HP TopTools User Manual

hp toptools 5.6
user guide
toptools user guide
.
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toptools user guide
Preface
Toptools is a collection of applications and agents designed to provide device management of Hewlett-Packard computing products. At the center of the toptools solution is a device management tool (referred to as the Device Manager) that is designed to help you identify and diagnose network and system problems quickly using a friendly and intuitive web-based interface. Additional “components” can be installed that provide management functions for specific device types such as servers or hubs and switches.
This User Guide will provide instructions on the installation and use of toptools. For instructions on using HP Toptools Enterprise Products, refer to the User Guide for each specific product.

Organization of this Guide

This guide introduces you to toptools and suggests ways in which it can ease your network and system management tasks. It is organized into the following sections:
Introduction provides an overview of toptools and describes its features.
Installation provides a list of prerequisites and step-by-step installation instructions.
Using Toptools describes how to use toptools to perform typical network management tasks.
Information and Support provides remedies to common problems and information on how to get support. It
also gives web locations where you can find Hewlett-Packard computing product management-related information.
The Glossary provides definitions of common network terms.

New Features

This release contains changes to alerts as well as support for several new device types. For a more complete list of changes refer to the readme file. (The readme file is available at the root level on the product CD or in the hptt directory following installation.) Some of the new features are:
New devices and systems supported.
IA-32 Netservers running Windows or Linux IA-32 Netservers running as “server appliances” IA-32 Blade Servers running Windows or Linux IA-64 servers running Windows or Linux GSP cards on IA-64 and Blade Systems
In addition the latest Hewlett-Packard network switches, workstations, PCs, portable PCs, and blade server chassis systems are now supported.
Improved event management. A common setting is used to remove closed and deleted alerts from the alerts database. The alerts database will now automatically reuse the freed space in the alerts database without the need to compact the database.
Training. Self-paced training is available on the HP Toptools CD at \Online Training\start.html or from the Hewlett-Packard web site at ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/toptools/Training/start.html
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toptools user guide
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 7
What Can hp toptools Manage?................................................................................................................7
Architecture ...............................................................................................................................................8
Installation ................................................................................................................... 11
Hardware and Software Requirements ................................................................................................... 11
Management Server ......................................................................................................................................11
Recommendations for Managing Large Networks .........................................................................................13
Consoles........................................................................................................................................................13
Managed Nodes ............................................................................................................................................15
Installation Procedure.............................................................................................................................. 17
Using hp toptools........................................................................................................ 33
Navigating the hp toptools Console......................................................................................................... 33
The Navigation Panel.....................................................................................................................................34
The Device Selector.......................................................................................................................................35
The Alert Log .................................................................................................................................................38
Online Help ....................................................................................................................................................39
Applications, Actions and Settings .......................................................................................................... 39
Performing Actions on Devices......................................................................................................................39
Viewing Inventory Reports .............................................................................................................................51
Inventory Data Collection...............................................................................................................................51
Polling ............................................................................................................................................................52
Discovery .......................................................................................................................................................53
Auditing..........................................................................................................................................................53
Actions on Alerts............................................................................................................................................54
Internet & Email Services...............................................................................................................................55
Managing the Drivers/Firmware Version Database .......................................................................................55
Managing the TFTP Server............................................................................................................................56
Managing Toptools Services..........................................................................................................................56
Installing the Toptools MMC Snap-In .............................................................................................................56
Using the System Performance Advisor.................................................................................................. 57
Performance Button.......................................................................................................................................58
System Performance .....................................................................................................................................58
Standard Report ............................................................................................................................................58
Custom Reports.............................................................................................................................................58
Starting Performance Monitoring ...................................................................................................................58
Creating A Custom Group..............................................................................................................................59
Selecting A Group to Monitor.........................................................................................................................59
Configuring the Performance Advisor ............................................................................................................59
Deploying Agents...........................................................................................................................................60
System Prerequisites.....................................................................................................................................62
Performance Reports.....................................................................................................................................63
hp toptools for desktops ..........................................................................................................................68
Locating Personal Computers........................................................................................................................68
Updating Drivers/Firmware ............................................................................................................................69
Preventative Maintenance .............................................................................................................................72
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hp toptools for servers ............................................................................................................................. 75
Obtaining Operational Status.........................................................................................................................75
Obtaining Software and Driver Information ....................................................................................................75
Finding a Bad Hard Disk Drive Using the Disk Locator Tool..........................................................................77
hp toptools for hubs and switches........................................................................................................... 78
Displaying Topology Maps.............................................................................................................................78
Monitoring Network Traffic Levels..................................................................................................................83
Information and Support ............................................................................................ 89
Online Support and Information ..............................................................................................................89
Telephone Support.................................................................................................................................. 89
hp toptools Documentation and Training.................................................................................................90
Performance and Troubleshooting Tips ..................................................................................................90
Glossary....................................................................................................................... 93
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toptools user guide
Introduction
Toptools is a web-based, device management tool that enables administrators and MIS managers to use a web browser to obtain information about devices on their network. It provides a common management application for HP personal computers, Netservers, HP-UX systems, Advancestack and Procurve hubs and switches, and LaserJet printers as well as products from other vendors.

What Can hp toptools Manage?

Toptools provides critical network and systems management services to both HP and non-HP devices on the network allowing administrators to quickly and easily determine the health and configuration of their network resources through the following services:
Asset Management. Toptools discovers and reports on all devices connected to the network (PCs, servers, printers, networking devices) using automated discovery and inventory processes that save collected data to an ODBC compliant database. Users can browse network resources and reports using a web browser to open a Toptools console session, or a database application like Microsoft Access to merge data into more sophisticated IS project and asset management databases. In addition, Toptools can be used with HP-UX ServiceControl Manager (SCM) to provide additional management capabilities for HP-UX systems.
Fault Management. Toptools receives, logs, displays, and acts on alerts from devices in your network, and then provides the tools to help troubleshoot and resolve problems when they occur. For example, Hubs & Switches Automatic Configuration Management can configure your Procurve switches to automatically send a trap to the Toptools server when a traffic problem occurs. Toptools can be configured to send a page when the alert is received. When paged, the administrator can log in using a web browser, get more details on the alert, and then access the switch from the Toptools Device Selector to correct the problem by (e.g.) changing the configuration of a port.
Configuration Management. Using Toptools, administrators can directly access the configuration of critical resources such as printers through HP Web JetAdmin, or distribute software such as drivers or BIOS to HP personal computers and Netservers.
Security Management. Toptools allows users to configure access to HP products through actions such as Lock System for an HP Vectra, or configuring MAC address access to ports on HP networking devices.
Performance Management. Toptools provides both network and system performance monitoring tools. Toptools for Hubs & Switches offers the Network Performance Advisor and Traffic Monitor to view and advise on network traffic. Toptools for Desktops agents provide Resource Monitoring tools that monitor and display system resource utilization on PCs and generate alerts when thresholds are exceeded. Toptools contains the System Performance Advisor which monitors systems utilization and generates systems utilization alerts for HP and non-HP PC and server products at the individual device or group level.
Any device from any vendor can be managed, provided that the device is on a TCP/IP or IPX/SPX network and running a management agent from one of the following industry standardized protocols: DMI, SNMP, WMI, HTTP. The amount of management support provided by Toptools is determined by:
HP Product. Toptools is designed to lower the cost of ownership of HP computing products by accessing the manageability built into HP products. While Toptools will provide a strong management solution for products from other vendors, Toptools will provide the most extensive detail on HP products.
Agent support. Toptools provides the best support to new HP products running current HP management agents. The more agent standards that are supported by a device the more data Toptools can collect. For non­HP systems, the level of industry standard compliance can also affect the amount of information that Toptools can access.
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Toptools provides specific management to the following HP products:
HP Vectra and Brio Desktops
HP Kayak and Visualize Workstations
HP Omnibook Notebooks
HP Netservers
HP Blade Servers
HP Power Bar cabinets
HP Procurve and Advancestack networking devices
HP LaserJet and JetDirect products
HP Jornada PC Companions
HP SureStore products
HP Network Attached Storage (NAS) products
HP-UX systems

Architecture

Toptools collects and then stores information about your network into an ODBC compliant database (MEDS) on a web server. Toptools uses the web server to authenticate and present the information to Toptools consoles. The Toptools console, which presents the data to the user (network administrator), can be launched from any station on your network running a web browser supported by the Toptools application.
The web browser (Toptools console) and the web server use the HTTP protocol, a standard used by the Internet that provides extensible mechanisms to authenticate a user and offers various encryption options to secure the communication. The use of a single protocol from the console to the management server simplifies remote connections through firewalls and minimizes security risks.
Toptools Configuration
Toptools communicates with managed devices using industry standard protocols: TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, DMI, WMI, SNMP, and HTTP. The protocols used to discover, inventory and manage each device will depend on which protocols the managed device supports. For example, Toptools will typically use IP, SNMP, and HTTP to communicate with a Procurve switch, IPX and SNMP to manage a Netserver running Novell NetWare, and IP and WMI to manage a new Windows 2000 HP Kayak workstation. The Toptools discovery process, one of the several processes that are part of the Toptools application, automatically detects which protocols are supported and saves that information to the database.
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toptools Operating Components
A number of Toptools components run continuously on the management server, gathering data in the background even if no user is logged on. The following background components operate on a schedule (some schedules are user­configurable).
The Toptools Services component is a continuously running process that supports the Toptools
background components. It starts up when the system boots, without any user log-on. Toptools Services provides the following:
Start up of configured Toptools components when the system boots, including dependency
checking.
Scheduling of components at specific times of day, or at specified time intervals. An interface which lets you start, stop and pause individual Toptools services (similar to the
Windows NT Services application, servman.exe).
Discovery services components run as background services to discover network connected devices
(discovery) and their relationships (topology). Discovery services run in one or more processes and are coordinated by a Discovery Control component, which runs under the Toptools services. In addition, if a device sends a trap (SNMP) or an alert (DMI or WMI) to the Toptools device manager, the device will automatically be added to the discovery database if the address is not already present.
Database Server services automatically maintain the device database.
Event Monitor/Event Viewer services run continuously to collect, log, and display device events.
Polling services request responses (ping) from devices to determine operational status. These services
operate on user-configured schedules.
System Performance Advisor provides monitoring and threshold alerts for CPU, memory, disc I/O, and
storage utilization. This feature, which is available for PCs and servers running Windows operating systems, requires the installation of Performance agents on managed systems.
Toptools for Hubs & Switches provides services such as traffic data collector that are also controlled by
the Toptools Services Control. Refer to the HP Toptools for Hubs & Switches User Guide for more information.
HP Web JetAdmin. Selected as a component during installation, HP Web JetAdmin may work
independently of Toptools, or integrate with Toptools to manage HP printing products. For more information, refer to Web JetAdmin user documentation.
As a system administrator, you can stop and restart these services from within Toptools. Online help provides detailed instructions for these procedures.
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toptools Databases
The Device Database (MEDS.mdb). The Managed Elements Data Store (MEDS) provides persistent storage for information about the managed devices. The discovery and inventory programs put data into or ‘populate’ MEDS, including a list of devices and their attributes (network address, object type, name, etc.). MEDS uses a Microsoft Access database, and provides read-only access through ODBC.
The Alert Database (Alerts.mdb). This database is an ODBC-compliant database used to store alerts received by Toptools.
The Software Revision Management Database (RMDB.mdb). This database stores information about software updates for HP personal computers, Netservers, and Procurve networking devices.
The System Performance Advisor Database (perfmon.mdb). Stores information collected by the System Performance Advisor to provide trending information.
Toptools for Hubs & Switches creates files that are used to track traffic and topology information collected from HP Procurve and Advancestack devices.
- NOTE -
IMPORTANT: Do not attempt to modify MEDS or any other Toptools database! This will result in failure of
the Toptools applications. To use Toptools databases for other purposes, make a copy of the database and modify the duplicate in another location!
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toptools user guide

Installation

This section describes the requirements and installation of Toptools.
- NOTE -
Refer to the Toptools README file for changes or additions
to the installation instructions in this User Guide.

Hardware and Software Requirements

Toptools consists of three main components:
Management Server
Consoles
Managed Nodes
For successful installation and operation of Toptools, you must verify that the station on which you will install the Toptools server meets or exceeds the minimum requirements as specified below for both the Toptools server and Toptools consoles.
For best results, managed devices should be configured with management agents prior to installation so that Toptools can discover them during the first discovery cycle.

Management Server

The Toptools server setup program (installation wizard) performs a thorough check of your system to verify that the minimum requirements listed in the following tables are met prior to installing Toptools software. For software requirements, the Toptools installation wizard may prompt you to install missing components, or in some cases, it may offer to install them for you.
To reduce the amount of time required for installation, you should verify that your system meets the minimum requirements listed below. Some items, such as an unsupported Operating System type or insufficient system access privileges, will cause setup.exe to exit without installing Toptools.
Hardware requirements:
Processor Intel Pentium 266MHz or better
Memory
Hard Drive Minimum 2 GB hard disk with 100-400 MB (depending on components
Video Super VGA (16 bit color) or better
Network Adapter Required. Any supported by system
Mouse Required. Any supported by system
128 MB RAM or better
Paging file of 150 MB or better
installed) available before installing Toptools
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Networking requirements:
Access
Local Administrator (if installing in a Workgroup environment)
Domain Administrator if installing into a Windows NT or 2000 Domain.
IP Addressing
IPX Addressing Optional. Microsoft IPX/SPX and Netware Client Services are needed to
Required.
If using DHCP, IP address for the Toptools server must be ‘reserved’.
Verify that the IP hostname matches the hostname entry for the IP
address in the DNS server. This may be accomplished by running the program nslookup.exe.
manage Novell Netware clients and servers that are not running TCP/IP. If not installed, you may add this component after Toptools installation.
Installing Toptools on a system participating in a Windows domain is recommended because:
Access through IIS is available through Windows user accounts and may be configured through the domain.
WMI management security uses Windows user accounts to grant or deny access. The Toptools admin account
in the domain typically has sufficient access to WMI data on systems within the same or trusted domains. If you install into a workgroup, you will need to explicitly grant access permission to the Toptools admin account on each WMI based system you wish to manage.
Software requirements:
Operating System
Service Pack
SNMP Required. If not installed, you will be prompted during installation to provide
Windows NT 4.0 Server or Workstation
Windows 2000 Professional or Server editions
Required: Windows NT SP 5 or 6a for NT. If neither of these are
installed, the Toptools installation will install SP 6a.
the Operating System installation CD. Windows NT Service Pack 6a will be reapplied after installation of SNMP.
Web Server
Required: Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) or Personal Web
Server.
Windows NT – included as part of Toptools installation
Windows 2000 – you will be prompted for the Operating System
installation CD if IIS is not detected.
Most required and optional software is either included in the Operating System (such as WBEM in Windows 2000) or provided in the Toptools installation such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, Windows NT Option Pack components or WBEM (for Windows NT). Only the Windows NT SNMP service and the Windows 2000 SNMP and IIS services will require that you provide a CD, and you will be prompted by the installation wizard for the CD if necessary.
The Toptools server system should be configured with a paging file large enough to accommodate the size of the hard drives, operating system, and web server, plus Toptools applications. Typically, 150 MB paging file is sufficient. Refer to Windows documentation for more information on optimizing and managing virtual memory.
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toptools user guide

Recommendations for Managing Large Networks

If you are managing large networks (greater than 5000 devices) you should increase the capabilities of the Toptools server. An Intel Pentium 4 with a processor speed > 1.3 GHz and an additional 256 MB of RAM for every 10,000 nodes (e.g. HP Vectra VL800). The faster the processor and more RAM the better your performance will be.
If you do not require the Hubs and Switches component, do not install it. If you need to install the Hubs and Switches component, the following is recommended:
Set Traffic Data collection to Manual mode. The traffic monitoring capabilities of the HP TopTools Traffic Monitor application can require a lot of system resources. Therefore, in large network environments, it is suggested that you manually select the points at which you would like to collect traffic data. Usually, you will want to collect traffic data on your network backbone segments and on segments with heavily utilized servers.
Traffic Monitor can use the HP X-RMON functionality built into HP Procurve and HP Advancestack and even HP Ethertwist network devices to provide detailed information on who is using network segments. It also uses standard traffic counters to provide basic traffic levels on network segments. Traffic Monitor can realistically monitor up to 200 network segments using the HP X-RMON technology. It can monitor up to 1800 additional segments using standard traffic counters. You should use the following instructions to turn on Manual traffic data collection and configure which network segments will be monitored with HP X-RMON and which additional segments will be monitored using standard traffic counters.
1.
On the Toptools page, select Performance ->Traffic Data Collector Settings
2.
On the Performance – Traffic Data Collector Settings
page select the “User Selected Switch and Hub Ports (Manual)” setting Use the Add Device(s) button to add the devices on which you would like to collect Traffic Data 3.
4. On each device, select the ports on which you would like to collect Traffic Data by expanding the device and then selecting either the Traffic Stats or the HP X-RMON check box for the desired ports.

Consoles

Because Toptools is a web-based application, any system running a supported web browser may act as a Toptools console. For this reason, it is important to consider security when configuring console access to Toptools.
When installing the Toptools server, the installation wizard will install Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 if absent or an earlier unsupported version is detected. You may use the Microsoft Internet Explorer installation files on the Toptools CD to install a supported browser on additional systems on your network.
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The following table provides the console requirements:
Supported Browsers Windows:
Resolution Minimum: 800 X 600 X 256 colors
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 sp2 (JVM 2436)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 (JVM 3167)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
Netscape Navigator 4.61
Netscape Navigator 4.72
Windows 2000:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 (JVM 3234)
Netscape Navigator 4.72
HP-UX 10.20 and 11.x:
Netscape Navigator 4.51 (use Sun fonts)
Netscape Navigator 4.61 (use Sun fonts)
Sun Solaris 2.6:
Netscape Navigator 4.51
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0
Settings
Always accept cookies
Always refresh new page
Exclude using a proxy to access your Toptools server
Browser settings are extremely important. Set your browser to exclude using a web proxy to access your Toptools server. This can be done for your entire DNS domain or just for the Toptools server depending on your network requirements. (Example: For Internet Explorer 4.x go Tools => Internet Options => Connections => LAN Settings => Bypass proxy box).
Also, be certain that your browsers (consoles) are configured to use the same security mechanisms as the Toptools server. For example, your browser console must be prepared to use SSL if the web server on the Toptools server is configured to use Certificate Authentication. If you have enabled Windows NT Challenge Response (Windows NT) or Integrated Windows Authentication (Windows 2000), the user at the browser must be prepared to supply a valid Windows user name and password.
When using Netscape, the “afc11.zip” file must be present in the java\classes directory. Toptools will sense the presence or absence of this file the first time you connect to it via Netscape and walk you through installation of this file. Do not unzip it.
When Toptools is being accessed from a console running unix:
replace the HP fonts with Sun fonts by setting the environment variables for the session by typing:
MOZILLA_JAVA_FONT_PROPERTIES=/opt/netscape/java/classes export MOZILLA_JAVA_FONT_PROPERTIES
ensure that the "afc11.zip" file resides in the =/opt/netscape/java/classes directory.
If using Netscape Navigator, you must configure the Web server to use Basic Authentication. Refer to the
Application Note “HP Toptools Security” for more information on configuring security for the Toptools application.
During installation of the Toptools server, a shortcut to a console session is placed on the desktop of the Toptools server.
To start a remote console session from another system, open the following URL:
http://Toptools_Server_Host_Name.company.com/hptt the valid IP hostname resolved in your DNS for your Topt ols server o
where Toptools_Server_Host_Name.company.com is
-or-
http://#.#.#.#/hptt where #.#.#.# is the IP address of the Toptools server.
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Managed Nodes

- NOTE -
You must have agents (Toptools, SNMP, DMI, WMI or Webagent)
running on managed devices to provide management information
to Toptools.
Toptools will attempt to discover and identify any devices connected to your network using TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, or Windows ‘Network Neighborhood’ discovery. While Toptools will make an entry for a device that responds to discovery, Toptools cannot identify, inventory, or manage devices that do not have a management agent implemented on them. For the best results, all devices (both HP and non-HP) should have their most recent management agent installed.
Managing hp computing products
HP computing products support a variety of agents that are provided free-of-charge.
hp Personal Computers. HP personal computer products (HP Vectra, Kayak, Omnibook, Visualize, and Brio) must be running a Toptools for Desktops, Toptools for Notebooks, Toptools for Visualize, or Toptools for Brio agent respectively which provide DMI or WMI support depending on the version of the agent and model of the product. Once installed, Toptools can identify, inventory, provide detailed property pages, run management actions, distribute software and automatically receive and process alerts from these products. Most HP personal computers come equipped with Toptools agents already installed. To check for update information, refer to http://www.hp.com/go/kayaksupport
http://www.hp.com/go/vectrasupport
. To download agents, visit the Toptools web site at
or
http://www.hp.com/toptools.
hp jornada PC Companions. These products (also referred to as “Handheld PCs” or “PalmTops”) are manageable by Toptools when they are docked to an HP personal computer running the Toptools for Desktops and PC Companion Desktop DMI agents. Upon docking, the PC Companion Desktop DMI agent downloads an agent to the Jornada called the PC Companion agent. To download the Toptools for Desktops and PC Companion Desktop DMI agents, go to the download page at the Toptools web site http://www.hp.com/Toptools.
hp netservers. To use Toptools to manage HP Netservers, HP Netserver Agents (Toptools for Servers agents) must be installed on the Netservers. These agents support both SNMP and DMI and enable Toptools to identify, inventory, poll, manage, and automatically receive and process alerts from HP Netservers. In addition, HP Netservers are associated with the Toptools Remote Control card accessory if detected. The Toptools Remote Control card is managed through a firmware agent that uses SNMP and webagent technology. Instructions for installing HP Netserver (Toptools) agents is provided in the Toptools for Servers Administration Guide and on the Net Server Navigator CD. The latest information and downloads can be obtained at http://www.hp.com/toptools
.
hp procurve and advancestack Hubs and Switches. HP networking devices are managed using both SNMP and webagent technology provided in the device firmware. This software is included with the product and enabled during product installation. Additional information is provided in the Toptools for Hubs & Switches User's Guide and on the Toptools for Hubs & Switches CD. The latest information can be obtained at http://www.hp.com/rnd/support/support.htm
.
hp-ux systems. HP-UX systems can be managed using DMI and SNMP technology. Additional management features are available when Toptools is used together with an HP-UX SCM (Service Control Manager) Server.
hp LaserJet Printers. HP LaserJet and JetDirect products are supported through integration with HP Web JetAdmin which is included on the Toptools CD. To manage HP LaserJet products, the JetDirect interface must be installed. JetDirect uses SNMP and webagent technology on the firmware of the JetDirect card. Once enabled and configured, Toptools and Web JetAdmin provide inventory, property page, firmware update, status monitoring and alert reception functions for HP printing products.
System Performance Advisor. Toptools provides Performance Agents that may be installed free-of-
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charge on HP and non-HP systems.
If you want to use the System Performance Advisor to monitor performance on Windows systems, you will need to install performance monitoring agents on the systems to be monitored. The installation of these agents does not need to be done before you install Toptools. Refer to the online help topic "Performance Agent Deployment" for additional information.
Note: The number of devices that you can monitor using the System Performance Advisor will vary depending on the capabilities of the Toptools server and your network configuration. The performance agents utilize about 2% of the CPU availability on a typical monitored Pentium-based system.
Other HP products such as HP-UX workstations and server and networked attached storage are also managed by Toptools. For more information, refer to your product’s documentation.
Managing Non-hp products
Devices must be running agent software provided by their manufacturer (e.g. SNMP support enabled in Cisco routers) or by another provider (e.g. Microsoft SNMP services installed on a non-HP server or the Intel LanDesk client installed on a non-HP PC). In all cases, the agent technology must adhere to industry standard DMI, SNMP, WMI, or HTTP. If a device supports more than one protocol, it will be managed using all protocols supported. Toptools will attempt to collect and display information using whichever protocol is available. The table below depicts what level of support is provided to devices supporting each of the listed protocols:
Toptools Services SNMP v.2 (MIB-II) DMI 2.0 WMI HTTP
Discover Yes Yes Yes Yes
Identify Device Type Device Type and OS Device Type and OS No
Polling Yes Yes Yes Yes
Inventory Yes Yes Yes No
Property Pages Yes Yes Yes
Actions Toptools generic
Alert reception (1) (2) (3) N/a
Software Distribution No No No No
Toptools generic plus
Power On (4)
Toptools generic Toptools generic
Link to webagent
page (5)
‘Toptools generic’ refers to non-device specific actions such as Add to Custom Group, Delete, etc.
(1) SNMP traps sent to Toptools will appear with the system object identifier (a number string). Toptools provides a utility that
compiles proprietary SNMP MIBS to load trap definitions into Toptools. Once loaded, SNMP traps from non-HP devices (such as Compaq servers) or SNMP trap forwarding applications (such as HP ManageX or Microsoft BackOffice) will be recognized by Toptools and displayed with user friendly descriptions within the Alert Log. In addition, these alerts will be handled by other Toptools services such as Actions on Alerts and the Most Frequent Alerts Report.
(2) Toptools uses the standard DMI 2.0 mechanism to ‘subscribe’ for DMI alerts. If you have a non-HP PC or server that has a
DMI agent and uses DMI to send alerts, Toptools will automatically receive and process alerts from the PC.
(3) WBEM alert handling has not yet been standardized by the DMTF. Therefore, WMI alert handling is supported for HP PCs
only. Other vendors like IBM may use another protocol (e.g. SNMP) to send alerts. In this case, the system would be managed using both SNMP and WMI.
(4) Power On will work with systems that support standard Magic Packet technology.
(5) If a device supports a webagent technology and another technology, such as WMI, Toptools will create a link to the
management home page (webagent) and will also generate generic Toptools property pages. Toptools automatically discovers webagents (or web servers) listening on port 80 (Device Home Page) or ports 280, 411, 2301, or 6500 (Management Home Page). The management URL for a specific device may be manually set using the Device Communication dialog.
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Installation Procedure

This section will provide step-by-step instructions on installing a Toptools server on a Windows NT or 2000 system.
- Note -
If you upgrade from a version of Toptools earlier than 5.0, the installation wizard will offer to uninstall the earlier version for you. If you choose not to uninstall the earlier version, the installation process will halt.
If you are uninstalling a version earlier than Toptools 5.0 you will lose settings and device information in the Toptools databases. This means that you must rediscover your network and reenter any configuration or supplementary information before using Toptools.
If you are upgrading from Toptools 5.0 or higher, you can elect to save database information during the uninstall process. This information can be restored for use with newer versions of Toptools. Refer to the uninstallation and installation procedures for more information. If you do not save information during the uninstall process you will lose configuration and database information. Check the readme file and the Toptools web site for the latest information.
You can install the Toptools server from the Toptools CD ROM (run CD:\setup.exe) or from the Toptools web site. The web site is located at http://www.hp.com/toptools. Go to the download page and follow the directions provided. The Toptools installation wizard (setup.exe) is an extensive program designed to make the Toptools installation process friendly and successful. It performs the following basic steps:
1. Checks your system for necessary hardware, operating system and web server components to determine which if any of these components need to be installed, and then reports on steps that must be completed by the user or the installation wizard.
2. Prompts the user for desired Toptools components.
3. Installs prerequisite software and Toptools applications while continually displaying status.
The complete installation process including prerequisite software may take up to 45 minutes depending on the number of components to be installed and the number of reboots necessary. Toptools uses an ‘auto logon’ feature that automatically logs the user into the system and continues the installation process following a required reboot.
Before running setup.exe, verify the following:
The system meets the minimum hardware and networking requirements as specified in the previous section
and the readme file.
The Operating System is Windows NT 4.0 Workstation or Server, or Windows 2000 Professional, Server,
or Advanced Server edition.
You have a Windows NT Operating System installation CD if installing on a Windows NT system that
does not already have the Microsoft SNMP service installed.
You have a Windows 2000 Operating System installation CD if installing on a Windows 2000 system that
does not already have the Microsoft SNMP service and/or Microsoft IIS already installed.
The following steps show dialogs from a variety of systems. The dialogs you see and the exact procedure you will follow will vary depending on the operating system, existing software environment, and the components you select. For information on upgrading Toptools or installing Toptools on non-English versions of Windows, refer to the readme file.
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Step 1: Close other applications and run CD:\setup.exe or begin the installation
process from the web site download page.
You will see the following dialog:
Step 2: Click Next.
The Toptools installation wizard will check your system for requirements and installed components and then report on the results. You may see a screen similar to the following:
This example shows a Windows 2000 Professional Workstation that has met the necessary hardware and networking requirements, but needs to install both SNMP and IIS services. As shown in the dialog above, the wizard will indicate which components are needed, whether a CD (or reboot) is required, and the order in which the components will be installed.
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Step 3: Select Toptools components and destination directory.
The Toptools Component Selection dialog allows you to choose which Toptools components you would like to install in addition to Toptools core services such as discovery, inventory, and event management. You may elect to add components at another time by running install again.
Hubs & Switches Installs Toptools for Hubs & Switches applications like Network Performance
Advisor and topology mapping. These applications manage HP Procurve and Advancestack products.
Netserver Components Adds software needed to manage HP Netservers and Toptools Remote Control
cards.
Desktop PCs Provides specific management of HP personal computer products. Functions like
software version control and security actions are added to the Toptools console.
Web JetAdmin for Printers By selecting this option, the Toptools installation wizard will either install Web
JetAdmin server on the Toptools server and integrate it with the Toptools console, or link to a Web JetAdmin server on another system.
At this point if you are not installing on an NTFS formatted drive, the wizard will inform you that the Toptools file system will not be as secure as possible. You then have the opportunity to select an NTFS drive if you require additional security. Without NTFS Toptools cannot regulate user roles. On non NTFS installations, all users have Toptools admin capabilities.
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Step 4: Integrating web jetadmin.
If you selected Web JetAdmin for Printers in the component selection dialog, Toptools will first check to see if there is already a Web JetAdmin server installed on the local system. If not, it will prompt you to perform a local installation or link to a remote Web JetAdmin server on the network.
HP Web JetAdmin supports a number of platforms including Unix. If linking to a remote server, the Toptools installation wizard will prompt you for the hostname or IP address of the remote server and the port used by Web JetAdmin. The default port is 8000. If you specified a different port when installing Web JetAdmin, you will need to enter it.
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Step 5: Integrating scm.
If you want to link Toptools with a Service Control Manager (SCM) installation you can do so during installlation. (Note you can also add a link to an SCM server at any time after installation by clicking Settings, and Integration.) Check the servicecontrol manager box on the Select integration dialog. This will cause the scm integration dialog to be displayed.
Enter the URL and port (normally 1188) to be used. This will cause a “Launch ServiceControl Manager” action being added to the action menu for all HP-UX and Linux systems.
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Step 6: Create toptools service account.
Toptools uses a local Windows user account “toptools service” to provide system access to the Toptools services. It also creates three user groups called “toptools”, “toptools operators” and “toptools admins”. These Windows user groups are used to control access to the Toptools application when Toptools is installed onto an NTFS partition. Refer to the White Paper “HP Toptools Security” (www.hp.com/toptools) for more information.
If there was a previous installation of Toptools on the local Windows system you must use the same Toptools service account password for each installation.
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Step 7: Select toptools admin account.
Toptools uses a domain Windows user account “toptools admin” to provide domain access to managed systems. If the Toptools system is part of a workgroup and is not part of a domain, a local account will be created. If the system is part of a domain but you do not have domain admin privilages, a domain level admin account and password will be configured in Toptools, but the domain level “toptools admin” account will not be created. You will not be able to access all Toptools features until the domain level “toptools admin” account has been created on the domain by someone with domain admin capabilities. Following installation refer to the Installation help topics for more information.
If there are previous or multiple installations of Toptools within a the Windows domain you must use the same toptools admin account password for each installation.
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Step 8. Select the hp toptools program folder.
Step 9: License agreement and warranty.
Software license and warranty notices will be displayed. Clicking Yes will indicate that you have read and accept the terms.
Step 10: Enable auto-logon feature.
The auto-logon feature allows the installation wizard to reduce the amount of interaction required during installation on NT systems by automatically logging back into the system following a required reboot. This is not required on Windows 2000 systems.
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Enter your account information. The account should be the same account used to launch setup.exe (and have administarative access to system). Account information is temporarily stored in the Windows registry and is removed when installation is complete to protect the security of your account.
Step 11: Installation wizard installs software and displays progress. Respond to
requests for information or insertion of a CD.
If you are installing from the web, the required components will be downloaded and saved on your hard disk for installation. A dialog will show you the status of the download process. If you cancel the download, a link to the Toptools website will be provided to allow you to order a CD.
Once the files have been downloaded or if you are installing from a CD, you will then be guided through any needed system software installation. The message window on the right shows the status of the installation process. The first step will be the installation (if required) of Windows components. Once this is complete the Toptools components that you have selected will be installed.
You may be prompted (depending on your environment and selections) for information or an operating system CD. For example, on NT systems the Windows Operating System installation you will need the CD for SNMP and/or IIS if these services have not already been installed.
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The wizard will provide instructions for installling components. When configuring the SNMP service, it is important to remember that you are also configuring an SNMP agent that will allow the Toptools server to be managed. Refer to your Windows documentation for information on configuring the SNMP services.
During the installation of SNMP services on an NT system you will be asked if you want to reboot. Answer NO. The wizard will reboot your system later.
When installing IIS on Windows 2000 systems, you may select multiple IIS services, but only the World Wide Web Server is required by Toptools.
Upon completion of these tasks, you will need to remove the Operating System CD from the CD drive, check the confirmation box at the bottom of the dialog (shown above, “I have installed the SNMP & IIS services”), and then click Next.
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If you don’t have a browser, or have an installation of Microsoft Internet Explorer older than 4.01 SP2 on the
Toptools server, the wizard will install Internet Explorer version 5.5. If you already have an older version of Internet Explorer installed, the old proxy settings will be preserved. If you do not have a browser installed and you are using a gateway or firewall to access the Internet, you must enter the proxy addresses and port numbers for the HTTP and FTP fields after Toptools installs Internet Explorer. You do not need to make an entry for Socks.
Some files may be read-only. This may be because they are in use. Click Yes to overwrite them.
If you receive a message about Auto Alert, click Continue. (Information about Auto Alert is given in the HP
Toptools for Servers Administrator Guide.)
If you do not have a copy of Acrobat Reader installed, the installation wizard will install the reader for you. This is for access to Toptools documentation that is provided in the .pdf format.
You will be prompted about checking for available patches. If you click Yes, the wizard will check for you.
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Step 12: Configure Advanced Settings option
When all the selected Toptools components have been installed, you may choose to make advanced configuration settings for discovery before starting Toptools. Depending on the size of your network, you may want to configure discovery settings rather than wait for the first discovery cycle to complete.
If you click No, the installation wizard will use the networking configuration of the Toptools server to discover the local networks that the Toptools server communicates with.
Click Yes to configure the discovery process.
The next graphic shows the first dialog for configuring advanced configuration settings. In this dialog, you can specify additional networks for Toptools to discover. The first entry is based on the IP network that the Toptools server resides in. Be certain that the subnet masks specified for IP networks are correct, and that additional IPX networks are accessible to the Toptools server through the frame type used by the Toptools server or through an IPX router.
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Toptools uses many mechanisms for discovery, including reading the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) cache on routers (gateways). To access ARP information from routers, the Toptools server needs the correct SNMP read community to access the information. By default, the router, or gateway, specified within Windows TCP/IP properties on the Toptools server is entered. Specify its SNMP read community name, and the address and corresponding communities of any other routers you would like Toptools to contact for ARP cache discovery.
You will then be asked to select the discovery methods to use and when to schedule discoveries.
This dialog allows you to configure which types of discovery you would like Toptools to run, and on which schedule. To maximize performance and reduce network traffic, you should only enable discovery types that your network or environment supports. You must enable either IP or IPX discovery. Schedule discovery for a time when most PCs are powered on.
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