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N1 Provisioning Server 3.1, Blades Edition, Control Center Management Guide

Chapter 3 Account Administration

This chapter describes Control Center account management concepts and procedures. This chapter shows you how to set up contract types, create users, and publish news content. Managing Control Center accounts requires administrator access privileges.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Account Concepts

A Control Center account contains a group of people, or account members, who have management access and control of a set of logical server farms within an I-Fabric.

The Control Center can contain multiple accounts, each managed by account managers. Accounts may serve multiple users that manage multiple farms across I-Fabrics.

Accounts include the following information:

Access to functions and capabilities within the Control Center is based on access privileges. You administer access privileges by defining users in the Control Center in terms of their level of authority and associated privileges. There are three classes of access privileges:

Administering accounts involves defining the following items:

Do not confuse Administrator privileges for the Control Center with administrative login access to special devices in an I-Fabric. There are other types of access for the administrators to I-Fabric components, such as the control plane, resource layer, and fabric layer. Access to these components is protected by login privileges. See I-Fabric Security in N1 Provisioning Server 3.1, Blades Edition, System Administration Guide for the details of managing login access to specific control and fabric layer devices.

Figure 3–1 illustrates how the administrator, account, account manager, and farms relate to each other within an I-Fabric:

Figure 3–1 Account Hierarchy

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Understanding User Accounts

Control Center users must have user accounts with the appropriate user roles defined for their job functions. The following table lists the Control Center user roles and the job functions and authority level:

Table 3–1 Control Center User Roles

Control Center User Role 

Job Function and Authority Level 

User 

Technical users who are authorized to: 

  • Design, activate, modify, and deactivate farm designs within an organization's account.

  • Edit their own personal information, user Information.

  • View account information in read-only mode.

  • Make flex changes to Active farms within the terms of the contract type.

    Note –

    Control Center users cannot manage other users within their account.

Account Manager 

Technical users who have the authority to perform all the job functions of a Control Center User and are responsible for account level management including:  

  • Creating and removing users within an organization's account.

  • Editing their own personal information.

  • Editing Account Information and manage the account users, such as, set-up user groups and contact methods.

Users and account managers have access to the following options:

Table 3–2 Account Options and User Privileges

Option 

Permitted Tasks 

User Privilege Required 

User Information 

Establish your user information, such as, email and telephone numbers, and identification question and answer. You can also view your user role. 

User, Account Manager 

Account Information 

Maintain company account information.  

Account Manager 

Account Request Queue 

Display all your requests, for example, submit or deactivate or activate a farm, in the order they were requested. 

User, Account Manager 

User Management 

Add and delete users from your organization who can have access to the account in the Control Center. Establish user's contact information, login account, user role, and authentication information.  

Account Manager 

User Group 

Add and delete user groups and associate users with each group for purposes of configuring alarms.  

Account Manager 

Contact Methods 

For monitoring alarms, define groups of users to be contacted and method of contact. 

Account Manager 

Server Image Management 

Manage software images for your account. 

Account Manager and User 

DNS Naming Conventions

All farm and element names must adhere to the following DNS naming conventions. The DNS name must satisfy the following requirements:

Farm Naming Conventions in the Control Center

The Control Center allocates the DNS name to a farm, which is installation specific. The name is based on the following criteria:

Managing Accounts

Use the Administration screen to manage accounts. Refer to Administration Screen for information on navigating the Control Center Administration screen.

This section describes how you can create, remove, or update an account. You might update an account to change the name of the organization and contact details.

Adding, Deleting, and Updating Accounts

You must create an account before you can perform any other account related actions. Figure 3–2 shows the Add Accounts screen.

Figure 3–2 Add Account Screen

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ProcedureHow To Add a New Account

Steps

  1. Login to the Administration screen of the Control Center.

    The Account Tools buttons are appear in the left pane.

  2. Click Accounts on the tools bar.

    The Accounts dialog box appears.

  3. Click the Add New Account button.

  4. Type the appropriate information in the Account Information dialog box fields.

    Fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory fields.

    Note –

    If the account name you have chosen already exists, an error message appears. Use a different account name. Account names are used in the Domain Name Service (DNS) names of farm elements. See DNS Naming Conventions.

  5. Click the Commit Changes button.

    The new account information is saved.

ProcedureHow To Delete an Account

Steps

  1. Login to the Administration screen of the Control Center.

    The Account Tools buttons are appear in the left pane.

  2. Click Accounts on the tools bar.

    The Accounts dialog box appears.

  3. Select the account you want to delete from the Account List.

    The account information appears in the right pane.

  4. Click the Delete Account button in the right pane.

    Note –

    You cannot delete an account if any user and farm is associated with the account. The users must be deleted first. See How To Delete a User Profile.

  5. Click the Commit Changes button.

    The account information is deleted.

ProcedureHow To Update an Existing Account

Steps

  1. Login to the Administration screen of the Control Center.

    The Account Tools buttons are appear in the left pane.

  2. Click Accounts on the tools bar.

    The Accounts dialog box appears.

  3. Select the account you want to delete from the Account List.

    The account information appears in the right pane.

  4. Type updated account information into the appropriate fields.

    Note –

    You cannot change an account name after the account is created.

  5. Click the Commit Changes button.

    The updated account information is saved.

Viewing and Updating Account Information

To modify account information, you must have at least Account Manager access privileges.

ProcedureHow To Access the Account Information

Steps

  1. From the Main screen, click Account in the Navigation Bar

  2. On the Account screen, click Account Information.

    The Account Information screen appears.

    Figure 3–3 Account Information Screen

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  3. Type new or updated account information into the appropriate fields.

    The following table describes all the fields on the Account Information screen.

    Field Name 

    Required/Optional/Display 

    Description 

    Name 

    Display 

    Display only. Shows the account name. 

    Street Address 1 

    Optional 

    Type the company street address—a maximum of 200 characters. 

    Street Address 2 

    Optional 

    Type a second street address, such as, a department for a large company or an alternative address, such as a post office box—maximum of 200 characters. 

    City 

    Optional 

    Type city name—a maximum of 30 characters. 

    State 

    Optional 

    Select a state from the drop-down list. 

    Zip Code 

    Optional 

    Type a zip code. 

    Country 

    Optional 

    Type the country name. 

    Primary Business Phone 

    Optional  

    Type a valid US telephone number as the company's business phone. 

    Note –

    The extension is optional.

    Primary Business Fax 

    Optional  

    Type a valid US telephone number as the company's business fax. 

    Note –

    The fax and extension is optional.

  4. Click the Save Changes button.

    The new account information is saved.

Adding, Viewing, and Removing Users

Account managers and administrators can set up additional users. From the User Management screen you can perform the following tasks:

ProcedureHow To Add New Users

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Account in the navigation bar.

    The Account screen appears.

  2. From the Account screen, click User Management on the tools bar.

    The User Management screen appears.

  3. To add a user, click the Add button near the left side of the User Management screen.

    The Add User Contact Information screen appears.

    Figure 3–4 User Management - Add User Contact Information Screen

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  4. Provide data to create a user account as described in Step 3.

  5. Set up user accounts as required.

  6. Click Save Changes.

  7. Click the Close button to exit the screen.

ProcedureHow To View Information for an Existing User

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Account in the navigation bar.

    The Account screen appears.

  2. From the Account screen, click User Management in the tools bar.

    The User Management screen appears.

  3. Select the user from the Account Users list in the left pane.

    The user information appears in the right pane.

  4. Click the Close button to exit the screen.

ProcedureHow To Remove a User

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Account in the navigation bar.

    The Accounts screen appears.

  2. From the Account screen, click User Management in the tools bar.

    The User Management screen appears.

  3. Select the user from the Account Users list in the left pane.

    The user information appears in the right pane.

  4. Click the Remove button.

  5. Confirm your choice.

  6. Click Close to exit the screen.

Adding User Groups

User groups provide a pool of people to contact for farm problems. The monitoring system can use this information for automatic notification when an alarm occurs. In addition, administrators use this information if they need to contact people as necessary. You cannot place a group within a group. You are required to have account manager or administrator access privileges to set up user groups.

You can do the following tasks:

ProcedureHow To Add a User Group

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Account in the navigation bar.

    The Account screen appears.

  2. From the Account screen, click User Groups in the tools bar.

    The User Groups screen appears.

  3. To add a new user group, click the Add button .

    The Add New User Group screen appears.

  4. Type a new user group name in the Name field.

  5. To add users to the new user group from the existing user list, select the user name and click the Add button.

  6. Click the Save Changes button.

    The new user group is saved.

  7. Click the Close button to exit the Add User Groups screen.

Changing User Information

When users receive their login name and password for the Control Center, only the user or the administrator can modify this contact information. Administrators or the user can change this password and set up the contact information that is used for monitoring alarms.

Across various Control Center account functions, the following conditions apply:

ProcedureHow To Change User Information

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Account on the navigation bar.

    The Accounts screen appears.

  2. From the Account screen, click User Information in the tools bar.

    The User Information screen appears with user information highlighted with a red pound sign.

  3. Provide user information using the guidelines in the following table.

    Field Name 

    Required or Optional 

    Description 

    First Name 

    Required  

    Type the first name (maximum of 30 character). This field is display-only for User privilege. 

    Last Name 

    Required  

    Type the last name (maximum of 30 characters). This field is display-only for User privilege. 

    Title 

    Optional  

    Type the job title (maximum of 20 characters). 

    Email 

    Required 

    Type the business email. The monitor alarm function can be configured to send alarms to this email.  

    Alternative Email 

    Optional  

    Provide a second email address, such as a personal email address. 

    Note –

    The administrator might require this information for contact purposes.

    Phone 

    Optional 

    Type the business telephone number and extension. The extension is optional. 

    Alternative Phone, Pager or Fax 

    Optional but recommended 

    Provide alternative contact numbers. 

    • A second telephone number, such as a home telephone number or cell phone number.

    • A pager or cell phone number where the user can be reached.

    • A fax number.

      Note –

      The administrator might require this information for contact purposes.

    Login Name 

    Optional  

    Enter the name used to log into the account—a maximum of 30 characters. This field is displayed only for User privilege. You cannot change this field from the User Information page. 

    User Role 

    Optional  

    Select a value from the drop-down list. This establishes the account privilege for the user account. 

    • Account manager: an administrative user who can edit account information.

    • User: a technical user who can design and edit farms.

    This field is display-only for User privilege. You cannot change this field from the User Information page. 

    Security Question 

    Optional 

    Type a string up to 80 characters in length. This string establishes an identification question, if the administrator needs to verify a user's identification. 

    Security Answer 

    Optional 

    Type a string up to 30 characters in length. This string is to verify the response provided in the identification answer if the administrator needs to verify an ID. 

    Password 

    Required 

    Type the current password used to log into the account (maximum of 15 characters). 

    New password 

    Optional 

    Type a new password (maximum of 15 characters). Changing passwords periodically is a good practice. 

    Confirm New Password 

    Optional 

    Type the new password to confirm it.  

  4. Click the Save Changes button.

    The updated user information is saved.

    Note –

    You can also click Reset to reset the screen to previously saved values.

ProcedureHow to Change Your User Password

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Account on the navigation bar.

    The Accounts screen appears.

  2. From the Account screen, click User Information in the tools bar.

    The User Information screen appears.

  3. Type the existing user password into the Password field.

    The password must be less than 15 characters in length.

  4. Type the new password into the New Password field.

    The password must be less than 15 characters in length.

  5. Retype the new password into the Re-enter New Password field.

  6. Click the Save Changes button.

    The new user password is saved.

Setting Up Contact Methods

A contact method defines a group or list of groups and a preferred method of contact for each group in case of a monitoring alarm. You need to have Account manager or administrator access privileges to set up Contact Methods.

You can do the following tasks:

ProcedureHow To Add Contact Methods

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Account on the navigation bar.

    The Account screen appears.

  2. Click Contact Methods in the tools bar.

    The Contact Lists screen appears.

    Figure 3–5 Contact Lists Screen

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  3. Click the Add button.

    The Account Contact Lists screen appears. This screen identifies users in each group to be contacted by the regular email address or by the alternate email address.

    Figure 3–6 Contact Method - Add

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  4. Type a contact method name.

  5. Select user groups from the existing user group list and click the Add button to add the user group to the appropriate contact option.

    • Use Contact via Email to contact users through a primary email account.

    • Use Contact via Alternate Email to contact users through a secondary email account such as a pager.

  6. Click the Save changes button.

    The new contact methods are saved.

  7. Click the Close button.

    The Account Contact Lists screen is closed.

Managing User Profiles

The User Profiles screen allows administrators to add, update, and delete administrators, account managers, and users. In addition, you can view a user's login status. Users and account managers are associated with the currently selected account from the current account drop-down list.

Administrators are not associated with any account.

In the User Profile section you can add, delete, or update user information.

Adding, Deleting, and Updating User Profiles

The User Profiles window has three sections of user information:

Figure 3–7 illustrates the screen to add a new user:

Figure 3–7 User Profiles

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ProcedureHow To Add a New User Profile

Steps

  1. Log in to the Control Center Administration screen.

  2. Click the User Profiles button in the tools bar.

  3. Click the Add New User button and fill in all the required fields marked with an asterisk.

  4. Select the user role from the Role drop-down list in the Personal Information area.

    Select Administrator, Account Manager, or User.

    The format for the phone and fax field is ###-###-####.

  5. Click the Commit Changes button.

    The new user profile is saved.

ProcedureHow To Delete a User Profile

Steps

  1. Log in to the Control Center Administration screen.

  2. Click the User Profiles button in the tools bar.

  3. Select the user account from the Current Account drop—down list above the tools bar.

  4. Select a user name in the List of Users area.

    All pertinent information about the user is displayed automatically in the dialog box after you select the user to be removed.

  5. Click Delete User Profile and then click OK in the confirmation window.

    The user profile is removed.

ProcedureHow To Update a User Profile Information

Steps

  1. Log in to the Control Center Administration screen.

  2. Click the User Profiles button in the tools bar.

  3. Select the user profile from the List of Users in the User Profiles screen.

    All pertinent information about the user displays automatically in the dialog box after you select the user to be updated.

  4. Provide the update information in the appropriate fields.

    Fields marked with an asterisk require information.

    The format for the phone and fax field is ###-###-####.

  5. Click Commit Changes.

User Login Status

The Login Status dialog box enables you to view users login status and manually lock and unlock users. By default, users are locked out of the system if their login attempts fail a configurable number of times within a configurable number of minutes. The lock is automatically released after another configurable number of minutes.

ProcedureHow To View and Change the Login Status of Account Users

Steps

  1. Log in to the Control Center Administration screen.

  2. Click the User Profiles button in the tools bar.

  3. Click the View Login Status button on the top right corner of the User Profile screen.

  4. Select the account from the User Login Status For drop-down list to view the login status of the user profiles associated with the account.

  5. To change the login status of a user, use the Locked check box in the far right column.

    • To unlock a user, deselecting the Locked check box and clicking Commit Changes.

    • To lock out a user, select the Locked check box next to the user's name and click Commit Changes.

    Note –

    Manually set locks do not expire so, you need to manually unlock the Locked check box to enable the user access to the Control Center.

Managing Contract Types

Contract types define a profile, or template, of resource provisioning permissions that can be used to restrict the allowable changes that you can make to a farm or farms. For example, an administrator can create a contract type that only allows the addition and removal of servers and restricts a farm from all other changes. Consequently, any farms linked to that contract type are limited to changes only in number of servers.

Contract types are global and do not belong to any particular account. Contract Types provide the template from which specific contracts are derived for each server farm. Contract Types define the resource provisioning permissions on which the farm contracts are based. The following figure illustrates how the contract types, contracts, administrators, account, account manager, and farms relate to each other within an I-Fabric.

Figure 3–8 Contract Hierarchy

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Contract types enable you to set resource provisioning in the following ways:

ProcedureHow To Add a Contract Type

Note –

Contract type names are case sensitive.

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Admin on the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Contract Types button in the Configuration tools bar.

  3. Click Add Contract Type.

  4. In the Name field, type the name of the contract.

    The length cannot exceed 30 characters.

    Note –

    If another contract with the same name already exists within the system, an error message displays, and you are prompted to rename the contract.

  5. In the Description field, type a brief description, up to 255 characters in length, for the type of contract.

  6. Select a minimum system from the Minimum System drop-down menu. The available choices are No Minimum, SUs Only, Hardware Types only, or SUs and Hardware Types.

  7. If either the minimum or maximum parameter of the selected farm type is of SUs only or SUs and Hardware Types, you must enter a value between 0 and 2147483647 for the SU fields, except when No Maximum is selected.

    See How To Set Contract Parameters.

  8. Select a maximum system from the Maximum System drop-down menu. The available choices are No Maximum, SUs Only, Device Types only, or SUs and Hardware Types.

    Note –

    SUs defined during I-Fabric Implementation only denotes that the limit is based on total service units, while Device Types denotes that the limit is based on the types and quantities of devices.

  9. In the Flex Permissions for Active Farms window, select or deselect each resource type to grant or deny permissions for performing various actions on a resource type.

    • Select Create to give users permission to add the resource to an active farm.

    • Select Remove to give users permission to remove a resource from an active farm.

    Note –

    The flex permissions only apply to the Control Center User and Account Manager profiles. As an administrator, you are not bound by this restriction when working in the Editor. You can flex up or flex down a farm and commit your changes. However, this request for flex creates a BLOCKED_REQUEST in the I-Fabric to indicate that the flex request has been blocked. You can check whether the resources exist in the I—Fabric and unblock the request to allow flexing to become effective. Refer to How To Unblock a Farm Activation Request for information on how to unblock farm requests.

  10. Click Commit Changes to initiate the creation of the contract type.

See Also

ProcedureHow To Delete a Contract Type

Before You Begin

You cannot delete a contract type that is in use.

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Admin on the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Contract Types button in the Configuration tools bar.

  3. Select the contract type from the Contract Type List.

  4. Click the Delete Contract Type button.

  5. Click OK in the confirmation dialog box.

ProcedureHow To Update Contract Type

Before You Begin

You can update a contract type to include or exclude flex permissions or change the minimum and maximum system allowed in the farm.

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Admin on the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Contract Types button in the Configuration tools bar.

  3. Select the contract type from the Contract Type List.

  4. In the Description field, type a brief description, up to 255 characters in length, for the type of contract.

  5. Change the Minimum System and the Maximum System values, if required.

  6. Change the Flex Permissions for Active Farms, if required.

  7. Click Commit Changes when you finish updating the contract type.

Setting Contract Parameters

You set contract parameters to provide specific resource provisioning permissions for each farm. When you set contract parameters, you can accept the default resource provisioning that is defined by the contract type you select. You can also choose to adjust the resource provisioning permissions on a farm-by-farm basis. The Contract Parameters dialog box enables you to associate farms with predefined contract types as described in Chapter 3, Account Administration.

ProcedureHow To Set Contract Parameters

Steps

  1. On the Main screen, click Admin on the navigation bar.

    The Control Center Administration screen appears.

  2. Select the appropriate account and farm at the left-hand side of the screen.

    >

  3. Click Contract Parameters in the Farm Management tools bar.

  4. Select the contract type from the Farm Contract Type drop-down list that displays all the contract types currently defined in the system.

    Depending on the Minimum and Maximum parameters of the selected contract type, you can specify minimum and maximum values for service units, all hardware in the I-Fabric, or both. If either the minimum or maximum system parameter of the selected farm type is of Service Units (SU) only, or SUs and Hardware Types, you must enter a value between 0 and 2147483647 for the Service Units field(s), except when unlimited maximum is selected.

    Service Units is defined as a way to abstract any individual device to enable utility-like computing service. If you are interested in using SUs as a method for providing flexible pay-for-use computing resources to your users, contact Technical Support for information on the SU-based service model.

    The optional Start Date and End Date determine the effective period of the farm contract type. The Start Date field defaults to the Start Date entered during farm submission. Submit saves the changes, and Reset reloads the farm's last saved contract type.

  5. Click Submit.

Managing News Content

This section describes how to create news content for the Main screen of the Control Center. You can publish a news item to either all accounts or a specific account. You can choose whatever news item you deem pertinent to the user.

The News Content screen contains the following sections:

In the categories section, top left, you can add, remove, or update a news category. When you click Add Story, a dialog appears asking for the new category's name and a brief description. When you click Remove Story on a highlighted category, the highlighted category is removed from the category list. Click the Update Story button to update the description and name of an existing (highlighted) category in the list.

You can control the order in which the categories are displayed on the user Main screen in the Control Center by selecting a category and clicking the up or down arrow next to the list of categories. The order in which you select the categories is the same order in which the users will see them on the Main screen. When users first access the screen, the top-most category is selected by default.

The Story Preview window enables you to preview an article that you have selected from the Articles drop-down list in the Story Editor window.

The Articles drop-down list lets you preview, remove, or update existing articles, and create new articles. To preview an existing article, select an article from the drop-down list. To remove or update that article, click the Remove Story or Update Story button at the top right of the article management window.

Note –

You will receive an error if you copy and paste characters outside the supported Latin-1 character set (ISO-8859-1) into a news message.

ProcedureHow To Add and Publish An Article

Steps

  1. Choose Add Story from the drop-down menu.

  2. From the Account drop-down menu, select the account to which you want to publish the article.

    If you want to publish the article to all accounts, select All Accounts.

    Note –

    Carefully consider the content of the article before publishing the article to all accounts.

  3. In the Link Title field, enter the title for links to the article.

  4. Enter the Article Title in the next field.

  5. Enter the Byline in the next field.

  6. Choose the date, time, and time zone you want from the drop-down lists.

    Pacific Standard Time is the default time zone.

  7. Enter the content of the article in the content window. HTML tags entered in this window are properly interpreted.

    Caution – Caution –

    Use extreme caution, as careless usage of HTML tags can interfere with the appearance and function of the Control Center user interface.

  8. Click Preview Story to preview the article as the article will appear on the Main screen (user screen) of the Control Center and edit as necessary.

  9. When you are ready to publish the article, click Commit.