Connecting and Disconnecting a Host

The system host typically has multiple VERITAS products installed on it. To be able to use the products, client console needs to connect to the system through an authentication channel.

VEA can access and display multiple host machines simultaneously.

• Connecting to a Host
• Logon Authentication
• Disconnecting from a Host
• Reconnecting Hosts at Startup
• Using History to View Recent Connections
• Adding Favorite Hosts
• Add Host in the Favorites Folder
• Remove a Host from Favorites Folder

Connecting to a Host

You can connect to a system host in the following ways:

• Clicking on File --> Connect
• Clicking on the Connect tool bar icon
• Expanding History node and selecting a host, then right clicking the mouse to open up the popup menu showing Connect As
• Expanding History node and double clicking on system node.

Complete the Connection dialog box as follows:

Hostname:	Enter the name of the machine to be administered. (For VxVM, both VxVM and the VEA service must be running on this machine.)
Username:	Enter your login name. Only users with appropriate privileges can access VEA on the specified machine. (The service is already running on the host.)
Password:	Enter your password for the machine to be administered. Select the "Remember Password" box to save the password on your computer.

When you have provided all necessary information in the dialog box, click OK. The new host appears in the object tree in the main window.

After you have started VEA on one host, you can connect to additional hosts from the same session. Each host machine must be running the VEA service.

Notes:
This task requires a host machine name, user name, and password. Only users with appropriate privileges can run VEA. Entries for the user name and password must exist in the password file or corresponding Network Information Name Service (NIS) table on the machine to be administered.

Logon Authentication

There are three authentication mechanisms by which a connection can be established with the server where VERITAS products are installed.

• Silent Logon (Windows platforms only): This happens when the server is local; that is, the VEA client and server both are running on the same machine. If the user has logged on with administrator privileges, then username and password are not required. (The basic connection dialog box is used.)
• Native Logon : Username and password are required to authenticate the user. (The expanded connection dialog box is used.)
• DCOM authentication (Windows platforms only): If the user has logged in as administrator on the domain, then username and password are not required to authenticate the user (the basic connection box is expanded after entering the server name and clicking OK), and the user is connected to the server. The server needs to be started with administrator privileges for this type of authentication.

If the user does not have administrator privileges, then the connection takes place using the Native Logon mechanism.

Disconnecting from a Host

The Disconnect procedure disconnects a host machine from the current VEA session. When a host machine is disconnected, VEA cannot administer that machine until a new connection is made.

1. Right-click the computer icon to be disconnected.
2. Select Disconnect from the file menu on the menu bar.
3. A confirmation dialog will appear, click Yes to end the remote connection.
4. The computer icon disappears from the left tree view.

If the connection is lost for any other reason, a message appears that indicates the connection has been terminated, and the icon for that computer is removed from the left tree view. You need to click OK to close the message box.

To restore access to a disconnected host machine, you must reconnect to the host.

Reconnecting Hosts at Startup

By default, hosts in the Favorite Hosts folder are reconnected at startup.

You can disable the default by disabling the 'Reconnect at Logon' option:

• Right click on the host
• Select (uncheck) the Reconnect At Startup check box

A host in the favorite hosts folder will not be reconnected at startup if the Reconnect At Startup checkbox is not set.

Using History to View Recent Connections

VEA uses the History folder in the tree view to list the computers that were connected to recently. When you connect to a remote computer for the first time, an icon representing the remote computer appears in the History folder.

Adding Favorite Hosts

The Favorite Hosts node contains a list of hosts that will be connected to by default at the startup of VEA if the username/password is saved for them. If the username /password is not saved for a particular host, then this information will be prompted for at the time of connection

Add Host in the Favorites Folder

Use the following procedure to add a host to the Favorites folder:

1. Right click on any of the connected host nodes
2. Choose the menu item Add to Favorites from the popup menu.

You can also add any node under History node to the Favorites folder by a right clicking that node under History.

1. Under History, right click on the node to be added.
2. Choose the menu item Add to Favorites.

Remove a Host from Favorites Folder

Use the following proedure to remove a host from the Favorite Hosts folder:

• Right click on the node to be removed.
• Click on the Remove From Favorites menu item.