Novell SUPPORT ADVISOR - 04-2010 User manual

Novell®

www.novell.com

novdocx (en) 16 April 2010

AUTHORIZED DOCUMENTATION

Novell Support Advisor user Guide

Support Advisor

April 2010

User Guide

novdocx (en) 16 April 2010

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4Novell Support Advisor user Guide

novdocx (en) 16 April 2010

Contents 5

Contents

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1Overview 7

1.1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.1.1 Novell Support Advisor can be installed and run from: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.1.2 Client System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.1.3 Novell Support Advisor can run against and analyze these platforms: . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.2 Known Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.3 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.3.1 Installing Novell Support Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.4 Running Support Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.4.1 Encrypted Database Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.4.2 Understanding Support Advisor User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.4.3 Home View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.4.4 Analyze View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1.4.5 Archives View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1.4.6 Settings View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 Connections 15

2.1 Saving Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.1.1 Server Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.1.2 Verify Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.2 Groups Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.2.1 Group Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3 Using Novell Support Advisor 21

3.1 Analyze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.2 Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.3 Linux Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.3.1 SUDO User Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3.3.2 SSH Key Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3.3.3 SUSE Linux Servers: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

6Novell Support Advisor user Guide

novdocx (en) 16 April 2010

Overview

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Overview

Novell Support Advisor is a free tool that allows customers to perform both pro-active and reactive

system and application diagnostic tasks in a local, secure and automated fashion for SUSE Linux

Enterprise, ZENworks Configuration Management and GroupWise systems.

Novell Support Advisor is an easily installed client that can be downloaded directly from

support.novell.com/advisor. The client is installed on a system that can communicate with both the

servers in customer's local environment and the update server at Novell. The client prompts the

customer to download newly released Novell Support Diagnostic Patterns (SDPs) authored by

Novell technical experts from the Novell update server. Novell SDPs identify new problems and

return possible solutions to the customer.

The Novell Support Advisor diagnosis occurs securely and locally, and does not require sending log

information to Novell for analysis. When the data is gathered for a health check, some load occurs

over a Secure Shell connection to the queried device, but once the data is collected, the connection is

terminated so network and device load is minimized. The gathered data is then consolidated into a

dashboard view that shows critical patterns in red, and good patterns in green, identifying what

segments in which systems need attention.

This tool also builds an Analysis Archive Database, or tar ball archive, that preserves a history of

health checks that have been run and the problems that have been addressed, allowing customers to

see trends and changes over time. A dashboard using the same color-coding scheme, a simple red =

critical and green = good makes the information readily accessible.

Novell Support Advisor can be used reactively when a problem occurs, and also proactively to run

“health checks” to prevent potential future issues.

If a problem is discovered where further help is needed, a service request connection to the Novell

Customer Center through the client interface can be opened via Novell Support.

1.1 System Requirements

1.1.1 Novell Support Advisor can be installed and run from:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 or later

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 or later

OpenSUSE 10.3 or later

Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later

Microsoft Windows Vista

Microsoft Windows Server 2003

1.1.2 Client System Requirements

Intel Pentium III GHz or faster processor

8Novell Support Advisor user Guide

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512 MB of RAM

5MB of disk space for each server you will be analyzing

1.1.3 Novell Support Advisor can run against and analyze

these platforms:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11

GroupWise 8 (Linux and Windows)

ZENworks Configuration Management 10 (Linux and Windows)

1.2 Known Issues

Zenworks running on windows requires the Zenworks control center credentials, not the windows

user name and password.

1.3 Installation

1.3.1 Installing Novell Support Advisor

Download the Novell Support Advisor software package from support.novell.com/advisor

Extract the Support Advisor package to a folder of your choice

Within your specified folder, all the Advisor files extract into an advisor_install folder

Launch the Support Advisor installer and follow the prompts to install Support Advisor

When prompted, confirm the installation path. By default, Support Advisor installs in the

following locations (your location might vary):

Linux:/home/<username>/Support Advisor

Windows:C:\Program Files\Novell\Support Advisor

After you have installed Support Advisor, continue with the following post-installation tasks.

Overview 9

novdocx (en) 16 April 2010

1.4 Running Support Advisor

The first time you run Support Advisor, you will be prompted to create an encrypted database. You

may choose to continue without using a secure database, however none of your server credentials

will be saved.

Figure 1-1 Novell Support Advisor

1.4.1 Encrypted Database Option

Enter password and hit create encrypted database

1.4.2 Understanding Support Advisor User Interface

The primary Support Advisor UI elements include the following:

Home

Analyze

Archives

Service Request which opens a service request form in a web browser

Settings

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1.4.3 Home View

The Home View is essentially the Support Advisor title page. It provides links to all the Support

Advisor functions.

Figure 1-2 Novell Support Advisor Home View

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