This chapter describes how to configure your network resources. To perform most of these tasks, you use panels to enter the necessary information. For some functions, such as monitoring hub resources, creating logical LANs, and assigning resources to networks, you can use a drag and drop.
The following objects can be configured using a drag and drop or by selecting the Configuration menu option:
Configuration information is obtained by polling the Master Management module for the hub and the relevant agents, when required. If you think that the information displayed is not current, click on the Refresh button in the panel. This forces polling of the management module to display current data.
To configure an 8260 Token Ring network, do one of the following:
| Note: | You can only configure the 8260 Token Ring backplane networks using this method. |
A configuration panel is displayed.
You can change the following for the selected network:
The color of the hub in the IBM Hubs Topology is an aggregate of the status for each module, power supply, fan, temperature, and power distribution board (PDB) in the hub. By default, the compound status of each hub is calculated by treating the status of each resource equally:
If you use the Resource Monitor to change the default setting, a hub's compound status is calculated as described in Monitoring Hub Resources. The Resource Monitor allows you to fine tune the way in which the status of individual resources affect the compound hub status.
Hubs can be configured by:
Using the Hub Configuration panel, you can set a hub's label and the location and contact for the Master agent.
| Note: | The Master Agent Location and Master Agent Contact fields accept up to 127 alphanumeric characters. |
This is the only way you can modify the hub label to give the hub a more suitable identifier. The default hub label is the host name of the Management module that was master when the hub was discovered.
When you change the hub label in the Hub Configuration panel, the hub label in the IBM Hubs Topology is automatically updated. The title of the Hub Level view, the Module Level view, and the Hub Configuration panel are also updated.
When you remove a hub from the topology database or clear the database, the hub label reverts to the default.
| Note: | Before changing the hub label in a Hub Configuration panel, do a search on the new label name you want to use to ensure that the name has not already been assigned. |
In a Hub Level view, the color of a module icon represents the module's current status. A module's status is calculated by taking:
To display information about the current value of the ModStatus MIB
variable, click on the module's icon. Information on the ModStatus
MIB variable is displayed in the information area at the bottom of the Hub
level view.
| ModStatus | Color |
|---|---|
| OK (1) | Green |
| FatalError (10) | Red |
| Booting (20) | Yellow |
| PartialFailure (21) | Yellow |
| UnknownStatus (26) | Blue |
| NotInserted (30) | Yellow |
| SpeedMismatch (31) | Yellow |
| TransientError (37) | Yellow |
If Nways Manager-LAN is not coupled with Nways Manager-ATM, the status of each ATM module and port is unknown (blue) in a Hub Level view.
If Nways Manager-LAN is coupled with Nways Manager-ATM, Nways Manager-ATM reports only the status of ATM ports and Nways Manager-LAN reports the status of ATM modules as unknown. Because the status of ATM modules is unknown, the compound status of each ATM module is calculated by taking into account the status of each ATM port on the module. If an ATM module has no port, the status of the module is displayed as unknown (blue).
The status of a module is displayed in the following ways:
| Important: | The compound status of a module is not affected by the settings you configure for children (ports, trunks, banks) in the module using the Resource Monitor. This function is described in Monitoring Hub Resources. |
To configure a module, click on the module icon in a Hub Level view and select Configuration from the context menu. The Module Configuration panel is displayed. The module's slot number and the hub label is displayed in the title bar.
Notes:
The functions which are available for a particular module depend on how the master management module sees the module. There are two special settings for new modules: unrecognized and generically managed. (Generically managed is sometimes called Unknown on an ASCII terminal.)
In a Hub Level view, unmanaged modules are displayed with the icon for Unrecognized Module (as shown on the Legend panel).Modules are unmanaged when:
In a Hub Level view, partially managed modules are displayed with the icon for Generic Support (as shown on the Legend panel). You can perform the following actions from the context menu of a partially managed module by clicking on the module's icon:
Because the 8260 Ethernet Carrier DMM module functions as part of a standalone DMM and a standalone Ethernet Carrier module, it is managed by Nways Manager-LAN in a specific way.
To display the tasks available for managing an 8260 Ethernet Carrier DMM module, display the module's context menu by clicking on the module's icon in a Hub Level view.
The IBM 8260 Advanced DMM module is installed in subslot 2 on an Advanced Controller module.
To perform management tasks on an Advanced DMM module, display the module's context menu by clicking on the daughter card in subslot 2 of an Advanced Controller module in a Hub Level view.
To fully manage Multiprotocol Switched Services (MSS) modules, you must use the Device Management application for the 8210 Multiprotocol Switched Services (MSS) Server.
To start the Device Management application, select Device Management from the context menu of an MSS module in a Hub Level view.
Nways Manager-LAN allows you to manage the following types of 8271 Ethernet and 8272 Token-Ring Switch modules:
The 8271 Ethernet LAN Switch module is the integrated version of the standalone IBM 8271 Nways LAN Switch. By using Ethernet MAC addresses to forward Ethernet frames between ports, the 8271 module can accommodate any type of LAN segment to provide a high-performance switching solution. No direct ATM backbone connection is provided.
The 8271 ATM/Ethernet LAN Switch module includes all the functions of the 8271 Ethernet LAN Switch module and also provides direct ATM backbone connectivity. This allows users connected to an Ethernet segment to interconnect to other Ethernet segments by means of LAN switching or high-speed ATM switching.
The 8272 Token-Ring LAN Switch module is the integrated version of the standalone IBM 8272 Nways LAN Switch. By using Token-Ring MAC addresses and source route descriptors to forward Token-Ring frames between ports, the 8272 module provides a high-performance switching solution. No direct ATM backbone connection is provided.
The 8272 ATM/Token-Ring LAN Switch module includes all the functions of the 8272 Token-Ring LAN Switch module and also provides direct ATM backbone connectivity. This allows users connected to a Token-Ring segment to interconnect to other Token-Ring segments by means of LAN switching or high-speed ATM switching.
8271 and 8272 modules can be used in either two-slot or three-slot versions. In a Hub Level view, both the two-slot and the three-slot versions of 8271 and 8272 modules are displayed as occupying two slots.
To attach additional LAN segments, you must install Universal Feature Cards (UFCs): up to four UFCs in three-slot versions and up to two UFCs in two-slot versions.
To display the management tasks available for an 8271 or 8272 ATM LAN module, display the context menu by clicking on the module's icon.
To display the status of the ports and the UFCs installed in a module, click on the port or UFC icon on the faceplate of the module.
The additional UFCs and ports are then displayed.
In order to fully manage an 8271 or 8272 ATM LAN Switch module, you must carry out these steps:
8271 Ethernet and 8272 Token-Ring LAN Switch modules that do not have ATM backplane connections are displayed without ports in Hub Level views.
In order to manage these modules, you must configure the module's IP address. To do so, select Configuration from the module's context menu and enter the IP address in the Module Configuration panel.
Then you must carry out these additional steps:
A virtual bridge is a user-defined group of ports in the 8260 Switching Modules Series that supports IEEE 802.1D bridging functions. A virtual bridge allows you to create workgroups of network devices that are attached to multiple modules in the Switching Modules Series and that use different types interfaces (Ethernet, FDDI, or ATM). A virtual bridge can contain ports on more than one module; a port on a module in the Switching Modules Series, however, can belong to only one virtual bridge.
To configure the Switching Modules Series to create virtual bridges, you use the Nways Switching Modules Manager (NSMM). To start Switching Modules Manager, do one of the following:
For information on how to use Nways Switching Modules Manager to create and use virtual bridges, see the IBM Nways Switching Modules Manager User's Guide shipped with modules in the 8260 Switching Modules Series.
To configure a daughter card, click on its icon in a Hub Level or a Module Level view and select Configuration from the context menu. A Daughter Card Configuration panel is displayed. The module's slot number and the hub label is displayed in the title bar.
Notes:
Nways Manager-LAN supports a variety of port types such as BNC, AUI (male and female), fiber, DB-9, RJ-45, and so on. Each connector type can have devices attached and can be assigned to a network.
The color of a port indicates its status and is based on a generic
PortStatus MIB variable. The rules shown in Table 4 apply.
| Port/Trunk Status | Color |
|---|---|
| Okay_Standby | Green |
| Backup_Line | Green |
| Off (22) | Grey |
| local/remote linkFailure (4/2) | Red |
| fatalError (10) | Red |
| Partition (11) | Red |
| Beacon (27) | Red |
| WireFault (28) | Red |
| speedMismatch (31) | Red |
| invalid_impedance | Red |
| beacon_wrapped | Red |
| Okay-standby/backup-link (18/24) | Specific icon. (See Note (ONE).) |
| unknownStatus (26) | Blue |
| attach3174toxxx (33/34/35) | Blue |
| forwarding | Green |
| blocked | Green |
| listening | Yellow |
| learning | Yellow |
| All the rest | Yellow |
Notes:
To configure a port, double-click on its icon or click once on the icon in a Hub Level or a Module Level view and select Configuration from the context menu. A Port Configuration panel is displayed. The port's number, the module's slot number and the hub label are displayed in the title bar.
Because hidden (backplane or virtual) ports do not have an icon, follow these steps to open a Port Configuration panel:
The value displayed in the Monitoring field is the way that the port is configured for resource monitoring. To change this value, do one of the following:
If the value in the Monitoring field is Critical, the port is protected from undesired user action. You are automatically prompted to confirm any changes you make to the port parameters.
If Nways Manager-ATM is not installed and coupled with Nways Manager-LAN, the status of ATM ports is always Unknown. If Nways Manager-ATM is installed, the status of ATM ports is reported by Nways Manager-ATM.
Table 5 shows how the status of LAN ports displayed on the Port
Configuration panel in Nways Manager-LAN corresponds to the operational state
of ATM interfaces displayed in the ATM Interface Configuration panel in Nways
Manager-ATM.
Table 5. Status of LAN Ports and Operational State of ATM Interfaces
| Status of LAN Ports (Nways Manager-LAN) | Operational State of ATM Interfaces (Nways Manager-ATM) |
|---|---|
| unknownStatus | unknown |
| off | disabled-nosignal |
| off | disabled-idle |
| noPhantom | nosignal |
| noPhantom | idle |
| fatalError | idle |
| okay | in-service |
| okay | pvcOnly |
| fatalError | failing |
| fatalError | misConfigured |
| fatalError | wrong-network-prefix |
| fatalError | wrong-node-number |
Using the Port Configuration panel, you can configure redundancy for pairs of Ethernet ports. Each pair of redundant ports consists of a primary and a backup port. The configuration of a backup port ensures Ethernet data transmission if the primary port is inoperational.
To configure redundancy for a pair of Ethernet ports:
| Important: | When configuring redundant pairs of Ethernet ports, make sure that you
configure only one port as the Redundant_primary and only one port
as the Redundant_backup. If you configure more than one
redundant backup port, unpredictable results can occur in your Ethernet
network.
You can use critical resource settings to secure read-write access to pairs of Ethernet ports (backup and primary) in a redundant link. For example, if you configure a port as a critical resource, a message is displayed before port configuration parameters are changed to warn users that the port is a critical resource. |
The serial ports on 8250 and 8260 Management modules allow you to connect a terminal and directly manage the module. There are two types of serial ports:
Serial ports cannot be assigned to networks. They are only used to connect ASCII terminals either locally or remotely via a modem.
Used to connect the DMM to a terminal or modem so that you can enter management commands and download software.
To display ASCII terminal interface configuration (TTY) information, click on the RS-232 connector icon on a Management module in a Hub Level view and choose Configuration or double-click MB1 on a TTY port.
The Terminal Interface panel is displayed.
The color of a trunk indicates its status and is based on a generic trunkStatus MIB variable. The rules shown in Table 4 apply.
To configure a trunk, double-click on its icon or click once on the icon in a Hub Level view and select Configuration from the context menu. A Trunk Configuration panel is displayed.
Notes:
To configure a power supply, double-click on its icon or click once on the icon in a Hub Level view and select Configuration from the context menu. A Power Status panel displayed.
The Power Status panel displays information about the overall status of the power supplies in the selected hub and allows you to set the PS Mode of the selected power supply.
The value displayed in the Monitoring field is the way that the power supply is configured for resource monitoring. To change this value, do one of the following:
If the value in the Monitoring field is Critical, the power supply is protected from undesired user action. You are automatically prompted to confirm any changes you make to the power supply parameters.
To check the status of fans in a hub and to configure a fan for resource monitoring, open the Hub Level view and do one of the following:
The Fan Status panel is displayed.
The Fan Status field displays the overall status of fans in the selected hub. This value is calculated by taking the individual status of each fan. If one fan is faulty or inoperational, the overall fan status is faulty. The overall fan status is OK only if no fan reports a problem.
The value displayed in the Monitoring field is the way that the fan is configured for resource monitoring. To change this value, do one of the following:
If the value in the Monitoring field is Critical, the fan is protected from undesired user action. You are automatically prompted to confirm any changes you make to the fan parameters.
To check the temperature in a hub and to configure it for resource monitoring, open the Hub Level view and do one of the following:
The Temperature Status panel is displayed. This panel displays the overall status of all temperature probes in the hub.
The value displayed in the Monitoring field is the way that the temperature is configured for resource monitoring. To change this value, do one of the following:
If the value in the Monitoring field is Critical, the temperature is protected from undesired user action. You are automatically prompted to confirm any changes you make to the temperature parameters.
To check the status of a power distribution board (PDB) and to configure it for resource monitoring, open the Hub Level view and do one of the following:
The value displayed in the Monitoring field is the way that the PDB is configured for resource monitoring. To change this value, do one of the following:
If the value in the Monitoring field is Critical, the PDB is protected from undesired user action. You are automatically prompted to confirm any changes you make to the PDB parameters.
To perform a management action on more than one port at a time, you can configure a group of ports belonging to different slots under the same logical name.
Port grouping is only supported for the following modules:
To group ports, select Hub -> Control -> Port Grouping from the menu bar of a Hub Level view. A panel is displayed.
You can perform the following actions on the ports in a selected group:
To select a group of ports, open the list box in the Group ID field and click on a group name. The ports currently assigned to the group are displayed at the bottom of the panel according to the slot number.
Notes:
By deleting all non-existing ports, you ensure that the list of ports displayed on the panel contains only valid ports. By deleting all ports from all slots, you remove the group name from the Group ID list.
When the selected group is displayed in the list box area, you can do the following:
To disable the resulting display in the Hub Level view either:
If the group assignment no longer corresponds to your logical view of the group, you can assign ports to the group or delete ports from the group as follows:
| Note: | To see the result on the Hub Level view press the Show pushbutton. |
Besides using a Configuration panel, you can also use a drag and drop to assign the following resources to a network:
To assign a resource to a network, follow these steps:
To display a list of isolated networks, you must first click on the icon of the module to which the resource you are reassigning belongs and then click on a network type.
The Information Area displays a confirmation message if the network reassignment is successful. If the operation is not successful, an error message is displayed.
Nways Manager-LAN allows you to define a logical LAN to manage a group of users that share the same network across different segments and several hubs connected by trunks. You do this by assigning the same logical name to the network segments to which the user devices are attached.
The same logical name can be assigned to the network segments in two or more 8250, 8260 and 8265 devices. A logical name, however, must be unique for the network segments in the same hub.
You can use logical names with the Search function to quickly locate groups of users and display their IP and MAC addresses. The Search function uses logical names as part of its search criteria. See Using the Search Function for more information.
By assigning a logical name to a network segment, you can more easily identify the group of users to which it refers. For example, instead of using the name, Slot 10 Isolated 2, you could rename the segment Sales Dept.
Also, in order to manage the network devices used by the Sales Department on a Token-Ring network across two hubs connected by a physical trunk, you could assign the logical name Sales to each network segment. The logical name you define appears instead of the physical name (for example, Token Ring 3) in the Network Area of the Hub Level view for each hub.
To assign a logical name to a network segment attached to a hub, follow these steps:
| Note: | The logical name must be unique for all network segments attached to the same hub. You can, however, use the same logical name for segments in other hubs. |
The logical name appears next to the network segment in the Network Area of the Hub Level view.
To delete a network name, take the following steps:
The network name is removed from the Network Area.
You can use critical resource settings to secure read-write access to network resources; for example, pairs of Ethernet ports (backup and primary) in a redundant link. If you configure a resource as critical, a message is displayed before its configuration parameters are changed to warn users that the configuration of a critical resource is about to be modified.
The color of a hub in the IBM Hubs Topology indicates its operating status:
By default, this status is calculated by an algorithm that takes the status of all modules in the hub and the statuses of the following resources in each module:
The status of each of these resources is treated equally in the calculation of the overall hub status. The overall hub status is displayed as follows:
Nways Manager-LAN, however, allows you to specify the relative importance of your hub resources (for example, a trunk or a power supply). The values you set for individual hub resources determine how the compound hub status is calculated. For example, if you configure only one hub resource as critical and if the status of this resource changes to red, the compound hub status shown in the IBM Hubs Topology reflects this change and also becomes red.
After you configure how individual resources are to be monitored, you can use the IBM Hubs Topology to see at a glance the color-coded status of each hub. A hub's color then reflects the logical status customized according to the needs of the network operator.
You can monitor a hub resource by using any of the following values:
When a resource is defined as Critical, any change in its status is given greater weight in the calculation of the compound hub status displayed in the IBM Hubs Topology.
Normal means that the status of each resource that is defined as Normal is given equal weight when the hub's status is calculated. This is the default value for resource monitoring.
None means that the resource's status is not taken into account when the hub's status is calculated.
| Note: | Using SMIT, you can change the default value used in resource monitoring from Normal to None. For more information, see Customizing Resource Monitoring. |
To configure how ports, trunks, fans, temperature, power supplies, and power distribution boards are monitored, follow these steps:
To configure all the ports and trunks associated with a module you can use a single drag and drop to drop the module icon onto one of the icons. This technique is especially useful when you need to configure backplane ports that are not visible in a Hub Level view.
The Information Area displays a confirmation message if the resource monitoring assignment is successful. If the operation is not successful, an error message is displayed.
Notes:
To display the resources that have been configured using the Resource Monitor:
All ports, trunks, fans, temperature, power supplies, and power distribution boards that have been configured for this type of monitoring are highlighted. Module icons are also highlighted if any port or trunk associated with the module has been configured for this type of monitoring.
To display all resource monitoring assignments for a hub, click on the Show All pushbutton.
When a resource that is monitored as Critical reaches the threshold for the critical state as defined by the Threshold for Critical State parameter:
If you click on the icon and select Show from its context menu, all resources configured as Critical that are in a critical state (as defined by the Threshold for Critical State parameter) are highlighted. Network operators can use this method as a fast way for locating an important resource that has failed.
For information on how to modify the Threshold for Critical State parameter, see Customizing Resource Monitoring.
Critical resources are detected as failing or recovering in the following ways:
You can customize trap generation so that traps are automatically generated when critical resources fail and recover from failure. This allows you to automate an action to be taken when the traps are received; for example, sending a message to a beeper to indicate that a critical resource has failed.
To enable the automatic generation of traps for critical resources, you must use SMIT as described in Trap Generation for Critical Resources. Then the following traps are reported:
For more information, see Customizing Traps and Events Using NetView for AIX V4 or V5.
To see if any 6.40 and 6.41 traps have been generated for your critical resources, follow these steps:
Using SMIT, you can customize some of the parameters used for resource monitoring. After you modify the current values, the compound status of all hubs is re-calculated to take into account the new values you define. All open Hub Level views are automatically refreshed with the new information and any icon that represents a failed critical resource is re-evaluated according to the new values.
To modify resource monitoring parameters:
The current values for the following parameters are displayed:
Each time Nways Manager-LAN discovers a resource, the resource is monitored, by default, according to the current value of the Default Resource Monitoring Policy parameter. You can change the default value for resource monitoring from Normal to None by selecting the menu options described in Customizing Resource Monitoring.
When you change this default value:
By default, the threshold that determines when a resource is considered as failed is set to critical (red) by the current value of the Threshold for Critical State parameter. However, you can change this setting to marginal (yellow) by selecting the menu options described in Customizing Resource Monitoring.
If you set this parameter to marginal, all resources that reach marginal state and that are monitored as Critical are considered as failed. The compound hub status then turns red to show that it contains at least one failed critical resource.
You may sometimes want to configure your resource monitoring so that Hub Level views display hubs only in normal (green) or critical state (red). No hubs are displayed in an intermediate state (yellow). This type of configuration can be useful for monitoring and troubleshooting hubs with failing resources.
To set up this type of resource monitoring, follow these steps:
This means that no resource will be taken into account when the compound status for each hub is calculated. Each hub will appear in normal state (green) in the IBM Hubs Topology.
In order to generate the traps 6.40 and 6.41 (as described in Handling Traps for Critical Resources) for critical resources that fail and that recover from failure, use SMIT as follows:
You can display configuration information for the following NetView for AIX objects:
The Show Modules option displays a summary of the hub configuration, including the type of module in each slot and the network assignment. This function is only available for 8260 hubs.
To display the Show Modules panel, select Hub -> Show -> Show Modules from a Hub Level view.
In the Modules List section, the following information is retrieved for the modules in a selected hub:
| Note: | For an HE-EMAC module, the information displayed in the Enabled Ports/Trunks column is not relevant. |
To display the Configuration panel for a module in the list, select the module and click on the Configuration pushbutton.
To save the information about a module displayed in the Show Modules panel, select File -> Save from the menu bar. Load:ehp2. from menu bar. A panel is displayed with the following read-only and read-write fields:
The Save option saves the information displayed for the selected module in two files:
To display information about a module that is stored in a .dat file, select File -> Load.
To print out information on a module that is stored in a .prt file, select File -> Print. Then enter the name of the file to print.
You can open the Configuration panel by selecting a module and clicking MB1 on the Configuration pushbutton.
The Show Inventory option is only available for 8260 hubs. Use this option to display information about the hardware installed in a selected hub.
To display the hardware inventory for a hub:
In the Inventory List section, the following information is displayed about modules installed in the hub:
To save the hardware information about a hub that is displayed in the Show Inventory panel, select File -> Save from the menu bar. A panel is displayed with the following read-only and read-write fields:
The Save option saves the hardware information for a selected hub in two files:
To display hardware information about a hub that is stored in a .dat file, select File -> Load.
To print out hardware information about a hub that is stored in a .prt file, select File -> Print. Then enter the name of the file to print.
The Device Configuration panel displays information on IP devices.
To display information on a network device, open the Module Level view and select Configuration from the context menu of the device.
| Note: | If you double-click MB1 on a device, you invoke protocol switching. |
To check the status of a PS/2 that is integrated in an 8250 6PS hub with load sharing, open the Hub Level view and do one of the following:
The PS/2 Status panel is displayed.
To display information about an Ethernet or 8260 Token-Ring network, follow these steps:
A panel with information on the network segments is displayed.
To configure a network segment in the Information List panel, select the line in the panel and click on the Configure pushbutton.
| Note: | You can only configure Token-Ring networks from the Information List panel. There is no Configure pushbutton in the panel for Ethernet networks. |
Use the Show option to display information about the resources connected to a network. You can select this option from the context menu of the following objects in a Hub Level view:
All modules, ports, trunks and banks assigned to the selected network are shown in full color (as for the Hub Level View) and all modules that are not assigned to the network are shown in reduced highlight (dark gray). The name of the selected network is displayed at the top of the view.
For port-switching modules:
RS-232 ports are not shown as being part of the network.
You select the Ring Station Information option from the 8250 Token-Ring icon in the Network area on the right of all Hub Level views if at least one resource is assigned on the ring. A panel displays information about the selected 8250 ring.