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Register and Synchronize a CommCell
Register and Synchronize a CommCell with Two CommNet Servers
The software provides an efficient way of managing multiple CommCells, by reporting all the vital information in a concise manner, highlighting only the problem areas instead of reporting all the details which could easily overwhelm an administrator.
In order to monitor the CommCells in your CommNet domain, you must register the CommCell with your CommNet Server. See, Register a CommCell.
Once registered, each CommCell node displays the following:
CommCell Summary displays the date and time at which the data was obtained from the CommCell in the title of the summary page. If you wish to obtain a more up-to-date information on the CommCell, you can synchronize the CommCell as described in Synchronize Cells.
The following information is synchronized from the selected CommCells:
The following information is synchronized from selected the SRM components in a CommCell:
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When the following configurations are modified, the changes are immediately pushed to the active CommCell(s); cell synchronization is not required to propagate this information to the cells.
This information will be pushed accordingly when services (CommNet Server or Bull Calypso Server Event Manager) are restarted as well. |
If the CommCell is registered to a CommNet Server, the client readiness check is automatically run every 24 hours from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. If necessary you can change these values using the following registry keys:
Client readiness checks cannot occur when services are down. The initial client readiness check is triggered 30 minutes after services are restarted. Once triggered, the values set in the registry keys are honored.
Your CommNet environment may require an alternate department (or even a third-party entity) to monitor a CommCell's data in your CommNet domain for the purpose of data and cost analysis. To satisfy this requirement, the CommCell can be registered with two CommNet Servers, which enables an alternate site to monitor the CommCell. During the CommCell registration process, the first server registered is designated as the primary server, where the other will be designated as the secondary server. The functional difference between the two CommNet servers are that only the primary server can push policies like global filters, billable entities and cost categories to the CommCell. Both CommNet Servers can collect data, monitor, control jobs and resources, and generate reports. The capabilities of the primary and secondary CommNet servers are outlined in the following table.
| Primary CommNet Server | Secondary CommNet Server |
| Run and view reports. | Run and view reports. |
| Control Jobs: Suspend, Resume, Kill. | Control Jobs: Suspend, Resume, Kill. |
| Control Resources (libraries, drives/mountpaths, MediaAgents): Enable, Disable, or Reset. | Control Resources (libraries, drives/mountpaths, MediaAgents): Enable, Disable, or Reset. |
| Configure global filters and propagate downward to CommCell. | |
| Define billable entities and propagate downward to CommCell. | |
| Define cost categories and propagate downward to CommCell. |
Remember, the secondary CommNet server should be designated as the server for the alternate site
due to its inability to distribute its global filter, billing and costing
definitions to the CommCell.
With this, a
CommCell registered to two CommNet servers might resemble the diagram displayed
to the right.
The capability differences between the primary and secondary CommNet servers warrant caution when registering a CommCell to two servers. If you register a CommCell to multiple servers, and inadvertently designate the primary server to a site designated to only monitor the data (perhaps even a third-party), they will now will have the ability to define cost categories and billing entities, thereby jeopardizing the security and integrity of your data/environment. Furthermore, the CommNet server that is inadvertently designated as the secondary server, may appear to be failing b/c of the inability to execute cost analysis tasks. For verification, you can identify whether a CommNet Server is the primary or secondary server from the CommCell Summary. The General section of the summary will indicate whether or not the CommNet Server is the primary or secondary server for the CommCell.
It may be necessary to re-designate the roles of the primary and secondary servers perhaps due to a failover situation. To re-designate the servers, you must access the CommCell's Control Panel. From there, the CommNet Properties dialog will enable you to identify the CommNet Servers to which the CommCell is registered, as well as which server is designated as the CommCell’s Primary CommNet Server; and if necessary, enable you to re-designate the Secondary CommNet Server as the Primary Server, and vice versa. If you reverse the roles, be sure to note the following considerations:
For step-by-step instructions, see:
| To register a CommCell with two CommNet Servers, all components must have the latest software version installed. |
Jobs and Resources is a CommCell task in the CommNet Browser. When selected, users can select to view the CommCell's status information in a Jobs View and Resources View. See Run CommCell Tasks.
The Job View contains the all the jobs associated with the selected CommCell. This view is automatically refreshed every 30 seconds per CommCell. Users can view the status of the jobs and control them via this view, which is especially useful if the Jobs View indicates that there is a problem with a resource hindering a successful completion.
From this view, users can right click on a job and perform the following actions:
For more information, see Control Jobs from the CommCell Jobs View.
The Resources view contains the events that have occurred on a given mountpath, library, drive or MediaAgent. This view is automatically refreshed every 30 seconds per CommCell as well. Users can control the mountpath and resources via this view. It can be used to quickly identify whether any libraries and/or MediaAgents are offline, or if there are any other problems with any of the resources. Additionally, from this view, users can click on a Library, Drive, MediaAgent, or Media to launch another window displaying the resource's specific details. This is especially useful if the Jobs and Resources view indicates that there is a problem with a resource.
From this view, users can right-click on a Library, Drive/Mountpath, or MediaAgent to perform the following actions:
Users can also filter the Resources View to only display details related to specific libraries or MediaAgents.
For more information, see Manage Resources from the CommCell Resources View.