*HelpHelp for Remote System Manager*Groups


Netfinity Remote System Manager service enables a manager to link with and remotely access Netfinity services installed on client systems within the manager's network. Client systems are divided into network administrator-specified logical groups. For example, a manager could create a group named "Service" for all customer service systems. Individual systems are then added to these logical groups using an informal System Name (for example, "John's System"), Network Type (any system-supported and configured communication protocol, including NetBIOS, IPX, and TCP/IP), and the Network Address of the system.

Using the Remote System Manager you can perform the following:

Managing and monitoring these systems is as simple as adding them to your network. Select the group you wish to access from the Groups screen, and then select the system you wish to connect with. Once connected, you can access any of the Netfinity services displayed in the Netfinity Service Manager for that system. You can monitor system activity and anticipate system crises with System Monitor, Screen View, and Alert Manager; remotely update and distribute software with the File Transfer; troubleshoot remotely with ECC Memory Setup, and Remote Session; and use the System Restart, Presence Check, and Login System functions to help access and manage your remote systems.

The system groups can be displayed in two different modes: Icon View and Detail View. Each of these modes allow different levels of information to be displayed on the systems.

The Remote System Manager also features a keyword-based discovery process. This discovery process uses preassigned keywords to identify Netfinity systems on your network. With the discovery process, you can add multiple systems to a system group based solely on these keywords. For more information on keyword assignment and the discovery process, see Using the Discovery Process.

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Managing System Groups

The Groups screen displays all system groups that have been defined to the Remote System Manager. To access a Group, simply select the Group you wish to enter with the mouse. A Groups screen will open, displaying the names and system types of all systems currently defined within the group. The following operations can be performed from the Group screen:

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Add/Edit System Groups

Select Add/Edit Group to add or edit a system group using the Add/Edit Group screen.

To Add/Edit a system Group:

  1. Type in the Group Name field the name for the system Group.
  2. Select a System Discovery Condition. There are three to choose from:
  3. Enter zero or more unique Group Keywords. These will determine what systems within your network are to be added to the system group you are creating.
  4. The Group Keywords define the keywords on all systems that will be considered when determining the systems added to a group during Discovery. Which Keywords are considered and how many Keywords are considered are determined by the System Discovery Conditions. System Keywords are typically set during Netfinity installation on each individual system.

  5. If you wish to alter the Keywords that the discovery process will use, enter one or more Group Keywords. These, in conjunction with the System Discovery Condition you have selected, will determine what systems within your network are added to the system group when the Discovery process is initiated.
  6. Select a Auto-Discovery Interval in (hours) from the pull down selection list.
  7. The Auto-Discovery Interval setting controls how often the Discovery process is initiated to discover systems on the network.

  8. Select Group notification defaults settings. There are three available settings:
    1. Notify when systems are on-line:
    2. Use the pull down menu selections to disable or set the severity of the alert that will be generated when a system is on-line and reachable. Available selections include the alert Severity numbers 0 (most severe) through 7 (least severe), Disabled (no alert will be generated), and the Default setting.

    3. Notify when systems are off-line:
    4. Use the pull down menu selections to disable or set the severity of the alert that will be generated when a system is off-line or unreachable. Available selections include the alert Severity numbers 0 (most severe) through 7 (least severe), Disabled (no alert will be generated), and the Default setting. The Default setting is the Notify when systems are off-line setting.

    5. Presence Check Interval:
    6. Use the pull down menu selections to select how often a system is checked to determine if it has come on-line or gone off-line. Available Presence Check Interval settings range from 15 seconds to 128 minutes.

  9. Select from the Protocol Filter field the names of the communications protocols you want to include in your group.
  10. During the discovery process, only systems that are using one of the selected communications protocols will be added to the group. By default, systems using any communications protocol will be added.

  11. Select from the OS Filter field the names of the operating systems you want to include in your group.
  12. Note: All available operating systems are selected initially.

  13. Select Add Group to add the configured group.
  14. Select Cancel to exit without saving and return to Groups screen.

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Add/Edit Cluster Groups

Select Add Cluster Group to add a cluster group.

To Add/Edit a cluster Group:

  1. Select Add Cluster Group in Remote System Manager.
  2. Enter a name for the group in the Group Name field.
  3. Enter the cluster name known to all servers in the cluster in the Cluster Name field.
  4. Select a Auto-Discovery Interval in (hours) from the pull down selection list.
  5. The Auto-Discovery Interval setting controls how often the Discovery process is initiated to discover systems on the network.

  6. Select Group notification defaults settings. There are three available settings:
  7. Select from the Protocol Filter field the names of the communications protocols you want to include in your group.
  8. During the discovery process, only systems that are using one of the selected communications protocols will be added to the group. By default, systems using any communications protocol will be added.

  9. Select from the OS Filter field the names of the operating systems you want to include in your group.
  10. Note: All available operating systems are selected initially.

    Note: Although these filters will prevent systems that are not using the selected communications protocols or operating systems from being added to the group automatically during the discovery process, systems that do not get discovered can be added manually by selecting Add System on the Group page.

  11. Select Add Group to add the configured group.

Select Cancel at any time to close this window without saving any changes.

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Add/Edit Rack Groups

Select Add Rack Group to add a rack group.

To add a rack group to your network:

  1. Select Add Rack Group from Remote System Manager.
  2. Enter a name for the group in the Group Name field.
  3. Enter one or more of the following Rack Attributes to control discovery of systems into the rack group:
  4. Select a Auto-Discovery Interval in (hours) from the pull down selection list.
  5. The Auto-Discovery Interval setting controls how often the Discovery process is initiated to discover systems on the network.

  6. Select Group notification defaults settings. There are three available settings:
  7. Select from the Protocol Filter field the names of the communications protocols you want to include in your group.
  8. During the discovery process, only systems that are using one of the selected communications protocols will be added to the group. By default, systems using any communications protocol will be added.

  9. Select from the OS Filter field the names of the operating systems you want to include in your group.
  10. Note: All available operating systems are selected initially.

    Note: Although these filters will prevent systems that are not using the selected communications protocols or operating systems from being added to the group automatically during the discovery process, systems that do not get discovered can be added manually by selecting Add System on the Group page.

  11. Select Add Group to add the configured group.

Select Cancel at any time to close this window without saving any changes.

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Rack Name

The Rack Name field defines the name string defined for the rack associated with the rack group. If provided, only systems which are configured with a matching Rack Name (the RACKNAME="x" attribute in the rack.rk$ file on the system).

Add/Edit Rack Group


Rack ID

The Rack ID field defines the ID string defined for the rack associated with the rack group. If provided, only systems which are configured with a matching Rack ID (the RACKID=yyyy attribute in the rack.rk$ file on the system).

Add/Edit Rack Group


Rack Suite Name

The Rack Suite Name field defines the name string defined for the rack suite associated with the rack group. If provided, only systems which are configured with a matching Rack Suite Name (the SUITENAME="x" attribute in the rack.rk$ file on the system).

Add/Edit Rack Group


Rack Suite ID

The Rack Suite ID field defines the ID string defined for the rack suite associated with the rack group. If provided, only systems which are configured with a matching Rack Suite ID (the RACKSUITE=yyy attribute in the rack.rk$ file on the system).

Add/Edit Rack Group


Rack Collection Name

The Rack Collection Name field defines the name string defined for the rack collection associated with the rack group. If provided, only systems which are configured with a matching Rack Collection Name (the COLLECTIONNAME="x" attribute in the rack.rk$ file on the system).

Add/Edit Rack Group


Rack Collection ID

The Rack Collection ID field defines the ID string defined for the rack collection associated with the rack group. If provided, only systems which are configured with a matching Rack Collection ID (the SUITECOLLECTION=yyy attribute in the rack.rk$ file on the system).

Add/Edit Rack Group


Delete System Groups

Select Delete Group to remove a system group using the Groups screen.

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Dynamic Addressing

The Dynamic Address Options control the handling by the Remote System Manager of systems which have changing network addresses. This include systems which use DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) for acquiring TCP/IP addresses, as well as systems that change addresses due to physical location changes and network card changes.

When Dynamic Addressing is disabled (default), systems are tracked by their address. This can result in incorrect system identification and management when the system changes address (such as when DHCP is used).

When Dynamic Addressing is enabled, Remote System Manager will use the System Unique ID (on systems possessing one) to track systems as they change address. This allows systems to be correctly identified and managed despite any address or location changes. The Remote System Manager will depend upon the preserving of the System Unique ID through these changes. Deleting or changes a system's Unique ID will prevent the system from being properly identified with its existing objects in the Remote System Manager. This can be prevented by preserving the NFUNIQUE.ID file found on the system when reinstalling its software.

When Dynamic Addressing is enabled, the Remote System Manager will ping and discover systems. Since pings are typically sent directly to a system's address, this can prove to be ineffective when systems frequently change addresses (such as when they use DHCP). This problem is addressed by enabling Dynamic Ping support.

Dynamic Ping support greatly improves the Remote System Manager's ability to find exising systems when they change addresses. This is done by periodically sending broadcast messages requesting a response from the specific systems which the Remote System Manager has defined, but cannot find on the network. This is similar to discovery requests, but is more efficient, as only the specific systems which are missing will respond to the request (as opposed to all systems which match a discovery request). The frequency of these requests is controlled by the Dynamic Ping Interval setting.

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Initiate System Discovery in All Groups

Using the Netfinity Remote System Manager's discovery process you can quickly and easily add multiple remote systems to system groups.

Select Discover Systems in all Groups to initiate the discovery process for all groups.

This will instruct Remote System Manager to add all systems in the network that fit the system group's System Discovery Conditions.

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Set System Notification Defaults

Use the Notification Defaults screen to specify a set of system notification settings for all systems contained in the group.

To set the System Notification Defaults:

  1. Select System Notification Defaults from the Groups screen.
  2. Select On-line notification severity setting using the pull down selections.
  3. Use the pull down menu selections to disable or set the severity of the alert that will be generated when a system is on-line and reachable. Available selections include the alert Severity numbers 0 (most severe) through 7 (least severe). The Default setting is None (Disabled).

  4. Select Off-line notification severity setting using the pull down selections.
  5. Use the pull down menu selections to disable or set the severity of the alert that will be generated when a system is off-line or unreachable. Available selections include the alert Severity numbers 0 (most severe) through 7 (least severe). The Default setting is the None (Disabled).

  6. Select a Presence Check Interval value using the spin buttons.
  7. Use the pull down menu selections to select how often a system is checked to determine if it has come on-line or gone off-line. Available Presence Check Interval settings range from 15 seconds to 128 minutes. The Default setting is (10 min).

  8. Select Set Defaults to save these settings and apply them to all systems currently included in this group.

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Managing Individual Systems

The System screen displays all the systems for the selected group. The System Icons depict the connectivity status of each system in the group as well as identification of manager and client systems. For example, a manager System that is on-line is displayed as a "green" machine Icon annotated with a world. To access a System, simply select the System you wish to enter with the mouse. A services screen will open, displaying the available services that are supported for that system. The following operations can be performed from the System screen:

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View System Groups

Select Groups from the Systems screen to view all system groups that have been defined to the Remote System Manager.

The Groups screen will be displayed.

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Add/Edit Systems

To Add a system to a System Group, or Edit a system that is already present:

  1. Select the group to which a system will be Added or Edited.
  2. Select Add/Edit System from the Group Name page.
  3. Note: Edit System will only be present if systems have already been discovered

  4. Type in the System Name field the name the system.This name can be anything at all.
  5. Type in the Network Address field the address for the system you wish to add.
  6. This must be the network address recognized by the Network Type you will be using.

  7. Select from the Network Type field a communications protocol using the pull-down selections.
  8. Select On-line notification severity setting using the pull down selections.
  9. Use the pull-down menu selections to disable or set the severity of the alert that will be generated when a system is on-line and reachable. Available selections include the alert Severity numbers 0 (most severe) through 7 (least severe). The Default setting is None (Disabled).

  10. Select Off-line notification severity setting using the pull down selections.
  11. Use the pull-down menu selections to disable or set the severity of the alert that will be generated when a system is off-line or unreachable. Available selections include the alert Severity numbers 0 (most severe) through 7 (least severe). The Default setting is the None (Disabled).

  12. Select a Presence Check Interval value using the spin buttons.
  13. Use the pull-down menu selections to select how often a system is checked to determine if it has come on-line or gone off-line. Available Presence Check Interval settings range from 15 seconds to 128 minutes. The Default setting is (10 min).

  14. Select Save to save these settings and apply them to the system being added or edited.

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Delete Systems

To delete a system from a System Group:

  1. Select the radio button beside the manager or client system you would like to delete from the System Group.
  2. Select Delete System to remove the selected system.

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Initiate System Discovery for a Group

Using the Netfinity Remote System Manager's discovery process you can quickly and easily add multiple remote systems to a system group.

Select Discover Systems to initiate the discovery process for the current group.

This will instruct Remote System Manager to add all systems in the network that fit the system group's System Discovery Conditions.

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Select System Detail View

Select Detail View to display detailed system information for the all the systems in the system group.

In Detail View, the systems in the group are presented in a table, with each row containing a variety of information on the system including the System Name, Network Type, Network Address, and System Type. The systems can also be displayed as an Icon View.

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Select System Icon View

Select Icon View to display System Icons depicting the connectivity status of each system in the group as well as identification of manager and client systems.

For example in Icon View, a Manager System that is on-line is displayed as a "green" machine icon with its "system name" annotated with a world. The systems can also be displayed in a Detail View.

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Refresh Display of Systems

Select Refresh to update and display any system changes for the System Group.

System Icons depict the connectivity status of each system in the group as well as identification of manager and client systems.

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Change System Name and Discovery Keywords

This option enables you to change the System Name and Keywords on the selected remote system from the Set Keywords and System Name screen. The remote system's name and any currently assigned keywords (if any) are shown in the System Name and Keywords fields. The System Name is used primarily by the system administrator for organizing and identifying systems within a Netfinity System Group, and Keywords are used by Remote System Manager's automatic discovery process.

To change the System Name or assign new Keywords:

  1. Type in the System Name field a new name for the selected remote system if desired.
  2. Type in the Keys fields any Keywords you want to assign to the selected remote system. If you want to remove a previously assigned system Keyword, select the Keyword and then delete it using the backspace or delete key on your keyboard.
  3. Select Save to save these changes to the selected remote system.
  4. Select Cancel to exit without saving and return to Groups screen.

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System Restart

To Restart a system in a system group:

Note: You will not be able to perform this function unless you have access to the remote system's Security Manager Service

.
  1. Select the radio button beside the manager or client system you would like to restart in the System Group.
  2. Select System Restart to restart the selected system.
  3. The Restart Confirmation screen will be displayed requesting you to confirm the system restart request.

  4. Select YES to confirm the restart request or select NO to cancel the request.
  5. Select Delete System to remove the selected system.

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Perform System Presence Check

To perform a Presence Check of a system:

  1. Select the radio button beside the manager or client system you would like to check in the System Group.
  2. Select Presence Check to query the machine's presence on the network.

If the machine is displayed as a red Icon it cannot be opened for communication. The system will be automatically recognized eventually but this option will check for its presence immediately.

System Icons depict the connectivity status of each system in the group as well as identification of manager and client systems.

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Attempt System Wake-up

This option is only available if the system is off-line and supports the Wake-Up-On-LAN feature.

To attempt a System Wake-up of a suspended system:

  1. Select the radio button beside the manager or client system you would like to wake-up in the System Group.
  2. Select Attempt System Wake-up to re-establish communication with the selected system.

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Attempt System Shutdown

This option is only available if the system has support for unattended shutdown. On some systems, shutting down will also result in the system powering-down.

To attempt a System Shutdown of a system:

Note: You will not be able to perform this function unless you have access to the remote system's Security Manager Service.

  1. Select the radio button beside the manager or client system you would like to shutdown in the System Group.
  2. Select Attempt System Shutdown to shutdown the selected system.
  3. The Restart Confirmation screen will be displayed requesting you to confirm the system shutdown request.

  4. Select YES to confirm the shutdown request or select NO to cancel the request.

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Attempt System Power-Down

This option is only available if the system has Advanced Power Management (APM) support enabled.

To attempt a System Power-Down of a system:

Note: You will not be able to perform this function unless you have access to the remote system's Security Manager Service.

  1. Select the radio button beside the manager or client system you would like to power-down in the System Group.
  2. Select Attempt System Power-Down to shutdown and switch off the selected system.
  3. The Restart Confirmation screen will be displayed requesting you to confirm the system power-down request.

  4. Select YES to confirm the power-down request or select NO to cancel the request.

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Set Default User ID and Password

To set the default User ID and Password to be used when accessing systems which do not have a specific user ID and Password set:

  1. Select the radio button beside the manager or client system you would like to set the default User ID and Password for.
  2. Select Set User ID and Password to display the Set User ID and Password screen.
  3. Type in the User ID field the User ID name.
  4. Type in the Password field the User ID password.
  5. Type in the Re-enter to Verify: field the same password to verify and confirm your selection.
  6. Setting this User ID and Password yields the same results as using the Set Outgoing User ID and Password option in the Security Manager service to set the User ID for the <DEFAULT> system name.

  7. Select Save to save these changes to the selected remote system.
Select Cancel to exit without saving and return to Systems screen.

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Using the Discovery Process

Using the Netfinity Remote System Manager's discovery process you can quickly and easily add multiple remote systems to a selected system group. The discovery process uses Keywords that are assigned to all systems during the Netfinity installation process.

When a system group is created, system group Keywords can be specified, along with a system discovery condition. When the discovery process is initiated, the Netfinity Remote System Manager sends a short message out over your network, using your enabled communications drivers. This message requests that any remote systems that have the Netfinity programs installed and running and that have the proper keywords, as determined by the system discovery condition and keywords that you selected when you created the system group, acknowledge their presence on the network.

The remote systems that have the correct Keywords then send a response to the system that initiated the discovery process. This response contains all of the information necessary to add the individual system to the system group (system name, network address, and network type). The individual remote systems are then automatically added to the system group. Objects representing each of the remote systems then appear in the System Group window, sorted alphabetically. This entire process takes approximately 45 seconds to complete.

The discovery process has been designed to be open-ended and flexible, thus allowing for its use over a broad range of work group sizes.

The process by which you organize your Netfinity system groups is dependent on the environment in which you will be using it. For example, if you are using Netfinity in a peer-to-peer work group, where every individual system has complete access to all other systems in the work group, only one system group is necessary, and keyword assignment is fairly simple.

However, in a larger organization (such as a small company that has several departments, each of which will be a separate work group, but all of which will be managed by an individual Netfinity Remote System Manager) more intricate keyword assignment might be necessary. This section provides you with a series of examples of keyword assignment, system-discovery condition selection, and the effect that these have on the discovery process.

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Assigning Keywords During Installation

When the Netfinity installation process is complete, you can enter system-specific Keywords. Keywords are a series of descriptive words that identify the individual system within the group. For example, a system might have keywords identifying the company name, the department name, the building number, the department manager's name, and the primary user's name. The main goal of keyword assignment is to offer a broad variety of criteria by which to identify a system.

Using the example system Keywords, you could:

These are just some of the possible combinations of systems that could be added using the discovery process. Which Netfinity systems are added to the system group is determined by the Keyword list and the system-discovery condition that you selected when you created the individual system group.

Assume that there are four remote systems that you can potentially add to any system group. Each of these four systems uses NetBIOS communication drivers and has only three system-specific keywords assigned. The three Keywords represent the company name, the department the system is located in, and the primary user's last name. The Keywords for each system are as follows:

System NumberSystem Keywords
System #1 IBM, DEVELOPMENT, JONES
System #2 IBM, DEVELOPMENT, SMITH
System #3 IBM, MARKETING, O'BRIAN
System #4 IBM, MANAGEMENT, JEFFERSON

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System Discovery Conditions

When you want to create a system group, decide which keywords to look for during the discovery process, and set a system-discovery condition. The system-discovery condition determines how many of the remote system's keywords must match the Remote System Manager system group Keywords if they are to be included in the system group. There are three possible system-discovery conditions.

They are:

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Exiting

To exit the Remote System Manager service, select the "Netfinity" image on the top or bottom of the Remote System Manager service to return to the Netfinity services screen.

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