IBM SG24-4576-00 manual Selectable Drive Startup, Unattended Start Mode, Systems Management, 1 DMI

1.8.5 Selectable Drive Startup

Selectable drive startup allows the system owner or administrator to select the IPL source and sequence. This allows the system owner to control the IPL source, but prevents the user from modifying the source and sequence. For example, the diskette drive can be excluded as an IPL source. This feature helps to ensure that the system owner′s specified operating system is loaded.

The IPL sequence is stored in the system EEPROM, and can only be changed using the privileged-access password. Storage of the IPL sequence in the EEPROM protects it from being deactivated by removing the battery. The setup routine ensures that at least one IPL source is specified if the privileged-access password is used.

1.8.6 Unattended Start Mode

The unattended start mode automatically restarts the server after a power failure and resumes normal operation, without operator intervention.

It locks the keyboard when the system is powered on, but it allows the operating system and startup files to be loaded. The keyboard remains locked until the power-on password is entered.

This mode is useful for unattended operations because it allows authorized network user access to information on the server but prohibits unauthorized access via the system keyboard.

When the system is in the unattended mode, the password prompt will not appear unless an attempt to start the system from a diskette or other removable media is issued. If you start the system from a removable media, the password prompt will appear and you must enter the correct power-on password to continue.

1.9 Systems Management

Systems management is an important element of a successful LAN. The IBM PC Server brand ships with a very powerful systems and network management tool called NetFinity. In this section, we look at the capabilities of NetFinity; first, we need to take a look at some of the underlying technology which NetFinity has incorporated. NetFinity incorporates DMI which is an emerging standard for managing desktop machines and SNMP which is an established network management protocol. We take a look at each of these in the following sections.

1.9.1 DMI

The Desktop Management Interface (DMI) is a standard developed by an industry consortium that simplifies management of hardware and software products attached to, or installed in, a computer system. The computer system can be a stand-alone desktop system, a node on a network, or a network server. DMI is designed to work across desktop operating systems, environments, hardware platforms, and architectures.

DMI provides a way to obtain, in a standardized format, information about the hardware and software products installed in the system. Once this data is obtained, management applications written to the DMI specs can use this data to

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