key Database File > Open.
b. In the Open window, set the Key database type to JKS, specify the file
name and location of the agentTrust.jks truststore file, and click OK. The
agentTrust.jks truststore file is located in one of the following directories:
where:
v install_root is the root directory of your IBM Systems Director Server
installation.
v app_server_root is the root directory of the IBM WebSphere Application
Server installation.
On AIX or Linux, this is typically /opt/IBM/AgentManager.
On Windows, this is typically C:\Program Files\IBM\AgentManager.
Note: You do not need to redistribute the truststore file to common agents
and resource managers that have successfully registered.
9. On any common agent where you redeployed the truststore file in 8, update
the agent registration password that is stored in an encrypted format in the
endpoint.properties file.
where:
v agent_registration_password is the new agent registration password.
v install_root is the root directory of your IBM Systems Director Server
installation.
v app_server_root is the root directory of the IBM WebSphere Application
Server installation.
On AIX or Linux, this is typically /opt/IBM/AgentManager.
On Windows, this is typically C:\Program Files\IBM\AgentManager.
10. If necessary, redistribute the agentTrust.jks truststore file to any IBM Systems
Director Server instances and any other resource managers that have not yet
registered. Typically, you will not have resource managers that are installed
but not registered.
11. Change the saved agent registration password for any resource manager that
uses it to deploy common agents.
12. Restart the agent manager to start using the new properties file and password.
To permanently disable Common Agent and Platform Agent on AIX, complete the
following steps:
1. Enter the following commands to stop and permanently disable the common
agent:
/opt/ibm/director/agent/runtime/agent/bin/endpoint.sh stop
/opt/ibm/director/agent/runtime/nonstop/bin/installnonstop.sh -uninstallservice
2. Enter the following command to stop the platform agent:
stopsrc -s platform_agent
Note: Task support for IBM BladeCenter products includes most blade servers,
such as x86, Power (JSxx), and cell (QSxx) blades.
For a detailed list of supported IBM BladeCenter products and blade servers, see
“Supported IBM BladeCenter products.”
Related concepts
There are two pathways along which communication between IBM Systems
Director Server and the service processors present in scalable System x and
xSeries® servers takes place: in-band communication and out-of-band
communication.
IBM Systems Director 6.1 supports in-band communication for these service
processors:
v IPMI baseboard management controller (BMC)
v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
v Integrated system management processor (ISMP)
Note: You can use only out-of-band communication with management modules.
Related tasks
Note: IBM Systems Director Server also can automatically discover the service
processor IP address that is used for out-of-band communication if you request
access to an agent that is supported by IBM Systems Director and is installed on
the system containing the service processor. For discovery to succeed, the service
processor device drivers must be installed correctly. For more information about
these agents and device drivers, see “In-band communication requirements.”
v The service processor or management module IP address can change only in the
following situations:
– Using the Configuration Templates task and the applicable templates: Service
Processor Network IP Configuration or the Management Module Network IP
Configuration
– Using the applicable Web interface for the service processor or management
module
In either of these situations, if events are configured correctly, when you change
the IP address an event is generated that updates the IP address information for
IBM Systems Director. For information about incorrect configuration, see
“Out-of-band events are not configured correctly.”
Data is transmitted between the service processor and IBM Systems Director Server
over a shared connection. The following shared connections can be used:
v A local area network (LAN), if the service processor has an integrated network
interface card (NIC) or access to a NIC shared with the server.
v An interconnect gateway. With this type of connection, data is passed from the
service processor to a second service processor. The second service processor
serves as a gateway between IBM Systems Director Server and the first service
processor.
Management modules communicate with IPMI BMC on blade servers using an
interconnect gateway.
The following table lists the pathways that are available for out-of-band
communication:
Table 33. Out-of-band communication pathways
Pathways for out-of-band Possible gateway service processors if an
Type of service processor communication interconnect network is chosen
Management module LAN Not applicable
Advanced management module
IPMI BMC v LAN v Management module
v Over an interconnect network v Advanced management module
v Integrated management module
Remote Supervisor Adapter v LAN v Remote Supervisor Adapter
Remote Supervisor Adapter II v Over an interconnect network v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
ISMP1 Over an interconnect network v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
v Management module
v Advanced management module
CIM LAN Integrated management module
1
Although the service processor in the eServer 325, 326, and 326m models is called an ISMP, it is a BMC. Use the
BMC information for this service processor.
Notes:
1. Only one of the following systems management applications can communicate
with a service processor at any given time:
v IBM Systems Director Server
v IBM Management Process Command-Line Interface (MPCLI) (also called IBM
Hardware Command-Line Interface)
Advanced management modules with firmware version BPET23A or later are
an exception. They can be configured to permit multiple simultaneous
connections. For more information, see “Out-of-band communication and the
TCP Command Mode protocol.”
2. Not all scalable IBM System x and xSeries servers are supported with the
RXE-100 Remote Expansion Enclosure. If you have one of the following servers
attached to an RXE-100 Remote Expansion Enclosure, you cannot use the
on-board Remote Supervisor Adapter as a gateway service processor:
v xSeries 360
v xSeries 365
v xSeries 440
v xSeries 445
v xSeries 455
The Remote Supervisor Adapter is dedicated to managing the RXE-100 Remote
Expansion Enclosure.
Related reference
The following IBM service processors and management modules use the standard
TCP Command Mode protocol for communication:
v Management module
v Advanced management module
v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
Advanced management modules also can communicate using the secure TCP
Command Mode protocol. For more information, see “Out-of-band communication
and the secure TCP Command Mode protocol.”
IBM Systems Director Server uses the standard TCP Command Mode protocol to
communicate with these service processors and management modules. Other IBM
programs use the standard TCP Command Mode protocol to communicate with
service processors and management modules also, for example:
v IBM Management Process Command-Line Interface (MPCLI)
v UpdateXpress
v Cluster Systems Management
If IBM Systems Director Server cannot communicate with the service processor or
management module, it can cause problems with that system. You might get errors
such as these:
v Access requests fail
v Inventory collection fails
v Configuration manager fails to deploy plans or templates
Important: Do not disable the standard TCP Command Mode protocol unless you
are changing the setting on an advanced management module that supports the
secure TCP Command Mode protocol and you are enabling that protocol.
If the affected system uses an advanced management module, you can increase the
number of connections permitted when using the standard TCP Command Mode
protocol. Log into the advanced management module Web interface and view the
Network Protocols page. On this page, the TCP Command Mode section provides
a setting that you can change to increase the number of connections. This setting is
available only for advanced management modules. The default setting for the
number of connections permitted can vary depending on the firmware version
installed. Check the TCP Command Mode section to determine the current default
setting.
IBM Systems Director Server can connect to advanced management modules using
either the secure or standard TCP Command Mode protocol, but not both at the
same time. By default, IBM Systems Director Server will attempt to use the secure
TCP Command Mode protocol. If secure TCP Command Mode is not enabled on
the advanced management module, IBM Systems Director Server will use the
standard TCP Command Mode protocol.
To change the preference of using the secure TCP Command Mode protocol first,
complete the following steps:
1. Navigate to the install_root/lwi/runtime/data/asmDefinitions.properties file,
where install_root is the root directory of your IBM Systems Director
Other IBM programs, such as these, also use the standard CIM-XML protocol to
communicate with integrated management modules:
v UpdateXpress
v Cluster Systems Management
By default, service processors are enabled to use the standard CIM protocol. When
connecting to the service processors through CIM, the ID used to connect to the
service processors is the same ID that was used to discover and unlock the system.
To change the ID used to connect to the system, follow these steps:
1. Revoke access to the system.
2. Use the other user ID to request access to the system.
When IBM Systems Director Server cannot communicate with the service
processor, you might have problems with that system, for example, access requests
might fail.
Note: Newer service processors do not use IBM Systems Director over LAN. This
alert-forwarding strategy was replaced by IBM Systems Director comprehensive.
When both strategies are available, it is recommended that you use IBM Systems
Director comprehensive also.
Note: If IBM Systems Director cannot determine the system type for any service
processor notification, IBM Systems Director identifies the source of the notification
using the IP address of the service processor that sent the notification to IBM
Systems Director Server. For example, this method might be used if a system is
configured to send notifications to IBM Systems Director Server, but IBM Systems
Director Server currently does not have a system type representing that system.
The following table lists the service processor type and its associated target
resource type.
Note: You can click any of these links to display a list of the affected IBM
BladeCenter or System x products.
v In the Common tasks area, the following links are provided:
System discovery
Click to discover systems and specific types of resources in your
network.
View servers and service processors
Click to display the servers and service processors that have been
discovered in your systems-management environment. If a server has
Common Agent or Platform Agent installed, the server is displayed.
Otherwise, IBM Systems Director must use out-of-band
communication with the service processor and the service processor
is displayed.
View monitors and set thresholds
Click to open the Monitors task. On this page, you can select a
system or group to monitor and then select a view to show. Create
your own view to group monitors of your choice.
Note: You can click any of these links to display a list of the affected
I/O-module plug-ins.
v In the Common tasks area, the following links are provided:
View I/O module plug-ins
Click to open the I/O Module Plug-ins page that lists the available
I/O-module vendor plug-ins and indicates whether any of the
plug-ins are required before you can configure the IBM BladeCenter
chassis in your environment. If a plug-in is required and is not
installed, this page directs you to the Web page from which you can
download it.
View blade servers and chassis
Click to display the blade servers, switches, and chassis that have
been discovered in your systems-management environment.
6. View the Configuration section. This section provides the following
information:
v Information about any configuration plans that have been created and set as
detect-apply plans for BladeCenter or System x systems.
v In the Common tasks area, the following links are provided:
Configuration plans
Click to view available configuration plans that you can use to
configure hardware and operating systems.
Templates
Click to view configuration templates that store device parameters
and settings for IBM BladeCenter chassis.
You also can reach the summary page by using Find a Task. For more information,
see “Finding a task.”
To download and activate I/O module plug-ins, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome.
2. Click the Manage tab.
3. On the Manage page, scroll to the IBM BladeCenter and System x section of
the page and click the section heading. The IBM BladeCenter and System x
management summary is displayed.
4. In the Setup Additional Configuration Plug-ins section, click View I/O
module plug-ins. The I/O Module Plug-ins page is displayed.
5. View the I/O module plug-ins status in the table and determine which plug-ins
you want for your environment. The following values are available for the
Status column:
Not required
An I/O module plug-in is installed, but there currently is no
discovered switch that requires the plug-in.
Required – Not installed
An I/O module plug-in that is required by a discovered switch is not
installed.
Required – Installed with Errors
An I/O module plug-in that is required by a discovered switch is
installed, but the plug-in code cannot be loaded by the I/O module.
Required – Activation required
An I/O module plug-in that is required by a discovered switch is
installed without any error, but it is not registered with the
configuration manager plug-in. Registration activates the corresponding
switch features in configuration manager.
Active An I/O module plug-in that is required by a discovered switch is
installed without any error and is registered with the configuration
manager plug-in. Registration activates the corresponding switch
features in configuration manager.
6. Click Download Plug-ins. The Web site opens in a new window.
7. Locate and download the I/O module plug-ins that are required.
8. Manually install the downloaded plug-ins on the IBM Systems Director server.
For installation instructions, see the documentation for the plug-in.
9. Click Activate Installed Plug-ins. IBM Systems Director scans the newly
installed files for the I/O module plug-ins and activates the plug-ins. The
status for each plug-in is updated in the Status column.
The following table lists configuration tasks that this version of IBM Systems
Director does not support for integrated management modules. The table also
observes alternate ways to provide the support to integrated management
modules.
Table 35. Affected configuration tasks and available workaround support
Affected configuration tasks Workaround support
SNMP configuration in configuration Configure SNMP using the IBM
manager management-module Web interface
SMTP configuration in configuration Configure SMTP using the IBM
manager management-module Web interface
Ports configuration in configuration manager Configure ports using the IBM
does not provide network port reassignment management-module Web interface
settings
Enhanced user login security configuration Configure security using the IBM
is not provided in configuration manager management-module Web interface
Integrated management modules support both secure socket layer (SSL) and
unsecure socket layer. By default, SSL is not enabled. If SSL is enabled, IBM
Systems Director will use SSL.
The Server resource loses connectivity, but will go online using the new IP address.
The Server resource loses connectivity due to the system restart. When the system
is online again, the Server resource uses the new port.
The Server resource loses connectivity due to the system restart. When the system
is online again, the Server resource uses the new IP address.
Access the Advanced Management Module (AMM) web console and verify that
the system has been configured correctly.
1. From the AMM web console, go to Scalable Complex > Configuration.
2. Find the appropriate system in the “Assigned Nodes” section. The value for
Mode must be Partition.
3. Correct the configuration, if necessary.
1. Use out-of-band communication to discover the system.
Important: If you do not complete these steps, the complex is not created.
a. Discover the BladeCenter chassis by using the AMM IP address. On the
System Discovery page, select BladeCenter as the resource type. Do not
select All.
b. Request access to the BladeCenter you just discovered. When the access
state of nodes are changed to “OK”, discovery is complete.
c. Verify that the access state for the complex and partition is “OK”.
2. Use in-band communication to discover the system.
Access the Integrated Management Module (IMM) web console and verify that the
system has been configured correctly.
1. From the IMM web console go to Scalable Partitioning > Manage Partition(s).
2. Verify that these values are shown for the system:
Table 36. Values for a correctly configured system
System Partition Mode
Started Valid Multinode
Important: If you do not complete these steps, the operating system will not
work correctly.
a. Discover the IP address of operating system running on the partition on
which the platform agent is installed.
b. Request access to the managed resource on which the operating system is
installed.
3. Request access to the System x server.
rpower command
You can use the Power On/Off task to power on and power off scalable partitions
on scalable System x servers. Scalable partitions are systems that are the logical
equivalent of a physical platform. For example, when you choose to power on a
scalable partition, you do so through out-of-band communication with the service
processor in the primary node. Subsequently all the nodes (servers) that are part of
the scalable partition are powered on and the operating system is started on the
scalable partition. If Common Agent or Platform Agent is installed on the scalable
partition, it is started also.
Note: On scalable partitions, the service processors provide support for Power On,
Power Off Now, and Restart.
Note: The Wake on LAN Power On command does not report failure or success.
To determine whether this command worked, you must verify that the affected
system was powered on as expected.
You must have access to the system to change the power state. For information
about requesting access to a system, see “Requesting access to a secured system.”
The Access type must be set to Get (or greater). This setting permits SNMP
access to the management module for the applicable trap destination:
v IBM Systems Director Server
v All incoming IP addresses with the correct community string
SNMPv3 v Management module firmware, version 3.5 or later, does not permit retrieval
of the Privacy protocol and Privacy password settings. To ensure SNMP
access, you can either:
– Use the Configure Access task to configure the SNMPv3 credentials.
– Leave these settings blank.
v Any IP address can be specified as a trap destination in the SNMPv3
configuration.
You can access hardware logs from the following service processors and
management modules:
v Intelligent Peripheral Management Interface (IPMI) baseboard management
controller (BMC)
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Management module
v Integrated management module
v Advanced management module
The following table details the available hardware-log access paths for the service
processors and management modules.
Option Description
For in-band communication Select the system.
For out-of-band communication with a Click the system to view its components.
system Select the service processor.
For out-of-band communication with a Select the chassis.
BladeCenter chassis
3. Click Actions > System Status and Health > Hardware Log.
Notes:
v For log entries retrieved from Intelligent Peripheral Management Interface
(IPMI) baseboard management controllers (BMC), the value reported in the
Severity column is always Information because the BMC does not provide this
information.
v The format of the hardware log text can vary depending on the type of service
processor and whether the information was received using in-band or
out-of-band communication.
On the Hardware Log page, you can view and work with the information in the
following ways:
v Filter the information. For more information, see “Filtering table information.”
v Sort the information. For more information, see “Sorting table information.”
v Export the information. For more information, see “Exporting table information.”
To view hardware-log information, the system must be online and you must have
access.
To refresh the hardware-log information, on the Hardware Log page, click Refresh.
The service processor or management module generates a warning event when the
hardware log is almost full.
v For the Remote Supervisor Adapter and Remote Supervisor Adapter II, the event
is generated when the hardware log is 75% full.
v For the Intelligent Peripheral Management Interface (IPMI) baseboard
management controller (BMC), the threshold is programmed in the firmware
and can vary from BMC to BMC. Typically, the IBM BMC uses the following
values:
– 75% full generates a warning event
– 90% full generates a critical event
– 100% full generates an overflow event
To clear the hardware-log information, the system must be online and you must
have access.
To save hardware-log information, the system must be online and you must have
access.
Note: Be sure the Web browser option to block pop-up windows is turned off for
the URL that you use to log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface.
Option Description
For in-band communication Select the system.
For out-of-band communication with a Click the system to view its components.
system Select the service processor.
For out-of-band communication with a Select the chassis.
BladeCenter chassis
3. Click Actions > System Status and Health > Hardware Log.
4. On the Hardware Log page, click Actions > Export.
5. In the file download window for your Web browser, click Save to Disk and
then click OK.
6. If your Web browser requires a location selection, provide it and click Save.
The data is exported and a CSV file is saved in the location that you provided.
Support for changing the locator-LED setting is provided by the following System
x and BladeCenter hardware:
v Intelligent Peripheral Management Interface (IPMI) baseboard management
controller (BMC)
Note: Not all BMCs support the locator LED. If it is not supported, the locator
LED settings are not displayed when you right-click the system and click
System Identification.
v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
v Remote I/O enclosure
v Management module
v Integrated management module
v Advanced management module
Support is available for both in-band communication and out-of-band
communication. For information about enabling in-band communication, see
“In-band communication requirements.” For information about enabling
out-of-band communication, see “Out-of-band communication requirements.”
You must have access to the system to change the locator-LED setting. For
information about requesting access to a system, see “Requesting access to a
secured system.”
Status commands
lsled command
To change the system, complete the following steps in the Light Path Diagnostic
Detailed Information window:
1. Above the table, select a resource from the list. You can select a recently viewed
resource from the list or you can click Browse to navigate to and select another
resource.
2. Click Verify LED Status. The LED information for the selected resource is
displayed.
Configuring templates
You can configure templates for use in the Configuration Manager task. These
templates can configure IBM BladeCenter products and System x servers.
IBM Systems Director provides two predefined levels for password security:
Legacy and High. If neither of these levels meets your needs, you can define a
custom security level. For more information, see “Configuring security levels for an
IBM BladeCenter management module” and “Configuring security levels for a
System x service processor.”
Legacy Security Settings
Provides the lowest level of security:
v Login profiles can have blank passwords.
v Passwords do not expire.
v Users can reuse the same password.
v There is no limitation on the frequency of password change.
v Non-supervisor login profiles are locked for 2 minutes after 5 sequential
failed-login attempts.
v If a non-blank password is used, it must be at least 5 characters long
and contain at least one numeric character.
v No alerts are generated and no profiles are disabled due to inactivity.
High Security Settings
Provides the highest level of security:
v Blank passwords cannot be used for any login profile.
v The factory-default USERID account-password must be changed
immediately upon the next login.
v The password for any new login profile or a profile that has had its
passwords changed by another authorized user must be changed upon
first access.
v The password for each user expires after 90 days.
v The value of a password must be changed at least 5 times before the
same password value can be reused.
v A user must wait at least 24 hours before changing password again.
v Non-supervisor profiles are locked for 60 minutes after 5 sequential
failed-login attempts.
v New passwords must conform to the following rules and have at least 2
characters that are different from the previous password:
– Passwords must be a minimum of 8 characters long.
– Passwords must not be a repeat or reverse of the associated user ID.
– Passwords must use no more than 3 of the same character used
consecutively.
– Passwords must contain at least three of the following combinations:
- Alphabetic characters (At least one, lowercase alphabetic character)
- Alphabetic characters (At least one, upper-case alphabetic character)
- Numeric characters (At least one numeric character)
The Legacy Security Settings and High Security Settings are described in the
following table.
The Legacy Security Settings and High Security Settings are described in the
following table.
The boot sequence is the order of devices that will be brought up during the boot
of a blade server in an IBM BladeCenter chassis. You can specify a boot sequence
of as many as four devices, but no one device can be listed in the sequence more
than once. The default boot sequence is Network, CD-ROM, Diskette, and Hard Disk
Drive 0. The No Device setting must be at the end of the sequence, for example,
CD-ROM, Diskette, Hard Disk Drive 1, No Device.
You can use these templates for BladeCenter installations that include management
modules or advanced management modules. The settings provided by these
templates might be made by way of the management module, but actually might
affect other components in the BladeCenter environment. All settings might not be
applicable for the supported components.
To configure the boot sequence for a blade server within a chassis, complete the
following steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select an appropriate target chassis from the
Template type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Boot Sequence
Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Optional: Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
7. Optional: If you want the template applied automatically, click Automatically
deploy this configuration template when notified of a matching resource.
8. Click Continue. The Blade Server Boot Sequence Configuration page is
displayed.
9. Click Create. The Blade Server Boot Sequence Configuration - Create window
is displayed.
10. In the Bay number field, select the bay number that corresponds to the blade
server for which you want to configure the boot sequence.
Note: If you select All, then all blade servers are configured with same boot
sequence order.
11. Select the first device in the Device 1 field.
12. Select the second device in the Device 2 field, and so forth for the third device
and the fourth device.
13. Click OK. Your changes for the selected bay are recorded on the Blade Server
Boot Sequence Configuration page.
14. Select the new configuration in the table.
15. Click Save to save the changes in the configuration template. If you are
updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Note: You can use these templates for BladeCenter installations that include
management modules or advanced management modules. The settings provided
by these templates might be made by way of the management module, but
actually might affect other components in the BladeCenter environment. All
settings might not be applicable for the supported components.
To create a new account for a user of the management module, you must supply a
user name, password, and access type.
Important: You must complete the following steps in this procedure or the
task will not run.
18. Select the tasks (including the task that you just created) that you want to run.
19. If you want the management module clock set to the same time as the
management server, select Set to the local time used by IBM Systems
Director Server.
20. To run the selected tasks and save the changes into the configuration template,
click Save. If you are updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
21. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
For an existing user of the management module, you can modify the password or
access type.
To modify an existing account for a user of the management module, complete the
following steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select an appropriate target chassis from the
Template type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Management Module
Login Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
Important: You must complete the following steps in this procedure or the
task will not run.
17. Select the tasks (including the task that you just created) that you want to run.
18. To run the selected tasks and save the changes into the configuration template,
click Save. If you are updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
19. To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Delete accounts for the management module when they are no longer needed.
To delete an account for a user of the management module, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select an appropriate target chassis from the
Template type list.
Important: You must complete the following steps in this procedure or the
task will not run.
14. Select the tasks (including the task that you just created) that you want to run.
15. To run the selected tasks and save the changes into the configuration template,
click Save. If you are updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
16. To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Note: You can use this template for BladeCenter installations that include
advanced management modules only. Although some settings are supported by
firmware version BPET26B or later, to have support for all the settings in this
template, you must install firmware version BPET32D or later.
To specify the security level for a management module, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select an appropriate target chassis from the
Template type list.
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
11. In the User login password required list, specify whether you want to require
passwords when users log in to the management module or service processor:
nothing selected
No selection has been made. If you save with this selection, the User
login password required property is not applied.
Activated
A password is required for user login.
Deactivated
A password is not required for user login.
12. Type the password expiration period, in days. Valid values are 0 - 365, where
0 indicates a password that will never expire.
13. Optional: Select the minimum password reuse cycle. Valid values are 1 - 5.
This field indicates the number of unique passwords that must be used before
a previously used password can be repeated. To indicate that there is no
password reuse cycle, select Disabled.
14. Optional: Select the complex password rules:
nothing selected
No selection has been made. If you save with this selection, the
Complex password rules property is not applied.
Activated
Performs checking to reject trivial passwords.
Deactivated
Does not perform checking to reject trivial passwords.
15. Optional: Select the minimum different characters in the password. This
option is disabled until the Complex password rules option is enabled and
the Minimum password reuse cycle has a value other than 0. Valid values are
between 1 and 15. It is the number of characters in the password that are not
the same. For example, a password of AAAAAA has zero different characters.
Select Disabled to indicate that there is no minimum different characters
requirement.
16. Optional: Select the maximum number of login failures. The number of times
that a user can attempt to log in with an incorrect password before the
account is locked for security reasons. Specify a number between 1 - 10. Select
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
23. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Note: You can use these templates for BladeCenter installations that include
management modules or advanced management modules. The settings provided
by these templates might be made by way of the management module, but
actually might affect other components in the BladeCenter environment. All
settings might not be applicable for the supported components.
To specify the SNMPv1 and SNMPv3 protocols for the management module,
complete the following steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select an appropriate target chassis from the
Template type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Management Module
Network SNMP Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
Option Description
SNMPv1 settings See “Specifying SNMPv1 options for an IBM
BladeCenter management module”
SNMPv3 settings See “Specifying SNMPv3 options for an IBM
BladeCenter management module”
Configure the options used by IBM Systems Director to access the management
module using the SNMPv1 protocol.
To specify the SNMPv1 protocol for a management module, complete the following
steps:
1. If you have not already done so, click the SNMPv1 tab on the Management
Module SNMP Configuration page. A table of SNMP communities is
displayed.
2. Select an SNMPv1 agent state:
nothing-selected
Nothing is configured if this field is left blank.
Activated
The SNMP agent is active.
Deactivated
The SNMP agent is not active.
3. In the Trap state list, select a status:
nothing-selected
Nothing is configured if this field is left blank.
Activated
SNMP agents can asynchronously provide important but unsolicited
information, such as extraordinary events.
Deactivated
The trap state is not being used. This setting is the default.
4. In the Contact information field, type the name of a person responsible for
the management module. This field accepts any ASCII words, such as a name,
e-mail address, and so forth.
5. In the Location field, type a description of the physical location of the
management module. This field accepts any ASCII words, such as a building
name or number, floor, column, geographic region, city, country, and so forth.
6. In the Community table, click Create. The Create New Community window is
displayed.
7. Select a community index. Valid values are 1, 2, or 3.
8. Select the access type:
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
16. If you want to specify SNMPv3 settings, see “Specifying SNMPv3 options for
an IBM BladeCenter management module” for the applicable steps.
17. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Configure the options used by IBM Systems Director to access the management
modules using the SNMPv3 protocol.
To specify the SNMPv3 protocol for a management module, complete the following
steps:
1. If you have not already done so, click the SNMPv3 tab on the Management
Module SNMP Configuration page.
2. Select an SNMPv3 agent state:
nothing-selected
Nothing is configured if this field is left blank.
Activated
The SNMP agent is active.
Deactivated
The SNMP agent is not active.
3. Select the trap state:
nothing-selected
Nothing is configured if this field is left blank.
Activated
SNMP agents can asynchronously provide important but unsolicited
information, such as extraordinary events.
Deactivated
The trap state is not being used. This setting is the default.
4. Type a unique user ID in the User ID field. This user ID is one of the 12 user
IDs that the management module supports regardless of protocol and is
usable for non-SNMP access as well.
5. Select the access type:
Chapter 10. Managing IBM BladeCenter and System x systems 467
Get All hosts in the community can receive traps and query Management
Information Base (MIB) objects. This value is the default.
Set All hosts in the community can receive traps, and query and set MIB
objects.
Trap All hosts in the community can receive traps.
6. Type a unique profile name in the Profile name field.
7. In the Authentication settings area, complete the following steps:
a. Select the protocol. The following choices are valid:
None No encryption.
MD5 A type of message algorithm that converts a message of arbitrary
length into a 128-bit message digest. This algorithm is used for
digital signature applications where a large message must be
compressed in a secure manner.
SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm) An encryption method in which data is
encrypted in a way that is mathematically impossible to reverse.
Different data can possibly produce the same hash value, but there
is no way to use the hash value to determine the original data.
b. Type the password for the user in the Password field. The user ID and
password directly correspond to the user ID and password for non-SNMP
management module access. There is a maximum of 12 user accounts, and
those user accounts are used for SNMPv1 as well as for other access (for
example, Web access).
c. Type the same password in the Confirmation password field.
8. In the Privacy settings area, complete the following steps:
a. Select the protocol. Valid choices are none and DES (Date Encryption
standard).
b. Type the password for the user in the Password field.
c. Type the same password in the Confirmation password field.
9. Type the value for the trap IP address or host name.
10. Click Save to save the changes in the configuration template. If you are
updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
11. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
You can use these templates for BladeCenter installations that include management
modules or advanced management modules. The settings provided by these
templates might be made by way of the management module, but actually might
affect other components in the BladeCenter environment. All settings might not be
applicable for the supported components. While management modules and
advanced management modules support a number of ports, they support the
configuration of only some of these ports.
Note: When this page is displayed for the first time, the default port numbers that
shipped with IBM Systems Director for each network service are displayed.
To change the port numbers for a management module, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select an appropriate target chassis from the
Template type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Management Module
Ports Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Optional: Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
Alert notification is the process of sending information about the alert to an alert
recipient.
Each type of alert has associated alert settings. Alert settings specify whether a
particular category of alert causes alert notifications to be sent to the alert
recipients and also other details about the alerts in the category. The other details
about the alerts for an IBM BladeCenter management module include retry limit,
delay time between retries, and whether to include a log file with the alert.
When an alert in a category that has alert notification enabled occurs, the alert
recipients are notified. Selecting the IBM Systems Director Comprehensive
notification type causes the enabled or disabled alert notification setting to be
ignored and everything to be sent to a specified recipient. In order for this process
to work, you must configure both alert recipients and alert settings.
If an alert recipient is to receive notification using e-mail, the event log can be
included. This feature is not available for alert recipients who receive notification
through other means.
Configure alert settings for an IBM BladeCenter management module so that only
the alerts that are important to your installation cause notification to be sent to the
alert recipient. These alert settings apply to all alert recipients. You cannot specify
different settings for individual alert recipients.
You can use these templates for BladeCenter installations that include management
modules or advanced management modules. The settings provided by these
templates might be made by way of the management module, but actually might
affect other components in the BladeCenter environment. All settings might not be
applicable for the supported components.
If you are updating the configuration in real time, this selection is already
made for you by IBM Systems Director querying the firmware level of the
target device. In some cases, both legacy and enhanced monitored-alert
settings are displayed.
13. For each alert category (Critical, Warning, and System), select the alert
categories to enable for notification.
14. Click Save to save the changes in the configuration template. If you are
updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
15. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Alert recipients are those people or targets that are notified when an alert in a
category having alert notification enabled for an IBM BladeCenter management
module occurs.
Important: Only one alert recipient is permitted. If more than one management
server discovers and manages the management module, alerts might be lost.
Use this procedure to delete an alert recipient and associated user ID. When you
delete an alert recipient from the table, the recipient is removed from the
configuration template, but the user ID that has been created remains. To delete
this user ID, create a new task with the task name “Delete Account.”
To delete an alert recipient and the associated user ID, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select an appropriate target chassis from the
Template type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Management Module
Alert Recipient.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Optional: Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
7. Optional: If you want the template applied automatically, click Automatically
deploy this configuration template when notified of a matching resource.
8. Click Continue. The Management Module Alert Recipient page is displayed.
9. Select the alert recipient that you want to delete.
10. Click Delete.
11. In the confirmation window, click OK to verify the deletion. The entry for this
user is deleted from the table.
12. Click Create.
13. In the Select a task list, select Delete Recipient.
14. Select an index for this recipient.
15. Click OK. The Management Module Alert Recipient page is displayed with
the new recipient in the table.
16. In the table, select the new Delete Account task to run.
17. Click Save to save the changes in the configuration template. If you are
updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
18. To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Note: You can use this template for BladeCenter installations that include
advanced management modules only. The settings provided by this template might
To configure the network resources for a blade server, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select an appropriate target chassis from the
Template type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Management Network
Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Optional: Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
7. Optional: If you want the template applied automatically, click Automatically
deploy this configuration template when notified of a matching resource.
8. Click Continue. The Management Network Configuration page is displayed.
9. Type the VLAN ID.
10. Type the Blade System Management Processor (BSMP) IP address range
(Starting IP address).
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
22. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
17. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
You now can use the IP address pool on configuration pages that provide the Get
IP address from IP address pool selection.
Note: You can use this template for systems that include the following service
processors:
v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
v Baseboard management controller (BMC)
This template is supported for scalable system partitions, as long as they use an
RSA service processor.
You can use this template for System x servers. The settings provided by this
template might be made by way of the service processor or the Common Agent or
To create a new account for a user of a service processor, you must supply a user
name, password, and access type.
To create a new account of a user of the service processor, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select Stand-alone server from the Template
type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Service Processor Login
Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Optional: Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
7. Optional: If you want the template applied automatically, click Automatically
deploy this configuration template when notified of a matching resource.
8. Click Continue. The Service Processor Login Configuration page is displayed.
9. Click Create Task. The Create Service Processor Login window is displayed.
10. In the Select a task list, select Create New Account.
11. In the User name field, type the unique user name for the account.
12. In the Password field, type the password for the account. The password must
meet the following criteria:
v Alphanumeric characters only
v 5 - 15 characters
v At least 1 alphabetic character
v At least 1 numeric character
13. In the Confirmation password field, type the password again for the account.
If the passwords do not match, an error message is displayed.
14. In the User access list, select the user access permission for the account.
Administrator
The user is to have full administrator access to the service processor.
Read-only
The user cannot change any information on the service processor.
15. Click OK. The Service Processor Login Configuration page is displayed with
the new task.
Important: You must complete the following steps in this procedure or the
task will not be run.
16. Select the tasks (including the task that you just created) that you want to run.
17. Click Save to run the selected tasks and save the changes into the
configuration template. If you are updating the configuration in real time,
click Deploy.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
For an existing user of a service processor, you can modify the password or access
type.
Important: You must complete the following steps in this procedure or the
task will not be run.
16. Select the tasks (including the task that you just created) that you want to run.
17. To run the selected tasks and save the changes into the configuration template,
click Save. If you are updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
18. To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Delete accounts for a service processor when they are no longer needed.
To delete an account for a user of a service processor, complete the following steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select Stand-alone server from the Template
type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Service Processor Login
Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
7. If you want the template applied automatically, click Automatically deploy
this configuration template when notified of a matching resource.
8. Click Continue. The Service Processor Login Configuration page is displayed.
9. Click Create Task. The Create Service Processor Login window is displayed.
10. In the Select a task list, select Delete Account.
11. Type the user name of the account to be deleted.
12. Click OK. The Service Processor Login Configuration page is displayed with
the new task.
Important: You must complete the following steps in this procedure or the
task will not be run.
13. Select the tasks (including the task that you just created) that you want to run.
14. To run the selected tasks and save the changes into the configuration template,
click Save. If you are updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
15. To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
You can use this template for System x servers and scalable system partitions that
include a Remote Supervisor Adapter II. The settings provided by this template
might be made by way of the Remote Supervisor Adapter II or the Common Agent
or Platform Agent, but the settings actually might affect other components in the
server. All settings might not be applicable for the supported components.
To specify the security level for a service processor, complete the following steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
11. In the User login password required list, specify whether you want to require
passwords when users log in to the management module or service processor:
nothing selected
No selection has been made. If you save with this selection, the User
login password required property is not applied.
Activated
A password is required for user login.
Deactivated
A password is not required for user login.
12. Type the password expiration period, in days. Valid values are 0 - 365, where
0 indicates a password that will never expire.
13. Select the minimum password reuse cycle. Valid values are 1 - 5. This field
indicates the number of unique passwords that must be used before a
previously used password can be repeated. To indicate that there is no
password reuse cycle, select Disabled.
14. Select a setting to indicate whether the user will be forced to change the
password at the time of the first access:
nothing selected
No selection has been made. If you save with this selection, the
Require the user to change the password on first access property is
not be applied.
Activated
The user is required to change the password on the first login.
Deactivated
The user is not required to change the password on the first login.
15. Click Save to save the changes in the configuration template. If you are
updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
Note: You can use this template for systems that include the following service
processors:
v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
v Baseboard management controller (BMC)
This template is supported for scalable system partitions, as long as they use an
RSA service processor.
You can use this template for System x servers. The settings provided by this
template might be made by way of the service processor or the Common Agent or
Platform Agent, but the settings actually might affect other components in the
server. All settings might not be applicable for the supported components.
To specify the network IP for a System x service processor, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select Stand-alone server from the Template
type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Service Processor
Network IP Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Optional: Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
7. Click Continue. The Service Processor Network IP Configuration page is
displayed.
8. Click Add. The Create Network IP Configuration window is displayed.
9. Select the type of node that you want to configure.
10. If you selected Secondary node, specify the index in the Index list. The
minimum value permitted is 1 and there is no maximum value.
11. Select the DHCP setting from the DHCP list.
Activated
DHCP is activated.
Deactivated
DHCP is deactivated; that is, the DHCP function will not be used. The
service processor will use a static IP address.
If DHCP fails, use static IP configuration
If DHCP is used and fails while running, use the static IP address
information.
12. Click OK.
13. On the Service Processor Network IP Configuration page, select the node that
you created.
14. Click Save to save the changes in the configuration template. If you are
updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Note: You can use this template for systems that include the following service
processors:
v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
This template is supported for scalable system partitions, as long as they use an
RSA service processor.
You can use this template for System x servers. The settings provided by this
template might be made by way of the service processor or the Common Agent or
Platform Agent, but the settings actually might affect other components in the
server. All settings might not be applicable for the supported components.
To specify the SNMPv1 protocols for the service processor, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select Stand-alone server from the Template
type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Service Processor
Network SNMP Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Optional: Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
7. Click Continue. The Service Processor SNMP Configuration page is displayed.
8. Select an SNMPv1 agent state:
nothing-selected
Nothing is configured if this field is left blank.
Activated
The SNMP agent is active.
Deactivated
The SNMP agent is not active.
9. In the Trap state list, select a status:
nothing-selected
Nothing is configured if this field is left blank.
Activated
SNMP agents can asynchronously provide important but unsolicited
information, such as extraordinary events.
Deactivated
The trap state is not being used. This setting is the default.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
22. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
You can use this template for System x servers and scalable system partitions that
include a Remote Supervisor Adapter II. The settings provided by this template
might be made by way of the Remote Supervisor Adapter II or the Common Agent
or Platform Agent, but the settings actually might affect other components in the
server. All settings might not be applicable for the supported components.
Note: When this page is displayed for the first time, the default port numbers that
shipped with IBM Systems Director for each network service are displayed.
To change the port numbers for the service processor, complete the following steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select Stand-alone server from the Template
type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Service Processor Ports
Configuration.
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
12. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Note: You can use this template for systems that include the following service
processors:
v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
v Baseboard management controller (BMC)
This template is supported for scalable system partitions, as long as they use an
RSA service processor.
You can use this template for System x servers. The settings provided by this
template might be made by way of the service processor or the Common Agent or
Platform Agent, but the settings actually might affect other components in the
server. All settings might not be applicable for the supported components.
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
18. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
To delete an alert recipient and the associated user ID, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select Stand-alone server from the Template
type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select Service Processor Alert
Recipient.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Optional: Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
7. Optional: If you want the template applied automatically, click Automatically
deploy this configuration template when notified of a matching resource.
8. Click Continue. The Service Processor Alert Recipient page is displayed.
9. Select the alert recipient that you want to delete.
10. Click Delete.
11. In the confirmation window, click OK to verify the deletion. The entry for this
user is deleted from the table.
12. Click Create.
13. In the Select a task list, select Delete Recipient.
14. Select an index for this recipient.
15. Click OK. The Service Processor Alert Recipient page is displayed with the
new recipient in the table.
16. In the table, select the new Delete Account task to run.
17. Click Save to save the changes in the configuration template. If you are
updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
18. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Note: You can use this template for systems that include the following service
processors:
v Remote Supervisor Adapter
v Remote Supervisor Adapter II
This template is supported for scalable system partitions, as long as they use an
RSA service processor.
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
15. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Note: All settings in a template might not be supported for a particular switch.
Vendor provided plugins are used to implement the configuration settings, and
either the plugin or the switch might not support certain configuration settings.
For more information about vendor plugns, see "Downloading and activating
BladeCenter I/O module plug-ins" and "Downloading and activating
non-BladeCenter partner plug-in extensions".
Note: This field is only shown if you chose a BladeCenter chassis for
Template type in step 3.
b. Optional: Click Reset to factory-default settings to reset the switch back to
initial factory settings and to use the switch's factory-default user name
and password to log into the switch.
c. If you do not want to define user-account information at this time, click
Do not define a new account configuration at this time.
d. If you do want to define user-account information, you can choose to click
Use an account configuration provided by a user-authentication template
to select previously created user-account information from a
user-authentication template. Otherwise, you can click Use the specified
account configuration:
1) Specify the user name that is used to log into the switch. This user
name is validated by the vendor-provided plugin. A default user ID of
USERID can be used for BladeCenter switch modules. Other switches
might have different default user IDs.
Notes:
v IPv4 addresses are accepted for all switches. IPv6 addresses are accepted
for some switches. This depends on whether the vendor-provided plugin
for the switch supports IPv6 addresses.
v For IPv6, the Subnet Mask field should contain the integer IPv6 subnet
prefix length, not a mask value.
e. In the HTTP list, select the type of access to grant to the switch when IBM
Systems Director uses the HTTP protocol:
nothing selected
Specifies no selection.
Activate_read_only
Enables using the HTTP protocol, but in read-only mode.
Activate
Enables the HTTP protocol on the switch.
Deactivate
Disables the HTTP protocol on the switch.
f. In the Telnet list, select the type of access to be granted to the switch when
IBM Systems Director uses the Telnet protocol.
nothing selected
Specifies no selection.
Activate_read_only
Enables using the Telnet protocol, but in read-only mode.
Activate
Enables the Telnet protocol on the switch.
Note: IPv4 addresses and host names are accepted for all switches. IPv6
addresses are accepted for some switches. This depends on whether the
vendor-provided plugin for the switch supports IPv6 addresses.
f. Click OK.
13. Click the Port Configuration tab.
a. In the External ports list, select the type of access to grant to the switch
when IBM Systems Director uses an external port:
nothing selected
Specifies that there is nothing configured
Activate_read_only
Enable external ports but do not permit changes to the port
configuration information
Activate
Enable external ports and permit changes to the port configuration
information
Deactivate
Disable external ports
14. If the I/O Protected Mode tab is visible, then the BladeCenter switch module
provides support for I/O protected mode. Click the I/O Protected Mode tab
to configure I/O Protected Mode settings.
15. In the Protected mode field, set the protected mode state to either Deactivate
or Activate.
16. Configure the Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) settings.
a. In the VLAN ID field, type the new VLAN ID for the switch when it is in
protected mode. Valid values are 1 - 4095.
b. From the Interface number list, select the interface number for the new
VLAN when it is in protected mode.
Note: IPv4 addresses and host names are accepted for all switches. IPv6
addresses are accepted for some switches. This depends on whether the
vendor-provided plugin for the switch supports IPv6 addresses.
f. In the External ports table, select at least one port.
17. Configure the switch I/O-protected-mode properties. The following settings
are available:
Activate_read_only
Starts the switch, but does not permit changes to any of the
configuration information on the switch
Activate
Starts the switch and permits changes to the configuration information
Deactivate
Stops the switch
a. Select the access type for the IP address parameters setting.
b. Select the access type for the External port access setting.
c. Select the access type for the External port management setting.
d. Select the access type for the Reset to factory-default settings setting.
18. Click Save to save the changes in the configuration template. If you are
updating the configuration in real time, click Deploy.
Important: If you close the page without making a selection and clicking
Save, no changes are made to the template and the information that you
entered is lost.
19. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
You can use these templates for BladeCenter installations that include management
modules or advanced management modules. The settings provided by these
templates might be made by way of the management module, but actually might
affect other components in the BladeCenter environment. All settings might not be
applicable for the supported components. Both the management modules and
advanced management modules provide settings for Ethernet and Converged
Enhanced Ethernet switches in these templates.
Note: All settings in a template might not be supported for a particular switch.
Vendor provided plugins are used to implement the configuration settings, and
either the vendor plugin or the switch might not support certain VLAN
Note: The Bay number menu is greyed out for stand-alone (non-BladeCenter)
switches.
11. Click Next.
12. On the VLAN configuration page, click Create to create one or more new
VLAN configurations. The Create VLAN Configuration window is displayed.
13. In the Select a task list, select Create a new VLAN configuration.
14. Type a unique VLAN name. Valid names can be 1 - 32 characters in length.
15. Type the VLAN ID. The ID is a unique number that identifies the VLAN.
Valid values range from 2 - 4094. A value of 1 is reserved for the default
VLAN.
16. Select a VLAN type.
Note: Only the settings supported by the switch module are displayed.
Accept all
The port accepts both tagged and untagged frames.
Accept tagged
The port accepts only tagged frames.
Accept none
The port will not accept packets with this VLAN ID.
No support
The port does not support this functionality.
30. Select whether to activate the GARP VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP)
status. GVRP dynamically adds VLANs to port egress lists across a domain.
31. Specify whether you want to activate the ingress filtering. Ports performing
ingress filtering discard any frame received that has a VLAN classification that
is not on the egress list of the port. Activate is the default setting.
32. Click OK to return to the VLAN port configuration table. The new VLAN
port configuration is displayed in the table.
33. Click Next.
34. On the Summary page, review your selections.
35. Optional: If you want to change any selections, click Back or select the page
from the wizard navigation area.
36. When you are satisfied with your selections, click Finish.
To configure a user to log into an IBM BladeCenter chassis, complete the following
steps:
1. On the Configuration manager summary page, locate the Configuration tasks
section and click Create a configuration template.
2. On the Configuration Templates page, click Create.
3. In the Create Template window, select an appropriate target chassis from the
Template type list.
4. In the Configuration to create a template list, select User Authentication
Configuration.
5. Type a name in the Configuration template name field.
6. Optional: Type a description in the Configuration template description field.
7. Optional: If you want the template applied automatically, click Automatically
deploy this configuration template when notified of a matching resource.
8. Click Continue. The User Authentication Configuration page is displayed.
9. Type a unique user ID in the User ID field. A user ID can contain only letters
and numbers and the length must be 1 - 8 characters.
10. Type a password for the user in the Password field. A password can contain
only letters and numbers and must contain at least one letter and one number.
Also, the password must be 8 characters long.
11. Type the password again in the Confirmation password field.
12. Click Save to save the changes in the configuration template.
13. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
Notes:
v This template provides the function that was previously provided in earlier
versions of IBM Director by the Network Configuration task.
v The settings in this template are applied to the system by way of the Common
Agent or Platform Agent.
Option Description
Use DHCP to obtain an IP address 1. Select Activate in the DHCP list.
2. Go to step 13
Do not use DHCP to obtain an IP address 1. Select Deactivate in the DHCP list.
2. Go to step 11
11. If you want to obtain the IP address from the IP address pool, click Get an IP
address from the IP address pool and select an IP-address pool template.
Then, go to step 13. (For information about the IP address pool, see
“Configuring the IP address pool for IBM BladeCenter and System x servers.”)
12. If you want to specify the IP address, click Use the specified IP address and
type the IP address, gateway, and subnet mask.
13. Click Next.
14. On the DNS domain page, in the Suffix field, type the DNS domain for the
specified network adapter setting.
15. On the DNS server search order page, specify the DNS-server search order by
completing the following steps:
a. In the Server IP address field, type the DNS server IP address and click
Add. The IP address is added to the Server search order list.
b. To change the order of a server in the list, select the IP address and click
Up or Down to adjust the order.
c. To update an IP address, select the IP address to update in the Server
search order list, type the new information in the Server IP address field,
and click Update.
d. To remove an IP address, select the IP address and click Remove.
16. Click Next. If you are configuring network adapter settings for a system
running Windows, the WINS page is displayed. Otherwise, the Summary page
is displayed.
17. (Windows only) On the WINS page, type the IP address for the primary and
secondary servers. Then, click Next.
18. On the Summary page, verify the details of the configuration settings. If you
need to make changes, click Back.
19. When you are done editing the configuration settings, click Finish.
The configuration settings are saved and are displayed on the Network Adapter
page.
To set the search order for the DNS suffix, complete the following steps:
1. On the Network Configuration page, click the DNS Suffix Search Order tab.
2. On the DNS Suffix Search Order page, specify the DNS server search order by
completing the following steps:
a. In the Suffix field, type the DNS server suffix and click Add. The IP
address is added to the Suffix search order list.
b. To change the order of a server in the list, select the suffix and click Up or
Down to adjust the order.
c. To update a suffix, select the suffix to update in the Suffix search order list,
type the new information in the Suffix field, and click Update.
d. To remove a suffix, select the suffix and click Remove.
3. When you are done editing the suffix order, click Save. If you are updating the
configuration in real time, click Deploy. To discard any changes you have
made, click Cancel. To reset the settings to the previously saved values, click
Reset. You still must click Save to save the restored settings.
Note: Only the Computer name field is valid for managed systems running
Linux or IBM i operating systems.
3. Specify whether you want the specified system to be a member of a domain or
a workgroup and type the domain name or workgroup name in the associated
field.
4. If you selected Domain, specify a user account permission to join the domain
by providing the user name and password of the account.
5. When you are finished editing the settings, click Save. If you are updating the
configuration in real time, click Deploy. To discard any changes you have
made, click Cancel. To reset the settings to the previously saved values, click
Reset and then click Save to save the restored settings.
Notes:
v This template provides the function that was previously provided in earlier
versions of IBM Director by the System Accounts task.
v The settings in this template are applied to the system by way of the Common
Agent or Platform Agent.
Notes:
v The settings in this template are applied to the system by way of the Common
Agent or Platform Agent.
v This task is not supported if you have installed the IBM Systems Director 6.2.1
Tech Preview KVM Platform Agent for Linux on x86-64.
Note: For IBM Systems Director 6.2.0 and higher agents, these Windows-only
fields are ignored:
User must change the password at next logon
User cannot change the password
Password never expires
Account is inactive
Home Folder drive
a. In the User name field, type the operating-system account user name.
b. Optional: In the Full name field, type the full name for the user of the
account.
c. Optional: (IBM i and Windows only) In the Description field, type a
description for the user account.
d. (Windows only) Specify whether the user account is locked out.
13. Click Next.
14. In the Available groups list on the Membership page, select one or more
system-account groups to which this user account belongs and click Add. The
selected groups are moved to the Selected groups list.
Option Description
For IBM i and Linux 1. In the Shell field, type the shell name
that the user will use after logging in, for
example, /bin/bash.
2. In the Home directory field, type the
home directory for the user profile.
For Windows 1. Optional: In the Path field, type the
configuration file path. Specify this value
if you want to use a user profile
configuration file. For example,
\\server_name\profiles_folder_name\
user_name.
2. In the Logon script field, type the logon
script.
3. In the Home Folder area, select Local
path to specify the local path for the
home folder; otherwise, complete the
following steps to assign a home folder
on a network server:
a. Click Connect and click a hard disk
drive from the list.
b. In the To field, type a network path,
for example, \\server\users\
username, where username is the user
name that you specified on the
General page.
Note: If you are updating the configuration in real time, the date and time
that the password was last changed is displayed.
a. Type the number of days to retain a password.
b. Type the number of days after which the password must be changed.
c. Type the number of days before the password expires to warn the user
that the password is preparing to expire.
d. Type the number of days after which the password will expire.
e. Set the password expiration date. Click the calendar icon to select a date
and click OK.
20. Click Next.
21. On the Summary page, verify the details of the user account. If you need to
make changes, click Back.
22. When you are finished editing the user account, click Finish.
Notes:
v The settings in this template are applied to the system by way of the Common
Agent or Platform Agent.
v This task is not supported if you have installed the IBM Systems Director 6.2.1
Tech Preview KVM Platform Agent for Linux on x86-64.
Notes:
The information that you provide in this task is written to the EEPROM. For
systems that are not enabled for Enhanced Asset Information Area (EAIA), this
information is written to the asset.dat file in the data directory on the managed
system. The asset.dat file is deleted when IBM Systems Director is uninstalled.
The amount of information that you can store is limited. The task dynamically
calculates the amount of space that is remaining for storage and reports that
amount on each page.
The settings in this template are applied to the system by way of the Common
Agent or Platform Agent.
Note: If you specify an end date for the lease, a warning event is
generated when the lease ends.
Term The length in months of the contract
Lease rate factor (%)
A percentage that, when multiplied by the cost, gives the periodic
lease payment amount
Payment
The amount of money that results from multiplying the value by the
cost, lease rate factor, and term
Buyout
The amount of money required to purchase the leased property at the
end of the lease term
Future market value
The price a buyer will pay a seller for the leased property, as is
13. To set the asset information, click the Asset tab. You can provide the following
information on the Asset page:
Purchase date
The date the system was purchased
Last inventoried
The date the system was last inventoried
Asset number
The asset number assigned to the managed system
Important: If you close this page without clicking Save, no changes are made
to the template and the information that you entered is lost.
17. Optional: To return to the Templates page, click Cancel.
IBM Power Systems can all be completely managed by IBM Systems Director with
capabilities such as discovery, inventory, status, monitoring, power management,
and the functionality available with update manager, automation manager, and
virtualization manager.
IBM Systems Director can manage the following IBM Power environments that
might include POWER5 and POWER6 processor-based servers running AIX, IBM i
(formerly i5/OS), or Linux:
v Power Systems managed by the Hardware Management Console
v Power Systems managed by the Integrated Virtualization Manager
v A Power Systems server with a single image (a nonpartitioned configuration)
v A Power Architecture BladeCenter server under the control of a BladeCenter
management module
The following table lists terms used in IBM Systems Director, maps them to any
similar terms that exist in a Power Systems environment, and provides a definition
for the terms.
To utilize the features available in IBM Systems Director Console for AIX, you
must be running AIX, Version 6.1.0 or later.
Note: To access the AIX management tasks, ensure that you meet the following
requirements:
v You must have SMAdministrator authority for IBM Systems Director.
v You must have requested access to the AIX system, and configured credentials. If
the Access column for the AIX managed system lists something other than OK,
check these items to proceed with AIX management tasks.
For more information about the AIX tasks that you can perform, see the AIX
information in the IBM Systems Information Center.
IBM Systems Director enables you to complete many IBM i management tasks in
the following categories:
v Basic Operations
v Configuration and Service
v Database
v File Systems
v Integrated Server Administration
v Internet Configurations
v Journal Management
v Network
v Performance
v Security
v System
v Users and groups
v Work Management
You can use IBM Systems Director to perform a variety of management tasks on
systems that are under the control of HMC or IVM:
v Power management
v Creating virtual servers (logical partitions)
v Editing virtual server resources
v Relocating virtual servers between host systems
IBM Systems Director also includes a considerable amount of extended tasks that
are available in the HMC or IVM interfaces, and accessible by IBM Systems
Director through launch-in-context functionality. The following list includes some
examples of extended tasks that can be accessed in the HMC and IVM interfaces:
v Update Licensed Internal Code
v Work with system plans
v Manage TCP/IP settings
v Manage user profiles
v Manage serviceable events
v Manage Capacity On Demand
v Modify logical partition settings
Note: You should discover and manage an HMC from only one management
server. Managing an HMC from multiple management servers can cause
performance problems due to the amount of memory that is required.
Complete the following steps to start extended tasks in the HMC or IVM
interfaces:
Note: Ensure that you have requested access to your HMC or IVM, and that the
access status is displayed as Full Access or OK.
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources.
To view the Power Systems Management summary, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome.
2. On the Welcome page, click Manage, scroll to the Power Systems Management
portion of the page, and click the Power Systems Management section heading.
The Power Systems Management summary is displayed.
3. View the Power Systems Resource Status section. This section provides the
following information:
v A pie chart and corresponding list that indicate the number of virtual servers
with the following types of status:
Critical
Warning
Informational
OK
v Links to the following tasks that you can use to view and manage your
resources:
– Health summary
– Event log
where
v library is the library for the event monitor
v message_queue is the message queue for the event monitor
v messageID (optional) is the ID of the event monitor
The IBM i.Message Queue field automatically provides the common
message queue event prefix, which is OS/400.msgq. You type only the
unique portion of the message queue event. Consider the following
examples that assume the library is QSYS and the message queue is
QSYSOPR:
v To specify all message IDs, type QSYS/QSYSOPR
v To specify a message ID of CPF1234, type QSYS/QSYSOPR.CPF1234
v To specify any message ID that starts with the characters CPF, type
QSYS/QSYSOPR. Then, on the Event Text page, specify that you want to
look for the characters CPF. For more information on the Event Text
page, see step 14
b. Click Add to add the message to the list of Selected IBM i event types
c. When you are finished adding messages, click Next.
12. On the Severity and Category page, specify the severities and categories that
you want to include, then click Next. Select Default to include events of all
severities and categories. Select Custom to specify one or more severities and
categories.
13. On the Event Sender page, you can add any specific event senders that you
want to include in the filter. The filter is triggered when a specified sender
generates an event that you included in the filter.
a. Select a sender from the Systems list, then click Add to add it to the
Selected senders list.
b. To add a sender that does not appear in the Systems list, type the name of
the sender in the Additional sender field, then click Add.
c. When you are finished adding senders, click Next.
The event automation plan is saved and is displayed in the Event Automation
Plans page.
1. Power On/Off and Restart is supported on IBM Director Agent version 5.20 and
Agentless systems.
2. Power On/Off and Restart support provided for Agentless-, Platform Agent-, or
Common Agent-managed systems.
Note: Power On/Off and Restart support is also provided for Integrated
Virtualization Manager and Virtual I/O Server.
You must have access to the system to change the power state. For information
about requesting access to a system, see “Requesting access to a secured system.”
System z virtualization
This topic provides information about the System z virtualization technologies.
You can use a number of LPARs to concurrently run multiple instances of z/VM
while other LPARs run other mainframe operating systems. Each z/VM can run a
multitude of mainframe operating systems, including instances of z/VM itself.
For more detailed information about the z/VM operating system, see the "z/VM
PDF files" at the z/VM library.
A core component of the z/VM operating system is the control program (CP). CP
is a virtualization layer that runs on the System z machine architecture and
efficiently provides multiple independent simulated System z machines known as
virtual servers (also known as virtual machines in z/VM terminology). Any program
that can run natively on a System z machine, such as an operating system, can
instead be run in a virtual server. To such a program, the virtual server appears to
be real System z hardware. The resources (processors, memory, I/O devices, and so
on) of each virtual server are provided by CP, using a fraction of the real hardware
resources. Each virtual server has a unique identifier called the user ID.
Figure 1 shows several virtual servers running guest operating systems and the
virtual resources provided to them by CP.
z/VM uses the z/VM user directory to keep track of its virtual servers. For each
virtual server, there is a directory entry with a number of statements that define its
characteristics.
For example, the directory entry defines the processing power, memory size
(virtual storage, in z/VM terminology), disk access permissions and other
privileges.
The directory is well-protected from general access. There are predefined z/VM
users that are privileged to perform administrative functions. Maintaining the
directory is among the tasks that require the highest privilege level in the z/VM
operating system. Many installations use a security manager in addition to this
built-in security.
Service machines
z/VM includes a number of service machines. Service machines are virtual servers
that provide specific services to other virtual servers. For example, there are service
machines that run programs required for communications or printing. Like any
other virtual server, a service machine is identified by the user ID.
This section briefly introduces four methods that are particularly relevant to Linux
as a guest operating system:
v Direct connections from the z/VM virtual servers to an Open Systems Adapter
(OSA) card
v Guest LAN
v Virtual switch
v HiperSockets™
You can set up a virtual connection from each virtual server to an OSA card. The
OSA card provides a connection to a LAN outside the System z mainframe. All
virtual servers that are connected to the same OSA card can also communicate
with one another. Connecting in this context does not involve physical cables but
means issuing commands that define virtual connections.
You can also define a guest LAN. A guest LAN is a virtual LAN, emulated by the
z/VM operating system. Because a guest LAN does not use physical cables and is
contained entirely within the mainframe, it is fast and, if configured correctly,
highly secure.
You can also use a virtual switch to connect your virtual servers. Like a guest
LAN, a virtual switch does not use physical cables and can provide a fast and
highly secure connection.
You can also connect your z/VM virtual servers using HiperSockets. Like a guest
LAN, HiperSockets provide a fast and secure network within the mainframe.
z/VM z/VM
LPAR A LPAR B
With HiperSockets you can span multiple LPARs on the same mainframe.
Related reference
The manageability access point contains a Linux guest operating system with the
following IBM Systems Director components installed:
The manageability access point uses the z/VM Systems Management API. The
Systems Management API server must be enabled and available.
Critical
Warning
Informational
OK
v Links to the following common views that you can use to manage your
System z resources:
– Health summary
– Event log
– Problems
4. View the Manage Resources section. This section provides the following
information:
v System z Resources
– The number of System z platforms
– The number of HMCs and System z servers
– The number of z/VM hosts
– The number of z/VM virtual servers
– The number of z/VM manageability access points
v Operating Systems
– The number of Linux on System z
v Links to the following tasks that you can use to get started with System z
Management:
You must have access to the system to change the power state. For information
about requesting access to a system, see “Requesting access to a secured system.”
Many of the panels and their fields used to manage storage are similar whether
you are working with an actual storage device or a configuration template. When
providing detailed information about storage devices, you must be aware whether
you are changing a configuration template that can be used to deploy to the
storage device, or a making changes to the device itself in real time.
When working with a storage device in real time, the storage device is active and
connectivity to the device has been established. Also, the device has been
discovered and the system that the device is attached to is not locked or otherwise
unavailable. Changes made to the storage device, as it is displayed in the various
IBM Systems Director panels, become effective immediately when you click Apply
or Deploy. The device definitions are called configuration settings.
When working with configuration templates, you are providing definitions that
can be deployed on a storage device at some point in the future. Changes made in
the various IBM Systems Director panels, are really made to a configuration
template that contains the device definitions. When you click Save, the
configuration template is updated with your changes, but no storage device is
affected. If you want a configuration template to be deployed to a storage device,
you must do one of these things:
v Set up a configuration template or configuration plan to be automatically deploy,
which will then deploy when a device that matches it is discovered by IBM
Systems Director.
v Deploy the configuration template by selecting it from any panel that displays it,
and click Actions > Deploy.
protocol.
IBM Systems Director recognizes certain storage devices that comply with the
Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S). SMI-S is an industry standard
developed by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). IBM Systems
Director supports SMI-S versions 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3.
IBM Systems Director communicates with the storage devices through their
respective SMI-S providers. Their Service Location Protocol (SLPv2) component
enables the devices to be discovered by IBM Systems Director, which looks for
SNIA-defined SLP service types. IBM Systems Director obtains information about
storage devices through the Common Information Model Object Manager
(CIMOM) component of the SMI-S provider. Communication occurs using the
Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) standard for Web Based Enterprise
Management (WBEM) as required by SNIA. The information is organized
according to the DMTF standard for the Common Information Model (CIM) using
the profiles defined by SNIA.
When multiple SMI-S providers are installed on the same system, only one can use
the default port number. The other providers must be configured during
installation or be set up to use an alternate port number. When you add a storage
device whose provider is using an alternate port number to the IBM Systems
Director environment, you must specify the port number.
The default port number for the SMI-S provider for the IBM BladeCenter S SAS
RAID Controller Module is displayed as 5988 regardless of what operating system
hosts the SMI-S provider. However, when this SMI-S provider is running on Linux,
the default port number is really 15988, and you must change the value to 15988 in
order to use the default port on Linux.
For the Qlogic 4 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel (IBM BladeCenter chassis and external)
switch, the storage provider is embedded in the switch. There is no need to install
or configure anything. When asked for the IP address of the SMI-S provider, use
the IP address of the switch itself.
Integrated RAID Controller devices use the IBM Systems Director Platform Agent
managed system. Run Inventory Collection on the Agent to get the Integrated
RAID Controller.
The IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module requires an SMI-S provider
in order for IBM Systems Director to discover and manage the attached SAS RAID
Controller Module storage. This provider is installed automatically with IBM
Systems Director Server on supported operating systems. This provider has one of
the following names:
v PlatformAgentSubagent IBM BladeCenter SAS RAID Controller Module 6.1.0
Linux
v PlatformAgentSubagent IBM BladeCenter SAS RAID Controller Module 6.1.0
Windows
The provider for the IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module can work
with a maximum of four IBM BladeCenter chassis. This provider can be copied to
Platform Agent managed systems if the need arises, and each of these Platform
Agent managed systems can also manage a maximum of four IBM BladeCenter
chassis.
To learn more about storage device support, see this infocenter topic: Supported
Storage devices.
Applicable standards
For information about the standards mentioned here, see these Web sites:
SMI-S https://www.snia.org/smi/about/
SNIA https://www.snia.org
DMTF
www.dmtf.org
WBEM
www.dmtf.org/standards/wbem/
CIM www.dmtf.org/standards/cim
Note: You can manually add an IBM System Storage DS3000, DS4000, or
DS5000 device using IBM Systems Director. To manually add those devices,
specify the IP address of the system where you installed the SANtricity
SMI Provider, not the IP address of the IBM System Storage DS3000,
DS4000, or DS5000 device itself.
IBM TotalStorage DS6000
To obtain the provider for the IBM TotalStorage DS6000 storage device, go
to the IBM System Storage support Web page. It is recommended to use
the 5.2.1.139 version of this provider for this version of IBM Systems
Director. Any other version might not function as well.
IBM System Storage N series N3600
You can obtain the provider for the IBM System Storage N series N3600
from this Web site: http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/
supportsite.wss/selectproduct?taskind=2&brandind=5000029
&familyind=5364792&continue.x=1 It is recommended to use the 3.0.2
version of this provider for this version of IBM Systems Director. Any
other version might not function as well.
Brocade switches
You can obtain the appropriate SMI-S version 1.2 provider for IBM Systems
Director from this Web site: www.brocade.com/support/SMIAGENT.jsp. It
is recommended to use the 120.10.x version of this provider for this version
of IBM Systems Director. Any other version might not function as well.
Qlogic switches
There is no need to obtain an SMI-S provider for the Qlogic switches. The
SMI-S provider is embedded in the switch.
The SMI-S provider for the IBM BladeCenter SAS RAID Controller Module is
installed by default when the IBM Systems Director Server is installed. However,
discovery needs to be run for the IBM Systems Director Server, and it must be
unlocked in order to use this SMI-S provider.
Note: Installing the SMI-S providers on systems where the IBM Systems Director
Server or any agents are installed is not supported. This restriction does not apply
to providers that come preinstalled on the server.
The SMI-S provider for the IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module has
one of these operating-system dependent names:
v PlatformAgentSubagent IBM BladeCenter SAS RAID Controller Module 6.1.0
Linux
v PlatformAgentSubagent IBM BladeCenter SAS RAID Controller Module 6.1.0
Windows
v PlatformAgentSubagent IBM BladeCenter SAS RAID Controller Module 6.2.0
Linux
v PlatformAgentSubagent IBM BladeCenter SAS RAID Controller Module 6.2.0
Windows
In this discussion, the system that currently has the SMI-S provider for the IBM
BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module is called the source system and the
SMI-S provider on this system is called the source provider. The new system to
receive the provider is called the target system and the provider on it is called the
target provider. The source and target providers are identical software, but will be
configured to manage different storage systems.
To install the SMI-S provider for the IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller
Module on another system, complete the following steps:
If it is necessary to undo this task, you must manually remove the SMI-S provider
from the target system, and then configure the source provider to again manage
the storage systems that the target provider was managing.
To install the LSI ESG SMI-S provider on Windows systems, complete the
following steps:
1. Download the latest SMI-S provider for DS3000, DS4000, and DS5000 from the
supplier. See this Web site: LSI Storage Downloads.
2. Extract the downloaded files and run the installation file. The InstallAnywhere
welcome page opens. Complete the installation wizard.
v On the “Create/Edit ArrayHosts.txt file” page, enter the IP addresses of
controllers in the IBM TotalStorage storage system. Your storage system
might have one or more controllers. Be sure to enter the IP address of every
controller.
3. Follow these steps to enable authentication: “Enabling Authentication for the
LSI ESG SMI-S provider” on page 532.
Installing the LSI ESG SMI-S provider on AIX and Linux systems
The LSI ESG SMI-S provider is needed to manage IBM TotalStorage DS3000,
DS4000, and DS5000 storage systems. Use these instructions to install the LSI ESG
SMI-S provider on AIX and Linux systems.
1. Download the appropriate version of the SMI-S provider from this Web site:
LSI SMI Provider - New (http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/
external_raid/management_software/smi_provider_new/index.html).
First, obtain this SMI-S provider from the supplier and unzip the files to a local
directory.
To install the SMI-S provider for the IBM TotalStorage DS6000 system, complete
the following steps:
1. Run Setup.exe from the W2003 directory. The Welcome page is displayed.
2. Read the Welcome page and then click Next. The Software License Agreement
page is displayed.
3. Read this page carefully.
4. Click I accept the terms in the license agreement.
5. Click Next. The Destination Directory page is displayed.
6. Click Next. The Server Communication Configuration page is displayed.
7. Click Next. The Configuration Parameters page is displayed.
8. Type the user ID and password that you want used to communicate with the
SMI-S provider.
9. Click Add. The Add New Device popup is displayed.
10. Type the following information about the Storage Manager Console:
a. Device Type - DS
b. IP Address - the IP address of the Storage Manager Console of the IBM
TotalStorage DS6000 storage system.
c. Optional: Alternate IP - An alternate IP address for the Storage Manager
Console.
d. User Name - The user ID to log in the Storage Manager Console.
e. Password - The password to log in the Storage Manager Console.
11. Click OK. The information just entered is displayed in the table on the
Configuration Parameters page.
12. Optional: Click Add to create another entry.
13. Optional: Highlight an entry and click Modify to change an existing entry.
14. Optional: Click Remove to delete an entry.
15. When this table is correct, click Next. The Install Preview page is displayed.
16. Verify the information on this page.
17. Optional: If anything is incorrect, click Back to return to previous pages and
make corrections.
18. Click Install. The installation process runs. When finished, the Installer -
Finish page is displayed.
19. Click Finish. This application terminates.
Use this procedure to install and configure the SMI-S provider associated with the
Brocade switch. This switch connects to storage systems attached with the Brocade
2 Gbit/sec and 4 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel switches.
To install and configure the Brocade SMI-S provider, complete the following steps:
1. Run install.exe to start the installation wizard.
2. Complete the wizard.
a. On the “Proxy Connections Configuration” page, click Add. Enter these
values in the window that opens:
Proxy IP: The IP address of the Brocade switch
User name: The user ID used to access the Brocade switch
Password: The password used to access the Brocade switch
Protocol: RPC
No. of RPC Handles: 1
b. On the “Configuring and Starting as a Service” page, click Yes for Do you
want to start SMI Agent as a Service.
3. When the installation is complete, go to the next topic to install and configure
the SLP service.
Use this procedure to install the SLP service . This provider is needed to use SLP
when running Discovery.
Make sure that you have installed and configured the Brocade SMI-S provider
before starting this task.
First, obtain this SMI-S provider from the IBM Web site. For instructions, see
“Where to obtain SMI-S providers”.
You have installed, configured, and started the IBM System Storage N series SMI-S
provider.
On AIX systems, you must install the SMI-S provider before performing this task.
Follow the instructions in the “Installing SMI-S Providers” topic.
On Microsoft Windows and Linux systems, the SMI-S provider for the IBM
BladeCenter SAS RAID Controller Module is installed by default when the IBM
Systems Director Server is installed. However, discovery needs to be run for the
IBM Systems Director Server, and it must be unlocked in order to use this SMI-S
provider. To configure the SMI-S provider for the IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID
Controller Module, complete the following steps:
1. Click Navigate Resources > Groups > Groups by System Type > Storage
Systems. A table of storage groups is displayed.
2. Select the group named SMI-S Providers.
3. Click Actions > View Members. A list of systems is displayed.
4. Select a system that hosts an SMI-S provider for the IBM BladeCenter S SAS
RAID Controller Module.
5. Click Actions > System Configuration > SMI-S Provider Configuration. The
SMI-S Provider Configuration page is displayed.
6. Click Actions > Add Storage System.
To enable authentication for the LSI ESG SMI-S provider, complete the following
steps:
1. Stop the SMI-S provider service by clicking Service > Engenio SMI-S Provider
Server > Actions > Stop.
2. Edit the cimom.properties file located in the wbemservices/cimom/bin folder.
Now that the authentication is enabled, you must verify this SMI-S provider.
Once you have enabled authentication, verify the installation and configuration of
this SMI-S provider.
To verify the LSI ESG SMI-S provider, complete the following steps:
1. Open a command window.
2. Issue this command: cd C:\program files\EngenioProvider\wbemservices\
bin.
3. Issue this command: cimworkshop. The Login page is displayed.
4. Authentication is not enabled by default, so enter anything for the user ID
and password. A page with the /interop directory tree is displayed.
5. Change /interop to Isissi11:
6. Click Actions > Find Class. An Input pop-up is displayed requesting the
name of the class to find.
7. Type the name CIM_ComputerSystem.
8. Click OK.
9. Wait for the search to complete. A directory tree with the
CIM_ComputerSystem entry is displayed.
10. Right click on the entry LSISSI_StorageManagementSystem.
11. Click Show Instance. A list of instances is displayed.
Verifying the SMI-S provider for the IBM TotalStorage DS6000 storage system:
Use this task to verify that the SMI-S provider for the IBM TotalStorage DS6000 has
been correctly configured.
To verify the SMI-S provider for the IBM TotalStorage DS6000 storage system,
complete the following steps:
1. Open a command window.
2. Issue this command: dscimcli lsuser.
The output is similar to this:
Username
========
admin
superuser
You should see the user IDs that you have defined.
3. Issue this command: dscimcli lsdev -l.
The output is similar to this:
TYPE IP IP2 Username Storage Image Status Code Level Min Codelevel
=========================================================
DS 22.33.44.55 - admin IBM.1750–1300019 successful 5.2.2.272 5.0.6.235
DS 22.33.44.66 - admin IBM.1750–1300000 successful 5.2.2.272 5.0.6.235
If you do not see information similar to this, first retry the installation of the SMI-S
provider. If that does not resolve the problem, contact your service provider.
This SMI-S provider is shipped with authentication disabled. You can only enable
it if the SMI-S provider and DCFM SMI Agent (CIMOM) were installed together. If
you install the SMI-S provider into an existing CIMOM, this CIMOM performs the
authentication.
Note: Before running discovery for your storage devices using an SMI-S provider,
you must install and configure the provider. For more information about storage
devices that require SMI-S providers and for instructions about how to install and
configure the providers, see the related reference topic, Managing SMI-S providers.
The procedure works by using an IP address for an SMI-S Provider, under the
assumption that systems that have access to the SMI-S Provider are those that have
the storage that the SMI-S Provider controls. To run System Discovery for systems
that have a SMI-S Provider, complete the following steps:
1. From the Navigation area of the Welcome page click Inventory > System
Discovery The System Discovery page is displayed.
2. Click Single system (IP address).
3. Type the IP address of the storage provider in the IP address field.
4. Click Discover.
5. Wait for the task to complete. A table of systems that have this SMI-S Provider
is displayed.
6. Select a system. An entry for this system is displayed.
7. If the Access field indicates No Access:
a. Click the No Access link.
b. Type a User ID and Password for the system. (The user ID and password
needed are most likely the same as the operating system user ID and
password.)
c. Click Request Access.
Access to the system is established.
8. From the Resource Navigator, a list of storage devices is displayed along with
the system that was just discovered.
Note: Before running discovery for your storage devices using an SMI-S provider,
you must install and configure the provider. For information about storage devices
The procedure works by using an IP address for an SMI-S provider, under the
assumption that systems that have access to the SMI-S provider are those that have
the storage that the SMI-S provider will access.
To run system discovery for systems that have an SMI-S provider, follow these
steps:
1. From the Navigation area of the Welcome page click Inventory > System
Discovery The System Discovery page opens.
2. Under Advanced Tasks, click Create new profile. The Discovery Profile wizard
starts. Specify the following values:
v On the Profile Properties page, for Resource type, select Operating System.
SMI-S providers are viewed as if they were operating systems.
v On the SMI-S Configuration page, specify these values:
– Select Direct Connection as the type of SMI-S discovery.
– Accept the default port number unless it is already in use.
Note: For some types of hardware, the port number might not be correct.
Review the following choices and correct the port number if necessary.
Table 44. Port numbers for hardware models
Operating system
Hardware model Protocol hosting the provider Port number
IBM System Storage http All 5988
N3000
https 5989
IBM BladeCenter S http Microsoft Windows 5988
SAS RAID Controller Server 2008
Module
Microsoft Windows 5988
Server 2003
Linux 15988
Service Location Protocol (SLP) is the protocol used for SMI-S multicast and
broadcast discovery. SLP is used for clients to locate servers and other services on
the network. This procedure is using two advanced SLP methods, multicast and
broadcast, to find all SMI-S providers. It does the following:
v Send an SLP request to the default multicast group.
v Send an SLP request to the broadcast group.
v Using these two functions, try to find all your SMI-S providers.
To run system discovery for multiple SMI-S providers using multicast and
broadcast, complete the following steps:
1. From the Navigation area of the Welcome page click Inventory > System
Discovery The System Discovery page is displayed.
2. In the Advanced Tasks area, click Create new profile. The Discovery Profile
wizard is displayed.
3. If you see the Welcome page:
a. Clear Show this Welcome page next time if you do not want to see the
Welcome page next time.
b. Click Next.
The Profile Properties page is displayed.
4. Type a name for the Discovery profile that you are creating.
5. Select a resource type of Operating System. SMI-S providers are viewed as if
they were operating systems.
6. Select a resource subtype of All.
7. Type a description of the new profile.
8. Click Next. The Protocol selection page is displayed.
9. Click Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) Discovery.
10. Click Next. The SMI-S Configuration page is displayed.
11. Select the type of discovery. Click Multicast and broadcast.
12. Click Enable multicast.
13. Click Enable general broadcast.
14. Choose a timeout period of 60 seconds.
15. Click Next. The Access Request page is displayed.
16. Optional: Click Request access later. Because multiple SMI-S providers are
discovered, it is not advisable to automatically request access to the
discovered systems. Unless all discovered SMI-S providers have the exact
same User ID and password, the access request will fail.
17. Click Next. The Inventory Discovery page is displayed.
18. Click Discover (collect) inventory later.
19. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
20. Examine the discovery information on this page carefully.
v If everything is correct, click Finish to create the profile.
v If something must be corrected, click Back or select the page to return to
from the navigation area.
Service Location Protocol (SLP) is the protocol used for SMI-S directory agent
discovery. SLP is used for clients to locate servers and other services on the
network. This procedure is using a directory agent to find all SMI-S providers. This
is useful if an SMI-S provider is located on a different subnet.
To run advanced discovery for multiple SMI-S providers using a directory agent,
complete the following steps:
1. From the Navigation area of the Welcome page click Inventory > System
Discovery The System Discovery page opens.
2. Under Advanced Tasks, click Create new profile. The Discovery Profile wizard
starts. Specify the following values:
v On the Profile Properties page, for Resource type, select Operating System.
SMI-S providers are viewed as if they were operating systems.
v On the Protocol Selection page, select Storage Management Initiative
Specification (SMI-S) Discovery.
v On the SMI-S Configuration page, specify these values:
– Select Proxy - using directory agents as the type of SMI-S discovery.
– Specify the IP address or host name of the directory agent and click Add.
You can add multiple agents, one at a time.
Note: If you specify a range of IP addresses, that range must use either
IPV4 or IPV6 format. They cannot be mixed.
– Optional: Enter a value in the Scope field and click Add. This value is the
name of a scope defined in the directory agent. The scope limits the
discovery task to only those providers listed in the scope area of the
directory agent.
v On the Access Request page, select Request access later. Because multiple
SMI-S providers are discovered, it is not advisable to automatically request
access from all providers. Unless all discovered SMI-S providers have the
same User ID and password, the access request will fail.
This list describes the application to be used for each storage device.
v IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center for SAN-attached devices
v DS4000 Storage Manager for IBM DS3000, DS4000, and DS5000 storage devices
v IBM DS Storage Manager for DS6000 storage devices
v IBM System Storage N series N3600 features browser-based management, so no
application needs to be installed
v ServeRAID Manager for Internal RAID controllers
To learn more about storage device support, see this infocenter topic: Supported
Storage devices.
The External Storage Applications page is built based on the inventory of your
storage devices. The applications are displayed only if your inventory has storage
devices that can be managed by these applications.
Notes:
v The directory to which you extract the IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center
code for installation and the directory where you choose to install IBM
TotalStorage Productivity Center both have a limit of 60 characters in the
path name.
v The source directory from which IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center is
installed cannot have a hyphen character (-) anywhere in the path name.
v For additional installation and configuration tips, see the Support for IBM
TotalStorage Productivity Center for Data Web page. Under the V3.1 heading,
click Technical notes. Then search for Hints and Tips.
3. If IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center is installed on the same system as IBM
Systems Director Server, you must configure SNMP trap forwarding between
IBM Systems Director and IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center.
You do not need to configure SNMP trap forwarding if IBM Systems Director and
IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center are installed on different systems.
where hostname is the fully qualified host name of the system where the IBM
TotalStorage Productivity Center server is installed, id is a valid user name on
that system, pw is the password for that user, and port is the same port number
to which you configured IBM Systems Director Server to forward traps. It is
recommended that you use port 22162.
7. Stop and restart the IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center server.
To learn more about storage device support, see this infocenter topic: Supported
Storage devices.
To install and configure the IBM DS Storage Manager for DS4000, complete the
following steps:
1. Go to the DS4000 Storage Manager product Web site and download the IBM
DS Storage Manager for DS4000: http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/
supportsite.wss/selectproduct?taskind=2&brandind=5000028
&familyind=5329597&typeind=0&modelind=0&osind=0&psid=sr&continue.x=1
&matrix=Y#Storage%20Manager.
2. Configure IBM DS Storage Manager for DS4000 according to the instructions
found on the Web site, and any Readme or similar files that you find.
Related reference
To install and configure the IBM DS Storage Manager for DS6000, complete the
following steps:
1. Go to this Web site and download the IBM DS Storage Manager for DS6000.
www.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/supportresources?taskind=2
&brandind=5000033&familyind=5329497
2. Configure the IBM DS Storage Manager for DS6000 according to the
instructions found on the Web site, and any Readme or similar files that you
find.
When viewing the contents of this CD, these two features are needed:
v ServeRAID Manager Console
v ServeRAID Manager Agent
Other features on this CD are not needed by IBM Systems Director 6.2.1.
Note: When you select and launch a discovered controller instance, the
controller instance is shown inside the launched ServeRAID application.
6. When the ServeRAID Manager Console is launched for the first time, you must
add managed system manually.
Note: If you are trying to launch these tasks from the Mozilla Firefox Web
browser and the task does not start, you might need to enable pop-up
windows.
a. Look for a message toward the top of the window that says “Firefox
prevented this site from opening a pop-up window.”
b. Click the Options button at the end of the message line.
c. Select Allow pop-ups for ip_address.
d. Launch the task again.
3. Login to the application and perform all necessary tasks.
4. When you are finished with the application, close the application window.
IBM DS Storage Manager must be installed on the same system that is running the
client browser session (the browser used to connect to IBM Systems Director).
IBM DS Storage Manager is used for DS5000, DS4000, and DS3000 disk systems.
If you try to invoke IBM DS Storage Manager and it is not found, you will see a
page with installation instructions.
For more information, see the Disk systems support site. Browse to expand your
disk system and select Documentation: IBM DS Storage Manager support.
To learn more about storage device support, see this infocenter topic: Supported
Storage devices.
For launching IBM System Storage Manager for DS6000 in an untargeted fashion
(for example, from the External Storage Application page), IBM System Storage
Manager for DS6000 must be installed on the same system that is running the
client browser session (the browser used to connect to IBM Systems Director).
For more information, see the IBM System Storage Manager for DS6000 Web site:
www.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/supportresources?taskind=2
&brandind=5000033&familyind=5329497
At the end of 60 days, the monitoring functions remain operational. You can view
the health and configuration of the device and monitor its capacity and utilization,
and remove the device from the Systems Director inventory. If the permanent key
is not acquired and installed after 60 days, you cannot use Storage Control to
discover and add new devices to Storage Control.
The Storage Management Summary page gives high-level details about your
storage systems, and links to the tasks that provide more detail and administer the
storage devices. You can also install a trial version of IBM Systems Director Storage
Control 4.2.1 by following a link on this page.
Discovery and inventory collection must be run before you can display storage
systems. The Storage Management Summary page is divided into these areas:
Try IBM Systems Director Storage Control 4.2.1
Click this link if you want to install a trial version of Storage Control. For
more information about Storage Control, see IBM Systems Director Storage
Control 4.2.1 in the information center.
Capacity Summary
A pie chart represents your disk capacity in each of these categories.
Total configured capacity (to volumes)
Number of GB of the volumes that are assigned.
Total available capacity (for volumes)
Number of GB of disk pool size that is unassigned to volumes, but
are available for creating future new volumes.
This the space available for creating future new volumes. Total
available capacity represents the remaining total storage array or
storage pool space that could be used to create volumes. Initially,
when creating a storage array or pool, the configured capacity is
zero and the available capacity is the pool size. Creating additional
volumes decreases the amount of available capacity. Available
capacity is a measurement of the current quantity of usable
storage.
The capacity measurement is a snapshot created when inventory is
collected on the storage arrays. Inventory collection can be
configured to run on a schedule to periodically update the capacity
information if storage volumes and pools are created after the
initial inventory collection.
For Local Storage, capacity information collected for storage devices
attached to systems that are running IBM Director 5.20 is limited to the
Total raw capacity. The Total configured capacity and Total available
capacity are not included in the Capacity Summary for these storage
devices.
Storage tasks
The Storage Management Summary page contains some details about storage
devices. First, review this page to see if the information that you are looking for is
in either the Capacity Summary or Capacity Details sections.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
To display the current configuration for a given system, complete the following
steps:
1. Click Navigate Resources. The Navigate Resources page is displayed.
2. Select All Systems. A list of discovered systems is displayed.
3. Select a system from the list.
Notes:
1. When Storage Providers are discovered, the storage is automatically available.
2. On some storage devices, such as Advanced RAID Controller, Integrated RAID
Controller, or IBM SAS RAID Controller Module, the storage is available to be
viewed from the System Configuration menu.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
To view detailed information about storage volumes, complete the following steps:
1. From the Storage Management Summary page, locate the Capacity Summary
area, and the Storage Tasks pane on the right.
2. Click View and Manage Storage Volumes. The Current® Configuration page is
displayed.
3. Select a system. Storage details for the system are displayed.
4. Select Storage Provisioning Configuration. A list of storage volumes associated
with the selected system is displayed.
5. If you have not yet run inventory discovery, this table might be empty. Return
to the Storage Management Summary page and click Storage system not being
discovered? Learn more so that you can plan and run the necessary discovery
task.
When using the System Status and Health summary, these areas are of interest
with respect to storage devices, and characteristics that are unique to storage
systems:
Active status
The status for storage devices must be cleared manually if the cause of the
status change is resolved outside of IBM Systems Director. In this case,
either ignore, deactivate, or delete the status set to reset the status of a
storage system.
Event log
Storage events are recorded in this log.
To view the system status and health for storage devices, complete the following
steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Welcome. The Welcome
page is displayed.
2. On the Welcome page, click the Manage tab. A list of available summary
pages is displayed.
3. On the Manage tab, scroll to the Status Manager section heading and click it.
The Status Manager Summary page is displayed.
4. In the Status tasks area, click Health summary. The Health Summary page is
displayed.
5. Examine the storage systems, or if there are none present, use this page to add
them.
6. Click Cancel. The Status Manager Summary page is displayed.
7. In the Status tasks area, click View active and ignored status. The Active
status page is displayed.
8. Search this page for status information for your storage systems. If you do not
find a system that you want to be monitored, add it.
9. Click Cancel. The Status Manager Summary page is displayed.
10. In the Management Section, view the Common Tasks area.
11. Click Event Log. A list of event logs is displayed.
12. Choose an event log and view its contents, searching for storage-related
entries.
13. Click Cancel until you exit the status manager.
Make sure that discovery has been run, inventory has been collected, and the
system that the storage devices are attached to is unlocked before trying to view
their topology map.
By default, a topology perspective contains all resources related to the device. The
Storage perspective limits the resource types to storage-related resources.
The topology view can be invoked wherever there is a table listing a particular
storage device. An example is to select a device, and then click Actions > Topology
Perspectives. Then, choose one of these storage-related views:
v Storage - Provides a topology map that shows logical relationships between
resources that are related to the selected resource, including hosts, host volumes,
storage systems, storage volumes, storage pools, and disk drives.
v Storage Area Network - Provides a topology map that shows physical
connections between resources that are related to the selected resource, including
hosts, switches, ports, physical connectors, and storage systems.
The topology view shows the devices and their connectivity. Arrows connect the
devices. The name of each device is listed whenever possible. Connectors are
represented by a connector icon.
You can display the graph in one of two layouts. Click Actions > Layout to choose
one of these layouts:
Radial Presents the display in a radial layout, having the display fan out from left
to right and top to bottom, as needed.
Tree Presents the display in a tree layout. The selected resource is on the first
level. The second level is the devices immediately attached to the selected
resource. The third level is attachments to the second level devices and so
forth, to the depth that has been selected with the Depth option.
The Overview area shows the graph without the details, and is used to zoom in to
see specific areas.
Before creating a storage system pool, ensure that you have discovered and
collected inventory on your storage devices.
IBM Systems Director supports these storage systems that are attached to or
integrated with IBM BladeCenter or System x systems.
v Integrated RAID Controllers
v ServeRAID MR Controllers
v IBM BladeCenter SAS Connectivity Modules
v IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Modules
The systems to which these devices are attached must be discovered and have
access granted. Inventory must be collected so that IBM Systems Director will
know about the storage devices. If an SMI-S provider is involved, it must also be
discovered, unlocked, and configured.
The IBM BladeCenter or System x systems to which these storage devices are
attached must be discovered and have access granted. Inventory must be collected
so that IBM Systems Director knows about the storage devices. If an SMI-S
provider is involved, it must also be discovered, unlocked, and configured.
Note: The Volumes and Storage Pools pages do not support all the Action
menu choices. The Volume Page supports only Create Volumes and Delete
Volumes. The Storage Pools page supports only Create Storage Pool and Delete
Storage Pool. All other Action menu choices for those pages are not supported.
The IBM BladeCenter or System x systems to which these storage devices are
attached must be discovered and have access granted. Inventory must be collected
so that IBM Systems Director will know about the storage devices. If an SMI-S
provider is involved, it must also be discovered, unlocked, and configured.
The IBM BladeCenter systems to which these storage devices are attached must be
discovered and have access granted. Inventory must be collected so that IBM
Systems Director will know about the storage devices. The IBM BladeCenter SAS
Connectivity Module switch must be discovered and unlocked.
Before running this task, perform these discovery tasks, in the order specified here:
1. The SMI-S provider for the IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module
must be discovered and unlocked. This SMI-S provider is installed by default
on the IBM Systems Director server. It can also be installed on a remote host by
using remote agent install.
See this topic for instructions to install by remote agent: Installing the SMI-S
provider for the IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module on additional
systems.
If the provider is on the same subnet as the IBM Systems Director server,
follow the instructions in this topic: System Discovery.
If they are on separate subnets, follow these instructions to create a “system
discovery” profile: Creating a discovery profile.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
To add an IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module that has already been
discovered, complete the following steps:
1. Discover and unlock a the system that you want to add the storage system to.
2. From any area that this system is displayed, such as the Resource Navigator,
click Actions > System Configuration > SMI-S provider Configuration The
Managed Storage Systems page is displayed.
3. Click Add Storage Systems. The Add Storage System page is displayed.
4. In the Storage System Selection area, click Select a storage system that has
already been discovered.
5. Click Browse to see a list of discovered storage systems. A context chooser with
a list of storage systems is displayed.
6. Select a storage system from the Available list.
7. Click OK when you are finished. The Add Storage System page is displayed
again.
8. In the Storage System Login area, type a user ID and password for the system
that is to access the storage that you just selected.
9. Click OK.
Note: For more information about navigating and working with tables in IBM
Systems Director Web interface, see “Table navigation in IBM Systems Director.”
To add an IBM BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module that has not been
discovered, complete the following steps:
1. Discover and unlock a the system that you want to add the storage system to.
2. From any area that this system is displayed, such as the Resource Navigator,
click Actions > System Configuration > SMI-S Provider Configuration The
Managed Storage Systems page is displayed.
3. Click Add Storage Systems. The Add Storage System page is displayed.
4. In the Storage System Selection area, click Enter storage system information
manually.
5. Type the Primary controller IP address.
6. Type the Secondary controller IP address.
7. In the Storage System Login area, type a user ID and password for the system.
8. Click OK.
Locate the switch interface and make sure that the system is allowed (zoned) to
access the storage system on the SAN.
Make sure that the server and its storage devices have been discovered and
unlocked.
Make sure that the server and its storage devices must have been discovered and
unlocked.
You can use these definitions for IBM BladeCenter installations that include
management modules or advanced management modules. The settings provided
might be made by way of the management module, but actually might affect other
components in the IBM BladeCenter environment, such as blade servers. All
settings might not be applicable for the supported components.
When creating a storage volume for a IBM BladeCenter server from scratch, you
must enter all necessary information about the storage volume.
To create a storage volume for an IBM BladeCenter server from scratch, complete
the following steps:
1. If you have not already done so, click Create volume from scratch from the
Choose Methods page. The Create from Scratch page is displayed.
2. Optional: Type a Volume name prefix. The volume name will be made by
appending a unique number to this prefix. This field must be ten or fewer
characters consisting only of letters, numbers, and the underscore character. If
this field is not specified, the first ten characters of the host name are used.
3. Click Identify this volume as the boot volume if you want this volume to be
the one that will be examined for the bootstrap code when a restart is
performed. You can choose this option only if the server currently has no
designated boot volume.
4. Specify the capacity of the storage volume in Gigabytes.
5. Specify the Volume RAID level:
v RAID 0
v RAID 1
v RAID 5
v RAID 0+1
6. Choose the Host operating system:
v AIX
v Linux
v Windows
7. Select a Storage type:
v Any
v Network - Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS)
v Network - Fibre Channel (FC)
v Network - Internet SCSI (iSCSI)
v IBM BladeCenter SAS
When creating a storage volume for a IBM BladeCenter server from a configuration
template, the definitions stored in the configuration template are displayed, and
you will be able to change some but not all of the attributes.
You can use these definitions for IBM BladeCenter installations that include
management modules or advanced management modules. The settings provided
might be made by way of the management module, but actually might affect other
components in the IBM BladeCenter environment, such as blade servers. All
settings might not be applicable for the supported components.
At least one blade and one initiator must be configured. Make sure that all the
initiators are mapped to at least one target, except for initiators of type ALL DHCP.
You can use these definitions for IBM BladeCenter installations that include
advanced management modules only. The settings provided might be made by
way of the advanced management module, but actually affect the SAS switch.
To configure IBM BladeCenter SAS zone information in real time, complete the
following steps:
1. Click Navigate Resources > Groups > All Systems. A list of systems is
displayed.
2. Select a system and double-click its link. A list of attached devices is
displayed.
3. Select a IBM BladeCenter chassis.
4. Click Actions > System Configuration > Current Configuration. A list of the
current configuration for this IBM BladeCenter chassis is displayed.
5. Select the entry whose Configuration Settings title is: SAS Connectivity
Module Zone Configuration.
6. Click Edit.
7. Wait while IBM Systems Director gathers the information from the IBM
BladeCenter hardware. The SAS Connectivity Module Zone Configuration
page is displayed with the current information for this IBM BladeCenter
chassis.
8. Examine all the information on this page. Take note of the chassis type, I/O
module type, I/O modules, and which SAS configuration store is the Active
one.
9. Select the SAS configuration store that you want to change and click Actions
> Edit. Any of the SAS configuration stores can be edited, but changes made
to predefined SAS configuration stores must be saved in one of the four
user-defined SAS configuration stores. The Blades - External Ports page is
displayed.
10. Select one of the blades to permit access to an External SAS module port, by
clicking on the blade number beneath the blade icon. When access is not
permitted, this is indicated by a blank square instead of the number of the
blade.
11. Select the SAS module ports that this blade can access, or click Select all to
select all ports for this blade.
12. Optional: If a port or blade is selected in error, click it again to remove it.
13. Optional: Repeat this process for each blade that you want to permit SAS
module port access.
14. If an I/O module type of SAS RAID Module is present:
a. Click the Blades - RAID tab.
b. Choose a blade and click the number below its icon.
c. Click the RAID subsystem icon to permit that blade to access the RAID
subsystem.
d. Repeat this process for all blades that are to access the RAID subsystem.
e. Click OK.
Storage configuration templates can be created only for certain storage devices and
functions. When you create a storage configuration template, a list of choices is
displayed.
You can use this configuration template for IBM BladeCenter installations that
include management modules or advanced management modules. The settings
provided by this configuration template might be made by way of the
management module, but actually might affect other components in the IBM
BladeCenter environment, such as blade servers. All settings might not be
applicable for the supported components.
The replace and remap function is used in case a blade fails. Its SAN configuration
(stored in the IBM Systems Director Server) is “re-mapped” before it replaces the
SAN configuration on the new blade. That is, the existing blade-specific
information in the SAN configuration is replaced with blade-specific information
about the new blade. The modified SAN configuration is then copied to the new
blade, and the SAN will be able to work with the new blade in the same way that
it worked with the original blade.
A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a network of shared storage devices. They are
shared by a number of servers (IBM BladeCenter blades in this case). Storage
devices contain many disk drives. The intent is to configure the servers to use as
much disk space as each server needs to do its intended job. A SAN can be
re-configured later if the needs of one or more of the servers change. A SAN can
become very complex. The IBM BladeCenter chassis contains devices that help
manage communication (for example, switches and management modules), and
provides for security. A user might be able to work only with a certain subset of
the hardware.
IBM Systems Director controls the SAN configuration using storage commands.
The IBM Systems Director Web interface does not manage the SAN configuration
itself. The IBM Systems Director Web interface does manage SAN configuration
mapping, which is used to implement the Replace and Remap function.
SAN configuration mapping is not the SAN Configuration profile itself. SAN
configuration mapping specifies which blades of the IBM BladeCenter will have
their SAN configuration information saved in the IBM Systems Director Server,
and which will not have their SAN configuration information saved in the IBM
Systems Director Server (most likely because there is no SAN or a particular blade
does not connect to it).
Replace and remap is used if one of the blades suffers a failure and must be
replaced, an another blade is inserted in place of the failing one. Replace and
remap is implemented this way:
If you want to work with a configuration template that contains SAN configuration
mapping, you must create one.
As part of creating a configuration plan for your IBM BladeCenter, you must
include a SAN Configuration mapping configuration template.
Note: If a switch has been configured to use security, the SAN configuration
template cannot be automatically deployed on blade deletion or insertion events.
You can use this configuration template for IBM BladeCenter installations that
include management modules or advanced management modules. The settings
provided by this configuration template might be made by way of the
management module, but actually might affect other components in the IBM
BladeCenter environment, such as blade servers. All settings might not be
applicable for the supported components. Only advanced management modules
provide applicable settings for the following chassis models:
v IBM BladeCenter E chassis
v IBM BladeCenter H chassis
v IBM BladeCenter S chassis
You cannot obtain the current SAN configuration mapping, modify it, and then put
it back to the IBM BladeCenter. This is not supported. However, you can obtain the
current SAN configuration mapping, modify it, and then save the changes to a
configuration template. This configuration template can later be deployed on the
hardware, or used with the Automatically deploy feature.
You can use these definitions for IBM BladeCenter installations that include
management modules or advanced management modules. The settings provided
might be made by way of the management module, but actually might affect other
components in the IBM BladeCenter environment, such as blade servers. All
settings might not be applicable for the supported components. Only advanced
management modules provide applicable settings for the following chassis models:
v IBM BladeCenter E chassis
v IBM BladeCenter H chassis
v IBM BladeCenter S chassis
You can use this configuration template for IBM BladeCenter installations that
include management modules or advanced management modules. The settings
provided by this configuration template might be made by way of the
management module, but actually might affect other components in the IBM
BladeCenter environment, such as blade servers. All settings might not be
applicable for the supported components.
At least one blade and one initiator must be configured. Make sure that all the
initiators are mapped to at least one target, except for initiators of type ALL DHCP.
You can use these definitions for IBM BladeCenter installations that include
advanced management modules only. The settings provided might be made by
way of the advanced management module, but actually affect the SAS switch.
When using configuration templates with SAS zoning, take note of the following:
v To manage SAS zones using a configuration template, you must create the
configuration template.
v When you create this configuration template for the first time, the user-defined
SAS stores are filled with the factory-supplied defaults.
v Although you can always delete a configuration template, there is no way to
delete SAS stores or the SAS zoning information on the IBM BladeCenter
system.
When changing SAS stores in real time, take note of the following:
v When managing SAS zoning in real time, you do not create this information.
Instead, you obtain it from the hardware and make any necessary changes. The
first time that you view the SAS zone information, the user-defined SAS
configuration stores are filled with the factory-supplied defaults, and the
predefined SAS configuration stores are filled with their predefined values.
A SAS store could have one or more status values. Every SAS store will not have a
status value at all times.
Active This is the currently active SAS store. Only one SAS store can be active on
an IBM BladeCenter SAS connectivity module at any time. This status is
available only when running in real time.
Activate
This SAS store has been designated to become the Active one. When
configuration changes are applied, the one that is currently Active will no
longer have the Active status. Only one store can have this status
(Activate) at any time.
Pending
This SAS store has been changed, but the changes have not yet been
applied to the IBM BladeCenter system. When the changes are applied, the
Pending status will be removed. A SAS store with the Active or Activate
status can also have a status of Pending.
Conflict
Indicates that the current configuration has two different active zones in
two SAS switches, which is not recommended. This status is available only
when there are two SAS switches.
An example is if the active zone on I/O module 3 is 1, and the active zone
on I/O module 4 is 2. This is a conflict. The I/O module 3 information is
used. This status is available only when running in real time.
With IBM Systems Director virtualization manager, you can work with virtualized
environments that are managed by the Hardware Management Console (HMC),
the Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM), Microsoft Virtual Server, VMware,
and Xen virtualization.
As you monitor the total health of your environment, you might come across
issues that are specific to virtual resources. For example, when health status
indicates a warning or critical state for a virtual server, you can add processors or
memory resources that you have reserved for this situation. When you complete
the task, you can see your virtual server return to a healthy state. Alternatively,
you might be using the topology map view and see a warning or critical status on
a host that is depleting resources. You can take action from within the topology
map view. You might choose to relocate all of the virtual servers on the host to a
more robust host, until you can add more resources to the host.
Related concepts
Virtual systems
This topic provides an overview of the different types of systems that you can
manage using IBM Systems Director virtualization manager.
Platform managers
A platform manager manages one or more host systems and their associated virtual
servers and operating systems.
IBM Systems Director does not recognize a managed system as a platform manager
until the managed system has been unlocked. (The padlock icon in the Access
column for a managed system indicates that it is secured.) To request access to the
managed system, right-click the managed system and click Request Access. By
providing a valid user name that has local administrative rights to that managed
system and its password, you can unlock and access the system.
Note: Before you can manage a VMware VirtualCenter platform manager, you
must enter credentials to log in to VMware VirtualCenter server. You can do this
by using the Connect task.
A virtual farm can contain multiple hosts and their associated virtual servers. A
VMware VirtualCenter virtual farm can contain only hosts that are being managed
with the same type of virtualization manager subagent. For example, a virtual farm
that contains a host running virtualization manager subagent for VMware ESX
Server can contain only other hosts that are also running virtualization manager
subagent for VMware ESX Server. When a virtual farm is configured, you can
relocate virtual servers between hosts in the farm.
You use the Create Virtual Farm wizard to group hosts together and enable
specialized capabilities for the virtual servers running on the hosts. You can enable
capabilities such as high availability, workload management, live relocation, and
static relocation. Not all capabilities are supported on all platforms.
IBM Systems Director farms are not identical to farms in VMware VirtualCenter
because IBM Systems Director does not use the hierarchical model that VMware
VirtualCenter uses. VMware VirtualCenter supports collections of farms, which are
referred to as farm groups. This concept enables VMware VirtualCenter to present
farms in hierarchical groups within the VMware VirtualCenter client. However,
IBM Systems Director does not have a farm group concept and does not support
displaying the farm groups in the same type of farm hierarchy. When virtualization
manager subagent creates an IBM Systems Director farm for a VMware
VirtualCenter farm that is a member of one or more farm groups, the name of the
IBM Systems Director farm is displayed, but the hierarchy is not displayed. You
can find the full path that VMware VirtualCenter uses in the Virtualization
Properties. See the Vendor identifier field.
Note: If a farm that is contained within a farm group is discovered and later that
farm group is renamed in VMware VirtualCenter, unexpected behavior can occur
with the IBM Systems Director farm in the IBM Systems Director environment.
This unexpected behavior for the IBM Systems Director farm occurs for all
instances of IBM Systems Director Server that are tracking activity on that IBM
Systems Director farm. After a farm group is renamed, you should disconnect from
the platform manager that contains the IBM Systems Director farm and then
connect again.
You can create IBM Systems Director farms for use with other supported
virtualization environments. These IBM Systems Director farms are not defined in
any virtualization application, but exist only in IBM Systems Director.
The farm type of a IBM Systems Director farm is undefined until you add a host to
it. Then, the farm type becomes one of the following values:
v HMC
v IVM
v Microsoft Virtual Server
v VMware ESX
v VMware ESX 3.0 or later
v Xen
Hosts
In an IBM Systems Director environment, a host is a system that contains resources
from which virtual servers are constructed.
Hosts can be any of the following systems that are configured for the IBM Systems
Director environment:
v A BladeCenter Chassis
v A system running Microsoft Virtual Server
v IBM Power Systems that are under the control of an IBM Hardware
Management Console (HMC)
v An IBM Power Systems server that is under the control of IBM Integrated
Virtualization Manager (IVM)
v A system running VMware ESX Server
v A system running VMware ESX Server that is under the control of VMware
VirtualCenter
v A system running Xen Virtualization on a supported Linux operating system
A host can manage multiple virtual servers and their guest operating systems.
IBM Systems Director supports only those hosts that are connected to a system that
is running VMware VirtualCenter server. If a VMware VirtualCenter host is
disconnected, IBM Systems Director removes the host and generates a
The VMware VirtualCenter client must be installed on the system on which IBM
Systems Director is installed.
A managed system that is running VMware ESX Server or Microsoft Virtual Server
is not recognized as a host when it is locked. To request access to the host,
right-click the managed system and click Request Access. By providing a valid
user name that has local administrative rights to that managed system and its
password, you can access the system.
(VMware ESX Server 3.0 only) The VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client 2.0 must
be installed on the system where IBM Systems Director is installed.
Virtual servers
A virtual server is associated with a host system. The host must be part of a
virtualization environment that is supported in IBM Systems Director.
A virtual server is the logical equivalent of a physical platform. After IBM Systems
Director discovers a host, it continues the discovery process for all the virtual
servers that are associated with the host. When virtual servers are discovered, they
can be powered on and turned off through IBM Systems Director. In addition, you
can edit resources that are assigned to virtual servers, and relocate a virtual server
from one host to another. You can also create additional virtual servers to meet
your needs.
You can use IBM Systems Director to manage virtual servers that are configured
with one or more virtual disks. IBM Systems Director provides support for several
types of virtual disks, including undoable disks.
(VMware VirtualCenter only) IBM Systems Director does not support or display
virtual server groups, which are collections of virtual servers supported by VMware
VirtualCenter. When virtualization manager subagent creates a virtual server that is
a member of one or more virtual server groups, the name of the virtual server
group is ignored and not included in the name of the virtual server.
(Microsoft Virtual Server only) Microsoft Virtual Server has a virtual server status
called save state; IBM Systems Director refers to this feature as suspending a virtual
server. For information about the save state, see the documentation included with
Microsoft Virtual Server.
Undoable disks
An undoable disk is a type of virtual disk that saves changes to a temporary file
instead of to the virtual disk itself. Changes can be committed when the virtual
machine is turned off.
IBM Systems Director creates virtual servers that contain undoable disks. You can
create and view these virtual servers in IBM Systems Director. IBM Systems
Director supports power operations and relocation for virtual servers that contain
undoable disks.
Note: PowerON and PowerOFF actions are not supported on VMware ESX
Server 3.0.
v (Virtualization manager subagent for Microsoft Virtual Server only) IBM Systems
Director provides PowerOFF actions only for virtual servers with undoable disks
in Microsoft Virtual Server. To configure PowerON actions, you must use the
Web interface to Microsoft Virtual Server. By default, when a virtual server is
turned off, changes to the virtual disk are saved in a redo log, which is the
PowerOFF Keep action.
Guest-operating-systems
A guest-operating-system represents an operating system that is running on a virtual
server on which Common Agent is installed. A guest-operating-system is a
particular type of managed system.
The standard IBM Systems Director discovery process for managed systems can
discover guest operating systems. However, if a guest operating system is not
running Common Agent, it is not recognized as a guest-operating-system object in
IBM Systems Director.
Virtualization groups
IBM Systems Director organizes logical sets of resources into groups. Virtualization
manager provides a set of default or predefined groups for virtual resources.
The following table lists the names and descriptions of the groups provided by
virtualization manager.
Table 45. Virtualization manager groups
Group Description
Virtualization Groups Groups for managing virtualization
Platform Managers Systems capable of managing hosts or farms
Platform Managers and Members Platform managers and their hosts or farms
Hosts Systems capable of hosting virtual servers
Virtual Servers Virtual servers
Virtual Servers and Hosts Virtual servers and their hosts
Guest Operating Systems Operating systems running on virtual
servers
Open the Platform Managers and Members view in one of the following ways:
v In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Inventory > Views >
Platform Managers and Members.
v In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources >
Virtualization Groups > Platform Managers and Members.
Open the Virtual Servers and Hosts view in one of the following ways:
v In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Inventory > Views > Virtual
Servers and Hosts.
v In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources >
Virtualization Groups > Virtual Servers and Hosts.
In addition to the columns that are displayed by default in the Virtual Servers and
Hosts view, you might be able to select additional columns depending on your
virtualization environment. For example, you can choose to add the Entitled
Processing Units column in a Power Systems environment.
The following table provides IBM Power Systems support statements for specific
metrics that are available in the Virtual Servers and Hosts view.
Table 46. Metric support statements for Power Systems managed by Hardware
Management Console or Integrated Virtualization Manager
CPU Utilization Entitled
Virtual system % Processors Memory (MB) Processing Units
HMC host Yes2 Yes Yes No
2 1
HMC virtual Yes Yes Yes Yes2
server
IVM host Yes2 Yes Yes No
2 1
IVM virtual Yes Yes Yes Yes2
server
Platform No No No No
manager
The Virtualization Properties page lists properties for virtual resources in the
following categories:
Vendor Information
Contains information about the virtualization vendor or the selected
resource in the vendor user interface.
Processor
Contains information about processors such as the number of processors or
processing units.
Memory
Contains information about memory such as memory block size or
available memory.
Disks Contains information about the virtual disks or storage, such as virtual
disk name, virtual disk size, and virtual disk location, for example, the
Virtual I/O Server that is managing the disk in a Power Systems
environment.
Note: Virtual disk size information is not available for VMware ESX Server
2.5.x hosts, VMware VirtualCenter 1.4.x hosts, or Microsoft Virtual Server
hosts that are running IBM Systems Director Virtualization Manager Agent
for Microsoft Virtual Server version 1.2.
Devices
Contains information about devices, such as optical device name and
Create users on the Hardware Management Console (HMC) with the required
authorities to ensure that users can request access to an HMC from IBM Systems
Director and perform tasks for managing the HMC. There are three HMC user
roles that you can create: hmcsuperadmin, hmcoperator, and hmcviewer.
To request access to an HMC from IBM Systems Director, you must have a user
account on the HMC. When you request access using an HMC user ID and
password, the role associated with the HMC user determines the tasks that are
available in IBM Systems Director for all IBM Systems Director users.
For example, if you request access using an HMC user with the hmcviewer role,
the only IBM Systems Director task that will be available to you is viewing
resource utilization data. You might want to request access in IBM Systems
Director using an HMC user with a higher level of authority, such as hmcoperator,
so that more tasks are available in IBM Systems Director.
The following table describes the IBM Systems Director tasks and the HMC user
roles necessary to perform the tasks.
Table 47. IBM Systems Director tasks and required HMC user roles
HMC user roles
IBM Systems
Director tasks hmcsuperadmin hmcoperator hmcviewer
View topology and
X X
resource properties
To learn about creating the HMC users, see “Managing user profiles and access.”
Related reference
Enable the Hardware Management Console (HMC) for remote command execution
so that IBM Systems Director can communicate with the HMC.
To enable the HMC for remote command execution, complete the following steps:
1. In the HMC Navigation Area pane, expand the affected HMC and expand
HMC Management.
2. Open the Remote Command Execution task from the HMC Management work
pane.
3. From the Remote Command Execution window, select Enable remote
command execution using the ssh facility.
4. Click OK to proceed.
Setting the HMC to collect resource utilization data for managed systems:
Use this procedure to set the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to collect
resource utilization data for any of the managed systems that it manages.
To set the HMC to collect resource utilization data, you must be a super
administrator or operator.
When you set the HMC to collect resource utilization data for a managed system,
the HMC collects utilization data for memory and processor resource. The HMC
collects utilization data into records called events. Events are created at the
following times:
v At periodic intervals that you set
To set the HMC to collect resource utilization data, follow these steps:
1. In the navigation area, expand Systems Management.
2. Expand Servers.
3. In the corresponding systems table, select the servers that you want to enable
for collecting utilization data.
4. In the task area, expand Operations, and then expand Utilization Data.
5. Click Change Sampling Rate.
6. In the Change Sampling Rate window, select the sampling rate that you want
to use for the systems you have selected. You can choose from the following
options:
v 30 seconds
v 1 minute
v 5 minutes
v 30 minutes
v 1 hour
Create users on the Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM) with the required
authorities to ensure that users can request access to an IVM from IBM Systems
Director and perform tasks for managing the IVM. There are three IVM user roles
that you can create: padmin, View/Modify, and View Only.
To request access to an IVM from IBM Systems Director, you must have a user
account on the IVM. When you request access using an IVM user ID and
password, the role associated with the IVM user determines the tasks that are
available in IBM Systems Director for all IBM Systems Director users.
The following table describes the IBM Systems Director tasks and the IVM user
roles necessary to perform the tasks.
Table 48. IBM Systems Director tasks and required IVM user roles
IVM user roles
IBM Systems
Director tasks padmin View/Modify View Only
View topology and
X X X
resource properties
View resource
X X X
utilization data
Inventory discovery X X
Create virtual server X X
To learn about creating the IVM users, see "Creating IVM user accounts."
Related reference
To enable the IVM for remote command execution, complete the following steps:
1. Connect to the IVM using Telnet or another application.
2. Use the default user ID padmin to log into the IVM.
3. Determine whether the IVM is enabled for remote command execution by
default.
On the Virtual I/O Server command line, type the following command:
lsnetsvc ssh
After you start the ssh service, it will continue running until you issue a command
to stop it.
Start the cimserver service one time. The cimserver service is subsequently started
whenever you reboot the Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM) managed object.
After you start the cimserver service, it will continue running until you issue a
command to stop it.
To enable power on and power off tasks for an IVM-managed Power Systems
server or a standalone Power Systems server, you must configure credentials for
the Flexible Service Processor (FSP) Common Information Model (CIM) Proxy.
Ensure that you have installed the FSP Proxy extension and the IBM Cluster
Systems Management utilities.
To configure the FSP CIM Proxy and enable power on and power off tasks for the
Power Systems server, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, click Navigate Resources to
locate the Power Systems server for which you want to enable power
management tasks; the system will display partial access if the credentials are
not configured.
2. Right-click the Power Systems server and select Security > Configure Access.
3. On the Configure Access page, click the CIM Proxy Access entry.
4. Click Configure Credentials. The Configure Credential Wizard is displayed.
a. If the Welcome page is displayed, click Next.
b. On the Credential Type page, select the User ID and Password credential
type and click Next.
c. On the Credential Detail page, specify HMC for the User ID and the
associated HMC User ID password. Click Next.
Note: If you do not know the password for the HMC User ID, you can log
in to the Advanced System Management interface on the FSP with the
Admin User ID and change the password for the HMC User ID. You can
find the IP Address for the FSP on the IBM Systems Director Configure
Access page in the CIM Proxy Access row under the Access Information
heading. Use the Login Profile > Change Password task and select to
change the HMC User ID.
d. On the Summary page, click Finish.
When you have completed the Configure Credential Wizard, the credentials
that you created are automatically used to authenticate to the access point. The
CIM Proxy Access point should display OK in the Access column.
5. If you return to Navigate Resources and right-click on the Power Systems
server, you should now see the option for Power On/Off > Power Off Now or
Power On/Off > Power On depending on the current power state of your
server.
Note: Unless you have configured credentials for each Remote Service Access
Point, you will continue to see Partial access for the Power Systems server.
Relocation requirements
Before you start a virtual server relocation, ensure that you meet the relocation
requirements.
v Relocation of virtual servers is possible only between hosts within the same
virtual farm.
v Both the source and target host must have access to a shared storage area
network (SAN).
Note: For Xen relocation, the virtual server image must be available on a shared
storage volume, with that volume mounted by both the source and target host.
v Both the source and target host must have access to a shared communications
network.
v The target host must have enough memory to support the virtual server.
Note: Additionally, for Xen, the source host must have memory available that is
equal to or greater than the virtual server or virtual servers that you want to
relocate.
v The target host must support the configuration version of the virtual server.
v Relocation of clustered virtual servers is not supported.
v Relocation of virtual servers that are suspended or in a transition state is not
supported.
Note: Additionally, for Xen, the virtual server cannot be in an offline or paused
state.
v Source and target hosts must have a virtual network device with the same label.
Note: For Xen, the bridge must have the same name on both the source and
target hosts.
v Virtual servers to be relocated cannot be connected to a removable device such
as a CD drive or diskette drive.
v The version of a configuration file for a virtual server must be supported by the
virtualization application with which the virtualization manager subagent
communicates. Otherwise, the virtual server cannot be relocated.
v (IBM Power Systems only) To relocate a virtual server, ensure that you meet the
minimum virtualization software requirements for the HMC and the IVM.
IBM Power Systems relocation leverages Live Partition Mobility functionality, a
component of the PowerVM Enterprise Edition hardware feature. To utilize the
relocation functionality in IBM Systems Director, you must meet the
requirements described in the “Live Partition Mobility” documentation. For
more information, see the preparation sections in the “Moving the mobile
partition using the HMC” or “Moving the mobile partition using the Integrated
Virtualization Manager” topics.
A volume is a discrete unit of storage on disk, tape or other data recording medium
that supports some form of identifier and parameter list, such as a volume label or
input/output control.
Notes:
1. A volume should be mounted at only one mount point on the source host. A
volume mounted at multiple mount points is not supported.
2. Make sure that the volume that contains the virtual server to be relocated does
not contain any files that are not related to the virtual server. If the volume
contains any files that are not related to the virtual server, everything in the
volume will become inaccessible as soon as the volume is dismounted.
3. When relocating multiple virtual servers on one volume, the relocation
operation succeeds only when all virtual servers on the same volume are
successfully relocated. The operation fails when any of the virtual servers on
the same volume fail to be relocated. In that case, all virtual servers on the
volume are registered again to the source host.
4. Relocation is supported on primary partitions only.
Complete the following steps to perform static relocation for virtual servers that
are associated with Microsoft Virtual Server hosts:
1. Create a volume on the storage area network (SAN). Make sure that the
volume you create is large enough to hold the virtual server.
2. Mount the volume at the source host.
3. Make sure that the destination host can access the volume as initialized or
formatted. If not, the destination host may need to be restarted. However, do
not mount the volume at the destination host.
4. Create a virtual server on the source host and put it on this volume.
5. Create relocation tasks for the virtual server.
For VMware ESX hosts managed by VMware VirtualCenter 2.x, all virtual servers
on the host must be powered off to access the maintenance mode task. VMware
ESX hosts that are in maintenance mode cannot be targeted with tasks such as
Create Virtual Server, Power On, or Relocate Virtual Server.
When the service tasks are complete, you can return the host to a fully functional
state. To exit from maintenance mode, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, click Navigate Resources to
locate the host.
2. Select the host. Click Actions from the menu bar, and select Availability > Exit
Maintenance Mode.
3. In the scheduler window, click OK to run the task immediately. You also can
schedule to run this task at a later time.
To start the virtualization service on a single host or on all hosts that are associated
with one virtual farm, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources.
2. Navigate to the resource at which you want to start the virtualization service:
either a single host, or to the virtual farm that contains the hosts.
3. Select the host or virtual farm, click Actions from the menu bar, and select
System Configuration > Start Virtualization Service.
To stop the virtualization service on a single host, or on all hosts that are
associated with one virtual farm, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources.
2. Navigate to the resource at which you want to stop the virtualization service:
either a single host, or to the virtual farm that contains the hosts.
3. Select the host or virtual farm, click Actions from the menu bar, and select
System Configuration > Stop Virtualization Service.
4. In the scheduler window, click OK to run the task immediately. You also can
schedule to run this task at a later time.
Note: If you add a host to a virtual farm that is under the control of
VMware VirtualCenter 2.x, you might need to check the Event Log to
determine the status of the operation.
v If you are adding a host to a virtual farm that is any other type of virtual
farm, you are required only to select the host from a list of available hosts.
4. In the scheduler window, click OK to run the task immediately. You also can
schedule to run this task at a later time.
Note: If you are creating a VMware VirtualCenter 1.x farm and choose to
specify an optional path on the Capabilities Details page, any directory that
you specify must already exist on the VMware VirtualCenter system. For
example, if you attempt to create an optional path, vcenter/new_farm, the
new_farm directory must already exist in the vcenter/ root directory.
In the Create Virtual Farm wizard, you can enable the following capabilities if you
have hosts to add to the farm that are also enabled with these same capabilities:
v High availability with workload management
v Live relocation
v Static relocation
The following list describes the requirements for hosts to participate in a specific
capability:
High availability with workload management
High availability with workload management is supported in the VMware
VirtualCenter environment. The VMware VirtualCenter hosts must have
the Common Agent and virtualization manager subagent installed.
VMware VirtualCenter systems must have either VMware High
Availability or VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler enabled.
Live relocation
Live relocation is supported in the VMware VirtualCenter environment, the
Power Systems environment, and the Xen environment. The hosts must be
configured with the correct agent and subagent:
v VMware VirtualCenter hosts must have the Common Agent and
virtualization manager subagent installed.
v Xen hosts must have the Platform Agent installed.
v Power Systems hosts do not require an agent or subagent.
VMware VirtualCenter systems must have VMotion enabled.
Static relocation
Static relocation is supported in all virtualization environments that are
supported by IBM Systems Director. The hosts must be configured with the
correct agent and subagent:
v Microsoft Virtual Server hosts must have the Common Agent and
virtualization manager subagent installed.
Note:
v For hosts that are managed by VMware VirtualCenter, you cannot
specify static relocation explicitly. VMware VirtualCenter determines the
type of relocation to use based on the state of the host.
If you no longer require a virtual farm, use IBM Systems Director to delete the
corresponding virtual farm from VMware VirtualCenter. This action also deletes
the virtual farm from IBM Systems Director. When you complete this task, the
virtual farm cannot be rediscovered and instead must be re-created. Alternatively,
you can remove a virtual farm only from IBM Systems Director.
Complete the following steps to delete a virtual farm permanently from a platform
manager and delete its corresponding virtualization component from VMware
VirtualCenter:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, expand Availability.
2. Click Virtual Farms.
3. Select the virtual farm, click Actions from the menu bar, and select Delete
Permanently.
Note: This menu option is available only when the platform manager that
contains the virtual farm to be deleted is online and authenticated.
Before you remove a virtual farm from IBM Systems Director, note the following
qualifications:
v When a virtual farm that represents a virtualization component in VMware
VirtualCenter is removed from IBM Systems Director, IBM Systems Director does
not remove the corresponding farm from VMware VirtualCenter. Later, if you
decide that you want to manage the virtual farm in IBM Systems Director, you
can rediscover it. Alternatively, you can permanently delete a virtual farm from
VMware VirtualCenter as well as IBM Systems Director.
v For virtual farms that are associated with hosts that are running virtualization
manager subagents for VMware ESX Server or Microsoft Virtual Server, for hosts
that are associated with Xen virtual servers, or for hosts that are under the
control of the IBM Hardware Management Console (HMC) or Integrated
Virtualization Manager (IVM), you cannot rediscover these virtual farms in IBM
Complete the following steps to remove a virtual farm from IBM Systems Director:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, expand Availability.
2. Click Virtual Farms.
3. Select the virtual farm you want to remove, click Actions from the menu bar,
and select Remove.
Note: To add or remove hosts for a VMware VirtualCenter virtual farm, use
the add host or remove host task instead of the edit a virtual farm task.
Note: This menu option is available only when the platform manager that
contains the virtual farm is online and authenticated.
To start the virtualization service on a single host or on all hosts that are associated
with one virtual farm, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources.
To stop the virtualization service on a single host, or on all hosts that are
associated with one virtual farm, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources.
2. Navigate to the resource at which you want to stop the virtualization service:
either a single host, or to the virtual farm that contains the hosts.
3. Select the host or virtual farm, click Actions from the menu bar, and select
System Configuration > Stop Virtualization Service.
4. In the scheduler window, click OK to run the task immediately. You also can
schedule to run this task at a later time.
The Virtual Farm view includes the following information about your existing
farms:
v Virtual farm name
v Type of virtual farm (what type of hosts are contained in the virtual farm)
v Number of hosts contained within the virtual farm
v Number of virtual servers contained within the virtual farm
v Whether or not the virtual farm is enabled with the high availability capability
From within the virtual farm view, you can also create new virtual farms, or
perform management tasks on existing virtual farms, such as editing a virtual
farm.
For example, you must enter credentials before you can turn on a virtual server
using IBM Systems Director. Entering credentials logs you into the VMware
management interface for that system. Disconnecting from the platform manager
logs you off of the VMware management interface.
After you have entered credentials, any instance of IBM Systems Director Server in
the environment can access that instance of VMware VirtualCenter server or
VMware ESX Server 3.x. You can continue to enter credentials from any instance of
IBM Systems Director Server in the environment. You can revoke credentials only
from those instances of IBM Systems Director that originally entered credentials.
After credentials are revoked from the last instance of IBM Systems Director Server
that previously entered credentials, no instance of IBM Systems Director Server can
access that instance of VMware VirtualCenter server.
When you disconnect from the platform manager, IBM Systems Director deletes
the saved credentials for the platform manager from IBM Systems Director Server.
Complete the following steps to disconnect a platform manager from the VMware
management interface for the system:
The Create Virtual Server task is available on systems running in the following
virtualization environments:
v Hardware Management Console (HMC)
v Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM)
v Microsoft Virtual Server
v VMware ESX Server
v VMware ESX Server hosts that are under the control of VMware VirtualCenter
v Xen Virtualization
Typically, the Create Virtual Server task does not install an operating system. You
install the appropriate operating system after the virtual server is created. In the
Xen virtualization environment, a prerequisite for using the Create Virtual Server
wizard is to create an image to be used when the virtual server is created. Then,
when the Xen virtual server creation is completed, the new virtual server is ready
to use.
Image
A system image is a bootable operating system and additional software in the form
of a single raw image file. IBM Systems Director helps you store and copy system
images to reuse them for creating virtual servers.
IBM Systems Director manages the life cycle of a system image for you.
A system image begins as a master image, which is an image that includes function
but has no identity. For example, a master image has no configuration information
and it is not allocated to any server.
IBM Systems Director uses a master image to create a clone image that you can use
to create a virtual server.
A clone image contains the function that it inherits from a master image. A clone
image can be used immediately to create a virtual server. After you use a clone
image to create a virtual server, the clone image is customized and assigned to that
specific virtual server. If you delete the virtual server, the clone image associated
Image requirements
This topic describes the requirements for using a Xen image to create a virtual
server on a Xen host system.
Ensure that the Xen image, guest operating system, and host system meet the
following requirements:
v The name of the Xen image must include the .img extension.
v The image must not contain a Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM).
v The image must not contain more than one disk.
v The Linux distribution on the image must match the Linux distribution on the
host system. For example, you must use a SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 image to
create a virtual server on a Xen host running SUSE Linux Enterprise 10.
v The platform of the guest operating system must match the platform of the host
system. For example, if the guest operating system runs on a 32-bit platform, the
host system must also run on a 32-bit platform.
v The kernel on the guest operating system must not be newer than the kernel on
the host system.
v The file system in the image must be supported on the host. For example, if the
image contains an ext3 file system, the version of SUSE Linux Enterprise
installed on the host must support an ext3 file system. Similarly, if the image
contains a ReiserFS, the version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux installed on the
host must support ReiserFS.
Image repository
An image repository is part of a local or shared file system that is used to store
system images. You can use the system images to create Xen virtual servers.
You need to create the image repository, either on the local Xen host or within a
shared file system. For more information, see “Creating image repositories for Xen
manually” on page 612.
The Xen host system must be a Platform Agent managed system. The information
about repositories on a Xen host system will be stored in a configuration file on the
Xen host at the following location: /opt/ibm/director/vm/im/repository.prop
If you do not create a master image for Xen virtual servers automatically during
the installation process, you can create the master image manually by using an
image creation script. This script is included with the virtualization manager Xen
subagent.
Note: Ensure that the Xen host system has a minimum of 256 MB of memory
available for the image creation process.
To create the master image manually by using the image creation script, complete
the following steps:
1. Ensure that you have completed the steps for installing the virtualization
manager Xen subagent before you proceed with this task.
2. Ensure that you have restarted the machine and booted it from the Xen kernel.
3. The image creation process requires a Network File System (NFS) installation
source that hosts the installation media: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0. If you do not
already have an NFS installation source, you can set it up on the local Xen host
system or another central location. See the appropriate documentation for
instructions:
Table 49. Documentation sources for Linux distributions
Operating system Documentation
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Documentation
v For NFS Server Configuration instructions,
see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0.0
Deployment Guide.
v For instructions to prepare for an NFS
installation, see the Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.0.0 Installation Guide.
Note: When you configure the NFS server,
all files and directories must be accessible by
the NFS client, the Xen system on which
you are creating the master image.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
Documentation
Copy the contents of your installation media, such as SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 10, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5.0, to a directory on the NFS server using a descriptive name such
astmp/sources/sles10.
Note: Alternatively, you can use a local installation on the Xen host.
Use the following table to understand the variables used when you run the
image creation command.
Table 50. Variables used when you run the image creation command
Variable Description
/var/opt/ibm/vm/images/vm_master1.img The destination at which you want the
generated Xen master image to reside. The
recommended filen ame and location is
/var/opt/ibm/vm/images/
vm_master1.img.
NFS_Server The name of the NFS server, for example,
xen_image. Alternatively, you can specify the
IP address for the NFS server, for example,
192.168.0.1.
Note: Do not specify localhost or 127.0.0.1
for the name of the NFS server.
Directory The directory in which you copied the
contents of the installation media, for
example, tmp/sources/sles10 or
tmp/sources/redhat.
The following example shows the image creation command using the sample
variables described in the table.
Table 51. Image creation commands for Linux distributions
Installation Media Command
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 redhat_inst.py --dest=/var/opt/ibm/vm/
images/vm_master1.img
--src=nfs:xen_image://tmp/sources/redhat
--net=dhcp
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 suse_inst.py --dest=/var/opt/ibm/vm/
images/vm_master1.img
--src=nfs:xen_image://tmp/sources/sles10
--net=dhcp
A series of graphical panels are displayed during the automated process that
creates the image. No action is necessary. Wait for the panels to finish
displaying. The length of time required for the image creation process depends
on your network speed and configuration; the process can take several minutes
to two hours to complete.
5. Verify that the vm_master1.img image was created in the/var/opt/ibm/vm/
images directory.
Note: The images must exist in this directory so that the Create Virtual Server
wizard can retrieve the image to create a virtual server.
To create a virtual server using the master image, see “Creating a virtual server”
on page 614.
Note: Use the image only with virtualization manager to create a Xen virtual
server. Do not use the image outside of virtualization manager to create a virtual
server.
Read the following information to learn about options you can use when you run
the image creation script and to learn about the settings that are configured in the
master image that the script creates:
You can specify the following options when you run the image creation script.
Specify either the short form or the long form of the option.
Table 52. Options for the image creation script
Required/
Option Description Optional Default value
-s [d] --src [d] Use [d] as the NFS source for the Required /install
installation media. You must
specify [d] using the following
format: nfs:NFS_Server://
Directory where NFS_Server is
the name of the NFS server and
Directory is the directory into
which you copied the contents of
the installation media.
-d [d] --dest [d] Create the image in the Required /var/opt/
file-backed virtual block device ibm/vm/
(VBD) [d]. [d] can contain the images.
full path for the image file. vm_master.img
-z [d] --size [d] Set the size of the image to [d] in Optional Approximately 2
megabytes. For example, set [d] GB
to 2048 for an image that is
approximately 2 GB in size.
-f --force Overwrite the destination image Optional N/A
if one already exists at that
location.
-c [d] --cache [d] Keep the installation source in Optional N/A
file [d].
-n --net [d] Use [d] to specify the network Required dhcp
parameters. Options are
v dhcp
v local
v ip,mask,gateway,dns where
ip,mask,gateway,dns is a
combination of the IP address,
subnet mask, network
gateway, and DNS server.
The image creation script creates the master image with the following default
settings.
Table 53. Image settings
Configuration Value
Name of the file-backed virtual block device vm_master.img
(VBD)
Location /var/opt/ibm/vm/images
Size of image Approximately 2 GB
Clock and time zone UTC
Keyboard layout English (US)
Disk partitions For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0:
v xvda1 - 1.7 GB root file system
v xvda2 - 256 MB for swap partition
You can use an existing, customized Xen virtual server image as a basis for
creating additional virtual servers on a Xen host system. To enable an existing
virtual server image for use as a master image in IBM Systems Director, you must
clean up certain settings in the image. For example, the networking configuration
and SSH keys used in the image must be cleared.
Use the following instructions to copy a virtual server image and clean up the
settings in the resulting image manually.
These instructions are specific to cleaning up the default master image that you
create when you run the image creation script manually. However, you can use the
same overall steps to modify any other virtual server image; the parameters to the
commands might differ depending on the original image that you use.
Create a virtual server, for example, mymaster.img, using the Create Virtual Server
wizard in IBM Systems Director. Customize the virtual server as needed. For
example, you can install and configure applications. When you are finished
customizing your virtual server, complete the following steps to clean your Xen
virtual server so that it can be used as the image to create additional virtual
servers.
1. Shut down and power off the customized Xen virtual server. In IBM Systems
Director Navigate Resources, right-click the virtual server and select Power and
Energy > Shutdown and Power Off.
Note: mymaster.img is the virtual server you created using the Create Virtual
Server wizard, and have subsequently customized.
3. Mount the mymaster.img image to clean it:
This output indicates that loop devices 0 and 1 are in use already.
v Run the following command:
cat /proc/mounts
d. Examine the partition table of the master image, by using the loop device.
Obtain the partition table information by running the following command:
fdisk -l -u /dev/loop0
Find the entry that corresponds to the root file system partition. For the
default images created by the image creation script, this is hda2 or the
second row in the partition table. If you created an image with the image
creation script using the --noauto option and specified a custom partitioning
scheme, find the appropriate row in this table.
In the same row, find the value under the Start column that gives the
starting offset of the root partition. This is typically 530145 for the default
master images. Also, in the table header, you will see the sector size used
for the image given in the Units = sectors of 1 * xx = xx bytes row (or a
similar row). xx is typically 512. Note the values for the starting offset
(start_offset) and the sector size (sector_size).
e. Mount the root partition of mymaster.img to a loop device by issuing the
following command:
losetup -o $((start_offset*sector_size)) /dev/loop1 /dev/loop0
where start_offset and sector_size are the values you noted in the previous
step. For example: losetup -o $((530145*512)) /dev/loop1 /dev/loop0
This command associates the data starting from offset 530145*512 in
/dev/loop0 to /dev/loop1.
f. Mount the root file system for the mymaster.img image to the ./mnt
directory using the following command:
mount /dev/loop1 ./mnt
Note: If you get errors while trying to use the loop0 or loop1 devices saying
that the resource is busy, go back to a previous step to determine the
available devices.
g. Clean the networking configuration and ssh keys in the image and set the
YaST configuration tool to run at boot using the following commands:
rm ./mnt/etc/udev/rules.d/30-net_persistent_names.rules
rm ./mnt/etc/ssh/ssh_host_*
Note: Ensure that these devices are unmounted correctly to avoid data
corruption in the new image.
To create an image repository for Xen in the local file system, complete the
following steps:
1. On the Xen host system, use a text editor to open the repository.prop file from
the following directory path:
/opt/ibm/director/vm/im/repository.prop
2. Update the repository.prop file as shown in the following example.
This sample code from the repository.prop file indicates that there is a default
image repository in the local file system and gives the location for master
images and clone images:
repository.2.label = "Xen"
repository.2.type = "local"
repository.2.masterPath = "/opt/ibm/director/vm/images/masters"
repository.2.clonePath = "/opt/ibm/director/vm/images/clones"
3. To verify that the image repository was created successfully, complete the
following steps:
a. In the Web interface, use the View and Collect Inventory task on the Xen
host system. Select Software Images Discovery for the inventory collection
profile.
Note: Before you can collect or view inventory for a resource, you must
discover that resource using System Discovery.
b. To view the image repository, use one of the following methods:
v Using the Web interface:
From the View and Collect Inventory task, click Refresh View. Verify that
the specified image repository is displayed in the inventory data list and
table, for example, Xen.
v Using the systems management command-line interface (smcli):
Run the following command on IBM Systems Director Server:
smcli lsresources imagerepository
Verify that the specified image repository is displayed in the output, for
example, Xen.
Create a new image repository for Xen on a Network File System (NFS) by editing
the image-repository configuration file.
Use the following example as a guide for creating a new image repository for Xen
on an NFS. The example consists of the following components:
v NFS share on NFS Server srv.domain.com
v Managed system: Xen host A
v Managed system: Xen host B
Xen host A and Xen host B are both connected to NFS Server srv.domain.com and
share the image repositories located on the NFS.
To create a new image repository for Xen on the NFS, complete the following
steps:
Note: Before you can collect or view inventory for a resource, you must
discover that resource using System Discovery.
b. To view the image repository, use one of the following methods:
v Using the Web interface:
From the View and Collect Inventory task, click Refresh View. Verify that
the specified image repository is displayed in the inventory data list and
table, for example, Xen.
v Using the systems management command-line interface (smcli):
Run the following command on IBM Systems Director Server:
smcli lsresources imagerepository
Verify that the specified image repository is displayed in the output, for
example, Xen.
The Create Virtual Server task is available on systems running in the following
virtualization environments:
The wizard prompts you to provide information such as the name, processing
units, memory, and storage to allocate to the virtual server. The information it
requests is specific to the virtualization environment in which the virtual server is
being created.
The Create Virtual Server task usually does not install an operating system. You
install the appropriate operating system after the virtual server is created.
However, in the Xen virtualization environment, a system image is required to
complete the Create Virtual Server wizard. Then, when the Xen virtual-server
creation is completed, the operating system is installed and the new virtual server
is ready to use.
Use the resources in this section to learn about virtual and physical processors for
Power Systems.
To learn about virtual and physical processors for Power Systems, refer to the
following information:
v For POWER 5 systems, see "Processors."
v For POWER 6 systems, see the Logical Partitioning Guide in one of the following
information center topics:
– "9406-MMA (IBM System i® 570)"
– "PDF files for the 9117-MMA (IBM Power 570)"
Related reference
Processors
Use the Create Virtual Server wizard for Microsoft Virtual Server to specify a
specific location to create a virtual server.
To create a virtual server in a location other than the default location, go to the
Virtual Server Name field, and type the fully qualified path of the location in
which you want to create the virtual server, for example,
C:\MyVirtualServers\VirtualServer1
This concept also applies to a shared storage location such as a storage area
network (SAN). In this scenario, the host system must have a shared drive
associated with the storage location.
Note: Before you can collect or view inventory for a resource, you must
discover that resource using System Discovery or Advanced System
Discovery.
b. To view the inventory for the Xen host system, use one of the following
methods:
v Using the Web interface:
From the View and Collect Inventory task, click Refresh View. Verify
that the specified image repository is not displayed in the inventory data
list and table.
v Using the systems management command-line interface (smcli):
Run the following command on IBM Systems Director Server:
smcli lsresources imagerepository
Verify that the specified image repository is not displayed in the output.
where:
v virtual_disk_name is the name you want to specify for the new virtual disk,
for example, virtualdisk1.dsk.
v size_in_MB is the number of megabytes that you want to specify as the size
for the new virtual disk, for example, 10.
2. To view the name of the new virtual disk, type the following command and
press Enter:
ls -la /var/opt/ibm/vm/disks/
The name of the virtual disk is displayed in the output.
3. To view and manage the new virtual disk, complete the following steps in the
Web interface:
a. Discover the Xen host system using System Discovery.
b. Click Navigate Resources to navigate to the Xen host system.
c. Request access to the Xen host system. After the view is refreshed, you can
view the new virtual disk.
If you perform this task, the virtual server cannot be rediscovered and instead
must be re-created.
You can permanently delete a virtual server from its associated host only when the
virtual server has been powered off.
Note: In some cases, the delete virtual server task removes the associated disk
storage. However the delete virtual server task does not delete the associated disk
storage in the following environments:
v Power Systems servers managed by Hardware Management Console or
Integrated Virtualization Manager
v Xen virtualization
Complete the following steps to delete a virtual server from its associated host:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, click Navigate Resources to
locate the virtual server.
2. Select the virtual server, click Actions > System Configuration from the menu
bar, and click Permanently Delete.
3. In the scheduler window, click OK to run the task immediately. You also can
schedule to run this task at a later time.
For example:
smcli runtask -n my_vs "Permanently Delete"
where my_vs is the name of the target virtual server. Refer to runtask for more
information.
In a Power Systems environment, you can also use the rmvs command to delete a
virtual server. The rmvs command includes the option of removing the associated
disk storage. Refer to rmvs for more information.
For Power Systems that are under the control of the Hardware Management
Console (HMC) or the Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM), you can edit disk
resources for the host, as well as processor and memory allocations for the virtual
servers that are running on the host.
Note: The edit host resources task might take several minutes to complete for
Power Systems that are managed by the HMC or IVM. Results can be found in the
job log associated with the request.
Note: You can also perform this task using the virtualization commands from the
systems management command-line interface. For more information, see
"Virtualization commands."
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources to locate
the host that you want to edit.
2. Select the host, click Actions from the menu bar, and select System
Configuration > Edit Host. The Edit Host Resources window opens.
3. After completing the changes you want to request, click OK.
4. In the scheduler window, click OK to run the task immediately. You also can
schedule to run this task at a later time.
You must power off a virtual server before you can change the values of most
attributes. The following exceptions apply:
v For a VMware VirtualCenter or VMware ESX Server environment and Microsoft
Virtual Server environment, the virtual server can be running when you change
the value of the undoable disk attributes.
The resources that you are able to edit on a powered off virtual server vary by the
type of virtual server to which the resources are allocated:
v In a VMware VirtualCenter or VMware ESX Server environment, you can set the
memory size, the number of central processing units (CPUs), the virtual disk
type, and the PowerON and PowerOFF action for undoable disks.
If VMware VirtualCenter is using VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler
(DRS) you can choose whether a virtual server can move from its current host,
If VMware VirtualCenter is using VMware High Availability (HA) you can edit
the restart priority.
Note: The PowerOn and PowerOFF actions for undoable disks cannot be set for
VMware ESX Server 3.0.
v In a Microsoft Virtual Server environment, you can set the memory size, the
virtual disk mode, and the PowerOFF action for undoable disks.
v In a Power Systems environment, you can edit the minimum, maximum, and
assigned processors for virtual servers that are running in both shared processor
mode and dedicated processor mode. You can also edit the virtual or physical
disks that are assigned, the minimum and maximum memory that is assigned,
virtual Ethernet adapters, and the optical devices that are assigned to a virtual
server.
In a Power Systems environment that is managed by the HMC or the IVM, you
can edit the physical I/O slots that are assigned to a virtual server, so that you
can assign non-virtualized I/O devices such as physical storage or Ethernet
adapters. For virtual servers running the IBM i operating system, you can select
a load source and an alternate restart device.
For virtual servers that are powered on and managed by the HMC, you can
choose to change virtual server settings temporarily or permanently. Temporary
changes remain in effect only until you power off the virtual server.
Notes:
– The edit virtual resources task might take several minutes to complete for
Power Systems that are managed by the HMC or the IVM. Check the
job-instance log for status.
– For a Virtual I/O Server, you can edit only memory and processor resources.
v In a Xen environment, you can edit the processors assigned to the virtual server,
the virtual disk assigned, and the minimum and maximum memory available.
To edit the virtual resources of a virtual server, complete the following steps:
Note: Alternatively, you can perform this task using the virtualization commands
from the systems management command-line interface. For more information, see
"Virtualization commands."
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation area, click Navigate Resources to locate
the virtual server that you want to edit.
2. Select the virtual server, click Actions from the menu bar, and select System
Configuration > Edit Virtual Server.
3. In the scheduler window, click OK to run the task immediately. You also can
schedule to run this task at a later time.
The table below describes the power operations that you can perform.
Only those operations that are applicable to the selected virtual server are
available. For example, if a virtual server is suspended, the only available power
operation is Resume.
The power-on operation applies only to virtual servers that are turned off. It does
not affect virtual servers that are already turned on or suspended.
For example:
smcli runtask -n my_sys "Power On All Virtual Servers"
where my_sys is the name of the target system. Refer to runtask for more
information.
This power operation applies only to virtual servers that are suspended. It does
not affect virtual servers that are turned off or already running.
Complete the following steps to resume the operation of all suspended virtual
servers that are associated with a single host:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, click Navigate Resources to
locate the host that contains the virtual servers that you want to resume.
2. Select the host, click Actions from the menu bar, and select Power On/Off >
Resume All Suspended Virtual Servers.
3. In the scheduler window, click OK to run the task immediately. You also can
schedule to run this task at a later time.
For example:
smcli runtask -n my_sys "Resume All Suspended Virtual Servers"
where my_sys is the name of the target system. Refer to runtask for more
information.
This power operation applies only to virtual servers that are running. It does not
affect virtual servers that are turned off or already suspended.
Complete the following steps to suspend all running virtual servers that are
associated with a single host:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, click Navigate Resources to
locate the host that contains the virtual servers that you want to suspend.
For example:
smcli runtask -n my_sys "Suspend All Running Virtual Servers"
where my_sys is the name of the target system. Refer to runtask for more
information.
The power-off operation applies only to virtual servers that are turned on. It does
not affect virtual servers that are already turned off or suspended.
Complete the following steps to turn off all running virtual servers that are
associated with a single host:
Important: This operation forces a virtual server to turn off without an orderly
shutdown of its guest operating system. All applications that are in use on that
guest operating system are immediately stopped.
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, click Navigate Resources to
locate the host that contains the virtual servers that you want to power off.
2. Select the host, click Actions from the menu bar, and select Power On/Off >
Force Power Off All Virtual Servers.
3. In the scheduler window, click OK to run the task immediately. You also can
schedule to run this task at a later time.
For example:
smcli runtask -n my_sys "Force Power Off All Virtual Servers"
where my_sys is the name of the target system. Refer to runtask for more
information.
Static relocation:
IBM Systems Director Server supports static relocation of virtual servers when you
are using the virtualization manager subagent for VMware ESX Server or Microsoft
Virtual Server. You can also relocate a Xen virtual server, or a virtual server that is
running on an IBM Power Systems that is under the control of the Hardware
Management Console or the Integrated Virtualization Manager.
In addition to the general cautions, static relocation requires that these additional
cautions be observed when you are relocating virtual servers:
v Be sure that virtual servers to be relocated are either turned on or turned off. If a
virtual server is turned on at the start of a static relocation, virtualization
manager turns off the virtual server, completes the relocation, and then turns on
the virtual server when the relocation completes.
Before any virtual servers are turned off, the guest operating systems on
relocated virtual servers are shut down in an orderly way. When the virtual
servers are turned on after the relocation, the guest operating systems are
restarted.
v (Virtualization manager subagent for VMware ESX Server only) Secure copy
(scp) must be enabled on all VMware ESX Server hosts that are using
Virtualization manager subagent for VMware ESX Server. This requirement
applies only to VMware ESX Server hosts that are running versions earlier than
VMware ESX Server 3.0 Service Console. Secure copy is not required on hosts
running VMware ESX Server 3.0 Service Console.
v (Virtualization manager subagent for VMware ESX Server only) The access mode
of the shared Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) volume should be public.
v (Virtualization manager subagent for VMware ESX Server only) Make sure that
all VMFS volumes on your managed hosts use volume names, and that the
virtual servers use the volume names for specifying the virtual disks.
v (Virtualization manager subagent for VMware ESX Server only) The virtual
server configuration file should not reside on a VMFS partition. This
requirement does not apply to hosts running VMware ESX Server 3.0 Service
Console.
Live relocation:
You can perform live relocation of virtual servers when using the Virtualization
manager subagent for VMware VirtualCenter. You can also relocate a Xen virtual
server, or a virtual server that is running on an IBM Power Systems that is under
the control of the Hardware Management Console or the Integrated Virtualization
Manager.
VMware VirtualCenter VMotion must be enabled on both the source host and
target host between which you want to perform a live relocation of virtual servers.
You can use VMware VirtualCenter client to enable VMotion for the applicable
hosts. For information about VMware VirtualCenter VMotion requirements, see the
documentation included with VMware VirtualCenter. When using VMware
VirtualCenter 1.3, you can use virtualization manager to set a host attribute that
enables relocation.
Live relocation is not supported for virtual servers that contain undoable disks that
are turned off with the PowerOFF action to keep (that is, save the changes in a
redo log).
Relocation requirements:
Before you start a virtual server relocation, ensure that you meet the relocation
requirements.
Note: For Xen relocation, the virtual server image must be available on a shared
storage volume, with that volume mounted by both the source and target host.
v Both the source and target host must have access to a shared communications
network.
v The target host must have enough memory to support the virtual server.
Note: Additionally, for Xen, the source host must have memory available that is
equal to or greater than the virtual server or virtual servers that you want to
relocate.
v The target host must support the configuration version of the virtual server.
v Relocation of clustered virtual servers is not supported.
v Relocation of virtual servers that are suspended or in a transition state is not
supported.
Note: Additionally, for Xen, the virtual server cannot be in an offline or paused
state.
v Source and target hosts must have a virtual network device with the same label.
Note: For Xen, the bridge must have the same name on both the source and
target hosts.
v Virtual servers to be relocated cannot be connected to a removable device such
as a CD drive or diskette drive.
v The version of a configuration file for a virtual server must be supported by the
virtualization application with which the virtualization manager subagent
communicates. Otherwise, the virtual server cannot be relocated.
v (IBM Power Systems only) To relocate a virtual server, ensure that you meet the
minimum virtualization software requirements for the HMC and the IVM.
IBM Power Systems relocation leverages Live Partition Mobility functionality, a
component of the PowerVM Enterprise Edition hardware feature. To utilize the
relocation functionality in IBM Systems Director, you must meet the
requirements described in the “Live Partition Mobility” documentation. For
more information, see the preparation sections in the “Moving the mobile
partition using the HMC” or “Moving the mobile partition using the Integrated
Virtualization Manager” topics.
For further information about virtual server relocation and potential restrictions for
a specific virtualization application, see its included documentation.
A volume is a discrete unit of storage on disk, tape or other data recording medium
that supports some form of identifier and parameter list, such as a volume label or
input/output control.
Notes:
1. A volume should be mounted at only one mount point on the source host. A
volume mounted at multiple mount points is not supported.
2. Make sure that the volume that contains the virtual server to be relocated does
not contain any files that are not related to the virtual server. If the volume
contains any files that are not related to the virtual server, everything in the
volume will become inaccessible as soon as the volume is dismounted.
3. When relocating multiple virtual servers on one volume, the relocation
operation succeeds only when all virtual servers on the same volume are
successfully relocated. The operation fails when any of the virtual servers on
the same volume fail to be relocated. In that case, all virtual servers on the
volume are registered again to the source host.
4. Relocation is supported on primary partitions only.
Complete the following steps to perform static relocation for virtual servers that
are associated with Microsoft Virtual Server hosts:
1. Create a volume on the storage area network (SAN). Make sure that the
volume you create is large enough to hold the virtual server.
2. Mount the volume at the source host.
3. Make sure that the destination host can access the volume as initialized or
formatted. If not, the destination host may need to be restarted. However, do
not mount the volume at the destination host.
4. Create a virtual server on the source host and put it on this volume.
5. Create relocation tasks for the virtual server.
Secure copy must be enabled using RSA certificates, which provides secure transfer
of files without requiring the user ID and password for each file transfer operation.
Static relocation will fail for a destination host unless you can copy (or pull) a file
at the destination host from a source host by using the scp command without
entering a password.
If the hosts are moved to a different network, the steps in this procedure must be
repeated.
Complete the following steps to enable secure copy (scp) on a destination host that
is running Virtualization manager subagent for ESX:
1. Create an RSA public key.
a. At the command prompt of the source host, enter ssh-keygen -t rsa.
b. Store the generated key in a default location and do not use a passphrase.
Note: If you specify a different location other than /root/.ssh/, you must
adjust any other steps that use the default path.
2. Add the public key to the authorized_keys file for any ESX host that you want
to use as a destination host for relocation.
a. On the source host on which you created the RSA public key, copy the .pub
file to a directory that is accessible through File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
b. Use FTP to log in to both ESX hosts (source and destination) and copy the
.pub file from the source host to the destination host.
c. From the console of the destination host, copy the .pub file to
/root/.ssh/authorized_keys.
Note: If this file already exists, do not overwrite it. Instead, add the
information in the .pub file to the existing /root/.ssh/authorized_keys file.
3. Change the permissions on the authorized_keys file and the ssh subdirectory.
a. On the console of the destination host, type cd /root.
b. Type chmod go-w .ssh .ssh/authorized_keys
4. On all ESX hosts that will be destination hosts, add the ESX host to the
known_host list.
a. On the console of the destination host, type ssh source_IPaddress.
b. b. When you are asked whether you want to add the host to the
known_host list, answer yes.
c. Exit from the secure shell.
d. Repeat steps a - c for all destination hosts until they have added the source
hosts to the known_host list.
e. Repeat steps a - c for all source hosts until each has added the destination
hosts to the known_host list.
5. Copy the required Perl scripts onto each host.
a. From the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN), download the
ShellQuote.pm, SCP.pm, and SSH.pm scripts.
b. Copy SCP.pm and SSH.pm into /usr/lib/vmware/perl5/site_perl/
perl_version/Net/ directory, where perl_version is the version of Perl that you
are using. You might need to create the Net subdirectory.
Ensure that you meet the following requirements to relocate virtual servers:
v Relocation of virtual servers is only possible between hosts within the same
virtual farm.
v Both the source and target host must have access to a shared storage area
network (SAN).
Note: For Xen relocation, the virtual server image must be available on a shared
storage volume, with that volume mounted by both the source and target host.
v Both the source and target host must have access to a shared communications
network
v The target host must have enough memory to support the virtual server.
Note: Additionally, for Xen, the source host must have memory available that is
equal to or greater than the virtual server or virtual servers that you want to
relocate.
v The target host must support the configuration version of the virtual server.
v Relocation of clustered virtual servers is not supported.
v Relocation of virtual servers that are suspended or in a transition state is not
supported.
Note: Additionally, for Xen, the virtual server cannot be in an offline or paused
state.
v Source and target hosts must have a virtual network device with the same label.
Note: For Xen, the bridge must have the same name on both the source and
target hosts.
v Virtual servers to be relocated cannot be connected to a removable device such
as a CD drive or diskette drive
v The version of a configuration file for a virtual server must be supported by the
virtualization application that Virtualization manager subagent communicates
with. Otherwise, the virtual server cannot be relocated.
v IBM Power Systems only: To relocate a virtual server, ensure that you meet the
minimum virtualization software requirements.
Power Systems relocation leverages Live Partition Mobility functionality, a
component of the PowerVM Enterprise Edition hardware feature. To utilize the
relocation functionality in IBM Systems Director, you must meet the
requirements described in the “Live Partition Mobility” documentation. For
more information, see the preparation sections in the “Moving the mobile
partition using the HMC” or “Moving the mobile partition using the Integrated
Virtualization Manager” topics.
For further information about virtual server relocation for a specific virtualization
application, see its included documentation.
Note: With the Relocate only option, the relocation job is run directly.
To relocate one or more virtual servers using the Relocate Virtual Server wizard,
complete the following steps:
1. From the IBM Systems Director Server navigation area, expand Availability,
and click Relocate.
2. Complete the instructions in the relocation wizard.
Note: Ensure the relocation plan is accurate for the current environment. If
resources that are defined in the relocation plan have changed, or the plan has
been activated previously, it might not be valid.
4. In the scheduler window, the Run Now option is selected by default. Click OK
to run the relocation plan immediately, or select Schedule to specify the day
and time you want to schedule the relocation plan to run.
From the relocation plan view, you can see all of your saved virtual-server
relocation plans, along with basic information about them: the type of relocation
plan (whether it is for a single virtual server, or for all virtual servers on the host),
the source host or virtual server, the target host, and a description of the plan. The
relocation plan view is also a single point of management from which you can
access tasks to edit, delete, or run existing relocation plans, or create new ones. You
can use this view to make any necessary changes to relocation plans to ensure that
they are accurate for the current environment, based on relocation plans being
activated or resources that are defined in the plan being changed.
To launch the VMware ESX Manager User Interface, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, click Navigate Resources to
locate the host from which you want to start the VMware ESX Manager User
Interface.
2. Select the host, click Actions from the menu bar, and select System
Configuration > Launch VMware ESX Manager User Interface.
The VMware ESX Manager User Interface is started in a new window.
To launch the Microsoft Virtual Server Console, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, click Navigate Resources to
locate the host from which you want to start the Microsoft Virtual Server
Console.
2. Select the host, click Actions from the menu bar, and select System
Configuration > Launch Microsoft Virtual Server Console.
The Microsoft Virtual Server Console is started in a new window.
The IBM Systems Director Server uses a role-based access control (RBAC) service
with which an administrator can create custom sets of permissions, known as roles,
and assign them to individual users or groups. A set of task, command-line
interface (CLI), and application permissions that is applied to one or more
resources defines an authorization role. Each role can be applied to many users,
and each user can have many roles. Regulating user roles is an effective way to
control security for your system as it enables you to control access to every task
and CLI command.
Note: By default, the only user ID that is assigned to the SMAdministrator role
(the only one that can take any action right after installation) is the user ID that
was used to install IBM Systems Director. Even if you have other administrators
defined on the management server, a role is not assigned to them and they are
unable to administer IBM Systems Director. They will instead receive a message
telling them to contact their system administrator. To ensure that you are using the
correct user ID, before logging on to the IBM Systems Director Web interface,
ensure that you can use that same user ID and password to successfully log on to
the operating system on the management server.
Using the security features in IBM Systems Director, an administrator can perform
the following functions:
v Manage auditing
v View and manage authorized users and groups
v Assign roles and resources to users
v Manage user properties
v Create and modify roles
v Manage permissions that are grouped within a role
v Use roles to control access to a system
v Request access to a system
v Manage credentials and their associated mappings
To use IBM Systems Director to access or manage a system, the following steps are
taken:
1. A user authenticates to the IBM Systems Director Web interface using their user
ID and password, which are verified with the user ID and password stored in
the user registry that is configured by IBM Systems Director. The user registry
is configured by default on the local operating system, but it can also reside on
Security requirements
Security requirements
User authentication
User authentication is the security mechanism by which a user's credentials that
are used to access a system are verified. After authentication, a user can access the
system. However, to access a specific resource or perform a specific task, the user
must also have the appropriate authorization. Authentication prevents
unauthorized management servers or rogue managed-system applications from
accessing the resources.
To be authenticated, users are required to enter a user ID and password for the
system that they want to access. The authentication process uses the configured
user registry, which is from either the operating system, Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (LDAP), or the domain controller.
The user accounts and groups that are created at the user registry level to log in to
a system are also used by IBM Systems Director. For example, to log in to IBM
Systems Director Web interface, a user must authenticate by logging in with a user
registry level account for the management server. To use IBM Systems Director
Web interface to access another system, the user must first have the appropriate
credentials to access that other system.
Security requirements
IBM Systems Director does not provide the capability to create, update, or delete
users or groups in a user registry regardless of where the registry resides. To
manage users or groups in the user registry, you must instead use the appropriate
tool associated with the registry in which the users or groups are stored. IBM
Systems Director does, however, give you the ability to enter and edit information
for each user or group that describes each in the context of IBM Systems Director.
Users are specific to the systems on which they are created. Each system has its
own set of users that is independent of those on any other system in the network
or in accounts that are created in IBM Systems Director. The users are placed in
either predefined or user-created groups.
In a default IBM Systems Director Server installation scenario that uses the local
operating-system registry, the following IBM Systems Director user groups are
automatically created at the operating system level on the management server.
Note:
v The only role that is automatically assigned is to the administrator user ID that
installed IBM Systems Director. So, initially, no other user is associated with a
role. That IBM Systems Director administrator must then associate the other
users with roles.
v If you want to use Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or another
tool that the registry supports, you might need to manually create all of these
user groups and assign users to them.
smadmin (Administrator group)
Members of the smadmin group are authorized for all operations. They
have administrative access to IBM Systems Director and can perform all
administrative tasks. These members can define the privileges available to
the smmgr, smmon, smuser, and groupread groups. The privileges
available to members of the smadmin group cannot be restricted.
Important: If you add a user to this group, the user can modify or delete
all system-level resources and resources for all other users, including
operating-system and user files and processes. Before assigning a user to
this group, be sure that the user requires SMAdministrator authority.
smmgr (Manager group)
Members of the smmgr group can perform management operations, which
are a subset of the functions that a member of the smadmin group can
perform.
smmon (Monitor group)
Members of the smmon group can access those administrative functions
that provide read-only access, such as monitoring.
smuser (User group)
The smuser group includes all authenticated users. Members can perform
only basic operations.
You can also use the smcli authusergp command to authorize additional user
groups to access IBM Systems Director. These user groups are granted various
levels of authority in the form of privileges and tasks and resource access.
Related tasks
authusergp
To create a local operating-system user account that has access to IBM Systems
Director Server, complete the following steps:
1. Create a user account in the user registry that is associated with the
management server. For instructions about creating a user account in the user
registry that is associated with the management server, see the documentation
for that management server.
2. Add the user as a member of one of the user groups defined for IBM Systems
Director at the user registry level. You can either use one of the predefined
groups or create your own.
Note: If you create a new custom group on the IBM Systems Director Server,
you will have to authorize it. To do so, log in to the IBM Systems Director Web
interface as an administrator and navigate to Security > Users > Authorize
Groups.... Enter the local group name in the wizard to authorize the new
group. You can also authorize the group from the command-line interface using
smcli authusergp.
After users are authenticated to IBM Systems Director, you can configure the
authorizations for each user to IBM Systems Director tasks and resources.
The new SSL encryption setting takes effect once the server restarts.
To create a Microsoft Active Directory user account that has access to IBM Systems
Director Server, complete the following steps:
1. Create a user account in the Active Directory user registry. For instructions
about creating a user account in the domain server user registry, see the Active
Directory documentation.
2. Add the Active Directory user to a defined Active Directory global security
group. You will have to create your own Active Directory group if a suitable
one does not exist.
3. Add the global group to an authorized local group of the IBM Systems Director
Server, such as, smadmin, smmgr, smmon, or smuser.
Notes:
v Nested global groups are not supported in IBM Systems Director.
v Alternatively, you can create a custom local group. If you create a new
custom local group on the IBM Systems Director Server, you will have to
authorize it. To do so, log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface as an
administrator and navigate to Security > Users > Authorize Groups.... Enter
the local group name in the wizard to authorize the new group. You can also
authorize the group from the command-line interface using smcli
authusergp.
v If you want to authorize a domain group directly without adding it to the
local group, log in to the IBM Systems Director Web interface as an
administrator and navigate to Security > Users > Authorize Groups.... Enter
the domain group name in the wizard to authorize the new group. Ensure
You can now assign additional roles to users to access specific IBM Systems
Director tasks and resources.
LDAP is an open protocol that uses TCP/IP to provide access to directories that
support an X.500 model. Managing your user information with LDAP instead of
the local operating system is particularly useful when you have many users who
will operate IBM Systems Director. For IBM Systems Director user authentication,
LDAP has a number of advantages:
v Many companies already have existing LDAP directories of employees that can
be used for IBM Systems Director user authentication. These existing directories
save the time and effort required to create new user accounts on the
management server.
v An administrator can immediately modify or terminate a user's access on all
instances of IBM Systems Director Server by changing the user's LDAP group
memberships or by removing the user's LDAP entry.
v Users need only one user ID and password, as opposed to multiple accounts for
each management server.
To create an LDAP user account that has access to IBM Systems Director Server,
complete the following steps:
1. Create a user account in the LDAP user registry. For instructions about creating
a user account in the LDAP user registry, see the documentation for your
LDAP server.
2. Create the following user groups in the LDAP user registry to match the
groups that are predefined in IBM Systems Director:
v smadmin
v smmgr
v smmon
v smuser
Note: If this is an Active Directory (AD) LDAP user registry and IBM Systems
Director is installed on a Linux system that uses the AD LDAP registry, make
Note: If you create a new custom group on the IBM Systems Director Server,
you will have to authorize it. To do so, log in to the IBM Systems Director Web
interface as an administrator and navigate to Security > Users > Authorize
Groups.... Enter the local group name in the wizard to authorize the new
group. You can also authorize the group from the command-line interface using
smcli authusergp.
4. Rename the <director_install>/lwi/conf/overrides/security.ldap template
properties file to <director_install>/lwi/conf/overrides/
securityLDAP.properties, where <director_install> is the IBM Systems
Director installation directory.
Note: Ensure that the file permissions for the newly renamed
securityLDAP.properties are correct. If not, change the permissions for the file
as necessary to reflect the intended permissions.
5. Open the securityLDAP.properties file in an editor and complete the following
edits:
v Modify the contents of this file to include the following LDAP configuration
properties:
Table 55. Configuration properties in the securityLDAP.properties file
Property Description
com.ibm.lwi.LDAPHost = 9.10.11.12 The host name of LDAP server
com.ibm.lwi.LDAPPort = 389 The listening port defined on the LDAP server.
com.ibm.lwi.LDAPBase = dc=ibm,dc=com The base (root) distinguish name defined on the LDAP
server.
com.ibm.lwi.LDAPAdminUser = CN=IBM Director Service The administrator username defined on the LDAP server.
Account,CN=Users,DC=systemx,DC=sc,DC=ibm,DC=com This property is not required if the LDAP server is
enabled for anonymous login.
com.ibm.lwi.LDAPAdminPassword = DSADSADS <encrypted> The encrypted password of the administrator defined on
the LDAP server. This property is not required if the
LDAP server is enabled for anonymous login. After
setting the com.ibm.lwi.LDAPAdminPassword property, you
need to encode the password by running the
lwiencoder.sh -filename <your_config_file>.properties
-keylist com.ibm.lwi.LDAPAdminPassword command
from the /opt/ibm/director/lwi/bin directory.
com.ibm.lwi.searchfilter = (&(uid= The user search filter to use on the LDAP server.
%v)(objectclass=inetOrgPerson))
com.ibm.lwi.rolemanager.ldap.filters.usergroup = The filter string (LDAP) used to search directory for
(|(objectclass=groupOfNames) groups objects.
(objectclass=groupOfUniqueNames))
com.ibm.lwi.rolemanager.ldap.filters.users = The filter string (LDAP) used to search directory for
(objectclass=inetOrgPerson) users objects.
After users are authenticated to IBM Systems Director, you can configure the
authorizations for each user to IBM Systems Director tasks and resources.
To edit the properties that IBM Systems Director associates with each user or
group, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand Security
and click Users.
2. Select the user or group that you want to edit.
3. Click Edit. The properties page is displayed.
4. Click Edit. The Edit Properties window is displayed.
5. Modify the properties as wanted.
6. Click OK.
Using IBM Systems Director, you can create and manage the roles that control
authorization for IBM Systems Director users.
Related reference
Security requirements
User authorization
User authorization occurs when an authenticated user uses IBM Systems Director
to perform a task on a resource. The authorization mechanism compares the user
account, or the group to which the user belongs, to the role-based access control
(RBAC) settings for that user or group. If a role exists that contains the
authorizations necessary to complete that task on that specified resource, then the
task proceeds.
Users can access only the applications, tasks, and resources that their user accounts
are authorized to access. The authorities that you grant to a user determine the
console and resource information that the user can access, and the tasks that the
user can perform on those resources.
The authorization process that IBM Systems Director performs when accessing a
resource is independent of the authentication that is required to access that
resource. For example, a user might be able to authenticate to and therefore access
After a user account is added to the applicable IBM Systems Director group to
provide access to IBM Systems Director Web interface, you can log in to IBM
Systems Director Web interface as an administrator and configure the authorization
policies and rules for IBM Systems Director tasks and resources for that user.
Related reference
Security requirements
Roles
You can assign roles to IBM Systems Director users to control their access to
resources and limit the tasks that they can perform on those resources. The
authorities that you configure for a role determine the level of access granted to
each user who is assigned to that role. All users or groups of users that access IBM
Systems Director must have a user role assignment.
The IBM Systems Director Server uses a role-based access control (RBAC) service
with which an administrator can create custom sets of permissions, known as roles,
and assign them to individual users or groups. A set of task, command-line
interface (CLI), and application permissions that is applied to one or more
resources defines an authorization role. Each role can be applied to many users,
and each user can have many roles. Regulating user roles is an effective way to
control security for your system as it enables you to control access to every task
and CLI command.
Note: By default, the only user ID that is assigned to the SMAdministrator role
(the only one that can take any action right after installation) is the user ID that
was used to install IBM Systems Director. Even if you have other administrators
defined on the management server, a role is not assigned to them and they are
unable to administer IBM Systems Director. They will instead receive a message
telling them to contact their system administrator. To ensure that you are using the
correct user ID, before logging on to the IBM Systems Director Web interface,
ensure that you can use that same user ID and password to successfully log on to
the operating system on the management server.
To allow users access to the IBM Systems Director Web interface, each user must
be assigned to a role. These user roles define the types of tasks that users or
groups can perform. To be assigned to a role, each user or group of users must
have a valid user ID or group ID in the user registry on the management server.
Both individual users and a group of users can be assigned to a role. All users in a
group are assigned the role of the group. If a user is assigned to one role as an
individual and a different role as a member of a group, the user has access to the
functions of the role that has greater access.
Role-based access control is functionality that was not available in versions of IBM
Systems Director prior to 6.1. In those versions, you could only edit the access
levels on each individual user or group, or you could modify the default access.
IBM Systems Director 6.1 and later provide reusable roles that you can assign more
than once and use to build other roles. IBM Systems Director 6.1 and 6.2 also
provide instance-based authorization. This gives you the ability to define, at a
more granular level than before, which tasks apply to which groups in a system.
Note: The hierarchical order of the roles in this list is such that the
SMAdministrator role has the highest authority and the SMUser role has the
lowest authority. Roles with higher authority are permitted to run all operations
that roles with lower authority are permitted to run. For example, if the execution
of an operation is permitted for SMUser, then all the other roles with higher
privileges are also permitted to run the operation.
SMAdministrator (Administrator role)
The SMAdministrator role has full authority to perform all tasks and
functions, and has full control over permissions. A user assigned to this
role can perform all tasks (including security administration, product
installation, and configuration) with any resource.
Important: If you assign this role to a user, the user can modify or delete
all system-level resources and resources for all other users, including
operating-system and user files and processes. Before assigning this role to
a user, be sure that the user requires this level of authority.
SMManager (Manager role)
The SMManager role can perform management operations, which are a
subset of the functions that a member of the SMAdministrator role can
perform. Typically, system administration, system health management, and
system configuration tasks are available. This role cannot perform security
administration or security configuration tasks, but it has full access to all of
the IBM Systems Director functions included within a functional manager
or feature. The list of accessible functions include those within the status
manager and update manager.
SMMonitor (Monitor role)
The SMMonitor role can access those administrative functions that provide
read-only access, such as monitoring, notification, and status. With this
role, a user can complete such tasks as monitoring a process, viewing and
collecting inventory, and viewing hardware status. This role cannot, for
example, create virtual servers or reconfigure the IBM BladeCenter.
SMUser (User role)
The SMUser role includes any authenticated user and includes the ability
to perform only basic operations such as viewing resources and properties.
GroupRead (Group role)
The GroupRead role has a single permission, known as group read, that
defines the groups that are visible to each user. The administrator that
assigns this role to a user can assign the groups that the user can view. The
user then has access to see the groups but not necessarily to see the group
contents. For example, in a dynamic group, the visibility to users can vary
based on the assignments to which a user has read-only access.
These default user roles correspond directly with the groups that IBM Systems
Director installs at the operating system level. You cannot delete these roles, nor
can you modify the permissions associated with them. However, you can add
users and other groups to the system defined roles as needed, and you also can
copy the system defined roles or create new ones for your business needs.
For information on viewing and editing the tasks available to each role, see
“Managing roles” on page 650. Tasks that require a role with greater permissions
Note: A user ID must have the AllPermission permission to run supported IBM
Director V5.20 commands.
System commands
Command Required permission Predefined role
accesssys SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
chsys GeneralPermission SMAdministrator
lssys GeneralPermission SMUser
pingsys GeneralPermission SMAdministrator
rmsys GeneralPermission SMAdministrator
rpower PowerOnOffPermission SMAdministrator
Group commands
Command Required permission Predefined role
chgp GeneralPermission SMManager
lsgp GeneralPermission SMUser
mkgp GeneralPermission SMManager
rmgp GeneralPermission SMManager
Update commands
Command Required permission Predefined role
checkupd ReleaseManagementPermission SMMonitor
cleanupd ReleaseManagementPermission SMManager
importupd ReleaseManagementPermission SMManager
installupd ReleaseManagementPermission SMManager
lsupd ReleaseManagementPermission SMMonitor
uninstallupd ReleaseManagementPermission SMManager
Security commands
Command Required permission Predefined role
authusergp SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
chrole SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
chuser SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
chusergp SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
lsperm SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
lsrole SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
lsuser SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
lsusergp SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
mkrole SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
rmrole SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
rmusergp SecurityPermission SMAdministrator
Storage commands
Command Required permission Predefined role
chnshost SystemConfigurationPermission SMManager
chnssys SystemConfigurationPermission SMManager
chnspath SystemConfigurationPermission SMManager
chnsvol SystemConfigurationPermission SMManager
lsnshost SystemConfigurationPermission SMMonitor
lsnspath SystemConfigurationPermission SMMonitor
lsnssys SystemConfigurationPermission SMMonitor
lsnsvol SystemConfigurationPermission SMMonitor
mknspath SystemConfigurationPermission SMManager
mknsvol SystemConfigurationPermission SMManager
rmnspath SystemConfigurationPermission SMManager
rmnsvol SystemConfigurationPermission SMManager
Virtualization commands
Command Required permission Predefined role
chvrtauth SystemConfigurationPermission SMAdministrator
chvrthost SystemConfigurationPermission SMAdministrator
chvs SystemConfigurationPermission SMAdministrator
chvsmauth SystemConfigurationPermission SMAdministrator
chvsmhost SystemConfigurationPermission SMAdministrator
chvsmvs SystemConfigurationPermission SMAdministrator
lsvrtsys SystemConfigurationPermission SMMonitor
lsvsm SystemConfigurationPermission SMMonitor
mkvs SystemConfigurationPermission SMAdministrator
mkvsmvs SystemConfigurationPermission SMAdministrator
The following steps are required to authorize an IBM Systems Director user to
manage resources:
1. If the user account that is needed does not exist, create it on the operating
system of the system that you want to manage or on the Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (LDAP) server.
2. Log in to IBM Systems Director as a SMAdministrator.
3. Assign an appropriate role to the user account or group to which the user
account belongs and associate it with the resources that you want the account
to manage. You can use any of the existing initial role groups (smadmin,
smmgr, smmon, smuser) or you can create a role that includes the privileges
necessary to access the appropriate resource.
Note: Assigning a role other than smadmin, which is done with the operating
system, occurs within IBM Systems Director Web interface.
Before you can assign a role to a user, each user or group of users must have a
valid user ID or group ID in the local operating-system user registry on the
management server. Also, you must make sure that the role that you want to
assign to a user already exists. If it does not, you can create a new role from the
Roles page.
If you want to associate a role and user with only one resource group, you can
create a group that contains all the resources that you will assign to a specific user
and then pick that group when you work with the Assign Role wizard.
Note: The user will have access to all the resources contained in the selected
groups, even if any resources are also contained in other groups that are not
selected.
8. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
9. Click Finish.
When you copy a role from one user to another, the task and resource assignments
in an existing role are copied and assigned to the new user in one step. As a result,
both the task permissions and the associated resources for the selected user are
copied to the new user.
Note: The Copy Role to User... action does not result in the creation of a new role
that matches the selected role. Instead, the task and resource assignments in the
selected role are copied to the user or group. In other words, it is the task and
resource assignments in the selected role, not the role itself, that are copied to the
user or group. If you instead want to copy a role, you can do so using the Roles
page.
Note: Both the task permissions and the associated resources for the selected
user are copied to the new user.
5. Click OK.
Creating a role
With the Roles page, you can create new roles on your system.
IBM Systems Director Server uses a role-based access control (RBAC) service with
which an administrator can create a set of task permissions that can be applied to
one or more resources. The permissions that are configured for a role determine
the resources that a user can access and what tasks the user can perform on those
resources. Each role can be applied to many users or groups, and each user can
have many roles.
Note: The permissions are ordered and grouped under specific categories,
such as inventory and security, and subcategories within those categories.
Under each category, the permissions are sorted alphabetically by permission
type. The task permissions are first, followed by the cli permissions. The
different types of permissions are designated by different icons. You can either
select a category or subcategory name, which adds all the contained
permissions, or you can drill down to select and add an individual
permission.
8. To remove a permission from the role, select a permission in the Selected
permissions field and then click Remove. The selected permission is added
back to the Available permissions field.
9. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
10. Click Finish.
After you create a role, use the Assign Role wizard on the Users page to create role
and resource assignments for your users.
Managing roles
Use IBM Systems Director to work with roles and assign individual users and user
groups to those roles. From the Roles page, you can view, copy, edit, or delete a
role.
To view, copy, edit, or delete a role, the role must already exist. You can also use
this page to create a new role that you can then manage. See “Creating a role” for
instructions.
To authorize an existing user group to the IBM Systems Director Server, complete
the following steps:
1. Log in to IBM Systems Director Web interface as an administrator and navigate
to Security > Users. Authorized user groups are displayed in the list.
2. To authorize another user group, click Authorize Groups. The Authorize User
Groups wizard opens.
3. If the Welcome page is displayed, click Next. The User Groups page is
displayed.
4. Select or type the user groups that you want to authorize. You can select
multiple user groups from the list, type user group names in the User groups
field, or both.
Tip: A maximum of 10 user group names are displayed in the list. If user
groups are not listed, type the names in User groups. Separate the names by
commas.
5. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
6. Click Finish to authorize the specified user groups.
After user groups are authorized to the IBM Systems Director Server, you can
assign roles and users to them.
Related reference
authusergp
To remove a user group's access to the IBM Systems Director Server, complete the
following steps:
1. Log in to IBM Systems Director Web interface as an administrator and navigate
to Security > Users. Existing user groups are displayed in the list.
2. In the table, select the user group that you want to remove.
Users assigned to the selected user group can no longer access the IBM Systems
Director Server. This action does not delete the user group; it only removes the
group's authorization.
rmusergp
Single sign-on (SSO) is an authentication process in which a user can access more
than one system or application by entering a single user ID and password. It is
used to automate access to multiple resources by requiring a user to authenticate
only once. To implement single sign-on authentication, the IBM Systems Director
Server maps IBM Systems Director Web interface user credentials to the user
credentials needed for authenticating to the target managed system. These
credentials are saved in registries, which enables Web interface users who are
managing remote systems over various security domains or realms to authenticate
to and manage these remote systems and the resources hosted on them.
When credentials are configured in IBM Systems Director, users are not required to
type the user ID and password for the target system or resource each time that
they or a task access it. IBM Systems Director Server automatically logs in as
needed by retrieving the necessary credentials. You can view those systems for
which users do not automatically have access on the IBM Systems Director Web
interface Welcome page.
With IBM Systems Director, you can manage shared and targeted credentials:
Shared credentials
Shared credentials are those credentials that exist in an authentication
registry that is not specific to an access point. This enables the credentials
to be reused to access multiple console access points and systems. These
credentials must be of type user ID/password. After the credentials are
configured, the IBM Systems Director Server can use them to authenticate
to user interfaces and advanced system-management functions that are
hosted on the selected system.
Shared credentials are created on the local operating system, the domain
controller, or LDAP, and are then mapped to other credentials if necessary.
In IBM Systems Director, use the following pages to manage shared
credentials:
v To manually manage shared credentials and credential mappings for a
target managed system that you choose, use Security > Credentials.
v To manage single sign-on shared credentials from the selected system,
use Navigate Resources > All systems > (right-click a system) >
Security > Configure Single Sign-On Credentials.
Targeted credentials
Targeted credentials are each assigned to only one remote-service agent
access point and are located in an authentication registry that is specific to
Security requirements
Shared credentials are those credentials that exist in an authentication registry that
is not specific to an access point. This enables the credentials to be reused to access
multiple console access points. These credentials must be of type user
ID/password. After the credentials are configured, the IBM Systems Director
Server can use them to launch user interfaces that are hosted on the selected
system.
Shared credentials are created on the local operating system, the domain controller,
or LDAP, and are then mapped to other credentials if necessary. To manage shared
credentials and credential mappings, use Security > Credentials. The Credential
wizard enables you to choose the target system for which to create the credentials.
Alternatively, you can configure single sign-on shared credentials for a selected
system by using the Create and Edit Single Sign-On Credentials wizard. See
“Managing single sign-on credentials.”
To create a set of shared user ID / password credentials for a console access point
on a target system, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, expand Security
and click Credentials.
2. On the Credentials page, click Create. The Credential wizard opens.
3. If the Welcome page is displayed, click Next. The Credential Details page is
displayed.
4. From the Authentication Registry Type list, select the type of authentication
registry that you want to create. The three authentication registry types are as
follows:
Local OS
Authenticates user login requests with the local operating system of the
target system. The target system must have a corresponding user
account in the operating-system registry.
For information about how to map a user's credentials in one user registry to
another user's credentials in another user registry, see “Managing mappings.”
With IBM Systems Director, you can edit existing shared credentials
For information about how to map a user's credentials in one user registry to
another user's credentials in another user registry, see “Managing mappings.”
If you have created any automated tasks in IBM Systems Director, ensure that you
check the systems that are the targets of those tasks and the credentials that are
used to log in to those systems. Some tasks might be configured to use a set of
Note: You will not receive a warning when deleting a credential that is associated
with an automated tasks, and the task will no longer be able to access the system.
Ensure that you have the correct authorization to access the resource and its access
points.
Like other shared credentials, single sign-on credentials are those credentials that
exist in an authentication registry that is not specific to an access point. This
enables the credentials to be reused to access multiple console access points and
systems. These credentials must be of type user ID/password. After the credentials
are configured, the IBM Systems Director Server can use them to launch user
interfaces that are hosted on the selected system.
Use the Create and Edit Single Sign-On Credentials wizard to create single sign-on
shared credentials for the selected system.
Single sign-on credentials map user credentials on the selected system to specified
IBM Systems Director Web interface users. To create a single sign-on credential for
a console access point on the selected system, complete the following steps:
1. In the IBM Systems Director Web interface navigation area, click Navigate
Resources > group name > system name.
2. Click Actions > Security > Configure Single Sign-On Credentials. The
Configure Single Sign-On Credentials page is displayed.
3. Click a remote-service console access point. The credentials associated with
that access point are listed.
4. Click Create. The Create and Edit Single Sign-On Credentials wizard is
displayed.
Notes:
v If the Create button is disabled, all credential mappings that you have the
authority to create have been created for the configured authentication
registry on the selected system. A credential mapping can be created only
for those Web interface users who have logged in to IBM Systems Director
at least once. Existing credential mappings can still be edited or deleted.
v If the Create button is unavailable, the selected console access point is on
the IBM Systems Director Server. Single sign-on credentials for these access
Note: This page lists only Web interface users who have logged in to IBM
Systems Director. These users must log in at least once before a credential
mapping can be created.
8. Select the IBM Systems Director Web interface user for whom the single
sign-on credential is being created. You can use the current user or choose
another user from the table.
Remember: Only one mapping can be created for each of the users on this
page.
9. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
10. Click Finish. The credentials are automatically used to authenticate to the
selected console access point on the system.
Repeat the credential creation process for other console access points you plan to
access.
Use the Create and Edit Single Sign-On Credentials wizard to edit single sign-on
shared credentials.
Note: If the Edit button is unavailable, the selected console access point is on
the IBM Systems Director Server. Single sign-on credentials for these access
points can only be displayed. You cannot create or edit these credentials
because they are automatically created when Web interface users log in to IBM
Systems Director.
The Create and Edit Single Sign-On Credentials wizard is displayed.
6. If the Welcome page is displayed, click Next. The Create Single Sign-On
Credential page is displayed.
7. Change the details that are available for changing.
8. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
9. Click Finish.
Use the Configure Single Sign-On Credentials page to delete single sign-on shared
credentials that are no longer needed.
If you have created any automated tasks in IBM Systems Director, ensure that you
check the systems that are the targets of those tasks and the credentials that are
used to log in to those systems. Some tasks might be configured to use a set of
credentials to accomplish the procedures in the task. Deleting the set of credentials
that are used by one of these automated tasks will prevent the task from accessing
targeted systems that are secured.
Note: You will not receive a warning when deleting a credential that is associated
with an automated tasks, and the task will no longer be able to access the system.
Managing mappings
Use IBM Systems Director to map a user's credentials in one user registry to
another user's credentials in another user registry.
Mappings
Mappings represent associations between a source credential in one security
domain and a target credential in another domain. For example, you can map
credentials from your local registry to various other types of authentication
registries, such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
Depending on the values used in the mapping and how the mapping is associated
with an access point, the following three types of mapping associations are
possible:
One-to-one mapping
This most basic type of mapping is used when a specific user wants to
request the services of an access point. A source credential and a target
credential are specified, and the target credential must be valid in the same
registry that the access point uses for validation. This mapping can be used
by any access point that happens to validate to the same registry.
One-to-one mapping with access point association
Use one-to-one mapping with access point association if you want to
restrict a mapping to a particular access point.
As with one-to-one mapping, a source credential and a target credential are
specified. The target credential must still be valid in the registry the access
point uses for validation. However, the mapping is associated with a
specific access point.
Many-to-one mapping with access point association
Use many-to-one mapping with access point association if you want to
have a mapping with which any user can request the services of a
particular access point. This method avoids the need to create many
one-to-one mappings when all users must use the same target credential
for an access point.
Note: Because this type of mapping can enable broad access, IBM Systems
Director requires that you associate this type of mapping with an access
point.
Creating mappings
Use the Credentials mapping page to map one credential to another to create a
one-to-one credential mapping.
Note: A credential mapping can be created only for those Web interface users
who have logged in to IBM Systems Director at least once. Existing credential
mappings can still be edited or deleted.
7. Click Next. The Summary page is displayed.
8. Click Finish.
Editing mappings
Use the Credentials mapping page to edit an existing one-to-one credential
mapping.
Deleting mappings
Use the Credentials mapping page to delete one-to-one credential mappings that
are no longer needed.
Targeted credentials are each assigned to only one remote-service agent access
point and are located in an authentication registry that is specific to that access
point. These credentials cannot be reused to access other agent access points. After
the credentials are configured, the IBM Systems Director Server can use them to
manage the selected system.
Note: Certain types of agent access points (for example, CAS or IPC) do not
support this credential creation process. Instead, the use of the Request Access task
is all that is required to obtain access to all the agent access points on the resource
when these types of access points are present. The Request Access task creates the
necessary credentials and mappings, but they cannot be viewed or managed. If
you need to create or manage credentials for other agent access points even when
access points such as CAS or IPC are present, you can follow this process, but the
overall system access will be determined by the Request Access request.
Note:
v This list represents all available credential types. The list of credential types
that is displayed depends on the type of access point.
v Two credentials of the same type cannot exist simultaneously on an access
point. If one of these types of credentials is already created for this access
point, that credential type option will not be displayed. Your only option is
to edit the existing credential of that type or delete it before you can create
one of the same type.
7. Click Next. The Credential Details page that applies to the type of credential
that you chose is displayed.
If you have created any automated tasks in IBM Systems Director, ensure that you
check the systems that are the targets of those tasks and the credentials that are
used to log in to those systems. Some tasks might be configured to use a set of
credentials to accomplish the procedures in the task. Deleting the set of credentials
that are used by one of these automated tasks will prevent the task from accessing
targeted systems that are secured.
Note: You will not receive a warning when deleting a credential that is associated
with an automated tasks, and the task will no longer be able to access the system.
Note: Deleting these credentials might affect the access state of the targeted
system.
A confirmation message is displayed.
5. Click OK.
For an IBM Systems Director Web interface user to do certain types of advanced
system-management tasks on a target system, system credentials must exist. These
credentials map IBM Systems Director Web interface users to user credentials on
the selected system.
Like other targeted credentials, system credentials are each assigned to only one
remote-service agent access point and are located in an authentication registry that
is specific to that access point. These credentials cannot be reused to access other
agent access points.
After the credentials are configured, the IBM Systems Director Server can use them
to do advanced system-management functions on the selected system. In IBM
Systems Director, use Navigate Resources > All systems > (right-click a system) >
Security > Configure System Credentials to manage system credentials.
Use the Create and Edit System Credentials wizard to create system credentials
that provide access to advanced system-management functions on a selected
system. These credentials map IBM Systems Director Web interface users to user
credentials on the target system.
Note: If the Create button is disabled, all credential mappings that you have
the authority to create have been created for the configured authentication
registry on the selected system. A credential mapping can be created only for
those Web interface users who have logged in to IBM Systems Director at least
once. Existing credential mappings can still be edited or deleted.
5. If the Welcome page is displayed, click Next. The Create System Credential
page is displayed.
6. Enter the appropriate user ID and password for the system. If you are creating
a credential for a resource that has defined a specific user ID that must be
used when authenticating, you cannot change the value in the User ID field.
7. Click Next. The Assign to IBM Systems Director User page is displayed.
Note: This page lists only Web interface users who have logged in to IBM
Systems Director. These users must log in at least once before a credential can
be created.
8. Select the IBM Systems Director Web interface user for whom the system
credential is being created. You can use the current user or choose another
user from the table.
Repeat the credential creation process for each agent access point that you plan to
use.
Use the Create and Edit System Credentials wizard to edit existing system
credentials.
Use the Configure System Credentials page to delete system credentials that are no
longer needed.
If you have created any automated tasks in IBM Systems Director, ensure that you
check the systems that are the targets of those tasks and the credentials that are
used to log in to those systems. Some tasks might be configured to use a set of
credentials to accomplish the procedures in the task. Deleting the set of credentials
that are used by one of these automated tasks will prevent the task from accessing
targeted systems that are secured.
Note: You will not receive a warning when deleting a credential that is associated
with an automated tasks, and the task will no longer be able to access the system.
Managing access
Use IBM Systems Director to configure credentials that are used to access managed
systems. These credentials enable IBM Systems Director to authenticate to and
manage target systems by using the protocols and access points available on the
managed system.
You can request access to and configure access options for systems in your
environment by using the request access task, the configure access task, or the
configure system credentials task. You can also revoke access to an accessed
system.
Ensure that you have the correct authorization to access the secured system.
Note: Agent access points are all access points that have an access type other than
console. If certain types of agent access points (for example, CAS or IPC) exist on a
resource, you must use this process to access all agent access points on the system.
This process creates the necessary credentials and mappings, but they cannot be
viewed or managed. For other types of agent access points on the secured
resource, you have the option of using the Configure Access task to request access.
Secured systems are displayed in IBM Systems Director Web interface with a
padlock icon beside them in the Access field or column of the systems details.
After a system is accessed, the padlock disappears and additional tasks and status
information are available.
The Access attribute for each resource shows the current access status. You cannot
request access to the resources that have the following types of access status:
v Offline: Use verify access instead.
v OK: No further action is required. You already have access to these resources.
Note: You can select more than one system at a time as long as each requires the
same user ID and password.
1. In IBM Systems Director Web interface, click Navigate Resources.
2. Navigate to the system that you want to access.
3. Right-click the system for which you want to request access and select Security
> Request Access.
Note: Alternatively, you can select Security > Configure Access and then click
Request Access on the Configure Access page.
4. On the Request Access page, type the user ID and password of a user that
belongs to the System group.
If the access request is successful, the access status for the managed system
changes to OK.
If the access status changes to Partial Access, then the access request was
unsuccessful for at least one access point. Click Configure Access to see the list of
access points and their access states. If necessary, to create additional credentials,
click an access point that does not have an access state of OK and repeat this
procedure.
Related tasks
Ensure that you have the correct authorization to access the resource and its access
points.
To maximize the management capability of a resource, ensure that all access points
that are hosted on the resource are accessible. To do this, configure credentials that
are used to authenticate to each of those access points.
Note: Certain types of agent access points (for example, CAS or IPC) do not
support this credential configuration process. Instead, the use of the Request
Access task is all that is required to obtain access to all the agent access points on
the resource when these types of access points are present. The Request Access
task creates the necessary credentials and mappings, but they cannot be viewed or
managed. If you need to configure or manage credentials for other agent access
points even when access points such as CAS or IPC are present, you can follow
this process, but the overall system access will be determined by the Request
Access request.
If the access status changes to Partial Access, then the access request was
unsuccessful for at least one access point. Click Configure Access to see the list of
access points and their access states. If necessary, to create additional credentials,
click an access point that does not have an access state of OK and repeat this
procedure.
The Access attribute for each resource shows the current access status. A resource
must be accessible, with an access status of OK or Partial Access, before you can
revoke its access.
Ensure that you have the correct authorization to access the resource and its access
points.
Complete the following steps for your operating system to encrypt passwords for
your database configuration:
v Encrypt passwords on Windows:
Note: You do not need to run cfgserver.bat -db if you previously configured
your database by running cfgserver.bat -all.
1. Open a command prompt.
2. Change your working directory to install_root\bin, where install_root is the
root directory of your IBM Systems Director installation.
3. Run cfgserver.bat -db.
Note: If you have multiple database sections in the response file, this script
overwrites the user ID and password for each database section.
v Encrypt passwords on AIX or Linux:
1. Run the install_root/bin/configDB.sh file, where install_root is the root
directory of your IBM Systems Director installation.
2. Provide the information requested by the script, pressing Enter after every
answer.
After the password encryption tool completes, the user ID and password that you
specified are written to the correct location of the cfgdbcmd.rsp file and the
password is encrypted. See “Configuring the database application after IBM
Systems Director installation” for information about your next steps.
Related tasks
Accessibility features
The following list includes the major accessibility features in IBM Systems Director:
v Uses accessibility support enabled by your Web browser
v Can be operated using only the keyboard
v Communicates all information independent of color
v Supports the attachment of alternate output devices
v Provides help information in an accessible format
v Supports alternatives to audio information
v (Microsoft® Windows® systems only) Supports interfaces commonly used by
screen readers and screen magnifiers
The IBM Systems Information Center, and its related publications, are
accessibility-enabled. The accessibility features of the information center are
described at Accessibility and keyboard shortcuts in the information center.
Tip: For technical details about the accessibility support in IBM Systems Director,
see the Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs). You can request VPATs
from the Web at www.ibm.com/research/accessibility/requests/accvpat.nsf/
bidxjs?OpenForm.
See the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center for more information about
the commitment that IBM has to accessibility.
The IBM Systems Director Web interface provides options that can improve
usability by simplifying tables and providing audio cues when dynamic pages
change. These options also improve screen reader enablement.
To enable accessibility options in the IBM Systems Director Web interface, follow
these steps:
1. Open Settings > Navigation Preferences.
2. Turn on the following options:
v Enable tables for accessibility. This option turns off table features that are not
accessible in the interface, such as fixed column width.
v Play sound when data on the page changes. This option enables an audio
alert for updates to the Web interface.
You can navigate the IBM Systems Director Web interface using keyboard shortcuts
that are provided by your Web browser. Refer to your Web browser documentation
for more information about keyboard shortcuts.
Notes: Every table as a set of functions at the bottom of the table that you can use
to navigate through pages in the table. One function is the Go to page field. If you
enter a page number that is not valid in this field, the table stays on the current
page.
Use the following key combinations to navigate the help system by keyboard:
v To bring the Topic pane (the right hand side) into focus, press Alt+K, and then
press Tab.
v In the Topic pane, to go to the next link, press the Tab key. To go to the
previous link, press Shift+Tab.
v To go directly to the Search Results view in the left hand side, press Alt+R, and
then press the Enter key or Up arrow to enter the view.
v To go directly to the Navigation (Table of Contents) view in the left hand side,
press Alt+C, and then press Enter or the Up arrow to enter the view.
v To navigate your browser history, press Alt+Left arrow to go back. If you have
navigated back to a previously view page, press Alt+Right arrow to navigate
forward again.
v To expand and collapse a node in the navigation tree, tab to the + or - icon next
to the node to bring the node into focus, and then press the Right arrow or Left
arrow.
v To go to the next frame in the help system, press F6. To go to the previous frame
in the help system, press Shift+F6.
v In the navigation, to move to the next topic node, press the Down arrow or Tab.
To move to the previous topic node, press the Up arrow or Shift+Tab.
v To go to the next link, button, or topic node from inside a view, press Tab.
v To scroll all the way up or down in a frame, press Home or End, respectively.
v To print the active pane, press Ctrl+P.
Note: Screen readers may override keyboard commands. Refer to the Using a
screen reader topic for more information.
IBM Systems Director supports screen readers in Microsoft Windows. The Web
interface is tested with Freedom Scientific JAWS for Windows screen reader
software. The following tips can help you successfully navigate the IBM Systems
Director Web interface with JAWS:
v Access IBM Systems Director Server using a supported Mozilla Firefox browser.
Certain functions, such as dynamic refresh, do not work correctly when using
Internet Explorer with JAWS screen reader.
v Turn on the accessibility options in IBM Systems Director. See “Accessibility
options in IBM Systems Director” on page 673 for instructions.
v Use the following JAWS key commands to navigate Actions menus when
working with resource tables:
– To move to the next menu item with focus and control, press and hold Shift
+ Ctrl keys while using the Up arrow and Down arrow keys.
– In the navigation pane, each node is a single list item. Press Insert+Tab to
read the selected node.
– To navigate to a sub-menu, navigate into a sub-menu list, press Alt + Right
arrow key.
– To navigate within Actions menus, press Insert + z to toggle the JAWS virtual
keyboard.
– If tables are difficult to understand with JAWS, press Insert + v to open the
Adjust JAWS Options page and change the table reading preferences.
– Other JAWS key commands are documented in the JAWS product. A quick
reference guide is available online: http://www.freedomscientific.com/
training/training-JAWS-keystrokes.htm
JAWS restrictions:
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Notices 679
680 IBM Systems Director Systems Management Guide
Glossary
This glossary includes terms and definitions for IBM Systems Director.
To view glossaries for other IBM products, go to information about the common agents
www.ibm.com/software/globalization/ and resource managers in a user's
terminology/. environment.
Agentless-managed system
A A system that does not have an agent
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) installed but can be discovered by IBM
A data encryption technique that Systems Director using Secure Shell
improved upon and officially replaced the (SSH), Distributed Component Object
Data Encryption Standard (DES). AES is Model (DCOM), or Simple Network
sometimes referred to as Rijndael, which Management Protocol (SNMP).
is the algorithm on which the standard is
The function available to
based.
Agentless-managed systems is limited to
Advanced System Management interconnect the following tasks, and varies based on
(ASM interconnect) operating system and hardware: discover
A feature of IBM service processors that systems, collect limited operating-system
enables users to connect up to 24 servers inventory data, remotely deploy and
to one service processor, thus eliminating install Common Agent and Platform
the need for multiple modems, Agent, perform limited remote access, and
telephones, and LAN ports. It provides perform limited restart capabilities
such out-of-band management functions
alert A message or other indication that signals
as system power control,
an event or an impending event.
service-processor event-log management,
firmware updates, alert notification, and alert forwarding
user profile configuration. A function that ensures that alerts are
sent, even if a managed system
Advanced System Management processor (ASM
experiences a catastrophic failure, such as
processor)
an operating-system failure.
A service processor built into the
mid-range Netfinity® and early xSeries Alert Standard Format (ASF)
servers. IBM Director can connect A protocol for the remote management of
out-of-band to an ASM processor located systems in environments without
on an ASM interconnect; an ASM PCI operating systems.
adapter, a Remote Supervisor Adapter, or
ASM interconnect
a Remote Supervisor II must serve as the
See Advanced System Management
gateway service processor.
interconnect.
AES See Advanced Encryption Standard.
ASM processor
agentless See Advanced System Management
Pertaining to a type of data collection that processor.
is accomplished without installing
Auto-Logical Drive Transfer
additional agents. Data is obtained by
See auto volume transfer/auto disk
using software that is already installed on
transfer.
the computer.
auto volume transfer/auto disk transfer
agent manager
(AVT/ADT)
A network service that provides
A function that provides automatic
authentication and authorization and that
failover in case of controller failure on a
maintains a registry of configuration
storage subsystem.
Glossary 683
event filter host bus adapters (HBAs) that the cluster
A filter that specifies the event criteria for has detected on the storage area network
an event action plan. Events must meet (SAN).
the criteria specified in the event filter in
host system
order to be processed by the event action
A system that contains resources from
plan to which the filter is assigned.
which virtual servers are constructed.
Expander
HT See Hyper-Threading.
A device that enables quick aggregation
of several disk drives in a single SAS Hyper-Threading (HT)
domain. An expander can connect A technology with which a single
multiple hosts to multiple targets. A SAS processor can function as two virtual
connectivity module is an expander. processors and execute two threads
simultaneously.
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
A standard metalanguage for defining hypervisor
markup languages that is based on A program or a portion of Licensed
Standard Generalized Markup Language Internal Code (LIC) that allows multiple
(SGML). instances of operating systems to run
simultaneously on the same hardware.
F
I
fabric A complex network using hubs, switches,
and gateways. Fibre channel uses a fabric IBM Systems Director environment
to connect devices. The complex, heterogeneous environment
managed by IBM Director. It includes
field-replaceable unit (FRU)
systems, BladeCenter chassis, software,
An assembly that is replaced in its
and SNMP devices.
entirety when any one of its components
fails. IBM Systems Director plug-ins
A tool that extends the functionality of
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
IBM Systems Director (for example,
In TCP/IP, an application layer protocol
Electronic Service Agent).
that uses TCP and Telnet services to
transfer bulk-data files between machines IBM Systems Director Server
or hosts. The main component of IBM Director
software. When installed on the
FRU See field-replaceable unit.
management server, it provides basic
functions such as discovery of the
G
managed systems, persistent storage of
gateway configuration and management data, an
inventory database, event listening,
gigabyte (GB)
security and authentication, management
In decimal notation, 1 073 741 824 when
console support, and administrative tasks.
referring to memory capacity; in all other
cases, it is defined as 1 000 000 000. IBM Systems Director Server service
A service that runs automatically on the
group A logical set of managed objects. Groups
management server, and provides the
can be dynamic, static, or task-based.
server engine and application logic for
IBM Systems Director.
H
IBM Director service account
HBA Host bus adapter. It plugs into a host so
The Windows operating-system account
that it can communicate with a SCSI
associated with the IBM Director Server
device.
service.
host object
image A bootable operating system and
A logical object that groups one or more
additional software in the form of a single
worldwide port names (WWPNs) of the
raw image file. You can store, copy, and
Glossary 685
M nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM)
Random access memory (storage) that
MAC address
retains its contents after the electrical
See Media Access Control address.
power to the machine is shut off.
management module
NVRAM
The BladeCenter component that handles
See nonvolatile random access memory.
system-management functions. It
configures the chassis and switch
O
modules, communicates with the blade
servers and all I/O modules, multiplexes out-of-band communication
the keyboard/video/mouse (KVM), and Pertaining to events that are transmitted
monitors critical information about the between the service processor and IBM
chassis and blade servers. Systems Director Server over a shared
connection. The type of service processor
MD5 A type of message algorithm that converts
present in a server determines which
a message of arbitrary length into a
paths out-of-band communication can
128-bit message digest. This algorithm is
take. These types of communication are
used for digital signature applications
known as out-of-band communication
where a large message must be
because they take place independent of an
compressed in a secure manner.
operating system.
management server
The server on which IBM Director Server P
is installed.
PCI See Peripheral Component Interconnect.
Media Access Control address (MAC address) See also Peripheral Component
In a local area network, the protocol that Interconnect-X.
determines which device has access to the
PCI-X See Peripheral Component Interconnect-X.
transmission medium at a given time.
See also Peripheral Component
megabyte (MB) Interconnect.
For processor storage, real and virtual
Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
storage, and channel volume, 2 to the
A local bus that provides a high-speed
20th power or 1 048 576 bytes.
data path between the processor and
For disk storage capacity and attached devices. See also Peripheral
communications volume, 1 000 000 bytes. Component Interconnect-X.
Peripheral Component Interconnect-X (PCI-X)
N
An enhancement to the Peripheral
network interface card Component Interconnect (PCI)
A printed circuit board that plugs into a architecture. PCI-X enhances the
personal computer, server, or workstation. Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
It controls the exchange of data over a standard by doubling the throughput
network and provides the electronic capability and providing additional
functions for the data-link protocol or adapter-performance options while
access method, such as token ring or maintaining backward compatibility with
Ethernet. PCI adapters. See also Peripheral
Component Interconnect.
network interface controller (NIC)
Hardware that provides the interface persistent
control between system main storage and Pertaining to data that is maintained
external high-speed link (HSL) ports. across session boundaries, usually in
nonvolatile storage such as a database
Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)
system or a directory.
A protocol that is used to post messages
in, distribute messages to, and retrieve PFA See Predictive Failure Analysis.
messages from news groups and to
PHY Physical layer. A PHY is responsible for
transfer articles between news servers.
the transmission of signals between
Glossary 687
resource. For example, a resource memory space and access to all associated
manager installs bundles on the agent adapters. A scalable partition is the logical
and starts and stops a subagent. equivalent of a physical platform. Scalable
partitions are associated with scalable
resource-monitor threshold
systems and comprise only the scalable
The point at which a resource monitor
nodes from their associated scalable
generates an event.
systems.
root user
scalable system
1. In Linux and UNIX operating An IBM Director managed object that
systems, a user who has superuser consists of scalable nodes and the scalable
authority and root privileges. A root partitions that are composed of the
user's user identifier (UID) is 0. scalable nodes in the scalable system.
2. A system user who operates without When a scalable system contains two or
restrictions. A root user has the special more scalable nodes, the servers that they
rights and privileges needed to represent must be interconnected through
perform administrative tasks. their SMP Expansion Modules to make a
multinode configuration, for example, a
RSA See Remote Supervisor Adapter.
16-way xSeries 455 server made from four
scalable nodes.
S
SCSI Small computer systems interface. A
SAN Storage area network. A network that
high-speed communications protocol that
attaches computer storage devices to
allows your computer to communicate
servers. (A disk array controller is an
with peripheral hardware.
example of a computer storage device.)
SCSI domain
SAS Serial attached SCSI. A mechanism for
An I/O system that consists of a set of
accessing computer peripheral devices.
SCSI devices that communicate with each
SAS employs a serial (one bit at a time)
other through a service delivery
means of digital data transfer over thin
subsystem.
cables.
secure copy (SCP)
SAS domain
A means of securely transferring
The I/O system that can also serve as a
computer files between a local and a
SCSI domain. Also known as a service
remote host or between two remote hosts
delivery subsystem.
using secure shell (ssh).
SATA Serial advanced technology attachment. A
Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA)
way to connect hard disk drives to
An encryption method in which data is
computer systems. SATA is based on
encrypted in a way that is mathematically
serial signaling technology, unlike current
impossible to reverse. Different data can
Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) hard
possibly produce the same hash value,
disk drives that use parallel signaling.
but there is no way to use the hash value
scalable node to determine the original data.
A physical platform that has at least one
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
SMP Expansion Module. Additional
A security protocol that provides
attributes are assigned to a physical
communication privacy. With SSL,
platform when it is a scalable node. These
client/server applications can
additional attributes record the number of
communicate in a way that is designed to
SMP Expansion Modules, SMP Expansion
prevent eavesdropping, tampering, and
Ports, and RXE Expansion ports on the
message forgery.
physical chassis.
secure shell (ssh)
scalable partition
A Unix-based command interface and
An IBM Director managed object that
protocol for securely getting access to a
defines the scalable nodes that can run a
remote computer.
single image of the operating system. A
scalable partition has a single, continuous
Glossary 689
Subtractive routing attribute are star (centralized), bus (decentralized),
The attribute of an expander PHY that and ring (decentralized).
indicates that it can be used by the ECM
triple Data Encryption Standard (triple DES)
to route connection requests to an
A block cipher algorithm that can be used
attached expander device.
to encrypt data transmitted between
Subtractive routing method managed systems and the management
The method the ECM uses to route server. Triple DES is a security
connection requests to an expander enhancement of DES that employs three
device. successive DES block operations.
switch module triple DES
The BladeCenter component that provides See triple Data Encryption Standard.
network connectivity for the BladeCenter
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)
chassis and blade servers. It also provides
In Internet communications, a set of
interconnectivity between the
conventions that transfers files between
management module and blade servers.
hosts using minimal protocol.
system
trustore
Operating-system-based or
In security, a storage object, either a file or
hardware-based endpoint that has an IP
a hardware cryptographic card, where
address and host name and can be
public keys are stored in the form of
discovered and managed by IBM Systems
trusted certificates, for authentication
Director. For example, storage devices,
purposes in Web transactions. In some
network devices, physical servers, virtual
applications, these trusted certificates are
servers, and operating systems are
moved into the application keystore to
systems.
reside with the private keys.
system management BIOS (SMBIOS)
A specification that extends BIOS to U
support the retrieval of management data.
Universally Unique Identifier (UUID)
system variable The 128-bit numerical identifier that is
A user-defined keyword and value pair used to ensure that two components do
that can be used to test and track the not have the same identifier.
status of network resources. System
undoable disk
variables can be referred to wherever
A type of virtual disk that saves changes
event-data substitution is allowed.
to a temporary file instead of to the
virtual disk itself. Changes can be
T
committed when the virtual machine is
Target Another SCSI device that communicates powered off.
with the originating SCSI device.
UUID See Universal Unique Identifier.
target system
A managed system on which an IBM V
Systems Director task is performed.
viewport
terabyte (TB) 1. In the GDDM® function, a rectangular
For processor storage, real and virtual area within the picture space that
storage, and channel volume, 2 to the defines where the output of the
40th power or 1 099 511 627 776 bytes. current page appears on the work
For disk storage capacity and station.
communications volume, 1 000 000 000 2. In GL, the last transformation in the
000 bytes. graphics pipeline, which is used to
map from normalized device
Topology
coordinates to device coordinates. The
The geometric configuration of a
viewport maps the unit cube x/w =
computer network, or how the network is
physically laid out. Common topologies
Glossary 691
X Zone configuration
A collection of information that describes
XML See Extensible Markup Language.
the zoning for a SAS domain.
Y Zone group
A part of a domain whose properties and
Z limits you specify on the Basic Zone
Permission Table. This table is on the
z/VM An IBM System z and zSeries® operating
Manage Fabric page.
system that acts as virtualization software.
z/VM can virtualize all system resources,
Symbols and Numerics
including processors, memory, storage
devices, and communication devices. 10b8b decoding
z/VM supports the concurrent operation Decoding a 10-bit character (a control or
of hundreds of operating system data character) into an 8-bit byte (a
instances. control or data byte).
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