HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 6.x administrator guide (5697-7344, March 2008)

Fabric OS 6.x administrator guide 281
12 Configuring the Distributed Management Server
This chapter provides information on enabling and disabling the platform services, configuring and
controlling access to the Management Server database, and using the topology discovery feature.
Introduction
The Fabric OS Distributed Management Server allows a SAN management application to retrieve
information and administer interconnected switches, servers, and storage devices. The Management Server
assists in the autodiscovery of switch-based fabrics and their associated topologies.
A client of the Management Server can find basic information about the switches in the fabric and use this
information to construct topology relationships. The Management Server also allows you to obtain certain
switch attributes and, in some cases, modify them. For example, logical names identifying switches can be
registered with the Management Server.
The Management Server provides several advantages for managing a Fibre Channel fabric:
• It is accessed by an external Fibre Channel node at the well-known address FFFFFAh, so an application
can access information about the entire fabric management with minimal knowledge of the existing
configuration.
• It is replicated on every HP StorageWorks switch within a fabric.
• It provides an unzoned view of the overall fabric configuration. This fabric topology view exposes the
internal configuration of a fabric for management purposes; it contains interconnect information about
switches and devices connected to the fabric. Under normal circumstances, a device (typically an FCP
initiator) queries the name server for storage devices within its member zones. Because this limited view
is not always sufficient, the Management Server provides the application with a list of the entire name
server database.
Enabling and disabling the platform services
The Management Server is located at the Fibre Channel address FFFFFAh. All management services except
platform services are enabled by default.
NOTE: The commands msplMgmtActivate and msplMgmtDeactivate are allowed only in AD0
and AD255.
To enable platform services:
1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Enter the msplMgmtActivate command.
switch:admin> msplmgmtactivate
Request to activate MS Platform Service in progress......
*Completed activating MS Platform Service in the fabric!
switch:admin>
To disable platform services:
1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Enter the msplMgmtDeactivate command.