Solaris Management Console[tm]: General FAQ

Solaris Management Console Upgrades

• What do I need to do before upgrading to a Solaris 8 01/01 or later update, which contains Solaris Management Console 2.0 or later?
• What if I neglected to remove Solaris Management Console 1.x before upgrading to a Solaris 8 01/01 or later update?
• What version of Java is required?

Solaris Management Console Server Issues

• What are the sequence of steps in the server startup?
• Server gives conflicting status, or just doesn't seem to work.  How can I fix it?

General Solaris Management Console Issues

Starting the console gives "can't open toolbox" error

Is there a tutorial I can read to learn about Solaris Management Console?

Using Solaris Management Console to manage LDAP

Software Available for System Administration

Tables in the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration list management tools available in various Solaris releases, including Solaris 8 update releases.

Solaris Management Console Upgrades

IMPORTANT: Previous Solaris Management Console versions are not compatible with Solaris Management Console 2.x. Therefore, before upgrading to a Solaris 8 01/01 or later update, you must first uninstall Solaris Management Console 1.x.

Solaris Management Console 1.x software may exist on your machine if you installed:

• the SEAS 2.0 overbox
• the SEAS 3.0 overbox
• the Solaris 8 Admin Pack

• Run /usr/bin/prodreg and perform a full uninstall of Solaris Management Console.
• Remove the following pkgs using pkgrm.

SUNWmcman, SUNWmcapp, SUNWmcsvr, SUNWmcsvu, SUNWmc, SUNWmcc, SUNWmcsws

If you did not uninstall Solaris Management Console 1.0, 1.0.1, or 1.0.2 before you upgraded, you have to remove all the Solaris Management Console 1.x packages. It is critical that you use pkgrm for package removal, instead of /usr/bin/prodreg and you need to carefully follow the order of package removal. Follow these steps:

1. su root
2. pkginfo | grep "Solaris Management Console" | grep -v "2.*" | awk '{print $2}'


The package names in the output will identify the Solaris Management Console 1.x pkgs that need to be removed. Remove them using pkgrm.

Note: The packages must be removed exactly in the order specified, below. It is possible that one or more of these pkgs might not exist, depending on the version of Solaris Management Console 1.x that you have installed.

SUNWmcman, SUNWmcapp, SUNWmcsvr, SUNWmcsvu, SUNWmc, SUNWmcc, SUNWmcsws
3. rm -rf /var/sadm/pkg/SUNWmcapp

1. pkgrm SUNWlvmg SUNWlvma SUNWlvmr (Solaris 9 only)
2. pkgrm SUNWrmui SUNWpmgr (Solaris 9 only)
3. pkgrm SUNWdclnt SUNWmga SUNWmgapp
4. pkginfo | grep "Solaris Management Console" | grep "2.*" | awk '{print $2}'


The package names in the output will identify the Solaris Management Console 2.x packages that need to be removed. Remove them using pkgrm.

Note: The packages must be removed exactly in the order specified, below. It is possible that one or more of these packages might have been installed on top of a Solaris Management Console 1.x package of the same name, and so would have had a numerical suffix appended to its package name to indicate a multiple instance (for example: SUNWmc.2 or SUNWmcc.2). Simply use the full package instance name, but the specified order is critical:

SUNWmcdev, SUNWmcex, SUNWwbmc, SUNWmc, SUNWmcc, SUNWmccom
5. With the Solaris Software 1 of 2 CD in your cdrom drive, run the following commands:
cd /cdrom/sol_<N>_<RELEASE>_<ARCH>/s0/Solaris_<N>/Product
 
where <N> is the Solaris version (8, 9), <RELEASE> is the date of the Solaris update (101, 401, 701, ...), and <ARCH> is either sparc or intel


pkgadd -d . SUNWmccom SUNWmcc SUNWmc SUNWwbmc SUNWmcex SUNWmcdev SUNWmgapp SUNWmga SUNWdclnt

pkgadd -d . SUNWpmgr SUNWrmui SUNWlvmr SUNWlvma SUNWlvmg (Solaris 9 only)

For Solaris 8, java 1.2.2_06.  For Solaris 9, java1.4

All Solaris Management Console commands use the following search heuristic to locate a suitable runtime java:

• the JAVA_HOME environment variable
• along your PATH
• /usr/java1.2  (Solaris Management Console 2.0 only)
• /usr/j2se  (Solaris Management Console 2.1 only)

Solaris Management Console Server Issues

Solaris Management Console configuration takes place when the Java-based server daemon is started, but that daemon is started upon the first connection from the console, NOT at system bootup.  Therefore, a small proxy server (called smcboot) must be running to receive that first connection.

The proxy server smcboot is a native program that starts during system boot and sits on the Solaris Management Console server port (default is 898) waiting for a connection from the console. After system boot, you will not see any JVM's running relative to Solaris Management Console. Instead, you will see two instances of smcboot processes - one (the parent) on port 898, and another (the child) on port 5987. On Solaris 9, a 3rd child instance is on port 5988. The parent receives connections and redirects them to one of the children, which sits on them until the parent has completed starting up the real Java-based server and is ready to handle those connections.

When the server is ready, the child redirects those connections back to port 898 and all smcboot instances die. At this point you will see a process that looks something like "/usr/java/bin/../bin/sparc/native_threads/java -Dviper.fifo.path=/tmp/...". This is the JVM running the merged Solaris Management Console/WBEM server.

It is important to remember that for Solaris Management Console 2.0, /etc/init.d/init.wbem start always starts the smcboot process, and not the real server daemon.  The real daemon will start upon the next connection from the console. It is very important not to run /etc/init.d/init.wbem start when smcboot is running.  If you do, you will encounter conflicting server status messages that cannot be resolved by repeated stopping and starting of the server via the init.wbem command.  You can resolve this situation by implementing the workaround described here.

Beginning with Solaris Management Console 2.1 on Solaris 9, you don't have to be so cautious, as init.wbem has been     enhanced such that it will automatically run init.wbem stop if it detects smcboot is running, and will then start the real Java-based server.

Remember that configuration begins when you start the console for the first time, which, in turn, starts the server daemon for the first time.  With Solaris Management Console 2.0, this initial configuration can take a long time, and is the reason why the console appears hung upon that initial launch.  The delay is roughly 5 minutes on an Ultra 60 machine, longer on lower-end machines.  Note: Please be patient and allow the configuration to finish.   With Solaris Management Console 2.1, this delay has been significantly reduced so as to be negligible.

With 2.1, you can view the progress of the configuration by entering the following in a terminal window before starting the console the first time:

# /etc/init.d/init.wbem stop
# /etc/init.d/init.wbem start

Server gives conflicting status, or just doesn't seem to work.  How can I fix it?

• su root
• kill all instances of the smcboot process (if any are running)
• kill all instances of the cimomboot process (if any are running)
• kill all instances of Solaris Management Console-related JVMs. These will contain either "-Dviper.fifo.path=" or "-Djava.security.policy=" in their command paths.
• rm -rf /tmp/smc <port> where <port> is usually 898   (Solaris Management Console 2.0)
• rm -rf /var/run/smc <port> where <port> is usually 898   (Solaris Management Console 2.1)

Effective with 2.1, the above steps should not be required if the server becomes unstable for whatever reason. Instead, you should be able to simply run /etc/init.d/init.wbem stop (which will automatically perform the above steps), followed by /etc/init.d/init.wbem start and the server should be back up.

General Solaris Management Console Issues

The console is trying to open a toolbox that does not exist. This typically occurs when the default preference is to open the last opened toolbox from a previous console session, but that toolbox has been deleted.

To fix this, invoke Console->Preferences, select the "Console" tab, and specify the toolbox you want the console to load by default.

Is there a tutorial I can read to learn about Solaris Management Console?

With 2.1, you can also view the online help without launching the console by running this command from a terminal window:

/usr/j2se/opt/javahelp/demos/bin/hsviewer SMC_hs \
     /usr/sadm/lib/smc/lib/UserGuide.jar

Using Solaris Management Console to manage LDAP

To set up Solaris Management Console 2.1 to be able to manage LDAP users and projects, follow these steps:

1. As root, register the LDAP administrative credentials with Solaris Management Console via the /usr/sadm/bin/dtsetup storeCred command. Note that the "Administrator DN" argument given here is just an example and this will vary based on your LDAP setup.

# /usr/sadm/bin/dtsetup storeCred
Administrator DN:cn=Directory Manager
Password:xxxxxx
Password (confirm):xxxxxx

2. Verify communication with Directory Service via the following command

# /usr/sadm/bin/dtsetup scopes
Getting list of managable scopes...
Scope 1 file:/myhost/myhost
Scope 2 ldap:/myhost/dc=myhost,dc=mycompany,dc=com

The desired LDAP scope should be listed, similar to the example scope listed from the above command.

3.  Create a toolbox for managing LDAP within Solaris Management Console using the scope reported in step 2. You can either create a brand new toolbox, or edit the default toolbox to have LDAP instead of files scope.

To create a copy of the default toolbox (with all the standard Solaris Management Console tools) that can manage your new LDAP scope, do the following:

• At the command line, type /usr/sadm/bin/smc edit to launch the toolbox editor.
• In the left hand side "Navigation" tree, left click the Toolbox URL entry corresponding to "this_computer.tbx." This will usually be the first entry under "Management Tools."
• Now launch the Toolbox URL Wizard by clicking the Action menu, then Properties. Click "Next" until you reach "Step 6 - Management Scope."
• Click the "Override" radio button and select LDAP from the Management Scope drop down menu. Verify that the correct hostname is entered in the server field, and then enter your LDAP domain as listed in step 2 above (in this example, you should enter "dc=myhost,dc=mydomain,dc=com" in the domain field). Now click Finish.
• Make sure you save the newly created toolbox before exiting the editor. Click the "Toolbox" menu, then click "Save As." Make note of the file name and directory you save the toolbox to as you will need this later. Once you have saved the toolbox, exit the editor.

4. Start the console and select your new LDAP toolbox. At the command line, type /usr/sadm/bin/smc. Once the console launches, open the new toolbox by clicking Console->Open Toolbox. Use the "Local Toolbox" tab to browse to and select the .tbx file you created in Step 3. Once you select the file and click "Open", you should be ready to manage your LDAP domain.