American Megatrends MegaRAC S780 Software User guide

Type
User guide

This manual is also suitable for

MegaRAC™
Software Guide
MAN-780-SW
09/09/01
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
ii
© Copyright
1985-2010 American Megatrends, Inc.
All rights reserved.
American Megatrends, Inc.
5555 Oakbrook Parkway, Building 200,
Norcross, GA 30093
This publication contains proprietary information which is protected by copyright. No part of this
publication can be reproduced, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any
language or computer language, or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior written
consent of the publisher, American Megatrends, Inc. American Megatrends, Inc. acknowledges the
following trademarks:
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
MS-DOS and Microsoft are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Windows 95,
Windows 98, Microsoft Windows, and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
SCO, UnixWare, and Unix are registered trademarks of the Santa Cruz Operation. Inc.
Novell NetWare is a registered trademark of Novell Corporation.
IBM, AT, VGA, PS/2, and OS/2 are registered trademarks and XT and CGA are trademarks of
International Business Machines Corporation.
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities
claiming the marks and names or their products. American Megatrends, Inc. disclaims any
proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
Revision History
6/10/99 Initial release.
9/22/99 Updated several screens with format changes, and the Server
Management screen with content changes. Added UnixWare and
Linux information.
09/11/00 Updated as per the functionality in Version 2.3
09/09/01
Removed Solaris UnixWare and Linux Version support.
Preface
iii
Table of Contents
1 Overview..................................................................... 1
How MegaRAC™ Works................................................. 3
MegaRAC™ Software Modules....................................... 7
MegaRAC™ Technical Specifications............................. 9
MegaRAC™ Features .................................................... 10
2 Using MegaRAC™ ................................................... 17
Using MegaRAC™ ........................................................ 17
MegaRAC™ Graphical User Interface........................... 17
Address Book Section .................................................... 18
Discover Management Stations Section ......................... 21
Favorite Management Stations Section........................... 22
Login Screen................................................................... 26
Default Health Screen..................................................... 27
System Health Screen ..................................................... 28
System Information Screen............................................. 33
Event Log Screen............................................................ 34
Console Redirection Screen............................................ 35
Power Management Screen ............................................ 37
Installing the Software.................................................... 38
Installing the System BIOS............................................. 38
Installing MegaRAC™ for Windows ............................. 38
Installing MegaRAC™ for Novell.................................. 39
3 Troubleshooting ...................................................... 41
Connection Errors........................................................... 41
Connection lost errors, once established......................... 46
Possible Reasons and solutions: ..................................... 47
Console Redirection Errors ............................................ 47
Index ............................................................................ 49
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
iv
Preface
The MegaRAC™ (Remote Access Companion) provides
server management capabilities. You can use the card to
manage and monitor nonstorage components in your servers
through a modem or direct serial connection, even when your
network is down. MegaRAC™ offers hardware and software
solutions to server management.
Limited Warranty The buyer agrees if this product proves to be defective, that
American Megatrends is obligated only to repair or replace
this product at American Megatrends’ discretion according to
the terms and conditions of the warranty registration card that
accompanies this product. American Megatrends shall not be
liable in tort or contract for any loss or damage, direct,
incidental or consequential resulting from the use of this
product. Please see the Warranty Registration Card shipped
with this product for full warranty details.
Limitations of Liability American Megatrends, Inc. shall in no event be held
liable for any loss, expenses, or damages of any kind
whatsoever, whether direct, indirect, incidental, or
consequential (whether arising from the design or use of this
product or the support materials provided with the product).
No action or proceeding against American Megatrends may
be commenced more than two years after the delivery of
product to Licensee of Licensed Software.
Licensee agrees to defend and indemnify American
Megatrends from any and all claims, suits, and liabilities
(including attorney’s fees) arising out of or resulting from any
actual or alleged act or omission on the part of Licensee, its
authorized third parties, employees, or agents, in connection
with the distribution of Licensed Software to end-users,
including, without limitation, claims, suits, and liability for
bodily or other injuries to end-users resulting from use of
Licensee’s product not caused solely by faults in Licensed
Software as provided by American Megatrends to Licensee.
Cont’d
Preface
v
Preface, Continued
CD Contents The CD contains:
Documentation
Firmware
Host Software (Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0)
Client & Management Station
(Win2000/NT4.0/Win98/Win95)
Client only software (Win98/Win95)
Novell Host (NW 4.x/NW 5.x)
Hardware health function SDK
Technical Support If you need help installing, configuring, or running the
MegaRAC™ card, call your American Megatrends OEM
Technical Support representative.
Web Site We invite you to access the American Megatrends world wide
web site at:
http://www.ami.com
FTP Site The address of the American Megatrends FTP site is:
ftp://ftp.megatrends.com
Cont’d
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
vi
Preface, Continued
Disclaimer This manual describes the operation of the American
Megatrends MegaRAC™ card. Although efforts have been
made to assure the accuracy of the information contained
here, American Megatrends expressly disclaims liability for
any error in this information, and for damages, whether direct,
indirect, special, exemplary, consequential or otherwise, that
may result from such error, including but not limited to the
loss of profits resulting from the use or misuse of the manual
or information contained therein (even if American
Megatrends has been advised of the possibility of such
damages). Any questions or comments regarding this
document or its contents should be addressed to American
Megatrends at the address shown on the cover.
American Megatrends provides this publication “as is”
without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied,
including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a specific purpose.
Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied
warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for
indirect, special, exemplary, incidental or consequential
damages in certain transactions; therefore, this statement may
not apply to you. Also, you may have other rights that vary
from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
This publication 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. American Megatrends may make
improvements and/or revisions in the product(s) and/or the
program(s) described in this publication at any time.
Requests for technical information about American
Megatrends products should be made to your American
Megatrends authorized reseller or marketing representative.
Chapter 1 Overview
1
1Overview
Overview The American Megatrends® MegaRAC™ Remote Access
Companion provides ultimate server management capabilities.
You can use MegaRAC™ to manage and monitor important
components in enterprise servers through a modem or
dedicated Ethernet even when your network is down. This
guide contains information about how to use the MegaRAC™
interface.
Dead Server Management MegaRAC™ offers a complete server management
solution through dedicated hardware and software duo. One
major feature of MegaRAC™ is the ability to manage a
"dead" server and get the server up and running as quickly as
possible, remotely, even anywhere in the world.
MegaRAC™ provides alert notification when the server is
down or any critical error happens to the server and gives full
access to the dead server. In addition, MegaRAC™ logs the
probable cause of the server crash and saves the current error
display.
Technical Specifications The MegaRAC™ hardware is a PCI card, with its
own processor and memory. The card is normally powered by
the bus when the server has power or it can operate with an
onboard battery backup while server looses the power. The
card can also draw the power from the optional wall adapter.
MegaRAC™ is used by the software modules, such as the on-
board intelligent firmware. In addition, MegaRAC™ comes
with a user interface program. The user interface is known as
the MegaRAC™ Management Console. The firmware is
based on a multitasking RTOS. The primary tasks of the
firmware are:
Initialize the hardware at startup,
Run a quick self test,
Monitor and report critical server health parameters, and
Provide services to the user interface application
Cont'd
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
2
Overview, Continued
MegaRAC™ Functions The MegaRAC™ card can alert you before a
probable server crash. Onboard intelligent firmware can sense
voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds from the surrounding
environment, and the MegaRAC™ contains these information
with battery backup. The basic input/output system (BIOS)
supports MegaRAC™ initialization and the drivers that
interface with the operating systems.
Mega Station Address Book Screen The Mega Station Address Book
screen is used to manage the servers, and management
stations. You can use this screen to:
view the server list for a management station
edit a server list
add or delete servers
connect to servers
view the list of management stations
add or delete management station
copy and paste server list from one management station
to another
import management station
add new management station
MegaRAC™ Management Console After you connect to a server, you
can use the monitoring screens to:
View system health information
View system information
View the event log
Perform Console Redirection
Chapter 1 Overview
3
How MegaRAC™ Works
Introduction The MegaRAC™ is a hardware and software solution of the
Dead Server Management (DSM). When a server is down and
not running this is the panacea of an MIS manager’s headache
to have the server back up and running. MegaRAC™ gives
full access to the dead server. MegaRAC™ also offers the
alert notification when the server is down.
At the same time MegaRAC™ logs the probable cause of the
server crash and saves the current error display. MegaRAC
is battery backed and so it never goes down and loses any
valuable information. The main intention of using
MegaRAC™ is to add manageability to a dead server.
Building Blocks MegaRAC™ has two major components: hardware and
software.
Hardware This is a PCI card. The card has its own processor and own
memory. The card takes the power from the bus when the
server has the power. Otherwise it works from the onboard
rechargeable battery or it can take power from wall adapter
Software MegaRAC™ is used by the software modules. One module is
the onboard intelligent firmware. Besides that there is a user
interface program comes with the MegaRAC™. The firmware
is based on a multitasking RTOS. The primary jobs of the
firmware are initialize the hardware at the time of power up,
runs a quick self test and provide the services to the user
interface application. The user interface is known as
MegaRAC™ Management Console. Following is the simple
model of the MegaRAC™ in operational.
How does it work? The MegaRAC™ comes with a set of OS specific services.
These services are the software modules, which run under
specific operation system. These services interface with the
MegaRAC™ hardware and provide accessibility of the server
from the hardware. The onboard firmware provides
functionality to the Management Console for accessing the
server using the server side services.
Cont'd
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
4
How MegaRAC™ Works, Continued
When the server is up and running This time MIS manager can access any
remote server using the MegaRAC™. The Management
Console provides option to see the remote server’s graphics
screen as well as to send the keyboard and mouse activities to
the remote server. This way user gets a full control over the
remote server. User is now free to do administrative tasks on
the server, for example, running diagnostic programs,
analyzing the server etc.
In this scenario MIS manager can also perform the periodic
maintenance of the server. It is possible to reboot the system
(a graceful shutdown) and watch the boot process and boot to
a separate system partition to load the diagnostic environment
and run the special diagnostic programs
Note: This feature is known as Console Redirection Service (CRS).
When the server is dead This time MegaRAC™ takes the most important role
to make the server back up and running. MegaRAC™ is
designed mainly for the Dead Server Management. To serve
this purpose MegaRAC™ can send an alert notification to its
administrator. This alert can be in several forms. MegaRAC™
card can send an Alert notification to administrator’s pager, or
it can send an SNMP trap to the specified destination or else it
can dial out to the Managed Console and finally it can also
send an E-mail to Administrator. After sending the alert,
MegaRAC™ waits for the inbound connection from the
administrator. After successful session, the MegaRAC™
provides a set of services to make the server up and running
again. These services include server reset and complete
power cycle (with proper hardware support) of the server.
MegaRAC™ also captures the text screen at the time of
server crash (in case of Windows NT, the blue screen) and
allows administrator to watch and analyze the cause of crash.
Note: This feature is known as Console Command Service (CCS).
Cont'd
Chapter 1 Overview
5
How MegaRAC™ Works, Continued
Alert notification MegaRAC™ is designed to solve dual-purpose server
management. It can:
Help the supervisor to know before a probable server
crash
Help the supervisor to get the server back up and running
while crashed
To solve this MegaRAC™ caters two types of alert
generation. One is called “WARNING” and the other one is
“CATASTROPHIC”.
The warning alerts are used to take any action to save the
server from the possible crash. The example is, one of the
processor fan is stuck. Eventually the processor will be hot
enough to be non-functional. MegaRAC™ can monitor that
and sends the alert as “Type: WARNING”. With this warning
it also tells about the severity of that alert. Severity level can
be from one of the followings - HIGHEST, HIGH, NORMAL
and LOW. Severity level allows supervisor to react fast or
slow on that alert.
On the other hand, when the server is dead, MegaRAC™
sends an alert message to the supervisor as “Type:
CATASTROPHIC”. Severity level is always set to HIGHEST
in this case.
Alert Path When an alert situation happens, MegaRAC™ reaches to the
supervisor by in-band and/or out-of-band way. The following
section will describe these two alert paths.
In-band path This path is the normal way to access the server. The server
will initiate an alert using the server’s in-band network, for
example the LAN or the WAN. One of the MegaRAC™
services, the SNMP agent will generate a trap over the
LAN/WAN. This way any management application (such as
HP OpenView) will receive the trap and take corresponding
action. In-band path can be used if the server is up and
running and there is an alert condition as of type
“WARNING”.
Cont'd
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
6
How MegaRAC™ Works, Continued
Out-of-band path In severe condition, while the server is not running,
MegaRAC™ uses this path. The MegaRAC™ hardware is
now active and uses another path other than the LAN/WAN
that connects the server. Rather it uses a telephone line or a
separate network line (ATM) to send its “SOS” message. This
path can be used both when the server is running and also
when the server is dead. The MegaRAC™ solely uses the out-
of-band path.
Accessing MegaRAC™ MegaRAC™ can be accessed by the Out-of-band
path, which can be telephone line and/or a separate network
line other than LAN/WAN. The out-of-band session is the
only way to access the MegaRAC™ functionality. The
MegaRAC™ Management Console will provide the user
interface to access the MegaRAC™ hardware and use the
Console Command Service and Console Redirection Service.
Chapter 1 Overview
7
MegaRAC™ Software Modules
The MegaRAC™ software architecture is built upon several
independent software modules that run under specific
operating systems. The modules include hardware services,
application services, management services, and user
interfaces. The following table displays the software modules
for MegaRAC™:
Software Module Description Location
Hardware Services MegaRAC™ card interface driver under
Microsoft® Windows NT4.0, Windows
2000, Novell® NetWare 4.11, 5.X, and
Linux
Server node
Application Services Graphics capture service under Windows
NT 4.0 and Windows 2000only
Virtual mouse service under Windows
NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 only
Server node
Management
Services
SNMP agent under Windows NT and
Novell NetWare
Server node
User Interface GUI based under Windows NT 4.0,
W2000, Windows 95 and Windows 98
Client
Address book server Contains the IP address/phone number of
the MegaRAC™ card. This module
works under Windows NT 4.0 and
Windows 2000
Management
station
Alert Center Collects the alerts from the MegaRAC™
card through modem and logs in the
event log. For Windows NT 4.0 and
W2000
Management
station
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
8
MegaRAC™ Software Modules, Continued
Hardware services Hardware services are the drivers running under each
operating system. The drivers allow applications and other
system-level services to access the MegaRAC™ hardware.
These services are operating system specific and differ from
one operating system to another.
Application services Application services are the drivers that work between
the hardware services and the upper-level user interface. One
example is the driver that captures the graphics screen
content. Application services maintain the MegaRAC™
features and the implementation of the console services.
Operating system-specific management services The operating system-
specific management services support the standard
management protocols. An enterprise network system is
typically run by a management application. This application is
based upon certain management standards such as Simple
Network Management Protocol (SNMP.) Management
through SNMP uses the in-band network.
User interface The user interface is the interaction between MegaRAC™ and
the user. The interface is an intuitive GUI based application.
This 32-bit application runs under Windows NT 4.0,
Windows 2000, Windows 95 and Windows 98. The main user
interface for MegaRAC™ is the Management Console. The
management console lets the user access the MegaRAC™
card and use the Console Redirection Service, and Console
Command Service.
Chapter 1 Overview
9
MegaRAC™ Technical Specifications
The technical specifications for the MegaRAC™ card and
other technical information are:
Item Description
Processor The MegaRAC™ card has an Intel® 80L960JA 3.3V embedded
32-bit processor running at 16 MHz. This processor includes 2
KB of instruction cache and 1 KB of data cache with write-
through operation. The MegaRAC™ card has an AMI MG9063
ASIC that interfaces between the host PCI bus and the local
i960JA processor.
Memory MegaRAC™ includes 2 MB flash ROM that contains the
firmware image and DRAM for operational memory. The
MegaRAC™ card includes 16MB DRAM memory. The
firmware will operate from this memory. The firmware will
maintain adequate stack and heap for all internal processing. A
128 KB NVRAM area provides storage for configuration
information, event logs, and captured text screens.
Out-of-band
Access
Out-of-band access is established through a path other than the
server's own LAN or WAN, such as a telephone line or a
separate network connection to the dedicated Ethernet port of
the MegaRAC™ card. It requires the use of the onboard 10
Mbps LAN adapter or an onboard serial port.
Hardware
Health
Parameter
Monitoring
Monitors hardware health parameters (voltages, temperatures,
fan status, and chassis intrusion). By default MegaRAC™
monitors ambient temperature, PCI bus voltage, onboard battery
status and external power supply. For additional I2C device-
monitoring MegaRAC™ must be connected to the server
motherboard through the feature connector using the special
cable provided with the card.
Hard Reset
and Power
Cycle
Used to initiate an immediate server boot. The MegaRAC™
card can detect when the server has lost power or has been reset
by a watchdog timer it provides to the firmware. For this feature
MegaRAC™ card must be connected to the server motherboard
using a special cable through the onboard feature connector.
BIOS
Functions
The BIOS on the server motherboards allows you to capture
videotext sequences the firmware stores in NVRAM. The boot
sequences and I/O Port 0080h outputs are captured and stored
in NVRAM. The BIOS contains descriptive strings that expand
the captured codes.
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
10
MegaRAC™ Features
DSM (Dead Server Management) What is the DSM? As the name goes, it is
the management of the server while it is dead or non-
functional. As a dead server has its own processor stopped
and not executing any code, an independent computer should
be present to help in this scenario. And that independent
computer is the MegaRAC™.
MegaRAC™ acts like a computer inside a computer. It is
battery backed so it never goes down. MegaRAC™ always
keeps monitoring the server whether it is up and running or
not. As soon as it finds the server is dead, it sends the message
out to the supervisor to manage the dead server immediately.
MegaRAC™ provides a set of commands to be executed upon
user’s request to manage a dead server.
A graphical user interface program will allow user to connect
remotely or locally to the MegaRAC™ hardware. The
onboard firmware of the MegaRAC™ will start functioning to
manage the dead server at this time.
Cont'd
Chapter 1 Overview
11
MegaRAC™ Features, Continued
How it is achieved? When an important server is up and running, there are lots
of ways to monitor the server and manage it. But when the
server is not functional and its processor quits working,
MegaRAC™ becomes the only answer to manage it at that
time. Following is the major features of MegaRAC™’s Dead
Server Management.
Constantly monitor server’s health
Send heartbeat to the supervisor - with status (OK,
Warning, Catastrophic) and severity level (Highest, High,
Normal and Low)
Send “Catastrophic” alert to the supervisor in case of
server crash
Playback server’s last crash screen
View event log history
View server’s current health status and the histogram
Perform RESET/POWER CYCLE at the server
Auto server recovery without supervisor’s assistance to
minimize server downtime
Send SNMP trap over the out-of-band network to other
management applications
Independent pager alert in case of server crash
Dial out to Managed console
Send E-mail to Administrator
Cont'd
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
12
MegaRAC™ Features, Continued
Health Monitoring The MegaRAC™ management console graphical user
interface (GUI) is the medium through which you perform
most of your server monitoring tasks. MegaRAC™ card
monitors two categories of system health parameters. They
are described below. Onboard health The card by default
monitors the following parameters.
Ambient temperature - This provides the in-cage
temperature of the server.
PCI bus voltage - This provides whether server loses
power or not.
External power supply - An optional power supply can be
connected through the external power connector. This
could be the supplied AC wall adapter.
Battery charge status - This provides the charge status of
the on board battery. This also provides the information
about the battery condition.
These parameters above are displayed anytime (whether
server is running or crashed) at the remote management
console program.
Server health MegaRAC™ card can also monitor server
temperature, voltage, fan status, chassis intrusion etc. through
special connector called "feature connector". For this feature
onboard firmware has to be configured properly. To do so
MegaRAC™ implements an SDK and set of tools for easy
customization. This monitoring is done on I2C bus present in
the feature connector. The server motherboard also has to
have the similar interface. Without configuring the firmware
using SDK, management console will not show the server's
health information.
Playback server’s last crash screen When the server is crashed MegaRAC™
management console can get the last crashed screens and play
them back. This way MIS manager can analyze the cause of
the crash and fix that in future.
Cont'd
Chapter 1 Overview
13
MegaRAC™ Features, Continued
View Event log The MegaRAC™ hardware will have a considerable size of
nonvolatile storage. All the events can be logged there. These
events come from the MegaRAC™ itself or even from the
outside, for example BIOS.
SNMP trap When there is a crisis, MegaRAC™ can generate a trap over
the network from its embedded SNMP agent. This trap goes
to the SNMP manager. This trap comes through the out-of-
band network from the MegaRAC™. This way any
management application on that network (for example, HP
OpenView etc.) will get that trap and let the MIS manager to
handle that situation.
Independent paging So far MegaRAC™ was described to report to the
supervisor. The supervisor is actually a management station
that can be a management server in the distributed enterprise
network system. But MegaRAC™ can also page using its
onboard modem independently to any MIS manager for any
kind of alert notification. On the other hand management
station can also send that page by itself. This is what the
MegaRAC™ is setup to work.
Dial out to Managed Console When there is an Alert, the modem connected
with the MegaRAC™ card can dial out to the specified
Managed Console. This way the supervisor is immediately
notified for every event happening on the server.
E-mail notification MegaRAC™ card can send an e-mail to the Administrator,
when there is an Alert. The severity of an Alert can be set as
Error, Fatal, Warning, and Information. This is done through
the out of band Management.
Cont'd
MegaRAC™ Software Guide
14
MegaRAC™ Features, Continued
Console Redirection Service MegaRAC™ offers full graphics and text
redirection from the server side to the remote management
console. In this service it also provides the facility to send key
press sequence and mouse activity from the remote
management console to the server side. The reason of this
service is to gain full control over the server from a remote
location. The main features of this service are as follows.
Screen redirection (graphics/text)
Keyboard/mouse redirection
Graceful shutdown
Watch boot process including the POST progress (port
80)
Access BIOS setup remotely
Remote server maintenance
Remote diagnostics
File Transfer and
Floppy Redirection
Cont'd
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American Megatrends MegaRAC S780 Software User guide

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