The SunLink Server Manager or Command Line: Your Choice

Aside from the administrative tasks that you routinely perform to keep your Windows NT or mixed-client network healthy--and for which you use the previously described Windows NT administration tools--you also need to perform some administration tasks directly on your Solaris system-based computer running SunLink Server software.

Suiting your background and preferences, SunLink Server administration provides a clear choice of methods: by way of a graphical user interface or the Solaris command line. This guide provides instructions on how to accomplish any administrative task on a SunLink Server computer by either method.

Make sure that only one administrator at a time is making changes to any particular server. Neither the command line interface nor the SunLink Server Manager tool will preclude two or more administrators from simultaneously making changes--though the SunLink Server Manager tool will warn you if someone else with administrator privileges is logged on to a particular server.

SunLink Server Manager GUI Tool

Fitting comfortably within a Windows NT and Microsoft Windows environment, in which most routine and complex tasks are accomplished by way of GUI-based tools, is the SunLink Server GUI-based administration tool, SunLink Server Manager, shown in the next figure.

You can manage all aspects of SunLink Server administration, which is distinct from Windows NT network administration, by way of SunLink Server Manager--a distributed client-server application based on the Java(TM) programming language from Sun Microsystems. You install the server portion of SunLink Server Manager on the SunLink Server computer, and the client portion on a Solaris, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 95 client.

Among the most common and most important administration tasks and concerns for which SunLink Server Manager is useful:

• Logon and logoff - To administer a SunLink Server computer from a remote client, you must have special user permissions (known as root in the Solaris and UNIX world). SunLink Server Manager enables you to do this.

• Server startup and shutdown - SunLink Server software includes a set of Solaris server processes that enables the computer to act as a Windows NT network server. SunLink Server Manager alerts you when you are attempting a task that requires shutdown of the SunLink Server program, informs you about whether the server is running, and enables you to start and stop the program without having to invoke any special Solaris commands.

• Domain configuration - SunLink Server Manager covers most SunLink Server domain configuration tasks, including naming the server and the domain, and specifying it as a PDC or a BDC. You can also use the Windows NT Server Manager for SunLink Server configuration tasks.

• Policy configuration - SunLink Server Manager enables you to change various server policy parameters that are special to the SunLink Server computer, and provides context to help you understand the ramifications of policy changes that you put into effect.

• Event management - SunLink Server Manager's Events view, much like the Windows NT Event Viewer tool, enables you to check a variety of events related to SunLink Server operations.

• Database management - SunLink Server Manager enables you to manage and maintain the integrity of various Windows NT-related databases that are stored on your SunLink Server computer--backing up and restoring them, for example. (Altering the content of these databases is a Windows NT administrative function, and not a SunLink Server administrative function.) Among the databases that you can manage with SunLink Server Manager are the Access Control List (ACL), Registry, and Securities Account Manager (SAM).

• NetBIOS - Using SunLink Server Manager, you can set NetBIOS policies, including configuring the service as a WINS proxy.

• Printing - SunLink Server Manager includes a wizard that enables you to set up a Solaris printer, the first step toward setting up print services on a SunLink Server network.

• Online Help - Detailed instructions for all tasks covered by SunLink Server Manager are available online.

Command Line Interface for All Tasks

If you are an experienced administrator of Solaris systems or any other UNIX system, you already know the power of the command line. From the Solaris system prompt you can type in any number of commands to perform every administrative duty.

All of the traditional Solaris commands, and some new ones (including the Windows NT net commands), are available to you. For a rundown of the commands that are most relevant to SunLink Server administration, see Chapter 2, Administering SunLink Server Software at the Command Prompt. That chapter also provides general explanations of the use of Solaris commands to administrators whose Solaris experience is limited.