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 HP-UX 11i December 2003 Release Notes: HP-UX Servers and Workstations > Chapter 9 General System Administration and Performance Monitoring

Changes to System Administration Manager (SAM)
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The /usr/sbin/sam command starts a menu-driven System Administration Manager (SAM) program that makes it easy to perform system administration tasks with only limited, specialized knowledge of the HP-UX operating system.

SAM has been enhanced to support new devices and features in the following areas within its interface: Disks and File Systems, Kernel Configuration, Networking and Communications, Network File Systems and Interface Cards, Peripheral Devices, Printers and Plotters, and Terminals and Modems. HP-UX and SAM discontinued support of NFS Diskless as of HP-UX 11.0.

Disks and File Systems Area

updated for
March 2003

  • With the release of patch PHCO_27374, HP VERITAS Enterprise Administrator (VEA) can now be launched from SAM.

updated for December 2002

  • Added support for HP SureStore Virtual Array 7400 and 7405 disk arrays.

updated for September 2002

  • HP VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM) has been upgraded to version 3.5. HP VERITAS Enterprise Administrator (VEA) has replaced HP VERITAS Manager Storage Administrator (vmsa). VEA can be launched from the command line with the command /opt/VRTSob/bin/vea. For further information, see “Base VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM)”.

updated for
June 2001

  • Added support for the new HP SureStore Virtual Array 7100 (A6188A) disk array and will now identify Hitachi XP48 and Array LUNs.

new at 11i
original release

  • Added support for the HP SureStore Disk Array FC60. This allows you to manage larger volumes of mass storage. This support was also added in a patch to 10.20 and 11.0.

  • Added support for the HP SureStore Disk Array XP256. This allows you to manage larger volumes of mass storage (up to 11 Terabytes). This support was also added in a patch to 10.20 and 11.0.

  • Added recognition of disks being used by HP VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM) and their associated Disk Groups and Volumes. You can launch the HP VERITAS Manager Storage Administrator (vmsa) tool from within the SAM Disks and File Systems area.

Kernel Configuration

  • Added support for dynamic tunables. These changes allow a user to tune dynamic tunables using SAM and have the values take effect immediately. The user will see differences in modifying tunable parameters and in applying tuned parameter sets. When modifying a tunable, the value/formula selected by the user will take effect immediately if the tunable is dynamic. In applying tuned sets, the entire tuned set will take effect immediately if every tunable in the set is dynamic. Otherwise, the tuned set won't take effect until the kernel is rebuilt and the system is rebooted.

  • Added support for kernel logging. Kernel logging is a new feature for 11i. Through SAM, system administrators will be allowed to modify options associated with this feature, such as turning logging ON and OFF, for many of the kernel subsystems (such as VxFS File System, virtual memory, etc.) The subsystems are capable of recording information at various levels ranging from simple status messages to catastrophic failures. These logs can be read through SAM, either from kernel memory or from a file on a disk.

Networking and Communications

updated for December 2002

  • Added support for IPv6. SAM can be used to configure IPv6 addresses for network interfaces. IPv6 support is also added to HOSTS, DNS, and Name Service Switch functional areas of SAM.

  • Added support to add default routes. SAM can be used to configure default routes to the system. Both IPv6 and IPv4 default routes can be added, modified, and administered through SAM.

  • Added support for configuring VLAN (Virtual LAN). SAM can be used to configure and administer VLAN through a patch in HP-UX 11i version 1.0.

Network File Systems

  • Support for NFS over TCP/IP. NFS supports exporting a file system using the TCP/IP protocol. Accordingly, the Network File Systems area in SAM has been enhanced to support this new NFS feature. Now, a user can choose between TCP and UDP protocols to export file systems.

Network Interface Cards

updated for December 2002

  • Added support for IGELAN card, an Intel-based network interface card.

  • Added support for Gigabit Ethernet card. A system administrator can configure, modify the supported parameters, and also unconfigure Gigabit Ethernet cards. This new SAM support is provided to both 1000Base-T and 1000Base-SX Gigabit Ethernet cards. This support is also available only on 11.0 through patches.

  • Added support for 100-BaseT cards. The system administrator can configure 100-BaseT cards, modify any of the supported parameters, and unconfigure 100-BaseT cards. This support is also available on 10.20 and 11.0 through patches.

  • Added support for Independent Hardware Vendor (IHV). The system administrator can configure network interface cards manufactured by third party vendors that conform to the exported SAM Networking interface. Users can configure, unconfigure, and modify any of the supported parameters of the card.

Peripheral Devices

updated for
March 2003

  • The HP-UX iSCSI (SCSI over TCP/IP) Software Driver is now supported by SAM. With SAM, system administrators can add/remove iSCSI drivers from the kernel and can manage storage accessible by the iSCSI Software Driver. SAM provides system administrators with a user interface to view statically configured iSCSI targets, add new iSCSI targets, and delete existing iSCSI targets from the kernel registry. This functionality is available from SAM -> Peripheral Devices -> iSCSI subarea.

updated for
June 2001

  • Added support for PCI Card Online Addition and Replacement (OLAR) on systems with OLAR-capable hardware, for Superdome systems, N-Class, and L-Class systems.

    This change allows you to add or replace PCI cards online without requiring a reboot. SAM shows the I/O slot number and the OLAR driver state (active, suspended, error, not OLAR-capable). Through the Actions menu in the Peripheral Devices / Cards screen, you can replace a card, turn on the I/O slot attention LED (so you can locate the slot more easily), bring a suspended card online, and view OLAR-specific information about the card and slot. In addition, different instructions are provided depending on whether or not the card is in a slot that is capable of OLAR.

NOTE: SAM patch PHCO_23004 for 11i (included in the HWEnable11i patch bundle and automatically installed) changes the behavior of the PCI card slot LED (Attention Indicator) to conform with the newly implemented PCI SHPC (Standard Hotplug Controller) specification.

Essentially, the meanings for OLAR “FLASHING” (BLINKING) and “ON” LED are reversed to meet the specification.

See “New Attention Indicator Behavior” in Chapter 4 “nPartition (Hard Partition) Systems” for more details.

  • Modified cards screen layout to be hierarchical.

    You can open mass storage interface cards (SCSI, fibrechannel) to view storage devices attached to a card. This enables you to quickly identify devices controlled through a particular card resource and therefore affected if the card were suspended.

    Because only the attached devices are displayed, the hierarchical view is more convenient and easier to use then backtracking to the Devices List from the Peripheral Devices area.

  • Added new Actions menu item, Analyze Critical Resources.

    This menu item displays a dialog listing all resources, including devices, file systems, device files, and processes that are affected if the selected card fails or is suspended from operation. It will work on systems and cards that are capable of OLAR, as well as those that are not. It determines if any of the resources are critical to HP-UX or SAM (and this would cause either to fail if the resources were lost). This menu item properly accounts for resources that have alternates, backups, or mirrors.

  • Added support for DLT device tape densities (DLT_42500_24, DLT_42500_56, DLT_62500_64, DLT_81633_64).

  • In the Tape Devices and Backup and Recovery areas, added support for the following new tape drives:

    • HP C7145/C7146 Autochangers

    • HP Surestore SDKT 220 tape drive

  • Added device support for PCI multiplexer in Terminals and Modems area.

  • Added device support for HP SureStore Disk Array FC60 and the HP SureStore Disk Array XP256 (as described in the section “Disks and File Systems Area”).

System Properties

new for
June 2001

  • In the System Properties area, SAM recognizes new processors, if available on the system, and displays information.

Printers and Plotters

  • Added support for the Super I/O parallel interface. This allows SAM to recognize this parallel interface and configure a printer for it.

  • Updated the software products supported by SAM that allow the user to configure a network printer that has a JetDirect interface card.

  • Removed obsolete JetDirect software (/usr/lib/admin/hpnpcfg) and added support for the new HP JetDirect Printer Installer (/opt/hpnpl/admin/hppi) software. You can now use SAM to configure a network printer using the new HP JetDirect Printer Installer. SAM still supports the HP JetAdmin Software (/opt/hpnp/admin/jetadmin).

Terminal and Modems

  • Added support for PCI multiplexer cards.

  • Added support for modems with hardware flow control.

Documentation Change

  • The sam(1M) manpage and online help have been updated.

Possible Future Changes

Performance improvements are planned for Card OLAR code in the Peripherals Devices area.

In the future, SAM is planning to obsolete the following:

  • Instruments section under the Peripheral Devices area - HP-IB instruments will no longer be supported.

  • Run SAM on Remote Systems area - The ServiceControl Manager product will be handling multi-system management.

  • The Process Management area

  • The Routine Tasks area

  • Backup and Recover - The fbackup and frecover commands will still be available from the command line.

  • In the Performance Monitors area, the following areas will be removed as SAM provides no added value above the existing commands (listed in parenthesis):

    • Disk and Terminal Activity   ( iostat)

    • Inter-Process Communication Facility Status   ( ipcs)

    • Process with the Highest CPU Usage   (top)

    • System Activity   ( sar)

    • Virtual Memory Activity   (vmstat)

Additional SAM Changes

The Guardian Service Processor was introduced for the N4000 mid-range servers with the May 1999 Extension Pack and subsequently on all new servers. (See “Service Processor (GSP or MP)” in Chapter 3 for more information.) The new card has a port for the system console, as well as optional ports that can be used to connect terminals, modems, and Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS). SAM has been modified to aid in the configuration of these optional ports.

SAM allows you to launch the Partition Manager (parmgr), the new system administration tool that supports the initial and ongoing configuration of Superdome systems. See “Partition Manager (parmgr)” in Chapter 2 for details.

In this release, SAM allows selecting workstation kernel parameter sets to tune your system for CAE/ME or EE applications. See “Workstation Tuned Kernel Parameters” in Chapter 3 for more information.



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