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AST RESEARCH, INC.         TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1380               12-20-95

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		       Percepta Server Management Software


This is an informational bulletin.  This bulletin contains information on the 
following subjects:

1.0  Percepta 1.21 Host Agents Overview
2.0  What's new with the 1.21 Host Agents
3.0  Documentation associated with this release
4.0  Percepta Host Agents for Windows NT servers
5.0  Percepta Host Agents for Novell NetWare servers
6.0  How to obtain the Host Agent software
7.0  Management Console Software Reference


1.0  Percepta 1.21 Host Agents Overview.

The part number for the Percepta 1.21 Host Agents is: 911580-036.

The Percepta Host Agents are installed on every AST server that you want to 
monitor remotely with the appropriate Percepta Management Console services. 

The Percepta 1.21 Host Agents diskette contains agents for Novell NetWare 
and Windows NT Server Operating Systems.

Host Agents for Windows NT Server systems were introduced in the previous 
Percepta 1.20 Host Agents. 


1.1  Novell NetWare systems

The NetWare Host Agents can be installed on the Premium SE or MTE 
servers, the Manhattan G,  Manhattan P or V servers.  The agents run with 
NetWare 3.12 and 4.x servers.


1.2  Windows NT Server systems

The Windows NT Host Agents can be installed on the Manhattan G, P and V 
servers only.


2.0  What's new in the Percepta 1.21 Host Agents

The 1.21 release includes a DPT PCI Disk Array Controller agent for 
Windows NT systems not included in the 1.20 release.  There are some 
system requirements for this agent to work properly, as described below.

The Novell NetWare Agents have not changed in functionality. 


3.0  Documentation associated with this release

A Percepta Users Manual is available on the BBS.  The file is called 
USERMAN.TXT.  Refer to this manual especially for the Windows NT Server 
installation.  This has up to date information for your first Percepta 
installation on a Windows NT Server.  It also includes instructions for 
installation of the NetWare Host Agents. The user manual is included as part 
of the down-load file for the previous Percepta 1.20 Host Agents (AST part 
number 911580-035).

The new Percepta Users Manual is also included with the Manhattan servers 
containing the Percepta 1.21 Host Agents.


4.0  Percepta Host Agents for Windows NT

Introduction

This release contains a complete set of Host Agents for AST servers running 
the Windows NT Server Operating System.  This section contains specific 
information for your Windows NT server system.

Once you install the Windows NT Host Agents, you will be able to view 
Windows NT servers from your Percepta Management Console.  You will 
also be able to view the Windows NT servers with Novell NMS, if you have 
installed the Percepta Management console software as a snap-in to NMS.  

You are encouraged to install the recently released Percepta 1.20 
Management Console software on your management workstation for the 
systems you are monitoring.  The existing Percepta 1.12 Management 
Console software can be used to view the Windows NT server if necessary.

4.1  Installation of Windows NT Host Agents

Installing the Host Agents for Windows NT systems is quick and easy.  There 
is a Setup program in the NT subdirectory of the Host Agents Diskette.  Run 
this program only after configuring your NT system.  You need to install the 
NWLink compatible transport, Gateway services for NetWare, TCP/IP, and 
then configure your SNMP services.  This is all described in the User Manual 
in detail.  After configuring your NT system, run the setup program.  Make 
sure you reboot after the installation is complete for the new Host Agents to 
take effect.

Your Windows NT HAL may need to be updated on dual processor systems.  
See the section regarding this in "Dependencies" below.

Percepta employs the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). SNMP is a 
component of TCP/IP internetworking services in Windows NT. TCP/IP is not 
installed as a part of the Windows NT Express Setup.  However, it is required 
by the Percepta Host Agents.  To install SNMP services refer to the Percepta 
Users Manual.  After SNMP services are installed, you must set the SNMP 
configuration.  The SNMP configuration specifies the communities and trap 
destinations.

After the Host Agents are installed, the setup program will force the SNMP 
Services to be "loaded on boot", because the services module called ASTSNMP 
needs to be loaded by the SNMP services.  If you choose to change the SNMP 
configuration to a manual load, be sure to load the SNMP services yourself 
after the system boots in order to activate the AST Host Agents.  The setup 
program makes standard software installation entries in the NT registry as 
the Percepta software is added by using an AST registry key.

4.2  SNMP Services errors

On Windows NT-Server systems, the Percepta setup program installs all of 
the AST host agents, and makes entries in the registry for the loading of the 
SNMP agents.  If your system does not have a DPT disk array included, you 
should edit the registry and remove the ASTDAD agent from the SNMP 
agent list.  This will avoid unexpected entries in the event log describing 
errors from the ASTDAD agent and the ASTDFS agent.

4.3  Dependencies

4.3.1  DPT 3224 Disk Array Controller

This release includes agents for the AST PM3224 PCI Disk Array Controller 
for Novell NetWare systems and for Windows NT Server systems.  There are 
several things to be aware of regarding the agent for the Windows NT server.

If you already have a DPT PCI Disk Array Controller, you will need to 
upgrade your system with the latest DPT Firmware and DPT Storage Manager.  
This software is available on the AST BBS.  This software is also 
available with Manhattan G, V and P systems which include the Percepta 
1.21 Host Agents.  The following are the minimum revision levels required.

      DPT Component                             Minimum Revision Level

      DPT 3224 Firmware                         7CH
      DPT Storage Manager                       1E9
      DPTENGNT.DLL                              v1.F0


When the DPTENG loads in the Windows NT server, it will check for the 
minimum firmware level.  If this minimum is not found, the DPTENG 
program will unload.  When the Percepta Disk Array Agent loads, it will 
check for the minimum DPTENG revision level.  If it fails to find the 
minimum revision level, the Agent will unload.  When either program 
unloads, no DPT Host Agent services will be provided.  When either the 
DPTENG program or the Disk Array Agent fail to load, an entry will be made 
in the Windows NT Event log.

The minimum revision checking will prevent the use of older firmware and 
DPT software which may exhibit failures in the Windows NT Server when 
disk array configuration information is obtained by the Storage Manager and 
the DPTENGNT.DLL.

The new Storage manager software version 1.01 (AST p/n 911709-036, -037, 
-038, and -039) can be obtained from the AST BBS (file names 
11709036.EXE, 11709037.EXE, 11709038.EXE, and 11709039.EXE).  For 
additional information on the DPT PM3224 PCI Storage Manager Utilities, 
see Software Bulletin # 0207 on AST's BBS.

4.3.2  Dual Processor systems and the Windows NT Server HAL

If you have a dual processor system, the setup program may need to update 
the dual processor HAL.DLL file on the Windows NT server.  Before the 
installation of the Host Agents, the setup program checks to see if the HAL 
needs to be updated.  If the HAL needs to be updated, a pop-up box appears 
during installation.  If you select , your HAL.DLL file is updated with 
the version of the HAL provided by Microsoft in hotfix #10326 and the setup 
program continues the installation.  If you select , the installation is 
not completed.

4.3.3  Finding Windows NT Servers

The Percepta Management Console is only used in the stand alone 
environment, for example without NMS. The Percepta Management console 
software detects AST servers advertising Percepta services. These are 
tabulated in the NetWare bindery. The AST servers found are listed in the 
Percepta Server Manager console main window for your selection. Because 
Windows NT servers do not normally include bindery information, you may 
not be able to find the Windows NT Server in the server list from the 
Percepta Server Manager, in some installations.  The Windows NT Server 
must be run in a network where at least one Novell server is running to 
provide the bindery services.  If the NT Host Agents are run in a pure 
Windows NT network environment, the Percepta Management console 
launcher will not locate the NT server.  In this case, you may install the File 
and Print services for Netware on your NT system.  Once this Windows NT 
service is installed, the Percepta Management Console will find the Windows 
NT server.

4.3.4  Plug-n-Play

Plug and Play information is not available for display by Percepta on 
Manhattan G systems.  You can view Plug-n-Play information on Manhattan 
P and V systems from the Management Console.  The Plug-n-Play 
information is gathered by the Windows NT Host Agents when the SNMP 
services are started on the server.

4.3.5  Community Names

The Windows NT operating system does not include the concept of 
individual community names for Monitor and Control operations like 
NetWare has.  Instead, Windows NT provides community names associated 
with groups.  When you configure your SNMP services from the Control 
Panel of the NT Server, you must specify the community names you want the 
Management Console to use. Refer to the Percepta User Manual for complete 
instructions.  To provide the best security for your Windows NT server, you 
must select the "security" option when you set up your SNMP configuration.  
In the Security setup window, make sure you select "Only accept SNMP 
Packets from These Hosts".  You then enter the IP or IPX addresses of the 
Workstations that you want to allow the ability to make configuration 
changes or to view Percepta information.  The User Manual describes the 
steps to set up your Windows NT server.

Windows NT also includes a method of specifying multiple trap 
communities.  This is not to be confused with Monitor and Control 
community names within Novell NetWare.  A Trap Community is a list of 
workstations which should receive the AST Host Agent SNMP traps.  This is 
similar to the Novell NetWare environment where you modify the file called 
"TRAPTARG.CFG" to specify the workstations you want to receive the 
Percepta alerts.


5.0  Percepta Host Agents for Novell NetWare servers

5.1  Consistent revision control

This Percepta 1.21 release contains updated NetWare agents with a consistent 
revision control for ease of determining if the Host Agents are up to date.

5.2  ASTCMUPD Program

The program in the NetWare subdirectory of the distribution diskette called 
ASTCMUPD.EXE is a CMOS memory program. After installation, this 
program is run by the server each time the server is booted.  This program 
must be called from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the server before NetWare 
is loaded. The revision of this program was changed from 2.00 to 1.21 in this 
release.  The ASTCMUPD program will now match the general release of the 
Host Agents, rather than track a separate revision.


6.0  How to obtain the Host Agent software (AST p/n 911580-036)

File 11580036.EXE can be found on AST's BBS (817) 230-6850.  AST's 
BBS supports modem speeds up to 28.8k bps.  The above file will also be 
posted on: 

CompuServe 
Go ASTSUPPORT

AST Worldwide Web Site
http://www.ast.com

Once you download the compressed file, run the 11580036.EXE program to 
decompress the files.  Run the README batch file, then run the EXTRACT 
batch file to create the Host Agents Diskette. 

For additional information on the Percepta Host Agents software, see 
Software Bulletin # 0222 on all AST's On-Line forums.

7.0  Management Console Software Reference

For reference purposes, the following Management Console software 
packages may be used with the new Host Agents.  This software is available 
on CompuServe and AST's BBS.

Percepta 1.12 for SE/MTE                          911792-031, -032 and -033
Percepta 1.20 for Manhattan G                     911281-035 and -036
Percepta 1.20 for Manhattan P/V                   911579-037 and -038

Each one of the Percepta Management Console services for the different 
server types is installed on the workstation that you want to set up as your 
Percepta Management console.  You have to install all the management console 
software if you want to monitor all types of AST servers. When you click on 
the Percepta icon, the Percepta Server Manager window is launched.  
This Window includes a list of all AST servers found.  If you do not install all 
of the Management Console services, some servers will not be able to be 
viewed, even though all AST servers are indicated in the server list. Normally 
when you click on a server from the list, the appropriate Percepta 
Management Console services are launched.  Verify that the Management 
Console services are installed. 

Only one instance of the Percepta Server Manager window can be launched.  
If you are using Percepta and you want to start another server you may notice 
that clicking on the Percepta icon does nothing.  This is because the current 
Server Manager window is minimized.  You can however launch several 
views of several different servers from the Server Manager window.


SYSTEMS AFFECTED
AST PART NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION

All Manhattan P/V/G systems.