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 chapter describes:
How to use this manual in the day-to-day management of your network
Several utilities and methods you can use to administer network components
1.1 Introduction to Network Administration: Connections
This manual describes the administration of the following:
Information regarding network services and applications is maintained in a separate volume, Network Administration: Services.
Day-to-day management varies with each network connection, as each one
provides different capabilities.
Typically, management involves making small
changes and adjustments, such as adding a new host to the
/etc/hosts
database, configuring a new LAT device, or obtaining status information.
Chapters 2-7 of this manual describe specific tasks, presenting the
generic steps required to perform the tasks followed by examples and additional
information.
In addition to the day-to-day management of the network connections and transports, this manual contains information to help you solve problems that might occur. Problem solving is handled differently from 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.
1.2 Administrative Methods
The following sections provide a brief overview of the methods for administering
networking components in the operating system.
As explained in
Section 1.2.4,
it is best to not to edit configuration files manually for network configuration
tasks.
Instead, it is highly recommended that you use the SysMan Menu
utility whenever possible.
1.2.1 SysMan Menu
The SysMan Menu utility enables you to administer your system locally via a graphical user interface or command-line interface, or even remotely via the World Wide Web. It provides a single, hierarchical menu interface that allows you to quickly find and invoke suitlets (integrated utilities) to perform the most common management tasks.
In this manual, 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, do the following:
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, for curses mode, enter:
# sysman -ui cui
After you invoke the SysMan Menu, double-click on menu items to select them. Or, on a system without graphics capabilities, use the arrow keys and the Enter key to select items. Many menu items will expand to offer more choices. Navigate the menu until you find the desired suitlet.
In
Figure 1-1, the user selects the Basic
Network Services menu item, which expands to reveal the suitlets for configuring
network adapters and other basic networking components.
Figure 1-1: SysMan Menu
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.
For more information about the SysMan Menu, see
System Administration,
sysman(8),
and the online help.
1.2.1.1 Quick Setup
The SysMan Menu includes a Quick Setup utility that you can use to configure basic components and services on a client system. The Quick Setup utility starts automatically when the system boots following a full installation of the operating system. However, 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 Quick Setup utility, as
shown in
Figure 1-2, is displayed.
Figure 1-2: Quick Setup
The utility leads you through the displayed configuration steps, many of which prepare your system for operation on a network. Enter the information for each step of the process and select Next to display the subsequent step. You can move back and forth through the steps if you have missed something. No information is saved until you confirm the configuration by selecting Finish in the last step.
If necessary, you can configure additional components or modify your
configuration after you use the utility.
For more information about the Quick
Setup utility, see the online help.
1.2.1.2 Network Setup Wizard
The SysMan Menu also includes a Network Setup Wizard utility that you can use to configure network components on your system. As discussed in Section 2.3, you can invoke the configuration suitlets through the SysMan Menu to configure basic network services on an individual basis, or you can use the Network Setup Wizard, which leads you step-by-step through the setup process for all of the basic network services.
To use the Network Setup Wizard, invoke the SysMan Menu and select Networking-->Network Setup Wizard, or enter the following command on a command line:
# /usr/bin/sysman net_wizard
The Network Setup Wizard utility, as shown in
Figure 1-3,
is displayed.
Figure 1-3: Network Setup Wizard
The utility leads you through the displayed configuration steps. Enter the information for each step of the process and select Next to display the subsequent step. You can move back and forth through the steps if you have missed something. No information is saved until you confirm the configuration by selecting Finish in the last step.
If necessary, you can configure additional components or modify your
configuration after you use the utility.
For more information about the Network
Setup Wizard utility, see the online help.
1.2.1.3 Command-Line Integration
The SysMan Menu allows you to access and manipulate many configuration options directly from the command line. This feature is particularly useful for administrators who want to create site-specific shell scripts to perform configuration tasks.
To use the command-line interface, invoke the
sysman
-cli
command.
For the command's arguments, specify the component
and group on which you want to operate and the action you want to perform.
For example, suppose you want to list all of the entries in the
/etc/hosts
file.
You would enter the following command:
# sysman -cli -list val -comp networkedSystems \ -group hostMappings
You could also add a host to the file by entering this command:
# sysman -cli -add row -comp networkedSystems \
-group hostMappings -data "{queen} \
{DNS server} {18.240.32.40} {queen.abc.xyz.com}"
You can even change an existing value in the file, like an IP address, as follows:
# sysman -cli -set val -comp networkedSystems \ -group hostMappings -attr networkAddress="18.240.32.45" \ -key1 queen.abc.xyz.com -key2 18.240.32.40
For more information about this command line interface for the SysMan Menu,
see
System Administration
and
sysman_cli(8).
1.2.2 Compaq Insight Manager
Compaq Insight Manager is a Web-based system management utility. It consists of two different components: the Management Agents, which run on many different operating systems (including Tru64 UNIX), and the Management Console, which runs exclusively on Microsoft Windows NT.
By enabling the Compaq Management Agents on your Tru64 UNIX systems, you can provide a conduit for communication between these systems and the World Wide Web. Once enabled, this conduit allows you to access information about the configuration of your systems and their peripherals from a Web browser on any system. In some Java-enabled Web browsers, you can also invoke the SysMan Menu through this interface to manage these systems.
Figure 1-4
shows an example of using the
Management Agents to obtain statistics for an Ethernet network adapter.
Figure 1-4: Compaq Management Agents
Using the Compaq Insight Manager XE Management Console, you can view and manage your systems as well as many standalone devices (such as printers, routers, and more) on your network. The Management Console is especially useful for managing heterogeneous environments, as it can communicate with the Management Agents for all of the supported operating systems and environments.
For more information about Compaq Insight Manager, see
insight_manager(5)
and
System Administration.
1.2.3 Other Interfaces
The operating system includes alternative system administration applications, some that require graphics capabilities and others that allow you to configure your system from the command line. This manual mentions these optional utilities, when available, in relation to specific configuration tasks.
See Chapter 2 of
System Administration
for a comprehensive list of the utilities
that are available.
See the reference pages and online help for more information
about each utility.
1.2.4 Manually Editing Configuration Files
Some sections of this manual 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.
See the
hier(5)
reference page
for a complete list of the CDSLs in the file system.
See
System Administration
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.
1.2.5 Installation and Configuration Cloning
The operating system includes two features, Installation Cloning and Configuration Cloning, that allow you to minimize the amount of manual intervention that is necessary to install and configure systems. These features are particularly useful if you need to set up many identical systems in the same way, because they allow you to capture the configuration of a working system in configuration description files (CDFs) and use those files to install and configure subsequent systems.
See Installation Guide -- Advanced Topics for more information.