System Administration Guide, Volume 2

Tools for Managing Terminals and Modems

The table below lists the recommended tools for managing terminals and modems. Table 12-3 lists specific differences in functionality between the Service Access Facility (SAF) and Admintool: Serial Ports.

Table 12-2 Recommended Tools For Managing Terminals and Modems


If You Want The Tool That Is ...	Then Use ...	To Start This Tool See ...
The most comprehensive	Service Access Facility (SAF) commands	"Service Access Facility"
The quickest setup	Admintool graphical user interface (for local systems only)	Chapter 13, Setting Up Terminals and Modems (Tasks)

Table 12-3 Functionality Differences Between Admintool and Service Access Facility


If You Need To ...	Then Use ...	Comment
Inform users that a port is disabled	Service Access Facility `ttyadm -i`	`ttyadmin -i` specifies the inactive (disabled) response message. The message is sent to a terminal or modem when a user attempts to log in when the port is disabled. This functionality is not provided when a port is disabled using Admintool.
Keep the modem connection when a user logs off a host	Service Access Facility `ttyadm -h`	`ttyadm -h` specifies that the system will not hang up on a modem before setting or resetting to the default or specified value. If `ttyadm -h` is not used, when the user logs out of a host, the host will hang up the modem.
Require the user to type a character before the system displays a prompt	Service Access Facility `ttyadm -r`	`ttyadm -r` specifies that `ttymon` should require the user to type a character or press Return a specified number of times before the login prompt appears. When `-r` is not specified, pressing Return one or more times will print the prompt anyway. This option prevents a terminal server from issuing a welcome message that the Solaris host might misinterpret to be a user trying to log in. Without the `-r` option, the host and terminal server might begin looping and printing prompts to each other.

Admintool

Admintool: Serial Ports sets up the serial port software to work with terminals and modems by calling the pmadm command with the appropriate information. It also provides:

Templates for common terminal and modem configurations
Multiple port setup, modification, or deletion
Quick visual status of each port

Service Access Facility

The SAF is the tool used for administering terminals, modems, and other network devices. In particular, SAF enables you to set up:

ttymon and listen port monitors (using the sacadm command)

ttymon port monitor services (using the pmadm and ttyadm commands)

listen port monitor services (using the pmadm and nlsadmin commands)

And troubleshoot tty devices

And troubleshoot incoming network requests for printing service

And troubleshoot the Service Access Controller (using the sacadm command)

The SAF is an open-systems solution that controls access to system and network resources through tty devices and local-area networks (LANs). SAF is not a program. It is a hierarchy of background processes and administrative commands.