What's new in release 5.10

This topic provides information about new features and enhancements in IBM Director 5.10.

Improvements to how you work in IBM Director

Enhanced user interface
IBM Director 5.10 contains the following features designed to improve usability:
  • Enhanced user interface allows more intuitive hierarchical viewing of managed objects in a single-pane view, the "classic" three-pane view, or a two-pane combination view
  • New customizable details view of managed objects
  • Toolbar is now customizable for users
Event Action Plan wizard
The Event Action Plan wizard now can be launched from IBM Director Console and used to edit existing event action plans. In addition, the wizard has been redesigned to improve usability and render it more powerful. You can specify additional event filters, the systems to which you want to apply the event action plan, and schedule when the event filters are applied.
Improved accessibility
IBM Director 5.10 meets the accessibility standards for Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act. The major changes to the product include the following:
  • IBM Director Console can be navigated using the keyboard only.
  • IBM Director Console includes "Accessibility Preferences" that enable users to customize such display attributes as color, font size, and contrast.
  • IBM Director Console implements the Java accessibility API which supports interaction with assistive technology.
  • The IBM Director documentation is delivered in an Web-based Information Center.
New command-line interfaces
The dircmd command-line interface is deprecated in favor of a new command-line interface: dircli. The dircli command-line interface supports existing dircmd bundles, plus offers a new set of commands for accomplishing common system-management tasks.
In addition, a separate command-line interface, CLI, has been added to allow command-line access to CIM functionality on level-1 managed systems.
Software health task
New task to check for outdated firmware, drivers, and director agents on managed objects.
Unattended installation
IBM Director Server now can be installed in unattended mode.
Web-based (Information center) product documentation
New in version 5.10, the IBM Director information center is a comprehensive, browser-based information system that provides easy access to the most up-to-date product information available. Updated periodically, the IBM Director information center contains:
  • assistance for the tasks that users must perform
  • conceptual information
  • reference for commands, extensions, icons, security, and many other topics
  • usage scenarios for IBM Director

To find information, users can search, browse the contents, follow links from one topic to related topics, and print the topics they want to read offline. The IBM Director information center is available at publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/eserver/v1r2/topic/diricinfo/fqm0_main.html.

Inventory enhancements
Inventory collection has been improved with the following new features in IBM Director 5.10:
  • filter queries can be designed for inventory data that has not been collected
  • enhanced tree navigation in the Inventory Query Browser
  • inventory change monitoring
  • custom collections of inventory tables
  • optional events on inventory completion or errors
  • improved control over inventory collection through additional preferences:
    • enable/disable background inventory service
    • specify the maximum number of agents to perform inventory collection at the same time, to control resource usage
    • specify the default collection type for the three agent levels
Upward integration enhancements
IBM Director 5.10 includes the following enhancements to the upward integration modules (UIM):
  • support for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM)
  • improved inventory performance and increased security through use of the SMS_def.MOF file on the SMS management server

Support for more systems in IBM Director

ServeRAID™ hardware and software
IBM Director 5.10 improves support for RAID devices:
  • Configuration Management Station on Linux
  • OS support for VMware ESX 2.1 - 3.0
  • OS support for RHEL 4
  • OS support for EM64T and AMD64 – both Windows & Linux (console & server)
  • hardware support for Avon Park Lite
  • support for SMI-S 1.1 compliant Storage Managed Systems, including DS300 and DS400
  • hardware status view and alert events for all supported SMI-S storage devices
  • separate installation for RAID support
  • reduced agent footprint
Architectural support for more systems
IBM Director 5.10 contains a significant change in the product architecture. IBM Director Server now can manage three different types of managed systems:
Level-0 ("agentless") managed systems
IBM Director manages these systems through the network services that are native to the operating system: SMB/CIFS/DCE-RPC protocols for Windows systems, or Secure Shell (SSH) for other systems. No IBM Director software is installed. You can perform the following tasks on these managed systems:
  • Collect inventory that is available from the operating system
  • Install IBM Director Core Services (Level 1) or IBM Director Agent (Level 2)
  • Restart the operating system (Windows or Linux)
  • Use Remote Session task to execute command-line programs (only if SSH is present)
  • Shutdown/power-off systems (Windows)
Level-1 managed systems
Either IBM Director Core Services or a CIMOM must be present. In addition to the tasks supported by Level 0, you can perform the following tasks on these managed systems:
  • Collect platform-specific inventory
  • Install IBM Director Agent (Level 2)
  • Manage events using event action plans, event subscription, and the event log
  • Monitor hardware status
  • Restart or shutdown the managed system
  • Use Remote Session task to execute command-line programs (only if SSH is present)
Level-2 managed systems
IBM Director Agent must be installed. You can perform the full complement of IBM Director tasks on the managed system.
Additional systems supported for IBM Director Server and IBM Director Console installation
  • AIX 5L, Version 5 Release 3
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, and WS, version 3.0, for IBM POWER
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, and WS, version 3.0, for Intel EM64T
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, and WS, version 4.0, for IBM POWER
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, version 4.0, for IBM zSeries and S/390
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS and ES, version 4.0, for Intel EM64T
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS and ES, version 4.0, for Intel x86
  • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 for AMD64 and EM64T
  • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 for IBM POWER
  • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 for IBM zSeries and S/390
  • Windows Server 2003, Enterprise, Standard, and Web Editions [for EM64T]
Additional systems supported for IBM Director Agent installation
  • AIX 5L, Version 5 Release 2
  • AIX 5L, Version 5 Release 3
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, and WS, version 3.0, for Intel EM64T
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, and WS, version 4.0, for IBM POWER
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux, AS, ES, and WS, version 4.0, for Intel EM64T
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, version 4.0, for Intel Itanium
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux, AS, ES, and WS, version 4.0, for Intel x86
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, version 4.0, for zSeries and S/390
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS, version 4.0, for Intel EM64T
  • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 for IBM POWER
  • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 for zSeries and S/390
  • VMware ESX Server, version 3.0, with the following guest operating systems:
    • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 for IBM zSeries and IBM S/390
    • To be determined
  • Windows Server 2003, Enterprise, Standard, and Web Editions [for EM64T]
  • Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition [for EM64T]
z/VM Center management
Added management support for z/VM operating system.

Security enhancements

Security
IBM Director security has been improved with the following changes:
  • AES support for UDP encryption
  • Auditing on the server
  • For new installations, security settings, including console-server SSL, are on or selected by default
  • On Windows only, group administration of privileges
  • PAM authentication support on UNIX
  • User-authenticated dircli command-line interface to replace dircmd

Other enhancements

IBM Director 5.10 includes the following general enhancements:
  • Apache Derby is now the default IBM Director database that is bundled with the product. It is supported on all the operating system on which IBM Director Server can be installed, with the exception of i5/OS.
  • Changed the name of the default group "All Systems and Devices" to "All Managed Objects"
  • Replace the timestamp on the status bar with the number of managed objects displayed in the Group Contents pane
  • Support for IBM Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.4.2, server release 1 or later
  • User-selected associations are persisted per group
  • Remote control stability and reliability improved

Discontinued features in release 5.10

BladeCenter management
The BladeCenter Assistant task has been removed.
DMI Browser
The DMI Browser task has been removed.
Microsoft Management Console (MMC)
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) is no longer supported as of release 5.10.
Server Plus Pack
The Server Plus Pack has been withdrawn; however, its components are still available:
  • ActivePCI Manager
  • Capacity Manager is separately available for purchase for IBM eServer xSeries systems
  • Rack Manager is now part of the base installation of IBM Director
  • Software Rejuvenation
  • System Availability is available from the IBM Web site as a separate, installable extension
Web-based Access
Web-based Access has been removed from the base installation of IBM Director. It is available from the IBM Web site as a separate, installable extension.

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