LSI DMI Browser Help

This document is organized into the following categories: User Guide Overview
User Interface
Menu Commands
Command Line Parameters
Setting Changeable Parameters
Icon Legend Installation
Bugs, Caveats and Known Limitations
Definition of Terms

User Guide

Overview

The LSI DMI browser is a tool that you can use to view information about storage components connected to your computer, such as the following:

- SCSI Host adapter boards
- Device Drivers
- Peripheral devices such as hard disks, CD-ROM readers and writers, Tape drives, Optical Drives etc.

When you launch the DMI browser, it asks you for an Internet machine name to connect to. When connected, it enumerates the SCSI host adapter(s) and the devices attached to each of the host adapters installed on the remote computer. It also displays detailed information about these adapters and devices.

The LSI DMI Browser is a Management Application that conforms to the Desktop Management Interface version 2.x. In order for it to connect to a server on the Internet, the server must be running a DMI Service Provider and the LSI Component Instrumentation. Please refer to DMI Overview for more information.

In addition to the standard Mass Storag e MIF, certain LSI extension groups such as LSI Event Polling, S.M.A.R.T Device, and SAF-TE also implemented.

The LSI DMI Browser has been tested to work with the following DMI Service Providers:

- Windows NT
- Novell Netware
- SCO Unixware

User Interface

The LSI DMI Explorer uses a typical "Windows Explorer"-like display. The main window is divided into two resizable panes. The left pane contains a hierarchical tree display of all of the storage elements installed on the computer. Every node in the tree co ntains an icon that indicates the type of component it is. The label next to each icon indicates the SCSI Address of the device and the manufacturer's name.

When you select one of the nodes in the tree, the contents of the right pane change to a tabbed-page interface that presents more detailed information about the device. The first tab provides summary information for either a device or controller. All the other tabs represent a DMI Group associated with the selected node. For example, if you select a hard disk, some the tabs associated with it would be "Storage Device", "S.M.A.R.T.", "World Wide ID", etc.

Some of the DMI groups that have changeable parameters have "Set" and "Reset" buttons. In order to change an attribute, type the value to set in the edit box adjacent to the label, and click the "Set" button. If the action is successful, the value is changed and the screen is updated with the new value. Almost all of these values are integers, as defined in the DMI Mass Storage MIF.

Please refer to the section Setting Changeable Parameters (below) for information on supported values.

The very first time that the LSI DMI browser is launched, you will be prompted with the Preferences Dialog Box. You need to enter the machine name of the Windows NT machine running the LSI RPC proxy service, if you are planning to manage computers running Windows NT. The preferences will be saved in a file StorDMI.ini locally on this machine. From the next time onwards, the preferences will be read from the saved file. This file also saves the IP address / Machine Name of up to 8 recently managed machines.

Menu Commands

- File Menu:

- Connect: Opens the connect dialog box; Connect to a remote system on the Internet
- Disconnect: End the current session; Disconnect from the system.
- Preferences: Opens the Preferences dialog box.
- Exit: Closes the main frame window.

- View Menu

- Rescan: Repeats the scan process that locates SCSI host adapters and devices in your computer.

- Help Menu

- Help Topics: Opens this page in a Web browser window.
- Icon Legend: Describes the status icons on the summary page
- About: Provides information about the LSI DMI Browser, such as the version number.

Setting Changeable Parameters

While a majority of the attributes displayed in the browser are read-only elements, there are some attributes that may be changed. A description of the attributes that are changeable and their supported values are shown in the table below.

Attribute Name | Description | Supported Values
LSI Flag | This attribute enables or disables all LSI Event Polling. | 0 --- Disable 1 --- Enable
S.M.A.R.T. Event Polling | This attribute determines whether the CI performs periodic polling for S.M.A.R.T. events. If it is reported as "Disabled", the value cannot be changed. | 0 --- Disable 1 --- Enable 2 --- Unknown 3 --- Other
Scan Event Polling | This attribute determines whether the CI performs periodic polling to update adapter and device state changes. If it is reported as "Disabled", the value cannot be changed. | 0 --- Disable 1 --- Enable 2 --- Unknown 3 --- Other
SAF-TE Event Polling | This attribute determines whether the CI performs periodic polling for S.M.A.R.T. events. If it is reported as "Disabled", the value cannot be changed. | 0 --- Disable 1 --- Enable 2 --- Unknown 3 --- Other
Event Polling Period | This attribute is the polling period in minutes. | Integer
S.M.A.R.T. Reporting Capability | A flag indicating the state of a device's S.M.A.R.T. reporting capability. If it is reported as "Disabled", the value cannot be changed. | 0 --- Disable 1 --- Enable 2 --- Unknown 3 --- Other

Command Line Parameters

The LSI DMI browser may be launched from an HTML page or as a stand-alone Java application from the command line. Command line parameters are supported from the stand-alone Java application. When a sufficient number of parameters are passed, the user is not prompted with the connection dialog. Instead, the browser attempts to connect to the server machine with the information passed to it via these parameters. The parameters are case sensitive. The supported parameters are described below:

> MachineName: The Internet host name or IP Address of the computer to be managed

> RpcType: The RPC type supported by the DMI service provider installed on the machine. Supported values are "dce" or "onc". Usually, Windows NT servers use DCE while others use ONC RPC.

> ProxyServer: The address of the Windows NT machine running the LSI RPC proxy service. This parameter is only required if the RpcType parameter is "dce".

> ProxyPort (Optional): The TCP port of the proxy server. The default value is 6301. This parameter is only required if the RpcType parameter is "dce".

> SocketTimeout (Optional): Number of seconds after which a network socket connection times out. The default value is 5 seconds.

> DisableFileWrite (Optional): Supported values are "true" and "false". If "true", the local file "stordmi.ini" is not updated. The default value is false.

Usage Examples: Command Line Parameters while launched as an application. Use the format [<ParameterName> <ParameterValue>]* while passing arguments on the command line.

        java -classpath %CLASSPATH%;lsidmi.zip Launch LSIDMI MachineName server1.company.com RpcType onc

The %CLASSPATH% in the command above expands the environment variable CLASSPATH under Windows Platforms. Under UNIX, $CLASSPATH would do the same.

Icon Legend

The following are the icons that appear in the tree view:

| LSI Mass Storage MIF
| SCSI Host Adapter
| Hard Drive
| Medium Changer
| Optical memory Device
| Tape Device
| Processor Device
| Printer Device
| SAF-TE Processor
| Scanner
| CD-ROM Reader
| WORM
| Other SCSI Device
| Unknown Device Class

Installation

There are two software components that need to be installed for the LSI DMI browser to work properly

1. The LSI DMI Browser Applet/Application
2. The LSI RPC Proxy Service

1. The LSI DMI Browser Applet/Application

Stand-alone installation of this component is trivial. It is already installed in the same directory where this help.htm file resides. In order to install it on your computer, or a Web server, just copy all the contents of the directory, including the GIF sub-directory to a target location, and add a link to lsidmi.htm. The following is the list of files needed.

`lsidmi.htm --- Default Launch Page for the browser`
`lsidmi.cab --- Signed Cabinet file for Microsoft Internet Explorer`
`lsidmi.zip --- Signed JAR file for Netscape Navigator`
`lsidmi.jar --- Signed JAR file for HotJava`
`help.htm --- This file`
`gif/ --- This is a directory of images (90 files)`

It is also possible to easily integrate the LSI DMI Browser as part of a larger management Framework. In order to do so, you may need to use applet parameters that are supported by the browser. Please refer to the section on Command Line Parameters for more information.

The LSI DMI Explorer is implemented as a Java Applet/Application, and may be launched from a Web browser or as an application from the command line. While launched as an applet from an HTML page, the following minimum browser versions are (1) Internet Explorer 4.0 or (2) Netscape Navigator 4.07. The applet is digitally signed in order to be able to perform certain actions such as network connections, which are otherwise not allowed from a Java applet.

Connecting to Windows NT machines is supported through the LSI DCE Proxy Service, which must be installed on any one Windows NT machine on the network. The very first time that the DMI Browser is launched, you will be prompted with a Preferences Dialog Box for the IP address of this NT machine.

2. The LSI RPC Proxy Service

The LSI RPC Proxy Service is a Windows NT Service that needs to be installed on any one Windows NT machine on the network. It is only required if you need to manage Windows NT machines, which use DCE RPC for communication.

To install the proxy server:
1. Copy the executable to a location on the server that you wish to install the proxy server.

2. From a Command Prompt, type

`lsirpc.exe -install`

3. Start the service from the Windows Control Panel.

To remove the proxy server, type
`lsirpc.exe -remove` Bugs, Caveats and Known Limitations

- When connecting to a Netware server (using ONC-RPC) , if you specify the RPC type as DCE, and try to connect, the DCE RPC Service crashes - we are working on a fix for this problem.
- HotJava Browser Instructions: The digital signature of LSIDMI.JAR is generated by LSI Logic, and thus not issued by a Certificate Authority. In order for the applet to run properly under HotJava, please take the following steps:
  - Load the lsidmiHJ.htm page under HotJava
  - From the menubar select Edit->Preferences->Applet Security
  - In the page that appears, select "Low Security" for Digitally Signed Applets, and click on the "Apply" button.
  - Further click the "Advanced" button. You should now see an "LSI Logic" certificate in the list of certificates. Select this certificate and click on the "Details" button. In the window that pops up, check the "Fingerprint Verified" box, and click the "OK" button.
  - Now reload lsidmiHJ.htm, and launch the applet.
  - If the procedure worked, you should not see the warning message: "Warning:Applet Window" in subsequent LSI DMI Browser windows.
- When performing a "Set" on the LSI S.M.A.R.T. Device page, the changed state is not refreshed until the page is visited again.
- When run as a Java application, this file is not displayed when the Help button is clicked.
- The DMI Browser is not working under Netscape Navigator 4.08. - This problem will be fixed in the next release.

Definition of Terms

Component Instrumentation: The component instrumentation uses the CI, and allows communication between the managed component and the Service Provider.

DMI: Desktop Management Interface. Visit http://www.dmtf.org for more information on DMI.

Desktop Management Interface Overview: The Desktop Management Interface is a standard developed by the DMTF in a continuing effort to reduce the cost of ownership of personal computers and servers on a corporate network. This standards based management framework is robust and does not depend on any specific operating system, network protocol or hardware platform. DMI is rapidly becoming the de facto standard for desktop management. For more information about MIF files, instrumentation, and DMI, visit the following site on the World Wide Web: http://www.dmtf.org.

A DMI compliant management framework is comprised of the following elements:

- A MIF file for each managed component.
- The DMI Service Provider.
- Component Instrumentation for each managed component.
- One or more Management Application(s). Usually, one or more graphical user interface programs located locally or on a remote management console.

The Mass Storage Browser will be a Management Application that performs DMI operations on storage elements in a system.

Digital Signing: Java confines executable code to a constrained run-time environment to prevent it from accessing critical machine resources, unless the code has been digitally signed. A digital signature also lets users know who published the code and whether the code has been tampered with since the software provider published the code. For more information, please refer to documentation on http://www.rsa.com.

DMI Group: A group is a collection of one or more logically similar attributes. For example, the "Storage Device Group" contains attributes that describe a storage device.

Management Application: This is a graphical user interface program that initiates management requests. It may be located locally or on a remote management console.

MIF File: MIF or Management Information Format (MIF) is a structured language for describing manageable characteristics of a component. Each component provider describes all the manageable attributes in a corresponding MIF file. For example, storage element attributes are defined in the Mass Storage MIF file. For more information on the contents of the Mass Storage MIF see http://www.dmtf.org/info/mass.html.

RPC: Remote Procedure Call. Remote management using DMI is enabled via RPC. There are two popular flavors of RPC: ONC RPC and DCE RPC. The Windows NT DMI Service Provider supports DCE RPC, while most of the other service providers support ONC RPC. The LSI DMI browser is capable of communicating with either protocol.

SAF-TE: SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures. SAF-TE is a standard for enclosure management.

Service Provider: The Service Provider is a piece of code that acts as an abstraction layer between management applications and the managed elements. The Service Provider also exposes a set of entry points collectively known as the Service Provider API. This includes the Management Interface, or MI, on one side and the Component Interface, or CI, on the other side.

SCSI Address: For a Host Adapter, this refers to a 1-based index of LSI SCSI adapters in the system. For a SCSI device, the address consists of three elements - the host adapter index, the SCSI Target ID, and the Logical Unit Number(LUN). For example, the address 1:3:0 refers to a device connected to the Host adapter #1 on the Target ID #3 and LUN #0.

S.M.A.R.T.: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology. A method for Predictive Failure Analysis that is supported by many hard disk devices.

TCP: Transmission Control Protocol. This is one of the underlying protocols of the Internet.