

                                      README

                 Web-based System Manager for AIX 5L Version 5.2

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Limitations


   * Various preference file problems have been discovered.

        * Depending on what features you use, preference files may
          not be compatible between AIX 5L Version 5.1 and Version
          5.2. When an incompatibility exists, you will receive an
          information dialog during startup: "Unable to load
          preferences from ...". In this situation all of your
          preferences will be reset to their default settings. If
          you do not want to modify the preference file saved on
          disk (in case you want to use the preference file on a
          5.1 system), be sure to not save the file on exit, or
          use Save As to specify another preference file name.
        * If your managing server does not have the monitoring
          applications installed and you are managing a machine
          that does have the monitoring application, such that it
          is downloaded onto the managing server, then any
          preferences saved may cause Web-based System Manager to
          display the dialog "Unable to load preferences from..."
          the next time it is started from that managing server.
          This is due to the data stored in the preference file
          can not be fully interpreted by the applications local
          to that machine. Either install the offending
          application (monitoring) on the managing server, or
          choose one of the posible solutions listed in the
          previous bullet.
        * The preference file used by the monitoring applications
          may not be compatible between AIX 5L Version 5.1 and
          Version 5.2. This may result in warning dialogs being
          displayed which contain Java exceptions. This problem
          can be resolved by deleting the monitoring preference
          file from the user's home directory. The monitoring file
          is named wsmmonitoring.data.

   * The 'All Users' and 'All Groups' plugins only work with locally
     defined users and groups. Virtual NIS users and groups defined in
     NIS, NIS+ and other similar services are ignored.
   * The Configurations/Classes plugin of the Workload Manager
     application is not dynamically refreshed when the applicable
     configuration has changed inside a configuration set. To have the
     effective current configuration, select the reload icon on the
     toolbar while in the Configuration/Classes plugin.
   * Cluster Systems Management is a new application to manage
     clusters. More information can be found in the document: IBM
     Cluster Systems Management for AIX 5L Administration Guide Version
     1.3,  order number: SA22-7918-00 .

        * The new plugins to manage a CSM cluster only appear in
          Web-based System Manager under the following conditions:
             o The initial machine that is connected to when Web-based
               System Manager is started must be at an AIX 5.2 level.
             o A user must select an AIX 5.2 machine in the Web-based
               System Manager navigation area that is configured as a
               CSM management server. At that point the new CSM cluster
               plugins are discovered and are available for use.
        * Visual monitoring is supported in the Web-based System
          Manager navigation area for the children (which are the nodes
          defined in the CSM cluster) of the new CSM Nodes plugin. This
          visual monitoring only occurs after the Nodes plugin has been
          loaded/selected.

   * There is no compatability with releases prior to: sysmgt.websm.rte
     5.1.0.15

Recommendations

     Users may use Web-based System Manager in one of the following
     Client-Server management modes:

        * From a local display on AIX: manage one or many AIX or HMC
          systems by adding the host names to the Management
          Environment within Web-based System Manager.
        * From a Windows or Linux system using the Web-based System
          Manager Remote Client application.
        * From a Windows system using applet mode from either Netscape
          or Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.
        * Remote XServer (exporting DISPLAY from one AIX system to
          another) performance is slower than using a local display.
          This is due to a Java 2 design problem.

     The wsm_remote software bundle is available (smitty
     install_bundle) to automatically enable remote management from a
     Linux or Windows remote client. Following installation of the base
     IBM HTTP Server, additional processing is performed to enable
     Web-based System Manager to be accessed from a Linux or Windows
     system using either the Remote Client application or Applet mode
     from a web browser. This processing also runs the
     /usr/websm/bin/wsmserver -enable command to start communications
     between the AIX and Remote systems. You must, however, manually
     perform a few steps to complete the configuration:

        * First, start the HTTP server as root:
               /usr/HTTPServer/bin/httpd>/dev/console 2>&1
        * After the HTTP Server is running, type the following command
          to configure Web-based System Manager:
               /usr/websm/bin/configassist
        *  Next, Proceed in Configuration Assistant until you reach the
          main panel.
        *  Select Configure a web server to run Web-based System
          Manager in a browser.
        *  Click Next.
        *  Follow the instructions on the subsequent panels to finish
          the configuration.

     To use a web server other than IBM HTTP Server, refer to the
     Web-based System Manager FAQ for more information.

     If  either your managing or managed server is a 5.1 system, you
     may want to install the Netscape software bundle (smitty
     install_bundle) so that you can display help messages.

     The suggested minimum memory configuration to run a Web-based
     System Manager session is 512 MB. You may require additional
     memory if you run more sessions simultaneously, such as multiple
     Web-based System Manager sessions running the Monitoring plugin.

     Reliable Scalable Cluster Technology (RSCT), which includes the
     Web-based System Manager Monitoring application, is contained in a
     separate software package, rsct.core, which is installed by
     default. For more information about the Monitoring application,
     refer to the file: /usr/sbin/rsct/README/rsct.core.README.

New Features

     Following are features that are new or have been modified from the
     previous release, and which are not included in the current
     product documentation.

        * The Filter Dialog has been significantly changed. Using the
          Advanced tab you can now add more than 3 rules and you can
          choose whether the rules are combined using logical AND or
          logical OR. In addition, you can disable the filter without
          loosing the filter rules. The documentation currently states
          that you can have a filter from both tabs (Filter and
          Advanced), however this is incorrect. Your filter will be set
          to whatever rules were set on the last tab that either the
          Apply or OK button was pressed. Finally, the contains
          operator has been changed to the matches operator. The
          matches operator provides a more flexible pattern matching
          syntax than was provided by contains. See the next bullet,
          below.
        * The pattern matching syntax in the Find and Filter Dialogs
          have changed to be more flexible. Now, in addition to
          performing a substring match,  the '*' wildcard character can
          be used to specify where characters can be ignored (similar
          to the shell).  In 5.1 a pattern of abc would match any
          string that contained abc within it. In 5.2, you can specify
          that a string begins with abc by using the pattern abc*.  You
          can use as many wildcard characters as you like. The
          character's case is ignored for the pattern match.

       Pattern                         Effect
      abc*    Match any string that begins with abc
      *abc    Match any string that ends with abc
      *abc*   Match any string that contains abc
      abc     Match any string that contains abc

      *a*b*c  Match any string that has the characters a, b and c in
              it and in that order. The string must end in c
               Examples of new 5.2 Find/Filter pattern syntax


          It was recongized late in the development cycle that the 5.1
          pattern syntax of Find/Filter was broken. This will be fixed
          in an upcoming update. Until then if you want to match any
          string that contains abc, you will have to enter the pattern
          as *abc*.

Known Problems

     Following are problems that have been identified and are being
     addressed. Current workarounds, recommendations, and problems
     identified after this version of the product is released will be
     posted to the Web-based System Manager FAQ.

        * General
             o Viewing Remote Queue status using the All Print Queues
               view for AIX remote printers can inaccurately indicate a
               problem. Check the actual status of the queue from the
               command line by entering the following command: enq -q
               -P queue. If the command returns the status that the
               queue is ready, printing will function normally.
             o There are known Java problems with using PC-Exceed that
               result in random size dialogs (and other problems). A
               suggested workaround is to (in Exceed):
                    set: Protocol->Enable Custom Vendor String
                    to: "eXcursion"
                    For further information, see Java bugs 4340199 &
                    4279670 at http://java.sun.com
             o There may be a delay encountered between the time that
               the system name is selected in the navigation area and
               the username and password are requested. This is a
               performance issue and will be addressed in a future
               release.
             o When connection problems occur with a Host, there may be
               a delay before feedback in the form of an error message
               is returned to the user. This is a performance issue
               that is being addressed.
             o If the following message is encountered: The wizard
               script file, tguides/.../...sgs, was not found or could
               not be opened, there is an inconsistency between the
               managed machine and the managing server where the
               taskguides are not installed on both systems. Please
               refer to the Web-based System Manager FAQ for details.
               already. This version can be found at
               http://java.sun.com/products/j2se/1.3/jre/index.html
             o Out of memory or out of virtual memory.  You can change the
               heap size for out of memory problems by setting the Web-based
               System Manager environment variable W_HEAP_MAX_SIZE.  The
               default heap maximum size is 1GB.  For example, to change
               the heap maximum size in AIX the user would need to export 
               the following environment variable at the command line:  
               export W_HEAP_MAX_SIZE=380m where m is megabytes.  To set  
               in gigabytes then export W_HEAP_MAX_SIZE=20g where g is
               gigabytes.

Other Useful Information


        * Management Environment
               Due to support for applet mode, a fully qualified host
               name is not equivalent to a non-fully qualified host
               name.  For example "foo"  and  "foo.austin.ibm.com" are
               not equivalent. A Java security exception would occur in
               applet mode if the InetAddress class was used to
               determine if "foo" and  "foo.austin.ibm.com" are
               equivalent. Because of this, it is possible to have
               multiple entries for the same machine (differing in case
               or domain specification).


        * Accessibility
             o Pressing and releasing the Alt key does not shift focus
               to the menu bar in Java. In order to use a mnemonic, the
               Alt key must be held down while the mnemonic character
               is pressed. This causes an accessibility limitation.
               This problem is scheduled to be fixed in Java 1.4.
             o In certain instances the mnemonics on the Web-based
               System Manager menu bar do not work unless the mouse
               cursor is within the console frame. It has not been
               determined if this is a Java problem or a Web-based
               System Manager problem.


        * Extended/Tips Help
             o With this release extended help and tips are implemented
               via JavaHelp. Prior releases used a web browser to
               display help.
             o Any remote system that you manage, whether 5.1 or 5.2
               must have an HTTP server configured in order supply any
               help that is not available on the managing machine. If
               the remote and managing systems are configured the same,
               then you do not need to have the HTTP server configured.
             o In order to display help from a 5.1 managing or managed
               server you will have to install the Netscape bundle on
               your client machine.
             o Clients prior to 51F  will not be able to view help
               messages from a 520 system.
             o To be able to view 5.1 help messages on Windows or Linux
               systems, make sure that a default browser has been set.
             o Problems rendering Extended or Tips Help from 5.1
               systems can be encountered if the configuration is not
               complete. Troubleshooting tips are provided in the
               Web-based System Manager FAQ.


        * Remote Client Mode
             o Begining with this release, both Linux and Windows
               systems can act as remote clients for Web-based System
               Manager. For this reason, PC Client mode is now being
               referred to as Remote Client mode.  The URL for
               downloading the remote client application from a web
               browser is now:

               http://<hostname>/remote_client.html

               Where <hostname> is the name of the Web-based System
               Manager server configured for remote client
               installation. Links have been established to continue
               supporting the previous URL used in 5.1.
             o The only supported Windows platforms at this time are
               Windows NT, 2000 or XP.
                  + The popup menu (right mouse click) will in some
                    contexts deselect all objects except the one under
                    the cursor. The workaround is to use the pull-down
                    menus from the toolbar instead of using a popup
                    menu.
             o Linux distributions supported are Red Hat 7.2 and 7.3
               using the GNOME desktop.

        * Security for Remote Client Mode
               Web-based System Manager Remote Client security provides
               for secure operations in Remote Client mode.   You must
               install the Web-based System Manager Remote Client on
               your client system before you install Web-based System
               Manager Remote Client Security. Follow the instructions
               in the Web-based System Manager Administration Guide to
               install the Remote Client.

               To install Web-based System Manager Remote Client
               Security, you must first install the
               sysmgt.websm.security and/or sysmgt.websm.security-us
               filesets on a Web-based System
               Manager server.  These filesets are available on the
               Expansion Pack. The steps for downloading and installing
               Remote Client Security are similar to the procedure for
               the Remote Client.

                      1. Enter the following web address in the client
                         web browser:

                         http://<hostname>/remote_client_security.html

                         where <hostname> is the name of the Web-based
                         System Manager server configured for Web-based
                         System Manager Remote Client Security
                         installation.
                      2. If your remote client is a Windows system,
                         click the Windows link that appears on the web
                         page.  This will download the setupsec.exe
                         file to your client. If your remote client is
                         a Linux system, click the Linux link that
                         appears on the web page.  This will download
                         the setupsecl.exe file to your client.
                      3. Run the downloaded file (setupsec.exe on
                         Windows, setupsecl.exe on Linux) to start the
                         installation wizard.  To complete the
                         installation, proceed through the installation
                         wizard by clicking Next on each panel.

               To establish secure connections in Remote Client mode,
               you must copy the public key file (SM.pubkr) of the
               Certificate Authority you used to configure security on
               the server to the Remote Client codebase directory on
               your client system. Follow the instructions in the
               Web-based System Manager Administration guide for
               configuring Web-based System Manager security on your
               servers.

        * Applet Mode
             o Netscape 6 is not supported. Use Netscape 4.79 or
               Internet Explorer 5.x (or newer).
             o When the  javahelp system is invoked from applet mode,
               a dialog appears with the message: "An applet would like
               to print.  Is this OK?"  In order to dismiss this dialog
               press either "Yes" or "No".  This is a javahelp system
               bug that will be fixed in an upcoming update.
             o The initial load time is significant, particularly when
               the class files are not cached. Setting your browser's
               cache size to a large value (10M or more) will help on
               subsequent launches of Web-based System Manager.
             o If you encounter difficulty using applet mode, review
               the following document:
               http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/1.3/troubleshooting.faq.html
             o Problems have been found with the proxy configuration in
               Internet Explorer 5 that prevent use of Web-based System
               Manager. If IE's proxy configuration is not correctly
               specified, a "load: class <X> not found" error will
               appear in IE's status bar when you try to access
               wsm.html in applet mode. You may get this error even
               though IE appears to function correctly with regular
               http files.
               If you experience this problem, carefully review your
               proxy settings. To view your proxy settings in IE 5,
               select:
               Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN
               Settings.

               Notice that you can specify a single proxy server that
               will supply the needed configuration info for every
               protocol (i.e. http, ftp, etc.) or, through the
               "Advanced" button, you can specify a proxy server for
               each protocol individually.

               Make certain that if you specify servers for each
               protocol separately, they are correct.
             o Problems such as screen flicker can occur in some
               situations while using applet mode. The problem seems to
               be a configuration problem of the browser, or operating
               system, since it does not consistently give trouble on
               all similarly configured machines. If you encounter such
               problems, you should consider changing browsers.
             o Currently the Web-based System Manager requires the
               1.3.1_04 Java plug-in. The plugin should be
               automatically installed if it is not on your system
               already. This version can be found at
               http://java.sun.com/products/j2se/1.3/jre/index.html

Other Useful Information

     See: http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/os/wsm/51/index.html for
     information about Web-based System Manager.

     Vendors needing information about how to integrate their product
     with Web-based System Manager can contact their IBM representative
     for more details.


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Hardware Management Console (HMC)


     The HMC, or Hardware Management Console is the controlling
     hardware for the eServer p690 system. The HMC system provides the
     basic functionality needed to configure and manage the eServer
     p690 system. The HMC provides partition management, service, and
     problem determination software for maintaining the eServer p690
     system. For more information about the HMC see the publication:
     IBM Hardware Management Console for pSeries Installation and
     Operations Guide,  order number:  SA38-0590.

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Hardware Management Console and Web-based System Manager are products of
International Business Machines (IBM) Inc.


Copyright  1997, 2002 International Business Machines.
11400 Burnet Road, Austin, Tx 78758.
All rights reserved.
