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 Sun xVM Ops Center 1.1 Home FAQ, Release Notes, and Terms |
- General Questions
- Installation Questions
- Gear and Discovery Questions
- Provisioning Questions
- Update Questions
- Management Questions
What questions do you have?
Please go to the Sun xVM forum to ask a question.
General
- What is Sun xVM Ops Center?
- Is Sun xVM Ops Center only for management of virtualized environments?
- How do Solaris OS Containers work with Sun xVM?
- Which operating systems does Sun xVM Ops Center support?
- Will Sun xVM software be open-sourced?
- Does Sun xVM Ops Center share data with Sun Inventory?
- How can I gather debug data for Sun Support?
Question: What is Sun xVM Ops Center?
Answer: Sun xVM Ops Center is a new tool for data center automation and virtualization management of servers at high-scale. It contains features to control the hardware and software elements of the stack (real and virtual).
Question: Is Sun xVM Ops Center only for management of virtualized environments?
Answer: No. Sun xVM Ops Center is designed to be a world-class data center Automation tool and is derived from two tools (N1SM and Sun Connection Satellite) used to manage hundreds of data centers where often little virtualization technology is yet in use. We do expect that by adding active hypervisor management to Sun xVM Ops Center, we will help introduce many of those customers to an easier route to begin virtualizing their environments.
Question: How do Solaris OS Containers work with Sun xVM?
Answer: Solaris OS Containers remain the exemplary solution for customers looking for high-performance and low-overhead OS virtualization. Solaris OS Containers and Sun xVM work together to provide flexibility and choice in virtualization technologies. Expect to see announcement about new Solaris OS Container capabilities in the near future. Sun xVM Ops Center is designed to provide a unified management interface for both Sun xVM Server and Solaris OS Containers.
Question: Which operating systems does Sun xVM Ops Center support?
Answer: Sun xVM Ops Center supports Redhat Linux, SUSE, and Solaris 8, 9, and 10 on x86 and SPARC platforms.
Question: Will Sun xVM software be open-sourced?
Answer: Some parts of Sun xVM will be open-sourced. Sun has launched www.openxvm.org, an open source community for developers building next-generation data center virtualization and management technologies. Please sign-up for one of the email or messaging services available on the site. Additionally, you can find links to blogs from members of our team and read the latest thinking and plans on our direction.
Question: Does Sun xVM Ops Center share data with Sun Inventory?
Answer: No. Both use Sun Service Tags and match gear with a Sun Online Account, but they have separate interfaces. In addition, gear must be registered separately in order to be used by each program.
Question: How can I gather debug data for Sun Support?
Answer: Scripts are available to help you to gather debug data. To learn more, read the Sun Gathering Debug Data for Sun xVM Ops Center 1.1 article.
Installation
- Where can I learn more about the system requirements needed to install and run Sun xVM Ops Center?
- Where can I download the software?
- Where can I find the installation procedures?
- If I have Sun xVM Ops Center installed on my system, how can I upgrade to the latest version of Ops Center?
Question: Where can I learn more about the system requirements needed to install and run Sun xVM Ops Center?
Answer: System requirements for Sun xVM Ops Center installations include the following:
- Requirements for systems that run Sun xVM Ops Center software
- Requirements for systems that Sun xVM Ops Center will manage, update, or provision
A list of system requirements is available here
Question: Where can I download the software?
Answer: Contact your Sun sales support representative, or send an email to sss-mgmt@Sun.COM to arrange for your Sun xVM Ops Center download.
As a qualified Sun customer with an engaged Sun sales support representative, a Sun field or system engineer will provide access to the Sun xVM Ops Center software for you to download. The software license agreement for Sun xVM Ops Center is presented as part of the download process. You must read and accept the software license agreement before you can use Sun xVM Ops Center.
Question: Where can I find the installation procedures?
Answer: The installation procedures are located on the xVM Ops Center Information Exchange.
Question: If I have Sun xVM Ops Center installed on my system, how can I upgrade to the latest version of Ops Center?
Answer: Beginning with Sun xVM Ops Center 1.1, there will be an upgrade function that will enable you to easily upgrade to the latest version.
If you have Sun xVM Ops Center 1.1 installed on your system, you will be able to use the upgrade feature to upgrade to the 1.1.1 release. This particular upgrade apples only to the Sun xVM Ops Center server component. Currently there is no version 1.1.1 upgrade required for Sun xVM Ops Center version 1.1 proxies and agents.
If you have older versions than 1.1, follow the uninstall procedures documented in the Special Procedure for Early Access Installations before you install the 1.1 software. See the Upgrade instructions for detailed information.
Gear and Discovery
- What is network discovery?
- How does the Gear Module discover gear without Sun Service Tags?
- How can gear be grouped?
- How can I locate a specific gear?
Question: What is network discovery?
Answer: Network discovery determines what gear (software and hardware) are present. Using Sun Service Tags, xVM Ops Center can automatically recognize many Sun and third-party products and add them to its inventory. Hardware and software without service tags can be added as well. More information about Sun Service Tags is available at the Service Tag FAQ page.
Question: How does the Gear Module discover gear without Sun Service Tags?
Answer: A number of discovery protocols can be used - SSH, IMPI, Telnet, and SNMP can all be used.
Question: How can gear be grouped?
Answer: Gear can be grouped in almost any way. Different offices can be grouped together for easy management, and machines using the same operating system can be grouped to aid in patching or updating.
Question: How can I locate a specific gear?
Answer: The Gear Module categorizes gear by type, so you can easily look at all instances of the same operating system or piece of hardware. In addition, the Gear Module contains a filter function which can be used to easily search for gear.
Provisioning
- What is the Provisioning Module?
- What operating systems can be installed using the Provisioning Module?
- How can older systems be provisioned on a Sparc ILOM system using a Solaris dhcp server?
Question: What is the Provisioning Module?
Answer: The Provisioning Module is used to install operating systems and up-to-date firmware.
Question: What operating systems can be installed using the Provisioning Module?
Answer: Redhat Linux, SUSE, and Solaris 8, 9, and 10 can all be installed.
Question: How can older systems be provisioned on a Sparc ILOM system using a Solaris dhcp server?
Answer: If you are trying to provision a Sparc ILOM system using a Solaris dhcp server, the Solaris dhcp class may not be present for some older systems or new systems that are not officially supported. To workaround this situation, add a dhcp class identifier to the /opt/SUNWscnosp/data/js_classes file and provision again. Alternatively, use ISC dhcp.
Update
- What does the Update Module do?
- What control does the user have over updates?
- How much of the update process can be automated?
- How often the satellite contacts Sun site to check for the latest patches and baselines?
- Is there a way to manually check for the latest patches and baselines through the command line?
- Is there a log where we can see if the satellite has initiated the connection and successfully download knowledge?
Question: What does the Update Module do?
Answer: The Update Module patches operating systems.
Question: What control does the user have over updates?
Answer: The user selects the baseline for updates (for example, deciding that all Solaris 10 machines should receive the January patches) and Ops Center determines what patches are needed on each system. Update jobs can be scheduled to occur during regular downtime.
Question: How much of the update process can be automated?
Answer: You can run reports in Ops Center to check the compliancy of the machines for the latest versions of patches and packages. Based on the report, create and schedule jobs to apply the latest patches for all the machines.
Question: How often the satellite contacts Sun site to check for the latest patches and baselines?
Answer: Every two hours.
Top
Question: Is there a way to manually check for the latest patches and baselines through the command line?
Answer: Yes, you can use the following command to restart the uce-scheduler service:
# svcadm restart uce-scheduler
Question: Is there a log where we can see if the satellite has initiated the connection and successfully download knowledge?
Answer: Yes. Each distribution has an own error.log file.
Note: The satellite downloads the knowledge about new patches and baselines, not the patches themselves.
Example of a Solaris 10 x86 error.log file:
# egrep '# 276|# 547' /var/opt/SUNWuce/server/logs/SOLARIS_10_0_X86/error.log ... 7214:2008-10-13_02:59:48 DEBUG [ server_cgi: ../src/FcgiServerData.cc: # 547 ] 0 No update from parent is needed 7899:2008-10-13_05:00:01 DEBUG [ server_cgi: ../src/FcgiServerData.cc: # 547 ] 0 No update from parent is needed 8576:2008-10-13_07:00:54 DEBUG [ Server_i: ../src/SI_GetFileManager.cc: # 276 ] 118098432 New updates available on server. ShouldGetFile /opt/SUNWuce/server/private/SOLARIS_10_0_X86/config_files//proxy.tgz returns with signature differs 9282:2008-10-13_09:01:47 DEBUG [ server_cgi: ../src/FcgiServerData.cc: # 547 ] 0 No update from parent is needed Note: the time stamps are always in GMT.
Management
- What does the Management Module let you control?
- What OS parameters are monitored by the Management Module?
- What hardware parameters are monitored by the Management Module?
Question: What does the Management Module let you control?
Answer: The Management Module allows for basic actions such as powering on (or off) a system or group of systems. It can also activate locator lights to aid in hardware maintenance.
Question: What OS parameters are monitored by the Management Module?
Answer: Connectivity, file systems, CPU usage, and memory usage are all monitored. You can set thresholds for each, and the Management Module will notify you if they are passed.
Question: What hardware parameters are monitored by the Management Module?
Answer: CPU temperature, Ambient temperature, Fan speed in revolutions per minute, Voltages, LEDs, Hard disks and memory are all monitored. Like OS parameters, you can set thresholds for each.
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