Creating and Modifying Tasks

A task is the actual action that you want to have performed for the job. This section describes how to create, change, and delete tasks.

To Define a Task

Steps

1. Choose Manage Jobs from the Tools menu in the main console window.

   The Manage Jobs window appears.

2. Click New Task.

   The New Task window appears.

3. Type a name for the task in the Task Name field.

   The task name should describe the task. For example, if you are defining a task to load a specific module, the task name might be Load Directory Monitoring Module.

4. Select the type of task that you want to create from the Task Type menu.

   The task type that you select determines the remaining information on the New Task window.

5. Follow the steps as appropriate for your task type.

   The following task types are available:

   • Module task – Load, enable, disable, unload, or change security settings for modules. See To Create a Module Task.

   • Data Property task – Set alarm thresholds and actions, set intervals for refreshing data or write the data to history logs. See To Create a Data Property Task.

   • Module Table task – Add, remove, or change information in module tables. See To Create a Module Table Task.

   • Configuration task – Copy a set of module configuration files and scripts from a source host to others. See To Create a Configuration Task.

   • Agent Update task – Update agents by using an update image file. See To Create an Agent Update Task.

6. (Optional) Type a description for this task.

7. To confirm the definition of this task, click Add Task.

   You remain in the New Task window to define additional tasks.

   To redefine the task, click Clear Form.

8. When you have finished defining your tasks, click Close to close the New Task window.

To Create a Module Task

A module task enables you to schedule the following actions for a group of modules:

• Load

• Unload

• Enable

• Disable

• Change security settings

A single module task can include module actions for several modules.

Steps

1. In the New Task window, type a name for the task in the Task Name field.

   The task name should describe the task. For example, if you are defining a task to load a specific module, the task name might be Load Directory Monitoring Module.

2. Choose Module from the Task Type menu.

3. Choose a module name from the Module menu.

   If the selected module is a multi-instance module, a window appears in which you type the module instance name.

   The instance name is used within the Sun Management Center agent to identify uniquely a particular module or a row within a module. You must specify a unique name for each instance when multiple instances of the same module are loaded.

   An instance name is a single word or alphanumeric string. The only special character allowed in an instance name is the underscore (_).

4. Choose an action to perform for this module from the Module Action menu.

   The following actions are available, depending on the current state of the selected module:

   • None – Enables you to modify the security for the selected module

   • Load – Loads the module

   • Enable – Enables the module

   • Disable – Disables the module

   • Unload – Unloads the module

   The action that you choose determines which buttons to the right of the module task table are active (bold font) or inactive (grayed out). In addition, the Load Parameters window appears automatically when you choose to load a module.

   • Load Parameters – Active only if Load is the selected Action

   • Set Schedule – Active if Load or Enable is the selected Action

   • Set Security – Active if Load or None is the selected Action

   • Delete Entry – Always active

5. To define the load parameters for the module, click the Load Parameters button.

   The Module Loader window appears. Appropriate information is displayed for the selected module. For more information, see Chapter 11, Managing Modules.

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   Note –

   This button is active only if Load is the selected action.

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6. To set a time to perform the requested module action, click the Set Schedule button.

   The Scheduler window appears, in which you define the schedule for loading and enabling this module. For more information, see To Schedule a Job.

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   Note –

   You can also set the schedule for when the overall task is to be performed in the Manage Jobs window. The Scheduler window differs slightly when scheduling a module task as opposed to scheduling a job. For a module task, you must specify an end time. Also, you use slightly different Repeat Interval values for the module task.

   This button is active only if the selected action is either Load or Enable.

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7. To define security parameters for the selected module, click the Set Security button.

   The Attribute Editor window appears. Current security information is displayed for this module. For additional information about the Attribute Editor, see Chapter 10, Monitoring Data Property Attributes. For more information about security, see Chapter 18, Sun Management Center Security.

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   Note –

   This button is active only if the selected action is either Load or None.

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8. (Optional) Because a module task can include actions for several modules, repeat the preceding five steps until you have identified all the modules and their associated actions for this task.

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   Tip –

   To remove a module and its associated actions from the module list for this task, select the module and click Delete Entry.

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9. (Optional) Type a description for this task.

10. To confirm the definition of this task, click Add Task.

    You remain in the New Task window to define additional tasks.

    To clear the data for the existing task so that you can define another task, click Reset Form.

11. When you have finished defining your tasks, click Close to close the New Task window.

To Create a Data Property Task

A data property task enables you to set a threshold for a particular data property, for example alarm thresholds and actions, across a group of objects.

Steps

1. In the New Task window, type a name for the task in the Task Name field.

   The task name should describe the task. For example, if you are defining a task to set some alarm thresholds, the task name might be Set threshold for memory usage alarm.

2. Choose Data Property from the Task Type menu.

3. Click Select Property.

   The Select Property window appears.

4. Select a data property from the list.

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   Note –

   The initial list of data properties is a hierarchical list. You need to expand the list several levels to get to an individual selectable data property.

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   The content of the Select Property window differs according to the property that you select. The next series of steps explains the different possible items that you might need to specify.

   1. If there can be more than one instance of this module, type the instance name in the Module Instance field.

      The instance name is used within the Sun Management Center agent to identify uniquely a particular module or a row within a module.

      An instance name is a single word or alphanumeric string. The only special character allowed in an instance name is the underscore (_).

   2. If the data property can apply to more than one object of the same type, determine whether the task applies to all indices of the selected property or only to a specific index value of the selected property.

   3. To apply the task to a Specific Property Index, provide a unique value in the property index field.

      The labels and fields beneath the selection buttons differ according to the specific data property. In some instances, you might have one field in which you can enter one index. In other instances, you might have multiple fields in which to enter a range of index values.

      For example, if you choose the CPU Number data property and you have an environment in which you have several CPUs, you might want to apply the task only to a specific CPU number. If you do not specify an index, the property updates on all CPUs.

      On the other hand, if you choose the TCP Connection property, you have four fields in which to enter data. You must supply values in all four fields to enable this task.

5. When you have provided all the information for this data property, click Apply.

   Continue to add properties until you have identified all the data properties that you want to use.

6. To close the Select Property window, click Close.

   The data properties are added to the selected properties table. The Select Property window closes. You return to the New Task window.

7. To define additional attributes for the specified data properties, select the data property entry in the table in the New Task window. Then, click Set Attributes.

   The Attribute Editor appears. You can define alarm, alarm action, refresh interval, or history log behavior. For more information, see Chapter 10, Monitoring Data Property Attributes and Chapter 12, Managing Alarms.

8. To remove a data property from the selected properties table, select the data property entry in the table. Then, click Delete Entry.

   A confirmation window appears from which you can accept or reject the removal.

9. (Optional) Type a description for this task.

10. To confirm the definition of this task, click Add Task.

    You remain in the New Task window to define additional tasks.

    To clear the data for the existing task so that you can define another task, click Reset Form.

11. When you have finished defining your tasks, click Close to close the New Task window.

To Create a Module Table Task

Some Sun Management Center modules can only monitor an entity once the data parameters for that entity have been made known to the module. For example, for the File Monitoring module to function appropriately, you need to identify several specific items:

• The name of the file to be monitored

• A description of the file

• A table row index for displaying that information in the File Monitoring table

A module table task enables you to add entries as table rows to a group of module tables.

Steps

1. In the New Task window, type a name for the task in the Task Name field.

   The task name should describe the task. For example, if you are defining a task to monitor specific file, the task name might be Add monitoring for .cshrc file.

2. Choose Table from the Task Type menu.

3. Select the module to which this task applies from the Module Table menu.

   If the selected module is a multi-instance module, a window appears in which you type the module instance name.

4. Add a row, or modify or delete a row.

   • To add a row to a table, choose Add Row from the Table Action menu, and provide required values in the Add Row window as needed.

     For example, you might need to provide a Name (for example, CheckLog), Description (for example, log file), and a Filename (for example, /var/opt/SUNWsymon/cfg/sfix.log).

   • To modify a row in a table, choose Edit Row from the Table Action menu and modify values in the Edit Row window as needed.

     For example, you might need to change the name of the file that is being monitored.

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     Note –

     The index value that you provide here must match an index value for an existing row in the table. If the value does not match, nothing will match to be modified.

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   • To remove a row, choose Delete Row from the Table Action menu.

     In the Delete Row window, provide name, description, and file name information that exactly matches the row as the row currently exists in the table.

5. (Optional) Type a description for this task.

6. To confirm the definition of this task, click Add Task.

   You remain in the New Task window to define additional tasks.

   To clear the data for the existing task so that you can define another task, click Reset Form.

7. When you have finished defining your tasks, click Close to close the New Task window.

To Create a Configuration Task

A Configuration task enables you to copy scripts and module configuration files from one host to another host or to a group of hosts.

To copy these files, you must be authorized as an Module Configuration Propagation (MCP) user. By default, any server esadm group member is an MCP user. To limit script propagation through MCP to specific users, you need to add users to the es-mcp-users file. To add users to the file, use the following command on the agent systems:

# es-config -m

Steps

1. In the New Task window, type a name for the task in the Task Name field.

   The task name should describe the task. For example, if you are defining a task to copy just scripts from one host to several, the task name might be Copy scripts from myhost.

2. Choose Configuration from the Task Type menu.

   The New Task window changes to display appropriate information for a Configuration task.

3. Type the source host from which you want to copy in the Source Host Name field.

   The source host must be an agent in the current server context. You can identify the source host either by its name as known to the server or by its IP address.

4. To define the files to be copied, click Edit File Set.

   The New File Set window appears.

   1. To add the configuration files for a specific module to be copied, select the module name from the list of Available Modules. Then, click Add.

      The selected module name moves from the list of Available Modules to the list of Selected Modules.

   2. To add a script to be copied, select the script name from the list of Available Scripts, then click Add.

      The selected script name moves from the list of Available Scripts to the list of Selected Scripts.

   3. When you have added all the modules and scripts that you want included in this set of files, click OK.

5. To specify which parts of the source configuration are to be copied, click Set Options.

   The Set Options window contains a series of radio buttons, grouped by related pairs. You can select one option of a related pair. For example, you can use the module security settings either from the source host or the destination host, but not both.

   By default, the following options are selected:

   • Deploy to all destination hosts

   • Load on all destination hosts

   • Use module parameters on destination host

   • Use module schedule on source host

   • Use module security settings on source host

6. When you have set the options, click OK to close the Set Options window.

7. (Optional) Type a description for this task.

8. To confirm the definition of this task, click Add Task.

   You remain in the New Task window to define additional tasks.

   To clear the data for the existing task so that you can define another task, click Reset Form.

9. When you have finished defining your tasks, click Close to close the New Task window.

To Update the File Set for a Configuration Task

The data in the file set that is defined for a configuration task is stored on the server. Over time, the various files that comprise a file set on a given source host might change.

Steps

1. From the Manage Jobs window, click New Task.

2. Select the Configuration task for the source host for which you want to update data.

3. Click the Synchronize File Set Content button.

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   Note –

   This button is disabled until a file set is defined.

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   The file set on the server is resynchronized with the file set on the source host.

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   Note –

   Resynchronizing the file set does not propagate the changed contents. To distribute the changed file set to the target hosts, you must re-run the task.

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To Create an Agent Update Task

An Agent Update task enables you to define and schedule software updates to agent systems.

Steps

1. Create an Update Image file.

   Use the es-imagetool or es-gui-imagetool utilities as described in Sun Management Center 3.6 Installation and Configuration Guide.

2. In the New Task window, type a name for the task in the Task Name field.

   The task name should describe the task. For example, if you are defining a task to install the latest version of the software on all agents, the task name might be Update agents to latest management center software.

3. Choose Agent Update from the Task Type menu.

4. Choose an image file from the Image File menu.

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   Note –

   If choices in this menu are unavailable, there are no Update images defined. See Step 1.

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   When you chose an image file, information about its contents appears in the Image Contents section of the New Task window.

5. (Optional) Type a description for this task.

6. To confirm the definition of this task, click Add Task.

   You remain in the New Task window to define additional tasks.

   To clear the data for the existing task so that you can define another task, click Reset Form.

7. When you have finished defining your tasks, click Close to close the New Task window.

To Modify a Task

Steps

1. In the Manage Jobs window, select New Task.

2. In the New Task window, select the name of the task that you want to change in the Tasks list.

3. Make the necessary changes.

   The task types are described in the following sections:

   • To Create a Module Task

   • To Create a Data Property Task

   • To Create a Module Table Task

   • To Create a Configuration Task

   • To Create an Agent Update Task

4. To save your changes, click Update Task.

5. To close the New Task window, click Close.

6. To apply the changed task, click Update Job in the Manage Jobs window.

To Delete a Task

Steps

1. In the Manage Jobs window, click New Task.

2. In the New Task window, select the task that you want to delete from the list of Tasks.

3. Click the Delete Task button.

   A Delete confirmation window appears to remind you that deleting the task is a permanent action.

4. To permanently delete the task, click Delete.

5. To exit from the New Task window, click Close.