Support Tools Manager

The Support Tools Manager (STM) manages a collection of support tools that you can use to verify and troubleshoot system hardware. It includes the Diagnostics Monitor daemon (diagmond), which is a framework that performs the following tasks:

Maps the system hardware
Launches and controls the support tools
Maintains information about devices and tools
Services user requests
Provides information about hardware configuration
Verifies the status of hardware components
Monitors support tools on multiple systems simultaneously

STM enables data backup and device firmware updates. It supports graphical, menu-based, and command-line interfaces.

Support Tools

Table 1-1 describes the STM support tools and their functions.

Table 1-1 STM Support Tools and Their Functions

Support Tools	Functions
Information tools	Log the following device-specific information if the firmware is present: Product identifier Device description Device hardware path Vendor Firmware revision code
Verifiers	Test the component function and provide a pass-or-fail indication about the condition of the device. Normally, this is the first-level test for a device's condition.
Diagnostic tools	Run a diagnostic program to detect and isolate faulty hardware on a device. Diagnostic tools require a Support Class or Node license.
Exercisers	Perform a stress test on the device or subsystem for functionality verification. These tools enable the detection of intermittent errors.
Firmware Update	Initiate the firmware update process for a selected device. The user interface to the firmware update tools is generic, whereas the tools themselves are device-specific.
Expert tools	Enable you to provide the information that is necessary to perform a particular task. The Expert tools are device-specific troubleshooting utilities meant for advanced users. Their functionalities vary from one tool to another. Expert tools require a Support Class license, a Node license, or in some cases a proprietary HP license.
Utilities	Include tools that are not device-specific, such as logtool and Copyutil. You can use the logtool to view operating system diagnostic error logs. You can use the Copyutil tool to copy data from one disk to another before replacing a faulty disk. Most utilities do not require a license.

Architecture

Figure 1-2 shows the STM architecture.

Figure 1-2 STM Architecture

STM performs the following tasks when you install the Online Diagnostics software:

The diagmond daemon maps the system hardware.
The diagmond daemon launches the STM daemons on the system.

Depending on the test you want to perform, you must run the relevant tool on the device using one of the three interfaces, after the diagmond daemon launches the STM daemons. You can launch the interfaces on the UI system, and run support tools on the system under test, which can be either the UI system itself or a different system.

STM Execution

STM comprises the user interface module and the support tools module. The user interface module offers the following interfaces:

Graphical user interface (xstm)
Menu-based interface (mstm)
Command-line interface (cstm)

The user interface module includes the automatic configuration mapper, exercisers, and verifiers. You can attain optimum performance by grouping the tools and the data required by each module together.

STM enables the following types of execution:

Local execution
Remote execution
Execution on multiple systems

Local Execution

In local execution, the user interface module and the supports tools module are on the same system. Figure 1-3 illustrates the local execution architecture.

Figure 1-3 Local Execution

Remote Execution

In remote execution, you can run STM as a client server application. The user interface module and the support tools module are on separate systems. The user interface module is located on the control system, and the support tools module is located on the system under test. Figure 1-4 illustrates the remote execution architecture.

Figure 1-4 Remote Execution

Multiple System Execution

In multiple system execution, you can use STM to diagnose multiple systems at the same time. You can access several systems under test using a single control system, or access a single system under test using several control systems. Figure 1-5 illustrates the two types of architecture.

Figure 1-5 Multiple System Execution

Support Tools Manager

Technical documentation

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