Understanding ZENworks for Servers Management Components

Several different components are provided with ZENworks for Servers 3, each of which enables you to manage a different aspect of your network. Separately, these components are all useful tools; however, when you use them together they become an extremely powerful management engine. The first step in taking control of your network using ZENworks for Servers 3 is to understand the components that make up ZENworks for Servers 3 Management Services. The following sections cover the main components of ZENworks for Servers 3 Management Services and give you an idea of how they all fit together.

Introducing Management Site Services

The first ZENworks for Servers 3 Management Service component you need to understand is Management Site Services. Management Site Services is actually a collection of components that are used to create, monitor, and manage a management site. A management site is simply an object in NDS that represents and defines a collection of discovered network objects that together make up a group of resources and services.

Collecting network resources and services together into a single management site allows for easier and more powerful management from a centralized location. The following sections describe the components provided with ZENworks for Servers 3 that are used by Management Site Services.

About Network Discovery

The first component of Management Site Services you need to know about is the network discovery component. Network discovery is the process of determining the topology of your network by actively probing your network, searching for services and devices that support management information bases (MIB). After you collect the information about the topology of your network, it can be used to enable you to display, monitor, and manage your network from the management console.

NOTE

For more information about the management console, see the section later in this chapter called, appropriately enough, "About the Management Console."

The following are the two main pieces of software that make up the network discovery component:

• Discovery software. A group of modules that run on a management server and search the network, discovering devices to build the network topology. This information is stored in the NETXPLOR.DAT file.

• Consolidator software. Software that runs on the ZENworks for Servers 3 management server. It reads data from the NETXPLOR.DAT file, which was created by the discovery software and populates the ZENworks for Servers 3 database.

Topology Mapping

Now that you understand how the ZENworks for Servers 3 database gets populated, you need to understand the best way to access the information. One of the best tools for accessing information about managed sites is topology mapping through the Atlas Manager. The Atlas Manager is made up of software that reads the ZENworks for Servers 3 database and uses it to create an atlas database and software that displays the network topology in an atlas on the management console. (An atlas database is a database that resides on the management server that contains the data used to create the Network Topology view.)

The atlas is a simple view that can be configured to give you the quickest look at your management sites. You can use this atlas of your network topology as a powerful tool to help you monitor your network for heavy usage, outages, and other problems.

About MIB Tools Administration

The next component for ZENworks for Servers 3 Management Site Services you should know about is the MIB tools. ZENworks for Servers 3 includes tools to help you monitor and manage all SNMP devices on your network. The following are the two main MIB tools you use to administer SNMP devices:

• SNMP MIB Compiler. Parses a set of predefined SNMP MIB files written in ASN.1 and SNMP V2 format, stores the compiled files in the ZENworks for Servers 3 database, and updates trap definitions in the alarm template database. The MIB Compiler also enables you to set new SNMP alarm templates into ZENworks for Servers 3 so that the SNMP alarm templates can be recognized and interpreted as alarms.

• SNMP MIB Browser. The MIB Browser takes the compiled MIB and displays the objects in a tree format. The MIB Browser also lets you walk the tree to view and manage the selected MIB objects.

Monitoring SNMP Services

Other components for ZENworks for Servers 3 Management Site Services you need to know about are the SNMP services that run on managed sites to provide information about connectivity and availability of resources and services within the managed group. These services notify the management console whenever the status of what they are monitoring changes. This gives network administrators immediate alarms and information about what is happening on their network.

The following are services that can be monitored by the ZENworks for Servers SNMP agents:

• DNS. Domain Name System

• IP. Internet Protocol

• DHCP. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

• IPX. Internet Packet Exchange

• FTP. File Transfer Protocol

• TFTP. Trivial File Transfer Protocol

• SMTP. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

• SNMP. Simple Network Management Protocol

• NNTP. Network News Transfer Protocol

• HTTP. Hypertext Transfer Protocol

• HTTPS. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

• NFS. Network File System

• Echo. Network Echoes

• Time Service. Network Time Services

Discussing Database Administration

Another important component of Management Site Services is administration of the ZENworks for Servers 3 database. ZENworks for Servers 3 includes a powerful CIM-compliant database on the management server. The database acts as a repository for management site information collected from the network. That information can be displayed or formatted in various ways to provide you with specific information you need to manage your network. The information ZENworks for Servers 3 collects from your network is stored in the following three logical databases:

• Topology database. Contains topology, alarms, and map information.

• Inventory database. Contains server inventory data.

• Policy and Distribution Services database. Logs successes and failures for server policies and Tiered Electronic Distribution components.

Using Alarm Management

Another important component of Management Site Services you should be aware of is the capability to manage network alarms throughout the management site. ZENworks for Servers 3 uses alarms to monitor the state of your network and perform predefined actions when an alarm is detected. Alarms recognized by ZENworks for Servers 3 include SNMP traps, connectivity testing, and threshold profiling.

The ZENworks for Servers 3 alarm management system processes SNMP traps and proprietary alarms and then forwards the alarms to subscribing management consoles. You can configure ZENworks for Servers 3 to perform specific actions on an alarm by specifying the desired action in an alarm disposition. The following are some actions that can be automatically performed:

• Execute a program.

• Send an email notification.

• Create an archive.

ZENworks for Servers 3 alarm management enables you to set specific processed alarms to be forwarded to other ZENworks for Servers 3 management servers. You can also forward unprocessed SNMP traps directly to a target address of third-party enterprise management applications.

Controlling Your Network with Role-Based Services

The role-based services component of ZENworks for Servers 3 Management Site Services gives you very tight and manageable control of your network. ZENworks for Servers 3 uses role-based services, defined in NDS, to organize ZENworks for Servers 3 tasks into roles and to assign scope information to each role. Role-based services enable you to organize your network management by specifying the tasks that each user is authorized to perform.

Reporting

The final component of ZENworks for Servers 3 Management Site Services you should be aware of is the capability to generate and use reports. ZENworks for Servers 3 provides reporting services for the generation of statistical reports. These reports can be displayed on the management consoles or exported to popular database and Web formats.

ZENworks for Servers 3 reports are powerful tools to help you understand the state of your network, resolve network problems, and plan for network growth. The following is a list of reports that can be generated by ZENworks for Servers:

• Health reports. General network health

• Topology reports. Current network configurations

• Alarm reports. List of active alarms

• Server inventory reports. Current server configurations

• Server policies reports. Current server policy information

• TED (Tiered Electronic Distribution) reports. Software distribution information

About Server Management

Now that you understand the components involved in ZENworks for Servers 3 Management Site Services, you need to understand the components specifically for server management. The ZENworks for Servers 3 management components enable you to monitor, configure, and control the managed servers and nodes on your network.

ZENworks for Servers 3 Server Management is made up of SNMP-based server management agents for NetWare and Windows NT/2000 Servers, which provide real-time server performance data and information about server alarms and events to network management consoles.

Valuable information about your NetWare and Windows NT/2000 Server can be gained by selecting one of the following views from a server or node in ConsoleOne:

• Console view. Provides details about the selected server or node. Enables you to display information about the internal components of the node, such as the devices, operating system, and services available.

• Summary view. Provides details about the server performance, such as alarms generated by the server, CPU utilization, and available hard drive space. Enables you to view summary information about other components, such as processors, threads, memory, and volumes.

• Trend view. Displays graphical representations of trend parameters, enabling you to monitor the state of a server over various periods of time. Trend data enables you to track the health status of servers and predict potential problems and be ready for upgrading your server configurations.

ZENworks for Servers 3 Server Management components also enable you to configure your NetWare servers as well as execute frequently used commands from the management console.

Analyzing Traffic

In addition to server management, ZENworks for Servers 3 includes powerful tools to help you manage and analyze LAN traffic. The traffic management component provides traffic analysis services that enable a NetWare or Windows NT/2000 server to monitor all traffic on an Ethernet, token ring, or FDDI network segment.

ZENworks for Servers 3 traffic analysis tools can be used to understand the general health of your network, predict problem areas, and plan for future growth. The following are the tools that make up the ZENworks for Servers 3 traffic analysis component:

• Standard and enterprise-specific RFC 1757 MIB descriptions for remote network monitoring

• Extensions added to NDS, including Remote Network Monitoring (RMON) agent configuration

• Network traffic trending and analysis tools to efficiently manage collected data

• Canned network health report templates for quick report generation

• Integration with topology maps for easy viewing

• Performance threshold configuration and profiling for tighter control

• A view of conversations on network segments and utilization for problem analysis

• Packet capture tools that collect and display LAN packets for problem analysis

Information About Remote Control

Another important component included with ZENworks for Servers 3 is remote control. The remote control component enables remote server management through the management console.

The remote control agent is installed on each NetWare or Windows NT/2000 Server that you want to remotely control from the management console. The remote control agent ensures that remote control sessions are secure. This enables you to access the NetWare server console or the Windows NT/2000 Server and perform maintenance operations without having to be sitting at the machine, thus saving you a considerable amount of time.

Viewing the Server Inventory

Another important component included with ZENworks for Servers 3 is the server inventory. The server inventory component enables you to quickly view the complete hardware and software inventory of all managed servers. ZENworks for Servers 3 server inventory also enables you to query the centralized database of the managed servers to quickly obtain specific information you require.

The server inventory is created by scan programs that identify each managed server by its distinguished name and the tree name and query the server for data. After the scan data is collected, the scan program sends the scan data report to the inventory components on the inventory server. It is stored in the inventory database on the inventory server for later use.

About the Management Console

The most important component of ZENworks for Servers 3 management services you should become familiar with is the management console. The management console provides access to all the other components, providing you with a single, centralized location from which to manage and monitor your network.

ZENworks for Servers 3 provides several snap-ins to the Novell ConsoleOne management console under the ZENworks for Servers namespace. These snap-ins provide access and control to the ZENworks for Servers 3 management services. (See the next section for information of how to get the most out of your ZENworks for Servers 3 management console.)

Using the ZENworks for Servers 3 Console

Now that you understand the components that are involved with ZENworks for Servers 3 network management services, you need to get an understanding of how to access, control, and monitor them. ZENworks for Servers 3 includes several snap-ins to the ConsoleOne management tool, which expand its capabilities. This section covers how to use the ConsoleOne snap-ins to manage and monitor your network.

Navigating the ZENworks for Servers 3 Namespace

The first thing you need to understand about the ZENworks for Servers 3 console is how to navigate around the ZENworks for Servers 3 namespace. After ZENworks for Servers 3 management services are installed, you have new objects that can be accessed from the main Tree Browse screen in ConsoleOne.

Your network and resources are organized in the namespace as a collection of objects that are arranged in the following specific hierarchy of objects:

• ZENworks for Servers sites object. The ZENworks for Servers namespace container. Resides at the top of the ZENworks for Servers namespace hierarchy. Expanding this object in ConsoleOne displays a list of management sites.

• ZENworks for Servers site. Represents a ZENworks for Servers 3 management server. It represents an NDS object that defines a collection of discovered objects that collectively make up a group of services. Expanding the site displays an atlas for the services located there.

• Atlas. A container object for all objects that were created during network discovery. Expanding the atlas can show a WAN page, an Area page, and an Islands page, including segments.

• Segments. Network objects that are included within the selected atlas. Expanding a segment reveals a list of server and node objects.

• Nodes. Individual network entity. Expanding a node shows you a set of details that describe the node.

• Node details. List of system internal components in one of the following three categories: Devices, Operating System, or Services. You can drill down into the server configuration categories further to display more details about the internal components of the server, such as CPUs, installed software, volumes, kernel, and adapters.

Setting ZENworks for Servers Console Options

Now that you understand the hierarchy of the ZENworks for Servers namespace in ConsoleOne and can navigate through it to find objects, you need to understand what options you have for managing those objects. From ConsoleOne, you can view objects in many different ways, set properties for the object, and perform specific actions on the object. The following sections describe the various options available from the ZENworks for Servers 3 management console.

Understanding Console Views

The first console option you should be aware of is console views. Views are basically different ways of looking at information. ZENworks for Servers 3 provides several different views designed to help you efficiently manage and monitor your network resources. The following is a list of the views that you will be using most often to manage your network:

• Atlas. Provides a graphical representation of the discovered network topology, the physical location of nodes, node configuration, and alarm information. This is the easiest view to use to quickly understand the status of your managed network sites.

• Console. Displays the objects contained in the selected container object. This is the view to use to navigate the ZENworks for Servers 3 site. It enables you to quickly expand and shrink containers.

• Trend. Provides a graphical representation of current and historical trend data by hour, day, week, month, or year. Use this view to monitor network trends, which will help you determine who is using the server, which server is used heavily, troubleshoot network problems, determine how to balance loads across multiple servers, and plan strategies for how to deploy new network resources.

• Active Alarms. Provides a tabular display of alarm statistics for all current alarms received from segments or devices, per management site. Use this view to determine any current network alerts because it is updated whenever a new alarm occurs on the network.

• Alarm History. Provides a tabular display of all archived alarms, including the handling status of each alarm.

• Summary. Provides a tabular view about the selected object's current configuration. The summary view for a server object, for example, displays information about NLMs, memory usage, adapters, network interfaces, disks and disk controllers, volumes, queues, users, connections, open files, and alarms, as well as installed software.

ZENworks for Servers 3 provides several other views for specific objects in addition to the main views already listed. If you select a memory object, for example, you can select a Disk Cache view that displays utilization for disk cache memory. Similarly, if you select a connections object, you can display an Open Files view that displays information and statistics for the connections on the server.

Setting ZENworks for Servers 3 Properties

ZENworks for Servers 3 provides property pages as well as views for its objects. The property pages enable you to modify settings for each individual object. They are accessed the same way other properties pages are in ConsoleOne: you right-click them and select Properties. ZENworks for Servers 3 provides property pages at the following levels in its hierarchy:

• Site level. Enables you to edit global properties, including alarm dispositions, ZENworks for Servers 3 database settings, SNMP settings, MIB pool entries, and health report profiles.

• Server level. Enables you to modify SNMP settings for the managed server.

Performing Actions on Managed Objects

Another option available on some managed objects in the ZENworks for Servers 3 management console is the capability to perform an action on the object. The following is a list of actions that you can perform on ZENworks for Servers 3 objects:

• Capture packets to and from the server.

• Browse the MIB database for the server.

• Ping the server's DNS name, IP address, or IPX address.

• Perform a connectivity test on the server.

• Open a Remote Management Session to load/unload NLMs, mount/dismount Volumes, and so on.

• Restart the server.

• Shut down the server.

Managing Console Views

One of the most powerful and important things you should be aware of in the ZENworks for Servers 3 management console is the capability to manage the console views. From the management console, you have different options to manage each view based on which of the following types of view it is:

• Tabular. Information is organized and displayed in table format. The Console, Active Alarms, and Alarm History are tabular views.

• Graphical. The Atlas, Trend, and Summary are graphical views. (The Summary view also contains tabular elements.)

The following sections cover the many options available for you to customize and work with the views to provide you with the most up-to-date and easiest-to-read information about your network.

Changing the Appearance of a View

One of the most useful things you should know about console views is how to modify their appearance. Modifying the appearance can help you make the view easier to read. The following sections cover how to use the ZENworks for Servers 3 console to modify the font, add grid lines, and display the view title.

Changing the Display Font

You may want to change the font in a tabular view to be a different size. If, for example, item names are too long and do not fit in your columns or the columns are too wide for your screen, you may want to make the font size smaller. You may also want to make the font larger to make it more readable.

Follow these steps to change the font used to display text on a tabular view's headings or rows:

1. Click View Settings Appearance. The Appearance dialog box appears.

2. Select either the Header Font button or the Row Font button. The Fonts dialog box appears.

3. Select a font from the Font Name list.

4. If you want the font to be displayed in bold or italic, select the appropriate check box.

5. Select the font size from the Size drop-down list.

6. Click the OK button to close the Fonts dialog box.

7. Click the OK button to close the Appearance dialog box.

8. If you want to save the changes you've made to the view, click View Save.

Customizing Grid Lines

Although the views displayed by ZENworks for Servers 3 do not contain grid lines, by default, you may want to add them to make the view more readable. Follow these steps to display horizontal and/or vertical grid lines:

1. Click View Settings Appearance. The Appearance dialog box appears.

2. Select one of the following grid line styles from the Style drop-down list: No Grid Lines (default), Horizontal Grid Lines Only, Vertical Grid Lines Only, or Vertical and Horizontal Lines.

3. If you want to select a color for the grid lines, click the Color button.

4. Select the color you want to use for the grid lines by using one of the three tab pages; then click OK to close the Color Chooser dialog box.

5. Click OK to close the Appearance dialog box.

6. If you want to save the changes you've made to the view, click View Save.

Displaying the View Title

You may want to display the view name in the frame of your current window in ConsoleOne to help you keep track of where you are within the ZENworks for Servers 3 management console. To display the view title, Click View Show View Title.

Modifying Columns in Tabular View

Another modification you may want to make to a tabular view is to modify its columns to make it more readable or fit more data in. The following are operations you can perform on the columns in a tabular view.

Resizing a Column

To resize a column, follow these steps:

1. Move the mouse pointer to the margin between the columns you want to adjust.

2. When the pointer changes to a sizing arrow, click and drag the column to the width you want.

3. If you want to save the changes you've made, click View Save.

Adding and Removing Columns

To add or remove columns, follow these steps:

1. Click View Settings Column Selector.

2. To add a column, select the column name from the Available Fields list and click the Add button.

3. To remove a column, select the column name from the Show These Fields in This Order list and click the Remove button.

4. Click OK.

5. If you want to save the changes you've made to the view, click View Save.

Changing the Column Order

To change the column order, follow these steps:

1. Click View Settings Column Selector.

2. Select the column you want to move from the Show These Fields in This Order lists and click the Move Up or Move Down button to change the location of the column.

3. Click OK.

4. If you want to save the changes you've made to the view, click View Save.

Limiting Views with Filters

An extremely useful way to manage a tabular view is to filter the entries to limit the amount of information displayed. You can set up simple filters by selecting a single criterion or more complex filters by using several criteria and logical relationships as filters.

Follow these steps to set up a filter to limit entries in a tabular view:

1. Select View Settings Filter.

2. Select the column by which you want to filter alarms from the first drop-down list.

3. Select an operator from the second drop-down list. The operator defines how to constrain the column you've selected to a value for example, equal to, not equal to, greater than, less than, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, contain, or starts with.

4. Select a value for the logical operation set in the previous step.

5. Specify how this filter statement relates to other statements you plan to define by selecting one of the values listed in the fourth drop-down list, described in the following bulleted list.

6. Click OK when you are finished adding filter statements, and the entries in the view will be filtered according to your criteria.

The following is a list of values that can be used to describe the relationships between different filters for views:

• End. Last statement.

• New Row. Adds a new line and you must define a logical relationship between the previous line and the new line.

• Delete Row. Removes the current filter row from the filter, enabling you to remove unwanted filters without starting over.

• And. In the case of a filter statement, both filter statements must be met. In the case of a group of filter statements, the filter statements in both groups must be met.

• Or. In the case of a filter statement, at least one of the filter statements must be met. In the case of a group of filter statements, the filter statements in at least one of the groups must be met.

• New Group. Begins a new group and a new line that is separated from the rest by an additional drop-down list.

NOTE

Filters apply to the current management session only. When you exit the management console, the filters will be cleared.

Sorting Views

Another useful way to manage a tabular view is to sort the entries. Sorting the entries can be very useful to organize the data obtained from the view.

You can sort the entries based on a single column by simply double-clicking the header of the column you want to use. Double-clicking once sorts the entries in descending order, with the most recent entries first. Double-clicking again sorts the entries in ascending order, with the oldest entries first.

You can also sort a view based on multiple columns by following these steps:

1. Click View Settings Sort.

2. Select the first column by which you want the entries sorted from the Sort Items By field.

3. Indicate whether you want the entries sorted in ascending or descending order.

4. Select the second column by which you want entries sorted from the Then By field, and then select the ascending or descending sort order.

5. Repeat Step 4 for each subsequent column for which you want entries sorted.

6. Click OK to finish and the entries are sorted based on your criteria.

Exporting a View

At any time, you can export a view to a more useful format. This can be useful to put the information on an internal Web site, to store it in a database, or to use it in a document. The following is a list of formats to which ZENworks for Servers 3 views can be exported if you select File Export in ConsoleOne:

• HTML

• Comma-delimited .CVS file

• Tab-delimited text

• Blank-space-delimited text

Managing Custom Views

ZENworks for Servers 3 enables you to save and use any customizations that you may have done to views. You should customize ZENworks for Servers 3 views to meet your networks needs and organize them by using the steps in the following sections.

Saving a View

At any time, you can save the changes that you have made to a view by selecting the view you want to save and selecting View Saving Save from the main menu. You can also save the view to a different name by selecting View Saving Save As and entering a descriptive name.

Deleting/Renaming Customized Views

If you save several views, you may need to delete some or at least rename them to make view management more structured and easier to understand. Follow these steps to either delete or rename a view in ConsoleOne:

1. Click View Saving Edit Saved Views.

2. To rename a custom view, select it from the list and click the Rename button.

3. To delete a custom view, select it from the list and click the Delete button.

4. When you are finished managing the custom views, click the Close button.