C H A P T E R 5 - System Management Services (SMS 1.6) Software

C H A P T E R 5

System Management Services (SMS 1.6) Software

SMS 1.6 software supports Sun Fire high-end system domains that are running the Solaris OS. The commands provided with the SMS software can be used remotely.

SMS software enables the platform administrator to perform the following tasks:

Administrate domains by logically grouping domain configurable units (DCU) together. DCUs are system boards, such as CPU and I/O boards. Domains are able to run their own operating systems and handle their own workloads.

Dynamically reconfigure a domain so that currently installed system boards can be logically attached to or detached from the operating system while the domain continues running in multiuser mode. A system board can be physically swapped in and out when it is not attached to a domain, even while the system continues running in multiuser mode.

Perform automatic dynamic reconfiguration of domains using a script.

Monitor and display the temperatures, currents, and voltage levels of one or more system boards or domains.

Monitor and control power to the components within a platform.

Execute diagnostic programs such as power-on self-test (POST).

Features provided in the SMS software are:

Dynamic system domain (DSD) configuration

Configured domain services

Domain control capabilities

Domain status reporting

Automatic diagnosis and domain recovery

Hardware control capabilities

Hardware status monitoring, reporting, and handling

Hardware error monitoring, reporting, and handling

System controller (SC) failover

Configurable administrative privileges

Ability to allocate, activate, and monitor additional processing resources through the Capacity on Demand (COD) option

New features added with the 1.6 release are:

Support for Solaris 10 OS on domains and SCs

Support for Solaris Security Toolkit 4.2

UltraSPARC IV+ 1800 MHz processors

System firmware version 5.20

Support for the Availability (AVL) Feature Set 2 functionality (requires Solaris 10 5/06 software)

Support for hsPCIX boards

System Architecture

SMS software uses a distributed client-server architecture. The init(1M) command starts, and restarts as necessary, one process: ssd(1M). The ssd command is responsible for monitoring all other SMS processes and restarting them as necessary.

The Sun Fire high-end platforms, the SCs, and other workstations communicate over Ethernet. You perform SMS operations by entering commands on the SC after remotely logging in to that SC from another workstation on the local area network. You must log in as a user with the appropriate platform or domain privileges if you want to perform SMS operations, such as monitoring and controlling the platform.

Dual system controller boards are supported within the Sun Fire high-end systems. One board is designated as the primary or main SC, and the other is designated as the spare SC. If the main system controller fails, the failover capability automatically switches to the spare system controller.

SMS Administration Environment

Administration tasks on the Sun Fire high-end systems are secured by group privilege requirements. Upon installation, SMS installs the following UNIX groups to the /etc/group file.

platadmn identifies a platform administrator.

platoper identifies a platform operator.

platsvc identifies a platform service.

dmn[A...R]admn - domain [domain_id|domain_tag] identifies the administrator of one of the eighteen available domains.

dmn[A...R]rcfg - domain [domain_id|domain_tag] identifies the configurator of one of the eighteen available domains.

Management Network

One of the system controller's main functions is to provide administration services for the Sun Fire high-end systems platform and its domains. The Sun Fire high-end systems Management Network (MAN) is a combination of hardware and software providing the network architecture by which such administration services are delivered.

The primary services provided by the Management Network include:

Domain consoles

Message logging

Time synchronization

Dynamic reconfiguration

Network boot and Solaris installation

System controller heartbeats

Access to the Management Network is restricted to the SC and the domains in the platform. No external IP traffic should be routed across the Management Network.

Capacity on Demand

Sun Fire high-end systems are configured with a specific number of processors (CPUs) that reside on CPU/Memory boards. These boards are purchased as part of initial system configurations or as add-on components. The purchase of the boards includes the right to use the CPUs on those boards.

The Capacity on Demand (COD) option provides additional processing resources that you pay for as you use them. Through the COD option, you receive and install unlicensed CPU/Memory boards. These boards, which are identified as COD CPU/Memory boards, contain four CPUs. However, you do not have the right to use the CPUs on COD CPU/Memory boards until you also purchase the COD right-to-use (RTU) licenses for them. The purchase of a COD RTU license entitles you to receive a license key, which enables the appropriate number of COD processors.

Sun Fire high-end systems can have any combination of active CPU/Memory boards and COD CPU/Memory boards, up to the maximum capacity allowed for the system. There must be at least one active CPU for each domain in a system.

Contact your Sun sales representative or authorized Sun reseller to purchase COD CPU/Memory boards and the appropriate number of COD RTU licenses. After the COD CPU/Memory boards are installed, use the SMS software to allocate COD RTU licenses, activate COD CPUs, and monitor the COD CPUs used.

For More Information

See Audience for This Document Set to determine which documents to read for more information about SMS software.