File Name: dsa_portable_readme.txt ****************************************************************** | | | IBM(R) Dynamic System Analysis (DSA) Portable Edition, | | Version 1.30.31 | | | | (C) Copyright International Business Machines Corporation | | 2004, 2006. All rights reserved. | | | | US Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication | | or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with | | IBM Corp. | | | | Note: Before using this information and the product it | | supports, read the general information under | | "NOTICES" in this document. | | | | This readme file is provided only in English. You can | | obtain the latest version of the readme file from the IBM | | Support Web site. | | | | Updated 16 December 2005 | ****************************************************************** CONTENTS -------- 1.0 Overview 1.1 Product overview 1.2 Prerequisites for systems running Windows 1.3 Compatibility with ServeRAID Manager 1.4 Compatibility with Network Virtual Teaming software 1.5 Compatibility with UpdateXpress 2.0 Running Dynamic System Analysis 3.0 Using DSA command-line options 4.0 Accessing and viewing DSA output 4.1 Naming convention used for output files and directories 4.2 Viewing a compressed collection file 4.3 HTML files created by DSA 5.0 Sending DSA output to IBM xSeries Service and Support 6.0 Known problems and workarounds 7.0 Support Web sites 8.0 Notices 9.0 Third-party license terms and conditions, notices and information 9.1 zlib software 9.2 boost software 1.0 OVERVIEW ------------- This readme file provides information about IBM Dynamic System Analysis (DSA) Portable Edition, version 1.30. 1.1 Product overview --------------------- IBM DSA Portable Edition is a system information collection and analysis tool that is used by IBM xSeries(R) Service and Support personnel to aid in the diagnosis of system problems. DSA collects information about the following aspects of a system: o System configuration o Installed applications and hotfixes o Device drivers and system services o Network interfaces and settings o Performance data and details for running processes o Hardware inventory, including PCI information o Vital product data, firmware, and basic input/output system (BIOS) information o Drive Health data o ServeRAID configuration o Event logs for the operating system, applications, security, ServeRAID controllers, and service processors Additionally, DSA creates a merged log that includes events from all collected logs. DSA Portable Edition also can compare the device driver and firmware configurations on a server to those on an UpdateXpress CD or CD image. For more information, see "6.2 Using DSA with UpdateXpress." The system information is collected into a compressed XML file that can be sent to IBM Service. Additionally, you can view the system information through optionally generated HTML Web pages. For more information, see "5.0 ACCESSING AND VIEWING DSA OUTPUT." DSA Portable Edition is not installed on the target system. When run, DSA Portable Edition expands to a temporary directory, which is removed after DSA information collection is completed. If you want to install DSA, use DSA Installable Edition. That package also provides a DSA task extension for IBM Director. DSA Portable Edition is designed to fit on removable media such as a CD or USB key. The removable media must be supported for use with the server on which you plan to run DSA Portable Edition. 1.2 Prerequisites for systems running Windows ---------------------------------------------------- Installation of DSA requires 10MB of disk space. DSA requires 50 to 100MB of available memory during the data collection process. The amount of memory required for this process depends on the size of the logs being collected from the system. To view the information that is collected by DSA, you must use Internet Explorer 6.0, with Service Pack 1 or later. Internet Explorer requires 30 to 100MB of available memory to display DSA data. The amount of memory required depends on the size of the logs being viewed. Use of the UpdateXpress comparison analysis feature requires that an UpdateXpress CD be available for the system on which the analysis is performed. UpdateXpress versions 3.06 and later are supported. 1.3 Compatibility with ServeRAID Manager ----------------------------------------- DSA Portable Edition 1.30 can collect ServeRAID log information from ServeRAID Manager 6.10 and later versions. DSA cannot collect information from the following ServeRAID controllers: o ServeRAID-7t SATA RAID DSA cannot collect information from the following ServeRAID controllers unless ServeRAID Manager is installed: o ServeRAID-8i 1.4 Compatibility with Network Virtual Teaming software ----------------------------------------- DSA Portable Edition 1.30 is supported for use with the following Network Virtual Teaming software: o Intel(R) PROSet for Wired Connections, version 9.1 or later o Broadcom Advanced Control Suite, version 7.6.7 or later 1.5 Compatibility with UpdateXpress ------------------------------------ DSA Installable Edition 1.30 is supported for use with UpdateXpress 3.06 and later versions. 1.6 Compatibility with Service Processors ------------------------------------------ Environmental data is only available on xSeries servers which have either an Integrated System Management Processor(ISMP) or a Remote Supervisor Adapter (RSA) series service processor. 2.0 RUNNING DYNAMIC SYSTEM ANALYSIS ------------------------------------ Complete the following steps to run DSA Portable Edition. Note: The operating-system account that runs DSA Portable Edition must have local Administrator authority. 1. Click Start; then, click Run. The "Run" window opens. 2. In the Open field, type the path to the DSA Portable Edition executable file, or click Browse to locate it. 3. (Optional) Type /s after the executable file name to automatically accept the license terms of DSA. 4. (Optional) Type DSA command-line options after the /a option or after the executable file name. For more information, see "4.0 USING DSA COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS." 5. Click OK. Note: If you use the /s option to run DSA, the InstallShield Wizard screens are not displayed. Therefore, the remaining steps in this procedure do not apply. 6. Click Next. Review the license agreement. 7. Click "I accept the terms in the license agreement". 8. Click Next. InstallShield extracts the DSA program files into temporary disk space on the server as defined by the TEMP system variable in the Windows environment. The window that opens shows the progress of DSA information collection. When DSA is completed, the DSA program files are deleted from temporary disk space, and the progress window closes. If you ran DSA without any options, DSA collects information into one compressed XML file that can be sent to IBM Service. For information about where this file is created, see "5.0 ACCESSING AND VIEWING DSA OUTPUT." For information about sending the file to IBM Service, see "6.0 Sending DSA output to IBM Service and Support." 3.0 USING DSA COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS ----------------------------------- The command-line syntax in this document uses the following conventions: o Options are shown with a forward slash (/) but can be entered with a forward slash or a hyphen (-). o Options are shown as lowercase, but are not case-sensitive. o Variables are shown in angle brackets. Note: You must use the /a option before any other DSA command-line options except /s for silent mode and license bypass. The /a option indicates that DSA command-line options are being specified. Otherwise, the DSA command-line options are passed to the InstallShield script, which prevents them from working as expected. DSA has the following command-line options: collectall.exe [options] Options: /?, /h Display help for DSA command-line options. /b Run in batch mode. /c Create directory specified by /d option. /d Place DSA output files in the specified directory rather than in the default location, which is C:\IBM_Support. /f Collect the full ISMP log. /i Read input from rather than collecting data from the local server. /t Transfer collected data to IBM Service & Support. /u Path to UpdateXpress CD or CD image. /v Create HTML output files. /text Create TEXT output files. /x Do not create a compressed XML file. /r Run the CIM difference engine comparing the collected or specified (via /i) data to this file. /dumpxml Write the DSA .xml.gz file after each plugin runs. Note: All options must be separated with one or more spaces. All options must be separated with one or more spaces. You must use a fully-qualified path name with the /d, /i, /r, and /u options. For example, to run DSA and generate HTML output files that can be viewed with a browser, run this command: DSA130P.exe /a /v To run DSA, automatically accept the license agreement, and create HTML output files in the directory C:\temp\DSA_Output, run this command: DSA130P.exe /s /a /v /c /d C:\temp\DSA_Output 4.0 ACCESSING AND VIEWING DSA OUTPUT ------------------------------------- By default, DSA output is created in the \IBM_Support directory of the hard disk defined by the %SystemDrive% environment variable. (This is the hard disk on which Windows is installed. It is usually C:\.) Use the /d option to specify a different output directory. When DSA is run with no command-line options, it creates only a compressed XML file in the IBM_Support directory. When DSA is run with the /v option, it creates a subdirectory that contains HTML files that you can view with a Web browser. 4.1 Naming convention used for output files and directories ----------------------------------------------------------- DSA uses the following naming convention for compressed XML files and for subdirectories that it creates: __-