Network administration comprises those tasks that deal with setting up and configuring network interfaces, software, and daemons, and those tasks that deal with the day-to-day management of those interfaces, software, and daemons, including solving problems that might arise.
This manual describes the administration of the following:
Basic network connections, including Ethernet, Token Ring, and Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) interfaces, automatic network adapter failover (NetRAIN), and network daemons
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
Point-to-point connections, including Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
Local Area Transport (LAT)
Domain Name Service (DNS)
Network Information Service (NIS), formerly named Yellow Pages
Network File System (NFS)
UNIX-to-UNIX Copy Program (UUCP)
Network Time Protocol (NTP)
Mail environment
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
Day-to-day management varies with each network service, as each one provides different capabilities. Typically, management involves making small changes and adjustments, such as adding user accounts, mounting remote file systems or directories, obtaining status information, and setting up automatic maintenance scripts. Each chapter in Part 1 of this book describes a specific task, presenting the generic steps required to perform the task followed by examples and additional information.
In addition to the day-to-day management of the network and network services, this manual contains information to help you solve problems that might occur. Problem solving is handled as a separate part of administration because it is not something that you have to do every day.
Unlike the administration chapters, problem-solving chapters are structured according to specific problems. Within each problem section are the steps to resolve the problem.
The key to successful problem solving is in isolating the source of the problem. Frequently, complex networks and interactions between network services make this difficult to do. If you encounter a problem, whether by error message or event (for example, slow response), do the following:
Check your system, its network interface, and connections to the network.
Check the network and your system's ability to reach a remote system.
Most problems can be solved after you perform these two steps.
If not,
go to the appropriate problem-solving section and follow the steps.
1.1 Administrative Methods
The following sections discuss general methods for administering networking
components in the operating system.
As explained in
Section 1.1.2,
you should use the SysMan Menu application for most network administration
tasks.
1.1.1 SysMan Menu
The SysMan Menu utility allows you administer your system locally via a graphical user interface or command-line interface, or even remotely via the World Wide Web.
Wherever the SysMan Menu utility is mentioned in relation to configuration tasks, it is presumed that you know how to invoke it. To invoke the SysMan Menu utility from CDE:
Select the Application Manager icon on the CDE front panel.
Select the System_Admin application group icon.
Select the SysMan Menu. The SysMan Menu is displayed and lists various system management tasks.
If you are not using CDE, you can invoke the SysMan Menu in one of the following ways:
#/usr/sbin/sysman
From a character-cell terminal or terminal window, enter:
#sysman -ui cui
The SysMan Menu includes a Quick Setup utility that you can use to configure your system. The Quick Setup utility starts automatically when the system boots following a full installation of the operating system. To use the utility at any time, invoke the SysMan Menu and select General Tasks-->Quick Setup, or enter the following command on a command line:
#/usr/bin/sysman quicksetup
The utility leads you through the configuration tasks that prepare most systems for operation on a network. If necessary, you can configure additional components or modify your configuration after you use the Quick Setup utility.
The SysMan Menu has an extensive online help system that you can use instead of the instructions in this manual.
To exit the SysMan Menu, select Exit. (On a system without graphics capabilities, use the Tab key to move the cursor to Exit, then press the Enter key.)
The Tru64 UNIX operating system includes alternative system administration
applications, some that require graphics capabilities and some that allow
you to configure your system from the command line.
A list of these applications
and more information about the SysMan Menu is available in Chapter 2 of
the
System Administration
manual,
sysman(8), and the online help.
1.1.2 Manually Editing Configuration Files
Some sections of this book describe the system files that are updated or modified when you perform an administrative task. Experienced UNIX administrators might prefer to administer their systems by manually editing these files, as opposed to invoking the documented utility; however, it is strongly recommended that you use the appropriate utilities to update the system files so that the structure of these files is preserved.
Important considerations are:
Context-Dependent Symbolic Links (CDSLs)
Many system files now exist as special symbolic links (CDSLs) created
to facilitate TruCluster Server clusters.
The links are transparent to most
users, but if the links are broken, the system cannot join a cluster in the
future without recreating them.
This manual mentions a few of the CDSLs, especially
when you must create them manually, but you should see the
hier(5)
reference page for a complete list of the CDSLs in the file system.
See the
System Administration
guide for more information.
Binary databases, configuration definitions
Many system components write data to both text and binary files, and their administrative utilities often recreate the binary files. Other system information is often preserved so that when you update your system, it can be recovered and reused, saving you time and effort.
Latent support for clusters
Individual systems are capable of joining TruCluster Server clusters,
and many system files have been modified to provide latent support for clusters.
For example, the
rc.config
file now has two related files,
rc.config.common
and
rc.config.site, which can
store run-time configuration variables.
Altering these files with the
rcmgr
utility ensures the integrity and consistency of these files.
Update installation
During the update installation process, changed information is merged
into existing system files.
The
.new..*
and
.proto..*
files might be
important in this process.
Refer to the
Installation Guide
for more information.
In many cases, the SysMan Menu utility is the best alternative to manually editing system files, thus it is the utility that is most frequently covered in this manual. Other utilities are also mentioned, when available. You can find more information about them in the reference pages and online help.