Configuration Tools

HP Systems Insight Manager

The HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM) is a major advance in web-based multiple system management. You can use it to configure and manage not only HP-UX systems but also HP Linux systems and HP Windows® systems, as well as non-HP Linux and Windows systems. HP SIM makes use of the HP SMH interface and other tools. It is fully described in the HP Systems Insight Manager 5.2 Installation and Configuration Guide for HP-UX on http://docs.hp.com (click “Network and Systems Management” and “HP Systems Insight Manager”).

HP-UX System Management Homepage (Web-Based)

The HP-UX System Management Homepage (HP SMH) is a web-based interface that manages one HP-UX system at a time. It completes the transfer of the System Administration Manager (SAM) functions into web-based processes. In HP-UX 11i Version 2, the SAM functional areas for kernel configuration, peripheral devices, and partition management became web-based, using kcweb, pdweb, and parmgr, respectively. In HP-UX 11i Version 3, the full management interface is web-based using HP SMH. For more information, see “HP-UX System Management Homepage (Web-Based)”. HP SMH is also described in Simplifying single-system management on HP-UX 11i – HP System Management Homepage (HP SMH).

HP-UX System Management Homepage (Text-Based)

The text-based HP-UX System Management Homepage (HP SMH) replaces the System Administration Manager (SAM). It operates as a logged-in management tool. Its principal interface provides simple terminal-based screens. In some cases, the earlier screen-based and X-Window-based displays have been retained in the functional areas. For more information, see “HP-UX System Management Homepage (Text-Based)”.

HP-UX Commands

HP-UX commands provide you with the finest granularity of access to system configuration, but they require you to be careful to complete all the steps correctly. In some cases, such as root home directory reconfiguration (see “Create the Root Home Directory”), they may be the only way to do it. In other cases, such as tweaking nonpassword data in the password file, it’s just easier to run a command such as vipw.

Generally, HP recommends that you use HP SMH or HP SIM to manage your system wherever possible and convenient, because they are designed to ensure that all the files and databases are updated and all the commands are issued correctly.

	CAUTION: You must use either the command sequence or HP SMH to perform any operation that HP SMH supports. Attempting to start an operation with commands and completing it with HP SMH can result in errors and possibly corrupt data or data structures.

Using HP SIM and HP SMH versus HP-UX Commands

HP SIM and HP SMH hide the complexity of most administrative tasks. They minimize or eliminate the need for detailed knowledge of many administrative commands, thus saving valuable time. Use these utilities whenever possible, especially when first mastering a task. Some tasks described in this document cannot be done by these utilities, in which case you will need to use the HP-UX commands. However, these utilities are the tools of choice for much administrative work.

Many HP SMH procedures provide the option to preview the HP-UX commands that they will use to perform the task at hand.