File Name: dsa_portable_readme.txt
******************************************************************
| |
| IBM(R) Dynamic System Analysis (DSA) Portable Edition, |
| Version 2.00.37 |
| |
| (C) Copyright International Business Machines Corporation |
| 2004, 2005. 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 18 Oct 2006 |
******************************************************************
CONTENTS
--------
1.0 Overview
1.1 Product overview
1.2 Prerequisites for systems running Linux
1.3 Compatibility with ServeRAID Manager
1.4 Compatibility with Network Virtual Teaming software
2.0 Running Dynamic System Analysis
3.0 Using DSA command-line options
3.1 Running DSA Diagnostics
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 for Linux.
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 packages
o Kernel Modules
o Network interfaces and settings
o Performance data and details for running processes
o Hardware inventory, including PCI & USB information
o IBM LightPath(TM) status
o Service Processor status and configuration
o Vital product data, firmware, and basic input/output system
(BIOS) information
o Drive Health Information
o ServeRAID configuration
o LSI RAID & Controller configuration
o Event logs for the operating system, ServeRAID controllers,
and service processors
Additionally, DSA creates a merged log that includes events from
all collected logs.
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.
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.
1.4 Other prerequisites for systems running Linux
----------------------------------------------------
Installation of DSA requires 30MB 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 SP 1 or later, Mozilla 1.4.0 or greater, or
Firefox 1.04 or greater In order to display the DSA data, 30 to 100MB
of available memory is required. The amount of memory required depends
on the size of the logs being viewed.
In order to collect SCSI & USB device information, including diagnostics,
the "sg" driver must be loaded. Run "lsmod" and verify that "sg" is loaded
before running DSA. If it is not loaded, run "modprobe sg".
In order to collect Broadcom(TM) Ethernet firmware levels, the Broadcom(TM)
NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Drivers must be installed. The tg3 driver provided
by default in current Linux distributions does not export this information.
These drivers are available for download from the IBM Support
website at: http://www.ibm.com/support
In order to collect LSI Logic(TM) 1020/1030 SCSI Controller & RAID information,
the "mptctl" driver must be loaded. Run "lsmod" and verify that "mptctl"
is loaded before running DSA. If it is not loaded, run "modprobe mptctl".
In order to collect Service Processor logs, configuration, and
environmental data the appropriate Service Processor driver must be
installed. These drivers are available from the IBM Support website.
DSA requires libcurl to be installed in order transfer data collections
to the IBM Support site via FTP.
In order to collect information about the LSI controllers or drives on x3105
and x3250, version 3.02.77 or higher of the mptsas driver must be installed.
In order for DSA to collect ServeRAID Manager logs, the ServeRAID Manager
agent must be started through the ServeRAID Manager user interface.
1.5 Compatibility with ServeRAID Manager
-----------------------------------------
DSA Portable Edition 2.00 can collect ServeRAID log information
from ServeRAID Manager 6.10 and later versions.
DSA cannot collect information from the following ServeRAID
controllers unless ServeRAID Manager is installed:
o ServeRAID-7t SATA RAID
o ServeRAID-8i
o ServeRAID-8k
1.6 Compatibility with Network Virtual Teaming software
-----------------------------------------
DSA Portable Edition 2.00 is supported for use with
the following Network Virtual Teaming software:
o Linux Bonding versions 2.4.1, 2.6.0, & 2.6.1
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. At a linux shell prompt:
2. Type the name of the DSA Portable Edition executable.
3. (Optional) Type DSA command-line options following the
executable file name. For more information, see
"4.0 USING DSA COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS."
The executable extracts the DSA program files into temporary disk
space on the server as defined by the TMP system variable in the
Linux environment. DSA will then execute and start the collection
process. When DSA is completed, the DSA program files are deleted
from temporary disk space.
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 XSERIES 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 hyphen (-).
o Options are shown as lowercase, but are not case-sensitive.
o Variables are shown in angle brackets.
DSA has the following command-line 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.
-diags Execute all non-destructive diagnostic tests.
-f Collect the full ISMP log.
-i Read input from rather than collecting data
from the local server.
-l Display license and exit.
-t Transfer collected data to IBM Service & Support.
-u Path to UpdateXpress CD or CD image.
-ul Use online UpdateXpress index.
-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.
For example, to run DSA and generate HTML output files that can be
viewed with a browser:
-v
To run DSA and create HTML output files in the directory
/usr/foo/DSA_Output, run this command:
-v -c -d /usr/foo/DSA_Output
3.1 Running DSA Diagnostics
---------------------------
Use the -diags option to execute diagnostics during the DSA collection process.
This option will execute all of the non-destructive diagnostic tests that are
included with DSA.
An additional command-line utility, rtdcli, is included with DSA Installable
Edition that provides more control over the execution of the diagnostic tests.
rtdcli has the following command-line options:
rtdcli [-options]
commands:
run - Runs all tests
tests - Lists installed tests
devices - Lists devices and associated tests
help - Displays this message
options:
-d - Specifies a device for the "run" commmand
-t - Specifies a test for the "run" commmand
-x - Enables the execution of destructive tests
4.0 ACCESSING AND VIEWING DSA OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
By default, DSA output is created in the /var/log/IBM_Support 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:
__-