IBM Network Station Manager Release and Installation Notes 3.0.4


Table of Contents



© 1999 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All rights reserved.


Chapter 1: About IBM Network Station Manager (NSM)

The IBM® Network StationTM is IBM's network computer. It is designed to be easy to install, use, and manage. It operates without any internal disk storage, using supporting software and applications from associated servers. Through network connections, the IBM Network Station can attach to a number of servers, including the IBM AS/400, RISC System/6000 or System/390 servers, and Intel PC servers running SCO UNIX or Windows NT. Ideal for multi-platform computing environments, it allows access to a wide variety of applications running on one server or many servers, to the worldwide resources of the Internet or a private intranet, and to the fast emerging world of JavaTM applets and applications downloaded on demand from Internet or intranet servers.

IBM Network Station Manager has been developed to provide a common support environment for the IBM Network Station across all IBM and Intel PC based server platforms. Versions have been introduced for the IBM AS/400, RISC System/6000 and System/390 servers, and Intel PC servers running SCO UNIX and Windows NT.

This document discusses IBM Network Station Manager 3.0 for SCO UNIX systems. For more information about IBM Network Station Manager on IBM supported platforms, visit the IBM web site at http://www.ibm.com/nc.

The user of the IBM Network Station may access an SCO UNIX server for various reasons:

System Requirements

Operating system SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.5
LAN card Ethernet or Token-Ring
Network software TCP/IP and NFS configured and running
Web server (NSM configuration server only) Netscape FastTrack 2.01a
Web browser (NSM configuration server only) Netscape Communicator 4.0.4 or later
Total RAM 32MB (64MB recommended)
Disk space 230MB in /usr


NOTE: 80MB of the disk space is freed up again after the installation completes (unless the system is configured as a remote installation server).

WARNING: The IBM NSM installation requires the UDK Compatibility Module for SCO OpenServer to be installed; IBM NSM installation will fail if this UDK package is not installed. On SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.5, the UDK Compatibility Module is part of the default installation. If the UDK package was not installed or was removed, install it from the SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.5 CD-ROM (or download it as described below).

On SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.4, IBM NSM can be installed if the UDK Compatibility Module for SCO OpenServer is installed first; however, Release 5.0.4 is an unsupported operating system environment because IBM NSM has not been tested in this environment and might not function correctly.

The UDK Compatibility Module can be downloaded as part of the Java Development Kit 1.1.3 package for SCO OpenServer from the free download products at:

http://www.sco.com/download

Only OSRcompat.pkg needs to be installed. After downloading and extracting the files, uncompress and install OSRcompat.pkg according to the instructions provided at the download site.


Online Documentation

After NSM is installed, you can view the online documentation with any browser capable of displaying frames.

If you don't already have a suitable browser, install a free version of Netscape CommunicatorTM from the Optional Services CD (see Release and Installation Notes for SCO Internet products on the CD in /info/nscomm/relnotes/relnotes.htm).

On the NSM server, start the Netscape browser and open:

file:/usr/netstation/doc/index.html

Also, refer to the Online Help provided by the Network Station Manager program (URL http://<ServerName>:880/networkstation/admin) for further information.


Chapter 2: Installing IBM Network Station Manager

To install IBM NSM from the OpenServer 5 Optional Services CD-ROM, use the SCOadmin Software Manager (custom):

  1. Double-click on the Software Manager icon in the System Administration window on the Desktop, or enter scoadmin software manager at a root prompt.
  2. Click on Software, then Install New.
  3. When prompted for a machine, select the system you will be installing from. Then, identify the media device and insert your CD-ROM.
  4. Select the software to install, then click on Install.

To remove IBM NSM, start the SCOadmin Software Manager. From the Software menu, select Remove Software.

After Initial Installation

The IBM NSM software installation process runs scripts that perform the following tasks:

This default configuration is sufficient to support a small number of Network Stations that are configured locally (use the procedure in "Configuring an IBM Network Station to Boot from the NVRAM Setting" in the online NSM documentation to configure the Network Stations locally). Network Station users can now boot their Network Station from the server using the NFS protocol, log in to the server using their UNIX user ID and password, and load applications from the server, including the NC Navigator Browser. Using the browser, users can connect to the Network Station Manager configuration server to tailor their logon environment.

For networks containing a large number of Network Stations, more manageable boot methods can be employed, including BOOTP, DHCP, and TFTP. See "Configuring the Boot Server" in the installation topic in the online NSM documentation for further information.

Before You Continue

Printers

For more information about using printers with NSM, see "Configuring Printers" in the installation topic in the online NSM documentation.

Server Administration

The IBM NSM product includes three scripts, located in the /usr/netstation/bin directory, that help the server administrator perform some of the tasks associated with configuring the Network Station environment. For more information on how to use these scripts and other system administration tools to perform NSM administrative tasks, see the following sections on server administration in the installation topic in the online NSM documentation.


Chapter 3: Known Limitations

This release has the following known limitations:

  1. When using the Netscape Navigator 3.04 browser or the IBM Network Station Navigator browser, there is a problem with the initial display of the IBM Network Station Manager program. After successful logon, the menu buttons and navigation buttons are missing from the right-hand and lower frames.

    To produce the correct display on the IBM Network Station Navigator browser, simply type Alt-1 (press the One key while holding down the Alt key). This forces the browser to refresh the contents of the frames and display missing information. It may be necessary to type Alt-1 more than once to establish the correct display.

    To produce the correct display on the Netscape Navigator 3.04 browser, you need to reduce the number of simultaneous network connections to "1". To do this, load the browser and select from the menu:

       Options->Network Preferences->Connections
    

    Change the value in the "Connections" field from 4 to 1.

    This problem does not occur with other browsers such as Netscape Navigator 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0.

  2. This version of the product does not include full National Language Support. Messages displayed by the IBM Network Station Manager program and the Network Station Logon daemon are in English only.
  3. The URL to use when linking to the IBM Network Station Manager server on the SCO OpenServer system is:
       http://yourserver:880
    

    Note that, on SCO OpenServer, the IBM NSM server is running on port 880, not port 80 as on most IBM platforms.

  4. The IBM Network Station Manager program error messages state that the error will be logged to a system log (syslog) or application log. This logging does not take place.
  5. Do not log on to a Network Station as the root user. For security reasons, the root user does not have permission to write to the server disk. This causes the Navigator browser to report errors when attempting to save configuration information and bookmarks to the server.
  6. The version of the IBM Network Station Navigator browser that provides 128-bit encryption (mentioned in the NSM documentation) is not currently available from SCO.
  7. At the time of writing, the Lotus eSuite product (mentioned in the NSM documentation) was not available for SCO platforms.
  8. The SCO OpenServer Release 5 implementation of the DHCP server does not currently provide support for the DHCP options 66 (bootstrap server) and 67 (bootfile path) mentioned in the documentation. This is not a problem because this same information is available in the DHCP server response when the boot_server, boot_file_dir, and boot_file options are specified.

    This can be a problem, however, if many DHCP options have been selected and the "DHCP option overload" feature has been enabled. It is recommended, therefore, that the "DHCP option overload" feature remains disabled.

  9. SCO UNIX platforms do not provide Twinaxial support.
  10. SCO UNIX platforms do not provide support for the Wnn6 (OMRON) input method for Japanese languages.


Chapter 4: Hints to assist you when using the IBM Network Station Manager software

  1. If you have existing Network Stations installed with prior releases, you MUST upgrade your boot monitor. Please refer to the IBM Network Station Manger Installation and Use publication, section "Updating the Boot Monitor Code".
  2. When executing Java applets from a local browser, make sure you have set up your Internet proxy and socks hosts/ports information using the IBM Network Station Manager (not using the browser Network Preferences option). If you do not do this, the applet pages will be accessed, but will not run.
  3. FOR DEBUG ONLY - If your Network Station panic crashes, it may be desirable to acquire a memory dump from the unit. If this is done, the resultant file will always be placed into the /usr/netstation/Service directory. It is HIGHLY recommended that before you acquire the memory dump, you create a filesystem (at least the size of your Network Station's physical memory) and mount it upon /usr/netstation/Service.
  4. To configure Workstation Defaults under the NSM 'Hardware' configuration panel, you may have to distinguish the 'Name' parameter depending upon whether you are using NVRAM or bootp. If you are using NVRAM, this parameter must be set to the IP address of the Network Station. Also you cannot specify a Configuration File. If you are using bootp, it must be set to the 'Host Name' parameter which was set in the bootp configuration file.


Copyright

©1999 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All rights reserved.

©1998 International Business Machines Corporation. All rights reserved.

This publication is protected under copyright laws and international treaties.

©1992-1994 AT&T Global Information Solutions Company; ©1987-1989 Computer Associates, Inc.; ©1987 Convergent Technologies, Inc.; ©1989 Digital Equipment Corporation; ©1987-1989 Hewlett-Packard Company; ©1994-1996 Netscape Communications Corporation; ©1993-1994 Platinum Technologies; ©1988 Massachusetts Institute of Technology; ©1985-1989 Metagraphics Software Corporation; ©1980-1989 Microsoft Corporation; ©1989 Open Software Foundation, Inc.; ©1993-1994 Programmed Logic Corporation; ©1994-1997 Sun Microsystems, Inc.; ©1988 UNIX Systems Laboratories, Inc.; ©1997 VERITAS Software Corporation.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.

Business/21, dbXtra, DiSCOver, Internet Way of Computing, IWoC, Multiscreen, ODT, Open Desktop, Optimized For Internet Computing and its logo, Panner, SCO, SCO ACE, SCO CIFS Bridge, SCO Doctor, SCO Doctor for Networks, SCO Doctor Lite, SCO Global Access, the SCO logos, SCO MPX, SCO MultiView, SCO Nihongo OpenServer, SCO OK, the SCO OK logo, SCO OpenServer, SCO Open Server, SCO Portfolio, SCO POS System, SCO Premier Motif, SCO TermLite, SCO ToolWare, SCOtopia, SCO Vision 97, SCO VisionFS, SCO Visual Tcl, Skunkware, Tarantella, The Business Choice, The Santa Cruz Operation, UnixWare, Universal Server, VP/ix, and Zones are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. in the USA and other countries. APC, SoftCare, and SoftTech are service marks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. Deskterm, Deskworks, IXI, IXI Desktop, the IXI logo, IXI Panorama, Wintif, and X.desktop are trademarks or registered trademarks of IXI Limited, a subsidiary of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. X.tra is a service mark of IXI Limited. Codon, Devkit.Vision, Esprit, Kodon, PC-Connect, SQL-Retriever, SuperVision, Super.Vision, TermVision, Term.Vision, Vision Builder, Visionware, Visionware Direction, the Visionware logo, Visionware SQL-Retriever, Visionware Super.Vision, the XV logo, XVision, and X-Visionware are trademarks or registered trademarks of Visionware Limited, a subsidiary of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. X/Open and UNIX are registered trademarks and the X Device is a trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Cheyenne and ARCserve are registered trademarks of Cheyenne Software, Inc. Netscape, Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communications Server, Netscape Commerce Server, Netscape Proxy Server, Netscape FastTrack Server, Netscape Enterprise Server, Netscape SuiteSpot, Netscape Catalog Server, Netscape News Server, Netscape Mail Server, and Netscape Navigator Gold are trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation. NFS was developed by Legent Corporation (formerly Lachman Associates, Inc.) based on LACHMAN SYSTEM V NFS. LACHMAN is a trademark of Legent Corporation. NFS is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. TCP/IP was developed by Legent Corporation (formerly Lachman Associates, Inc.) based on LACHMAN SYSTEM V STREAMS TCP, a joint development of Lachman Associates and Convergent Technologies. MPX was developed by Corollary, Inc. VP/ix is a product developed and licensed by Phoenix Technologies, Ltd/INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation. XRemote is a registered trademark of Network Computing Devices, Inc. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, California. Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Reliant is a registered trademark of Siemens Pyramid Information Systems, Inc. (formerly Pyramid Technology Corporation). RealAudio and RealVideo are registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. The Real logo, RealServer, RealPlayer, RealEncoder, RealPublisher, RealSystem, Basic Server Plus, and RealNetworks are trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. Lotus is a trademark of Lotus Development Corporation in the United States and other countries. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows 95 logo are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The following terms are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, or other countries, or both:

AIX
Application System/400
AS/400
Client Access
DB2
eNetwork
IBM
IBM Network Station
InfoColor
InfoPrint
Information Assistant
IPDS
Micro Channel
MVS
NetView
Network Station
On-Demand Server
OpenEdition
Operating System/400
OS/390
OS/400
RS/6000
S/390
System/390
VM/ESA
Workplace
400

All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners. The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. reserves the right to change or modify any of the product or service specifications or features described herein without notice. This document is for information only. SCO makes no express or implied representations or warranties in this document.

The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. and SCO Skunkware are not related to, affiliated with or licensed by the famous Lockheed Martin Skunk Works®, the creator of the F-117 Stealth Fighter, SR-71, U-2, VenturestarTM, DarkstarTM, and other pioneering air and spacecraft.

The SCO software that accompanies this publication is commercial computer software and, together with any related documentation, is subject to the restrictions on US Government use as set forth below. If this procurement is for a DOD agency, the following DFAR Restricted Rights Legend applies:

RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND: When licensed to a U.S., State, or Local Government, all Software produced by SCO is commercial computer software as defined in FAR 12.212, and has been developed exclusively at private expense. All technical data, or SCO commercial computer software/documentation is subject to the provisions of FAR 12.211 - "Technical Data", and FAR 12.212 - "Computer Software" respectively, or clauses providing SCO equivalent protections in DFARS or other agency specific regulations. Manufacturer: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc., 400 Encinal Street, Santa Cruz, California 95060.

The copyrighted software that accompanies this manual is licensed to the End User only for use in strict accordance with the two End User License Agreements. All such Agreements should be read carefully before commencing use of the software.

Document Version: IBM NSM 3.0.4
28 Apr 1999