File Name: dsa_portable_readme.txt ****************************************************************** | | | IBM(R) Dynamic System Analysis (DSA) Portable Edition, | | Version 1.01.31 | | | | (C) Copyright International Business Machines Corporation | | 2004, 2005. All rights reserved. | | | | US Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication | | or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with | | IBM Corp. | | | | Note: Before using this information and the product it | | supports, read the general information under | | "NOTICES" in this document. | | | | This readme file is provided only in English. You can | | obtain the latest version of the readme file from the IBM | | Support Web site. | | | | Updated 02 February 2005 | ****************************************************************** CONTENTS -------- 1.0 Overview 1.1 Product overview 1.2 Operating-system support 1.3 Server support 1.4 Other prerequisites for systems running Windows 1.5 Compatibility with ServeRAID Manager 2.0 Change history 3.0 Running Dynamic System Analysis 4.0 Using DSA command-line options 5.0 Accessing and viewing DSA output 5.1 Naming convention used for output files and directories 5.2 Viewing a compressed collection file 5.3 HTML files created by DSA 6.0 Sending DSA output to IBM xSeries Service and Support 7.0 Known problems and workarounds 8.0 Support Web sites 9.0 Notices 10.0 Third-party license terms and conditions, notices and information 10.1 zlib software 10.2 boost software 1.0 OVERVIEW ------------- This readme file provides information about IBM Dynamic System Analysis (DSA) Portable Edition, version 1.01. 1.1 Product overview --------------------- IBM DSA Portable Edition is a system information collection and analysis tool that is used by IBM xSeries(R) Service and Support personnel to aid in the diagnosis of system problems. DSA collects information about the following aspects of a system: o System configuration o Installed applications and hotfixes o Device drivers and system services o Network interfaces and settings o Performance data and details for running processes o Hardware inventory, including PCI information o Vital product data, firmware, and basic input/output system (BIOS) information o SCSI device sense data o EXA chipset uncorrectable error register information o ServeRAID configuration o Event logs for the operating system, applications, security, ServeRAID controllers, and service processors Additionally, DSA creates a merged log that includes events from all collected logs. The system information is collected into a compressed XML file that can be sent to IBM Service. Additionally, you can view the system information through optionally generated HTML Web pages. For more information, see "5.0 ACCESSING AND VIEWING DSA OUTPUT." DSA Portable Edition is not installed on the target system. When run, DSA Portable Edition expands to a temporary directory, which is removed after DSA information collection is completed. If you want to install DSA, use DSA Installable Edition. That package also provides a DSA task extension for IBM Director. DSA Portable Edition is designed to fit on removable media such as a diskette, CD, or USB key. The removable media must be supported for use with the server on which you plan to run DSA Portable Edition. 1.2 Operating-system support ----------------------------- DSA is supported on the following 32-bit operating systems: o Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 2000 Server, Advanced Server, and Datacenter Server with Service Pack 3 or later o Microsoft Windows 2003 Standard, Enterprise, and Web Editions 1.3 Server support ------------------- DSA is supported on the following xSeries servers: 200 (8479) 235 (8671) 336 (8837) 200 (8481) 236 (8841) 342 (8669) 205 (8480) 255 (8685) 345 (8670) 206 (8482) 300 (8672) 346 (8840) 220 (8646) 305 (8673) 360 (8686) 225 (8647) 306 (8836) 365 (8861) 225 (8649) 330 (8674) 365 (8862) 226 (8648) 330 (8675) 440 (8687) 232 (8668) 335 (8676) 445 (8870) Additionally, DSA is supported on the following eServer(TM) products: 325 (8835) 326 (8836) BladeCenter(TM)(HS20) (8678) BladeCenter(HS20) (8832) BladeCenter(HS20) (8843) BladeCenter(HS40) (8839) 1.4 Other prerequisites for systems running Windows ---------------------------------------------------- To view the information that is collected by DSA, you must use Internet Explorer 6.0, with Service Pack 1 or later. 1.5 Compatibility with ServeRAID Manager ----------------------------------------- DSA Portable Edition 1.0 can collect ServeRAID log information from ServeRAID Manager 6.10 and later versions. DSA cannot collect information from the following ServeRAID controllers: o ServeRAID-7t SATA RAID o ServeRAID-7e (Adaptec HostRAID) o ServeRAID-7k 2.0 CHANGE HISTORY ------------------- This section provides information about product updates and features. 2.1 Dynamic System Analysis 1.01 ------------------------------- DSA, Version 1.01 includes the following changes: o Fixed an issue that would cause the HTML generation to fail in version 1.0 when the /v option is used in conjunction with the /i option. The error message that was reported by the tool follows: ERROR: PopulateContainerFromFile returned exception code fdrStatusInvalidDateTime 2.2 Dynamic System Analysis 1.00 ------------------------------- Nov 2004 - First release. 3.0 RUNNING DYNAMIC SYSTEM ANALYSIS ------------------------------------ Complete the following steps to run DSA Portable Edition. Note: The operating-system account that runs DSA Portable Edition must have local Administrator authority. 1. Click Start; then, click Run. The "Run" window opens. 2. In the Open field, type the path to the DSA Portable Edition executable file, or click Browse to locate it. 3. (Optional) Type /s after the executable file name to automatically accept the license terms of DSA. 4. (Optional) Type DSA command-line options after the /a option or after the executable file name. For more information, see "4.0 USING DSA COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS." 5. Click OK. Note: If you use the /s option to run DSA, the InstallShield Wizard screens are not displayed. Therefore, the remaining steps in this procedure do not apply. 6. Click Next. Review the license agreement. 7. Click "I accept the terms in the license agreement". 8. Click Next. InstallShield extracts the DSA program files into temporary disk space on the server as defined by the TEMP system variable in the Windows environment. The window that opens shows the progress of DSA information collection. When DSA is completed, the DSA program files are deleted from temporary disk space, and the progress window closes. If you ran DSA without any options, DSA collects information into one compressed XML file that can be sent to IBM Service. For information about where this file is created, see "5.0 ACCESSING AND VIEWING DSA OUTPUT." For information about sending the file to IBM Service, see "6.0 Sending DSA output to IBM Service and Support." 4.0 USING DSA COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS ----------------------------------- The command-line syntax in this document uses the following conventions: o Options are shown with a forward slash (/) but can be entered with a forward slash or a hyphen (-). o Options are shown as lowercase, but are not case-sensitive. o Variables are shown in angle brackets. Note: You must use the /a option before any other DSA command-line options. The /a option indicates that DSA command-line options are being specified. Otherwise, the DSA command-line options are passed to the InstallShield script, which prevents them from working as expected. DSA has the following command-line options: /?, /h Display help for DSA command-line options. /b Run in batch mode. /c Create the directory specified by the /d option. /d Place DSA output files in the specified directory rather than in the default location, which is the IBM_Support directory. /i Read input from rather than collecting data from the local server. /t Transfer collected data to IBM Service and Support. /v Create HTML output files. /x Do not create a compressed XML file. All options must be separated with one or more spaces. You must use a fully qualified path name with the /d and /i options. For example, to run DSA and generate HTML output files that can be viewed with a browser, run this command: DSA100P.exe /a /v To run DSA, automatically accept the license agreement, and create HTML output files in the directory C:\temp\DSA_Output, run this command: DSA100P.exe /s /a /v /c /d C:\temp\DSA_Output 5.0 ACCESSING AND VIEWING DSA OUTPUT ------------------------------------- By default, DSA output is created in the \IBM_Support directory of the hard disk defined by the %SystemDrive% environment variable. (This is the hard disk on which Windows is installed.) Use the /d option to specify a different output directory. When DSA is run with no command-line options, it creates only a compressed XML file in the IBM_Support directory. When DSA is run with the /v option, it creates a subdirectory that contains HTML files that you can view with a Web browser. 5.1 Naming convention used for output files and directories ----------------------------------------------------------- DSA uses the following naming convention for compressed XML files and for subdirectories that it creates: __-