| Sun Fire V490 Server Administration Guide |    
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| Sun Fire V490 Server Administration Guide |
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| C H A P T E R 11 |
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Monitoring the System |
When something goes wrong with the system, diagnostic tools can help you determine what caused the problem. Indeed, this is the principal use of most diagnostic tools. However, this approach is inherently reactive. It means waiting until a component fails outright.
Some diagnostic tools allow you to be more proactive by monitoring the system while it is still "healthy." Monitoring tools give administrators early warning of imminent failure, thereby allowing planned maintenance and better system availability. Remote monitoring also allows administrators the convenience of checking on the status of many machines from one centralized location.
Sun provides two tools that you can use to monitor servers:
In addition to these tools, Sun provides software-based and firmware-based commands that display various kinds of system information. While not strictly a monitoring tool, these commands enable you to review at a glance the status of different system aspects and components.
This chapter describes the tasks necessary to use these tools to monitor your Sun Fire V490 server. These include:
If you want background information about the tools, turn to Chapter 6.
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Note - Many of the procedures in this chapter assume that you are familiar with the OpenBoot firmware and that you know how to enter the OpenBoot environment. For background information, see About the ok Prompt. For instructions, see How to Get to the ok Prompt. |
Sun Management Center software is a flexible product with many features and options. How you use it depends on the specifics of your network as well as your needs and preferences. You must decide what role or roles you want your Sun Fire V490 system to play within the Sun Management Center domain. See How Sun Management Center Works for details.
This procedure assumes you intend to load Sun Management Center agent software on your Sun Fire V490 system so as to be able to monitor it, and gives you some guidance on how to accomplish this goal.
This procedure also assumes you have set up or will set up one or more computers to function as Sun Management Center servers and consoles. Servers and consoles are part of the infrastructure that enables you to monitor systems using Sun Management Center software. Typically, you would install the server and console software on machines other than the Sun Fire V490 systems you intend to monitor. For details, see the Sun Management Center User's Guide.
If you intend to set up your Sun Fire V490 system as a Sun Management Center server or console, see:
Also see the other documents accompanying your Sun Management Center software.
1. On your Sun Fire V490 system, install Sun Management Center agent software.
For instructions, see the Sun Management Center Supplement for Workgroup Servers.
2. On your Sun Fire V490 system, run the setup utility to configure agent software.
The setup utility is part of the workgroup server supplement. For more information, see the Sun Management Center Supplement for Workgroup Servers.
3. On the Sun Management Center server, add the Sun Fire V490 system to an administrative domain.
You can do this automatically using the Discovery Manager tool, or manually by creating an object from the console's Edit menu. For specific instructions, see the Sun Management Center User's Guide.
4. On a Sun Management Center console, double-click the icon representing the Sun Fire V490 system.
6. Monitor the Sun Fire V490 system using physical and logical views.
a. Select "Physical View: system" from the Views pull-down menu.
The physical view lets you interact with photo-realistic views of the Sun Fire V490 system as seen from the front, left, rear, and top. As you highlight individual hardware components and features, status and manufacturing information about each component appears to the right.
b. Select "Logical View: system" from the Views pull-down menu.
The logical view lets you browse a hierarchy of system components, arranged as a tree of nested folders.
As you highlight a hardware component, status and manufacturing information about that component appears in a property table to the right.
For more information about physical and logical views, see the Sun Management Center User's Guide.
7. Monitor the Sun Fire V490 system using Config-Reader module data property tables.
b. Click the Hardware icon in the hierarchy view.
c. Click the Config-Reader icon in the hierarchy view.
Under the Config-Reader icon you can find data property table icons for many hardware components.
d. Click a data property table icon to see status information for that hardware component.
These tables give you many kinds of device-dependent status information, including:
For more information about the Config-Reader module data property tables, see the Sun Management Center User's Guide.
There is much more to Sun Management Center software than what is detailed in this manual. In particular, you may be interested in setting alarms and administering security. These topics and many others are covered in the Sun Management Center User's Guide, as well as the other documents accompanying the Sun Management Center software.
This section explains how to configure the system controller (SC) card and set up Remote System Control (RSC) software. It also steps you through some of the tool's most important monitoring features.
The Sun Fire V490 server must be set up with RSC server software, which can be found on the Solaris Software Supplement CD. Typically, you monitor the Sun Fire V490 system from a different Sun computer or a PC. This procedure assumes you have installed RSC client software on the monitoring system.
There are many ways to configure and use the system controller and its RSC software, and only you can decide which is right for your organization. This procedure is designed to give you an idea of the capabilities of RSC software's graphical user interface (GUI). It assumes you have configured RSC software to use the system controller card's Ethernet port, and have made any necessary physical connections between the card and the network. It also assumes your network has not been set up to use dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) and illustrates the use of config IP mode instead. Note that after running SC and RSC through their paces, you can change configuration by running the configuration script again.
To configure the system controller card and RSC software, you need to know your network's subnet mask as well as the IP addresses of both the system controller card and the gateway system. Have this information available.
For detailed information about installing and configuring RSC server and client software, see:
1. As root on the Sun Fire V490 server, run the RSC configuration script. Type:
The configuration script runs, prompting you to choose options and to provide information.
2. Follow the configuration script prompts.
For the purposes of this procedure, you can accept most of the default values. However, you need to pay attention to specific prompts as described below.
a. Choose to enable the RSC Ethernet interface, using config IP mode:
b. When configuring Ethernet, provide the IP address of the RSC device:
c. Also provide your network's subnet mask:
d. Provide the IP address of the gateway machine:
e. Set up an RSC account, supplying a user name and permissions:
Setup RSC User Account (y|n|?) [y]: y Username []: jefferson User Permissions (c,u,a,r|none|?) [cuar]: cuar |
f. Near the end of the script, you need to provide an RSC password:
The RSC firmware on the Sun Fire V490 system is configured. Perform the following steps on the monitoring system.
3. From the monitoring Sun computer or PC, start the RSC GUI.
C:\Program Files\Sun Microsystems\Remote System Control
A login screen appears prompting you to enter the IP address (or hostname) of the RSC card, as well as the RSC user name and password that you set up during the configuration process.
4. Reply to the prompts given at the login screen.
The main screen of the GUI appears.
5. Note the main screen's features.
The left side of the main screen provides help text and navigation controls. The right side shows a representation of the Sun Fire V490 server's front panel and system control switch.
This front panel representation is dynamic--you can watch from a remote console and see when the Sun Fire V490 server's switch settings or LED status changes.
6. Interact with the front panel representation to initiate actions.
The front panel representation is interactive. You click various parts of it to initiate actions. Try any or all of the following:
a. Turn the Sun Fire V490 server's power off (or on).
Click the Power button on the front panel representation. A dialog box appears asking you to confirm the action. Proceeding will actually turn system power off (or on).
b. Examine status tables for the Sun Fire V490 server's disks and fans.
Click the appropriate LEDs. A table appears giving you the status of the components in question.
c. Turn the Sun Fire V490 server's Locator LED on and off.
Click the representation of the Locator LED (see the illustration under Step 5). Its state will toggle from off to on and back again each time you click, mimicking the condition of the physical Locator LED on the machine's front panel.
7. Check system temperatures and other environmental data.
a. Find the navigation panel at the left side of the RSC GUI.
b. Click the Show Environmental Status item under Server Status and Control.
The Environmental Status window appears.
By default, the Temperatures tab is selected and temperature data from specific chassis locations are graphed. The green check marks on each tab let you see at a glance that no problems are found with these subsystems.
If a problem does occur, RSC brings it to your attention by displaying a failure or warning symbol over each affected graph, and more prominently, in each affected tab.
c. Click the other Environmental Status window tabs to see additional data.
8. Access the Sun Fire V490 server's system console from RSC software.
a. Find the navigation panel at the left side of the RSC GUI.
b. Click the Open Console item under Server Status and Control.
c. From the Console window, press the Return key to reach the system console output.
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Note - If you have not set OpenBoot configuration variables properly, no console output will appear. For instructions, see How to Redirect the System Console to the System Controller. |
If you plan to use RSC software to control the Sun Fire V490 server, you may want to configure additional RSC user accounts.
If you want to try the system controller command-line interface, you can use the telnet command to connect directly to the RSC card using the device's name or IP address. When the rsc> prompt appears, type help to get a list of available commands.
If you want to change RSC configuration, run the configuration script again as shown in Step 1 of this procedure.
For information about RSC configuration, user accounts, and alerts, see:
This document is included on the Sun Fire V490 Documentation CD.
This section explains how to run Solaris system information commands on a Sun Fire V490 server. To find out what these commands tell you, see Solaris System Information Commands, or see the appropriate man pages.
The operating system must be up and running.
1. Decide what kind of system information you want to display.
For more information, see Solaris System Information Commands.
2. Type the appropriate command at a console prompt. See TABLE 11-1.
This section explains how to run OpenBoot commands that display different kinds of system information about a Sun Fire V490 server. To find out what these commands tell you, see Other OpenBoot Commands, or refer to the appropriate man pages.
As long as you can reach the ok prompt, you can use OpenBoot information commands. This means the commands are usually accessible even if your system cannot boot its operating system software.
1. If necessary, halt the system to reach the ok prompt.
How you do this depends on the system's condition. If possible, you should warn users and shut down the system gracefully. For information, see About the ok Prompt.
2. Decide what kind of system information you want to display.
For more information, see Other OpenBoot Commands.
3. Type the appropriate command at a console prompt. See TABLE 11-2.
| Sun Fire V490 Server Administration Guide | 817-3951-10 |
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Copyright © 2004, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
