ISC info

[Morpheus]

I can't find any relevant info on what ISC is for TSM.
It sounds like it may help in my situation from the name, but what does it do?
Where can I DL it?
Is there a monetary cost?
Is it cross-platform compatible(windows, linux)?

Thanks to whomever can answer these questions.

~M

 

[kfiresmith]

1. You can get it through passport advantage: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/howtobuy/passportadvantage/pao_customers.htm

2. It is part of TSMee 5.3/4/5, and should be free

3. Yes, we have it on Linux, but it can also be run on Windows. It's bloated to the max, so that should be a consideration. We're thinking of giving the I.S.C and Tivoli Operational Reporting it's own W2K3S VM in VMware to offload it's bloat from our Linux TSM server.

 

[fuzzballer]

You are correct. We installed on a WIN2003 server with 1.2GB RAM and it is running fine. It doesn't need a lot of drive space.

 

[Elomis]

With respect I think the question was "what is it", not "where does it go".

ISC is the Integrated Solutions Console. It's a web framework (complicated name for internal website) that Tivoli products plug into and it allows you to monitor and configure them from a web interface - essentially letting you click on a library to view the volumes in it rather than typing select volume_name from volumes where stgpool_name = 'MyTapeLibrary'.

It is heavy, a couple of gig of RAM is required to make it chuff along properly but if you have junior admins lying around it's a good idea because it offloads some of the need for dealing with the phobia of command line interfaces that seems to start with the generation of IT engineers directly below me. It replaces the old TSM web interface, IBM's assertion is that it will eventually be used to monitor and configure all Tivoli products although I believe at the moment it is actually only fully compatible with TSM.

It's licensed as part of TSM, so if you buy 5.5EE you get the ISC on the media or in the e-image that you download. Give it a try, it shouldn't really ever be installed on the server you are monitoring with it tho.

 

[Morpheus]

finally

Thanks all for the responses,
I finally found some info on it at IBM (man I hate their search engine)
I installed it and can't actually find how to get into it. No program directory, no shortcuts. I am currently digging all over IBM trying to find whitepapers or tutorals, the closest thing I found started with "put you user name and Password in",,, I am like "WHERE?" So if you could help a tired guy out, where do I access it at?


~M

 

[kfiresmith]

You log into it via a web browser. It has a funky port number. Do a netstat and look for what port is listening. I can't remember what port off hand and I can't vpn in on this laptop to check, sorry..

 

[Morpheus]

OIC,,,, I now need to install the Administration center.
If any of you think I am doing this kinda fast, you're right.
I was "given" the task of remediating a situation that could otherwise get us in a lot of trouble. The contracted company that was supposed to have been backing up some critical data apparently has not. So I was asked to get them backed up because I have been managing a Windows TSM server for many years. I have it humming, I deal more with tapes that have gone bad than anything else. So when they thre this critical problem at me I said "sure." It turns out there are TSM servers at the various locations, but they are all Linux, and I don't know squat about Linux. That's when I started looking for a central console based app that could manage both the Windows and Linux TSM implimentations. I looked at a third party application tsmadmin or something like that, but it would cost like 26K to put that in. Ok, the AC has just finished and given me an address to loginto. I let you know how it goes.

Thanks again,
~M

 

[kfiresmith]

You are in luck all around.

1. You don't really need to know anything more than the basics of linux to deal with TSM.

2. The command line in TSM (Server and Client) is the EXACT same on all platforms.

3. You can get all the GUI goodness you need for an installation your size for $0 dollars. Take advantage of the I.S.C. and Tivoli Operational Reporting.

4. The best thing you can do for yourself in the long run (if you plan on working in TSM) is to wean yourself off the ISC after you put out all your fires. The ISC is slow, buggy, and not a good teacher.

5. The help command is awesome. Go into dsmadmc on the server and type it, lots of cool stuff in there. You can also use it to find out about commands, like "help define" if you want to see what all you can create in TSM.

The final tip I can give you since you are just starting out is, try to go back and audit all your initial work after you have a couple months experience so that you can go back and make sure you didn't make any newbie mistakes.
(a great command to audit your work (and the previous guys) is Query FILESpace * Format=Detailed) [the letters in caps are the only things you need to actually type, ie: q files * f=d]

 

[kfiresmith]

Hey, you know you can run the ISC on any windows server, you don't have to run it on the Linux server you inherited, right?

 

[Morpheus]

Yes I knew that it runs on windows, that's where it is installed. I am currently having an issue with the websphere service starting.
I am thinking it is a java issue, I am installing java and will see if that helps.
I pretty decent at the command line, but mainly with queries and updating volumes, although I have writen bunches of scripts to update tapes, I find myself doing that at the command line.
The main thing I am trying to do is manage all of the servers from one console.

~M

 

[Morpheus]

Wow

Slow is NOT the word to describe this.......
I have it running on a quad proc 2.8G with HT so 8 procs, with 12GB of RAM, and I am being tortured atm waiting for things to occur......
OMG

 

[kfiresmith]

Part of the slowness is due to how it gleans info from the tsm servers it gives you info on. Go to the TSM server you are getting info on in the isc, and do "dsmadmc -console" Then watch what's going on behind the scenes as you ask for pages in the ISC. It's doing multiple queries and multiple select statements to get that info, so it's gonna take a while. Still not quite as slow as IBM's documentation site though...