HP-UX System Administrator's Guide: Configuration Management

HP-UX System Management Homepage (Web-Based)
The HP-UX System Management Homepage (HP SMH) is a web-based interface that
manages one HP-UX system at a time. It completes the transfer of the System
Administration Manager (SAM) functions into web-based processes. In HP-UX 11i
Version 2, the SAM functional areas for kernel configuration, peripheral devices, and
partition management became web-based, using kcweb, pdweb, and parmgr,
respectively. In HP-UX 11i Version 3, the full management interface is web-based using
HP SMH. For more information, see “HP-UX System Management Homepage
(Web-Based)” (page 21). HP SMH is also described in Simplifying single-system
management on HP-UX 11i – HP System Management Homepage (HP SMH).
HP-UX System Management Homepage (Text-Based)
The text-based HP-UX System Management Homepage (HP SMH) replaces the System
Administration Manager (SAM). It operates as a logged-in management tool. Its
principal interface provides simple terminal-based screens. In some cases, the earlier
screen-based and X-Window-based displays have been retained in the functional areas.
For more information, see “HP-UX System Management Homepage (Text-Based)”
(page 25).
HP-UX Commands
HP-UX commands provide you with the finest granularity of access to system
configuration, but they require you to be careful to complete all the steps correctly. In
some cases, such as root home directory reconfiguration (see “Create the Root Home
Directory” (page 47)), they may be the only way to do it. In other cases, such as tweaking
nonpassword data in the password file, it’s just easier to run a command such as vipw.
Generally, HP recommends that you use HP SMH or HP SIM to manage your system
wherever possible and convenient, because they are designed to ensure that all the
files and databases are updated and all the commands are issued correctly.
CAUTION: You must use either the command sequence or HP SMH to perform any
operation that HP SMH supports. Attempting to start an operation with commands
and completing it with HP SMH can result in errors and possibly corrupt data or data
structures.
Using HP SIM and HP SMH versus HP-UX Commands
HP SIM and HP SMH hide the complexity of most administrative tasks. They minimize
or eliminate the need for detailed knowledge of many administrative commands, thus
saving valuable time. Use these utilities whenever possible, especially when first
mastering a task. Some tasks described in this document cannot be done by these
utilities, in which case you will need to use the HP-UX commands. However, these
utilities are the tools of choice for much administrative work.
20 Introduction