3 Known Problems and Workarounds
5 Adding New Client Applications to the System Manager
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1. Introduction
Sysadmdesktop is the set of visual system administration
tools that are used in conjunction with Indigo Magic. These
tools use the services of the Cadmin object system, the
Silicon Graphics distributed object management system for
system management. With the Sysadmdesktop tools users manage
their disks, users, network access, printers, files systems,
and perform system maintenance functions.
These release notes are for Sysadmdesktop end-users who use
the Sysadmdesktop tools from the System menu of the
Toolchest, from the System Manager under the System menu of
the Toolchest, by double clicking on desktop icons, or from
the command line.
This document contains the following chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Installation Information
3. Known Problems and Workarounds
4. Documentation Notes
5. Adding New Clients to the System Manager
1.1 Release_Identification_Information
Following is the release identification information for
Sysadmdesktop:
Software Product Version
_______________________________________
Sysadmdesktop 5.2
System Software Requirements IRIX 5.2
1.2 Hardware_Requirements
You should have at least 16 Mbytes of RAM to run
Sysadmdesktop. Furthermore, many of the programs have large
address spaces and therefore use a large amount of swap
space. Silicon Graphics suggests that if you see the tools
being "kill"ed due to lack of swap space, you increase the
swap space by using the ``swap'' administrative interface.
You can also increase your virtual swap space by
/etc/chkconfig vswap on
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1.3 On-Line_Release_Notes
After you install the on-line documentation for a product
(the relnotes subsystem), you can view the release notes on
your screen.
If you have a graphics system, select ``Release Notes'' from
the Help submenu of the Toolchest. This displays the
grelnotes(1) graphical browser for the on-line release
notes.
Refer to the grelnotes(1) man page for information on
options to this command.
1.4 On-line_man_Pages
The following man pages are provided on-line with
sysadmdesktop:
cbizcard
cexport
cfile
chaltsys
chost
clogin
cnet
configClogin
copenremote
cpeople
cports
crestart
csetup
diskView
cformat
cimport
To access an on-line man page, select "Man Page" from the
"Help" sub-menu of the Toolchest.
1.5 Product_Support
Silicon Graphics, Inc., provides a comprehensive product
support and maintenance program for its products. If you
are in North America and would like support for your Silicon
Graphics-supported products, contact the Technical
Assistance Center at 1-800-800-4SGI. Otherwise, contact
your local support provider.
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2. Installation_Information
This chapter lists supplemental information to the IRIS
Software Installation Guide. The information listed here is
product-specific; use it with the installation guide to
install this product.
2.1 Sysadmdesktop_Subsystems
The Sysadmdesktop product includes these subsystems:
sysadmdesktop.sw.sysadmdesktop The sysadmdesktop system
management applications:
cbizcard, cexport, cfile,
chaltsys, chost, clogin,
configClogin, copenremote,
cpeople, cports, crestart,
csetup, diskView, cformat,
cimport. They are installed
by default. These are the
applications for system
administration.
sysadmdesktop.man.sysadmdesktop Man pages.
2.2 Sysadmdesktop_Subsystem_Disk_Space_Requirements
This section lists the subsystems (and their sizes) of the
Sysadmdesktop option.
When you install this option for the first time, the
subsystems marked "default" are the ones installed
automatically if you use the ``go'' menu item. To install a
different set of subsystems, use the ``install,''
``remove,'' ``keep,'' and ``step'' commands in inst to
customize the list of subsystems to be installed, then
select the ``go'' menu item.
Note: The listed subsystem sizes are approximate. Refer to
the IRIS Software Installation Guide for information
on finding exact sizes.
Subsystem Name Subsystem Size
(512-byte blocks)
sysadmdesktop.sw.clients 7925
sysadmdesktop.man.sysadmdesktop 71
sysadmdesktop.man.relnotes 21
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2.3 Installation_Method
All of the subsystems for Sysadmdesktop can be installed
using IRIX in multi-user mode. You do not need to use the
miniroot. Refer to the IRIS Software Installation Guide for
complete installation instructions.
2.4 Prerequisites
The following prerequisites external to Sysadmdesktop apply
to the sysadmdesktop.sw.clients subsystem:
o You must have installed the Cadmin object system
(cadmin.sw).
o You must have installed the execution C library
(eoe1.sw.lib).
o You must have installed the TCP/IP networking support
(eoe2.sw.tcp).
o You must have installed the desktop execution only
environment (desktop_eoe.sw). This subsystem's
prerequisites include X window system, window manager,
and visual toolkits.
2.4.1 Sysadmdesktop_applications
Sysadmdesktop applications require the Cadmin objectserver
to be running. Please reference the Cadmin release notes
for details about the objectserver.
The Sysadmdesktop applications will appear in the ToolChest
under the System menu and in the System Manager icon panel.
These applications can also be started from the command
line. Please reference the appropriate man pages for
details on command line usage.
2.5 Sysadmdesktop_application_descriptions
o Cpeople manages users on the system. Toolchest menu
item "User Manager"
o Chost manages system configuration including
peripherals and software. Toolchest menu item "System
Manager"
o Cports manages serial ports on a system. System Manager
icon panel item "Port Setup"
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o Csetup initially configures system name and networking.
System Manager icon item "System Setup"
o Cnet configures networking. System Manager icon item
"Network Setup"
o Cfile allows easy access to disk configuration. System
Manager icon item and Toolchest menu item "Disk
Manager"
o Configclogin configures the visual login feature of the
system. System Manager icon item "Login Setup"
o Clogin provides visual login to the system. Clogin is
the successor for Pandora (4.0.5). Clogin executes
automatically.
o Chaltsys shuts down the system so that it may be
powered off. System Manager icon item "System Shutdown"
o Crestartsys shuts down the system and then starts it up
again. System Manager icon item "Restart System"
o Cimport allow the user to mount nfs file system at at
specific mount point. System Manager icon item "NFS
Manager", Toolchest menu item "NFS Mount Manager"
The other sysadmdesktop programs are executed through
clicking on icons or from one of the above applications.
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3. Known_Problems_and_Workarounds
This chapter describes the known problems with the 2.0
Sysadmdesktop.
3.1 Applications
3.1.1 General
o 2.0 Sysadmdesktop is not supported on X-Terminals and
has not been fully tested in an Open-GL environment.
o Print manager is now part of the print system
(print.sw.desktop).
o Tape backup/restore tools are part of desktop_tools
system (desktop_tools.sw.tape_backup).
3.1.2 Csetup_and_Cnet
o On a system with multiple interfaces, EZsetup or csetup
will, by default, configure the fastest interface, e.g,
fddi over ethernet. So, inorder to configure the other
interfaces, you should use the Network Setup tool from
the System Manager.
o csetup & cnet defines the hostresorder to be 'nis bind
local' internally.
o If your system has been assigned a hostname and an IP
address by your NIS administrator, and if you try to
configure your system with the same hostname but a
different IP address, other than the one in the NIS
database, then, when NIS is turned on, you may not be
able to use some of the tools including csetup & cnet.
In order to bring back the system to a working state,
you have to login as root and do the following:
chkconfig network off, chkconfig yp off, chkconfig
ypmaster off, chkconfig ypserv off,
then, restart the system and use csetup & cnet to
correct the hostname, IP address and then check-on
network and NIS.
o When setting up an interface with the Network Setup
tool or EZsetup, if you are copying a master hosts file
from a "system with host list", the name in the "This
interface's name" field will be inserted into the
/etc/hosts file, replacing the entry that was in the
master hosts file. If it is important that the entry
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in the master file be used "as is", then you should
re-copy the hosts file by hand after the interface is
set up.
o On a clean system, if NIS is not configured, and if the
NIS master hostname is given, to bring the hosts list,
then it doesn't put the hostname aliases properly in
the /etc/hosts file.
3.1.3 Cpeople
o You can change, but you cannot remove an Network Access
Account password.
o If you enter a bad group name, the group defaults to
'user' with group id 20, quietly, without a notifier.
o If the specified home directory is on an nfs-mounted
read-only file system, it will not be created, but no
error is returned. Subsequently that user will not be
able to login. To correct this problem, go to the
remote system, create the home directory and make it
writable by the user.
o If you delete the Primary User of the system, Chost is
not notified of the change. To correct this problem,
change the Primary User to the correct one in Chost.
o When using shadow passwords, the only user that is
allowed to change any password is root. Therefore, if
you are using shadow passwords, change all user
passwords while logged in as root.
3.1.4 Chost
o GIO boards and peripherals are not supported and may
not be displayed.
o Printers do not appear in the hardware menu nor among
the shared resources icons.
o Removable media devices are always shared.
o Exported file systems icons do not support the right
mouse menu button to turn off their sharing.
o The image of the VINO board is actually an Indy Video
card.
o If an external device such as a CD ROM or tape is
powered off and then powered on while the system
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remains up, the state of the icon representing that
device will no longer change. For example, if a tape is
inserted into the tape drive, the icon will not show a
tape present. This is true of all device icons on the
desktop. This situation will persist until the system
is rebooted.
3.1.5 Cfile
o Logical volume information is not displayed in this
release, nor does this application allow the lunching
of tools to manipulate logical volumes, mirroring, or
striping.
o No testing has been done against logical volumes,
mirrored disks, striped disks, or Raid devices.
3.1.6 Clogin
o Non-printing characters such as control characters and
the escape character are not recognized nor accepted in
passwords. If you already have a password that contains
such characters, you must change it.
3.1.7 diskView
o You cannot initialize ( format or perform 'mkfs'(1M) )
of a fixed disk in this release.
o You cannot start applications ( such as 'inst'(1M) and
'cdman'(1) ) in this release.
3.1.8 Cformat
1. You cannot format a floppy or floptical as a IRIX
filesystem.
3.1.9 backup_restore
1. A priviledged user cannot do a system backup. You
must have primary administrator priviledges to do a
full system backup.
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4. Documentation_Notes
o None.
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5. Adding_New_Client_Applications_to_the_System_Manager
This chapter describes how to add new Client Applications so
that they will appear in the icon corral of the System
Manager.
5.1 Local_vs._Remote_Execution
All sysadmdesktop applictions execute on the local host, and
communicate with a remote system via the Cadmin object
system. The sysadmdesktop applications which appear in
the icon coral of the system manager have linked copies in
either the '/var/sysadmdesktop/rsysmanapps' or
'/var/sysadmdesktop/sysmanapps' directories. These
directories and linkes are created when the sysadmdesktop is
installed. Appropriate README files can be found in each of
the these directories.
5.1.1 Local_Execution
The directory, '/var/sysadmdesktop/sysmanapps', contains
links to the executables which can be run when you are
viewing the local host. (ex. System Manager started from the
Toolchest.)
5.1.2 Remote_Execution
The directory, '/var/sysadmdesktop/rsysmanapps', contains
links to the executables which can be run when you are
viewing a remote host. (ex. Double clicking a host from the
Searchbook.) Any application that you wish to link into this
directory should must make use of the object system or some
other rpc mechanism. Failure to do so could lead to
unexpected results, since the code executes on the local
host.
5.2 Makeing_A_New_Application_Appear_in_the_System_Manager
There are several simple steps to making an appliction
appear in the icon coral of the System Manager.
5.2.1 Local_Host
The directory '/var/sysadmdesktop/sysmanapps' contains
symbolic links to the applications which can/are displayed
in the application segment of the System Manager. In order
for wan application to be diplayed there, the following must
be true:
1. The application must reside in this directory (Note:
the location of this directory can be user defined in
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the Chost apps default file)
2. It must be a symbolic link ---> lrwxr-xr-x
3. The real file must be one of 2 types:
A. 4755 ---> -rwsr-xr-x
B. 0755 ---> -rwxr-xr-x
5.2.2 Remote_Host
The directory '/var/sysadmdesktop/rsysmanapps' contains
symbolic links to the applications which can/are displayed
in the application segment of the System Manager when the
system manager is displaying a remote host. In order for an
application to be diplayed there, the following must be
true:
1. The application must reside in this directory (Note:
the location of this directory can be user defined in
the Chost apps default file)
2. It must be a symbolic link ---> lrwxr-xr-x
3. The real file must be one of 2 types:
A. 4755 ---> -rwsr-xr-x
B. 0755 ---> -rwxr-xr-x
C. The application must be executed from/to the
remote host. (Remember, an appliction run from
the System Manager executes on the local host.)