HP 742n - Pavilion - 512 MB RAM User manual

HP Toptools 5.5
User Guide

toptools User Guide
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Preface
Toptools is a collection of applications and agents designed to provide device management of Hewlett-Packard
computing products. At the center of the toptools solution is a device management tool (also referred to as the
Device Manager) that is designed to help you identify and diagnose network and system problems quickly using a
friendly and intuitive web-based interface. Additional “components” can be installed that provide management
functions for specific device types such as servers or hubs and switches.
This User Guide will provide instructions on the installation and use of toptools. For instructions on using HP
Toptools Enterprise Products, refer to the User Guide for each specific product.
Organization of this Guide
This guide introduces you to toptools and suggests ways in which it can ease your network and system management
tasks. It is organized into the following sections:
• Introduction provides an overview of toptools and describes its features.
• Installation provides a list of prerequisites and step-by-step installation instructions.
• Using Toptools describes how to use toptools to perform typical network management tasks.
• Information and Support provides remedies to common problems and information on how to get support. It
also gives web locations where you can find HP computing product management-related information.
• The Glossary provides definitions of common network terms.
New Features
This release contains many new features. For a more complete list of changes refer to the Readme file. Some of the
new features are:
• New devices and systems supported. Windows XP, HP-UX, Linux. HP 9000 Servers, Microsoft Clusters,
APC UPS’s, and IA-64 hardware running Windows 2000 or Windows XP are now supported.
• System Performance Advisor added. The System Performance Advisor allows you to monitor Microsoft
Windows system resources. You can create custom performance reports for selected systems.
• Enhanced discovery. Discovery node count is now limited only by system resources. See the Requirements
discussion in the Installation section for more information. Toptools discovers the presence of pcAnywhere,
NTWebAdmin, Telnet, and Instant Toptools. Additional discovery from manually added devices is restricted to
provide greater control of the discovery process.
• Improved event management. Custom groups can now be used for device selection. NT Event logging has
been added as an action. A frequent alert report has been added to help identify problem devices. A test alert
feature has been added to aid in action configuration. Automatic alert deletion has been added to remove
unacknowledged alerts after “n” days.
• Extended asset management. New inventory reports for Windows XP migration, racked systems, server
drivers, and HP 9000 servers have been added. Reports for hubs, switches, routers, and Remote Control cards
now provide firmware version information.

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• New Property Pages. Support information has been added for Instant Support Tuner, PartSurfer, and Smart
Search.
• Simpler security. Toptools user groups are now local restricting access to the domain and allowing user
groups to be added to the User Role groups (toptools, toptools operators, and toptools admins).
• Utilities. Utilities are provided to make management easier.
Mib2Imp – Allows import of supplemental alert descriptions
SetTTPassword – Allows you to configure toptools accounts and passwords after installation.
TTAddDevices – Allows you to add lists of devices and addresses.
• Training. Self-paced training for toptools is available on the toptools CD at \Online Training\start.html or
from the Hewlett-Packard web site at ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/toptools/Training/start.html

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Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 7
What Can HP Toptools Manage?.............................................................................................................. 7
Architecture ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Installation ................................................................................................................... 11
Hardware and Software Requirements ................................................................................................... 11
Toptools Management Server........................................................................................................................11
Recommendations for Managing Large Networks .........................................................................................13
Toptools Consoles .........................................................................................................................................13
Managed Nodes ............................................................................................................................................15
Installation Procedure.............................................................................................................................. 17
Using HP Toptools ...................................................................................................... 33
Navigating the HP Toptools Console ...................................................................................................... 33
The Navigation Panel.....................................................................................................................................34
The Device Selector.......................................................................................................................................35
The Alert Log .................................................................................................................................................38
Online Help ....................................................................................................................................................39
Applications, Actions and Settings .......................................................................................................... 39
Performing Actions on Devices......................................................................................................................39
Viewing Inventory Reports .............................................................................................................................51
Inventory Data Collection...............................................................................................................................51
Polling ............................................................................................................................................................52
Discovery .......................................................................................................................................................53
Auditing..........................................................................................................................................................53
Actions on Alerts............................................................................................................................................54
Internet & Email Services...............................................................................................................................55
Managing the Drivers/Firmware Version Database .......................................................................................55
Managing the TFTP Server............................................................................................................................56
Managing Toptools Services..........................................................................................................................56
Installing the Toptools MMC Snap-In .............................................................................................................56
Using the System Performance Advisor.................................................................................................. 57
Performance Button.......................................................................................................................................58
System Performance .....................................................................................................................................58
Standard Report ............................................................................................................................................58
Custom Reports.............................................................................................................................................58
Starting Performance Monitoring ...................................................................................................................58
Creating A Custom Group..............................................................................................................................59
Selecting A Group to Monitor.........................................................................................................................59
Configuring the Performance Advisor ............................................................................................................59
Deploying Agents...........................................................................................................................................60
System Prerequisites .....................................................................................................................................62
Performance Reports.....................................................................................................................................63

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HP Toptools for Desktops ....................................................................................................................... 68
Locating Personal Computers........................................................................................................................68
Updating Drivers/Firmware ............................................................................................................................69
Preventative Maintenance .............................................................................................................................71
HP Toptools for Servers .......................................................................................................................... 74
Obtaining Operational Status.........................................................................................................................74
Obtaining Software and Driver Information ....................................................................................................74
Finding a Bad Hard Disk Drive Using the Disk Locator Tool..........................................................................76
HP Toptools for Hubs and Switches........................................................................................................ 78
Displaying Topology Maps.............................................................................................................................78
Monitoring Network Traffic Levels..................................................................................................................82
Information and Support ............................................................................................ 89
Online Support and Information .............................................................................................................. 89
Telephone Support .................................................................................................................................. 89
HP Toptools Documentation and Training .............................................................................................. 90
Performance and Troubleshooting Tips .................................................................................................. 90
Glossary....................................................................................................................... 93

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Introduction
Toptools is a web-based, device management tool that enables administrators and MIS managers to use a web
browser to obtain information about devices on their network. It provides a common management application for HP
personal computers, Netservers, HP-UX systems, AdvanceStack and ProCurve hubs and switches, and LaserJet
printers as well as products from other vendors.
What Can HP Toptools Manage?
Toptools provides critical network and systems management services to both HP and non-HP devices on the
network allowing administrators to quickly and easily determine the health and configuration of their network
resources through the following services:
• Asset Management. Toptools discovers and reports on all devices connected to the network (PCs, servers,
printers, networking devices) using automated discovery and inventory processes that save collected data to an
ODBC compliant database. Users can browse network resources and reports using a web browser to open a
toptools console session, or a database application like Microsoft Access to merge data into more sophisticated
IS project and asset management databases. In addition, toptools can be used with HP-UX ServiceControl
Manager (SCM) to provide additional management capabilities for HP-UX systems.
• Fault Management. Toptools receives, logs, displays, and acts on alerts from devices in your network, and
then provides the tools to help troubleshoot and resolve problems when they occur. For example, Hubs &
Switches Automatic Configuration Management can configure your ProCurve switches to automatically send a
trap to the Toptools server when a traffic problem occurs. Toptools can be configured to send a page when the
alert is received. When paged, the administrator can log into toptools using a web browser, get more details on
the alert, and then access the switch from the toptools Device Selector to correct the problem by (e.g.) changing
the configuration of a port.
• Configuration Management. Using toptools, administrators can directly access the configuration of critical
resources such as printers through HP Web JetAdmin, or distribute software such as drivers or BIOS to HP
personal computers and Netservers.
• Security Management. Toptools allows users to configure access to HP products through actions such as Lock
System for an HP Vectra, or configuring MAC address access to ports on HP ProCurve hubs.
• Performance Management. Toptools provides both network and system performance monitoring tools.
Toptools for Hubs & Switches offers the Network Performance Advisor and Traffic Monitor to view and advise
on network traffic. Toptools for Desktops agents provide Resource Monitoring tools that monitor and display
system resource utilization on PCs and generate alerts when thresholds are exceeded. Toptools contains the
System Performance Advisor which monitors systems utilization and generates systems utilization alerts for HP
and non-HP PC and server products at the individual device or group level.
Any device from any vendor can be managed, provided that the device is on a TCP/IP or IPX/SPX network and
running a management agent from one of the following industry standardized protocols: DMI, SNMP, WMI,
HTTP. The amount of management support provided by toptools is determined by:
• HP Product. Toptools is designed to lower the cost of ownership of HP computing products by accessing the
manageability built into HP products. While toptools will provide a strong management solution for products
from other vendors, toptools will provide the most extensive detail on HP products.
• Agent support. Toptools provides the best support to new HP products running current HP management
agents. The more agent standards that are supported by a device the more data toptools can collect. For non-HP
systems, the level of industry standard compliance can also affect the amount of information that toptools can
access.

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Toptools provides specific management to the following HP products:
• HP Vectra and Brio Desktops
• HP Kayak and Visualize Workstations
• HP Omnibook Notebooks
• HP Netservers
• HP ProCurve and AdvanceStack networking devices
• HP LaserJet and JetDirect products
• HP Jornada PC Companions
• HP SureStore products
• HP Network Attached Storage (NAS) products
• HP-UX systems
Architecture
Toptools collects and then stores information about your network into an ODBC compliant database (MEDS) on a
web server. Toptools uses the web server to authenticate and present the information to toptools consoles. The
toptools console, which presents the data to the user (network administrator), can be launched from any station on
your network running a web browser supported by the toptools application.
The web browser (toptools console) and the web server use the HTTP protocol, a standard used by the Internet that
provides extensible mechanisms to authenticate a user and offers various encryption options to secure the
communication. The use of a single protocol from the console to the management server simplifies remote
connections through firewalls and minimizes security risks.
Toptools Configuration
Toptools communicates with managed devices using industry standard protocols: TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, DMI, WMI,
SNMP, and HTTP. The protocols used to discover, inventory and manage each device will depend on which
protocols the managed device supports. For example, toptools will typically use IP, SNMP, and HTTP to
communicate with a ProCurve switch, IPX and SNMP to manage a Netserver running Novell NetWare, and IP and
WMI to manage a new Windows 2000 HP Kayak workstation. The toptools discovery process, one of the several
processes that are part of the toptools application, automatically detects which protocols are supported and saves that
information to the database.

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Toptools Operating Components
A number of toptools components run continuously on the management server, gathering data in the background
even if no user is logged on. The following background components operate on a schedule (some schedules are user-
configurable).
• The Toptools Services component is a continuously running process that supports the toptools background
components. It starts up when the system boots, without any user log-on. Toptools Services provides the
following:
♦ Start up of configured toptools components when the system boots, including dependency
checking.
♦ Scheduling of components at specific times of day, or at specified time intervals.
♦ An interface which lets you start, stop and pause individual toptools services (similar to the
Windows NT Services application, servman.exe).
• Discovery services components run as background services to discover network connected devices
(discovery) and their relationships (topology). Discovery services run in one or more processes and are
coordinated by a Discovery Control component, which runs under the Toptools Services. In addition, if a
device sends a trap (SNMP) or an alert (DMI or WMI) to the toptools device manager, the device will
automatically be added to the discovery database if the address is not already present.
• Database Server services automatically maintain the device database.
• Event Monitor/Event Viewer services run continuously to collect, log, and display device events.
• Polling services request responses (ping) from devices to determine operational status. These services
operate on user-configured schedules.
• System Performance Advisor provides monitoring and threshold alerts for CPU, memory, disc I/O, and
storage utilization. This feature, which is available for PCs and servers running Windows operating
systems, requires the installation of Performance agents on managed systems.
• Toptools for Hubs & Switches provides services such as traffic data collector that are also controlled by
the Toptools Services Control. Refer to the HP Toptools for Hubs & Switches User Guide for more
information.
• HP Web JetAdmin. Selected as a component during installation, HP Web JetAdmin may work
independently of toptools, or integrate with toptools to manage HP printing products. For more
information, refer to Web JetAdmin user documentation.
As a system administrator, you can stop and restart these services from within toptools. Online help provides
detailed instructions for these procedures.

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Toptools Databases
• The Device Database (MEDS.mdb). The Managed Elements Data Store (MEDS) provides persistent storage
for information about the managed devices. The discovery and inventory programs put data into or ‘populate’
MEDS, including a list of devices and their attributes (network address, object type, name, etc.). MEDS uses a
Microsoft Access database, and provides read-only access through ODBC.
• The Alert Database (Alerts.mdb). This database is an ODBC-compliant database used to store alerts received
by toptools.
• The Software Revision Management Database (RMDB.mdb). This database stores information about
software updates for HP personal computers, Netservers, and ProCurve networking devices.
• The System Performance Advisor Database (perfmon.mdb). Stores information collected by the System
Performance Advisor to provide trending information.
Toptools for Hubs & Switches creates files that are used to track traffic and topology information collected from HP
ProCurve and AdvanceStack devices.
- NOTE -
IMPORTANT: Do not attempt to modify MEDS or any other toptools database! This will result in failure of
the toptools applications. To use toptools databases for other purposes, make a copy of the database
and modify the duplicate in another location!

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Installation
This section describes the requirements and installation of toptools.
- NOTE -
Refer to the toptools README file for changes or additions
to the installation instructions in this User Guide.
Hardware and Software Requirements
Toptools consists of three main components:
• Toptools Management Server
• Toptools Consoles
• Managed Nodes
For successful installation and operation of toptools, you must verify that the station on which you will install the
toptools server meets or exceeds the minimum requirements as specified below for both the toptools server and
toptools consoles.
For best results, managed devices should be configured with management agents prior to installation so that toptools
can discover them during the first discovery cycle.
Toptools Management Server
The toptools server setup program (installation wizard) performs a thorough check of your system to verify that the
minimum requirements listed in the following tables are met prior to installing toptools software. For software
requirements, the toptools installation wizard may prompt you to install missing components, or in some cases, it
may offer to install them for you.
To reduce the amount of time required for installation, you should verify that your system meets the minimum
requirements listed below. Some items, such as an unsupported Operating System type or insufficient system access
privileges, will cause setup.exe to exit without installing toptools.
Hardware requirements
Processor Intel Pentium 266MHz or better
Memory • 128 MB RAM or better
• Paging file of 150 MB or better
Hard Drive Minimum 2 GB hard disk with 100-400 MB (depending on components
installed) available before installing toptools
Video Super VGA (16 bit color) or better
Network Adapter Required. Any supported by system
Mouse Required. Any supported by system

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Networking requirements:
Access • Local Administrator (if installing in a Workgroup environment)
• Domain Administrator if installing into a Windows NT or 2000 Domain.
IP Addressing Required.
• If using DHCP, IP address for the toptools server must be ‘reserved’.
• Verify that the IP hostname matches the hostname entry for the IP
address in the DNS server. This may be accomplished by running the
program nslookup.exe.
IPX Addressing Optional. Microsoft IPX/SPX and Netware Client Services are needed to
manage Novell Netware clients and servers that are not running TCP/IP. If
not installed, you may add this component after toptools installation.
Installing toptools on a system participating in a Windows domain is recommended because:
• Access through IIS is available through Windows user accounts and may be configured through the domain.
• WMI management security uses Windows user accounts to grant or deny access. The toptools admin account in
the domain typically has sufficient access to WMI data on systems within the same or trusted domains. If you
install into a workgroup, you will need to explicitly grant access permission to the toptools admin account on
each WMI based system you wish to manage.
Software requirements:
Operating System • Windows NT 4.0 Server or Workstation
• Windows 2000 Professional or Server editions
Service Pack Required: Windows NT SP 5 or 6a for NT. If neither of these are
installed, the toptools installation will install SP 6a.
SNMP Required. If not installed, you will be prompted during installation to provide
the Operating System installation CD. Windows NT Service Pack 6a will be
reapplied after installation of SNMP.
Web Server Required: Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) or Personal Web
Server.
• Windows NT – included as part of toptools installation
• Windows 2000 – you will be prompted for the Operating System
installation CD if IIS is not detected.
Most required and optional software is either included in the Operating System (such as WBEM in Windows 2000)
or provided in the toptools installation such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, Windows NT Option Pack
components or WBEM (for Windows NT). Only the Windows NT SNMP service and the Windows 2000 SNMP
and IIS services will require that you provide a CD, and you will be prompted by the installation wizard for the CD
if necessary.
The toptools server system should be configured with a paging file large enough to accommodate the size of the
hard drives, operating system, and web server, plus toptools applications. Typically, 150 MB paging file is
sufficient. Refer to Windows documentation for more information on optimizing and managing virtual memory.

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Recommendations for Managing Large Networks
If you are managing large networks (greater than 5000 devices) you should increase the capabilities of the toptools
server. An Intel Pentium 4 with a processor speed > 1.3 GHz and an additional 256 MB of RAM for every 10,000
nodes (e.g. HP Vectra VL800). The faster the processor and more RAM the better your performance will be.
If you do not require the Hubs and Switches component, do not install it. If you need to install the Hubs and
Switches component, the following is recommended:
Set Traffic Data collection to Manual mode. The traffic monitoring capabilities of the HP TopTools Traffic Monitor
application can require a lot of system resources. Therefore, in large network environments, it is suggested that you
manually select the points at which you would like to collect traffic data. Usually, you will want to collect traffic
data on your network backbone segments and on segments with heavily utilized servers.
Traffic Monitor can use the HP X-RMON functionality built into HP ProCurve and HP AdvanceStack and even
HP Ethertwist network devices to provide detailed information on who is using network segments. It also uses
standard traffic counters to provide basic traffic levels on network segments. Traffic Monitor can realistically
monitor up to 200 network segments using the HP X-RMON technology. It can monitor up to 1800 additional
segments using standard traffic counters. You should use the following instructions to turn on Manual traffic data
collection and configure which network segments will be monitored with HP X-RMON and which additional
segments will be monitored using standard traffic counters.
1. On the toptools page, select Performance ->Traffic Data Collector Settings
2. On the Performance – Traffic Data Collector Settings page select the “User Selected Switch and Hub
Ports (Manual)” setting
3. Use the Add Device(s) button to add the devices on which you would like to collect Traffic Data
4. On each device, select the ports on which you would like to collect Traffic Data by expanding the device
and then selecting either the Traffic Stats or the HP X-RMON check box for the desired ports.
Toptools Consoles
Because toptools is a web-based application, any system running a supported web browser may act as a toptools
console. For this reason, it is important to consider security when configuring console access to toptools.
When installing the toptools server, the installation wizard will install Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 if absent or an
earlier unsupported version is detected. You may use the Microsoft Internet Explorer installation files on the
toptools CD to install a supported browser on additional systems on your network.
The following table provides the console requirements:
Supported Browsers Windows:
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 sp2 (JVM 2436)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 (JVM 3167)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
• Netscape Navigator 4.61
• Netscape Navigator 4.72
Windows 2000:
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 (JVM 3234)
• Netscape Navigator 4.72
HP-UX 10.20 and 11.x:
• Netscape Navigator 4.51 (use Sun fonts)
• Netscape Navigator 4.61 (use Sun fonts)
Sun Solaris 2.6:
• Netscape Navigator 4.51
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0

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Resolution Minimum: 800 X 600 X 256 colors
Settings • Always accept cookies
• Always refresh new page
• Exclude using a proxy to access your toptools server
Browser settings are extremely important. Set your browser to exclude using a web proxy to access your toptools
server. This can be done for your entire DNS domain or just for the toptools server depending on your network
requirements. (Example: For Internet Explorer 4.x go Tools => Internet Options => Connections => LAN
Settings => Bypass proxy box).
Also, be certain that your browsers (consoles) are configured to use the same security mechanisms as the toptools
server. For example, your browser console must be prepared to use SSL if the web server on the toptools server is
configured to use Certificate Authentication. If you have enabled Windows NT Challenge Response (Windows NT)
or Integrated Windows Authentication (Windows 2000), the user at the browser must be prepared to supply a valid
Windows user name and password.
When using Netscape, the “afc11.zip” file must be present in the java\classes directory. Toptools will sense the
presence or absence of this file the first time you connect to it via Netscape and walk you through installation of this
file. Do not unzip it.
When toptools is being accessed from a console running unix:
• replace the HP fonts with Sun fonts by setting the environment variables for the session by typing:
MOZILLA_JAVA_FONT_PROPERTIES=/opt/netscape/java/classes
export MOZILLA_JAVA_FONT_PROPERTIES
• ensure that the "afc11.zip" file resides in the =/opt/netscape/java/classes directory.
If using Netscape Navigator, you must configure the Web server to use Basic Authentication. Refer to the
Application Note “HP Toptools Security” for more information on configuring security for the toptools application.
During installation of the toptools server, a shortcut to a console session is placed on the desktop of the toptools
server.

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To start a remote console session from another system, open the following URL:
http://Toptools_Server_Host_Name.company.com/hptt where Toptools_Server_Host_Name.company.com is
the valid IP hostname resolved in your DNS for your toptools server
-or-
http://#.#.#.#/hptt where #.#.#.# is the IP address of the toptools server.
Managed Nodes
- NOTE -
You must have agents (toptools, SNMP, DMI, WMI or Webagent)
running on managed devices to provide management information
to toptools.
Toptools will attempt to discover and identify any devices connected to your network using TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, or
Windows ‘Network Neighborhood’ discovery. While toptools will make an entry for a device that responds to
discovery, toptools cannot identify, inventory, or manage devices that do not have a management agent implemented
on them. For the best results, all devices (both HP and non-HP) should have their most recent management agent
installed.
Managing HP computing products
HP computing products support a variety of agents that are provided free-of-charge.
• HP Personal Computers. HP personal computer products (HP Vectra, Kayak, Omnibook, Visualize, and
Brio) must be running a Toptools for Desktops, Toptools for Notebooks, Toptools for Visualize, or
Toptools for Brio agent respectively which provide DMI or WMI support depending on the version of the
agent and model of the product. Once installed, toptools can identify, inventory, provide detailed property
pages, run management actions, distribute software and automatically receive and process alerts from these
products. Most HP personal computers come equipped with toptools agents already installed. To check for
update information, refer to http://www.hp.com/go/kayaksupport or http://www.hp.com/go/vectrasupport.
To download agents, visit the toptools web site at http://www.hp.com/toptools.
• HP Jornada PC Companions. These products (also referred to as “Handheld PCs” or “PalmTops”) are
manageable by toptools when they are docked to an HP personal computer running the Toptools for
Desktops and PC Companion Desktop DMI agents. Upon docking, the PC Companion Desktop DMI agent
downloads an agent to the Jornada called the PC Companion agent. To download the Toptools for
Desktops and PC Companion Desktop DMI agents, go to the download page at the toptools web site
http://www.hp.com/toptools.
• HP Netservers. To use toptools to manage HP Netservers, HP Netserver Agents (Toptools for Servers
agents) must be installed on the Netservers. These agents support both SNMP and DMI and enable toptools
to identify, inventory, poll, manage, and automatically receive and process alerts from HP Netservers. In
addition, HP Netservers are associated with the Toptools Remote Control card accessory if detected. The
Toptools Remote Control card is managed through a firmware agent that uses SNMP and webagent
technology. Instructions for installing HP Netserver (toptools) agents is provided in the Toptools for
Servers Administration Guide and on the Net Server Navigator CD. The latest information and downloads
can be obtained at http://www.hp.com/toptools.
• HP ProCurve and AdvanceStack Hubs and Switches. HP networking devices are managed using both
SNMP and webagent technology provided in the device firmware. This software is included with the
product and enabled during product installation. Additional information is provided in the Toptools for
Hubs & Switches User's Guide and on the Toptools for Hubs & Switches CD. The latest information can be
obtained at http://www.hp.com/rnd/support/support.htm.
• HP-UX Systems. HP-UX systems can be managed using DMI and SNMP technology. Additional
management features are available when toptools is used together with an HP-UX SCM (Service Control
Manager) Server.

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• HP LaserJet Printers. HP LaserJet and JetDirect products are supported through integration with HP
Web JetAdmin which is included on the toptools CD. To manage HP LaserJet products, the JetDirect
interface must be installed. JetDirect uses SNMP and webagent technology on the firmware of the
JetDirect card. Once enabled and configured, toptools and Web JetAdmin provide inventory, property page,
firmware update, status monitoring and alert reception functions for HP printing products.
• System Performance Advisor. Toptools provides Performance Agents that may be installed free-of-
charge on HP and non-HP systems.
If you want to use the System Performance Advisor to monitor performance on Windows systems, you will need to
install performance monitoring agents on the systems to be monitored. The installation of these agents does not need
to be done before you install toptools. Refer to the online help topic "Performance Agent Deployment" for
additional information.
Note: The number of devices that you can monitor using the System Performance Advisor will vary depending on
the capabilities of the toptools server and your network configuration. The performance agents utilize about 2% of
the CPU availability on a typical monitored Pentium-based system.
Other HP products such as HP-UX workstations and server and networked attached storage are also managed by
toptools. For more information, refer to your product’s documentation.
Managing Non-HP products
Devices must be running agent software provided by their manufacturer (e.g. SNMP support enabled in Cisco
routers) or by another provider (e.g. Microsoft SNMP services installed on a non-HP server or the Intel LanDesk
client installed on a non-HP PC). In all cases, the agent technology must adhere to industry standard DMI, SNMP,
WMI, or HTTP. If a device supports more than one protocol, it will be managed using all protocols supported.
Toptools will attempt to collect and display information using whichever protocol is available. The table below
depicts what level of support is provided to devices supporting each of the listed protocols:
Toptools Services SNMP v.2 (MIB-II) DMI 2.0 WMI HTTP
Discover Yes Yes Yes Yes
Identify Device Type Device Type and OS Device Type and OS No
Polling Yes Yes Yes Yes
Inventory Yes Yes Yes No
Property Pages Yes Yes Yes
Link to webagent
page (5)
Actions Toptools generic
Toptools generic plus
Power On (4) Toptools generic Toptools generic
Alert reception (1) (2) (3) N/a
Software Distribution No No No No
‘Toptools generic’ refers to non-device specific actions such as Add to Custom Group, Delete, etc.
(1) SNMP traps sent to toptools will appear with the system object identifier (a number string). Toptools provides a utility that
compiles proprietary SNMP MIBS to load trap definitions into toptools. Once loaded, SNMP traps from non-HP devices
(such as Compaq servers) or SNMP trap forwarding applications (such as HP ManageX or Microsoft BackOffice) will be
recognized by toptools and displayed with user friendly descriptions within the Alert Log. In addition, these alerts will be
handled by other toptools services such as Actions on Alerts and the Most Frequent Alerts Report.
(2) Toptools uses the standard DMI 2.0 mechanism to ‘subscribe’ for DMI alerts. If you have a non-HP PC or server that has a
DMI agent and uses DMI to send alerts, toptools will automatically receive and process alerts from the PC.
(3) WBEM alert handling has not yet been standardized by the DMTF. Therefore, WMI alert handling is supported for HP PCs
only. Other vendors like IBM may use another protocol (e.g. SNMP) to send alerts. In this case, the system would be
managed using both SNMP and WMI.

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(4) Power On will work with systems that support standard Magic Packet technology.
(5) If a device supports a webagent technology and another technology, such as WMI, toptools will create a link to the
management home page (webagent) and will also generate generic toptools property pages. Toptools automatically
discovers webagents (or web servers) listening on port 80 (Device Home Page) or ports 280, 411, 2301, or 6500
(Management Home Page). The management URL for a specific device may be manually set using the Device
Communication dialog.
Installation Procedure
This section will provide step-by-step instructions on installing a toptools server on a Windows NT or 2000 system.
- Note -
If you upgrade from a version of toptools earlier than 5.0, the installation wizard will offer to
uninstall the earlier version for you. If you choose not to uninstall the earlier version, the
installation process will halt.
If you are uninstalling a version earlier than toptools 5.0 you will lose settings and device
information in the toptools databases. This means that you must rediscover your network
and reenter any configuration or supplementary information before using toptools.
If you are upgrading from toptools 5.0, you can elect to save database information during
the uninstall process. This information can be restored for use with toptools 5.5 Refer to the
uninstallation and installation procedures for more information. If you do not save
information during the uninstall process you will lose configuration and database
information. Check the readme file and the toptools web site for the latest information.
You can install the toptools server from the toptools CD ROM (run CD:\setup.exe) or from the toptools web site.
The web site is located at http://www.hp.com/toptools. Go to the download page and follow the directions
provided. The toptools installation wizard (setup.exe) is an extensive program designed to make the toptools
installation process friendly and successful. It performs the following basic steps:
1. Checks your system for necessary hardware, operating system and web server components to determine which
if any of these components need to be installed, and then reports on steps that must be completed by the user or
the installation wizard.
2. Prompts the user for desired toptools components.
3. Installs prerequisite software and toptools applications while continually displaying status.
The complete installation process including prerequisite software may take up to 45 minutes depending on the
number of components to be installed and the number of reboots necessary. Toptools uses an ‘auto logon’ feature
that automatically logs the user into the system and continues the installation process following a required reboot.
Before running setup.exe, verify the following:
 The system meets the minimum hardware and networking requirements as specified in the previous section
and the readme file.
 The Operating System is Windows NT 4.0 Workstation or Server, or Windows 2000 Professional, Server,
or Advanced Server edition.
 You have a Windows NT Operating System installation CD if installing on a Windows NT system that
does not already have the Microsoft SNMP service installed.
 You have a Windows 2000 Operating System installation CD if installing on a Windows 2000 system that
does not already have the Microsoft SNMP service and/or Microsoft IIS already installed.
The following steps show dialogs from a variety of systems. The dialogs you see and the exact procedure you will
follow will vary depending on the operating system, existing software environment, and the components you select.
For information on upgrading toptools or installing toptools on non-English versions of Windows, refer to the
readme file.

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Step 1: Close other applications and run CD:\setup.exe or begin the installation
process from the web site download page.
You will see the following dialog:
Step 2: Click Next.
The toptools installation wizard will check your system for requirements and installed components and then report
on the results. You may see a screen similar to the following:
This example shows a Windows 2000 Professional Workstation that has met the necessary hardware and networking
requirements, but needs to install both SNMP and IIS services. As shown in the dialog above, the wizard will
indicate which components are needed, whether a CD (or reboot) is required, and the order in which the components
will be installed.

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Step 3: Select toptools components and destination directory.
The Toptools Component Selection dialog allows you to choose which toptools components you would like to
install in addition to toptools core services such as discovery, inventory, and event management. You may elect to
add components at another time by running install again.
Hubs & Switches Installs Toptools for Hubs & Switches applications like Network Performance
Advisor and topology mapping. These applications manage HP ProCurve and
AdvanceStack products.
Netserver Components Adds software needed to manage HP Netservers and Toptools Remote Control
cards.
Desktop PCs Provides specific management of HP personal computer products. Functions like
software version control and security actions are added to the toptools console.
Web JetAdmin for Printers By selecting this option, the toptools installation wizard will either install Web
JetAdmin server on the toptools server and integrate it with the toptools console, or
link to a Web JetAdmin server on another system.
At this point if you are not installing on an NTFS formatted drive, the wizard will inform you that the toptools file
system will not be as secure as possible. You then have the opportunity to select an NTFS drive if you require
additional security. Without NTFS toptools cannot regulate user roles. On non NTFS installations, all users have
toptools admin capabilities.

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Step 4: Integrating Web JetAdmin.
If you selected Web JetAdmin for Printers in the component selection dialog, toptools will first check to see if
there is already a Web JetAdmin server installed on the local system. If not, it will prompt you to perform a local
installation or link to a remote Web JetAdmin server on the network.
HP Web JetAdmin supports a number of platforms including Unix. If linking to a remote server, the toptools
installation wizard will prompt you for the hostname or IP address of the remote server and the port used by Web
JetAdmin. The default port is 8000. If you specified a different port when installing Web JetAdmin, you will need
to enter it.