C H A P T E R  3

Configuring ALOM CMT

This chapter provides help on some basic configuration tasks including:


ALOM CMT Configuration Steps

Your ALOM CMT software comes preinstalled on your host server, so the software works as soon as you apply power to the server. You can connect a terminal to the serial management port (SER MGT) and immediately start working with ALOM.

However, if you want to customize ALOM CMT for your installation, you must perform some basic ALOM CMT tasks:

1. Plan how to customize your configuration. Refer to Planning Your ALOM CMT Configuration for more information.

2. Use the configuration worksheet to record your settings. Refer to Configuration Variable Worksheet.

3. Run the setupsc command. Refer to Setting Up ALOM CMT.

4. Use the configuration variables to customize the ALOM CMT software. See To Use Configuration Variables in the ALOM CMT Command Shell.


Planning Your ALOM CMT Configuration

ALOM CMT software comes preinstalled on your host server. Follow the directions in this section to reinstall or update ALOM CMT.



Note - Refer to your system administration guide to find the location of the serial and Ethernet connections on the system controller.


Before you run the setupsc command to set up ALOM, you must decide how you want ALOM CMT to manage your host server. You need to make the following decisions about your configuration:

Once you make those decisions, print the configuration worksheet shown in Configuration Variable Worksheet, and use it to record your responses to the setupsc command.

Choosing System Conroller Communication Ports

The system controller contains two types of communication ports:

Both ports give you access to the ALOM CMT command shell. By default, ALOM CMT communicates through the SER MGT port at startup.



Note - Refer to your system administration guide to find the location of the server's serial management and network management (Ethernet) connections.


Serial Management Port

You can connect to the system controller serial management port with an ASCII terminal or terminal emulator (such as a serial connection from a workstation).

This port is not an all-purpose serial port. This port is a dedicated port used to access ALOM CMT and the server console through ALOM CMT.

On your server, this port is referred to as the SER MGT port. This port takes a standard RJ-45 connector.

Ensure that your console serial port is set to the following parameters:

The host server automatically sets these parameters for ALOM CMT when it starts up. The settings are read-only, and cannot be changed from the sc> prompt. To view the settings for the parameters from the sc> prompt after you establish an ALOM CMT session, check the serial port variables. Refer to Serial Management Port Variables for more information.


procedure icon  To Connect to the Serial Port

1. Connect to ALOM.

See Connecting to ALOM CMT and Logging In To ALOM CMT Accounts for detailed instructions on establishing an ALOM CMT session.

The ALOM CMT shell prompt (sc>) is displayed.

2. To connect to the system console, at the ALOM CMT shell prompt (sc>) type:


sc> console

3. To return to the ALOM CMT shell prompt (sc>) type the escape sequence (Hash- Period):


sc> #.

Network Management (Ethernet) Port

The 10/100-Mbit Ethernet port enables you to access ALOM CMT from within your company network. You can connect to ALOM CMT remotely using any standard Telnet client with TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) or Secure Shell (ssh). On your server, the system controller's Ethernet port is referred to as the NET MGT port.



Note - When you connect a terminal device to the NET MGT port, the server must be connected to a 10-Mbit or 100-Mbit network. The NET MGT port supports both full-duplex and half-duplex modes on both 10-Mbit and 100-Mbit networks. ALOM CMT does not support 1-Gbit networks.


Default DHCP Connection

When Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is enabled, the SC acquires its network configuration, such as IP address, automatically from a DHCP server. DHCP is enabled by default.

DHCP enabled-by-default allows a network connection to be established to the SC without first requiring a serial connection to manually configure the network. To make best use of this feature, the administrator must be aware of the associated default configuration variables and default parameters for the DHCP server and for log in to the SC.

The following ALOM CMT variables and the default contents support DHCP on-by-default:


TABLE 3-1 DHCP Default Contents for ALOM CMT Configuration Variables

Configuration Variable

Default Contents

if_network

true

if_connection

ssh

netsc_dhcp

true


A DHCP client, in this case the SC, provides a unique client identifier (clientid) to identify itself to the DHCP server. The clientid is based on a system property easily obtainable by an authorized administrator with physical access to the system. See Client Identifier (clientid). Once a clientid is determined, the DHCP server can be preconfigured to map the clientid to a known IP address. After the SC is assigned an IP address, The SC starts the SSH server. An administrator can then initiate an ssh session with the SC. If the system is brand-new out-of-box, or upon reboot after the setdefaults -a command is run, the default admin user account requires a default password to log in. The default password is also composed of a system property that is easily obtainable by an administrator with physical access to the system. See Default Password.

Client Identifier (clientid)



Note - DHCP configuration methods used prior to ALOM CMT v1.2 do not work with this release. The addressing logic has changed from the MAC address-based approach used in prior releases. ALOM CMT firmware now uses another approach, generating unique client identifiers, described in this section. To ensure that systems configured with earlier configuration methods have working IP addresses after upgrading to this release, reconfigure your DHCP server with the new client identifier.


The clientid is based on the base Ethernet address for the system. The base Ethernet address is available on the Customer Information Sheet that is delivered with each system and is also available on a label on the rear panel of the system chassis. The clientid is composed of the following concatenation:

SUNW,SC=base-ethernet-address

For example, if the base-ethernet-address is 08:00:20:7C:B4:08, then the clientid that the SC generates is the string prefix SUNW,SC= concatenated with the 12-digit base-ethernet-address minus the colons:

SUNW,SC=0800207CB408

This clientid is in ASCII format. It should be possible to program the DHCP server with an ASCII clientid. The actual entry into the DHCP mapping table is the hexadecimal equivalent.

Default Password

When a system is shipped new from the factory, or upon reboot after a setdefaults -a command, a default password is required to log in from an ssh session. The default password is unique for each system. The password system is derived from the chassis serial number. The chassis serial number can be found on the Customer Information Sheet shipped with each system and can be found on a label attached to the rear panel of the chassis. The default password is composed of the last 8 digits of the chassis serial number. For example, if the chassis serial number is 0547AE81D0 then the default password is:

47AE81D0



Note - After an admin password is set, then the admin password is required for login. The default password is no longer applicable, unless a setdefaults -a command is run. For example, if a setdefaults command is run without the -a option, then the admin password remains the same as it was before the setdefaults command was run.


Steps to Use DHCP on a New Out-of-Box System

1. Determine the clientid from the host system base Ethernet address. The base Ethernet address can be obtained from the Customer Information Sheet or label on the rear panel of the chassis.

2. Determine the default admin user login password from the chassis serial number. The chassis serial number can be obtained from the Customer Information Sheet or label on the rear panel of the chassis.

3. Program the DHCP server to serve the new clientid.

4. Attach the system to the network and ensure that the system has AC power.

5. Start the SSH session using the IP address assigned by the DHCP server.

6. Log in as the admin user using the predetermined default password.



Note - It is not necessary to preprogram the DHCP server to map the SC clientid to an explicit IP address. However, preprogramming is a best practice and can make long-term administration easier.


If the DHCP server is configured to pull from a block of IP addresses, then the administrator can use a DHCP administrative utility to determine the IP address that was assigned, although it may first be necessary to convert the clientid to a hexadecimal equivalent. For example, if the DHCP server is running the Solaris OS, then the pntadm(1M) command can be used to display the IP address assignments. In the following example, the SC with Ethernet address 123456789012 is connected to the .203 subnet.


# pntadm -P 129.156.203.0
Client ID                                   Flags  Client IP   ...
 
53554E572C5353433D313233343536373839404142  00     129.156.203.240 ...
...
 

In this case it is necessary to convert ASCII to a hexadecimal equivalent clientid to determine the IP address assignment. For example:

53|55|4E|57|2C|53|43|3D|31|32|33|34|35|36|37|38|39|30|31|32

S U N W , S C = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2


Configuration Worksheet

You only need to use this worksheet if you want to customize ALOM CMT for your installation.

To customize ALOM CMT, you use the configuration variables. Refer to Using ALOM CMT Configuration Variables for details of variables.

There are two ways to set up the configuration variables for ALOM CMT:

Print this section and use the table to record your inputs. This table can also serve as your record of the host server configuration in case you need to reinstall the server software or modify the ALOM CMT settings.

Ensure that your terminal device is connected to ALOM CMT through the system controller ports before you customize the ALOM CMT software. Choosing System Conroller Communication Ports details the process.

Configuration Variable Worksheet

TABLE 3-2 identifies the configuration variables responsible for Ethernet control and their default values. Enter your values in the right hand column.


TABLE 3-2 Ethernet Variables by Function

Function

Value/Response

Configuration Variable

Default Value

Your Values

How do you want to control network configuration?

Manually, see Configuring Your Network Manually.

 

Using DHCP, see Configuring Your Network Using DHCP.

if_network, see if_network

true

 

Remote connection to your server

none. ssh, or telnet

if_connection, see if_connection

ssh

 

Internet Protocol (IP) address for ALOM CMT

 

netsc_ipaddr, see netsc_ipaddr.

0.0.0.0

 

IP address for the subnet mask

 

netsc_ipnetmask see netsc_ipnetmask.

255.255.255.0

 

IP address for the default gateway to use when the destination is not on the same subnet as ALOM CMT

 

netsc_ipgateway, see netsc_ipgateway.

0.0.0.0

 

Do you want ALOM CMT to send alerts by email?

Email addresses to use for sending alerts (maximum of two mail servers supported)

 

mgt_mailalert, see mgt_mailalert.

[]

The default has no email addresses configured

 

IP address for your Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mail server (maximum of two mail servers supported)

 

mgt_mailhost

see mgt_mailhost.

0.0.0.0

 


Related Information


Configuring Your Network

You can configure your network dynamically (using DHCP) or manually.

Configuring Your Network Using DHCP

There are two ways to configure Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for ALOM CMT:



Note - It is a best practice to set the ALOM CMT device name associated with the Internet Protocol (IP) address in name server maps (network information service [NIS] or domain name system [DNS]) to be the name of the host server with -sc appended to it. For example, if your host server's name is bert, the ALOM CMT device name is bert-sc.


If you use DHCP to control your network configuration, configure the DHCP server to assign a fixed IP address to ALOM CMT.

Configuring Your Network Manually

There are two ways to manually configure the network for ALOM CMT:

If you set each variable individually, you need to set the following variables:


Configuring Email Alerts

To send email alerts, the system controller's Ethernet port must be enabled, (see Network Management (Ethernet) Port).

When a problem occurs, ALOM CMT sends an alert message to all users who are logged in to ALOM CMT accounts on that server. In addition, you can configure ALOM CMT to send alerts by email to users who are not logged in. When a user receives an alert, that user can connect to the ALOM CMT account for that host server and address the alert condition.

The ALOM CMT software permits you to set up to eight unique email addresses to receive alerts. You can configure each email address to receive its own severity level of alerts (critical, major, or minor). Refer to Sending and Receiving Alert Messages.


Setting Up ALOM CMT

After you have finished planning your configuration, run the setupsc command described on setupsc. Follow the prompts on the screen to customize the ALOM CMT software for your installation.



Note - You do not have to customize the ALOM CMT software before you can use it. The ALOM CMT software works as soon as you connect power to the server.


The setupsc command runs a script that steps you through each ALOM CMT function that you can customize. Each function is associated with one or more configuration variables. For more on configuration variables, refer to Chapter 8. To configure a function, type y when the setupsc script prompts you to do so. To skip a function, type n.

If you later need to change a setting, run the setsc command as described on setsc.

Customizing the ALOM CMT Software

The setupsc script enables you to set up a number of ALOM CMT configuration variables at once. See Chapter 8 for more information. If you want to change one or more configuration variables without running the setupsc script, use the setsc command as shown on To Use the setsc Command.

Related Information