====================================================================== Readme - IBM® Systems Director Service and Support Manager 6.1.2 IBM Corp 20th November, 2009 ====================================================================== Contents: What's New in version 6.1.2 Prior to installation Install Perform the necessary tasks after install Troubleshooting the installation Uninstalling Known problems Copyright and trademark information ====================================================================== What's New in version 6.1.2 1) Support for Manual Problem Reporting By default, Service and Support Manager will automatically report serviceable hardware problems to the IBM® service provider. However, you can now disable automatic monitoring and configure problem reporting settings to allow users to submit problems manually. 2) Suspend or resume monitoring for an individual system While you can start and stop monitoring for all systems in the Service and Support Manager monitored group at any time from the main Service and Support Manager page by selecting Stop monitoring or Start monitoring, you may only want to stop monitoring for an individual system, or a subset of monitored systems. For example, if you don't want a problem to be detected on a system you are doing intentional maintenance on, you can suspend that system, make any hardware changes, and then resume monitoring for that system. 3) Settings view enhancements The Settings view has been expanded to include a new Service Agent tab, as well as a new Support Files tab. Service Agent tab Service and Support Manager utilizes the Electronic Service Agent™ application to automatically collect service information and send this information to IBM® support. Use the Service Agent tab to configure Electronic Service Agent for automatic or manual hardware problem reporting. Use this view to set the frequency and number of retry attempts to make if the reporting of a problem to IBM® support fails. Support File tab Use the Support files tab to configure how you want Service and Support Manager to collect and store support files for problem diagnosis. Configure the size and location of the cache that will store support files, and configure how you want Service and Support Manager to deploy support file collector applications like Dynamic Systems Analysis. 4) Expanded eligibility for monitoring The following are now eligible for monitoring by Service and Support Manager: * Stand-alone AIX® systems that are not managed by Hardware Management Console or Integrated Virtualization Manager * Some IBM® BladeCenter® chassis and blade servers 5) Expanded support for operating systems on the management server Support has been expanded to the following operating systems when Service and Support Manager is installed on the management server: * Linux® on System x for 32–bit and 64–bit systems Note: Service and Support Manager is supported on VMware ESX Server if IBM Systems Director is supported on the selected guest operating system. * Linux on Power Systems * Linux on System z * AIX 6) Updates to the Problems view The Problems view has been enhanced to display additional details when Service and Support Manager is installed, including the service request number, the problem ID, the date when the problem was last updated, and the current status or state of the problem. In addition to these new values that display on the Problems General view, there are also two new sub-tabs that display: Support Files Displays any support files associated with the problem you are viewing. Use the Support Files page to view and manually submit support files. Service Use the Service tab to view problem and transmission summary information. Use this page to manually submit problems to IBM support and view the most up to date status associated with the problem. 7) Service and Support system properties view When viewing the properties of a system, you can click on the Service and Support tab to view Service and Support Manager details associated with that system. For example, this tab can be used to determine why a system might be ineligible to be monitored by Service and Support Manager. ====================================================================== Prior to installation Important: Service and Support Manager version 6.1.2 is only compatible with IBM Systems Director version 6.1.2. Service and Support Manager version 6.1.2 will not work with earlier versions of IBM Systems Director. Before you begin updating or installing Service and Support Manager 6.1.2, ensure that you have updated or installed the latest version of IBM Systems director to version 6.1.2. ====================================================================== Install There are 2 ways to install Service and Support Manager 6.1.2: 1. Use the Update Manager user interface within IBM Systems Director to schedule and run an update. 2. Additionally, the 6.1.2 installation image is available to download for multiple operating systems by visiting the IBM Systems Director download Website. For the most up to date and detailed instructions on installing Service and Support Manager 6.1.2, see the installation topics located in the IBM Systems Director Information Center: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r1x/topic/esa_6.1/esa_kickoff.html Installing using Update Manager: The version of Service and Support Manager offered in the install image may not contain the latest updates. To update to the latest version, do the following: 1. Check to see what version of Service and Support Manager you currently have installed. From the main IBM Systems Director Welcome page, you can view the version number next to the link to Service and Support Manager. Write this number down. 2. In the upper right corner of the main IBM Systems Director Welcome page click "Update IBM Systems Director". 3. On the View Updates panel, look for an update named Service and Support Manager. Check to make sure that the number displayed in the Version column is a newer version than the version currently installed. If Service and Support Manager is not currently displayed, click "Check for Updates..." to search for the latest updates. Searching for updates can take several minutes complete. 4. Click on the Service and Support Manager update to open the Service and Support Manager (Properites) panel. 5. From the Service and Support Manager (Properites) panel click "Actions > Download" and then click "OK" from the Download Updates panel. Select "Run Now" and click "OK" to download the latest update. 6. Return to the View Updates panel, select the checkbox next to Service and Support Manager, and click "Install...". It may take several minutes for the update to install. 7. Follow the instructions and complete the Install Wizard to install the latest updates. 8. Return to the main IBM Systems Director Welcome panel. When the update is complete, you will be prompted with the following message: Updates have been installed on the management server IBM Systems Director needs to be restarted before the updates will be active. 9. To manually restart IBM Systems Director, perform the following: * On a Windows® system: From a command prompt, issue the following commands: net stop dirserver net start dirserver You may need to wait for the java.exe process associated with product_nameIBM Systems Director to fully shut down before issuing the net start dirserver command. When the java.exe process in the Task manager is gone, you can safely start product_nameIBM Systems Director. * On an AIX® or Linux® system: Issue the following commands: smstop smstart 10. Return to the main IBM Systems Director Welcome panel. The link to Service and Support Manager should now display the newly updated version number. ====================================================================== Perform the necessary tasks after install After installation is completed, IBM Systems Director server must be stopped and restarted in order for this patch to be enabled. ====================================================================== Troubleshooting the installation For information about troubleshooting problems you encounter during installation, see the IBM Systems Director information center on the Web at: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r1x/topic/director_6.1/fqm0_main.html ====================================================================== Uninstalling If you used update Manager to install, there is no way to remove the update, e.g, if you updated from 6.1.1 to 6.1.2, you cannot revert to 6.1.1. However, you can completely uninstall the Service and Support Manager plug-in for IBM Systems Director. For more detailed instructions on uninstalling Service and Support Manager 6.1.2, see the installation topics located in the IBM Systems Director Information Center: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r1x/topic/esa_6.1/esa_kickoff.html ====================================================================== Known problems 1. IBM Director may occasionally report false fan failures under Hardware Status. These errors appear similar to the following: Message: Fan Sensor 3 fell below threshold of 550 rpm. The current value is 550 rpm. This is a false alert and the message may be disregarded. A fix may be available in the latest version of the BMC firmware. Check the IBM System x Support web site at the following URL: http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/ More information about the issue is available at https://www-304.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-5077441&brandind=5000008 2. After initial configuration with the Wizard, the status shown on the Welcome page will not automatically change to 'Ready' unless the web page is closed and reopened or the Refresh button is clicked. 3. Some errors coming from an eligible monitored BladeCenter chassis could display in the IBM Systems Director event log as "Unknown event, check AMM log file for details". In this situation you will need to check the AMM log file located on the Bladecenter endpoint system. 4. The following location attributes must be specified for systems: Country or region Street address City State or province Postal code If these location attributes are not provided for a system the default location, (specified in the Install Wizard), will be used when service requests are submitted for the system. 5. If you are Unable to install Service and Support Manager and the installer fails in both UI and silent mode, you may need to change settings associated with SELinux. If your server runs Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 4 or 5, SELinux might be enabled and enforcing security policies on your system. IBM Service and Support Manager might fail to install if SELINUX is set to enforcing. Therefore, before you install IBM Service and Support Manager, you must set the SELinux policy to permissive. To set SELinux to permissive, run the following command before you install IBM Service and Support Manager: /usr/sbin/setenforce Permissive ====================================================================== Copyright and trademark information www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml The following terms are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both: IBM Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. Notices INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time without notice.