Sun Remote System Control (RSC) User's Guide

Chapter 2 Installing and Configuring RSC Software

This chapter provides an overview of how to install and configure RSC software; for installation instructions and help configuring RSC, see the Sun Remote System Control (RSC) Installation Guide.

The RSC server software installation procedure allows you to set up RSC configuration, and you can change RSC configuration after installation using RSC commands or the rscadm utility.

Installing RSC Software

After operating system software is installed on the server to be managed, you can install RSC software on the server.

Note -

After RSC software is installed on the host, it resides in the directory /usr/platform/sun4u.

Until RSC host software is installed and configured, the system console is available as on any normal Sun computer. You can enable RSC as the system console device by using the OpenBoot PROM command diag-output-to and defining the OpenBoot PROM variables input-device and output-device as rsc. See Chapter 6, Using OpenBoot PROM Features That Support RSC.

You must also install Sun's RSC Java application on any client machine that will be used to access the RSC graphical interface. The RSC Java application is available for clients running the Solaris, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT operating environments.

Note -

To run the RSC GUI Java application on a Solaris client machine, the client machine must have the Java Development Kit for Solaris version 1.1.5 or a subsequent compatible version installed. This software is included on the Sun Enterprise 250 Supplement CD and the Sun Computer Systems Supplement CD, and can be installed along with the RSC software from the CD. If you install RSC software from the Web, you must download the Java Development Kit from the following location: http://www.sun.com/solaris/java/

A client machine must have ASCII terminal emulation software installed (or be an ASCII terminal) to use the RSC shell and rscadm utility. See Sun Remote System Control (RSC) Release Notes for a list of supported hardware and software platforms.

Note -

After the RSC Java application is installed on a Solaris client, it resides in the directory /opt/rsc by default. On a Windows client, it resides in the directory C:\Program Files\Sunw\Remote System Control by default.

Configuring RSC Software

After installing RSC software on the server, you run the following script to configure RSC:

# /usr/platform/sun4u/sbin/rsc-config

After initial configuration, you can control configuration and add or modify user accounts by using the GUI or RSC shell commands. You can also log in to the host as root and use the rscadm utility to control RSC configuration and user accounts; see Chapter 5, Using the rscadm Utility.

If you are using an uninterruptible power supply for the host or a modem on the RSC serial port, you must configure those devices properly. For configuration examples, see Appendix A, Installing and Configuring an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and Appendix B, Configuring the RSC Serial Port Modem.

Configuring PPP

If point-to-point protocol (PPP) is enabled on the serial port, RSC supports multiple sessions, either shell or GUI, through one modem connection. If PPP is not enabled, only one session can be run over the modem, and it must be a shell session. RSC supports multiple sessions over its Ethernet port.

To use PPP for dialing in to the RSC serial port, the RSC configuration variable ppp_enabled must be set to true, or PPP must be enabled using the RSC GUI. In addition, you must configure PPP on each client machine that will use PPP to dial in to RSC accounts on the RSC serial port.

Configuring PPP on the Client

To allow connection to RSC from a remote client using PPP, you must configure PPP on the client. For a Solaris client, see Configuring and Using Solstice PPP 3.0.1 Clients. For a Windows client, see your Windows documentation.

The Solstice PPP 3.0.1 client configuration script /usr/bin/pppinit creates a CHAT script in /etc/opt/SUNWconn/ppp/script that defines the dialog that occurs between a client and server during the connection phase. The contents of this CHAT script are not needed to establish a PPP connection to RSC. In order to successfully establish connection to RSC from a Solstice PPP client, comment or delete the contents of the CHAT script, but do not delete the file.

Redirecting the Console to RSC

Until RSC software is configured, the system console is available as on any normal Sun machine. To enable RSC as the system console device instead, you must log in to the server and enter the following commands at the ok prompt:

ok diag-output-to rsc
ok setenv input-device rsc
ok setenv output-device rsc

These commands take effect after the next server reset. At any time, you can use the following commands to remove RSC as the default console:

ok diag-output-to ttya
ok setenv input-device keyboard
ok setenv output-device screen

These commands take effect after the next server reset. See Chapter 6, Using OpenBoot PROM Features That Support RSC for more information about these OpenBoot PROM features.

Configuring Alerts

To configure alerts, choose Configure Alerts in the GUI, or set the following configuration variables using the RSC shell or rscadm utility:

customerinfo

hostname

page_enabled

mail_enabled

page_info1

page_info2 (optional)

mailuser

mailhost

The GUI provides help for configuring RSC alerts. For help configuring RSC alert variables in the shell, see "Alert Variables". RSC generates alert messages with the following format:

$HOSTID $EVENT $TIME $CUSTOMERINFO $HOSTNAME message

You can also use the rscadm subcommand send_event -c to send an alert. You can do this directly at the superuser prompt, and you can also create a command file that runs and sends the alert under special circumstances. See Appendix C, Creating a Script That Sends an Alert Message or RSC Event.

Backing Up RSC Configuration

You should periodically use rscadm commands to create a backup file that records RSC configuration settings on a remote system. For example:

# rscadm show > remote_filename
# rscadm usershow >> remote_filename
#

Use a meaningful file name that includes the name of the server that RSC controls.

Later, you can refer to this file to restore the settings if you need to reinstall RSC software on the server or replace the server's main logic board.