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Sun N1 System Manager 1.1 Installation and Configuration Guide

Chapter 1 Installing and Configuring the Sun N1 System Manager Software

This chapter provides the procedures for installing and configuring the Sun N1 System Manager software on the management server for the first time. The following topics are discussed:

Sun N1 System Manager Installation Prerequisites

The following prerequisites must be met before you install the Sun N1 System Manager software:

Two methods of installing the Sun N1 System Manager are available:

ProcedureTo Download and Mount the Sun N1 System Manager Installation ISO Image

Steps

  1. Log in as root to the N1 System Manager management server.

  2. (Optional) Download and install the Sun Download Manager.

    Downloads of large files using Web browsers can sometimes fail. For this reason, use the Sun Download Manager to download the N1 System Manager installation ISO image. For instructions about how to download and install the Sun Download Manager, go to http://www.sun.com/download/sdm/index.xml.

  3. Download and Unpack the N1 System Manager installation ISO image to the management server.

    Refer to your N1 System Manager eFulfillment documentation and email for your download location, and download the ISO image appropriate for the operating system you have installed on your management server:

    • n1sm-1.1-ga-linux-x86-iso.zip

    • n1sm-1.1-ga-solaris-x86-iso.zip

    • n1sm-1.1-ga-solaris-sparc-iso.zip

  4. Unpack the N1 System Manager installation ISO image zip file.

    Type unzip ISO-image-name.zip where ISO-image-name is the name of the N1 System Manager installation ISO image zip file that you downloaded.

  5. Create a mount point directory for the installation ISO image on the management server and mount the ISO image.

    Assume you have saved the N1 System Manager installation ISO image as n1sm-install.iso, and that the ISO image is to be mounted on the mount point directory named /n1sminstall. You would then create the mount point directory and mount the ISO image as follows:

    • Solaris:


      # mkdir /n1sminstall
# lofiadm -a /n1sm-install.iso
/dev/lofi/1
# mount -F hsfs -o ro /dev/lofi/1 /n1sminstall/

    • Linux:


      mkdir /n1sminstall
# mount -o loop,ro /n1sm-install.iso /n1sminstall
Next Steps

Install the Sun N1 System Manager software as described in the next section.

Installing Sun N1 System Manager Software

This section provides the procedure for installing the N1 System Manager software on the management server.

Caution – Caution –

Dedicate the management server only to N1 System Manager software. Do not install other applications on the management server.

ProcedureTo Install the N1 System Manager Software

Before You Begin
Note –

N1 System Manager software installation might require up to two hours to complete depending on your network configuration.

Steps

  1. Log in as root to the N1 System Manager management server.

  2. Change directory to the N1 System Manager installation directory.

    If you are installing from the N1 System Manager DVD, change directory as follows.

    • Solaris SPARC-based management server: 


      # cd /cdrom/n1_system_mngr/Solaris_sparc/Product/installer

    • Solaris x86-based management server:


      # cd /cdrom/n1_system_mngr/Solaris_x86/Product/installer

    • Linux x86-based management server:


      # cd /cdrom/n1_system_mngr/Linux_x86/Product/installer

    If you are installing from an N1 System Manager installation ISO image, substitute your mount point directory name for /cdrom in the path names.

  3. Type ./install.

    The Software Evaluation Agreement appears.

  4. Choose whether to accept the agreement and continue installation.

    Read the agreement carefully. Type y to continue installation, or type n to exit the installation.

    When you continue installation, the installation process checks for required Perl modules. When the check completes, the N1SM Installer menu appears, and installation starts.

    The appearance of the N1SM Installer menu and the applications installed by the N1SM installer depends on the operating system installed on the management server as shown by the following examples.

    • Solaris 10


                N1SM Installer (SunOS)

 1. Install OS packages.                          [Not Completed]
 2. Install Expect.                               [Not Completed]
 3. Install IPMI tool.                            [Not Completed]
 4. Install service provisioning components.      [Not Completed]
 5. Install OS provisioning components.           [Not Completed]
 6. Copy DHCP configuration file.                 [Not Completed]
 7. Install user interface components.            [Not Completed]
 8. Install service container components.         [Not Completed]
 9. Install N1 System Manager.                    [Not Completed]


Non-interactive install in progress

Executing current step:  Install OS packages...

    • Linux


               N1SM Installer (Linux)

 1. Check that required RPM packages are present.     [Not Completed]
 2. Install IPMI tool.                                [Not Completed]
 3. Install JDK 1.5.                                  [Not Completed]
 4. Install Python.                                   [Not Completed]
 5. Install service provisioning components.          [Not Completed]
 6. Install OS provisioning components.               [Not Completed]
 7. Copy DHCP configuration file.                     [Not Completed]
 8. Install user interface components.                [Not Completed]
 9. Install service container components.             [Not Completed]
10. Install N1 System Manager.                        [Not Completed]


Non-interactive install in progress.
      Note –

      If you have installed RHEL 3.0 AS Update 2, Update 3, or Update 4 on the management server and have installed RPMs other than those from RHEL 3.0 AS Update 2 through Update 4, you might be warned after Step 1 of the install completes that the RPMs might not work with the N1 System Manager. A list of the expected RPMs is displayed, followed by a list of the RPMs that were found. You are informed that this is only a warning and may continue with the install by pressing c. This option is in addition to options currently available for when an installation step fails (t to try again or x to exit.)

      If you installed RedHat Enterprise Linux AS Update 3 or above, the following message might be displayed after installation of the service container components completes:


      This installer has determined that some rpms currently
installed on this system have later versions than those currently 
required by N1SM. If you encounter any problems related to these 
substitutions, you might need to obtain and install the exact version 
of the software required by the installer before re-installing N1SM.

      You are then prompted to press c to continue N1 System Manager installation.

    The installation process runs each step in sequence. When a step completes successfully, the status of the step is updated to Completed.

    If a step fails, you are notified, and the status remains Not Completed or is changed to Partially Run. Exit the installation process and examine the log file /var/tmp/installer.log.latest to determine the cause of the failure. Correct the problem and then run the installation process again.

    You are informed when the installation process completes, and are then prompted to run the configuration utility.


    N1SM installation is complete
Run the n1smconfig utility to configure N1SM.
Next Steps

Configure the N1 System Manager system as directed by the next section, Configuring the N1 System Manager System.

Configuring the N1 System Manager System

This section provides the procedures for configuring the N1 System Manager system.

Initial configuration is performed by running the n1smconfig command. If needed, you can reconfigure the N1 System Manager at any time by running the n1smconfig command again.

Tip –

Before continuing, add the path /opt/sun/n1sm/bin to the path of the management server root account.

ProcedureTo Configure the Sun N1 System Manager System

Before You Begin

The N1 System Manager software must be successfully installed as described in Installing Sun N1 System Manager Software.

Steps

  1. Log in as root to the N1 System Manager management server.

  2. Type /usr/bin/n1smconfig to start the configuration process.

    The current system configuration appears, and lists the network interfaces. You are then asked to enter the interface for the Provisioning Network.

  3. Specify the port for the provisioning network interface.

    The available interfaces are listed in the prompt. Type the interface name that is to be used for the provisioning interface, for example eth1, hme0, bge1, and so on depending on the machine architecture and installed OS.

    You are asked whether you want to specify a range of IP addresses for the DHCP server to use.

  4. Choose whether to configure the DHCP server address range.

    If you choose to configure the DHCP IP address range, the range of IP addresses you provide will be allocated to the provisionable server for loading operating systems and updates over the provisioning network, and for runtime monitoring of the provisionable server operating environment.

    If you choose not to configure the DHCP IP address range, then you must specify static addressing when using the N1 System Manager load operation.

    Note –

    The management server does not provide DHCP services for the data network. If you plan to dynamically configure IP services on the data network, you must provide an external DHCP server for the data network. You must not have another DHCP server on the same provisioning network.

    • Type y if you want to specify a range of IP addresses for the DHCP server to use.

      Caution – Caution –

      If the management port address is on the same subnet as the provisioning subnet, ensure that the management server IP addresses do not match any of the addresses in the specified range. This rule ensures that the DHCP server does not assign a duplicate IP address to a client that does not resolve using the DHCP client clause.

      You are prompted to type the starting DHCP IP address. Type the starting IP address for the DHCP server to use.

      You are prompted to type the ending IP address. Type the ending IP address for the DHCP server to use.

    • Type n if you do not want to specify a range of IP addresses

    The existing DNS settings IP addresses and domain search list appears. You are asked whether you want to configure the name servers and the search list entry.

  5. Choose whether to configure the name servers.

    • Type y if you want to configure the name servers and domain search list. You are prompted for the name server addresses. Go to Step 6.

    • Type n if you accept the displayed name servers and domain search list. You are asked whether you want to configure the SMTP server for event notification. Go to Step 8.

  6. Configure the name servers.

    Type the IP addresses of the name servers, separated by a single space. For example:


    129.111.111.11 129.111.111.22

    You are prompted to enter the search suffix list.

  7. Specify the search domains.

    Type the names of the domains that are to be used for DNS search separated by a single space. For example:


    location-one.company.com location-two.company.com location-three.company.com

    You are asked whether you want to configure the SMTP server for event notification.

  8. Choose whether to configure SMTP for event notification.

    • Type y if you want to configure the SMTP server. You are prompted for the name of the SMTP server, or the IP address of the SMTP server. Go to Step 9.

    • Type n if you do not want to configure the SMTP server. You are asked whether you want to modify logging configuration. Go to Step 10.

  9. Specify the SMTP server name or IP address.

    Type either the fully qualified SMTP server name, or the IP address for the SMTP server. For example:


    smtp.mycompany.com

    or


    129.111.222.33

    You are asked whether you want to modify logging configuration.

  10. Modify logging configuration

    • Type y if you want to configure logging. Information about logging configuration appears. Go to Step 11.

    • Type n if you do not want to configure logging. The configuration process displays the proposed changes to the system configuration. Go to Step 13

  11. Configure logging.

    Press Return to accept the default of “ALL” or type the specifications as directed. You are prompted to enter the topic.severity value.

  12. Specify the topic severity value.

    Take one of the following actions:

    • Press Return to accept the default value of 0

    • Type a different severity value (0 through 7) as follows:

      • 0 = unknown

      • 1 = other

      • 2 = information

      • 3 = warning

      • 4 = minor

      • 5 = major

      • 6 = critical

      • 7 = fatal

    • Type q to quit without specifying a severity value. Logging configuration is not performed.

    You are asked whether you want to modify job time-out configuration.

  13. Choose whether to modify job time-out configuration.

    Some OS distributions are very large, and might take longer than the default time when provisioning a server. If you plan to provision large OS distributions, increase the time-out values.

    • Type y if you want to modify job time-out configuration.

      A description of job time-out values appears. Type the new time-out values when prompted.

    • Type n if you do not want to modify job time-out configuration.

    You are asked whether to enable N1 System Manager (N1SM) startup at each boot.

  14. Choose whether to start the N1 System Manager system at each boot.

    • Type y to start the N1 System Manager system each time the system boots.

    • Type n if you want to start the N1 System Manager system manually after the management server has been rebooted. You are notified that you can start the N1 System Manager manually.

      To start the N1 System Manager after configuration has successfully completed, type the command /etc/init.d/n1sminit start.

    You are asked whether you want to enable auto-login to the ILOM Web GUI on provisionable servers which offer the auto-login feature.

  15. Choose whether to enable the provisionable server ILOM GUI auto-login feature.

    The Sun FireTM X4100 and Sun Fire X4200 servers provide a Web GUI for performing various system administration tasks such as connecting remote devices and performing system monitoring. If you enable the ILOM GUI auto-login feature, then the menu item Open Web Console will appear in the Actions menu on the Server Details page of the N1 System Manager browser interface. For further information, see To Open the Sun ILOM Web GUI for a Sun Fire X4000 Series Server in Sun N1 System Manager 1.1 Online Help.

    Caution – Caution –

    Enabling the Web Console (Sun ILOM Web GUI) autologin feature for Sun Fire X4100 and X4200 servers exposes the server's service processor credentials to users who can view the web page source for the login page.

    • Type y to enable the auto-login feature.

    • Type n if you do not want to enable the auto-login feature.

    If you are configuring a Linux-based management server, the configuration process displays the proposed system settings. You are asked whether you want to apply the settings. Go to Step 17.

    If you are configuring a Solaris-based management server, you are then asked whether you want to enable the SSHv1 protocol so that you can access the provisionable server's serial console.

  16. Choose whether to enable the SSHv1 protocol.

    SSHv1 is required to enable provisionable server remote serial console access from a Solaris-based N1 System Manager browser interface. For more information, see To Open the Serial Console for a Server in Sun N1 System Manager 1.1 Online Help.

    Caution – Caution –

    The following SSHv1 security issues should be considered:

    • The applet used for the serial console access from the browser interface does not provide a certificate-based authentication of the applet. The applet uses SSHv1 only for communication back to the management server, and requires that SSHv1 is enabled for themanagement server. Users concerned about this issue can use the serial console feature from the command line through the connect command.

    • SSH fingerprints used during connections from the management server to the provisioning network interfaces on the provisionable servers are automatically acknowledged by the N1 System Manager software, which may make the provisionable servers vulnerable to man-in-the middle attacks.

    • Type y to enable SSHv1.

    • Type n if you do not want to enable SSHv1.

    The configuration process displays the proposed changes to the system settings. You are asked whether you want to apply the settings.

  17. Review the proposed settings.

    • Type y to apply the settings.

      You are prompted to press Enter to start the N1 System Manager.

    • Type n if the settings are not correct.

      You are notified that you must reconfigure and apply settings for the N1 System Manager to work properly. The configuration process then exits to the system prompt. To configure the N1 System Manager, run the n1smconfig command again.

Next Steps

Prepare the N1 System Manager system for production as described in the next section.

Preparing for Production

This section provides guidelines and procedures for tuning the N1 System Manager.

You should tune the N1 System Manager for maximum performance based on the number of provisionable servers you plan to manage before you run discovery.

Performance Guidelines

To ensure the best performance in your N1 System Manager environment, adhere to the following guidelines and recommendations:

The next section provides the procedure for tuning your N1 System Manager system.

N1 System Manager Performance Tuning

Tune the N1 System Manager for maximum performance based on the number of provisionable servers you plan to manage. The following procedure should be done before you run discovery.

ProcedureTo Increase the N1 System Manager Performance

Before You Begin

If your management server is running Red Hat, add RPCNFSDCOUNT=32 to the /etc/sysconfig/nfs file and run /etc/init.d/nfs restart as root to restart NFS.

Steps

  1. Log in to the management server as root.

  2. Update the NFS file.

    1. Change directory to /etc/sysconfig.

    2. Edit the nfs file and add the following line:

      RPCNFSDCOUNT=32

    3. Save and close the nfs file.

    4. Type /etc/init.d/nfs restart to restart NFS.

  3. Update the /etc/opt/sun/n1sm/monitoring.properties file.

    Edit the /etc/opt/sun/n1sm/monitoring.properties file and set the following tunable parameters based on the number of provisionable servers.

    Tunable Parameter (in seconds) 

    Number of Provisionable Servers 

    1–32 

    33–64 

    65–96 

    97–128 

    pollinginterval.hardwarehealth

    120 

    300 

    480 

    600 

    pollinginterval.osresources

    120 

    300 

    480 

    600 

    pollinginterval.network

    120 

    300 

    480 

    600 

    Note –

    You can also set the tunable parameters for an individual provisionable server as follows from the N1 System Manager command line prompt:


    N1-ok> set server server monitor hardwarehealth interval interval
N1-ok> set server server monitor osresources interval interval
N1-ok> set server server monitor network interval interval

    Where server is the management name of the provisionable server and interval is the monitoring interval expressed in seconds.

    For more information, type help set server at the N1 System Manager command line prompt.

  4. Update the package.cache.xml file.

    Edit the /opt/sun/n1gc/lib/package.cache.xml file and locate the line containing attribute name="FirmwareInfos". Update the line to read as follows:

    <attribute name="FirmwareInfos" refresh-interval="-1"    delay="none" persistent="true"> />

    This ensures that the first invocation of the show server command after a restart of the N1 System Manager does not take a long time to complete.

  5. Stop all N1 System Manager processes.

    Type /etc/init.d/n1sminit stop to stop the N1 System Manager.

    Wait for all N1 System Manager processes to stop.

  6. Start all N1 System Manager processes.

    Type /etc/init.d/n1sminit start to start the N1 System Manager.

Next Steps