Administration Guide

Using the Motif Administration Program

The Motif administration program provides a user-friendly interface for configuring CS/AIX. This program is the recommended tool for administering CS/AIX, because it guides you through the configuration process and minimizes the information you need to provide to create a workable configuration.

You can also use the Motif administration program to manage the CS/AIX system while it is active. The administration program enables you to make and apply changes to the configuration while CS/AIX is active. You can add, modify, and remove resources (in most cases, even when the node and its resources are active), and use the modified configuration immediately for continued operation.

The Motif administration program displays up-to-date status information through the same interface that is used for configuration, providing easy access to status information for node resources.

Alternatively, you can use CS/AIX commands for configuration and system management. A summary of configuration and management commands is provided in Using the Command-Line Administration Program.

Invoking the Motif Administration Program

To use the Motif administration program for CS/AIX, first make sure that CS/AIX is enabled as described in Enabling CS/AIX Servers. (As with any X/Motif application, you may also need to set up the DISPLAY environment variable to indicate a suitable X server.)

To start the Motif administration program running in the background, issue the following command:
xsnaadmin &

CS/AIX normally displays the Node window. However, if you have not yet configured the local node, it displays a help screen offering help with configuring the node for the first time.
Note: This guide uses the term window to describe Motif windows that display information about CS/AIX resources. A window can contain one or more sections, or panes. A dialog is a Motif window on which you can enter information.

Resource Windows

The Node window shows most of the information you need, and gives easy access to everything else. It shows all the key resources on the local node.

The menus in the Node window provide the following functions:

Selection

The functions in this menu relate to the item that is currently selected in the Node window. From this menu, you can start or stop the node. When you select an item in the Node window, you can control, modify, or delete the item using controls in this menu, or add a new item in the currently selected pane.

Services

This menu provides easy access to all the dialogs required to configure the node for common tasks. Using this menu, you can add or modify resources or get help for configuration and management tasks.

Diagnostics

You can control logging and tracing from items in this menu.

Windows

You can easily access other windows from this menu. These windows include the following:

LU Pools window
CPI-C Destination Names window

Depending on the resources you select and the options you choose, the administration program can present additional resource windows, configuration dialogs, or status logs. You will also see context dialogs that enable you to select a specific resource to configure, confirmation dialogs that ask you to confirm a choice, and message pop-ups that provide feedback or error information. Each window and dialog also includes a help option.

Node Window

A sample Node window is shown in Figure 20. The title bar shows the name of the system.

Figure 20. Node Window

View figure.

From the Node window, you can add, delete, modify, and manage all of the resources and components for the CS/AIX node. The layout of the resources in the window shows the relationships among resources and enables you to control which resources are displayed.

The Node box in the top-right corner of the Node window indicates whether the node is Active or Inactive.

Any ports, local LUs, and remote nodes that are defined on the node are always displayed. The Node window shows each link station below its parent port, and each dependent LU below its parent link station. It also shows partner LUs below local LUs and below remote nodes.

The body of the Node window is split into the following panes for the different types of resources for the node:

Connectivity pane: The top pane of the Node window lists connectivity resources for the node, including ports, link stations or PUs on each port, and dependent LUs on a specific link station or PU. For each resource, this window shows current status information.
Independent Local LUs pane: The middle pane shows independent LUs for the node. For each LU, this window also displays information about sessions using the LU.
Remote Systems pane: The lower pane shows information about remote nodes and partner LUs. It also shows session information for each remote node or partner LU.

To change the relative sizes of the panes, click and drag on the boundaries between panes.

You can select a pane by clicking in it. You can also select specific resources within a pane by clicking on the line for the resource. To view or modify the configuration for an item, you can double-click on the item. (You can also use the buttons and menus on this window to access configuration information for specific resources.)

For each item listed, resources that belong to that item are nested within the information for that item. For example, link stations are grouped under the port to which they belong. You can click on the Expand button
View figure.
next to an item to show the resources for that item if they are not currently displayed, or click on the Contract button
View figure.
to hide the resources for an item.

You can perform the following administration tasks from the Node window:

Start or stop a resource: Select the resource and click on the Start or Stop button. (Alternatively, you can select Start item or Stop item from the Selection menu.)
Add a new resource for an item: Select the item and click on the New button (or select New from the Selection menu). For example, to add a link station for a port, select the port and click on the New button.
Delete a resource: Select the resource and click on the Delete button (or select Delete from the Selection menu).
View or modify the configuration for any resource: Select the resource and click on the Properties button (or select Properties from the Selection menu).
Get status information for any resource: Select the resource and click on the Status button (or select Status from the Selection menu).
Copy the configuration for any resource: Select the resource and click on the Copy button (or select Copy from the Selection menu).

In addition, you can choose specific configuration tasks for the node from the Services menu, control logging and tracing from the Diagnostics menu, and view or modify user and application resources by selecting one of the items on the Windows menu.

Resource Items

The layout of the resources in a window shows the relationships among them.

If an item has one or more child items associated with it, an Expand button or Contract button appears next to it. An Expand button indicates that the associated child items are hidden. You can click on the Expand button to show them. A Contract button indicates that the child items are shown. You can click on the Contract button to hide them. If an item has neither button next to it, the item has no associated child resources.

For example, a link station is associated with a particular port. In the Connectivity pane of the Node window, the link station is displayed below its parent port, along with all other link stations associated with that port. The port is always displayed, but you can choose whether the list of associated link stations is shown or hidden. Similarly, link stations with a list of associated LUs can be expanded to show the LUs, or contracted to hide them.

A parent resource must always be configured before its child resources, and deleting the parent resource causes all its child resources to be deleted.

Tool Bar Buttons

Resource windows include tool bar buttons to make it easy to perform common functions. A tool bar for CS/AIX is shown in Figure 21.

Figure 21. CS/AIX Tool Bar

View figure.

Not all buttons appear in the tool bars of each resource window. If a button's operation is not valid for the currently selected item (or an operation requires an item to be selected, but none is), the outline of the button is displayed in gray, and the function cannot be selected (the button cannot be pressed). The following buttons can appear on resource windows:

View figure.: Starts the selected item.
View figure.: Stops the selected item.
View figure.: Adds a new resource item. (In the Node window, you add a resource into the selected pane.)
View figure.: Deletes the selected resources.
View figure.: Opens the dialog for the selected item to view or modify the item's configuration.
View figure.: Copies the selected item. Pressing this button opens a dialog whose fields duplicate the configuration of the selected item. Complete the dialog's fields (filling in the new item's name) to add the new resource.
View figure.: Displays the current status of the selected item.

Many resources, such as ports and link stations, cannot be modified while they are active. You can, however, view an active resource's parameters by selecting the resource and clicking on the Properties button to open its dialog, or click on the Status button to view detailed status information for the resource.

Resource Dialogs

Resource dialogs show the current configuration information for the resource. A sample dialog for an LU of types 0-3 is shown in Figure 22.

Figure 22. Sample Dialog

View figure.

Resource dialogs guide you through the configuration process and supply default values whenever possible. For example, when you add a dependent LU, the Motif administration program automatically fills in the LU number field with an available LU number on the link station you specify. If you do not supply a required value, the program presents a message pop-up that indicates the information you need to provide.

Most dialogs provide a Description field; the information you enter there is displayed on the window where the resource is displayed.

If you are permitted to change the information in a resource dialog (when you are adding a new item or modifying an existing one), the dialog includes OK and Cancel buttons. Press the OK button when you are finished, or the Cancel button to exit without changing the configuration for the resource.

If you cannot change the information in a resource dialog (for example if the resource's configuration cannot be modified while it is active), the dialog includes a Close button instead of an OK button. Click this button when you are finished viewing the information in the dialog.

For context-sensitive help on the dialog, click on the Help button.
Note: The basic Motif dialogs expose only the key configuration fields; CS/AIX supplies default values for advanced fields. To access advanced configuration parameters, click on the Advanced button. If you decide to adjust advanced parameters, complete the basic dialog before opening the advanced dialog, because that dialog can change depending on the values you enter for basic parameters. For information about advanced configuration fields, see the online help for the Motif administration program.

Status Dialogs

When you select a resource and click on the Status button, the Motif administration program shows detailed status information for the resource, as shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23. Sample Status Dialog

View figure.

Status dialogs show information about the current state of the resource. The information is updated dynamically as you view it.

Help Windows

The online help for the Motif administration program provides detailed guidance for each configuration task you need to perform. In particular, task sheets can take you through each step you need to perform in configuring a particular resource. The task sheet for configuring node parameters (always the first step in configuring CS/AIX) is shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24. Sample Help Window

View figure.

Additional help windows are included for each window and dialog, for error messages, and for SNA concepts.

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