As the CS/AIX administrator, you are responsible for installing the CS/AIX software and for managing its resources. Before beginning CS/AIX administration, you must understand the main features of the CS/AIX product (see What Is CS/AIX?). This section describes the administration tasks you must perform and the tools you can use to perform them.
To administer the CS/AIX system, you need to do the following:
These tasks are normally performed by a System Administrator at the site where the CS/AIX system is installed. However, CS/AIX also provides the service point command facility (SPCF), which enables an operator using the NetView program to perform Steps 3 and 4 remotely by issuing management commands at the NetView console. For more information about SPCF, see Chapter 10, Managing CS/AIX from NetView.
CS/AIX provides a range of tools for administering the system. Depending on your requirements, you may not need to use all of them. This section summarizes the functions provided by each of these tools.
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CS/AIX includes the following administration tools:
All of the CS/AIX administration tools use the NOF API. You can also use that API to write your own administration tools. For more information, see NOF Applications.
The easiest way to define and modify the CS/AIX configuration is to use the Motif administration program (xsnaadmin). This program provides a graphical user interface from which you can view and manage CS/AIX resources.
The following management operations are available:
The Motif administration program can be used to manage both node resources and domain resources. For each type of communications (such as 3270 or APPC), the program guides you in setting up the configuration of the required resources.
| Note: | The windows and dialogs in the Motif administration program may differ from those shown in this guide, depending on the choices you make on a particular dialog. |
The Motif administration program includes help screens that provide overview information for SNA and CS/AIX, reference information for CS/AIX dialogs, and guidance for performing specific tasks.
Before starting the Motif administration program, make sure the CS/AIX software is enabled (for more information, see Chapter 3, Administering CS/AIX).
To start the Motif administration program in the background, issue the
following command:
xsnaadmin &
The Motif administration displays the Node window, which displays resource information for the local node. If you have not yet configured the node, the program prompts you to do so and leads you through the steps required to configure it.
For more information about how to use the Motif administration program to define and manage CS/AIX resources, see Invoking the Motif Administration Program, or refer to the help screens provided by the program.
| Note: | The Motif administration program enables you to set up all required
parameters for standard CS/AIX configurations. (SMIT can also be used
to supply configuration information.) For advanced parameters, the
Motif administration program (or SMIT) supplies default values. You
need to supply only the essential configuration information, which enables you
to set up SNA communications quickly and easily.
The other CS/AIX administration tools, including command-line configuration, and NOF application programs, provide access to a wider range of configuration parameters and options than those shown in the Motif administration program. In most cases, however, you can perform all needed configuration from the Motif administration program, because it exposes the key fields you need to configure and hides the fields that most users should not need to modify. The default values supplied by command-line configuration may differ from those supplied by the Motif administration program or SMIT, because the Motif program can choose values more intelligently based on the context of the configuration task you are performing. If you need to use these additional functions, you can still use the Motif administration program to set up the basic configuration, and use the other administration tools to specify the additional functions. When you later use the Motif administration program to manage the modified configuration, the program retains the changes you made using the other tools, although the additional functions you have configured are not displayed in the Motif program. |
The Web Administration program provides similar functions to the Motif administration program. It allows you to administer CS/AIX from your browser without the need to start an X session or telnet session to the CS/AIX server, and is particularly useful when connecting over slow or unreliable links.
Before starting the Web administration program, ensure the following:
To use the Web administration program, load the following URL in your
browser:
http://server_name/SnaAdmin/
Replace server_name with the TCP/IP host name of the CS/AIX server.
The program displays a logon screen. Enter the AIX user ID and password that you use to log on to the AIX system in order to use other CS/AIX administration functions.
Once you have logged on, the program displays a similar interface to the Motif administration program, and provides similar functions. For more information about using the program to define and manage CS/AIX resources, refer to the help screens provided by the program.
| Note: | The Web administration program enables you to set up all required parameters
for standard CS/AIX configurations. For advanced parameters, the
program supplies default values. You need to supply only the essential
configuration information, which enables you to set up SNA communications
quickly and easily.
The other CS/AIX administration tools, including command-line configuration and NOF application programs, provide access to a wider range of configuration parameters and options than those shown in the Web administration program. In most cases, however, you can perform all needed configuration from this administration program, because it exposes the key fields you need to configure and hides the fields that most users should not need to modify. The default values supplied by the Web administration program may differ from those supplied by command-line configuration, because the Web program can choose values more intelligently based on the context of the configuration task you are performing. (They may also differ from those supplied by the Motif administration program, because that program can choose values based on other choices you have already made in the same dialog.) If you need to use these additional functions, you can still use the Web administration program to set up the basic configuration, and use the other administration tools to specify the additional functions. When you later use the Web administration program to manage the modified configuration, the program retains the changes you made using the other tools, although the additional functions you have configured are not displayed in the Web program. |
SMIT provides a menu-based interface to configure and manage CS/AIX resources. It can be used either from a Motif interface or from an ASCII terminal.
SMIT provides the same administration functions as the Motif administration program, including help screens for each SMIT panel. Before you can use SMIT to administer CS/AIX, CS/AIX must be started on the local node (see Chapter 3, Administering CS/AIX).
For more information about SMIT, see Appendix B, Using SMIT to Administer CS/AIX.
The command-line administration program, snaadmin, enables you to issue commands to manage individual CS/AIX resources. You can use snaadmin either directly from the AIX command prompt or from within a shell script.
Commands can be issued to the CS/AIX node to manage the node's resources, or to the domain configuration file to manage domain resources.
You can get help for command-line administration by using any of the following commands:
Refer to Communications Server for AIX Administration Command Reference for more information.
The remote command facility (RCF) provides the following facilities to support the administration of CS/AIX from a NetView console on a host:
For more information about RCF, see Chapter 10, Managing CS/AIX from NetView.
Configuration information for the CS/AIX system is held in the following text files:
This file provides an initial definition of the resources that are available; you can then use the other administration tools to modify the running node's resources as your requirements change. Any modifications you make are automatically saved to the file, so that the modified configuration can be used again when the node is stopped and restarted.
For more information about this file, see Defining TPs.
You can modify the configuration using the Motif administration program, the Web administration program, SMIT, the command-line administration program, or the NOF API. All of these tools make the required changes to the node configuration file or domain configuration file as appropriate. Because configuration information is stored as plain text, you can also modify the file directly using a standard ASCII text editor such as vi, or by means of a shell script using AIX utilities such as awk or sed. Any changes to configuration files using a text editor must be made before starting CS/AIX. Refer to Communications Server for AIX Administration Command Reference for more information about CS/AIX configuration file format.
| Note: | CS/AIX configuration is a dynamic process; it is not necessary to define the entire configuration before starting the CS/AIX software. The configuration file provides an initial definition of the available resources, but you can add, delete, or modify resources as necessary while the CS/AIX software is running. CS/AIX stores the current definition so that you can use it again when you need to restart the system. |
The CS/AIX NOF API provides the same management functions as the command-line administration program, enabling you to define and manage CS/AIX resources. This means that you can write your own application programs to administer CS/AIX.
Refer to Communications Server for AIX NOF Programmer's Guide for more information.
CS/AIX provides several diagnostics tools to help you diagnose and correct problems encountered during CS/AIX operation:
Refer to Communications Server for AIX Diagnostics Guide for information about CS/AIX log messages, using CS/AIX trace facilities, and interpreting trace files.
For information about using the MS API, refer to Communications Server for AIX MS Programmer's Guide.
The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an industry-standard management protocol, which is implemented on AIX by the snmpd daemon (part of the AIX Base Operating System). CS/AIX includes an SNMP subagent to provide support for the APPN Management Information Base (MIB) database maintained by AIX.
For a more detailed discussion of SNMP and for a list of the APPN MIB objects that are supported by the CS/AIX SNMP subagent, see Appendix C, APPN Network Management Using the Simple Network Management Protocol.
The CS/AIX administration tools are intended for use by a restricted group of "SNA administrators" who have permission to manage SNA resources. To achieve this, the executable files are owned by the system administrator login root with a group ownership of system. Only users who are members of the group system can modify, start, or stop CS/AIX resources; any user who is to have SNA administrator permissions must be a member of this group.
In the standard CS/AIX installation, users who are not members of the group
system cannot run the CS/AIX administration tools at all. If
appropriate, you can allow these users to run the tools in read-only mode, so
that they can view configuration and status information but cannot modify,
start, or stop resources. To do this, use chmod to give read
and execute permission for any user to the appropriate executable file or
files:
| Administration Tool | Executable File(s) |
|---|---|
| Motif administration program | /usr/bin/X11/xsnaadmin |
| Command-line administration program | /usr/bin/snaadmin |
| Web administration program | /usr/bin/websnaadmin, /usr/bin/snaadmin |
| SMIT | /usr/bin/smitsnaadmin, /usr/bin/snaadmin |
Any user can then run the appropriate administration tool and view information, but CS/AIX will still prevent users not in the system group from modifying, starting, or stopping resources.
| Note: | If you modify file permissions as described above, you will need to repeat this procedure after installing CS/AIX PTFs or new releases. |