3200/4100 (250-1633/5160) Management Support Tools Faxback Doc. # 5559
Five programs are provided which demonstrate and use the management
support features of the 3200/4100MT. These utilities are designed to be
run from an MS-DOS command prompt (the "C>"). They seem to work under
the Windows 3.1 "DOS window" but success is not guaranteed.
The first four programs are designed to provide the system administrator
with information about the machines connected to a network. The fifth
program permits the system BIOS to be updated without having to use
a floppy diskette. The following gives a detailed description of each
of these programs.
The administrator information programs use two features of the
3200/4100MT, the Serial Number and the Asset Tag. The Serial Number is
set at the factory and is the same one that appears on the back of the
system enclosure. The Asset Tag is left blank. Note: In the setup screen,
graphics characters may appear in the Asset Tag field. This indicates the
Asset Tag is not set. The asset tag is intended for use by administrators
to do equipment tracking, etc. Two of the programs, AT and SNAT, provide
the ability to read and modify these values.
With AT, you can view the Asset Tag and Serial Number as well as change the
Asset Tag. This utility is intended for use by system administrators.
With SNAT, you can change both the Asset Tag and the Serial Number. The
Serial Number is stored in battery backed-up CMOS RAM and may be lost if
the system's battery fails. Otherwise, the Serial Number should not be
modified. This utility is intended for use by technical support.
Two other programs form a part of what we call the Very Simple Node
Monitor. They work together to record and then view some statistics,
including the Asset Tag, Serial Number, processor type, and cache status
of systems. If used across a network, a database can be built of the
assets contained in various 3200/4100MT systems.
AT - Asset Tag Utility
The Asset Tag is 16 characters long and is intended for use by
administrators to mark systems according to whatever requirements they
may have. The AT program provides access to the Asset Tag. The asset tag
can be viewed in Setup also.
AT can be used in 3 ways.
AT /?
gives information on how to use the program.
AT
prints the system's Serial Number and Asset Tag. You can save the
results to a file by using "AT > file.txt".
AT newtag
makes the system's Asset Tag "newtag". The new tag can contain anything
other than space, "<", ">", or "|".
Example:
AT GeraldFord
would set the Asset Tag to "GeraldFord". The program will also tell you
what the old tag was (if there was one).
SNAT - Serial Number and Asset Tag Utility
The Serial Number is a factory-set value. It is useful when requesting
technical support and is a unique way of identifying a system. As noted
above, the Serial Number configured at the factory is the "system" or
enclosure Serial Number. If the motherboard is moved from one enclosure
to another, the Serial Number should be changed. Also, if the CMOS battery
fails, the Serial Number will become blank. SNAT provides technicians a
way to change the Serial Number and Asset Tag. The Serial Number and asset
tag may be viewed in Setup or by using the AT program, above.
SNAT can be used in the following ways:
SNAT
gives a brief summary of how to use the program
SNAT A newvalue
changes the Asset Tag to newvalue.
SNAT S newnumber
changes the Serial Number to newnumber.
SNAT A newvalue S newnumber
changes both the Asset Tag and Serial Number at one time.
newvalue and newnumber don't have to be just numbers. You can use any
characters except ">", "<", "|", and space. The "A" and the "S" can be
upper or lower case.
Example:
SNAT a Fred's s 012346
sets the Asset Tag to "Fred's" and the Serial Number to "012346".
Very Simple Node Monitor (VSNM)
VSNM consists of two parts: a recorder and a viewer. The recorder is
installed in the log-in scripts of systems to be monitored. The viewer
turns the recorded information into a report. The systems are tracked
by Serial Number.
VSNMREC - Very Simple Node Monitor Recorder
VSNMREC records information about a 3200/4100MT system in a database.
The proper syntax is as follows:
VSNMREC <file> <network_address> <user_id> <full_name>
where:
<file> is the name of the database. The user must be able to write to
the file. In a network environment, this will almost always be a shared
network file.
<network_address> is the physical address of the node on the network.
<user_id> is the user's login id. On most systems, this is the sequence
of characters the user must type, along with his password, to gain
access to the network.
<full_name> is the user's full name. This can be several names (or
parts of a name), separated by spaces, or contain other useful
information.
For Novell NetWare, use, e. g.
#VSNMREC q:database.vsn %P_STATION %LOGIN_NAME %FULL_NAME
in the login scripts. NetWare will fill in the correct values.
VSNMVIEW and VSNMREC aren't very picky about the contents of the last 3
(or more) parameters. As long as they don't contain >, <, or |, it's
OK.
For other networks, the information provided by NetWare may not be
available. It can be installed "manually" instead:
VSNMREC q:database.vsn 1234 CalC Calvin Coolidge
The Node Id would be "1234". The User Id is "CalC" and the full name is
"Calvin Coolidge".
VSNMVIEW - Very Simple Node Monitor Viewer
Syntax:
VSNMVIEW <file>
where <file> is the same file name that appears in the VSNMREC lines.
The following is an example of a report generated by VSNMVIEW.
AST Very Simple Node Monitor (VSNM) Viewer Rel. 1.00.
Copyright (C) AST Research, Inc., 1993. All Rights Reserved.
VSNMVIEW Report for file "b:database.vsn".
Report generated Wed Jan 13 17:08:26 1993
Serial number: PrFv0026, Asset Tag: ABCInc000846.
System: AST Premmia.
Processor: 486DX2 at 33 MHz (*2 internally).
Memory: 8MB RAM, 256KB cache.
Revs: BIOS: 1.00. Flash Loader: 1.00.
Node: 415253001234.
User name: Dan Fortmuller. (DanF)
Last modified: Fri Jan 08 16:58:25 1993
Serial number: PrFv0859, Asset Tag: ABCInc000844.
System: AST Premmia.
Processor: 486DX at 33 MHz.
Memory: 4MB RAM, 256KB cache.
Revs: BIOS: 1.00. Flash Loader: 1.00.
Node: 415253009876.
User name: Larry Sheppard. (LarryS)
Last modified: Mon Jan 11 9:08:55 1993
The example report describes two systems. The system descriptions are
not printed in any particular order. Most of the lines are
self-explanatory.
The "Serial number" is the system Serial Number as set at the factory or
by SNAT (above). The "Asset Tag" can be modified using AT or SNAT
above.
The processor speed (33 MHZ) is printed before being "doubled" in an e.
g. 486DX2. If the speed is doubled, "(*2 internally)" is appended to the
end of the processor line.
The "Memory:" line only concerns memory on the motherboard (i. e.
provided by the integrated SIMMs). The cache size does not include any
cache internal to the processor itself.
The text in parenthesis on the "User name" line (e. g. "(DanF)") is
the user id. The rest of the text on that line ("Dan Fortmuller") is
the full name.
The "Last modified" line is the last time any of this information
changed which is not necessarily the last time the user logged in.
To print the results to a printer use, e. g.
VSNMVIEW database.vsn >LPT1
To save it as a file so it may be incorporated into a report (created,
say, in a word processor):
VSNMVIEW database.vsn >file.txt
Import the file into your word processor as "ASCII" or "Text".
The fifth program permits the system BIOS to be updated without using
a floppy diskette. Instead of using a floppy diskette, this program
reads a file that contains the new system BIOS and automatically updates
the BIOS, beeps a success or failure code and halts the machine. By
using this program the system administrator can place a new BIOS file
on the network and each user can update the BIOS without having to
handle floppy diskettes.
DEVICE=UPBIOS.EXE [flags] filename [filename ...]
This program is a device driver that will update the BIOS and/or
MODULE support code. The program should be executed first in the
CONFIG.SYS file. This driver will not take any memory space. The
filenames passed to the driver must reside on the users local hard
disk. By copying the BIOS image from a network drive to the local
hard disk the BIOS updates placed on the network will propagate
to the hard disk and then the user will update his BIOS on the
next reboot.
If an update is necessary, the user will be prompted for a password
(either the administrator or user password may be used) then the
system will display instructions about what is going on. In about
20 seconds the system will beep twice, indicating the update
has been completed and the user may reset the system using the
reset button.
The following flags may be used to alter the operation of UPBIOS.EXE.
/? Display a help message indicate what the command line syntax is.
/q[uiet] Display only error messages and prompts.
/f[orce] Force an update even if the update is an older revision. But
do not do an update if the update is the same as what is running.
/n[eed] Display the status of the update, but do not update. This
is used as a diagnostic tool to determine why an update
is or is not taking place.
/h[alt] Halt if the user does not enter the proper password within
five tries. This can be used by the system administrator
to force the user to update the BIOS before using the system.
If the system beeps more than twice after an update, an error has occurred.
Example:
In CONFIG.SYS
Device=C:\BIOSUTIL\UPBIOS.EXE /halt C:\BIOSUTIL\BIOS.NEW
(the reset of the config.sys file follows)
In AUTOEXEC.BAT or SYSTEM LOGIN SCRIPT
COPY N:\UGBIOS\BIOS.NEW C:\BIOSUTIL\BIOS.NEW
Disclaimer:
Where used (Windows, NetWare, Intel processor names), companies'
trademarks are their own.
(jlc-06/29/94)