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162 Sun Fire 280R Server Owner’s Guide • January 2001
About Using Diagnostic Tools to
Monitor, Diagnose, and Exercise the
System
People often think of diagnostic tools as a way to identify a failed field-replaceable
unit (FRU), so that it can quickly be replaced. While this is a very important goal, it
is also important to be able to monitor an ostensibly “healthy” system, and to
exercise a system that is functioning in a questionable way. Sun provides tools that
help you do all three of these things. In addition, Sun Remote System Control (RSC)
enables you to monitor a server remotely, and even to diagnose problems when the
server is not running.
About Monitoring the System
When the system is up and running, RSC and Sun Management Center software can
give you advance warning of difficulties and prevent future downtime.
These monitoring tools let you specify system criteria that bear watching. For
instance, you might want to set a threshold for system temperature and be notified if
that threshold is exceeded. Warnings can be reported by visual indicators in the
software’s interface. Additionally, you could set RSC to send an email or pager alert
whenever a problem occurs.
About Monitoring the System Using Sun Remote System
Control (RSC)
Sun Remote System Control (RSC) enables you to monitor and control your server
over modem lines and over a network. Taking advantage of firmware built into the
RSC card, RSC software provides remote system administration for geographically
distributed or physically inaccessible machines.
You can access RSC either from a workstation running the Solaris, Windows 95,
Windows 98, or Windows NT operating environment and Sun’s RSC Java
application, or from an ASCII terminal or device running ASCII terminal emulation
software.
The RSC card runs independently, and uses standby power from the server.
Therefore, RSC firmware and software continue to be effective when the server
operating system goes offline, and can send notification of hardware failures or other