C H A P T E R  2

Hostview

This chapter describes Hostview, a GUI front-end to SSP commands.

Hostview enables you to perform administration operations such as:

If you want to run Hostview, you only need to run one instance for a given platform. However, it is possible to run more than one instance simultaneously (perhaps on different workstations) to work with the same platform.

If you have logged into the SSP environment from a remote login session, make sure your DISPLAY environment variable is set to your current display and that your xhost settings enable the SSP to display on your workstation (see xhost (1) in the Solaris X Window System Reference Manual ).


procedure icon  To Start Up Hostview From a Remote Login Session

1. Enable external hosts to display on your local workstation:

% xhost +

2. Log in to the SSP as user ssp and type :

ssp% hostview -display machine_name:0.0 &


procedure icon  To Start Up Hostview From the Workspace Menu Locally on the SSP

single-step bullet From the Workspace Menu (right mouse button click), select SSP, and then select Hostview.

This is available only when you use the SSP console, not when you use a remote login session to the SSP.


procedure icon  To Start Up Hostview Under CDE From the Front Panel

single-step bullet Use one of the following methods:


Hostview Main Window

When you start Hostview, the main window is displayed ( FIGURE 2-1 ).

FIGURE 2-1 Hostview Main Window

The menu bar on the main window provides the commands that you use to control the platform. The commands are described in Main Window Menu Bar .

The buttons on the main window (Power, Temperature, and Fans) bring up status details. The buttons are described in Main Window Buttons .

The rest of the main window provides a graphical view of the platform boards and buses. The system boards are named SB0 through SB15, and their processor numbers are shown. The control boards are named CB0 and CB1. The support boards are named CSB0 and CSB1. The buses are named ABUS0 through ABUS3, DBUS0, and DBUS1.

The system boards along the top of the display are arranged in the order they appear on the front side of the physical platform. The system boards along the bottom of the display are arranged in the order they appear on the back side of the physical platform.

If a system board is shown with no outline ( FIGURE 2-2 ), the board is not part of a domain and is not currently selected.

FIGURE 2-2 Unselected System Board (Domain independent)

If a system board is part of a domain ( FIGURE 2-3 ), a colored outline surrounds it. The boards within a given domain all have outlines of the same color.

FIGURE 2-3 Unselected System Board (Domain dependent)

A black outline around the domain color outline indicates that a board is selected ( FIGURE 2-4 ). (There are several reasons why you select a board in Hostview. For example, you could select one or more boards, and then create a domain that is based on those boards.)

FIGURE 2-4 Selected System Board (Domain dependent)

The processors within the boards are numbered 0 through 63. The processor symbols (diamond, circle, and so forth) indicate the state of the processors and are described in Main Window Processor Symbols .


Selecting Items in the Main Window

You can select one or more boards in the Hostview main window. You can also select one domain in the main window. You must select a set of boards prior to performing certain operations, such as creating a domain.


Main Window Menu Bar

The items on the main Hostview menu are described in .

TABLE 2-1 Hostview Menu Items

Menu

Submenu Items

Description

File

SSP Logs

Displays a window that shows the SSP messages for a domain or for the platform. For more information, see SSP Log Files .

Quit

Terminates Hostview.

Edit

Blacklist File

Enables you to specify boards and CPUs to be blacklisted.

Control

Power

Displays a window that enables you to use the power (1M) command. See To Power Components On or Off From Within Hostview .

Bringup

Displays a window that enables you to run bringup (1M) on a domain. See To Bring up a Domain From Within Hostview .

Fan

Displays a window that enables you to run the fan (1M) command to control the fans within the platform.

Configuration

Board

Enables you to attach and detach system boards. This feature is described in the Sun Enterprise 10000 Dynamic Reconfiguration User Guide.

Domain

Provides a menu with several choices. The menu choices enable you to create domains, remove domains, rename domains, obtain the status of domains, and view the history of domains. A domain consists of one or more system boards running the same operating system kernel. Domains function independently of each other. Each domain can carry its own workload and has its own log messages file. For more information, see To Create Domains From Within Hostview and To Remove Domains From Within Hostview .

Terminal

netcontool

Displays a window that provides a graphical interface to the netcon (1M) command, enabling you to open a network console window for a domain. This menu item is equivalent to executing the netcontool (1M) command. See Using netcon(1M) .

Connect to SSP

Provides menu choices that enable you to display an SSP Window in xterm , dtterm , cmdtool , or shelltool format with a platform or domain as its host. Select a domain (by selecting any system board within that domain) before choosing this option.

Connect to Domain

Provides menu choices that enable you to remotely log in to the selected platform or domain in an xterm , dtterm , cmdtool , or shelltool window. Select a domain (by selecting any system board within that domain) before choosing this option.

View

All Domains

Displays the boards within all domains, as well as any boards that are not part of a domain. (A board can be present without being part of a domain, although a board cannot be used when it is not part of a domain.)

Individual Domains

When you select an individual domain, only the boards within that domain are displayed. Note that the color of the outline used to designate a given domain is also used as the background color for that domain in the menu. The system board numbers for the boards that belong to each domain are shown in square brackets.

Help

topic

Provides online help information on several topics.



Help Window

When you choose a topic from the Help menu, the Hostview - Help window is displayed ( FIGURE 2-5 ).

FIGURE 2-5 Hostview Help Window

You can select the desired topic in the upper pane. The corresponding help information is displayed in the lower pane.


Main Window Buttons

The main Hostview window contains the buttons described below. If an out-of-boundary condition exists or an error has occurred, one or more of these buttons turn red.

The Power button ( FIGURE 2-6 ) displays the Power Control and Status window, which enables you to view the power status for the platform. See To Power Components On or Off From Within Hostview .

FIGURE 2-6 Power Button

The Temperature button ( FIGURE 2-7 ) displays the Thermal Status window, which enables you to view the temperature status for the boards and components within the platform. See To Monitor Thermal Conditions From Within Hostview .

FIGURE 2-7 Temperature Button

The Fan button ( FIGURE 2-8 ) displays the Fan Status window, which enables you to view the status of the fans within the platform. See To Monitor Fans From Within Hostview .

FIGURE 2-8 Fan Button

When certain error conditions occur, the Failure button ( FIGURE 2-9 ) turns red. If you click a red Failure button, a window is displayed showing the error condition(s) that have occurred.

FIGURE 2-9 Failure Button

describes the types of error conditions that are trapped by this mechanism.

TABLE 2-2 Error Conditions

Error

Description

Host panic recovery in progress

The operating system on a domain has failed and is recovering.

Heartbeat failure recovery in progress

The SSP was not receiving updated platform or domain information as expected.

Arbitration stop recovery in progress

A parity error or other fatal error has occurred, and the domain is recovering. See arbitration stop in the glossary.



Main Window Processor Symbols

In the main window, the shape and background color of a processor symbol indicate the status of that processor. For example, a diamond on a green background indicates the processor is running the operating system.

lists the shapes and what the processor is running for each shape.

TABLE 2-3 Processor Symbol Shapes

Shape

Processor running

Operating system

hpost (1M)

download_helper

OBP

?

Unknown program


lists the possible colors for processor symbols and the processor state indicated by each color.

TABLE 2-4 Processor Color Scheme

Color

State

Green

Running

Maroon

Exiting

Yellow

Prerun (The OS is currently being loaded.)

Blue

Unknown

Black

Blacklisted (The processor is unavailable to run programs or diagnostics.)

Red

Redlisted (The processor is unavailable to run programs or diagnostics and its state may not be changed.)

White

Present but not configured (The processor is unavailable, but not blacklisted or redlisted. One example is a board that has been hot-swapped in, but it has not yet been attached to the operating system.)



Hostview Resources

In the Hostview main window, boards that are in the same domain have the same color outline. If you want to change the domain colors or if your workstation does not use the default colors supported by Hostview, you can configure the colors used for each domain. Put the following resources in your $HOME/.Xdefaults file and modify the specified colors using valid color names:

Hostview*domainColor0: white
Hostview*domainColor1: orange
Hostview*domainColor2: yellow
Hostview*domainColor3: pink
Hostview*domainColor4: brown
Hostview*domainColor5: red
Hostview*domainColor6: green
Hostview*domainColor7: violet
Hostview*domainColor8: purple
Hostview*domainColor9: mediumaquamarine
Hostview*domainColor10: yellowgreen
Hostview*domainColor11: maroon
Hostview*domainColor12: cyan
Hostview*domainColor13: darkgoldenrod
Hostview*domainColor14: navyblue
Hostview*domainColor15: tan

You can use the showrgb (1) command (for details on this command, see the Solaris X Window System Reference Manual ) to list the valid domain color names on your display workstation. If you specify an invalid domain color in the .Xdefaults file, an error is generated and the following occurs:


Hostview Performance Considerations

Each instance of Hostview requires up to 10 Mbytes of the available swap space in the SSP. Before running multiple copies of Hostview, make sure the SSP has sufficient swap space available. For example, if you plan to run three instances of Hostview, make sure you have at least 30 Mbytes of swap space.


SSP Log Files

The SSP processes log, informational, warning, and error messages to a variety of log files.

Messages for the platform that are not specific to a domain are logged in the file:

$SSPLOGGER/messages

If you have a spare SSP, note that messages logged in the platform message file on the main SSP and any domain messages are also logged on the spare SSP.

Messages for a particular domain are logged in the file:

$SSPLOGGER/domain_name/messages

where domain_name is the host name of the domain for which the error occurred.

The SSP environment variables, such as SSPLOGGER , are described in Environment Variables .

The message format and logging level are specified in the $SSPLOGGER/.logger and the /etc/syslog.conf files on the SSP. Do not change the default values in these files unless your service provider instructs you to do so.



Note Note - During installation of the Solaris operating environment on a domain, the domain /etc/syslog.conf file is modified so that system messages are routed to the SSP /var/adm/messages file and the domain
/var/adm/messages
file.




procedure icon  To View a messages File From Within Hostview

1. Select the appropriate board.

2. Choose SSP Logs from the File menu.

The SSP Logs window is displayed ( FIGURE 2-10 ).

FIGURE 2-10 SSP Logs Window

The Domain Name field shows the name of the domain that you selected. The messages file is displayed in the main panel of the window.