Setting Up Resource Manager

Now that you have installed Resource Manager, you need to set up Resource Manager and perform administrator tasks. This chapter consists of the following sections:

• Accessing the Server

• Performing Administrator Tasks

• Using the Webadmin Utility

• Logging Out as Administrator

Accessing the Server

To access Resource Manager, enter the following URL in your web browser:

http://server_name 

where server_name is the name of the server on which you installed Resource Manager.

If you used the alternative port, enter

http://server_name:1741 

where :1741 is the alternative port on which Resource Manager was installed.

The main Resource Manager screen appears. (See Figure 2-1.)

Figure 2-1: Resource Manager Main Screen

---

Note Make sure you have enabled Java, JavaScript, or Active-X Scripting on your web browser as explained in Table 1-1.

---

The Resource Manager desktop is composed of a series of pages consisting of two frames:

• The frame on the left contains the navigation tree and the button bar. The navigation tree is a tree structure that consists of one or more folders: each folder contains a group of associated tasks or tools.

The button bar lets you switch between the main operational modes of the system. Click the Admin button and the navigation tree displays the administrator functions. Click the Help button and another browser window opens, displaying the Resource Manager online help.

• The frame on the right contains instructions that guide or otherwise inform.

If you cannot access the Resource Manager server or the desktop is not displaying correctly, consult the "Troubleshooting" appendix. In addition, consult the Troubleshooting section in Learning to Use Cisco Resource Manager.

Performing Administrator Tasks

Now that you have accessed the Resource Manager server, you need to log in as the administrator and set up the server for other users. The following sections explain how to perform administrator tasks.

Logging In as Administrator

Although most Resource Manager modules are available to anyone who can connect to the Resource Manager server, some tasks are restricted to users who have a valid administrator login and password.

To access all Resource Manager modules, you need to log in as the administrator by following these steps:

Step 1 Click Login on the Resource Manager button bar. The Username and Password Required dialog box appears.(See Figure 2-2.)

Figure 2-2: Username and Password Required Dialog Box



Step 2 Enter the following information in the Username and Password Required dialog box:

User Name: admin
Password: admin

The web browser appears to refresh, and the Login button changes to Logout. The administrator tasks are transparent until you access the administrator options as described in the following sections.

If you enter an invalid password or press Cancel when prompted for a password, the browser displays an Authorization Required message.

---

Note Resource Manager ships with the default username and password set to admin. You should change the default password for the admin user as soon as possible to prevent any unauthorized users from accessing the information contained on the Resource Manager server. See the "Securing the Resource Manager Server" section for more information on changing the administrator password.

---

Step 3 Click Admin in the button bar. The administrator folders appear. (See Figure 2-3.) These folders contain the administrator tools and tasks.

Figure 2-3: Administrator Folders

Securing the Resource Manager Server

Security for Resource Manager is provided by the Solaris operating system on which you installed Resource Manager. There are two levels of users within Resource Manager:

• Users with administrator privileges

• Users without administrator privileges

Resource Manager does not distinguish among different users with administrator privileges.

---

Note All administrators have the same access to information.

---

Changing Administrator Password and Access

Passwords are contained in the /opt/CSCOpx/cgi-bin/desktop/authenticate /.htpasswd file. To prevent all users from accessing privileged modules, you need to change the administrator password.

Follow these steps to change the administrator password:

Step 1 Click Admin on the button bar, then select User Accounts.

Step 2 Click Change Passwords. The Change Passwords dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-4.)

Figure 2-4: Change Passwords Dialog Box

Step 3 Select the user name admin.

Step 4 Enter the new password in the Password field.

Step 5 Verify the new password by entering it in the Verify Password field. This field is required.

Step 6 Click Next. You are notified that your password has been successfully changed. This screen is displayed until you click another option in the navigation tree.

Securing Modules

All users with administrator privileges have access to all privileged administrator tasks and modules, such as System Administration and Software Management. Therefore, make sure you monitor closely which users are given administrator privileges.

Using the Webadmin Utility

The webadmin utility is a non web-based interface for configuring and maintaining the Resource Manager web server. You should use the webadmin utility to check the web server's performance and configuration only.

The webadmin utility

• Provides a log of errors and access to the Resource Manager web server

• Provides a set of gauges to show system memory, CPU, and disk utilization for the Resource Manager web server

The following steps explain how to start the webadmin utility and what steps you need to complete with this utility:

Step 1 To start the webadmin program, enter the following command:

# /opt/CSCOpx/bin/webadmin

The Apache Configuration dialog box appears.

Step 2 To view the server access log, select View > Access Log. The access log reports when the server was accessed and by which users.

Step 3 To view the server error log, select View > Error Log. The error log lists all server error messages.

Step 4 To view server performance, select View > Performance. The webadmin tool displays CPU utilization, SWAP availability, and disk availability in the form of gauges.

You need to specify which administrators receive error messages from the server with the webadmin utility, as explained in the following section.

Changing Web Server Parameters

In addition to viewing access logs, error logs, and performance, the webadmin utility also lets you change the following web server parameters:

• Client timeout, which specifies how long the server maintains a connection to a client after it receives no response. The default is 1200 seconds (20 minutes). If the server cannot complete a client request within 20 minutes, the server times out. It is recommended that you do not specify a value less than 1200 seconds.

• Maximum requests per client, which specifies the maximum requests allowed at one time from a single client. The default is 30 requests. This limit helps ensure the web server is not consuming all memory on the system to process requests.

• Maximum clients, which specifies the maximum number of client machines that can simultaneously access the Resource Manager server. The default is 150 clients.

• Minimum and maximum spare servers, which specifies the minimum and maximum number of servers that can spontaneously be created to process requests. If the server has only a few requests, it uses the minimum number of servers to process the request. If the server has many simultaneous requests, it uses the maximum number of servers in order to process the request as quickly as possible. The default number of minimum spare servers is 5, and the default maximum number of spare servers is 10.

• The owner and group, which specifies which users are allowed access to the web server. This value defines access privileges for the server. The default for both fields is bin. It is recommended that you do not change these values.

To specify which administrators receive error messages from the server, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Apache Configuration dialog box, select Configure > Server Parameters. The Update Server Parameters dialog box appears.

Step 2 Enter the login of those administrators who you want to receive error messages from the server in the Admin e-mail field.

Step 3 Press Return. The Submit button is now active.

Step 4 Click Submit. A dialog box appears asking if you are sure you want to update the /opt/CSCOpx/ objects/web/conf/httpd.conf file.

Step 5 Click OK. If you make a mistake and want to restore the default values, click Undo on the Update Server Parameters dialog box.

Step 6 Click Cancel on the Update Server Parameters dialog box to return to the Apache Configuration dialog box.

Step 7 To see the updated values you just entered, from the Apache Configuration dialog box, select View > Server Parameters. The new values you entered are shown on the dialog box.

Step 8 To exit the webadmin utility, select File > Exit.

Logging Out as Administrator

To end your administrator tasks, you must log out of Resource Manager and quit the web browser. Follow these steps to log out of Resource Manager:

Step 1 Close all secondary browser windows that are open. You should have only one browser window opened displaying the Resource Manager interface.

Step 2 Click Logout on the Resource Manager button bar. The Cisco Resource Manager Logout dialog box appears.

Step 3 To log out of Resource Manager and quit the web browser, click Confirm Logout. A dialog box appears asking you to confirm whether you want to close the browser window.

Step 4 Click OK.

You are logged out of Resource Manager and the web browser quits.

Now that you have performed the necessary administrator tasks, you can continue with "Preparing to Use Resource Manager Modules."