Inventory Module

The Inventory module on the Sun trademark Control Station allows you to track the hardware and software in your managed hosts by providing detailed information about the hardware and software components in each host. The features of the Inventory module allow you to:

View the hardware and software inventory for each managed host

Update the display of available hardware and software components

Note - This document assumes that you understand the basic operation of the Sun Control Station software. For an introduction to the basic Sun Control Station features such as status icons, the selector window, the Scheduler, and the Task Progress dialog, see the Sun Control Station 2.2 Administrator Manual.

About Installing the Inventory Module

By default, the Inventory module is installed as part of the Sun Control Station core software. If you want to add the Inventory module after the core software is installed, you can use one of the following methods:

The Sun Control Station's Add Modules function, which you can access from the Administration Modules menu selections. See the Sun Control Station 2.2 Administrator Manual.

The moduleMgr.pl utility from the Control Station server.

During installation, the client components, invengen and client_inventory, are pushed to each managed host. These client components collect information and write it to the file inventory.current on the managed host(s).

Inventory Menu

The functions that are available for tracking the hardware and software components in each managed host are grouped under the menu item labelled Inventory. You can access the Inventory functions through the Inventory menu located on the left-hand column of the graphical interface as shown in Inventory Submenu Items.

FIGURE 1 Inventory Submenu Items

This screenshot shows the Inventory submenu items Hardware Inventory and Software Inventory, which are used for tracking hardware and software components.

When you expand the Inventory menu item, you can access the Inventory functions:

Hardware Inventory (see Hardware Inventory)

Software Inventory (see Software Inventory)

Hardware Inventory

The Hardware Inventory menu item allows you to select a managed host for which you want to view the hardware inventory. See Selecting a Managed Host You can also update the display of the hardware components. For more information about the update function, see Update

Selecting a Managed Host

To select a managed host for which you want to view the hardware inventory:

1. Select Inventory right arrow Hardware Inventory.

The Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory table appears in the selector window (see Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory Table).

2. Select one of the hosts in the list.

You choose a host by selecting the check box to the left of the appropriate host.

Note - You can only select one host at a time. The Select All button at the top of the table is not used for the Inventory functions. If you select more than one host, the system issues an error. If you mistakenly select more than one host, the Deselect All button allows you to clear the check boxes so that you can select one host.

FIGURE 2 Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory Table

This screenshot shows the Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory table, which you use to select a managed host for which you want to view the hardware inventory. The buttons are Select All, Deselect All, View Inventory, and Update Now. The Select All button is not used for the Inventory functions.

Viewing the Hardware Inventory

To view the inventory of hardware components of a managed host:

1. Select Inventory right arrow Hardware Inventory.

The Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory table appears in the selector window. This table displays the list of managed hosts (see Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory Table).

2. Select one of the managed hosts in the table.

See Selecting a Managed Host for information.

3. Click View Inventory at the bottom of the selector window.

The Hardware Inventory table appears, displaying the hardware inventory of the host you selected. See Hardware Inventory Table for a sample table.

FIGURE 3 Hardware Inventory Table

This screenshot shows a sample of a detailed Hardware Inventory table, including Host Information, System Information, CPU Information, File Systems Information, and Memory Information.

The Hardware Inventory table contains the following parts:

Host Information displays the following information:

IP: The IP address of the host

Host: The name of the host

Alias: The alias of the host

ID: The host ID

DNS: The Domain Name System server if in use

NIS: The Network Information System server if in use

Boot: The last time the machine was booted

TZone: The time zone of the host

System Information displays the following information:

Model: The system model of the host

Arch: The architecture of the host

OS Version: The operating system and version running on the host

Serial: The host hardware serial number

Name: The interface name for the port used for Media Access Control

MAC: The Media Access Control address of the host

Locale: The locale of the host

CPU Information displays the following information for each CPU in the host:

Vendor: The CPU vendor

Speed: The CPU speed

Level: The CPU level

Model: The description of the CPU model

Family: The CPU family

File Systems Information displays the following information:

Type: The file system type

Tot Blks: The total number of blocks of the file system

Free Blks: The number of free blocks

NSU Blks: The number of free blocks for nonsuper users

Nodes: The total number of nodes

File Len: The file length

Space: The total free space in megabytes

Memory Information displays the following information:

Tot Memory: The total host memory

Free Memory: The available free memory

Shared Memory: The amount of shared memory

Tot Swap: The total swap memory

Free Swap: The available swap memory

Software Inventory

The Software Inventory menu item allows you to select a managed host for which you want to view the software inventory. See Selecting a Managed Host You can also update the display of the software components. See Update for more information about the update function.

Selecting a Managed Host

To select a managed host for which you want to view the software inventory:

1. Select Inventory right arrow Software Inventory.

The Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory table appears in the selector window (see Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory Table).

2. Select one host in the list.

You choose a host by selecting the check box to the left of the appropriate host.

FIGURE 4 Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory Table

This screenshot shows the Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory table, which you use to select a managed host for which you want to view the software inventory. The buttons are Select All, Deselect All, View Inventory, and Update Now. The Select All button is not used for the Inventory functions.

Viewing the Software Inventory

To view the inventory of software components in a managed host:

1. Select Inventory right arrow Software Inventory.

The Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory table appears in the selector window. This table displays the list of managed hosts (see Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory Table).

2. Select one host in the table.

See Selecting a Managed Host for information.

3. Click View Inventory at the bottom of the selector window.

The Software Inventory table appears displaying the software inventory of the host you selected. See Software Inventory Table for a sample table.

FIGURE 5 Software Inventory Table

This screenshot shows a sample of a detailed Software Inventory table, including the Label, Description, and Revision level.

The Software Inventory table displays the following information for each software component:

Label: The name of the software component

Description: The function of the software component

Revision: The revision level of the software component

Update

When the Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory table (Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory Table) or the Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory table (Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory Table) is displayed, you can update the inventory listing of components in a managed host.

Updating the Inventory Data

To update either the hardware or software inventory listing of a managed host:

1. Select either Inventory right arrow Hardware Inventory or Inventory Software Inventory.

The Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory table (Select Managed Hosts for Hardware Inventory Table) or the Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory table (Select Managed Hosts for Software Inventory Table) appears, displaying the list of managed hosts.

2. Choose a host by selecting the check box at the left of the appropriate host.

3. Click Update Now in the bottom right corner of the table.

The Task Progress dialog appears. The Task Progress dialog displays a status message indicating whether the update was successful. You can click View Events to display a list of the update events or click Done to return to the Select Managed Hosts table.

FIGURE 6 Update Now Task Progress Dialog

This screenshot shows the Task Progress dialog, which displays a status message to indicate whether the hardware or software update was successful. The buttons are Done and View Events.

Note - You can also schedule the updating of the inventory information for a later time. For more information about scheduling and the Task Progress dialog, see the Sun Control Station 2.2 Administrator Manual.