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Options (Customizing IT Assistant)

Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant User's Guide

	Application Associations		Discovery Range
	Connection Service Host		Ping Timeout Configuration
	Custom Groups		TCP/IP Port Usage
	Discovery Cycle Options		Trap Configuration for System Up/Down

Application Associations

IT Assistant enables you to associate a disk management application or a remote access application with the following five items in its interface: 

• The Disk Storage Management entry on the IT Assistant navigation tree.
  
  
• The Manage Disk Storage button on the Status tab of the systems window.
  
  
• The Remote Connect button on the Status tab of the systems window.
  
  
• The Connect button in the remote access address book window.
  
  
• The Remote Connect button in the remote access hardware window. When you select these items, they start the application associated with them.

To start the applications, these items use two named definitions that specify the application's startup information. The names of these definitions are Array Manager for the disk management application, and Remote Assistant for the remote access application. The Disk Storage Management menu item and Manage Disk Storage button are associated with Array Manager, and the Connect and Remote Connect buttons are associated with Remote Assistant.

The Array Manager definition contains default startup information for Dell OpenManage Array Manager. The Remote Assistant definition contains default startup information for Dell OpenManage Remote Assistant. When activated, these definitions cause IT Assistant to autodetect the default application; if it is not present, IT Assistant informs you that it could not locate the application and gives you the opportunity to edit the application association definition. You can then edit the Array Manager definition or the Remote Assistant definition so that they start the default applications from a different location, or start other applications entirely.

NOTE: If you are using Array Manager for your default disk management application, it must be installed on the IT Assistant management station or on the system at which you are using the IT Assistant browser-based interface.

To edit an application association definition, perform the following steps:

1. On the IT Assistant navigation tree, expand the Configuration branch and click Application Associations.
   
   
2. In the Application Associations dialog box, select either Array Manager or Remote Assistant and click Edit.
   
   
3. In the Edit Associations dialog box, edit the current application association definition (Array Manager or Remote Assistant). In Application Launch, specify the Web address or pathname to the file that starts the program and click OK.
   
   

   NOTE: If you edit an application association definition, the new definition overrides automatic detection of the default applications. To return to automatic detection, clear the entire Application Launch field.

4. Click Close.

Connection Service Host

You can choose the IT Assistant connection service host to which the browser-based user interface connects. You can specify a different connection service host for the current session, or you can permanently change the host that the interface uses.

Changing the Connection Service Host for the Current Session

To specify a different connection service host for the current session only, perform the following steps:

1. On the IT Assistant navigation tree, expand the Options branch and click Connection Service.
   
   
2. In the Change Connection Service dialog box, enter an Internet Protocol (IP) address or the name of a host in the IP Address or Hostname field.
   
   This system should be the system that you specify to be the new IT Assistant connection service host.
   
   
3. In the Port field, specify the port you want the IT Assistant connection service to use.

4. In the Timeout (seconds) field, specify a time-out period for communication between the IT Assistant connection service and the IT Assistant browser-based user interface.
   
   

   NOTE: The time-out value specifies the amount of time the IT Assistant browser-based user interface tries to communicate with the IT Assistant connection service without receiving a response. Setting a time-out helps prevent the browser-based user interface from locking up. Edit the ConnectionInfo.xml file to permanently change the UI timeout.

5. Click OK. 

Permanently Changing the Management Station

If you want to permanently change the IT Assistant management station or the port number used to communicate with the IT Assistant connection service, you must modify the ConnectionInfo.xml file on the system that runs the interface (this can be the same system as the management station). This file is located in the UserInterfaceComponents subdirectory in your IT Assistant installation directory. The default IT Assistant installation directory is C:\Program Files\Dell\OpenManage\IT Assistant. If you are using a Web server, this file is located as defined by the Web server.

To permanently specify a different management station, perform the following steps:

1. Open the ConnectionInfo.xml file in Microsoft® Notepad.
   
   
2. In the ConnectionInfo.xml file, locate the following line:

<HOSTNAME>oldhost</HOSTNAME>

where oldhost is the name of the currently configured IT Assistant management station.

3. Replace the old host name with the new host name.
   
   
4. Save the ConnectionInfo.xml file and exit Notepad.

To change the port number used to communicate with the connection service, perform the following steps:

1. Open the ConnectionInfo.xml file in Microsoft Notepad.
   
   
2. In the ConnectionInfo.xml file, locate the following line:

<PORT>oldport</PORT>

where oldport is the port number of the currently configured port. If IT Assistant was installed using default values, this number is 2067.

3. Replace the old port number with the new port number.
   
   
4. Save the ConnectionInfo.xml file and exit Notepad.

Custom Groups

By default, IT Assistant groups systems according to system type in the system tree and in the Home window. You can also create groups of systems of different types for convenience. For example, you can create a group for all the systems in a certain physical location.

To create a custom group of currently discovered systems, perform the following steps:

1. On the IT Assistant navigation tree, expand the Options branch and click Custom Groups.
   
   
2. In the Custom Groups dialog box, click Add.
   
   
3. In the Add Group dialog box, enter a name for the new group in the Group Name field.
   
   
4. Click the host name of the system(s) you want to add to the new group in the Systems excluded from group list box and click Add.
   
   
5. Click OK.
   
   
6. In the Custom Groups dialog box, click Close.

To remove a custom group, perform the following steps:

1. In the IT Assistant navigation tree, expand the Options branch and click Custom Groups.
   
   
2. In the Custom Groups dialog box, click the group(s) you want to remove.
   
   
3. Click Delete.
   
   
4. Click Close.

To modify and existing group, perform the following steps:

1. On the IT Assistant navigation tree, expand the Options branch and click Custom Groups.
   
   
2. In the Custom Groups dialog box, click Edit.
   
   
3. In the Edit Group dialog box, perform one or both of the following steps:

• Click the host name of the system(s) you want to add to the existing group in the Systems excluded from group list box and click Add.
  
  
• Click the host name of the system(s) you want to remove from the existing group in the Systems included in group list box and click Remove.

4. Click OK.
   
   
5. Click Close.

Discovery Cycle Options

See "Setting Discovery Options."

Discovery Range

See "Setting Discovery Options."

Ping Timeout Configuration

For slower networks, IT Assistant may show systems as down when they are actually up. This behavior can be caused by a slow ping response. To compensate for this problem, perform the following steps:

1. From the command prompt, execute the ping command on one of the affected systems.
   
   Record the round trip time, which the ping command reports in milliseconds (ms).
   
   
2. Add 1 – 2 secs (1000 – 2000 ms) to this number.
   
   
3. In the IT Assistant configuration directory, open the dconfig.ini file using a text editor.
   
   
4. Locate the [DISCOVERY_PARAM] section.
   
   
5. Set PING_TIMEOUT to the value calculated in step 2 (in ms).
   
   
6. Save the dconfig.ini file and restart the IT Assistant services.

TCP/IP Port Usage

IT Assistant uses two TCP/IP ports for communication. By default, the connection service uses port 2607 for communication between the IT Assistant browser-based user interface and the management station, and the network monitoring service uses port 2606 for internal communication among the IT Assistant services. 

You can specify different port numbers during the installation using the Custom Settings® Socket Settings option in the IT Assistant installation program. To change the port numbers after installation, you must modify the Windows registry. The following are the registry keys you need to change.

NOTE: You must restart the IT Assistant services after making these changes.

• To specify the connection service port:
  
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Dell Computer Corporation\Dell OpenManage IT Assistant\Connection Service\<PortNumber>
  
  
• To specify the network monitoring service port:
  
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Dell Computer Corporation\Dell OpenManage IT Assistant\Network Monitoring Service\<PortNumber>

where <PortNumber> is the number of the TCP/IP port you want to use.

Trap Configuration for System Up/Down

You can edit the trapconfig.cfg file to instruct IT Assistant where to send SNMP traps that it, not managed node instrumentation, generates. The traps that IT Assistant generates are those that indicate a change in system power status (system up/down).

NOTE: IT Assistant "impersonates" the system for which it sends the up/down trap; it inserts that system's IP address into the trap so that it appears that the trap came from that system, although IT Assistant generated the trap. This implementation enables specific systems to be monitored for system up/system down events through the IT Assistant event management system.

You can configure IT Assistant to send these traps to multiple destinations. The trap destinations you specify in the trapconfig.cfg file can be completely different from trap destinations configured for the SNMP agent. IT Assistant does not send its traps through the SNMP agent (which runs on the management station), so configuring destinations for IT Assistant has no effect on the behavior of the SNMP agent. 

The trapconfig.cfg file resides in the /configuration subdirectory of the IT Assistant installation directory (<IT Assistant installation directory>/configuration). Each trap destination requires two entries: community name and hostname (or IP address). Further setup instructions are given in the configuration file.

NOTE: Ensure that you carefully follow all directions in the trapconfig.cfg file when configuring this feature.

You must restart the IT Assistant services after you edit the trapconfig.cfg file for the destination changes to take effect.

NOTE: IT Assistant sends traps upon the first change in power status—if a system goes up, IT Assistant sends one system up trap; if a system goes down, IT Assistant sends one system down trap. IT Assistant does not generate "heartbeat" traps. The system’s power status is detected during an IT Assistant status cycle.

The system up/down traps are preconfigured in the IT Assistant event management system database in the Software event category.

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