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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Netfinity* Version 5.20 READ.ME Data Compiled 05/27/98 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- I. Documentation Updates II. Known Product Limitations III. Upgrading from a previous version of Netfinity IV. Netfinity and SNMP Alerts on OS/2 V. Configuring and Operating Netfinity SNMP Subagent VI. NDIS Monitor Support for OS/2 VII. Netfinity Web Enhancement VIII. Netfinity Update Connector Manager IX. Netfinity MIF Generator X. Netfinity and LANDesk Server Manager integration XI. Netfinity and LANDesk Client Manager integration XII. Alert on LAN XIII. Online Documentation XIV. Capacity Management Information XV. Technical Redbooks XVI. Trademarks -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- I. Documentation Updates: Online documentation (PDF and INF files) is available in the DOCS subdirectory. However, these publications are slightly downlevel and may contain some incorrect screenshots and errors. The printed documentation that came with Netfinity Manager is the most current version of the documentation. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- II. Known Product Limitations The following are known product limitations which are unlikely to be corrected in the future. -- General notes: 1. System Information Tool and Device Drivers The System Information Tool has dependencies on system and hardware device drivers. In some cases, information reported by the device drivers may be incorrect or the format in which the data is reported by the device driver may have changed since the System Information Tool was tested. In these cases, the System Information Tool reports the data as provided. 2. Compatibility between different versions of Netfinity In general, it is not required that all workstations and servers on the network are running the same version of Netfinity. However to make the most effective use of Netfinity we strongly recommend that any administration functions are controlled from workstations running Netfinity V5.2 Manager. Netfinity command-line functions are supported from Netfinity V5.2 Managers to Netfinity V4.x and above clients. 3. System Monitor Sevice - Export to Database on Windows NT When running the System Monitor Service on Windows NT, if a large number of monitors are selected to be displayed when you select the "Export to database..." option from the System Monitor Service "Windows" menu, the system may not have enough resources left to display the "Export to Database" dialogs. If this occurs, a message will be displayed indicating that there are not enough resources. The number of monitors being displayed when this occurs will vary depending on other processes that are running. Suggested Work Around --------------------- If you receive the message indicating that there are not enough resources, hide (deselect) some of the monitors that are being displayed and try the export again. 4. Service Configuration Manager and Critical File Monitor A) In some cases it is not possible to overwrite (i.e., replace) existing configurations for Critical File Monitor. B) The 'replace/merge' option shown in the Service Configuration window of Event Scheduler always results in a merger of the two configurations. C) The Service Configuration Manager RESTORE command-line interface (NFREPLCL /RESTORE:filename) merges the current Critical File Monitor configuration with the specified configuration file when both the /REMOTE and /CLEAN parameters are used. If you use /CLEAN (without /REMOTE) it replaces the configuration file on your local machine correctly. D) When going remotely from ManagerA to ManagerB and then using Service Configuration to collect Critical File Monitor data from the ClientA machine, no data for ClientA is seen in the Service Configuration Editor even though the data does exist. This is a deliberate security function of Critical File Monitor. Suggested Work Around --------------------- 1) Establish an RWC session from ManagerA to ManagerB. 2) Open ClientA via ManagerB's Remote System Manager. 3) Open ClientA's Critical File Monitor and verify that every file to be monitored has the "Notify" checkbox checked. If this is not done, then Service Configuration will not see that file. 4) Open Service Configuration on ManagerB and collect the Critical File Monitor data from ClientA. 5. Lotus Notes Exports: An access violation trap in a Netfinity service executable may occur the following conditions: A) Opening the Lotus Notes database from a Netfinity Service or another application while a Lotus Notes database export is in progress. To avoid this problem do not attempt to enter a services database export function while a Lotus Notes export is in progress. For example avoid creating a new scheduler database export event while a Lotus Notes export is in progress. 6. Security alerts from Remote Session and Remote Workstation Control Under some circumstances, these two services may generate a security alert every time a key is pressed at the local manager workstation. This happens if both the local system and the remote system are Netfinity managers and remote system has a default outgoing user ID and password that does not exist on the local manager. To work around this problem, add a new incoming password at the local manager which matches the default outgoing user ID/password at the remote system. Grant this new user ID access to a harmless service (System Profile). After doing this, you should receive a single alert when the first packet is sent from the remote system. (Depending upon how Alert Manager is configured, the alert may not show on the screen or in the log.) 7. Scheduled Software Inventory Scheduled software inventory operations may occasionally leave SINVBASE.EXE running on the remote systems after the inventory operation has completed. To avoid this, build groups such that each system to be inventoried appears in the group only once. (Systems may appear in a group more than once if they are accessible over more than one protocol.) An easy way to construct groups like this is to use the Remote System Manager's Group Discovery Filters to limit membsership based upon protocols and build a different inventory group for each protocol of interest. (Group Discovery Filters appear on the context menu which displays when you 'right click' on a group icon in the System Group Managment screen.) 8. Local Alerts from Update Connector Manager Alerts generated by Update Conenctor Manager initiated restarts will contain '----' in some fields (such as the network type and network address) to indicate the local system. -- Installation and Removal Netfinity's installation allows you to install the product in any directory or sub-directory; however we recommend you give Netfinity its own directory (our default directory name NETFIN or WNETFIN is preferred). The primary reason is to allow for a clean removal of Netfinity, without removing non-Netfinity related files and sub-directories. NFUNINST.EXE will remove all files and directories where Netfinity is installed. When uninstalling Netfinity, it is important to remember that the uninstall script will only work reliably when the Netfinity Support Program has been completely started, and the remote system manager window has been opened and closed. If you have disabled the "Show Support Program" in the Network Driver Configuration utility, you can assure this has happened by opening and closing the Netfinity Remote System Manager. -- Operating system-specific limitations: >>> Netfinity Manager or Services for OS/2*: 1. Trap E on export using stand-alone System Information Tool: Machines with Lotus* Notes* or CC:Mail* installed may encounter a Trap E when running System Information Tool without the Netfinity Support Program enabled. This is due to a Warp loader bug. Applying Warp* FixPack 17 has remedied this scenario. Another way to avoid the problem is to always run the System Information Tool with the Netfinity Support Program enabled. 2. Problem deleting "DELDIR" directories under File Transfer: If you have the OS/2 "DELDIR" environment variable set for directories on your system, do not attempt to delete those directories using File Transfer. 3. Lotus Notes Exports: An access violation trap in Lotus Notes $LIB.DLL has been observed under the following conditions: A) The Lotus Notes user interface is terminated while Netfinity is running any type of Notes export. B) Opening the Lotus Notes database from a Netfinity Service or another application while a Lotus Notes database export is in progress. To avoid this problem do not attempt to enter a services database export function while a Lotus Notes export is in progress. For example avoid creating a new scheduler database export event while a Lotus Notes export is in progress. C) Unpredictable results are expected when the Network Support Program is terminated while an export is in progress to a Lotus Notes database. 4. DB/2 exports using NetBIOS: If scheduled DB2* database export failures occur, check the NetBIOS resource allocation. The manual, 'Database 2 Installing and Using OS/2 Clients' contains the fixed resource requirements for each client session. To check for sufficient resources, start a System Information session and a Software Inventory session at the same time. Export System Information to the database, click OK after the export completed and leave the session up, then export Software Inventory. If a NetBIOS error is generated there are not enough NetBIOS resources available to run scheduled exports. 5. Netfinity SNMP subagent limitations: A. Netfinity SNMP subagent does not support SET operations. B. Netfinity SNMP subagent returns an SNMP general error when a non-existing object or instance is encountered during a MIB walk operation. If an SNMP GET operation is done on that non-existing object or instance it will return a nosuchObject or nosuchInstance. 6. File editor starts in background under File Transfer: Double clicking on a file name will invoke the OS/2 System Editor (E.EXE) which is likely to start in the background. If you have installed the EPM editor, change the FTEDIT.INI file to use EPM.EXE and the editor will start in the foreground. 7. SNMP alert action under OS/2 V4.0 (Merlin): To forward alerts over SNMP, Netfinity requires access to DPI32DLL.DLL. Under OS/2 V4.0 (Merlin), this DLL is available (look under the SVA subdirectory in \SVA\DPI\DPI_1.1) but not installed. Either modify LIBPATH to include the subdirectory containing this DLL or copy the DLL to a subdirectory which is in the LIBPATH and then configure SNMP to route the alert. 8. FFST: Netfinity currently supports FFST Version 1.2 only. 9. Remote Workstation Control and HPFS: If you install Netfinity to a directory with a long name (non-8.3 format) on an HPFS drive, you will lose access to WIN-OS/2 sessions and your mouse pointer may disappear. We recommend installing Netfinity to a directory with a filename in 8.3 format such as \NETFIN. 10. Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA) SMART EIDE is supported on Warp V3.0 with the PIIXIDE driver set and has built in support on Warp V4.0 (Merlin). 11. Event Scheduler Unpredictable results are expected if the Network Support Program is terminated while a scheduled job is running. The Network Support Program should not be terminated until all scheduler jobs that are currently in progress, have completed. 12. Warp SMP For best results under the SMP version of OS/2 Warp, make sure that Fixpack 32 has been applied. To verify that you are running at this level, use Netfinity Manager's System Information service. Select 'Operating System Information' and 'Component CSD Levels'. Then look for a component called 'OS/2 Warp 3 Service Level'. The Current CSD level should be XR0W032. (The 'System Monitors' user interface is known to have problems on Warp SMP if Fixpack 32 is not applied.) 12. Multiple Adapter Support for TCP/IP Netfinity provides additional TCPIPx.NET files (TCPIP2.NET, TCPIP3.NET, TCPIP4.NET) for machines with multiple network adapters. The operation of these .NET files can be configured using .INI files; the configuration file for each TCPIPx.NET file is TCPIPx.INI (for example, TCPIP2.NET is configured using TCPIP2.INI). The .INI files should be ASCII text files, created by a text editor such as E or NOTEPAD. A) .INI file format Each option is specified on its own line in the text file, using the form [option] = [value]. Options are case-sensitive. ISOLATED Specifies that the adapter will operated in isolated mode. The interface for an adapter operating in isolated mode will listen on its given TCP/IP address; adapters operating in non-isolated mode listen to the TCP/IP broadcast port. Valid values for this option are 0 and 1. If the option value is 0, the adapter will operate in non-isolated mode, otherwise the adapter will operate in isolated mode. Due to limitations in the implementation of the OS/2 protocol stack, only one adapter may be operating in non-isolated mode at a time, and if any adapters are operating in non-isolated mode, the other Netfinity TCP/IP protocol drivers will fail to start when the Netfinity Support Program loads. Machines operating in isolated mode are not discoverable using the Discover Systems option in Remote System Manager, but may be added manually using Add System. B) Installation The additional TCPIPx.NET protocol drivers are not installed as part of the base OS/2 installation. The additional TCPIPx.NET files are located on the Netfinity Installation CD in the OS2/MANAGER and OS2/SERVICES directories. To enable the drivers, insure that the Netfinity Support Program is not running by typing "NETFBASE SHUTDOWN" at a command prompt. Copy additional TCPIPx.NET files (if the target machine has two network adapters, copy TCPIP2.NET, if the target machine has three network adapters, copy TCPIP2.NET and TCPIP3.NET, and so forth) to the Netfinity directory. Change directories to the Netfinity directory, and run the NFCONFIG.EXE program to enable the additional TCP/IP drivers. >>> Netfinity Services for Windows*: 1. System Information Tool limitations/behavior under Windows 3.x: A. Disk Information / Logical Drives The device calls used to identify logical drives return incorrect information under Windows 3.1. If the System Information Tool is run on a system with a CD-ROM drive with no media present in it, the drive will not be displayed in the Logical Drives window. If media is present in the drive when the System Information Tool is run, the drive will be displayed in the Logical Drives window; however, attempting to display detailed information about the drive will produce invalid data. The disk size will report 131,070 KB, even if the drive is refreshed with a different CD-ROM, or is removed entirely. The System Information Tool will continue to report this information even if stopped and restarted. B. SCSI Subsystem The device size for CD-ROM devices will be Not Available, and its Unit Status will be Unknown, due to erroneous information being returned from the calls used to query devices. 2. Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA): SMART EIDE is NOT supported. SMART SCSI is NOT supported. PFA support is limited to IBM SCSI adapters. 3. Software Inventory: The listbox control on the Windows 3.1 version of Software Inventory is not capable of holding the complete list of software packages which the service's default dictionary (DEFAULT.SID) contains. As a Windows 3.1 user, you will be able to invoke the search function to inventory your system, add packages to the dictionary, and modify the entries which display, however you will not be able to modify the portions of the dictionary which do not display in the list. Modifications to the dictionary may be done at another workstation running the Windows 95, Windows NT, or OS/2 version of Netfinity software. The modified dictionary file may be copied from the workstation where it was edited to the Windows 3.1 client to allow the Window 3.1 client to perform his own searches. (If the Software Inventory service is always invoked from a remote Windows 95, Windows NT, or OS/2 administrator workstation, then no special actions are necessary at the Windows 3.1 client.) >>> Netfinity Manager or Services for Windows 95*: 1. Scheduled Command line Interface under Windows 95: The Command Line Interface event will not report an error for events that use invalid command line parameters or in cases where the command line operation failed if, for example, there was a security access failure. The CLI output file can be used to determine successful completion of the event. C) "Network connection is lost" message while refreshing event log dialog: An error message reading "Network connection is lost" may appear while trying to refresh the event log if the scheduler is running on a sufficiently slow machine. This occurs if there are not enough system resources to allow for the communication of the entire log. This can be avoided by either using a faster machine or increasing the "Network Time-Out" value on the Network Driver Configuration dialog box. 2. Network Protocol Support: The IPX protocol support on Windows 95 requires that the NetWare* Client 32 for Windows 95 be properly installed and functional. The "IPX-compatible" protocol support in Windows 95 is not currently supported. Instructions on the proper installation of NetWare Client 32 for Windows 95 are available from Novell. 3. IBM Win32* DMI* Service Layer support: Netfinity's DMI instrumentation and browser supports the IBM Win32 DMI Service Layer V1.03. Beta levels are not supported. 4. System Partition Access: System Partition Access is not supported under Windows 95. 5. NFREBOOT.BAT not supported under Window NT and Windows 95: The NFREBOOT.BAT exit is not supported under Windows NT and Windows 95. 6. The WAIT parameter for NETFBASE starting is only supported under OS/2. 7. If you have upgraded to Netfinity V5.2 from any previous version of Netfinity, you should erase the file MONGUI.INI (located in the Netfinity subdirectory) before using the System Monitor service. The Netfinity subdirectory is typically called \WNETFIN unless renamed at installation. 8. Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA): SMART EIDE is supported under Windows 95 OSR2 or later. Prior releases require the PIIXIDE driver set, including a SMART VSD. SMART SCSI is not supported on Windows 95. 9. Scheduler: A) The "View Log" option under Windows 95/NT will only display 63000 bytes in the dialog. Additional log information may be available in the actual log file (which can be viewed from the command line). When displaying the log information in the dialog box, the scheduler will display the log data for the most recent events that will fit in the 63000 byte limitation. >>> Netfinity Manager or Services for Windows NT*: 1. The Netfinity Support Program runs as a Windows NT Service either under the 'System Account' or under a specific user account. Due to Windows NT's enhanced system security features, the choice of an account will limit access to certain Netfinity features: If you choose to run the Netfinity Support Program under the System Account, the following management functions will be limited or not available at all: -- Database Export -- Some Event Scheduler Tasks -- Some System Monitors -- Some Remote Session functions -- Access to Cluster information -- File transfer access to network drives If you choose to run the Netfinity Support Program under a specific user account, the following management functions will be limited or not available at all: -- Screen View -- Remote Workstation control To have the Netfinity Support Program run under the System Account: a. Open the Main program group. b. Open the Control Panel. c. Open Services. d. Select Netfinity Support Program from the Services field and then select Startup.... e. Select 'Automatic' from the Startup Type button group. f. Select 'System Account' from the Log On As field group. g. Select OK To have the Netfinity Support Program run under a user account: a. Open the Main program group. b. Open the Control Panel. c. Open Services. d. Select Netfinity Support Program from the Services field and then select Startup.... e. Select Automatic from the Startup Type button group. f. Select 'This Account' from the Log On As field group. In the 'This Account' field, type the username of the account that has the necessary privileges to access management functions which you intend to use. For example, a user account having access to ODBC services, cluster administration privileges, etc. g. Select OK If you choose to run the Netfinity Support Program under a user account on a server that is participating in a Microsoft Cluster Server, Netfinity will determine the cluster name and will make this information available for building cluster groups (assuming that the user account has cluster administration privileges). If you run under the System Account, Netfinity cannot determine the cluster name. However, you may manually provide this information by setting a system environment variable at each cluster node (the variable name should be NETFIN_CLUSTER and its value should be the name of the cluster.) 2. System Information Tool limitations/behavior under Windows NT: A. RAID / SCSI Subsystem support It is important to have the latest drivers for your RAID/SCSI subsystem in order for this service to work properly on your system. In the case of non-IBM adapters, we have found the latest drivers to be located on the Web site of the manufacturer. In addition, it is highly recommended that you not use the drivers supplied by Windows NT but that you select the Custom Setup option and use the drivers supplied by the manufacturer of your adapter. The following is a list of the IBM adapters and their corresponding drivers that were used during our testing cycle: a. IBM PS/2 SCSI Adapter - Driver supplied with Windows NT. b. IBM PS/2 SCSI Adapter w/ Cache - Driver supplied with Windows NT. c. IBM PS/2 SCSI-2 Adapter - SPOCK.SYS 5/26/95 d. IBM SCSI Raid Adapter - IBMRAIDN.SYS 5/11/94 e. IBM SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Streaming Raid Adapter/A - IBM960NT.SYS 12/17/96 f. IBM SCSI-2 Fast/Wide PCI-Bus RAID Adapter - IBM960NT.SYS 12/17/96 g. IBM PC ServeRAID PCI-Bus RAID Adapter - IPSRAIDN.SYS 01/28/98 In addition, the PUN values displayed are actually logical device values which are assigned in the order of discovery. These values match the Windows NT Registry values but they may not match the hardware-configured PUN of the device. B. Video Subsystem Information The detection of the adapter type and chip type varies depending on the video driver being used. System Information Tool should report the same information as what is available in the Display window under the Control Panel. C. Disk Information / Startup Sequence Identification of the hard disk used for the machine startup sequence uses the Physical Unit Number (PUN) set by the drive hardware (i.e. jumper, dipswitch, etc.). Windows NT provides its own PUN numbering scheme which assigns PUNs to drives in the order of discovery. The NT numbering scheme prevents an association of the startup drive reported by the system with a physical disk; as a result, the hard drive is not selectable from this menu. D. Cluster Information The Cluster Information was based on the Microsoft Cluster Adminstrator 1.0. Changes to the APIs in later versions of Microsoft Cluster Administrator may produce unexpected behavior. If you encounter problems with System Information Tool on Microsoft Cluster systems, please rename NFCLUST.DLL in the WNETFIN directory. 3. Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA) Tool limitations/behavior under Windows NT: See PUN values under System Information Tool RAID / SCSI Subsystem support. SMART EIDE is supported on Windows NT using the PIIXIDE driver set. 4. IPX support: Netfinity requires the NetBIOS protocol to be active on the same adapter card that has IPX. IPX will be a valid choice in the Network Driver Configuration program without NetBIOS support installed, but you will see a message "Network interface Novell IPX startup failed" in the Netfinity Support Program window. 5. IBM Win32* DMI* Service Layer support: Netfinity's DMI instrumentation and browser supports the IBM Win32 DMI Service Layer V1.03. Beta levels are not supported. 6. The alert action "Send to E-Mail via MAPI interface" is not available under Windows NT. It is only available for Windows 95 or Windows 3.11 machines. 7. Service Logon needs special configuration to allow ODBC export: The default installation of the Netfinity Support Program will not allow scheduled export to ODBC to function correctly. Please refer to the "Netfinity Manager User's Guide" for details on properly configuring for ODBC export. 8. RAID Manager: A) RAID Manager does not permit scrubbing of a RAID Level 5 virtual drive if you are using RAID Device Driver IBM960NT.SYS dated 4/24/96. 9. Spooler and Serial Printer, and Printing: When using the Event Scheduler and services that can send their output to a printer (such as the System Information Tool) you may get an error, indicating the service failed to complete successfully. In this case, Starting the Netfinity Support Program under the specific User login should resolve the matter. a. Open the Control Panel b. Open Services c. Select Netfinity Support Program d. Select Startup e. Select This Account f. Click on "List names from" box g. Select System name h. Select Add i. Select OK j. Select OK k. Select Close l. Stop and Start the Netfinity Support Program or Reboot system 10. NFREBOOT.BAT not supported under Window NT and Windows 95 The NFREBOOT.BAT exit is not supported under Windows NT and Windows 95. 11. The WAIT parameter for NETFBASE starting is only supported under OS/2. 12. The Netfinity Uninstall for Windows NT always re-enables the mouse class driver and keyboard class driver. If you already have a Remote Workstation Control program installed on your system and you do not install the Netfinity version, this may cause a conflict. So after running the uninstall, check the following two entries in the Registry and restore the "Start" value to what it was before the Netfinity uninstall: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Kbdclass HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Mouclass If you haven't rebooted your system since running the Uninstall program, the "Start" values will be in the following Registry entries: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\Kbdclass HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\Mouclass If you have successfully rebooted your system, the "Start" values may be in the following Registry entries: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet003\Services\Kbdclass HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet003\Services\Mouclass 13. For a Remote Workstation Control session to correctly connect to a Windows NT machine, the target machine must have a working mouse. If no mouse is attached, the operation will fail with a "communication with Service Manager failed" error message. 14. Scheduler: (See Netfinity Manager or Services for Windows 95) 15. System Monitor limitations/behavior under Windows NT: On some machines, some performance monitor counters can return invalid data. These values correspond to extreme spikes when viewed in the Windows NT Performance Monitor tool's Chart View. In these cases, the corresponding Netfinity monitor will display the last known valid data point instead of the invalid data point. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #Q177655. >>> Netfinity Services for NetWare: 1. RAID Manager A) Some RAID disk drivers require the RAID ASPI driver (RAIDASPI.NLM, RAIDASP3.DSK, or RAIDASP4.DSK) for the Netfinity RAID Manager to work properly. If Netfinity does not appear to be presenting RAID information, you must have the correct ASPI NLM loaded at startup or located on either the DOS C: partition or in the SYS:\SYSTEM directory and reinstall Netfinity Services for NetWare on the server. B) You may see a message while running the RAID service "RAIDASPI resume thread error = 9" message and failure of the RAID service to start. If this happens you must down the server and replace the RAIDASPI.NLM (5/23/93) driver with the RAIDASP3.DSK or the RAIDASP4.DSK. These drivers can be taken from the IBM ServerGuide* CD or downloaded from the IBM BBS. C) On NetWare systems the RAID service does not support the Initialize Virtual Drive function or the Scrub Virtual Drive on systems using the IBM SCSI RAID Adapter. 2. Alert Manager and SNMP traps On NetWare 4.1, if you configure the traptarg.cfg incorrectly and try the "Send SNMP Alert" action, the alert action will not work, further communications with Alert Manager will be lost and it will not be able to be unloaded. To assure the alert action will work, type LOAD SNMP from the System Console command prompt. If any error messages about TRAPTARG.CFG are seen, type UNLOAD SNMP, fix the TRAPTARG.CFG and then type LOAD SNMP. The IPX address in the TRAPTARG.CFG must not be in the first column, must have the segment address as 8 characters (padded with 0's), followed by a : and the 12 digit network address. 3. Installation CD-ROM support Netfinity Services for NetWare can now be installed at a NetWare server from a CD-ROM mounted as a volume. 4. PC Server 720 The "Display on PC Server 720 Front Panel" alert action can be used on a NetWare server by copying the ALTCR4.NLM from the installation CD into the install directory. This action will display the alert's textual information to the front panel of your PC Server 720. WARNING -- WHEN UNLOADING NETFBASE THE SERVER MAY LOSE RESOURCES AND ABEND WHEN THIS ACTION IS USED!! 5. File Transfer A) CD-ROM devices which are assigned as DOS drive letters may not appear in the drive/volume list. CD-ROMs which are mounted as NetWare volumes should appear normally. B) The diskette drive on a single-diskette drive system may appear as A: or B:, depending on which drive letter was last used to refer to the drive prior to starting the File Transfer service. C) Long filename support for files on NetWare volumes requires OS2.NAM or LONG.NAM to be loaded and added to the appropriate volume(s). D) Due to the internal representation of long filenames on NetWare volumes with long filename support, the names of files with long filenames transferred to a NetWare server will be converted to uppercase. 6. Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA): Netfinity does not support either SMART EIDE or SMART SCSI under NetWare. In other words, there is no support for PFA available. 7. Unloading Netfinity from the System Console On some NetWare 3.xx servers, unloading NETFBASE from the server console results in the messages: Module XLATALRT.NLM is being referenced You must unload ALERTMGR.NLM before you can unload XLATALRT.NLM Module DOSCLLS.NLM is being referenced You must unload XLATALRT.NLM before you can unload DOSCLLS.NLM These modules may be unloaded manually at the server console. Type "UNLOAD XLATALRT" at the server console and press Enter. The following message will be displayed: Unloading this module may cause your server to abend To unload Netfinity type UNLOAD NETFBASE and press ENTER Unload module anyway? Press "Y" to continue. Repeat the above procedure for DOSCLLS. >>> Service-specific limitations: ECC Memory: 1. In order for the ECC memory to log single and multiple bit errors, the SMM error logging option must be enabled in the BIOS. 2. When problems are detected for a SIMM, it is important that the system error log is cleared once the SIMM has been replaced, this will insure proper detection of new errors. Event Scheduler: 1. For Monitor Database events, any remote system that does not have any of the monitors chosen in the event will report a failure. 2. Scheduling multiple executions for the System Information Tool against a single system within a single event (via multiple protocols, for example) may result in failure for the second and succeeding events on that system. If System Information Tool must be run several times on the same machine, it is suggested that separate events be created for each execution for that machine, and that these events be staggered in time so as not to overlap each other (note that older, slower machines will require a greater length of time between scheduled System Information Tool events). 3. The 'replace/merge' option shown in the Service Configuration window of Event Scheduler always results in a merger of the for the two configurations Service Configuration Manager and Critical File Monitor. 4. When scheduling an event on a remote system that ouputs data to a database or file on the local system, the event will not function properly unless the directory in which the file will be created exists on the local system. Power-On Error Detect: The Power-On Error Detect driver is not supported on the IBM PC 750-P90 Micro Channel* machine. Information collection and error detection on this machine in the POST environment can result in incorrect and misleading results. Back-level releases of Netfinity are unable to deal with the information returned from this machine and will hang. If Power-On Error Detect was unintentionally installed on an IBM PC 750-P90 system and this problem is encountered, it can be remedied by uninstalling POED from the IBM PC 750-P90's system partition, erasing SHRIEKER.LOG from the Netfinity manager's directory and restarting the system. Predictive Failure Analysis: PFA events are presented to Netfinity via an attribute monitor in MONRAID.DLL (or MONRAID.NLM). The fact that the Predictive Failure Analysis service is not shown does not mean that PFA events are not being monitored. PFA, in general, is dependent on device drivers, adapters and hard drives that fully support the SCSI-2 architecture, including the SCSI passthrough calls and queries. The SCSI-2 architecture does allow mini-port and other drivers to be called SCSI-2 capable without providing the necessary information to allow Netfinity to do PFA alerting. This same limitation can also apply to devices using the EIDE architecture. Older hardware and device drivers most likely do not support Netfinity's ability to provide PFA alerts. RAID Manager: 1. The RAID Manager is not keyboard-enabled. You *must* have a functional mouse to use the RAID Manager service. 2. Defunct devices removed from the system may not be noticed (as empty) by the RAID Manager service. 3. RAID Adapter Configuration Backup: With older versions of the configuration utility for the IBM SCSI RAID Adapter, the only acceptable name for the backup file is CONFIG.DMC; it must be located on the same diskette as the configuration utility. The restore option will fail without explanation if the backup file is not named CONFIG.DMC. 4. If you use the RAID Manager to add any new drives, the System Monitor will not record any status on the new devices until the Netfinity support program (netfbase.exe) is restarted. 5. Virtual drive INITIALIZATION is NOT supported. 6. Data Scrubbing on an IBM SCSI RAID Adapter in a system with non RAID fixed disks may incorrectly attempt to "scrub" the wrong disk including non RAID fixed disks. 7. After adding a physical device, the RAID manager must be manually refreshed before physical device information will be available. 8. Rebooting a machine in which a Data Scrub is occurring will result in the Percentage Complete dialog for that Data Scrub locking up. This will temporarily prevent access to the Raid Service Manager. After a short period, a Communications Lost message will appear. Clearing this message will also clear the Percentage Complete. You will then have access to Raid Service Manager. However, the Percentage Complete dialog will not return and attempts to start any other long running operation, i.e. a Rebuild or a Scrub will result in a Command Failed message. This is because the adapter is busy completing the previous Data Scrub. This state will continue until the Data Scrub operation completes. Data Scrubs can take several hours to complete depending on the size of the RAID system being scrubbed. Remote Workstation Control: 1. Co-existence of Netfinity's Remote Workstation Control with other remote console packages is not supported. 2. When connected to an OS/2 Warp V3 client, running some DOS applications (specifically MS Diagnostics) may cause the manager to lose mouse (but not keyboard) control to the client until the program is ended. This does not occur on OS/2 Warp V4. 3. You may get a pop up message stating that the keyboards do not match. If this occurs, click on "OK" and proceed. 4. The mouse of a manager controlling a Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 system may unexpectedly drag items on the client system. Click the appropriate mouse button to release the item. 5. Running Remote Workstation Control in a bandwidth-limited situation (for example, on a heavily loaded network, or over a very low-bandwidth network connection) will cause slow performance, and can lead to unexpected termination of the program. To avoid this and minimize the network usage, try the following: - set the client system to the lowest usable resolution - set the background on the client desktop to no bitmap, and a simple color (black works well) - disable the screen saver on the client machine while attached to it - wait for the results of an action to finish, with all associated screen updates, before starting a new action. This will minimize outstanding buffers 6. Certain keystroke combinations are not passed from the manager to the client system. A) From any manager to a Windows 3.x client, any key combination using the Alt key is not passed, the Ctrl+T combination is not passed, and the "Send Ctrl+Alt+Del" function from the Keystrokes pull-down menu does not work. B) From any manager to a Windows 95 client, any key combination using the Alt key is not passed, the Ctrl+T combination is not passed, the "Send Ctrl+Alt+Del" and the "Send Ctrl+Esc" functions from the Keystrokes pull-down menu don't work, and any shortcut key combination that is set in Properties on the managing system is not passed. C) From any manager to a Windows NT client, any key combination using the Alt key is not passed, and any shortcut key combination that is set in Properties on the managing system is not passed. D) From any manager to an OS/2 client, any key combination using the Alt key is not passed, and the "Send Ctrl+Alt+Del" function from the Keystrokes pull-down menu does not work. 7. Running Remote Workstation Control against another manager who is already in the process of running Remote Workstation Control against another client can cause unexpected behavior and should be avoided. 8. When running Remote Workstation Control from a Windows NT manager against an OS/2 client which is running Lotus Notes Server, switching to the Lotus Notes Server console will not allow typing at that console. This function does work from an OS/2 manager, or from either a Windows NT manager or an OS/2 manager to a Windows NT Notes Server. 9. Because DirectX bypasses normal access to the screen buffers, Remote Workstation Control will not correctly show the screen of systems using DirectX applications. 10. When running Remote Workstation Control from a Windows 95 or Windows NT manager, you may observe that after clicking an on-screen button (such as the Minimize Window button), the button will be depressed but will not actually activate until you move the mouse. File Transfer: File transfer allows you to browse or edit a file by double- clicking on the filename in either the local or remote system file listbox. By default, the editor for all Windows environments is NOTEPAD. In some cases, the file may be too large for NOTEPAD to edit and NOTEPAD may ask you if you want to run WORDPAD instead. If you answer YES, NOTEPAD starts WORDPAD and then terminates. However, the termination of NOTEPAD signals to the File Transfer service that you are finished browsing or editing the file and File Transfer will then delete the temporary copy of the file. WORDPAD will then report that it is unable to open the file. To correct this, edit the FTEDIT.INI file (located in the directory where Netfinity is installed) to use WORDPAD directly (if it is available on your machine) or some other favorite editor. The single line in this file should give the name of the executable for the editor (including the drive and path specification if the editor is not accessible via the current PATH). For example, to use WORDPAD as your editor, FTEDIT.INI would typically include C:\Program Files\Accessories\WORDPAD.EXE Serial Control: 1. If you are using the port monitor for Vinca clusters, the "Send alert to remote system through serial connection" alert action may cause an Alert Manager trap if you are using the same serial port. Therefore, you should not set up Alert Manager with that alert action if you are using the port monitors. 2. To forward an alert between two systems connected with a null modem cable, you must first make a connection between the two systems and use the "Forward alert from system <P1> to system <P2>" alert action. The "Send alert to remote system through serial connection" is intended for use by modem connections. 3. When using a null modem connection with a Windows 95 system, you must first stop the connection before disconnecting the null modem cable. Otherwise, you may experience what appears to be a hang in the serial connection. This is due to your system's serial support in Windows 95. You must reboot the system to be able to reuse the serial capability. System Diagnostics Manager: On some flash levels the diagnostics log may become corrupted such that the System Diagnostics Manager can no longer resolve diagnostic status between "Not Run" and "Passed". In this case the status will appear as "Unknown" for those diagnostic tests that did not fail. Those tests that failed will still be reported correctly with "FAILED" status. If this problem arises, or any other problem related to interpreting diagnostic results, the diagnostic result buffer should be cleared using the system's attended mode diagnostic menus. These menus can be accessed through setup by pressing F1 while the system POST screen is shown. Advanced System Management: - Integrated System Management Processor (Netfinity 5500 systems): 1. When updating the integrated System Management Processor's microcode, the voltage and temperature monitors on the target system will report values of zero during the period that the update is in progress. 2. If an update to the integrated Systems Management Processor does not complete successfully, the Advanced System Management service will not have access to most functions of the System Management processor. It will, however, continue to have access to the microcode update function. The System Management Processor microcode update needs to be re-applied in order to restore the full functionality of the System Management Processor. After a successful re-application of the microcode update, it may be necessary to close and reopen the Advanced System Management service to restore the full functionality of the service. - Advanced Systems Management Adapter: 1. When managing Advanced Systems Management Adapters with early firmware levels using the current Netfinity Manager release, multiple user ID/password combinations can be configured, but you may encounter difficulty connecting to the adapter using user profile entries other than entry number one. The Advanced Systems Management Adapter firmware should be updated to the latest level. 2. A communication error may be encountered when updating the System Management Processor's RAM firmware using the Advanced System Management service on Windows NT 4.x or Windows 95 at baud rates higher than 9600. Set the port baud rate to 9600 or less for the serial connection control entry used to connect to the Advanced Systems Management Adapter to avoid a communication error on Windows NT 4.x or Windows 95 when updating the firmware remotely. 3. Any time you reset the system power, the Advanced Systems Management Adapter will reset the power off delay value in the Configuration Settings window. - General: When using a null modem connection with a Windows 95 system,you must first stop the connection before disconnecting the null modem cable. Otherwise, you may experience what appears to be a hang in the serial connection. This is due to your system's serial support in Windows 95. You must reboot the system to be able to reuse the serial capability. System Monitor: On a Netfinity 5500 system, if you only have one voltage regulator module (VRM) installed, there will still be two VRM voltage monitors that can be displayed. One of them will report that the voltage for that VRM is 0, which indicates that the VRM is not installed. It may also display 0 if a VRM is installed but not functioning corrrectly. IBM Netfinity EXP10 Monitor: Netfinity now supports the EXP10 SCSI storage unit, which uses the SAF-TE specification. Alert messages are generated concerning the unit's temperature, voltage, and fan status. Each storage unit can be configured with one or two adapter cards. It should be noted that the Netfinity monitor will generate an alert for each adapter and each channel used to connect to each EXP10 unit. In the event an alert message is generated for an EXP10 unit, with multiple adapters or channel ids, near duplicate alert messages will be generated. These messages will differ only by their adapter number and channel number. System Information Tool: Some information may be displayed differently under different operating systems. This does not affect the data exported to database. For example, the SCSI Subsystem Information under OS/2 is broken up based on the SCSI ADD driver responsible for certain types of adapters. Under Windows NT, the SCSI subsystem information displays the adapter information sequentially for every SCSI miniport driver found. Software Inventory: The option "Import from SPAudit Dictionary" will only work with the software dictionary supplied with SPA's SPAudit V3.1 or earlier. The dictionary supplied with SPAudit V6.0.x is in a proprietary format which the Netfinity Software Inventory service cannot read. Scheduler: When using the remote system manager to access the scheduler service on a remote system, there are some restrictions when the event being scheduled is either a database export or an export to a file. Both the local and the remote system must be running the same operating system. In addition, if the export is to a file, the path to the file must exist on both systems. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- III. Upgrading from a previous version of Netfinity If you already have a previous version of Netfinity installed and are upgrading to version 5.2, make sure that you run the installation program from the V5.2 CD-ROM as described in the Netfinity User's Guide. Do not run the install program from the previous version of Netfinity that is installed on your hard drive. NOTE: If you currently use the Netfinity DMI instrumentation, you must delete all instances of the file called netfdmi.bag on your system when upgrading to Netfinity V5.2. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- IV. Netfinity and SNMP Alerts on OS/2 Netfinity is not a Subagent for SNMP alerts. Netfinity uses the subagent supplied by IBM's TCPIP. If alerts are not being sent via SNMP, or not known, or authorization failed, the following information may help resolve the matter. 1) Merge the MIB2.TBL that Netfinity supplies with the MIB2.TBL that TCPIP supplies. 2) Netfinity requires the TCP parameter when starting SNMPD under V3.x of IBM's TCPIP. Refer to the SNMPD help files for information regarding this, and other, parameters. SNMPD -DPI TCP 3) Verify that the Community name, Desired Network and SNMP Mask are correct under TCPIP's SNMP and under the Netfinity Alert Manager Alert Action. NOTE: The Community name may be case sensitive. If using TCPIP V2.x, remember to issue the MAKE_PW command. Versions of TCPIP later than V2.x do not have a MAKE_PW command. 4) The MIB for the NETVIEW SNMP manager is under the SNMP_MIB subdirectory of your Netfinity CD-ROM. The file name is NETFIN.MIB. The following two redbooks contain chapters on Netfinity and SNMP management: SG24-4517 LAN Management Processes Using Netfinity SG24-4723 Systems Management from an NT Server Point of View For more information on redbooks, see the section 'Technical Redbooks'. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- V. Configuring and Operating the Netfinity SNMP Subagent -- The minimum system requirements for the Netfinity SNMP Subagent for OS/2 are: 1. OS/2 V3.0 or later 2. TCP/IP V3.0 or later with the SNMP daemon enabled -- The minimum system requirements for the Netfinity SNMP Subagent for Windows NT are: 1. Windows NT 3.51 with latest Service Pack or Windows NT 4.00 A. Operating the Netfinity SNMP Subagent for OS/2 1. The Netfinity SNMP Subagent application, NETFSA.EXE, must be run after the SNMP daemon has been started. This can be done by placing a program object in the STARTUP folder which runs the application. 2. The Netfinity SNMP Subagent provides SNMP management applications with information from the Netfinity Remote System Manager, System Monitor, and System Information Tool. NETFINSV.MIB, NETFINMS.MIB, and SYSTEM.MIB, the MIB files required by SNMP management applications, can be found in the SNMP_MIB directory on the Netfinity CD-ROM. Requests by an SNMP manager application for data described in the NETFINSV.MIB and the NETFINMS.MIB require that the Netfinity Support Program be running at the time of the request. Run the following command line at least once before the first time requesting the data described in the SYSTEM.MIB file. After this first time, reissue the command in order to update the System Information being returned in the SNMP response. SINFB30 /DMIALL B. Operating the Netfinity SNMP Subagent for Windows NT 1. The Netfinity SNMP Subagent for Windows NT is automatically installed on Windows NT by the Netfinity installation program if the Windows NT SNMP service is installed. ATTENTION: Please see the NOTE under the section "Upgrading from a previous version of Netfinity" if you intend on using this feature of Netfinity. NOTE: There is also some information on using the new MIB values in SG24-4925 Netfinity V5.1 Command Line and LMU Support, see the section 'Technical RedBooks'. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- VI. NDIS Monitor Support for OS/2 To get NDIS Monitor Support under Netfinity for OS/2: 1) Have Netfinity V5.2 installed. 2) Install the DMI LAN Adapter Instrumentation using MPTS. a. Start MPTS (double-click on the MPTS icon). b. Select CONFIGURE. c. Select CONFIGURE again. d. Select OTHER PROTOCOLS.... e. When prompted for an installation diskette, insert the Netfinity CD. Change from the default path of A:\ to _drive_:\MACDMI where _drive_ is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive, and then press Enter. The files will be copied to the system. f. Bind the DMI LAN Adapter Instrumentation protocol for the adapters you want managed by selecting ADD. Select OK when you have finished. g. Exit the MPTS installation process. h. After rebooting the system, start the System Monitor service. Select the Windows pull-down menu in the System Monitor Service window. Select Show Monitors to open the Select Visible Monitors window. The NDIS monitors should appear in the list. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- VII. Netfinity Web Enhancement Netfinity Web Enhancement was tested with the following Web browsers: Microsoft's Internet Explorer (3.0, 4.0) Netscape (2.02, 3.0, 4.0) Netscape for OS/2 (2.02) In general, the Web interface to Netfinity will work with browsers that support HTML/2.0 and table support. Three of the services, however, require additional function from the browser: a. Remote Session Service under Web - In order to use remote session, the browser must be Java-enabled and support Java V1.02. b. Guru Service under Web - Guru requires Frames and Javascript support. Javascript must be enabled. Netscape 2.0 has some Javascript bugs and must either have the Netscape 2.02 patch installed or be upgraded to Netscape 3.0 to work properly with Guru. In addition, there is a problem that occasionally arises on Internet Explorer 3.0 where a Javascript error pops up. This error can be safely ignored and doesn't adversely affect the function of Guru. c. File Transfer under Web - Netfinity V5.1 or later includes the ability to upload files from the Web browser to the Netfinity machine via the Web. This is done using the file form input type which is part of HTML/3.2. Versions of IE prior to 3.02 (with the ftp patch) do not support this functionality. - Although Netfinity V5.1 has been upgraded to include support for file transfers to and from NetWare machines, this support has not been extended to the Web. This should be fixed for the next release of Netfinity. USAGE NOTE: The Netfinity web server data tends to be dynamic in nature, and so sends all pages as "expired" with the intent being to have the browser update them properly. However, normal browser settings still result in page-caching. Some confusion can result from this. If a page appears as if it has not been saved or updated as expected, try pressing the browser's "reload" button and see if the expected results have occurred. Alternatively, it is possible to configure a browser so that caching is disabled. KNOWN PROBLEMS: A) Service execution alerts do not occur when using a web browser directly with a manager. If you go through the manager to a client or another manager these alerts will work normally for the remote machine. B) Due to the security model of Netfinity, the force remote logon option does not function through the web. C) Microsoft's Internet Explorer ver3.0x has a known problem with certain SSL pages. The browser may trap or hang when using SSL, Microsoft addressed the problem in version 4.0 of the browser. If you are experiencing these problems you will need to upgrade your browser. NOTE: A user *must* set up an outgoing password on the manager in order to access secured remote clients over the web. SSL Encryption: Starting with Netfinity V5.1, web pages can be encrypted using SSL. SSL is activated when a page is accessed using https: instead of http: in the first part of the URL. In the case of Remote Session, the page contains a Java applet. The page itself is accessed securely using SSL, but the keystrokes sent by the Java applet and the screen updates returned to it over the network are NOT encrypted. SSL is not included as part of the V1.1 JDK. Until it is included, the Remote Session will not be encrypted. An SSL certificate is created by Netfinity upon installation. It will expire one year from the installation date due to the nature of SSL. To create a a new certificate, delete the file "cert.der" from the main Netfinity directory and restart netfbase. You must also delete the old certificate from your web browser and add the new one. CAUTIONS: - Some browsers record historical information, (such as Netscape's Netscape.hst file or the browser cache) which may contain password information. - Browsers typically cache a password. When a user finishes a Netfinity session where password(s) have been entered, it is advisable to close the browser in order to purge this information. If the browser is not closed, the persistance of cached password information will permit subsequent users of that browser to access the same sensitive URLs. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- VIII. Netfinity Update Connector Manager Netfinity's Update Connector Manager is currently only available for Windows NT 4.0. Netfinity Manager machines running Netfinity Update Connector Manager require a fairly high-powered runtime environment: MINIMUM RECOMMENDED 64 MB Memory 128 MB Memory P100 Processor Pentium Pro processor A Web Browser ( see below ) A Web Browser ( see below ) TCP/IP TCP/IP A mouse A mouse Netfinity's Update Connector Manager Client will run under Windows NT 4.0 and Windows95. It will not run under Windows NT 3.51 because the JRE depends on module(s) not provided by Windows NT 3.51. Netfinity Client machines running Netfinity Update Connector Manager client should have a miminum runtime environment of: 32 MB Memory P100 Processor Netfinity Update Connector Manager was tested with the following Web browsers: Microsoft's Internet Explorer (3.0, 4.0) Netscape (2.02, 3.0, 4.0) CAUTIONS: Netfinity Update Connector Manager is a vehicle to aid in the discovery and installation of Update Packages that conform to a format with which it is familiar. The content and behavior of each update is not the responsibility of the Netfinity Update Connector Manager. If a problem is encountered with a particular Update Package, concerns regarding that Update should be directed to the provider of the Update Package. KNOWN PROBLEMS: A) Some limitations have been encountered in providing keyboard support for some of the Graphical User Interface constructs. A mouse is required to select tabs. Also, the CAPS-LOCK keyboard key will not have any effect. B) The spin boxes that can be used to set values when scheduling operations for groups or machines can go out of control and possibly blink. This will only occur if the arrow buttons are pressed many times in rapid succession. If these are left blinking, the GUI process will loop when the dialog is dismissed. WORKAROUND: If the user encounters this condition, simply selecting one of the arrow buttons again, will return the process to normal operation. C) Resizing of the columns in one of the Log tabs may cause unexpected sorting of the entries in the grid. This is a limitation of the Java GUI toolkit. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- IX. Netfinity MIF Generator Netfinity provides a MIF generator utility called SIMIFMAK. This utility can be used to generate a MIF containing data about your system configuration. MIF (Management Information Format) is a syntax defined by the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) for use in its Desktop Management Interface to describe components. The parameters for this utility are as follows: SIMIFMAK template_file output_file [optional] /SMS [optional] There are two template files provided with the Netfinity product. The template, system.mft, provides data like the one reported by Netfinity's DMI instrumentation about the system configuration. The template file, sms.mft, provides a subset of this information for use within a Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) network. The /SMS parameter allows for the output file to be created in the directory specified by the SMS.INI file for custom mifs. When the sms.mft template is used, the /SMS parameter must be the second parameter and the output file will default to sistatic.mif. The Netfinity Custom MIF extensions for SMS will then be picked up during SMS's next inventory cycle. LIMITATION: Under Windows 3.1, a second parameter must be specified. ATTENTION: Please see the NOTE under the section "Upgrading from a previous version of Netfinity" if you intend on using this feature of Netfinity. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- X. Netfinity and LANDesk Server Manager integration Users who have chosen LANDesk Server Manager as their primary management solution can benefit from the features of Netfinity via integrated launch support, alert processing, and hardware inventory. The system requirements are that the user installs Netfinity Service Manager on the LDSM management console and at least Netfinity Services on the LDSM agent machine. Currently, version 2.52 of LDSM is supported. 1. Launch Support To launch Netfinity from the LANDesk management console, navigate to the desired NT or Netware server using the LDSM parameter selection pane. Double-click on the server and log in. The Netfinity Service Manager icon will appear as one of the categories available to the server. Selecting the icon will bring up a Netfinity login dialog for the target machine. A successful login will bring up Netfinity Service Manager against that machine. 2. Alert Processing Alerts configured with the Netfinity Alert Manager action "Add Event to Event Log" will be processed by LANDesk's Event-to-Trap translator and displayed in the SNMP Event Viewer. In addition, the Netfinity alert actions "Map Alert to an SNMP trap" and "Send an SNMP trap" will be received by the LANDesk SNMP trap receiver and displayed in the SNMP Trap Log when the icon labeled 'IBM' is selected from the list of SNMP Trap Receivers. 3. Hardware Inventory Integration Data collected by Netfinity's DMI instrumentation will automatically be made available to LANDesk's DMI category for servers that have the Netfinity product installed. Refer to the Netfinity documentation for more information on DMI. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- XI. Netfinity and LANDesk Client Manager integration Machines preloaded with LANDesk Client Manager can benefit from the features of Netfinity via integrated launch support, alert processing, and hardware inventory. System requirements are that the user installs Netfinity Service Manager on the LDCM administrator machine and at least Netfinity Services on the LDCM client machine. Currently, version 3.1 of LDCM is supported. 1. Install/Uninstall Systems loaded with LDCM are automatically detected during Netfinity installation. If the system is an LDCM client, the InventoryIcons.bmp, InventoryIcons_m.bmp, and Inventory.Set files are backed up to the Netfinity directory and the copies in the LDCM\Script directory are modified to add Netfinity launch support. Similarly, during Netfinity uninstall, the modified files are deleted and the originals restored. In the case where the user has added additional Inventory items to LDCM after Netfinity, the user is given the option during Netfinity uninstall of restoring their LDCM files as they were before Netfinity was added by selecting YES, or of just having the Netfinity entry deleted from Inventory.Set by selecting NO. To remove Netfinity support for LDCM outside of the Netfinity uninstall program, run the ldcminst.exe utility, provided by Netfinity, from the command line. This utility copies the original Inventory.Set, InventoryIcons.bmp, and InventoryIcons_m.bmp files back to the LDCM\Script directory. To re-add Netfinity support outside of the Netfinity install program, run ldcminst.exe /INSTALL from the command line. Systems that are LDCM administrators are not modified during Netfinity install nor uninstall. 2. Launch Support To launch Netfinity from an LDCM console, double-click on the Netfinity icon appearing in the LDCM inventory, or select Netfinity from the Inventory menu. 3. Alert Processing Alerts configured with Netfinity's Alert Manager to "Send DMI Event through DMI Service Layer", will be received by LDCM and a message will be displayed. LDCM must have notifications configured for the component and there must be a DMI service layer on the system. Refer to the LDCM documentation for configuring DMI notifications received for more information. 4. Hardware Inventory Integration Data collected by Netfinity's DMI instrumentation will automatically be made available to LANDesk's DMI Explorer tool for systems that have the Netfinity product installed. Refer to the Netfinity documentation for more information on DMI. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- XII. Alert on LAN Netfinity supports all machines that are Alert on LAN capable. The system must be a Windows 95 or Windows NT system preloaded with IBM Client Care (with or without LANDesk). Alert on LAN increases the monitoring capabilites of PCs in a distributed network environment. A system administrator will receive real time data about the health/status of all Alert on LAN capable systems, even if the system is turned off. While it is possible to monitor systems that have been turned off, they must be powered on and running Netfinity in order to configure them. Netfinity will install Alert on LAN components on all Alert on LAN capable systems. Windows 95 and Windows NT Manager installations includes two configuration programs to manage all Alert on LAN systems, an individual configuration and a scheduled mass configuration service. The manager systems have monitoring capabilites included specifically for Alert on LAN. The individual Alert on LAN configuration service has been added to the Service Manager Desktop. This service will be visible locally, if the local system is Alert on LAN capable. This configuration tool can also be used for remote configuration on any Alert on LAN system that has Netfinity V5.10.3 or greater. Mass configurations are available through the use of the scheduler service. This allows the system administrator to easily configure all Alert on LAN capable systems at one time. When a scheduled configuration is executed, the local system is also configured to monitor incoming alert messages from the Alert on LAN systems. The monitor will listen to the local TCP/IP address of the system, using the port number designated by the scheduler. The port number default is 5001; this can also be manually adjusted by editing the monaol.ini file. The monitor will generate alert messages concerning the status of each Alert on LAN system. Monitoring capablities include: Chasis intrusion, CPU missing, LAN Leash (missing from the network), Voltage/Fan/Temperature thresholds exceeded and operating system hangs. Once a manager receives these alerts, he/she should inspect the system reporting a problem. Once the problem is corrected, the Alert event can be cleared by using the individual Alert on Lan configuration service. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- XIII. Online Documentation Online versions of the Netfinity Manager User's Guide, Client Services for Netfinity User's Guide, Client Services for Netfinity for NetWare User's Guide, Netfinity Manager Command-Line Reference, Netfinity Manager Quick Beginnings, and Client Services for Netfinity Quick Beginnings are included on the Netfinity CD. The online documentation files can be found in the directory named DOCS, and are named as follows: NFMGRUG.PDF (Netfinity Manager User's Guide) NFSVCUG.PDF (Client Services for Netfinity User's Guide) NFSVCNW.PDF (Client Services for Netfinity for NetWare User's Guide) NFMGRCR.PDF (Netfinity Manager Command-Line Reference) NFMGRQB.PDF (Netfinity Manager Quick Beginnings) NFSVCQB.PDF (Client Services for Netfinity Quick Beginnings) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- XIV. Capacity Management Information 1. Reinstalling Netfinity and Capacity Management If you reinstall or update Netfinity after using Capacity Management, you will want to make a backup copy of the following files: *.CMR or *.TXT report files in the \REPORTS directory. *.MON report definition files in the \MONFILES directory. *.SLT database files in the \SLTFILES directory. These files store minute-to-minute data from the past 30 days for an individual machine. If you are installing CMBASE Version 5.2, first delete your Version 5.1 .slt files. 2. Known Capacity Management Limitations Sampling frequencies of 1 day are not functional. Instead, they are set to 5 minutes. When using Capacity Management under Windows NT Version 3.51, trying to open files other than those with a .txt or .cmr extension can cause the Report Viewer to terminate. If a scheduled report times out and does not generate a .cmr file (for example, cmbase.exe is not running on target, the network is congested and report does not come back before the time-out limit, or security is set so the target machine cannot respond), there will be no information about the report in the Netfinity Scheduler log. Error messages and systems that respond past the time-out limit are kept in a directory named for the scheduled report. Close the Remote System Manager window before starting the Report Scheduler or Report Generator quick tours. Make sure your system date is between the years of 1900 and 2037. If not, CMBase will trap on startup. 3. Reducing the Amount of Virtual Memory Required and Improving Capacity Management Performance To reduce the amount of virtual memory required, make sure you only ask for the data you really need. Below are three suggestions: - Use higher sampling frequencies (for example, an hour instead of 5 minutes) when you can. For instance, you might want CPU utilization every 5 minutes, but only want the disk space free once per hour. - Do not collect maximum and minimum values if you don't need them; they triple the size of the data for that monitor. - Consider reducing the number of monitors you ask for, systems you are measuring, or the time period you are measuring. In addition, you might need to increase the size of the pagefile in order to provide more virtual memory. 4. Display Resolution The Capacity Managment Report Generator and Report Viewer have best results at resolutions 1024 x 768 and above. If you are running a machine with lower resolution, use the following settings in the Report Viewer (select Settings from the View menu): A. Hide the toolbar or use icons-only settings. B. Use small system icons. 5. Using Capacity Management with Workspace on Demand Workspace on Demand users must update the .FIT file in order to redirect the following client files to the predefined area in the server: \NETFIN\CMBASE.* \NETFIN\SLTFILES\REALTIME.* \NETFIN\SLTFILES\TREND.* \NETFIN\SF.TMP \NETFIN\SLTFILES =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- XV. Technical Redbooks The following redbooks are not part of the Netfinity ship group. These can be obtained by contacting your IBM representative. SG24-4517 LAN Management Processes Using Netfinity SG24-4723 Systems Management from an NT Server Point of View SG24-4808 Netfinity V5.0 Database Support SG24-4925 Netfinity V5.0 Command Line and LMU Support =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- XVI. Trademarks IBM, DB2, Netfinity, OS/2, ServerGuide, Micro Channel and NetView are trademarks of IBM Corporation. IPX, Novell, and NetWare are trademarks of Novell, Incorporated. Lotus and Lotus Notes are trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. Windows, Windows 95, Win32, and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. DMI is a trademark of the Desktop Management Task Force.