User's Manual

Introduction 21
a warning or failure event. In the most critical cases, the administrator could
write a script so that the system shuts down to prevent damage. The
administrator could then distribute and execute the script to many managed
systems at the same time. Such a scenario facilitates configuring any number
of new systems acquired by a company and makes implementation of new
system administration policies easier across many existing systems that
require reconfiguration.
A similar scenario could be used to populate a large number of newly acquired
systems with detailed asset information. Much of the information would be the
same, such as the manufacturer or lessor of the system, whether support for the
system is outsourced, name of the system's insurance company, method of
depreciation, and so on. Any variable that is common to all systems could be
scripted, sent to all managed systems, and executed. Asset information that is
unique to a system could be scripted as a group and sent to that managed
node for execution. For example, a script could specify values for all unique
variables such as owner, primary user phone number, asset tag, and so on.
Scripts to populate unique values would set all unique variables at once rather
than one by one through the system's command line.
In many cases, the CLI allows a user with a very well-defined task in mind to
retrieve information about the system rapidly. If a user wants to review a
comprehensive summary of all system components and save that summary
information to a file for comparison with later system states, the CLI is ideal.
Using CLI commands, administrators can write batch programs or scripts to
execute at specific times. When these programs execute, they can capture
reports on components of interest, such as fan RPMs during periods of high
system usage compared with the same measurements at times of lowest
system usage. Command results can be routed to a file for later analysis.
Reports can help administrators gain information that can be used to adjust
usage patterns, to justify purchasing new system resources, or to focus on the
health of a problem component.
Command Syntax Overview
Commands vary in complexity. The simplest command has only command
level 1. The omhelp command is a simple command. When you type
omhelp, a list of the main CLI commands is displayed.