Hardware Management Console Installation and Operations Guide


System Configuration

This chapter discusses the System Configuration application, which allows you to do the following:

For more information about the System Configuration application group, read the following section.


Setting and Viewing the Console Date and Time

Any user role can view the console date and time. To update the console date and time, you must be a member of one of the following roles:

The battery-operated clock keeps time and date for the HMC. You might need to set the console date and time under the following circumstances:

To customize your console date and time, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Customize Console Date / Time.
  4. To change the month, click on the month shown in the Date field. Similarly, click the day or year shown in the Date field to change those values.
  5. Click on the hour, minute or second shown in the Time field to change the values. To update this input field to the currently set time, press the Refresh button.
  6. From the list, select the region and city closest to your location, and click OK.

If you click OK and the new time setting does not show in the lower right of the HMC interface, log out and then log back in again. For more information about logging out of the HMC, see Shutting Down, Rebooting and Logging Out of the HMC.


Viewing Console Events

To see a log of recent HMC activity, you can view console events. Each event has an associated time stamp. The following is a sample of the events recorded:

To view console events, you must be a member of one of the following roles:

To view console events, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, select View Console Events.

Customizing Network Settings

While the HMC conducts most of its management function through the direct serial connections to the managed systems, connecting the HMC to your network provides you with additional remote management capabilities. It also significantly enhances service and maintenance for partitioned systems.

Enabling the HMC network connection allows you to take advantage of the following HMC capabilities:

Note:
Changes made to your HMC's network settings do not take effect until you reboot the HMC.

To customize network settings, you must be a member of one of the following roles:

Setting the IP Address

To customize your HMC's IP address, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Customize Network Settings. The Customize Network Settings window displays.
  4. Click the IP Address tab.
  5. Type TCP/IP and gateway information as appropriate. For questions about your network and how it is configured, see your network administrator.
  6. Click OK if you are finished customizing the network.
    Note:
    Changes made to your HMC's network settings do not take effect until you reboot the HMC.

Setting Domain Names

To enable your HMC and managed system for service, you must change the default domain names and enter your own.

To set a domain name, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Customize Network Settings. The Customize Network Settings window displays.
  4. Click the Name Services tab.
  5. The system displays the default domain name as localdomain. Replace this name with your network information as appropriate.
    Note:
    Do not assign the localhost.localdomain with an IP address other than the loopback 127.0.0.1.
    For questions about your network and how it is configured, see your network administrator.
  6. Click OK.

Setting Host Names

The /etc/hosts file on your HMC's hard drive stores all host name information. Whether you are using DNS or not, you must add the HMC hostname using the process described below. If you are not using DNS, you must also add all host names (for each LPAR and HMC) to this file using the following procedure:

In addition, you must also update the local /etc/hosts files in each LPAR. For more information about updating files, refer to the documentation provided with your operating system.

To set a host name in the /etc/hosts file, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Customize Network Settings. The Customize Network Settings window displays.
  4. Click the Host tab.
  5. Enter your host name information as appropriate.
  6. Click OK.

If you change the local host name, you must reboot the HMC for changes to take effect. For more information about rebooting the HMC, see Shutting Down, Rebooting and Logging Out of the HMC.

Adding and Changing IP Addresses and Host Names

You can add to and change the /etc/hosts file yourself by clicking on the Hosts tab. This window allows you to add any IP address or host names that you want to store in the /etc/hosts file.

To add or change a host name in the /etc/hosts file, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Customize Network Settings. The Customize Network Settings window displays.
  4. Click the Hosts tab.
  5. Click New or Change.
  6. The Host Entries window opens. In the first field, type the IP address you want to add or change.
  7. In the second field, type the host name or names you want to associate with the IP address you typed in the first field. If you enter multiple host names, separate them by spaces and list the primary host name first. Enter multiple host names when you want to identify a machine by both its fully qualified host name and its short host name. For example, if your domain is mycompany.com, then for some IP address you might enter myname.mycompany.com somename.
  8. Click OK.

The /etc/hosts file is updated with your new information.

Setting Routing Information

You can add, change, or delete routing information.

To set routing information, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Customize Network Settings. The Customize Network Settings window displays.
  4. Click the Routing tab.
  5. Select New, Change, or Delete.
  6. Type the gateway information in the fields as appropriate. For questions about your network and how it is configured, see your network administrator.
  7. Click OK.

Setting Device Attributes

You can use your HMC to select speed and duplex modes for your ethernet adapters.

To set device attributes, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Customize Network Settings. The Customize Network Settings window displays.
  4. Click the Device Attributes tab.
  5. Select the speed and duplex mode for your adapter. For more information about your adapter's speed and mode, read the documentation that was provided with your adapter.
  6. Click OK.

Testing Network Connectivity

This option enables you to verify that you are properly connected to the network.

To test network connectivity, you must be a member of one of the following roles:

You can test the network connection between the HMC and other hosts by using a ping utility. To test network connectivity, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Test Network Connectivity.
  4. Type the host name or IP address of the system to which you are attempting to connect.
  5. Click OK.

To test the connectivity of a partition to your HMC (for example, using the ping command), refer to the documentation provided with your partition's operating system.


Scheduling Backups

This option enables you to schedule the time and dates for backing up critical console information. When you schedule a backup operation, the information is saved on a formatted DVD-RAM disk on your HMC. Each time this data is saved, old data is replaced with the more recent data. If you do not want older information overwritten, insert a new DVD-RAM disk in the HMC's drive each time you perform a backup.

For more information about critical console data, see Backing up Critical Console Data.

To schedule a backup of console data, you must be a member of one of the following roles:

Scheduling a Backup Operation

You can schedule a backup to DVD to occur once, or you can set up a repeated schedule. You must provide the time and date that you want the operation to occur. If the operation is scheduled to repeat, you must select how you want this backup to repeat (daily, weekly, or monthly).

Note:
Only the most-recent backup image is stored at any time on the DVD.

To schedule a backup operation, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Scheduled Operations.
  4. In the menu, click Options.
  5. Select New.
  6. In the appropriate fields, enter the time and date that you want this backup to occur.
  7. If you want this scheduled operation to repeat, click the Repeat tab and enter the intervals at which you want the backup to repeat. You can schedule backup operations to repeat at monthly, weekly, daily, or hourly intervals. If you select Daily intervals, you can select the individual day of the week you want the backup to occur. If you want to repeat a scheduled operation daily or hourly, you can also specify the days of the week on which you want this operation to occur.
  8. Click OK when you are finished setting the backup time and date.

After you have defined a scheduled backup operation, a description of the operation displays in the Scheduled Operations window.

Reviewing an Existing Scheduled Operation

You can use the HMC to review an existing scheduled operation that you have created.

To review an existing operation, you must be a member of one of the following roles:

To review an operation you have already created, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Scheduled Operations from the menu to display a list of scheduled operations.

Filtering Your View

You can view the duration of the backup tasks you scheduled and filter the tasks you want to view.

To modify your view, you must be a member of one of the following roles:

To view the time range of a scheduled backup, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Scheduled Operations from the menu to display a list of scheduled operations.
  4. Select the operation you want to view.
  5. From the menu, select View.
  6. Select New Time Range. The Change Time Range window opens.
  7. After filtering the time range information you want to view, click OK.

Enabling and Disabling Remote Commands

This option provides the ability to run commands remotely through the rexec command or the ssh command.

To install ssh software on PC clients, type the following web address:

http:// HMC System Name /remote_client_security.html

This page provides links to download the PC and Linux security package installed on the HMC. By default, security is installed and configured; however, the HMC system administrator can uninstall the Remote Client Security package. If the HMC administrator uninstalls the Remote Client Security Package, an error message displays stating that the Security package needs to be installed. The US strong encryption is also installed by default, and can also be uninstalled by the HMC system administrator. For more information about the PC Client, see Installing and Using the Remote Client. For more information about configuring your HMC for security, see System Manager Security.

On an AIX system, the software to install the Security package is located on the Expansion Pack. The Security installation image operates for both the AIX Client and the Remote Client; there are no separate installation images. To download the images to the Remote Client, the AIX system must also have IHS (IBM HTTP Server) installed and configured. Type the following Web address:

http:// HMC System Name /remote_client_security.html

This page provides links to download the PC and Linux Security package installed on the system (US or Export).

To enable or disable remote commands, you must be a member of one of the following roles:

To enable or disable remote commands, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Enable / Disable Remote Command Execution.
  4. Select the appropriate box.
  5. Click OK.

Configuring a Serial Adapter

You can use your HMC to configure adapters that are installed in your HMC.

Configuring Serial Adapters

To configure serial adapters, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Configure Serial Adapter.
  4. The Working window opens. Type 1 to select Configure Serial Adapter(s)
  5. The configuration utility guides you through a series of questions. For an 8-port adapter you must answer the following questions with the following answers:
    1. Question: How many boards would you like to install? Answer: Type the total number of 8 and/or 128 Port ASYNC adapters in the system.
    2. Question: Board #1. What type of board is this? ( L for list) Answer: Use board type 15
    3. Question: Do you want to set Altpin on this board? ( y or n ) Answer: No

    If two 8-port adapters are installed in the system, the HMC asks the following questions:

    1. Question: Board #2. What type of board is this? ( L for list) Answer: Use board type 15
    2. Question: Do you want to set Altpin on this board? ( y or n ) Answer: No

    For a 128-port adapter, you must answer the following questions with the following answers:

    1. Question: How many boards would you like to install? Answer: Type the total number of 8 and/or 128 Port ASYNC adapters are installed in the HMC PC.
    2. Question: Board #1. What type of board is this? ( L for list) Answer: Use board type 16 (IBM 128-Port ASYNC PCI)
    3. Question: How many ports does this digiBoard have? Possible values:

      1) 8

      2) 16

      3) 24

      4) 32

      5) 40

      6) 48

      7) 56

      8) 64

      9) 72

      10) 80

      11) 88

      12) 96

      13) 104

      14) 112

      15) 120

      16) 128

    4. Board #1 How many ports? (1-16) Answer: Count the total number of Enhanced RANs you are attaching to the 128-Port ASYNC adapter and multiply by two. For example: 2 (RANs) multiplied by 2 equals 4. Type the selection number 4), for 32 in this example, at the prompt.
    5. Question: Do you want to set Altpin on this board? ( y or n ) Answer: No

    If two 128-Port ASYNC adapters are installed in the system, the utility repeats the previous sequence of questions for each. The configuration utility guides you through a series of questions.

    Note:
    The term C/CON is synonymous with Enhanced RAN or RAN
    1. Question: How many C/X cards do you have? Answer: Type the total number of 128 Port ASYNC adapters installed in the HMC PC.
    2. Question: How many C/CONs (RANs) are connected to card 1 line 1? Answer: Type the total number of RANs on line 1. For this example, two concentrators (RANs) are connected to line 1.
    3. Question: What type of wiring scheme are you going to use for card 1, line 1?
      A) 8 Wire Direct
      B) 4 Wire Direct
      C) RS422 Sync
      D) RS232 Sync
      

      Answer: A

    4. Enter the type of communication mode to use on line 1. (Type L for a list) [14] Answer: 14
    5. Question: How many ports does this C/CON (RAN) support? (conc #1)
      Note:
      The maximum number of ports here is 16. [16]
      Answer: 16
    6. Question: How many C/CONs (RANs) are connected to card 1, line 2? Answer: Enter the number of RANs connected to line 2.

The HMC is configured to load the adapter device driver upon reboot. Reboot your HMC.

Configuring RS422 Ports on an 8-Port Adapter

This task allows you to switch the port from RS232 to RS422. Use this task for ports that are connected to a frame's power supply.

To configure RS422 ports on an 8-port adapter connected to the HMC, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Configure Serial Adapter.
  4. The Working window opens. Type 2 to select Configure RS422 ports on an 8-port Adapter.
  5. From the menu, select the 8 port adapter you want to configure.
  6. From the menu, select the port change.

Enabling Remote Virtual Terminal Connections

Remote virtual terminal connections are disabled by default. This section describes how to enable remote virtual terminal connections.

To enable remote virtual terminal connections, you must be a member of the System Administrator role.

To enable remote virtual terminal connections, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Enable/Disable Remote Virtual Terminal Connections. The Enable Remote Virtual Terminal window displays.
  4. Click the Enable remote virtual terminal connections box.
  5. Click OK.

Changing the HMC Interface Language

You can change the language of your HMC interface by:

OR

When you power on the HMC, the HMC automatically prompts you to change the locale. The locale is the language you want your HMC to display. If you do not respond, the HMC continues to power on with the last locale used.

Any user role can change the HMC's interface language.

To change your HMC's interface language when you power on the HMC, do the following:

  1. Power on the HMC.
  2. When you are prompted to change the locale, type the number 2 to select Change Locale. The Locale Selection window opens.
  3. Select the locale you want to display from the list.
  4. Click OK.

When the HMC completes the power on process, it displays the language you selected.

To change your HMC's interface language by using the System Configuration application, do the following:

  1. In the Navigation area, click the HMC Maintenance icon.
  2. In the Contents area, double-click the System Configuration icon.
  3. In the Contents area, click Change Current Locale.
  4. A window opens. Select the locale you want from the list.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Log out of the HMC interface and then log back in to the HMC interface. For more information about logging out and logging in, see Shutting Down, Rebooting and Logging Out of the HMC.


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