Using the activation wizard

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If you have few systems to activate or if there are many variations in configuration details, use the interactive activation wizard that is available through the IBM® Electronic Service Agent™ graphical user interface.

Before you begin

Before using the activation wizard, run the following command: 
/opt/ibm/esa/bin/activator -C [-p port] [-w] [-Y]

where the -C (capital C) command line option activates IBM Electronic Service Agent but defers configuration until later.

In addition, there are three optional parameters.
-p port
The default communication port used by the IBM Electronic Service Agent graphical user interface is 5024, however, you can replace port with any unused port between 1025 and 65535, inclusive.
-w
Many Linux™ servers have an active firewall that blocks communication with other systems in the network. You can specify this option to enable remote access to the IBM Electronic Service Agent communication port.
Note: If you want to configure IBM Electronic Service Agent from a location other than the console of the server on which IBM Electronic Service Agent is installed such as a workstation in another room, you must specify the -w option on the activator command to allow remote access to the IBM Electronic Service Agent graphical user interface.
-Y
This option specifies your acceptance of the IBM license agreement (LA) for IBM Electronic Service Agent.

By default, the license agreement is displayed when you specify the -C option, and you can choose whether to accept or reject the license agreement. You must accept the license agreement before activation will proceed; activation will not proceed if you reject the license agreement. Specifying the -Y option skips the interactive review and acceptance of the license agreement.

Note: To view the license agreement at any time, enter the following command: 
/opt/ibm/esa/bin/reviewLA

About this task

After you run the activator -C command, you can use the IBM Electronic Service Agent activation wizard to interactively complete the activation and configuration. To use the wizard to configure IBM Electronic Service Agent, follow these steps:

Procedure

  1. Open a browser and enter this web address: 
    https://hostname:5024/esa

    where hostname is the fully qualified name or IP address of the system that runs IBM Electronic Service Agent.

    Note: Port 5024 is the default port. If you activated IBM Electronic Service Agent on a different port, use that port number in the web address.
  2. On the Welcome pane, log in to the IBM Electronic Service Agent graphical user interface.
    Any user in the root group can log in to the graphical user interface.
  3. On the Welcome pane, click Activate ESA under Main menu. The Electronic Service Agent Activation wizard displays.
    Note: Unless you activate ESA, all other options of the left navigation on the Welcome pane are disabled and you cannot use them.
  4. On the Introduction panel, click Next.
  5. On the Contact information panel, specify the information that you want IBM Service to use when arranging a service appointment.
    The person whose contact information you specify must be able to arrange physical access to the system when service is required.
  6. On the Location information panel, specify the physical location of the system.
    The IBM Service Engineer will visit this location to service the system.
  7. On the SMTP panel, specify whether you want to be notified when IBM Electronic Service Agent opens a service request with IBM.
    Use this panel to configure a connection to an email server (SMTP) that will forward an email notification to the email address that you specified on the Contact information panel. The username and password on this panel might be required for authentication with the SMTP server.
  8. On the IBM ID panel, specify the IBM ID that is registered for this system.
    This IBM ID is required to access information about the system. You can use the link on this panel to register for a free IBM ID. You can also specify an alternate IBM ID with similar access to the system.
  9. On the Connectivity panel, specify whether the system you are activating will connect directly to the internet or will connect through a proxy server or firewall.
    The default configuration is a direct connection. A proxy connection requires additional configuration. If you select Proxy connection option, then only you see the Proxy panel.
  10. On the Proxy panel, specify an address and port for the proxy server.
    You may also need to specify a username and password for network authentication.
  11. On the Test panel, you can specify the tests that IBM Electronic Service Agent runs during this configuration.
  12. On the Summary panel, verify the information that you specified for activating IBM Electronic Service Agent. Click Back to make changes and click Activate when you are satisfied with the configuration.
    The Results panel displays the outcome of the activation process.
  13. When you are done viewing the results, click Finish.
    The IBM Electronic Service Agent is activated and all the options on the left navigation on ESA main page are enabled.

Results

Once you activate IBM Electronic Service Agent on this system, you can no longer see the Activate ESA option and you cannot use the Activation Wizard. However, you can use either the graphical user interface or the command line interface to both use and manage IBM Electronic Service Agent.