Agent-specific installation and configuration

The HMC Base agent is a multi-instance agent that monitors the health of a Hardware Management Console through an SSH connection. Multiple HMCs can be monitored by configuring a separate agent instance for each one.

1. Use the following command to configure the HMC agent:

   $CANDLEHOME/bin/itmcmd config -A ph

   When you configure the HMC agent interactively, do not specify the instance name by using the itmcmd config -o parameter. Instead, use the form indicated in the command in Step 1 and provide the HMC agent instance name when prompted.

   You can specify the -o parameter with the itmcmd config command when you configure the agent silently by using the following form:

    ./itmcmd config -p "/install-dir/samples/silent_config.txt" 
   -o instance_name -A ph

   Add the following variables to the silent_config.txt file as described in Configuration values:

   • HMC_HOSTNAME=
   • HMC_USERNAME=
   • KPH_LOG_LEVEL= (optional)
   • KPH_LOG_FILE_MAX_SIZE= (optional)
   • KPH_LOG_FILE_MAX_COUNT= (optional)

   Use Steps 2 - 6 to configure the authentication keys that are used between the system that is running the agent and the HMC. For more information about the generation of keys, see the man pages for the ssh-keygen utility.

   Instead of using Steps 2 - 6, you can use the setup_hmc_key.pl script to set up the SSH connection. The script is available in install-dir/aix526/ph/bin. This script prompts for the HMC host name and user name (with authority equivalent to hscviewer authority) and then sets up the connection on both sides.

   After you create the shared key, test the connectivity by running a command such as "ssh hscroot@hmchost lshmc -V". If SSH is connecting to this HMC for the first time, add the HMC to the ssh known_hosts file by responding to the following message in the affirmative:

   The authenticity of host 'hmchost (3.3.333.333)' can't be established.
   RSA key fingerprint is 4c:b4:26:27:38:f3:ec:58:01:92:26:f9:61:32:bb:4d.
   Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
   
   	Warning: Permanently added 'hmchost,3.3.333.333' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.

   The agent can now use SSH to collect data from the HMC.
2. Log on to the AIX system where the HMC Base agent is to be installed.
3. Use the ssh-keygen utility to generate public and private keys with no paraphrase. For example, the following command generates a set of public and private keys:

   ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /.ssh/id-rsa

   Press enter when prompted for a paraphrase. The public key that is generated is stored in the /.ssh/id-rsa.pub file. The private key is stored in the /.ssh/id-rsa file.
4. Transfer the file that contains the public key to the HMC computer by using utilities such as scp.
5. On the HMC computer, append the public key file to the collection of keys that are stored on the HMC. The stored keys are in the /.ssh/authorized_keys2 file.
6. Add the host name and key for the HMC in the known_hosts file. This file is in the /.ssh directory.
   1. Run the following command: ssh "user"@"hmc_hostname" -i "private_keyfile" date
   2. Enter yes when prompted to cache the keys. The successful completion of this command adds the entry to the known_hosts file for future connections.
7. Run the following command: ssh "user"@"hmc_hostname" date If the date is returned with no password prompt, the SSH keys were successfully set up.