= AST RESEARCH, INC. TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1380 12-20-95 = Percepta Server Management Software This is an informational bulletin. This bulletin contains information on the following subjects: 1.0 Percepta 1.21 Host Agents Overview 2.0 What's new with the 1.21 Host Agents 3.0 Documentation associated with this release 4.0 Percepta Host Agents for Windows NT servers 5.0 Percepta Host Agents for Novell NetWare servers 6.0 How to obtain the Host Agent software 7.0 Management Console Software Reference 1.0 Percepta 1.21 Host Agents Overview. The part number for the Percepta 1.21 Host Agents is: 911580-036. The Percepta Host Agents are installed on every AST server that you want to monitor remotely with the appropriate Percepta Management Console services. The Percepta 1.21 Host Agents diskette contains agents for Novell NetWare and Windows NT Server Operating Systems. Host Agents for Windows NT Server systems were introduced in the previous Percepta 1.20 Host Agents. 1.1 Novell NetWare systems The NetWare Host Agents can be installed on the Premium SE or MTE servers, the Manhattan G, Manhattan P or V servers. The agents run with NetWare 3.12 and 4.x servers. 1.2 Windows NT Server systems The Windows NT Host Agents can be installed on the Manhattan G, P and V servers only. 2.0 What's new in the Percepta 1.21 Host Agents The 1.21 release includes a DPT PCI Disk Array Controller agent for Windows NT systems not included in the 1.20 release. There are some system requirements for this agent to work properly, as described below. The Novell NetWare Agents have not changed in functionality. 3.0 Documentation associated with this release A Percepta Users Manual is available on the BBS. The file is called USERMAN.TXT. Refer to this manual especially for the Windows NT Server installation. This has up to date information for your first Percepta installation on a Windows NT Server. It also includes instructions for installation of the NetWare Host Agents. The user manual is included as part of the down-load file for the previous Percepta 1.20 Host Agents (AST part number 911580-035). The new Percepta Users Manual is also included with the Manhattan servers containing the Percepta 1.21 Host Agents. 4.0 Percepta Host Agents for Windows NT Introduction This release contains a complete set of Host Agents for AST servers running the Windows NT Server Operating System. This section contains specific information for your Windows NT server system. Once you install the Windows NT Host Agents, you will be able to view Windows NT servers from your Percepta Management Console. You will also be able to view the Windows NT servers with Novell NMS, if you have installed the Percepta Management console software as a snap-in to NMS. You are encouraged to install the recently released Percepta 1.20 Management Console software on your management workstation for the systems you are monitoring. The existing Percepta 1.12 Management Console software can be used to view the Windows NT server if necessary. 4.1 Installation of Windows NT Host Agents Installing the Host Agents for Windows NT systems is quick and easy. There is a Setup program in the NT subdirectory of the Host Agents Diskette. Run this program only after configuring your NT system. You need to install the NWLink compatible transport, Gateway services for NetWare, TCP/IP, and then configure your SNMP services. This is all described in the User Manual in detail. After configuring your NT system, run the setup program. Make sure you reboot after the installation is complete for the new Host Agents to take effect. Your Windows NT HAL may need to be updated on dual processor systems. See the section regarding this in "Dependencies" below. Percepta employs the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). SNMP is a component of TCP/IP internetworking services in Windows NT. TCP/IP is not installed as a part of the Windows NT Express Setup. However, it is required by the Percepta Host Agents. To install SNMP services refer to the Percepta Users Manual. After SNMP services are installed, you must set the SNMP configuration. The SNMP configuration specifies the communities and trap destinations. After the Host Agents are installed, the setup program will force the SNMP Services to be "loaded on boot", because the services module called ASTSNMP needs to be loaded by the SNMP services. If you choose to change the SNMP configuration to a manual load, be sure to load the SNMP services yourself after the system boots in order to activate the AST Host Agents. The setup program makes standard software installation entries in the NT registry as the Percepta software is added by using an AST registry key. 4.2 SNMP Services errors On Windows NT-Server systems, the Percepta setup program installs all of the AST host agents, and makes entries in the registry for the loading of the SNMP agents. If your system does not have a DPT disk array included, you should edit the registry and remove the ASTDAD agent from the SNMP agent list. This will avoid unexpected entries in the event log describing errors from the ASTDAD agent and the ASTDFS agent. 4.3 Dependencies 4.3.1 DPT 3224 Disk Array Controller This release includes agents for the AST PM3224 PCI Disk Array Controller for Novell NetWare systems and for Windows NT Server systems. There are several things to be aware of regarding the agent for the Windows NT server. If you already have a DPT PCI Disk Array Controller, you will need to upgrade your system with the latest DPT Firmware and DPT Storage Manager. This software is available on the AST BBS. This software is also available with Manhattan G, V and P systems which include the Percepta 1.21 Host Agents. The following are the minimum revision levels required. DPT Component Minimum Revision Level DPT 3224 Firmware 7CH DPT Storage Manager 1E9 DPTENGNT.DLL v1.F0 When the DPTENG loads in the Windows NT server, it will check for the minimum firmware level. If this minimum is not found, the DPTENG program will unload. When the Percepta Disk Array Agent loads, it will check for the minimum DPTENG revision level. If it fails to find the minimum revision level, the Agent will unload. When either program unloads, no DPT Host Agent services will be provided. When either the DPTENG program or the Disk Array Agent fail to load, an entry will be made in the Windows NT Event log. The minimum revision checking will prevent the use of older firmware and DPT software which may exhibit failures in the Windows NT Server when disk array configuration information is obtained by the Storage Manager and the DPTENGNT.DLL. The new Storage manager software version 1.01 (AST p/n 911709-036, -037, -038, and -039) can be obtained from the AST BBS (file names 11709036.EXE, 11709037.EXE, 11709038.EXE, and 11709039.EXE). For additional information on the DPT PM3224 PCI Storage Manager Utilities, see Software Bulletin # 0207 on AST's BBS. 4.3.2 Dual Processor systems and the Windows NT Server HAL If you have a dual processor system, the setup program may need to update the dual processor HAL.DLL file on the Windows NT server. Before the installation of the Host Agents, the setup program checks to see if the HAL needs to be updated. If the HAL needs to be updated, a pop-up box appears during installation. If you select , your HAL.DLL file is updated with the version of the HAL provided by Microsoft in hotfix #10326 and the setup program continues the installation. If you select , the installation is not completed. 4.3.3 Finding Windows NT Servers The Percepta Management Console is only used in the stand alone environment, for example without NMS. The Percepta Management console software detects AST servers advertising Percepta services. These are tabulated in the NetWare bindery. The AST servers found are listed in the Percepta Server Manager console main window for your selection. Because Windows NT servers do not normally include bindery information, you may not be able to find the Windows NT Server in the server list from the Percepta Server Manager, in some installations. The Windows NT Server must be run in a network where at least one Novell server is running to provide the bindery services. If the NT Host Agents are run in a pure Windows NT network environment, the Percepta Management console launcher will not locate the NT server. In this case, you may install the File and Print services for Netware on your NT system. Once this Windows NT service is installed, the Percepta Management Console will find the Windows NT server. 4.3.4 Plug-n-Play Plug and Play information is not available for display by Percepta on Manhattan G systems. You can view Plug-n-Play information on Manhattan P and V systems from the Management Console. The Plug-n-Play information is gathered by the Windows NT Host Agents when the SNMP services are started on the server. 4.3.5 Community Names The Windows NT operating system does not include the concept of individual community names for Monitor and Control operations like NetWare has. Instead, Windows NT provides community names associated with groups. When you configure your SNMP services from the Control Panel of the NT Server, you must specify the community names you want the Management Console to use. Refer to the Percepta User Manual for complete instructions. To provide the best security for your Windows NT server, you must select the "security" option when you set up your SNMP configuration. In the Security setup window, make sure you select "Only accept SNMP Packets from These Hosts". You then enter the IP or IPX addresses of the Workstations that you want to allow the ability to make configuration changes or to view Percepta information. The User Manual describes the steps to set up your Windows NT server. Windows NT also includes a method of specifying multiple trap communities. This is not to be confused with Monitor and Control community names within Novell NetWare. A Trap Community is a list of workstations which should receive the AST Host Agent SNMP traps. This is similar to the Novell NetWare environment where you modify the file called "TRAPTARG.CFG" to specify the workstations you want to receive the Percepta alerts. 5.0 Percepta Host Agents for Novell NetWare servers 5.1 Consistent revision control This Percepta 1.21 release contains updated NetWare agents with a consistent revision control for ease of determining if the Host Agents are up to date. 5.2 ASTCMUPD Program The program in the NetWare subdirectory of the distribution diskette called ASTCMUPD.EXE is a CMOS memory program. After installation, this program is run by the server each time the server is booted. This program must be called from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the server before NetWare is loaded. The revision of this program was changed from 2.00 to 1.21 in this release. The ASTCMUPD program will now match the general release of the Host Agents, rather than track a separate revision. 6.0 How to obtain the Host Agent software (AST p/n 911580-036) File 11580036.EXE can be found on AST's BBS (817) 230-6850. AST's BBS supports modem speeds up to 28.8k bps. The above file will also be posted on: CompuServe Go ASTSUPPORT AST Worldwide Web Site http://www.ast.com Once you download the compressed file, run the 11580036.EXE program to decompress the files. Run the README batch file, then run the EXTRACT batch file to create the Host Agents Diskette. For additional information on the Percepta Host Agents software, see Software Bulletin # 0222 on all AST's On-Line forums. 7.0 Management Console Software Reference For reference purposes, the following Management Console software packages may be used with the new Host Agents. This software is available on CompuServe and AST's BBS. Percepta 1.12 for SE/MTE 911792-031, -032 and -033 Percepta 1.20 for Manhattan G 911281-035 and -036 Percepta 1.20 for Manhattan P/V 911579-037 and -038 Each one of the Percepta Management Console services for the different server types is installed on the workstation that you want to set up as your Percepta Management console. You have to install all the management console software if you want to monitor all types of AST servers. When you click on the Percepta icon, the Percepta Server Manager window is launched. This Window includes a list of all AST servers found. If you do not install all of the Management Console services, some servers will not be able to be viewed, even though all AST servers are indicated in the server list. Normally when you click on a server from the list, the appropriate Percepta Management Console services are launched. Verify that the Management Console services are installed. Only one instance of the Percepta Server Manager window can be launched. If you are using Percepta and you want to start another server you may notice that clicking on the Percepta icon does nothing. This is because the current Server Manager window is minimized. You can however launch several views of several different servers from the Server Manager window. SYSTEMS AFFECTED AST PART NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION All Manhattan P/V/G systems.