Manual Chapter : 3-DNS Administrator Guide version 4.2: Administration and Monitoring

Applies To:

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3-DNS Controller versions 1.x - 4.x

  • 4.2 PTF-10, 4.2 PTF-09, 4.2 PTF-08, 4.2 PTF-07, 4.2 PTF-06, 4.2 PTF-05, 4.2 PTF-04, 4.2 PTF-03, 4.2 PTF-02, 4.2 PTF-01, 4.2.0
Manual Chapter


12

Administration and Monitoring



Monitoring and administration utilities provided on the 3-DNS

The 3-DNS provides several utilities for monitoring and administration. You can perform configuration tasks and monitor system statistics for all components of the 3-DNS with these utilities.

The 3-DNS provides the following configuration, monitoring, and administration utilities:

  • Configuration utility
    The Configuration utility is a browser-based application you can use to configure and monitor the 3-DNS. The Configuration utility supports Netscape Navigator, version 4.5 or later, and Internet Explorer, version 4.02 or later.
  • Setup utility
    The Setup utility is a menu-driven command line utility that you can use to configure many of the platform settings for the 3-DNS. You can also use the browser-based version of the Setup utility for the initial configuration of the 3-DNS. If you are using the Setup utility to make changes to your existing configuration, we recommend that you use the command line version of the utility. To access the Setup utility from the command line, type config.
  • 3-DNS Maintenance menu
    The 3-DNS Maintenance menu is a command line utility you can use to configure the 3-DNS. Use the 3-DNS Maintenance menu to simplify certain tasks such as updating the big3d agent and editing the wideip.conf file. To access the 3-DNS Maintenance menu from the command line, type 3dnsmaint.
  • MindTerm SSH Console
    The MindTerm SSH Console is a secure shell tool that you can use, from the Configuration utility, to view the command line utility from a web browser.
  • Network Map
    The Network Map is an interactive screen, in the Configuration utility, where you can view your physical and logical configurations simultaneously.
  • Statistics screens
    Using the Statistics screens in the Configuration utility, you can view a myriad of performance and metrics details about the 3-DNS, the servers and the virtual servers it manages, and the load balancing it performs.
  • 3dpipe utility
    Using the 3dpipe utility, you can perform the following tasks, at the command line:

    • View lists of configured data centers, servers, virtual servers, wide IPs, and pools
    • View the status (enabled or disabled) of configured data centers, servers, virtual servers, wide IPs, and pools
    • Enable configured data centers, server types, virtual servers, wide IPs, and pools
    • Disable, for a specific time period, configured data centers, servers, virtual servers, wide IPs, and pools

      · View summary statistics for the 3-DNS itself

Managing users on the 3-DNS

The Setup utility prompts you to define a password that allows remote access to the 3-DNS, and also prompts you to define a user name and password for the 3-DNS web server, which hosts the Configuration utility. You can change these passwords at any time.

Changing the root password

The root password is the password that allows access to the 3-DNS itself, at the command line.

To change the root password for command line access

  1. At the 3-DNS command line, log in as root and use the passwd command.
  2. At the password prompt, type the password you want to use for the 3-DNS and press Enter.
  3. To confirm the password, retype it and press Enter.

Adding users for the Configuration utility

You can create new users for the Configuration utility, change a password for an existing user, or recreate the password file altogether, without actually going through the 3-DNS web server configuration process. (The 3-DNS web server hosts the Configuration utility.) You can also modify a user's administrative access level for the Configuration utility. The three level of user access are:

  • Read-only
    Users with this level of access can only view the configuration and statistics information in the Configuration utility.
  • Partial read/write
    Users with this level of access can view configuration and statistics information in the Configuration utility. They can also enable and disable objects in the configuration.
  • Full read/write
    Users with this level of access have full administrative access to all components of the Configuration utility.

To change or add user information using the Configuration utility

  1. In the navigation pane, click User Admin.
    The User Administration screen opens.
  2. Add the user administration settings. For help on configuring the settings, click Help on the toolbar.

To change or add user information from the command line

  1. At the command prompt, type 3dnsmaint to open the 3-DNS Maintenance menu.
  2. On the 3-DNS Maintenance menu, select the Change/Add Users for 3-DNS Configuration Utility command.

To create new users and change passwords for existing users from the command line

The following command creates a new user ID, or changes the password for an existing user ID. In place of the <username> parameter, type the user ID for which you want to create a password:

/usr/local/bin/htpasswd /config/httpd/users \ <username>

Once you enter the command, you are prompted to type the new password for the new user.

To create a new password file from the command line

The following command recreates the Configuration utility password file, and defines one new user ID and password. In place of the <username> parameter, type the user ID that you want to create:

/usr/local/htpasswd -c /config/httpd/users \ <username>

Once you enter the command, you are prompted to type the new password for the new user.

Using the MindTerm SSH Console

With the MindTerm SSH Console, you can open an SSH session for the 3-DNS from the Configuration utility. The crypto 3-DNS uses the MindTerm SSH client to enable secure command line administration. You can perform any of the command line tasks in a popup console screen.

Warning: The MindTerm SSH client requires a Java virtual machine to operate. If you are unable to run the MindTerm SSH client, make sure that you have a Java virtual machine installed and that your browser has Java enabled in the Preferences, or Options, section. For more information on Java virtual machines and download options, visit your web browser manufacturer's web site.

To open the MindTerm SSH Console using the Configuration utility

  1. In the navigation pane, click MindTerm SSH Console.
    A popup console opens.
  2. When you see the command prompt, press Enter.
  3. Log in to the 3-DNS as you normally would.

    Note: When you use the MindTerm SSH Console, you can administer only the local 3-DNS. If you wish to administer remote systems, you do so using an SSH or Telnet session from the command line on the local 3-DNS.

Using the Network Map

The Network Map is a dynamic, illustrative map of the physical and logical components of your network. The Network Map lets you see how the data centers, servers, and virtual servers you configured are mapped to the wide IPs and pools you configured. You can also make changes to your configuration from the Network Map, using the following options:

  • You can double-click any object name on the Network Map to expand the object.
  • You can right-click any object name to view a popup menu of configuration options for that object.

To view the Network Map using the Configuration utility

  1. In the navigation pane, click Network Map.
    The Network Map screen opens.
  2. To see the relationships between the components, double-click the component. The tree expands and the component is highlighted (in blue).
  3. To modify a component, right-click the component to view a popup menu, then select the item you want to change.
  4. You can also click the name of the component in the status bar in the lower portion of the screen to edit the component's configuration.

    For more information on the features of the Network Map, click Help on the toolbar.

Warning: The Network Map requires a Java virtual machine to operate. If you are unable to view the Network Map, make sure that you have a Java virtual machine installed and that your browser has Java enabled in the Preferences, or Options, section. For more information on Java virtual machines and download options, visit your web browser manufacturer's web site.

Viewing system statistics

Using the Configuration utility, you can view current statistics about the following objects in the configuration:

Configuration utility Statistics screens

Statistics Item

Description

Summary

This statistics screen provides information about the 3-DNS itself.

Globals

This statistics screen provides information on the global settings for the 3-DNS.

Disabled objects

This statistics screen provides information on the servers and virtual servers that you have disabled.

Metrics

This statistics screen provides performance information for the servers and virtual servers you have configured.

Dynamic persistence requests

This statistics screen provides information on the virtual connections between local DNS servers and virtual servers for given wide IPs in the network.

Data centers

This statistics screen provides information on the data centers in your network.

Sync groups

This statistics screen provides information on the 3-DNS systems that are in the same sync group as the 3-DNS you are looking at.

Wide IPs

This statistics screen provides information on the wide IPs and pools you configured.

ECV

This statistics screen provides performance information for any ECV health monitors you have configured.

3-DNS

This statistics screen provides information on the 3-DNS systems you have configured.

BIG-IP

This statistics screen provides information on the BIG-IP systems you have configured.

EDGE-FX Caches

This statistics screen provides information on the EDGE-FX Caches you have configured.

Probers

This statistics screen provides information on the probers you have configured.

Hosts

This statistics screen provides information on the hosts you have configured.

Virtual servers

This statistics screen provides information on the virtual servers you have configured.

Internet Weather Map

This statistics screen provides information on the average round trip times, average completion rates, and average router hops between the data centers you have configured and local DNS servers.

Paths

This statistics screen provides information on the paths created by the 3-DNS when paths are required to fulfill name resolution requests.

Local DNS servers

This statistics screen provides information on the local DNS servers in the 3-DNS database.

To view system statistics

  1. In the navigation pane, expand the Statistics item.
  2. From the list, select the item representing the statistics you wish to view.
  3. For details about the information displayed on a specific statistics screen, click Help on the toolbar.

Working with command line utilities

The 3-DNS includes several command line utilities. These utilities allow you to configure various features of the 3-DNS from the command line. For additional 3-DNS configuration options, you may also want to review the following chapters in the 3-DNS Reference Guide: Chapter 2, 3-DNS Maintenance Menu , and Chapter 11, Scripts . For information on working with the Setup utility, see Chapter 4, Working with the Setup Utility , in this guide.

Viewing command line utilities documentation

You can access the most current documentation on 3-DNS utilities by using the Configuration utility or by using the command line. You can view all the documentation for the 3-DNS from the main screen of the Configuration utility, including the man pages for the utilities that are shipped with the system.

To view 3-DNS man pages using the Configuration utility

  1. Log on to the Configuration utility.
  2. From the Online Documentation section of the 3-DNS home screen, click 3-DNS Man Pages.
    A screen containing an index of 3-DNS man pages opens.

To display a list of utilities that fall into a particular category

To display a list of utilities that fall into a particular category, type the following command:

man -k <category>

For example, to get a list of utilities that pertain to DNS, type the following command, and a list of utilities that pertain to DNS appears.

man -k dns

To display documentation for a specific 3-DNS utility

To display the man page for a specific utility, type the following command:

man <utility>

For example, if you type the following command, the 3dparse man page appears:

man 3dparse