Table of Contents

Network Registrar User Interfaces

Network Registrar provides several ways to administer and manage DNS/DHCP servers:

• Graphical User Interface (the "GUI")
  
  
• Command Line Interface (the "CLI")
  
  
• Web Interface Reports (the "Web GUI")
  
  

This chapter describes the Network Registrar user interfaces. Read this chapter before you start to configure your Network Registrar servers so you are familiar with the capabilities of each user interface.

For detailed procedural information on how to perform administrative tasks on Network Registrar servers, see "Administering Network Registrar."

Graphical User Interface

Through Network Registrar's graphical user interface (GUI), you can control your servers' operations. The GUI consists of the following elements:

• Commands invoked from the menu bar
  
  
• A toolbar
  
  
• Two windows: the Server Manager (Figure 3-11) and the Server Status Monitor (Figure 3-12).
  
  

Starting the GUI

To start Network Registrar, you need to start the program and log in to a cluster. A cluster is the physical host running the Network Registrar DNS, DHCP, and TFTP servers. If a cluster does not exist, you must create one first. You need to connect to this cluster to configure or administer the servers on it. Typically, Network Registrar's DNS, DHCP, and TFTP servers are running on the same physical machine, and you can specify localhost for the servers running on the same system as the GUI.

You can start the Network Registrar GUI at any time—the servers do not need to be running. However, you cannot save changes unless the servers are running. You can stop the DHCP and DNS servers, but the server agent must be running on the cluster to which you want to connect.

Starting from a Windows System

Step 1   Select Start > Programs > Network Registrar. This opens the Network Registrar main window with the Server Manager window displayed (Figure 3-1).

Step 2   Click the Add button on the toolbar (or select the List of Clusters icon in the Server Manager window, click the right mouse button, then click Add Cluster). This opens the Add Cluster dialog box.

Step 3   Add a cluster name (see the "Adding a Cluster" section). Enter localhost if the cluster is located on the same machine as the GUI.

Step 4   In the Login to Cluster dialog box, enter user name admin and password changeme. Click OK.

Step 5   The first time you connect to a newly installed cluster, you must enter a license key (see the "Entering Your License Key" section).

Step 6   Change the user name and password to appropriate ones for your site as soon as you can. Do this in the Change Administrator Password dialog box by clicking Change Administrator Password from the Admin menu on the menu bar.

Starting from a Solaris System

When running the Solaris GUI, choose the Common Desktop Environment (CDE), if available, in preference to the OpenWindows Desktop. The appearance of the Solaris GUI is superior under CDE.

Step 1   Enter the following at the command line:

/install-path/nwreg2/usrbin/ntwkreg 
 

The install-path is the directory that you chose to install Network Registrar. Network Registrar displays the Server Manager window (Figure 3-1).

Step 2   Click Add to add a new cluster.

Step 3   Enter the host name of the cluster, or specify localhost if the cluster is located on the same machine as the GUI.

Step 4   In the Login for Cluster dialog box, enter user name admin and password changeme. Click OK.

Step 5   The first time you connect to a newly installed cluster, you must enter a license key (see the "Entering Your License Key" section).

Step 6   Change the user name and password to appropriate ones for your site as soon as you can. Do this in the Change Administrator Password dialog box by clicking Change Administrator Password from the Admin menu on the menu bar.

Starting from a Remote Site

If you are running Network Registrar's GUI remotely rather than from your server machine, you must first add a cluster. Adding a cluster connects the remote machine on which you are running the GUI to the server that provides DNS or DHCP services. After you add the cluster, you can then configure and monitor the servers. The connection and login process is the same as described in the previous sections.

Entering Your License Key

Network Registrar licensing controls your ability to configure your servers. Every copy of Network Registrar requires a license. Your license key is located on the back of your software CD-ROM case. You need to enter your license the first time you configure each cluster.

• If you have a permanent license, you will not see the license dialog box again unless you move the cluster to another machine.
  
  
• If you have an evaluation copy of Network Registrar, you have a license that will expire.
  
  
• If you have an invalid or missing license key, you cannot configure or manage the Network Registrar servers. However, the servers will continue to function normally.
  
  

Perform the following steps to enter your license key.

Step 1   When the Invalid License dialog box appears, click the New Key button.

Step 2   In the Cluster Properties dialog box, select the Edit license key check box.

Step 3   Enter the 16-digit license in four groupings of four.

Step 4   Click OK.

Menu Bar Commands

The menu bar commands handle administration and determine the way you can view Network Registrar activity. Commands are grouped in task-specific menus on the menu bar (Figure 3-2).

Admin Menu

Use commands on the Admin menu (Figure 3-3) to:

• Add, connect to, remove, and disconnect from Network Registrar clusters.
  
  
• Add administrators and set the clusters for which they are responsible.
  
  
• Change administrator passwords.
  
  
• Exit Network Registrar.
  
  

Servers Menu

The Servers menu (Figure 3-4) is active only if you select a server in the Server Manager window. Use the Servers commands to:

• Start or restart a server.
  
  
• Stop a server.
  
  
• Reload a server to update changes made to server information.
  
  
• Add the server to, or remove it from, the Status Monitor (Figure 3-12). (For details on the Status Monitor window, see the "Status Monitor Window" section.)
  
  
• Show server statistics.
  
  
• Show related servers (for DHCP servers only).
  
  

Tip You can also invoke these commands (after selecting a server object) from the right-mouse-click menu. For details on server administration tasks, see "Administering Network Registrar."

View Menu

The View menu (Figure 3-5) governs viewing of the Network Registrar windows. The View menu contains the following commands:

• Server Manager—Reveal or hide the server manager's tree control (Figure 3-11).
  
  
• Status Monitor—Reveal or hide the Server Status Monitor (Figure 3-12).
  
  
• Status Bar—Reveal or hide the status bar.
  
  

Window Menu

Use the Window menu (Figure 3-6) to control the appearance and positioning of the Network Registrar windows:

• Cascade—Position the windows on top of each other but slightly offset.
  
  
• Tile—Position the windows below one another in the main window.
  
  
• Shows the number of current windows (a check mark is next to the active window)
  
  

Help Menu

The Help menu (Figure 3-7) provides access to the online help and the About Network Registrar box.

Toolbar Commands

The toolbar (Figure 3-8) displays buttons that initiate the most frequently used commands.

Tip After you select an object in the Server Manager window (Figure 3-11), you can also use the right-mouse-click menu to perform some of these commands. You can also double-click on the object icon or name to open properties for the object.

Show Properties Command

Use the Show Properties toolbar button (Figure 3-8) to show (and configure) the properties of the object you select (from the cluster level down) in the Server Manager window. (You can also invoke the properties for the object by double-clicking it.)

Control Command

The Control toolbar button (Figure 3-8) opens the server's Control dialog box (Figure 3-9), from which you can stop, restart, or reload the server. You must click OK to activate the stop, restart, or reload.

Statistics Command

The Show statistics toolbar button (Figure 3-8) opens the Statistics window (Figure 3-10) for the selected server. You can refresh the statistics by clicking the Refresh button.

Add Command

Use the Add button (Figure 3-8) to add clusters, DNS zones, or DHCP scopes, depending on the object you selected in the Server Manager window (Figure 3-11).

Remove Command

Use the Remove toolbar button (Figure 3-8) to remove clusters, DNS zones, or DHCP scopes from the Server Manager window, depending on what you selected.

Server Manager Window

Using the Server Manager (Figure 3-11) and Status Monitor (Figure 3-12) windows, you can configure and monitor the Network Registrar servers.

The Server Manager window provides standard tree control starting with clusters at the top level. Under each cluster is a list of DNS, DHCP, and TFTP servers. Under each server is a subtree of server-specific data structures. This display lets you select servers for browsing, configuring, and control, or for status information.

Each cluster and server object has a plus (+) symbol next to it, whether or not it has subobjects. When you click the plus symbol for an object that does not have a subobject, the plus symbol disappears, a behavior similar to that of Windows interfaces.

Note   Network Registrar treats the @ symbol in server names (tree control) as a special character. Before displaying the server name, Network Registrar removes all characters after and including the @ symbol. This is typically the cluster name; however, if you rename your server using an @ symbol, the characters after the @ symbol are lost.

The Server Manager uses icons to indicate different Network Registrar components. Table 3-1 lists all the icons you will see in the Server Manager tree control.

Status Monitor Window

The Status Monitor window (Figure 3-12) is where you can place server icons so that you can monitor their status. The icons change to reflect the server's current status.

To check the status of a server, select the server in the Server Manager window. Then from the Servers (or right-mouse-click) menu, select the Add to Status Monitor command. To remove the server status icon from the Status Monitor window, right-mouse-click the icon, then select Remove.

• The traffic lights indicate the state of the server: started is green and stopped is red.
  
  
• The bar to the right of the traffic light shows the health of the server (how well it is running). The health is a combination of the server's resources and network balance.
  
  

The following items can affect the health of the servers:

• DNS server
  
  
• • Memory allocation errors
    
    
  • Unable to contact root servers
    
    
• DHCP Server
  
  
• • Configuration errors
    
    
  • Out of memory
    
    
  • Low on packet caching
    
    
  • Options would not fit in the stated packet limit
    
    
  • No more leases available
    
    

When Network Registrar cannot contact the server, the warning triangle and exclamation point appear and the green or red color is muted. The warning can mean the network is down, the server machine crashed, or the server agent was stopped from the control panel.

Tip You can also determine the server status through the Network Registrar Web GUI. (See the "Web Interface Reports" section.)

Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the Server Manager window provides information about commands or actions. When you highlight a menu item, you see a short description of its function in the status bar. You can remove and re-activate the status bar from the View menu.

Command Line Interface

Using Network Registrar's command line interface (CLI), the nrcmd program, you can control your servers' operations. You can set all Network Registrar configurable options, as well as start and stop the servers.

For details on how to perform administrative tasks on Network Registrar servers using the CLI, see "Administering Network Registrar."

The remainder of this section describes how to use the nrcmd program and provides the following information:

• Invoking and exiting the program
  
  
• Using command arguments
  
  
• How the commands are organized and structured
  
  

Invoking the CLI

You can use the nrcmd program in batch mode by executing scripts that use the commands, or by using the interactive mode where you enter commands at the nrcmd> prompt.

The nrcmd program is located on:

• NT—in the \Program Files\Network Registrar\bin directory
  
  
• Solaris—in the /install-path/nwreg2/usrbin directory
  
  

The command syntax is as follows (the square brackets indicate optional entries):

nrcmd [general-options] command specific-options 
 

The general options are:

-C clustername 
-N username 
-P password 
 

If you omit these general options, Network Registrar gets them from the registry (on NT) or environment variables (on Solaris and NT). If Network Registrar cannot find values for these parameters, it prompts you for them. However, if you omit -C clustername on a system where Network Registrar servers are installed, the nrcmd program assumes access to localhost and does not prompt you.

The NT registry and Solaris or NT environment variables are AIC_NAME for the name, AIC_PASSWORD for the password, and AIC_CLUSTER for the cluster name. The NT registry path is Software\American Internet\Network Registrar\2.0 and the registry key is HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

To execute the command line interface in interactive mode), enter:

nrcmd [-C cluster] [-N user] [-P password] 
 

Typing this command displays the interactive prompt nrcmd>, after which you enter:

nrcmd> command [parameters] 
 

To specify a series of items, use a comma between items, without additional spaces.

Exiting the CLI

Exiting the Network Registrar user interfaces does not affect your network servers' or your hosts' ability to request leases or access the Internet.

To exit the Network Registrar CLI, use the exit command. Network Registrar writes all unsaved changes to the database. However the server does not read the new changes until you use the reload command. If Network Registrar cannot save your changes, it displays the same error code as if you had used the save command.

nrcmd> exit 
 

Getting CLI Help

To view the online help for the Network Registrar CLI, enter the help command.

nrcmd> help command 
 

CLI Command Structure

The nrcmd commands specify a class of object that you can create, delete, or list. Each of these objects in turn has properties that you can set or get, and features that you can enable, disable, or test. These objects can also have methods that are specific to the type of object, where you can perform operations on groups of properties.

When you use nrcmd commands to configure Network Registrar, you manipulate the following:

• Classes—Objects you can create, delete, or list such as scopes, policies, or zones.
  
  
• • create—Creates an entry. If the entry already exists, this command overwrites it with the new information.
    
    
  • delete—Removes an entry.
    
    
  • list—Displays all the entries with a single line for each one.
    
    
• Properties—Values you can set or display. They include a DNS zone's minimum TTL, or the DHCP server's lease time.
  
  
• • set—Sets the value of the property.
    
    
  • unset—Establishes the property as having no value. You cannot unset required properties.
    
    
  • get—Displays the value of the property.
    
    
  • show—Displays the values of all the properties.
    
    
• Features—Object properties you enable or disable. They include whether you want permanent leases or whether you want to use the DHCP LDAP service. You use the enable, disable, and get commands to manipulate them. After you enable a feature, you often need to set its associated properties.
  
  
• • enable—Enables a feature.
    
    
  • disable—Disables a feature.
    
    
  • get—Displays the value of the feature.
    
    
• Methods—Operations you can perform on groups of properties, such as adding a range of IP addresses to a scope, or removing hosts from a zone.
  
  

How you specify a series of arguments depends on the type of command you are using. The following sections describe the difference between using the create, set, and enable commands.

Create Command Class

You must supply the required arguments for the create keyword, although others are optional. The required arguments are positional; that is, they must be in the specified order indicated in the syntax. The optional arguments (or properties) are not positional.

For example, the syntax for creating a scope is scope name create address mask [property=value...]. This means that you must supply the scope a name, IP address, and subnet mask when you create the scope, in that order. You can add optional properties and their values in any order.

The following creates the scope testScope with the IP address 128.103.1.1 and a mask of 255.255.255.0.

nrcmd> scope testScope create 128.103.1.1 255.255.255.0 
 

To create a scope and also specify the name of the DNS zone to which a DHCP client's host name should be added, add a property and its value, as follows:

nrcmd> scope testScope create 128.103.1.1 255.255.255.0 dns-zone-name=QuickExample.com 
 

If you do not add the property or its value, Network Registrar uses a default value. After the create command creates and assigns all specified parameters to the object, it checks that all the required arguments are in the right order and that the properties have values (either defaults or user-specified). You get an error message if you neglect to supply the required arguments.

Set Command Property

Use the set keyword in a command to set the value of a property. If you want to set a list of things, such as DNS servers or IP addresses, separate them with commas (without intervening spaces). You can also use the set command to set several properties on a single line—just specify the property and its value followed by a space and the next property and value pair.

For example, to set the name of the DNS zone to which a DHCP client's host name should be added, enter:

nrcmd> scope testScope set dns-zone-name=QuickExample.com 
 

To specify the list of IP addresses you allow to perform zone transfers, enter:

nrcmd> zone QuickExample.com set auth-servers=196.68.1.10,196.68.1.20 
 

To set the client's client-class and domain name, enter:

nrcmd> client 1,6,02:02:02:02:02:02 set client-class-name=internal 

        domain-name=QuickExample.com 
 

Enable Command Feature

Use the enable keyword in a command to enable a feature. After enabling the feature, you often have to set its associated properties.

For example, to enable incremental transfer processing for the DNS server, enter:

nrcmd> dns enable ixfr-enable 
 

Then, to change the incremental transfer expiration interval, enter:

nrcmd> dns set ixfr-expire-interval=10d 

Note   You cannot use the enable and set keywords on the same command line. First enable the feature, then set the associated properties on a separate command line.

Saving CLI Changes

The CLI saves your changes to the database after one of the following events occurs:

• You invoke the save command.
  
  
• You exit from the CLI (the server does not read your changes until you use the reload command).
  
  
• Reloading a server.
  
  
• Adding a resource record or a host to a zone.
  
  

CLI Commands List

This section contains the complete list of commands, grouped alphabetically (Table 3-2). You can use them at the nrcmd> prompt or insert them into scripts.

Web Interface Reports

The Network Registrar Web user interface (Web GUI) lets you log in to your Network Registrar servers and run four different types of reports:

• Server Status—Displays the status of the specified server. It indicates whether the server is running or stopped. (See the "Displaying Server Statistics" section.)
  
  
• Address Usage—Displays the IP address usage for all the servers or just some of the servers in your network. (See the "Displaying IP Address Usage" section.)
  
  
• Lease Status—Displays the status of leases, whether they are available, reserved, and if reserved the associated MAC address. (See the "Displaying Leases" section.)
  
  
• Related Servers—Displays the status of the connection between the main and backup DHCP servers (if you are using failover). (See the "Displaying Related DHCP Servers" section.)
  
  

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Note   If you install a new version of Network Registrar, you must restart your Web server.

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Running Reports

This section explains how to open the Web GUI and describes the components used to run Network Registrar status reports.

Step 1   Point your browser to the Network Registrar GUI page configured by your administrator.

Step 2   Enter your name and password.

Step 3   Click the Reporting button. The Reporting screen appears (Figure 3-13).

Step 4   Click the button for the type of report you want generated.

Handling Report Errors

If Network Registrar cannot run the report you requested, it displays an error. Table 3-3 lists and explains the errors you might see.