SAM Quest

[SAM TEAM]

The Quest continues...

The search for an improved System Administration Manager (SAM) tool with capabilities that better fit your needs. If you have a moment, we'd greatly appreciate your input on these questions:

--------------------------------------------
1. What is your preferred method(s) for Backup & Recovery?
a. fbackup/frecover
b. SAM's Backup & Recovery area
c. Verita's NetBackup
d. HP's OmniBack
e. Other (please specify)

2. Do you perform the following tasks? If yes, HOW do you do them - with SAM or the system commands?
a. LVM
b. Filesystem Management
c. Swap
d. Disk Array Configuration
e. Disk Backups

3. What are the top 3 - 5 tasks that you perform most often in SAM's User & Groups (UG) area? Which UG related tasks do you use system commands for instead? Any reasons? (Please differentiate between Local, NIS, NIS+ Users).

4. Have you ever used the HP program Top Tools? If yes, what do you use it for? do you like it? (www.hp.com/toptools)
--------------------------------------------

Thank you,
-SAM Team :)

[Tracey · Accepted solution]

1. e Other - Legato
2. a. LVM - both SAM and system commands
b. Filesystem Magangement - both
c. Swap - SAM
d. Disk Array Configuration - both
e. Disk Backups - if I use fbackup, SAM, otherwise Legato.

[Mark Vollmers]

1) b
2a) LVM yes - SAM
2b) Filesystem Manag no
2c) Swap no
2d) Disk Array no
2e) Disk Backup - SAM
3) (in order)
Adding/removing users
Altering/reassigning passwords
Adding/removing users to additional groups
4) no

[Frederic Soriano]

Hi,

1. Preferred method(s) for backup/recovery
a (fbackup/frecover),
d (OB II),
e (vxdump/vxrestore, pax)

2.
LVM: system commands
FS management: ditto
Swap: ditto
Disk array cfg: ditto
Disk backups: ditto

3. We are not using SAM's UG area; instead, we are using our own set of scripts to modify users locally (files) and globally (NIS). Main reasons: NIS master server, fileserver and app server are running on different machines, so we cannot use SAM for e.g. creating home directories on fileserver, while entering new user information on NIS files. We could have done it with NIS+, but we don't want to switch.

4. No.

Best regards,

Fred.

[Victor BERRIDGE]

1) no preferred =>a)b)e)TSM, tar and pax

2a) both
2b) system command
2c) sam
2d) system command

3) adding/removing users and all the rest if system is trusted...
4) no

[John Bolene]

1. e Other - Ignite make_recovery , sometimes tar for special stuff

2. a. LVM - both SAM and system commands
b. Filesystem Mangagement - both
c. Swap - SAM
d. Disk Array Configuration - both
e. Disk Backups - Ignite make_recovery

3. add new users/ change passwords

4. never used Top Tools, not sure what it is

[Satish Y]

1. d and e(tar)
2. a.,b.,c.,e. command line d. SAM
3. adding/removing users, enabling/disabling users, patch installations
4. NO

[Patrick Wallek]

1. Preferred method for Backup & Recovery - e. Other - CA (I think) Alexandria for data. Ignite-UX make_recovery and make_tape_recovery for vg00

2. a. LVM - both, due to limitations within SAM, specifically no support for Distributed 'lvcreate -D y .....' logical volumes through sam, thus command line.
b. File System - Usually SAM - sometimes command line, depending on what needs to be done. Extending LVs generally through SAM.
c. Swap - SAM
d. Disk Array Configuration - SAM
e. Disk Backups - Command line (Ignite/UX), Alexandria GUI

3. Don't use sam for users and groups. NIS servers reside on other machines. I manually (actually via a script) add local overrides for users to passwd file and manually add entries to group file.

4. Never used Top Tools. After briefly reviewing the info. at the web address given, I don't see what it would do for me on my 9000s.

[Brian Markus]

--------------------------------------------
1. What is your preferred method(s) for Backup & Recovery?
d. HP's OmniBack
e. Other (please specify)
Ignite
2. Do you perform the following tasks? If yes, HOW do you do them - with SAM or the system commands?
a. LVM - both
b. Filesystem Management- both
c. Swap - sam
d. Disk Array Configuration -both
e. Disk Backups - both

3. What are the top 3 - 5 tasks that you perform most often in SAM's User & Groups (UG) area?

Unlocking System Accounts. (ALL DAY LONG!!!)
Reset user passwords
Adding / removing users

Which UG related tasks do you use system commands for instead? Any reasons?
For my operators, they use sam exclusively.
I sometimes use:
modprpw -k user
modprpw -x user

4. Have you ever used the HP program Top Tools?
Yes

If yes, what do you use it for?

Monitoring systems if anything.

Do you like it?

It has issues. I'm kind of neutral.
The tool is very cumbersome and is a major resource hog. I tend to turn it off. I've had numerous crashes due to this tool being turned on. If this tool was optimised and made more stable I'd use it all the time. It has a lot to offer.

If they made it one one tool/service instead of about 14 services it would be better. I've found that if one service goes nuts the others dont know what to do. This generally causes the system to jump to 100% cpu utilization.

[Rodney Hills]

1 a
2 a system
b sam
c sam
3 mux-port config
file system
kernel parameter config
4 no

[Richard Darling]

1) a)
2) a) sam
3) add/remove users; use the command line to change passwords - faster
4) no
RD

[Alan Riggs]

1. What is your preferred method(s) for Backup & Recovery?
d. HP's OmniBack

2. Do you perform the following tasks? If yes, HOW do you do them - with SAM or the system commands?
a. LVM commands
b. Filesystem Management commands
c. Swap commands
d. Disk Array Configuration both
e. Disk Backups commands

3. What are the top 3 - 5 tasks that you perform most often in SAM's User & Groups (UG) area? Which UG related tasks do you use system commands for instead? Any reasons? (Please differentiate between Local, NIS, NIS+ Users).

I do not use SAM for UG administration. (local or NIS)

4. Have you ever used the HP program Top Tools? If yes, what do you use it for? do you like it? (www.hp.com/toptools)

I have not used it.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi folks!

1a -> fbackup/frecover for ad hoc utility backups; Ignite make_tape_recovery (for VG00) and 1e -> EMC's EDM (Enterprise Data Management) for daily, production backups.

2a: LVM -> System commands.
2b: FileSystems -> System commands.
2c: Swap -> SAM
2d: Disk Array Config -> SAM
2e: Disk Backups -> System commands.

3 -> Adding/removing users and groups (local only).

4 -> No knowledge/never used.

...JRF...

[Karthik_2]

--------------------------------------------
1. What is your preferred method(s) for Backup & Recovery?
a.ADSM ...(IBM,s network based backup..similar to veritas netbackup)
b. HP's OmniBack ..In order of preference.
In systems where we have a tap elibrary we use omniback.In critical systems and systems without any tape library we use ADSM

2. Do you perform the following tasks? If yes, HOW do you do them - with SAM or the system commands?
a. LVM ----command line
b. Filesystem Management ----command line
c. Swap --command line
d. Disk Array Configuration ---SAM
e. Disk Backups --command line

3. What are the top 3 - 5 tasks that you perform most often in SAM's User & Groups (UG) area? Which UG related tasks do you use system commands for instead? Any reasons? (Please differentiate between Local, NIS, NIS+ Users).
1.User creation ..adding bulk users..template
2.Group creations ...unique gid's and uid,s
3.Trusted user management ..passwd aging..warning etc.


Cheers
Karthik...

[Steven Sim Kok Leong]

Hi,

1 (d).

HP Omniback is my preferred method for backup and recovery.

2. Do you perform the following tasks? If yes, HOW do you do them - with SAM or the system commands?

a. LVM

Using system commands:
- in order to specify where the mirror copy should reside ie. lvcreate followed by lvextend.
- for ease of writing a script to mass-create logical volumes and mirrors on a freshly-installed system unattended ie. a for loop integrated with a data file containing the respective LV names with their corresponding PV locations to reside on.

b. Filesystem Management

Using system commands:
- for ease of writing a script to mass-create filesystems on respective LVs, create the mount-points, modify the /etc/fstab on a freshly-installed system and mount the filesystems unattended ie. a for loop integrated with a data file containing the respective LV names with their corresponding FS mount-points to reside on and size etc.
- using fsadm, fstyp etc.
- filesystem usage monitoring through scripting

c. Swap

SAM:
- especially so when maxswapchunks needs to be modified.

d. Disk Array Configuration
- NA.

e. Disk Backups

Using system commands:
- calling omniback directly via xomni.

3. What are the top 3 - 5 tasks that you perform most often in SAM's User & Groups (UG) area? Which UG related tasks do you use system commands for instead? Any reasons? (Please differentiate between Local, NIS, NIS+ Users).

- Restricted SAM by operators in
: creating user accounts
: changing user passwords
: re-activating of user accounts
: deleting user accounts and home directories

- Using system commands:
: script to shift ownership of all files of a specific user to another existing user including /var/mail/userid.
: script to migrate user accounts and home directories from one system to another.

4. Have you ever used the HP program Top Tools? If yes, what do you use it for? do you like it? (www.hp.com/toptools)
- NA.

Hope this helps. Regards.

Steven Sim Kok Leong
Brainbench MVP for Unix Admin
http://www.brainbench.com

[Stefan Schulz]

1.) e Other: Legato Networker

2a) LVM - both SAM and system commands
2b) Filesystem Magangement - both
2c) Swap - system commands
2d) Disk Array Configuration - system commands
2e) Disk Backups - if I use fbackup, SAM, otherwise Legato.

3) We don't use NIS or NIS+. i do all userconfigurations "by hand" on the commandline.

4) Never used it. Think it doesn't help me in my HP-UX environment. Though i would give it a try if it was available for HP-UX

[Thierry Poels_1]

1. fbackup/frecover but migrating most servers to HP OmniBack.

2.
a. SAM & command line
b. SAM & command line
c. SAM
d. SAM
e. command line

3. creating users only
all others (editing, removing) from command line

4. No

[Alexander M. Ermes]

Good day, ladies and gentlemen.
Here my reply to your survey :

1 d
2 a SAM
2 b SAM
2 c both
2 d both
2 e system commands

3 add local users and groups.

4 no

Rgds
Alexander M. Ermes
;-)

[Marcel Boon]

Hi SAM Team,

The answers:
1) a: fbackup /frecover
2) a: system commands
b: system commands
c: SAM and system commands
d: SAM
e: system commands
3) no
4) never used before...

Marcel

[Harri Muttilainen]

1.
d. HP's OmniBack

2.
a. LVM - yes, both
b. Filesystem Management - yes, both
c. Swap - no
d. Disk Array Configuration - rarely, system commands
e. Disk Backups - no

3. What are the top 3 - 5 tasks that you perform most often in SAM's User & Groups (UG) area?

- create users/groups

4. Have you ever used the HP program Top Tools? If yes, what do you use it for?

- have used it mainly for collecting information of the machines, it seems to do the job OK

Regards
Harri

[Manuel Plaza]

Hi,

1. We are using Verita's (c)
2. a. SAM & command line
b. SAM & command line
c. SAM & command line
d. N/A
e. command line
3. Add, Modify, Delete, Deactivate ... Only Local users
4. No, I don't know toptools.

Regards,

Manuel

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

Hi

--------------------------------------------
1. What is your preferred method(s) for Backup & Recovery?

SAM's Backup & Recovery area


2. Do you perform the following tasks? If yes, HOW do you do them - with SAM or the system commands?
SAM = LVM


3. What are the top 3 - 5 tasks that you perform most often in SAM's User & Groups (UG) area? Which UG related tasks do you use system commands for instead? Any reasons? (Please differentiate between Local, NIS, NIS+ Users).

NIL

4. Have you ever used the HP program Top Tools? If yes, what do you use it for? do you like it? (www.hp.com/toptools)

NO

HTH

Paula

[CHRIS_ANORUO]

SAM Grp!

1 fbackup/frecover and Ignite make_tape_recovery (for VG00)
2a: LVM -> SAM/System commands.
2b: FileSystems -> System commands.
2c: Swap -> SAM
2d: Disk Array Config -> SAM
2e: Disk Backups -> System commands/SAM.
3 Adding/removing users and groups (local only).
4 Currently using 4.5 and I have been adviced to use 5.0 'cos 4.5 has a email bug(it cann't send email alerts. I need the CD for 5.0 value pack.

Thank!

[CHRIS_ANORUO]

SAM Grp!

1 fbackup/frecover and Ignite make_tape_recovery (for VG00)
2a: LVM -> SAM/System commands.
2b: FileSystems -> System commands.
2c: Swap -> SAM
2d: Disk Array Config -> SAM
2e: Disk Backups -> System commands/SAM.
3 Adding/removing users and groups (local only).
4 Currently using 4.5 and I have been adviced to use 5.0 'cos 4.5 has a email bug(it cann't send email alerts. I need the CD for 5.0 value pack.
http://www.hp.com/toptools/prodinfo/valuepack.html
Thank!

[unixdaddy]

1) I tend to use fbackup, dump/vxdump, cpio, ftio because they do the job and requires no extra knowledge.

2)
a - system commands
b - system commands
c - system commands
d - sam/system commands
e - system commands

3) general I only use U&G for creating users/groups all local users

4) Never heard of them.