Chapter 36. System and Network Administration: Final Thoughts

   

Chapter Syllabus

36.1 Routine Uses of a Network

36.2 Using syslog over a Network

36.3 Network Performance Monitoring

36.4 Routine Tasks

Computer networks provide many benefits to common users as well as system administrators. For a common user , it is very easy to use resources such as network printers and the facility of remote login. Users can also collaborate with others more conveniently through file transfer and electronic messaging. For system administrators, a network makes many system administration and troubleshooting tasks more convenient . You can set up a central software installation server from which you can install applications and patches to other systems on the network without any need to move installation media from system to system. The remote login facilitates logging into a distant HP-UX system to carry out maintenance or troubleshooting tasks. You can also use the syslog facility to collect system-generated messages from all hosts on a network to a central management server, where different alarms can be generated in case of any problems with the hosts on the network. Central backup and restore is another important system administration task that is done over the network to provide efficient unattended routine backup of many hosts .

You have used System Administration Manager (SAM) for many tasks related to local system administration. It can also be used for multiple system administration on a network. The Run SAM on Remote Systems area in SAM is used to configure and manage other systems that use SAM. When you go into this area for the first time, there is no entry for any other host. You can use Add System in the Actions menu to add hosts that you want to manage remotely using SAM. This is a very important feature with which you can administer any number of systems from a central management server. All this is made possible by the presence of a network.

Through the years , the use of networking has developed a new culture in the computer user community, and many users cannot think of living without being connected to a network. Business needs are growing more and more. Larger networks using high-capacity interconnection media are becoming more common in the corporate sector. Emergence of larger and faster networks and the dependence of business on network availability has made the job of network administrators more important. Today you are not only concerned with the availability of a network but also how to use it more efficiently and keep it operational. Network troubleshooting and network performance monitoring has become an important network administration task to enhance network availability. Like other network operating systems, a number of utilities are available on HP-UX that can be used for monitoring network activity and troubleshooting network problems.

To manage complex networks, where hundreds of hosts are present in each participating LAN, you need to have specially designed network management tools. One of the most important products used for network management is HP OpenView Network Node Manager. It has many advanced features, such as network discovery and event correlation that can be used to locate network problems quickly. It can inform you about network events in the initial stage and can also be used to trigger certain actions when an event occurs.

This chapter starts with a list of operations that are performed on a network on a daily basis. An introduction to syslogd is presented next . Then you will see how you can monitor network performance. In the last part of the chapter an introduction to routine system administration tasks is presented. The routine system administration tasks like deleting and trimming files on many hosts can be performed easily using SAM over a network.

This chapter does not contain any end questions, as the material presented here is not a part of the HP-UX certification exam.


   
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HP Certified
HP Certified: HP-UX System Administration
ISBN: 0130183741
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2000
Pages: 390
Authors: Rafeeq Rehman

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