1. DOMSA01.exe Driver
2. readme.txt File Contents

readme.txt Driver File Contents (DOMSA01.exe)

===================================================================
IT Assistant Version 6.1 Documentation Update
===================================================================

This document contains the latest update information for
IT Assistant version 6.1.

NOTE: All file locations (paths) specified in this document refer
      to the default file location. If you specify paths other than
      the default during installation, use those paths instead of
      the paths specified in this document.

NOTE: The installation of the IT Assistant services on a portable
      system is not recommended or supported.

NOTE: The Common Information Model (CIM) standard is not supported
      by Server Agent version 4.4.1 that is included in this package.
      Using CIM, IT Assistant can discover systems instrumented
      with Server Agent 4.4.1 but lists them as "Unclassified"
      in the systems window. IT Assistant does not provide
      complete management functionality for such systems.




Minimum Recommended Hardware Requirements
=========================================

IT Assistant User Interface
---------------------------

* A system with an Intel(R) Pentium(R) processor running at a
  minimum of 200 megahertz (MHz)
* A minimum of 64 megabytes (MB) of random-access memory (RAM)
* A minimum of 200 MB of free hard-drive space
* A mouse
* A monitor with a minimum resolution of 800 x 600


IT Assistant Services
---------------------

* A system with an Intel Pentium processor running at a minimum of
  350 MHz
* A minimum of 128 MB of RAM
* A minimum of 500 MB of free hard-drive space



Operating System Requirements
=============================

The following subsections list the operating systems compatible with
the IT Assistant Web-based user interface and the IT Assistant
services.

IT Assistant Web-Based User Interface
-------------------------------------

* Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95 operating system release (OSR) 2 or later
* Microsoft Windows 98 OSR 1 or later
* Microsoft Windows NT(R) 4.0 Service Pack (SP) 5  or later (server or
  workstation version)
* Microsoft Windows 2000 SP1

NOTE: Windows XP is not supported. Windows.Net is not supported.

IT Assistant Services
---------------------

* Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP5 or later (server or workstation
  version)
* Microsoft Windows 2000 SP1

NOTE: Windows XP is not supported.

Browser Requirements
======================================================================

IT Assistant supports Internet Explorer version 5.0 and 5.5.

NOTE: Internet Explorer 6.0 is not supported.


Security Within IT Assistant
======================================================================

IT Assistant employs user-level security to prevent unauthorized
modification of system settings. The security implementation is
derived from the RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm.


Known Issues 
======================================================================

* The gauges on the "Status" tab of the systems window might show a
  complete green circle if the minimum warning threshold and the
  maximum warning threshold are both set to the exact center point of
  the gauge's range. To correct this display problem, change one of
  the threshold values so that the minimum and maximum threshold
  values are not the same.

* After installing IT Assistant on a system with Microsoft Outlook,
  an error message might appear upon starting Outlook that states that
  a recently installed program might cause Outlook to function
  improperly and asks if you want Outlook to resolve the problem.

  If you click "Yes," another message appears saying that Outlook
  could not resolve the problem and suggests that you restart Windows.
  (Clicking "No" does not affect the operation of Outlook.) This
  behavior can occur because of a "Mapi32.dll" file conflict. This
  issue is documented in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, Article number
  Q199823. You can either restart Windows as suggested or follow the
  workaround described in this article.

* Clicking the "X" on the upper-right corner of the window created by
  launching the DRSC Web-based interface neither closes the DRSC
  session nor logs the DRSC user out. IT Assistant caches the current 
  session. To clear the cache, you must log out of the DRSC Web-based 
  interface by clicking "File->Log Out" or by clicking "Secure Sessions" 
  on the IT Assistant left-panel menu.

* BIOS flashing of clients running OMCI 6.0 or greater using
  Microsoft Distributed Common Object Model (DCOM) is not supported
  on systems running Win9x or Millennium Edition (Me) because of the
  differences in DCOM security between Windows NT/Windows 2000 systems
  and Windows 9x/Me systems. Remote BIOS flashing of these systems
  using DCOM is not tested and, therefore, not supported. The
  Microsoft Knowledge Base article "Q165101 - How To Use a Windows 95,
  Windows 98, or Windows Me Computer as a DCOM Server" might provide a
  workaround for this issue. Contact Microsoft for more information.

* If you discover a large number of nodes, you might get 
  performance improvements by upgrading the Microsoft Data Engine
  (MSDE) to the Microsoft SQL Server 7.0/2000 database.

* When you create a DRAC II user in IT Assistant, ensure that the
  user name and password are lowercase. You cannot log on to the
  DRAC II console if the user name or password contain uppercase
  letters.

* If you Install IT Assistant 6.1 on a system with Windows NT 4.0 and
  SQL Server 2000, notice that upon system reboot, the IT Assistant
  network monitoring service is pending, and then the IT Assistant
  connection service fails to start up. The system displays a 
  message stating that at least one service failed to start up. This
  is an issue with Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.60,
  which is installed with SQL Server 2000. To resolve the problem,
  stop and start IT Assistant services within the Service Control
  Manager (SCM).

* Setting the Power Button feature to "Enabled" or "Disabled" in
  IT Assistant on a 2-processor/5-U system might fail if the Power
  Button Override feature is changed manually in the BIOS. To
  resolve this issue, perform the following steps:

  1. Manually set the Power Button Override feature to "Disabled"
     through the system's BIOS. 

  2. Using IT Assistant, set the Power Button feature to "Enabled,"
     even if it is already set to "Enabled."

  3. Set the Power Button feature to the configuration you want.  
	
* After issuing a "Remote Shutdown" command to a 4-processor/7-U
  system that runs Windows 2000, you can restart the system 
  instead of turning it off.  



Advanced Configuration for Discovery
======================================================================

Protocol Recommendations
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Limit DMI Discovery to systems running a Microsoft Windows operating
system. As mentioned in the "IT Assistant User's Guide," some UNIX(R) systems 
(Sun Solaris systems, for example) have
non-DMI version 2.0 compliant DMI service providers running 
that can cause the IT Assistant network monitoring service to crash
unexpectedly; this situation occurs because of nonstandard data
returned by the DMI provider.

Two potential solutions to this problem, as mentioned in the
"User's Guide," are to either disable DMI discovery in IT Assistant or
to not attempt to discover these UNIX systems by omitting them when
configuring subnet discovery. However, these solutions might not be desirable
if one or both of the following scenarios are true:

- If many UNIX systems are scattered throughout the network.

- If client systems are running Client Instrumentation, which relies
  on DMI as its primary means of communication.

Another alternative is to not use certain DMI transport methods. UNIX
and NetWare(R) systems support the DMI-ONC transport method; Microsoft
systems support the DMI-DCE method. IT Assistant tries both methods
if one method should fail. To stop IT Assistant from trying the DMI-ONC
method (this assumes DMI-DCE is the first choice to try, which is the
default choice in the "Subnet Discovery" dialog box when configuring
subnet discovery), perform the following steps:

1. In the IT Assistant configuration directory, open the "dconfig.ini"
   file using a text editor.

2. Locate the [DISCOVERY_PARAM] section.

3. Set TryMultipleDMIRPCs=0.

4. Save the "dconfig.ini" file and restart the IT Assistant services.



Configuring Ping Timeout
----------------------------------------------------------------------

For slow networks, IT Assistant might show systems as down when they
are actually running. This error can be caused by a slow ping
response. To compensate for this problem, perform the following steps:

1. From the command prompt, execute the "ping" command on one of the
   affected systems.

   Make note of the roundtrip time, which the "ping" command reports
   in milliseconds (ms).

2. Add 1 to 2 secs (1000 to 2000 ms) to this number.

3. In the IT Assistant configuration directory, open the "dconfig.ini"
   file using a text editor.

4. Locate the [DISCOVERY_PARAM] section.

5. Set PING_TIMEOUT to the value calculated in step 2 (in ms).

6. Save the "dconfig.ini" file and restart the IT Assistant services.


Advanced Configuration for Remote Flash BIOS Using DCOM 
======================================================================

Configuring FTP Protocol Instead of HTTP Protocol for DCOM Flashing
----------------------------------------------------------------------

IT Assistant 6.1 introduces a new feature to remotely update the BIOS
on client systems running Client Instrumentation 6.0
or greater using Microsoft's DCOM technology. This feature can use
either the http protocol or the ftp protocol to send the BIOS update
file to the client system.

If you perform the following tasks during installation, the http protocol is
configured for DCOM flash by default.

* You select the option to install the IT Assistant services on a
  system that hosts a Web server.

* You select the option to configure DCOM security during the
  installation.

If the system on which you are installing the services does not have
a Web server, you can configure an ftp server to be used during
DCOM flash.

To use an ftp server, perform the following steps (the ftp server
must be running on the system running the IT Assistant services when
performing this procedure):

1. In the IT Assistant configuration directory, open the
   "dconfig.ini" file using a text editor.

2. Locate the [DCOM_BIOS_FLASH] section.

3. Set USE_FTP=1.

4. Set FTP_VIRT_ROOT to the root published by the ftp server (for
   Microsoft's ftp server, this step can be performed under the
   Computer Management application). For example:

   /BIOSFlashCabs

5. Set FTP_DIRECTORY to the actual directory where IT Assistant
   can store the packaged cab file containing the BIOS image for
   the client. For example:

   C:\mycabfiles

6. Save the "dconfig.ini" file and restart the IT Assistant services.


Forcing DCOM Use for BIOS Flash (Requires Client Support for DCOM)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

If DCOM is configured and you do not want others to use the legacy
method of flash BIOS, IT Assistant allows you to force DCOM to always
be selected and to be used for systems that support it. This setting
prevents the legacy method from being used for those systems. However,
for systems that do not support flash BIOS using DCOM, the legacy
method is still available.

To force DCOM to be used for clients that support it, perform the
following steps:

1. In the IT Assistant configuration directory, open the "dconfig.ini"
   file using a text editor.

2. Locate the [DCOM_BIOS_FLASH] section.

3. Set ALWAYS_USE_DCOM=1.

4. Save the "dconfig.ini" file and restart the IT Assistant services.

5. The "Use DCOM when possible" checkbox in the user interface should
   now be grayed-out and selected. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced Configuration for Paging
======================================================================

Maximum Page Message Length
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Some service providers put a limit on the maximum length of the page
message; the page might not go through if the message is beyond this
length. If your users' pages are not being received, the message length might be the
cause. Consult your service provider and obtain the maximum page
length supported. The length of the message allowed to go through can
be configured in the WinBEEP application. It can also be configured
through IT Assistant by performing the following steps:

1. In the IT Assistant configuration directory, open the "dconfig.ini"
   file using a text editor.

2. Locate the [EVENT_MANAGEMENT_CONFIG] section.

3. Set the MaxPageMssgLength parameter to the maximum length you want.
   
   All message strings longer than this is shortened to fit this
   value.

4. Save the "dconfig.ini file" and restart the IT Assistant services.


--------------------------------------------------------------------
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
(c) 2001 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission
of Dell Computer Corporation is strictly forbidden.

Trademarks used in this text: "Microsoft," "Windows," and "Windows NT" 
are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; "Intel" and "Pentium" 
are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; "NetWare" is a registered 
trademark of Novell Corporation; "UNIX" is a registered trademark of the
OpenGroup in the United States and other countries.

Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to
refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their
products. Dell Computer Corporation disclaims any proprietary
interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.

September 2001