C H A P T E R 1 - ILOM and System Management Overview

C H A P T E R 1

ILOM and System Management Overview

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 1.1, Introduction.

Section 1.2, About Sun N1TM System Manager.

1.1 Introduction

The ILOM is a dedicated system of hardware and supporting software that allows you to manage your Sun server independently of the operating system.

ILOM includes the following components:

Service Processor (SP) - This is the hardware. It consists of a dedicated processor board that communicates through the system serial port and a dedicated Ethernet port.

Command Line Interface (CLI) - The command line interface is a dedicated software application that allows you to operate the ILOM using keyboard commands. You can use the command-line interface to send commands to the ILOM. You can connect a terminal or emulator directly to the system serial port, or connect over the Ethernet using a Secure Shell (SSH).

To log in to and use the CLI, see Chapter 3.

WebGUI - The WebGUI provides a powerful, yet easy-to-use browser interface that allows you to log in to the SP and perform system management, monitoring, and IPMI tasks.

For instructions on how to use the WebGUI, see Chapter 4.

Remote Console/Java Client - The Java Client supports the Remote Console functionality, which allows you to access your server's console remotely. It redirects the keyboard, mouse, and video screen, and can redirect input and output from the local machine's CD and diskette drives.

For instructions on how to use the remote console, see Chapter 8.

You do not need to install additional hardware or software to begin managing your server with ILOM.

ILOM also supports industry-standard IPMI and SNMP management interfaces:

Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) v2.0 - Using a Secure Shell (SSH), you can interact with the ILOM to do the following: establish secure remote control of your server, monitor the status of hardware components remotely, monitor system logs, receive reports from replaceable components, and redirect the server console.

For more on IPMI, see Chapter 9.

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) interface - ILOM also provides an SNMP v3.0 interface (with limited support for SNMP v1 and SNMP v2c) for external data center management applications such as Sun N1 System Manager, IBM Tivoli, and Hewlett-Packard OpenView.

For more on SNMP, see Chapter 11.

Which interface you use depends on your overall system management plan and the specific tasks that you wish to perform.

1.1.1 Common Tasks That You Can Perform With ILOM

TABLE 1-1 shows common tasks and the management interfaces used to perform each task.

TABLE 1-1 Common Tasks
Task	IPMI	Web Interface	CLI	SNMP
Redirect the system graphical console to a remote client browser.		Yes
Connect a remote diskette drive to the system as a virtual diskette drive.		Yes
Connect a remote CD-ROM drive to the system as a virtual CD-ROM drive.		Yes
Monitor system fans, temperatures, and voltages remotely.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Monitor system BIOS messages remotely.	Yes	Yes	Yes
Monitor system operating system messages remotely.	Yes	Yes	Yes
Interrogate system components for their IDs and/or serial numbers.	Yes		Yes	Yes
Redirect the system serial console to a remote client.	No	Yes	Yes
Monitor system status (health check) remotely.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Interrogate system network interface cards remotely for MAC addresses.	Yes	Yes	Yes
Manage user accounts remotely.	Yes	Yes	Yes
Manage system power status remotely (power on, power off, power reset).	Yes	Yes	Yes
Monitor and manage environmental settings for key system components (CPUs, motherboards, fans).	Yes	Yes	Yes	Monitor only

1.1.2 ILOM Default Settings

Sun has configured the ILOM card and ILOM firmware on your server to reflect the most common default settings used in the field. It is unlikely that you will need to change any of these defaults, which appear in TABLE 1-2.

TABLE 1-2 ILOM Default Settings
System Component	Default Status	Action Required
Service Processor card	Preinstalled	None
Service Processor firmware	Preinstalled	None
IPMI interface	Enabled	None
WebGUI	Enabled	None
Command-line interface (CLI)	Enabled	None
SNMP interface	Enabled	None

1.2 About Sun N1TM System Manager

If you plan to manage your server as one resource in a comprehensive data center management solution, Sun N1 System Management provides an alternative to ILOM. This software suite provides advanced virtualization features that enable you to monitor, maintain, and provision multiple Solaris, Linux, and Microsoft Windows servers in your data center.

The Sun N1 System Manager is available to download from:

www.sun.com/software/solaris/index.jsp

You can also install it from the Sun N1 System Manager DVD shipped in your system box. This software suite is installed on a dedicated server in your data center and allows one or more remote management clients to perform the following tasks on multiple managed servers:

Manage multiple servers - Configure, provision, deploy, manage, monitor, patch, and update from one to thousands of Sun servers.

Monitor system information - System manufacturer, make, model, serial number, management MAC addresses, disk information, expansion slot information, and platform CPU and memory information.

Manage power remotely - Power off, power on, power reset, and power status.

Manage ILOMs and BIOS - Information about system ILOM firmware, version, and status. You can also perform remote upgrades to firmware on ILOMs.

Manage system boot commands and options - Remote boot control via IPMI and remote mapping of boot devices and boot options.

Manage remote system health checks - Information about the status of a server.

Manage operating systems - Deploy, monitor, and patch both Solaris and Linux operating systems.

Perform bare-metal discovery.

To learn more about this suite of powerful data center management tools, see:

http://www.sun.com/software/products/system_manager/