Troubleshooting Problems With Solstice EM Tools

Solstice Enterprise Manager 4.1 Troubleshooting Guide

Chapter 3

Troubleshooting Problems With Solstice EM Tools

This chapter provides information on resolving problems with specific Solstice EM tools.

This chapter comprises the following topics:

Section 3.1 General Tool Problems
Section 3.2 Network Discovery Problems
Section 3.3 Alarms Tool Problems
Section 3.4 Log Entries Problems
Section 3.5 Network Views Problems
Section 3.6 MIS Communication Problems

3.1 General Tool Problems

This section describes the following topics:

Cannot Use Tools
Adding a Tool to Network Tools
Tool Does Not Start
Need to Remove Unused Tools
Need to Disable a Tool
Tools Do Not Run

3.1.1 Cannot Use Tools

Problem: Buttons are "grayed out," or functionality is restricted.

Solution: The user does not have full access to the tool or the features of the application. Use the following steps to correct this problem.

1. Bring up Security and check the user's privileges as follows:

In the Security window, click the Users tab to list the users.
Select the user.
Click Actions->Properties to display the Properties dialog for the selected user.
Click the Tasks tab to view access privileges information.
2. Add the user to the appropriate group or change the privileges for the group to which the user currently belongs.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.1.2 Adding a Tool to Network Tools

Problem: You want to add an application to the Network Tools panel.

Solution: Follow these instructions to add the application.

1. In the Network Tools window, click File->Customize to display the Customize dialog.

2. In Path To Executable field, enter the pathname for the executable.

3. In Path To Icon field, enter the pathname for the button graphic file.

By default, Solstice EM glyph files are located in /opt/SUNWconn/em/glyphs.

4. In Icon Name, enter the string to be used as the button label.

To create a multi-line entry, add "\n" where you want the line to break. For example: Solstice EM 4.0 \nDocumentation.

5. Specify (Yes/No) whether the application is a Solstice EM tool.

If the application is a default Solstice EM tool or a user-developed application that uses Solstice EM's security features, click Yes.

6. In Solstice EM Tool Name, enter the name that the tool or application uses to connect to the MIS.

The Solstice EM tool name is often the same as the executable used to run the tool. For example, the Solstice EM tool name for Network Views is em_viewer, which is also the name of the executable. The names are not required to be the same, however. If you do not know an application's Solstice EM tool name, use the Security tool to look up the application names by selecting View->Privilege Components->Applications List.

7. In Number Of Columns, specify the number of button columns you want displayed in the Network Tools window.

8. Click Add

The button you added now displays in the Network Tools window.

9. Click Save.

Changes are saved in the em_panel.cf configuration file.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.1.3 Tool Does Not Start

Problem: The Network Tools panel does not wait for a tool to start.

Solution: Use these steps to fix the problem.

1. Change em_panel.response to 1 in the $EM_HOME/config/em_panel.cf file.

2. Exit Network Tools.

3. Restart Solstice EM.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.1.4 Need to Remove Unused Tools

Problem: The Network Tools panel contains applications that you wish to remove.

Solution: Follow these steps to remove the applications.

1. In the Network Tools window, click File->Customize to open the Customize dialog.

2. In Applications listbox, select the tool or application to be removed.

The fields in the Application Information area should now reflect the information for your selection.

3. Click Delete.

4. Click Save to open a standard Select File dialog and specify the path and file name where the modified configuration is to be saved.

The default file is ~/em_panel.cf.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.1.5 Need to Disable a Tool

Problem: The icon for a Solstice EM tool is not disabled ("grayed out") when the privileges granted in Security indicate that it should be disabled.

Solution: Use the following steps to ensure that the tool is subject to security restrictions which disable the tool.

1. Make sure Yes is selected for Solstice EM Tool in the Customize window.

If No is selected, the application cannot be disabled because it is not subject to security restrictions.

2. Verify that the Solstice EM Tool Name is the same as the name the application uses to connect to the MIS.

The Solstice EM tool name is often the same as the executable used to run the tool. For example, the Solstice EM tool name for Network Views is em_viewer, which is also the name of the executable. The names are not required to be the same, however. If you do not know an application's Solstice EM tool name, use the MIS Objects tool to look up the values for applicationName under /em-name="accessControlContainer"/em-name="app licationContainer".

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.1.6 Tools Do Not Run

Problem: Tools selected from pop-up menus or from the Tools menu in Network Views do not run.

Solution: The configuration information used to run the tools may not be correct. Use these steps to fix the problem.

1. Verify that the correct executable is used in the Configure Pop-up Menus for the tool you want to run.

In Network Views window, select File->Customize->Pop-up Menus.
Select the device type of the managed device you are interested in.
In the Menu Options list, select the name of the tool that does not run.
Make sure the path displayed in the Command field is correct.

Tip – Compare the path used here to that used in the Network Tools window. Select Files->Customize in Network Tools to see the paths used.

2. Verify that the correct executable is used in the Tools menu.

In Network Views window, select File->Customize->Tools Menu.
In the Configure Tools window, select the application that does not run.
In the Path to Executable field, ensure the path displayed is correct.

In the Arguments field, ensure that any options for the command use correct syntax.

Note – See the Managing Your Network guide for information about command syntax for starting Solstice EM tools from the command line.

3. Determine if this tool runs from another access point (for example, directly from Network Tools or from the command line).

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.2 Network Discovery Problems

This section describes the following problems:

No Discovery
Mixed Flat and Hierarchical Discovery
Partial Discovery Only
No Containers to Monitor

3.2.1 No Discovery

Problem: Network Discovery does not start.

Probable Cause: If you are not root and you install Solstice EM in a non-default directory, Network Discovery will not start. This is because Network Discovery runs as a setuid process and the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable is not inherited.

Solution: Try the following solutions.

Always run Network Discovery as root unless you are a user in the Full Access or Operator groups.
Create /opt/SUNWconn/bin/lib and create a link to libpmi.so in the lib directory of the non-default location where Solstice EM is installed.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.2.2 Mixed Flat and Hierarchical Discovery

Problem: You ran a flat discovery followed by a hierarchical discovery, and the hierarchical discovery added nodes under the resulting view of the flat discovery.

Probable Cause: A flat discovery corrupts the network topology tree. A subsequent hierarchical discovery produces incorrect results.

Solution: Collect the information into a single view (for example, collect all the routers into a view):

1. Run a regular discovery.

2. In Network Views, use Actions-> Find to collect all the information you want into a single view.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.2.3 Partial Discovery Only

Problem: Network Discovery does not find managed objects that you know exist. This is indicated by the absence of a known object in Network Views.

Solution: Use these steps to correct the problem.

1. Ensure that the object is visible outside of Solstice EM.

For example, can you "ping" the object?

2. If you know the object exists, try running Network Discovery from the command line as follows:
em_discover -device device_name

3. The form of discovery described in Step 2 finds the object regardless of the subnetwork on which it resides.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.2.4 No Containers to Monitor

Problem: The Monitor window indicates there are no containers to monitor.

Solution: Follow these steps to fix the problem.

1. Check to see if you have run a discovery yet. If not, do so, then run the Monitor again.

2. If you have run a discovery, verify that the MIS is running by typing the command:

ps -eaf | grep mis

3. If the MIS is not running, restart it. To restart the MIS, login as root to the machine on which the MIS resides and type the following command:

/opt/SUNWconn/bin/em_services -start

4. If the MIS is running and this is a new installation of Solstice EM, see Chapter 2 Troubleshooting Installation and Startup Problems" for more solutions.

5. After you have verified that the MIS is running, start the Monitor again.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.3 Alarms Tool Problems

This section describes the following problems:

Cannot Change Alarm Status
Alarms Tool Starts Slowly
Error Message When Starting Alarms Tool

3.3.1 Cannot Change Alarm Status

Problem: When a user clicks on the Acknowledge or Clear buttons, the alarm status does not change.

Probable Causes:

The user may be trying to change the status of an alarm instance when Associations are on. Actions can only be taken on alarm instances if Associations are off.
The user may not have privileges to perform these tasks in the Alarms tool.

Solutions:

If you want to acknowledge or clear a single alarm, turn off Associations by selecting View->Association Rules and selecting Off for Associations.
Verify that the user has privileges to acknowledge and clear alarms using the following procedure. You must have been granted all privileges or must be logged in as root to do this.
1. Start the Security tool.

2. In the Security window, click the Privilege Groups tab.

3. Select the group containing the user and click Actions->Properties to display the Properties dialog for the selected group.

4. On the Task tab, select Specify Task Access by Application and click Edit to display the Edit Task Access By Application dialog.

5. In Application Names, select em_alarmmgr.

6. In Access to Tasks in Selected Application, select Specify Tasks.

7. Clear the Ack/Unack alarm and Clear/Unclear alarm tasks to allow users to acknowledge and clear alarms.

If a checkmark appears before a task, users of the group are denied the ability to perform the task. Click the checkbox to clear it.

8. Click Apply and then click Close.

The group profile data in the MIB is updated.

See Also: Security chapter of the Managing Your Network guide.

3.3.2 Alarms Tool Starts Slowly

Problem: The Alarms tool takes a long time to start.

Probable Causes:

If you have a large number of alarms in your alarm log, the Alarms tool may take longer to start.
If the Show Duplicates option is selected in the Alarm Summary Rules, the Alarms tool operations will be slow.

Solutions:

Cleared alarms are not automatically deleted, so the alarm log can grow quite large. Delete cleared alarms, or set up Alarms to automatically delete cleared alarms that meet specified criteria. See the Alarms chapter of Managing Your Network guide for more information.
Specify that you do not want to show duplicates as follows:

In the Alarms window, select View->Summary Rules.
In the Alarm Summary Rules window, turn Summary on, and select Off for Show Duplicate Alarms.

3.3.3 Error Message When Starting Alarms Tool

Problem: When you start the Alarms tool, the Alarms window displays an error message.

Solution: Ensure the configuration file is pointing at the MIS the user wants to access.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.4 Log Entries Problems

3.4.1 Log Entries Tool Does Not Start

Problem: When you start the Log Entries tool, the window displays an error message.

Probable Cause: When you start the Log Entries tool, it references its configuration file ($HOME/.em_logview.cf) to see which logs are declared (using the log_name= statement).

Either the configuration file is missing (in which case the tool tries to use the default in /opt/SUNWconn/em/config) or your configuration file does not include a log_name statement with your log name.

Solution: Ensure that the configuration file exists and that it points to the correct configuration file.

See Also: Managing Your Network guide.

3.5 Network Views Problems

3.5.1 Alarms Do Not Show Up

Problem: Alarms which are displayed in the Alarms tool are not visible in the Network Views tool.

Solution: Verify that you have not changed the /etc/hosts file. If you have changed the file, you must restart the trap daemon using the em_trapd start command before the alarms become visible in Network Views.

See Also: Customizing Guide.

3.6 MIS Communication Problems

3.6.1 No MIS-to-MIS Communication

Problem: MIS does not communicate with an MIS on another machine or system.

Probable Causes:

The host is having a problem looking up the host name of the other system, particularly if the hosts are in different domains.
Events are not being forwarded from MIS to MIS.
The remote MIS is not recognizing the local MIS as a trusted host.

Solutions:

Use the IP address rather than the host name to identify the remote MIS when making the connection, to avoid the possible name lookup problem.
If you want to forward events to another MIS, you must use MIS Connections to define the EFD (Event Forwarding Discriminator) to enable this capability.
Ensure the security rules on the remote MIS specify the local MIS as a trusted host. Security rules can be changed dynamically, and someone could have changed the rules while you were connected. You can see a list of trusted hosts by using the Security tool on the remote host and selecting Actions->Security Defaults. If the local MIS is not listed as a trusted host, type the local host name in the Trusted Host field, and click Add.

See Also: Management Information Server (MIS) Guide and the Managing Your Network guide.

3.6.2 Cannot View Remote MIS

Problem: You are unable to view information on a remote MIS.

Solutions: Try the following to troubleshoot this problem.

Ensure the security rules on the remote MIS specify the local MIS as a trusted host. Security rules can be changed dynamically, and someone could have changed the rules while you were connected. You can see a list of trusted hosts by using the Security tool on the remote host and selecting Actions->Security Defaults. If the local MIS is not listed as a trusted host, type the local host name in the Trusted Host field, and click Add.
Ensure your user name has access permission on the remote MIS to use the Solstice EM application.
Run em_obed on the local host to see if the MIT contains an object for the remote host. If an object exists, Solstice EM configuration and network connection should be okay. If no object exists for the remote host, there may be a problem with either the network connection or the Solstice EM configuration.
Test the network connection as follows:

Try to connect to the remote MIS via the em_obed program, using the command em_obed -host remote-mis-host
If you cannot connect with em_obed, test the network connection with the command ping remost-mis-host
If you cannot reach the remote host with ping, check your network hardware.

If the network connection is okay, try to debug the configuration using the command:
em_debug -host remote-mis-name on oamrmt_debug
See the Developing Applications guide for information about analyzing output from em_debug.

See Also: Any standard network administration book or the Managing Your Network guide.

Doc Set | Contents | Previous | Next | Index