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Personal System Administration Guide |
This chapter contains these sections:
This section describes how to use the System Manager to manage system information. It covers these topics:
"Overview
of the System Manager"
"Getting
Detailed Host Information"
"Checking
the Hardware Configuration"
"Changing
Your Privilege Level"
"Checking
the Software Configuration"
"Sharing
Files and Directories"
"Starting
Administration Tools"
"Accessing
Other Systems'
Shared Resources"
The System Manager window on your system provides
hardware and software setup and version information about your system;
you can find more detailed information by choosing "Details"
from the File menu, or by choosing items from the Hardware and Software
menus
a photo of a system that is the same model as yours
a summary view of all peripherals and directories that you are willing
to share with other systems on your network; they appear in the Shared
Resources area
the names and photos of the Primary User and the Administrator for your
system; you can view each business card by double-clicking their icons
a simple way for a Privileged User on your system to change host information
(by clicking the Change Information button) and run all the administrative
tools (by double-clicking the tool's icon in the Administration Tools area
of the window)
a way to monitor system activity
You can also access System Manager windows for other systems on the network to view their system information, to access their shared resources (see "Accessing Other Systems' Shared Resources"), and to log in (see "Logging In to Other Systems").
The File menu contains these choices:
"Change Privilege Level" opens a window in which you can enter
a login name and password so you can run the Administration Tools as the
Administrator or a Privileged User.
"Details" opens a window that contains detailed information
about the system.
"Quit" stops the System Manager from running and closes its window.
The Tools menu contains these choices:
"Primary User Information" reveals a pane in the System Manager
window that shows the Primary User and Administrator for the system, and
provides a button that you can use to change information about the host;
see "Changing Host
Information."
"System Admin Tools" reveals a pane that in the System Manager window that contains all the system administration tools. You can double-click the tools to run them.
The Hardware menu gives you detailed information on your system's CPU, disk drives, tape drives, video hardware, and SCSI devices. For details, see "Checking the Hardware Configuration."
The Software menu lists installed software in a shell window.
The Activity menu lets you open a variety of windows that report on the activity of the whole system or certain parts.
The Selected menu lets you stop sharing a directory or filesystem that's shown in the Shared Resources pane; you just select the directory, then choose "Unshare" from the Selected menu.
The Help menu provides task-oriented information on using the System Manager. Choose a topic from this menu to see a window that contains online help.
You can get operating system and platform information on the host by choosing "Details" from the File menu in the System Manager. To open the System Manager, choose "System Manager" from the System toolchest.
If you are logged in to an account that does not have Privileged User permissions and you know the account name and password of a Privileged User or of the Administrator account, you can change your privilege level before running any of the administration tools.
Follow these steps:
Choose "Change Privilege Level" from the File menu.
In the window that appears, click in the Login name field and type the login name, then click in the Password field and type the password.
If the root account has no password, the window notifies you. In this
case, do not enter any information.
Click the OK button.
You use the Hardware menu to check the hardware configuration. The menu contains these choices:
"CPU" shows the type, speed, and version of your system's
central processing unit (CPU). If you have more than one CPU, the "CPU"
choice has a rollover menu that lists all CPUs.
"Disks" shows the type, drive address number, drive controller
number, and size of CD-ROM, floppy, floptical, SyQuest, and hard disk drives.
If you have more than one drive, the "Disk" choice has a rollover
menu that lists all drives.
"Tapes" shows the type, address, and controller number of
your tape drive. If you have more than one tape drive, the "Tape Drives"
choice has a rollover menu that lists all drives.
"Video" shows the type of video hardware installed on the
system. If you have more than one type, the "Video" choice has
a rollover menu that lists all types of video hardware.
"Summary" shows a list of all hard disks (SCSI, SMD, IPI, and ESDI) and other types of SCSI disk drives (CD-ROM, floppy, or SyQuest), along with each drive address number and drive controller number.
You start the CPU Information window by choosing "CPU" from the Hardware menu. The window shows a photo of the CPU board and the floating point chip (FPU), and provides this information:
the CPU manufacturer and model number
the average speed (in megahertz) at which the CPU processes data
the CPU version number
the floating point unit (FPU) manufacturer and model number
the floating point unit version number
Always check this information before and after you install a CPU or FPU upgrade to make sure the upgrade is installed correctly.
You start the Video Information window by choosing "Video" from the Hardware menu. The window describes the type of video hardware you have installed.
You start the Disk Information window by choosing "Disks" from the Hardware menu. If you have more than one CD-ROM, floppy, floptical, SyQuest or hard disk drive, the "Disk" choice has a rollover menu from which you can choose each drive. This is the same Disk Information window that you can access by choosing "Disk Manager" from the System toolchest and clicking the button beneath the photo of the disk.
Click the Help button in the Disk Information window for more information.
You start the Tape Information window by choosing "Tapes" from the Hardware menu. The window shows a photo of the tape drive, and provides this information:
The SCSI controller and SCSI address of the tape drive; these numbers
uniquely identify the tape drive to the system (for more information, see
"About
SCSI Devices, Controllers, and Addresses").
The type of tape that the drive can read and write, such as DAT or QIC-1000.
To use the drive to create system backups, see "Backing Up and Restoring Files"; to use it to create archives, double-click the tape drive icon on your desktop. For information on tape formats and capacities, see "About Tape Formats and Capacities."
To see a full summary of all SCSI devices that are connected directly to your system, choose "Summary" from the Hardware menu in the System Manager window. The summary may contain some hard disks that are not SCSI; SCSI disks are labeled "SCSI Disk," while other types are labeled "IPI Disk," "ESDI Disk," "VSCSI Disk," or "SMD Disk." All CD-ROM, floppy, floptical, and SyQuest drives are SCSI devices.
The Summary menu lists the type, SCSI controller, and SCSI address of each SCSI device. The sample menu below shows that there are 3 devices on SCSI controller 0: a disk with address 1 (your system disk is always on controller 0 with an address of 1), a DAT tape with address 2, and a CD drive with address 3. It also shows an ESDI disk drive on a different controller.
SCSI Disk Drive: SCSI Controller 0, Address 1 DAT 4mm: SCSI Controller 0, Address 2 CD-ROM Disk Drive: SCSI Controller 0, Address 3 ESDI Disk Drive: Interphase Controller 2, Address 3
This means you could assign address 4, 5, 6, or 7 to a new SCSI device (you can disregard controller and address information for non-SCSI disks). For more information, see "About SCSI Devices, Controllers, and Addresses."
You can connect several SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) devices, such as hard disks, tape drives, floppy drives, and printers, to your system. Your system has at least one SCSI controller (an internal board that sends data to and from the devices). The SCSI controller to which your system disk is connected has an ID number of 0. Each SCSI controller can support up to seven devices.
The instructions that come with each SCSI device show you how to physically set its address; your system's owner's guide shows you how to connect the device to the SCSI port, and how to daisy-chain several SCSI devices together.
To check which of the SCSI addresses are available, choose "Summary" from the Hardware menu in the System Manager window. It lists the type, controller, and address of each SCSI device that is connected to the system. The summary may contain some hard disks that are not SCSI; SCSI disks are labeled "SCSI Disk", while other types are labeled "IPI Disk," "ESDI Disk," "VSCSI Disk," or "SMD Disk."
The sample menu below shows that there is a disk with address 1 and a DAT tape with address 2 connected to SCSI controller 0, and a CD drive connected to SCSI controller 1.
SCSI Disk Drive: SCSI Controller 0, Address 1 DAT 4mm: SCSI Controller 0, Address 2 CD-ROM Disk Drive: SCSI Controller 1, Address 4
This means you could assign address 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 to a new SCSI device connected to controller 0, and could assign address 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, or 7 to a device connected to controller 1.
To view a list of all installed software products, choose "Show Installed" from the Software menu. A text window appears. Press the <space bar> to view the next screenful of information.
To install new software products, choose "Software Manager" from the System toolchest; see "Installing Software."
The Activity menu provides various graphical tools that constantly display the changing activity levels of your system. Each choice on the menu displays a tool in a separate window.
A Privileged User can remove any directory from the Shared Resources pane of the System Manager in order to make it unavailable to other network systems.
To stop sharing a directory, follow these steps:
Select the icon in the Shared Resources pane, then choose "Unshare"
from the Selected menu in the System Manager window.
In the Share window, click the box next to No systems, then click OK.
The directory disappears from the Shared Resources pane.
You can make directories public using the "Share" choice in the Selected toolchest or menu; see "Making Your Disk Space Available to Other Systems." When you make them public, they appear in the Shared Resources area of the System Manager window, and another user on the network can access the directories as if they resided on a disk that is physically connected to his own system.
Note: You can share directories in this way only if you have the optional NFS software installed and its automount component is turned on. To check whether NFS is installed and turned on, see "Turning On NIS and NFS." If it's installed and you experience problems, see "Troubleshooting Shared Resources Problems."
When you add a new peripheral device to your system, it is automatically marked as a public device. This means another user on the network can use the device as if it were physically connected to his own system. There is no way to make a peripheral private.
By default, CD drives are not set up to allow remote users to install system software. To allow remote installations, see "Allowing Remote Users to Install Software from Your CD Drive."
The Change Host Information window lets you change the Primary User, Administrator, and location label for the host. To change business card information about the Primary User or Administrator, use the User Manager, and see "Customizing Business Card Information."
Any Privileged User can change the Primary User and host location; only the Administrator can change the name of the Administrator.
If the Change Host Information window is not already open, open it by choosing "Primary User Information" from the Tools menu, then clicking the Change Information button that appears in the System Manager window.
Change the Administrator or Primary User by deleting the current login
name and replacing it with a login name of a person who has an account
on this system.
Change the location label by deleting the current location information
and entering new information; it can consist of up to 25 characters, and
can include spaces and special characters.
Have the system make the changes, or cancel your request.
To make the changes, click the OK button.
To cancel the request and make no changes, click the Cancel button.
The Primary User is the person who uses this system most frequently. The Primary User does not necessarily have any special access permissions; for more information, see "About User Privileges and the Primary User."
A Privileged User can designate the Primary User in the System Manager window by following these steps:
Choose "Primary User Information" from the Tools menu in the
System Manager window.
Click the Change Information button that appears.
Change the Primary User by deleting the current login name and replacing
it with a login name of a person who has an account on this system.
Have the system make the changes, or cancel your request.
To make the changes, click the OK button.
To cancel the request and make no changes, click the Cancel button.
The Administrator is the person who uses the most privileged account, root, to perform administrative and troubleshooting tasks; for more information, see "About User Privileges and the Primary User."
Only the Administrator can change this information. If you are not logged in as the Administrator but you know the password, see "Changing Your Privilege Level."
To designate a new Administrator in the System Manager window, follow these steps:
Choose "Primary User Information" from the Tools menu in the
System Manager window.
Click the Change Information button that appears.
Change the Administrator by deleting the current login name and replacing
it with a login name of a person who has an account on this system.
Have the system make the changes, or cancel your request.
To make the changes, click the OK button.
To cancel the request and make no changes, click the Cancel button.
The location of the system is a descriptive label that helps other users on the network know where they can physically locate the system.
A Privileged User can create or change this label by following these steps:
Choose "Primary User Information" from the Tools menu in the
System Manager window.
Click the Change Information button that appears.
Change the location label by deleting the current location information
and entering new information; it can consist of up to 25 characters, and
can include spaces and special characters.
Have the system make the changes, or cancel your request.
To make the changes, click the OK button.
To cancel the request and make no changes, click the Cancel button.
A Privileged User or Administrator can use all the tools in the Administration Tools area to change system information. A User can run the tools to view information, but cannot make any changes.
To display the administration tools, choose "System Admin Tools" from the Tools menu.
If you started the System Manager when logged in as a User and need to run the tools as a Privileged User or as the Administrator, see "Changing Your Privilege Level."
To start a tool, double-click its icon. Click the Help button in the tool or use its Help menu for detailed information on using the tool.
You can use the System Manager to open an IRIX shell window or a remote toolchest on another system. To open a Directory View window instead, choose "Remote Directory" from the Desktop toolchest, and click the Help button in that window for more information.
To open a shell window or toolchest on another system, follow these steps:
Choose "Hosts" from the Search For rollover menu in the Find
toolchest, and use the online help in the Search window to locate the system
that you want to access.
When the system appears in the window, double-click it to open the remote
system's System Manager window.
In the remote system's System Manager window, choose "System Admin
Tools" from the Tools menu.
Open the IRIX shell or toolchest.
To open a shell window, double-click the Open IRIX Shell icon in the Administration Tools area. When you're done using the shell, type:
logout
Note: If you do not have a login account on the system, the system
logs you in as guest, and displays the home directory that belongs
to guest.
To open the toolchest, double-click the Open Toolchest icon. A toolchest appears on your screen. When you're done using it, position your cursor over the toolchest's title bar, press the right mouse button, and choose "Close" from the pop-up menu.
To access filesystems or devices that are available from other systems on the network, follow these steps:
Choose "Hosts" from the Search For rollover menu in the Find
toolchest, and use the online help in the Search window to locate the system
that you want to access.
When the system appears in the window, double-click it to open the remote
system's System Manager window.
Drag one or more drive or folder icons from the Shared Resources area of the remote System Manager window onto your desktop.
You can now use the resource as if it were directly connected to your system. For more information, see "Accessing a Remote Directory Using Automount" and "Using Disk Space on CDs and Floppy Disks."
If this is a new system and you do not yet have a personal work area, use the left mouse button to double-click the EZsetup icon; this logs you into the system so you can set up basic system information.
To log in to your personal work area on the system, follow these steps:
Find the icon that is labeled with your login name, then double-click the icon; if your account has no password, the system logs you in.
If an icon for your account doesn't appear in the login window, type
your login name in the field and press <Enter>.
If a Password field appears, enter the password, then click the Login button.
A Privileged User can add new user accounts on the system and can specify which accounts appear in the login window. Choose "Desktop Help" from the Help toolchest for more information.
A Privileged User can specify which accounts appear in the login window. By default, the login window shows only people who have a home directory on the system.
There are a number of administrative accounts on every system that are required by the system in order to run correctly. Typically no one should log in to those accounts; the manufacturer recommends that you do not display them in the login window.
A Privileged User can customize the login window by following these steps:
If the Login Setup tool is not running, start it by choosing "System
Manager" from the System toolchest, choosing "System Admin Tools"
from the Tools menu in the System Manager window, and double-clicking the
Login Setup icon in the Administration Tools pane. Or, click the words
Login Setup now.
Specify whether you want the system to bypass the login window and log in a certain person every time the system starts up:
Place a check mark in the box labeled Automatically log in.
In the field that appears, enter a login name if you want the system to bypass the login window and log directly into that account. This marks the account as the autologin account.
Specify the size of the login window.
If a check mark is in the box labeled Make the login window large,
the window will take up most of the screen.
If the box has no check mark, the window will take up a smaller portion of the screen.
Specify whether the window should display any accounts.
To show no accounts, make sure no check mark appears in the box labeled
Show login accounts; then skip to step 6.
To show accounts, place a check mark in the box labeled Show login accounts; then go on to step 5.
Customize the way the window displays the accounts.
To show only those users whose accounts you explicitly added to your
system (through the User Manager or editing IRIX configuration files),
make sure a check mark appears in the box labeled Only show accountson
this system.
Choose whether you want to show detailed images or generic line drawings by clicking the box next to either Show faces of account owners or Show generic icons.
Note: Detailed images appear only if users have added pictures
to their login accounts. See "Customizing
Business Card Information."
To show accounts in the login window that appear in the Hide these
login accounts list, select the account, then click the Show
button.
To hide accounts that currently appear in the login window, type the login name in the field below the Hide these login accounts list, then click the Hide button. The account appears in the list, and will not appear in the login window.
When your customizations are complete, make the changes or cancel your request.
To make the changes, click the OK button.
To cancel the request and make no changes, click the Cancel button.
Once you set the date and time, the system can accurately stamp the time of events, such as when you last changed a file. On most networks, the current date and time are periodically provided to all workstations on the network.
You set the date and time with the IRIX date command, which has this format:
date [mmddhhmm[yy]]
mm specifies the month, dd the day, hh the hour, and mm the minutes. You can also specify the last two digits of a year (yy). For more information and options, see the date man page.
To set the date and time, follow these steps:
Log in as root through a shell window.
Choose "Unix Shell" from the Desktop toolchest.
Position your cursor within the new window and type:
login root
Then press <Enter>.
If a prompt for a password appears, type the password and press <Enter>. If a prompt appears but the root account has no password, just press <Enter>.
Check the current time and date of the system by typing:
date
Then press <Enter>.
Specify the date and time. For example, if today is March 17 (0317) at 2:30 p.m. (1430) in the year 1992 (92), type:
date 0317143092
Then press <Enter>.
To check the date and time, type:
date
Then press <Enter>. You see a line similar to this:
Tue Mar 17 14:30 1992
Log out of the root account by typing:
logout
Then press <Enter>. The shell window disappears.
An important part of managing your system is developing a strategy for saving your data. This section describes how to use the Backup and Restore tool to make a backup tape of user data and then to restore that data to the system if it is ever lost or compromised. It also describes standard IRIX backup and restoration tools.
Click a topic for more information.
"Developing
a Backup Strategy" explains how to make a schedule for regular
backups and describes how to select the right kind of tape on which to
make your backup.
"About
the Backup and Restore Tool" explains what the tool does, shows
how to start it, and describes all the buttons in the tool.
"About
Tape Formats and Capacities" describes the different available
formats and discusses compatibility issues.
"Backing Up Files"
explains how to make a backup tape using a local or remote tape drive.
"Restoring
Files From a Tape" explains how to use a tape you made with the
Backup and Restore tool to restore files to your system.
"Using Other Tools to Back Up and Restore Files" describes other standard IRIX tools for backing up and restoring information. It also explains how to use the IRIX tar utility.
The first step toward ensuring the safety of your system's information is to develop a backup strategy. You should plan on performing incremental backups each day and backing up the entire system at least once a week. See your network administrator to coordinate your backup strategy with the overall scheme of network backups.
Note: Always make a new backup of the entire system after you work on user accounts, add devices, or install new software. Otherwise, in the event of a system failure, customized system information will be lost.
Make sure all users agree to and are aware of the set time for the weekly backup. Try to schedule it for a time when the system is not usually being used, such as early on Monday morning or late Friday afternoon.
Always use at least two sets of backup tapes between which you alternate the weekly backup. When you start a backup, the system copies this new information over the old, which effectively deletes the old information. If you use last week's backup tape to perform this week's backup, you run the risk of having a system failure when the tape contains some combination of new and old information.
Finally, the tape drive is an option on the system. If you do not have a tape drive, you can back up your system using the tape drive of another system that is part of your network.
The Backup and Restore tool lets you back up and restore the entire contents of a disk or selected directories and files onto a tape in either a local tape drive (one that is physically connected to your system) or a remote tape drive (one that is physically connected to another system on the network).
Note: This tool is based on the IRIX utility called bru. For more information on bru, see "Using Other Tools to Back Up and Restore Files."
To start the Backup and Restore tool, choose "Backup and Restore" from the System toolchest, or click the words Backup and Restore now.
For each local tape drive installed on your system, the window displays a button showing the tape drive type and SCSI address. If your system is on a network, the window also displays a button for using a remote drive. If only a Remote button appears in the window, your system does not have a tape drive connected to it.
If you don't have a tape drive connected to your system and the system is not connected to a network, you see a notifier telling you that you don't have access to a tape drive. If an existing Ethernet network is available, follow the instructions in "Setting Up Network Connections" to become a member of the network where you can access a remote tape drive. If there is no network available, contact the system's manufacturer to order a tape drive for your system.
The list below describes each of the buttons you see in this tool.
Silicon Graphics supplies two different types of quarter-inch SCSI tape drives:
QIC 150 drives can read both low- and high-density tapes, but can write
only to high-density tapes. These tapes can store up to 150 MB of information.
QIC 1000 drives can read and write both low- and high-density tapes. These tapes can store up to 1000 MB of information.
If you try to copy to the wrong type of tape, you will see error messages and the copy will not work.
Silicon Graphics also supplies 4 mm (DAT) SCSI tape drives:
4mm (DAT) drives use the DDS (not DataDAT) format. Sixty-meter (60-minute) tapes can store up to 1300 MB and 90-meter (90-minute) tapes can store up to 2000 MB of information.
When you purchase additional tapes, be sure to specify which type of drive you have. To check which type you have, start up the Backup and Restore tool as described in "About the Backup and Restore Tool." The button next to the Tape drive field is labeled with the drive type.
You also insert and lock tapes into the drive differently depending on the type of drive. See the installation guide included with the drive or your system owner's guide for this information.
Use these instructions to back up your data onto a tape drive that is physically connected to your own system (a local drive) or that is physically connected to another system on the network (a remote drive).
You use the Backup and Restore tool to specify which tape drive you want to use and which files you want to back up. Only a full system backup can completely restore your system in the event of a serious system software failure.
Note: Any User can perform a full system backup, even though a notifier warns you that only the Administrator (root) can do it. Just dismiss the notifier and continue with the backup.
To back up files onto a tape, follow these steps:
Choose "Backup and Restore" from the System toolchest, or click the words Backup and Restore now.
For each local tape drive installed on your system, the Backup & Restore window displays a button showing the tape drive type and address. If your system is set up on the network, you also see a Remote button.
Note: If you see a notifier telling you that you don't have access
to a tape drive, contact your network administrator and see "Setting
Up Network Connections" to access the network, or contact the
system's manufacturer to order a tape drive for your system.
Fill in the information in the Backup & Restore window.
To use a local drive, click the button that's labeled with the tape drive that you want to use.
To use a remote drive, click the Remote button, then type the
name of the system where the tape drive is located in the Remote hostname
field.
Specify that you want to copy files onto a tape in the selected drive
by clicking the Backup button next to Operation.
Click the Accept button.
Insert the proper type of tape in the drive.
Click Accept in the notifier that instructs you to insert a tape.
Insert a tape that matches the type you selected in step 3. (For example, QIC 1000 or DAT; see also "About Tape Formats and Capacities.")
In the Backup window, choose the parts of the filesystem you want to back up. Users and Privileged Users can back up only files or directories that they own; the Administrator can back up any file or directory on the system.
To back up all files on the system, leave All highlighted. This
creates a backup that you can use to rebuild the system after a serious
system crash.
To back up only those files modified since a certain date, click byDate.
The date you made the last full backup appears in a new field. You can
either back up the files that were modified since that date, or click in
the field and type in a different date. Make sure the date you enter is
in the same format as the one that first appeared in the field (that is,
month/day/year).
To back up a specific directory, click byDirectory.
Click in the field and type the full pathname of the directory or directories you want to back up to a tape. Separate the full pathnames with a comma and a space. For instance, to back up the directories /usr/people/joe and /usr/people/bill, you would type:
/usr/people/joe, /usr/people/bill
Start the backup.
Click the Start backup button.
Once the backup starts, the names of the files scroll through the window and a small red message next to the words Backup is says Active.
The file names appear in this format:
c 250k of 376k [1] usr/people/joe/projects
This means that the file /usr/people/joe/projects is taking up
250K of 376K already copied onto tape number 1.
To pause the backup before it is complete, click the Pause backup
button. To restart it, click the Start backup button.
To cancel the backup before it is complete, click the End backup button. You see a notifier asking whether you really want to end the backup before it's complete. Click the Accept button to end the session without making a backup, or click Cancel and the system continues making the backup from where it left off.
When the backup is complete, the End backup button is highlighted.
Click the Quit button to close the Backup window.
Remove the tape from the drive, label it with the backup date and contents, and store it in a safe place. If the tape has a write-protect mechanism (such as a plastic dial), enable it.
If you accidentally remove a file or directory, or something goes wrong with the system, you can use your backup tape to restore your files and information. Make sure you have the most recent backup tape when you restore files. (You can also restore an old version of a file.)
If you do not have a local tape drive, you can restore files using a tape drive connected to a remote system on the network. If possible, use the same remote tape drive to back up and restore information. That way you'll be sure the drive can read your backup tape. (For more information on tape formats, see "About Tape Formats and Capacities.")
You can use the tool only to restore files that you backed up with the Backup and Restore tool. To restore files archived with tar, place the tape in a tape drive, and double-click the drive icon to start the Tape tool.
Any User can restore files that he owns, but only the Administrator can restore an entire system.
Caution: If you restore files to a directory in which files of the same name exist, the files on the hard disk will be replaced with the files from the tape.
Note: In the event of a serious system failure, you may need to restore the entire operating system. See your owner's guide or "Restoring Files and File Systems" the IRIX Advanced Site and Server Administration Guide.
To restore a file or filesystem, follow these steps:
Choose "Backup and Restore" from the System toolchest, or click the words Backup and Restore now.
For each local tape drive installed on your system, the Backup & Restore window displays a button showing the tape drive type and address. If your system is set up on the network, you also see a Remote button.
Note: If you see a notifier telling you that you don't have access
to a tape drive, contact your network administrator and see "Setting
Up Network Connections" to access the network, or contact Silicon
Graphics to order a tape drive for your system.
Fill in the information in the Backup & Restore window.
To use a local drive, click the button that's labeled with the tape drive that you want to use.
To use a remote drive, click the Remote button, then type the
name of the system where the tape drive is located in the Remote hostname
field.
Specify that you want to restore files from a tape in the selected drive
by clicking the Restore button next to Operation.
Click the Accept button.
Insert the tape that contains the information that you want to restore.
Click Accept in the notifier that instructs you to insert a tape.
Insert a tape that was created using the Backup & Restore tool.
If an error message states that the system cannot read the tape, either the tape was not created with the Backup and Restore tool, or the drive you are using cannot read the format of the tape (such as QIC 1000 or DAT). Click the Terminate button.
If the tape was created using the IRIX tar utility, see "Restoring Files From a Tape Using tar."
If the drive cannot read the format of the tape, find another system on the network that has the correct type of drive, and go back to step 2.
Select the directories and files that you want to restore.
If you know the full pathname of the file(s) you want to restore, click
in the field labeled Restore these directories and files and type
in the pathname(s). Be sure to separate pathnames with commas or spaces.
To choose the files from a list, click Yes next to List Contents
of tape; a listing area appears in the window.
Click the Start listing button and then select (highlight) the
files to restore. To select more than one file at a time, press and hold
down the <Shift> key and click on the additional files.
To find a specific file, list the contents of the tape, then type the full pathname of the file you are looking for in the Find field. Click the Go to button, and the tool displays the file you are looking for in the window.
Choose a location on your system to which the tool should restore the files.
Click the Yes button to replace the files on your hard disk with
files of the same name that are on the tape. If you click Yes, the
files in the directory will be overwritten by the files on the tape.
Click the No button if you don't want the tape to replace the files in the directory from which they came. You click No if you've been working on files in that directory since the time you made the backup, or if you want to compare old and new files. If you click the No button, you see the field in which you can type the full pathname of a different directory to which you want the files restored.
Start the restoration.
Click the Start restore button once you select the information
you want restored to the disk. A small red message next to the Restore
is field says Active, and file names begin to scroll through
the window. When the restoration is finished, the message says InActive.
To pause the restoration, click Pause restore. File names scroll
through the window until the memory buffer is empty, and then the restoration
stops. To restart the restore operation, click the Start restore
button again.
To cancel the restoration before it is complete, click the End restore button. You see a notifier asking whether you really want to end the restoration before it's complete. Click the Accept button to end the session without restoring files, or click Cancel and the system continues restoring files from where it left off.
When the restoration is complete, the End restore button is highlighted.
Click the Quit button to close the Restore window.
Remove your tape from the drive and store it in a safe place.
IRIX provides several tools for backing up and restoring files. This section describes each tool and shows you how to use tar, one of the most widely used tools.
The tools described in this section come standard on every system.
tar is a very portable, general purpose backup and restore tool. Most systems that run the UNIX operating system support tar. This section gives you a brief introduction to using the basic features of tar. For more information, see the man page for tar.
Only the owner of a directory or file can back it up with tar. You must be logged in as root if you're backing up files that belong to multiple users.
Note: The Tape tool that you access by double-clicking a tape drive on your desktop also supports tar. See the online help for the Tape tool for more information.
To copy files to a tape in a local or remote drive, follow these steps:
Open a shell window by choosing "Unix Shell" from the Desktop toolchest.
To back up files that are owned by several different users, log in as root by typing:
login root
Then press <Enter>.
If a prompt for a password appears, type the password, then press <Enter>.
If a prompt appears but the root account has no password, just press
<Enter>.
Make sure that a tape is in the tape drive. (See "About
Tape Formats and Capacities" to make sure you have the correct
type of tape for your drive.)
Issue the tar command.
The command has this format:
taroptionsdevice pathname
options are letters that describe how you want to use tar; for example, c specifies copy to tape, and v (for "verbose") specifies that tar should list the files while copying them. device is the name and location of the tape drive; you do not need to specify the device when you're copying to the default local drive. pathname is the full pathname of a file or directory.
To copy the /usr/charts directory to a tape in a local drive and to view the contents of the directory while it's being copied, type:
tar cv /usr/charts
Then press <Enter>. tar replaces any information
on the tape with the contents of the /usr/charts directory.
To copy the same directory to a tape in a remote drive, add the f option before the tape device name (the device name consists of a login name, remote hostname, and device file, which is usually /dev/tape). To copy /usr/charts to the tape drive connected to the system mars through the guest account, type:
tar cvf guest@mars:/dev/tape /usr/charts
Then press <Enter>.
Note: This example uses the guest account because it usually does not have an associated password. If yours is a very secure environment, this account may have a password. If so, work with the Administrator of the remote system or the network administrator to set up an account through which you can access the drive.
While tar copies the directory, you see a listing similar to this:
a /usr/charts/north 83 blocks a /usr/charts/south 102 blocks a /usr/charts/east 124 blocks a /usr/charts/west 86 blocks
To stop the copy, press <Ctrl-C>. The copy is complete when you see the system prompt.
To view the contents of a tape created with tar, follow these steps:
Open a shell window by choosing "Unix Shell" from the Desktop
toolchest.
Insert the tape in the drive.
Position your cursor in the shell window and issue the tar command.
To list the contents of a tape in a local drive, type:
tar tv
Then press <Enter>.
To list the contents of a tape in a remote drive; for example, for the drive connected to the system mars, type:
tar tvf guest@mars:/dev/tape
Then press <Enter>.
rwxr-xr-x dir Feb 11 08:41 1992 /usr/charts rwxr-xr-x 42004 Feb 11 08:41 1992 /usr/charts/north rwxr-xr-x 51869 Feb 11 08:41 1992 /usr/charts/south rwxr-xr-x 63217 Feb 11 08:41 1992 /usr/charts/east rwxr-xr-x 43554 Feb 11 08:41 1992 /usr/charts/west
To stop the listing, press <Ctrl-C>. The listing is complete when you see the system prompt.
To copy files onto your disk that you previously archived to tape using tar, follow these steps:
Open a shell window by choosing "Unix Shell" from the Desktop toolchest.
To restore files that are owned by several different users, log in as root by typing:
login root
Then press <Enter>.
If a prompt for a password appears, type the password, then press <Enter>.
If a prompt appears but the root account has no password, just press
<Enter>.
Compare the contents of the directory to which you want to restore the files with the contents of the tape.
Caution: If files on the tape have the same name as files in the directory to which you are restoring files, the files on your hard disk will be replaced by the files on the tape.
View the contents of the directory (for example, /usr/charts) by typing:
ls -al /usr/charts
Then press <Enter>.
View the contents of the tape using the appropriate command from "Viewing
the Contents of a Tape Using tar."
Look for files in the directory that have the same names as files on the tape. If you do not want the files on the tape to replace those of the same name on your hard disk, you may want to rename or move the files on the hard disk.
Position your cursor in the shell window and issue the tar command with the x (for "extract") option.
To restore the entire contents of a tape in a local drive to its original location on your hard disk, type:
tar xv
Then press <Enter>.
To restore a specific file or directory (for example, /usr/charts/north) from a tape in a local drive to its original location on your hard disk, type:
tar xv /usr/charts/north
Then press <Enter>.
To restore a specific file or directory (for example, /usr/charts/north) from a tape in a local drive to a different location on your hard disk (for example, /usr/tmp), type:
cd /usr/tmp;tar xvR /usr/charts/north
Then press <Enter>. The name of this file is now /usr/tmp/usr/charts/north.
To restore the entire contents of a tape in a remote drive (for example, the drive connected to the system mars) to its original location on your hard disk, type:
tar xvf guest@mars:/dev/tape
Then press <Enter>.
To restore a specific file or directory (for example, /usr/charts
/north) to its original location on your hard disk, type:
tar xvf guest@mars:/dev/tape /usr/charts/north
Then press <Enter>.
To restore a specific file or directory (for example, /usr/charts/north) from a tape in a remote drive to a different location on your hard disk (for example, /usr/tmp), type:
cd /usr/tmp;tar xvRf guest@mars:/dev/tape /usr/charts/north
Then press <Enter>. The name of this file is now /usr/tmp/usr/charts/north.
While tar restores the file(s), you see a listing similar to this:
x /usr/charts/north, 42004 bytes, 83 blocks x /usr/charts/south, 51869 bytes, 102 blocks x /usr/charts/east, 63217 bytes, 124 blocks x /usr/charts/west, 43554 bytes, 86 blocks
The restoration is complete when you see the system prompt.
To stop the restoration, press <Ctrl-C>. For more information on the tar command and its options, see the man page for tar.
When you shut down the system, the IRIX operating system closes down all processes and files in a specific order so that no information is lost. You should always close your own files and stop running applications before you shut down the system.
To shut down the system, follow these steps:
Choose "System Shutdown" from the System toolchest.
In the notifier that appears, set shutdown and restart options and confirm the shutdown request.
If your system does not have the ability to automatically power off,
no options appear in the notifier; click the OK button to continue
the shutdown, then turn off the system when you see the message that says
the system is ready to be powered off.
If your system can power off automatically, you can choose to have it do so, and choose to have it automatically power on at a certain time. After you set the options, click the OK button continue the shutdown.
When you restart the system, the IRIX operating system closes down all processes and files in a specific order so that no information is lost, then it restarts the system.
You should always close your own files and stop running applications before you restart the system.
To restart the system, choose "Restart System" from the System toolchest.
IRIX is a multi-tasking operating system. This means that your system can perform many operations simultaneously. For example, you can run an application, print a file, and read your mail at the same time, without having to wait for each operation to complete before beginning the next one.
Every program that you run on the system is assigned a process ID that allows IRIX to keep track of what it is doing. By identifying the process numbers assigned to tasks, you can manage your operations more effectively.
When you are working at your system, the IRIX process that you are currently working with, either from the keyboard or with the mouse, is known as the foreground process. Any other IRIX processes running on the system are known as background processes.
While many of the processes you are performing may be readily identifiable from your desktop, many others, including printing and some complex graphics operations, may be hidden from you. To identify quickly all the processes running on your system, you can enter the IRIX ps (processor status) command in an IRIX shell.
To monitor processes, follow these steps:
Choose "Unix Shell" from the Desktop toolchest.
Position your cursor within the shell window and type:
ps -a
Then press <Enter>.
When you enter the ps -a command, IRIX lists a process ID number (PID), a terminal ID (TTY), time, and name of each process that you started on your system; it does not show all running processes. For example:
PID TTY TIME COMMAND 7662 ttyq1 4:54 csh 7668 ttyq1 15:04 ps 7670 ttyq1 15:14 cedit
To check all running processes for a specific process, such as objectserver, type:
ps -ef | grep objectserver
Additional parameters in the ps command line provide more comprehensive listings. For more information on the command, see the man page for ps.
Occasionally you may want to stop a process - for example, a PostScript® printing process that measurably slows down system operations. In many cases, you can use an application command to stop a process from the desktop. But in some instances, you must stop the process from the shell by using the kill command. A regular user can use the command to kill only his or her own processes; the Administrator can stop any process running on the system.
Note: If a system process is stopped by the Administrator, the termination may cause the system to hang or crash. Always save your current work before stopping a system process as the Administrator.
To stop a process, follow these steps:
Choose "Unix Shell" from the Desktop toolchest.
To stop a process started by the Administrator, or to stop processes started by several different users, log in as root by typing:
login root
Then press <Enter>.
If a prompt for a password appears, type the password, then press <Enter>.
If a prompt appears but the root account has no password, just press
<Enter>.
Position your cursor within the new window and type:
ps -ef
Then press <Enter>.
The listing provides a full listing, including the process ID (PID),
of all processes that are currently running. Find the one that you want
to terminate.
Use the kill command with the PID as the parameter. For example, to kill process number 754, type:
kill 754
Then press <Enter>.
Additional parameters in the kill command line provide variations on process terminations. For example, the command kill -9 is a "sure-kill," stopping almost any type of process. For more information on the kill command, see the man page for kill.
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