- Starting SMC
- Describing the Console
- Specifying SMC Console Preferences
- Logging In to a Server
- Opening a Toolbox
Describing the Console
Figure 1 shows the elements of the default console.
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Figure 1 Elements of the Default SMC Console
Navigation Pane
The Navigation pane on the left side of the SMC Console works like a frame in a Web page. Clicking on an item in the Navigation pane specifies what is displayed in the View pane. The icon that is displayed next to groups of items is called a turner. Click on the turner icon or double-click on the text next to the icon to expand or collapse the group.
Figure 2 shows the turner icon in the Navigation pane expanded to show the default items for This Computer.
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Figure
2 The Turner Icon in the Navigation Pane
The View menu has a Show item, shown in Figure 3, that you can use to specify whether the Navigation pane is displayed. The Show menu also enables you to control display of the Tool bar, Location bar, Status bar, and Information pane.
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Figure 3 View Menu Show Item
View Pane
The View pane on the right of the SMC Console displays the contents of the node selected in the Navigation pane. The contents can be a file folder or a tool. If you selected a folder in the Navigation pane, the contents of that folder are displayed in the View pane.
Figure 4 shows the tools in the System Status folder displayed in the View pane. Note that the names of the tools are also displayed in the Navigation pane.
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Figure
4 Selected System Status Folder in the Navigation Pane
When the node selected in the Navigation pane is a complex tool like User Manager, the contents displayed in the View pane are subtools for user accounts and e-mail accounts, as shown in Figure 5.
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Figure
5 Selected Users Folder in the Navigation Pane
Double-clicking on one of the tools, such as the User Accounts, displays a list of available user accounts in the View pane, as shown in Figure 6.
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Figure
6 Viewing User Accounts
Information Pane
The Information pane at the bottom of the Console window displays information specified by either the Context Help or Console Events tabs. The View menu has a Show item that you can use to specify whether the Information pane is to be displayed.
When the Information pane is displayed, if the Context Help tab is selected, context help for the object selected in the Navigation pane is displayed, as shown in Figure 7.
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Figure
7 Context Help for User Accounts
When the Console Events tab is selected, the Information pane displays a list of events and alarm types for the object selected in the Navigation pane, as shown in Figure 8.
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Figure
8 Console Events for User Accounts
Menu Bar
The Console menu bar, with the Console menu displayed, is shown in Figure 9.
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Figure
9 Console Menu Bar and Console Menu
The Console menu bar contains the following items.
Console
New Console—Open a new Console with the startup preferences defined in the Preferences dialog (Console tab).
Open Toolbox—Open an existing toolbox in the current Console window.
Preferences—Display the Preferences window with tabs for changing Console, Appearance, Tool bar, Fonts, Tool Loading, and Authentication.
Console Events—Display the SMC Console Events log, which provides a comprehensive list of all events and alarms that occur within the Console. Click on the Console Events tab at the bottom of the Console to list the types of events in the Information pane.
Close—Close the current Console instance. If the instance is the last one, exit from SMC.
Exit—Exit from SMC.
Edit
Select All—Select all of the objects in the View pane.
Action
Properties—Display the properties for the selected tools if that tool has properties. Note that Properties is inactive for many tools.
View
Show—Display the Show submenu, which has toggles for displaying the Tool bar, Location bar, Status bar, Navigation pane, and Information pane.
View As—Display the View As submenu that you can use to choose Large icon, Small icon, List, or Details view in the View pane. You can also toggle between Web Style (single-click) and Classic Style (double-click) actions in the View pane.
Columns—For some tools you can display or suppress any of the columns available for the tool by clicking on a check box next to the item.
Sort By—For some tools, you can sort columns in ascending or descending order for various categories.
Filter—Display the Filter window to filter the information that is is displayed in the View pane.
Refresh—Refresh and redraw the Console.
Go
Up Level—Move up one level in the toolbox hierarchy and display the results in the navigation and View panes. This item is useful if the Navigation pane is not displayed because you have turned the display off in the View > Show menu.
Home Toolbox—Display the home toolbox, as defined in the Console tab of the Preferences window.
Help
Overview—Display help viewer with Overview in the topic pane.
Overview provides a general description of the Solaris Management Console.
Contents—Display help viewer with the table of contents in the Navigation pane.
Index—Display help viewer with the index in the Navigation pane.
Search—Display help viewer with the Find function in the help viewer Navigation pane.
About Console—Display the SMC version number, copyright, and trademark information.
Tool Bar
The default tool bar is shown in Figure 10.
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Figure
10 Default Tool Bar
The following list describes each of the tool bar icons and indicates, in parentheses, the menu where the tool is located. Clicking on one of the tools in the tool bar produces the same action as choosing the equivalent item from a Console menu. Some of the tools in the tool bar are active only for specific tools in the Console.
New Console (Console menu)—Open a new Console window with the startup preferences defined in the Preferences dialog (Console tab).
Open Toolbox (Console menu)—Open an existing toolbox in the current Console window.
Properties (Action menu)—Display the properties for the selected tools if that tool has properties. Note that the Properties item is inactive for many tools.
Refresh (View menu)—Refresh and redraw the Console.
Up Level (Go menu)—Move up one level in the toolbox hierarchy and display the results in the navigation and View panes. This item is useful if the Navigation pane is not displayed because you have turned the display off in the View > Show menu.
View As (View menu)—Display the View As submenu that you can use to choose Large icon, Small icon, List, or Details view in the View pane. You can also toggle between Web Style (single-click) and Classic Style (double-click) actions in the View pane.
Filter (View menu)—Display the Filter window to filter the information that is displayed in the View pane.
Cut (Edit menu; optional)—Remove selected objects from the View pane and put them on the clipboard.
Copy (Edit menu; optional)—Copy selected objects from the View pane and put them on the clipboard.
Paste (Edit menu; optional)—Paste objects from the clipboard.
Delete (Edit menu; optional)—Delete selected objects from the View pane.
Applications can add other icons to the right end of the tool bar. In the example shown in Figure 11, the Users application adds three icons that, from left to right, represent Add Users With Wizard, Add Multiple Users, and Copy to Group or Mailing List.
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Figure
11 Users Application Icons at the Right End of the Tool Bar
Location Bar
The location bar, by default, is not displayed. To display the location bar, from the View menu, choose Show, Location Bar. The location bar is shown in Figure 12.
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Figure
12 Location Bar
The location bar includes a Home Toolbox icon. You can click on the Home Toolbox icon to open your home toolbox. The Toolbox field shows the current toolbox and the item selected in the toolbox. The arrow at the right is a pulldown menu with a list of recent toolboxes visited. To open a recently visited toolbox, choose a toolbox from the pulldown menu.
Status Bar
The status bar at the bottom of the Console contains three panes, as shown in Figure 13. The left pane of the status bar indicates the number of items (nodes) beneath the node that is selected in the Navigation pane. The center pane indicates Console activity with a back and forth "shade" movement. This pane is active when the console is performing an action such as loading a tool. The right pane displays progress information during some Console tasks such as opening a toolbox file.
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Figure 13 Status Bar
The View menu has a Show item that you can use to specify whether the status bar is displayed.
Console Help and Console Events Tabs
You can use the Context Help and Console Events tabs to specify what is displayed in the Information pane.
Context Help is displayed by default. The Console Events log displays the types of log events that you can view in the Console Events log. Only those types of events that have been logged are displayed. Click on any of the links in the Information pane to view the log for the selected event type. Click on the individual events in the log to view a brief description of the event.
Figure 14 shows an example of a Console Events log.
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Figure 14 Console Events Log