Troubleshooting ALOM Problems

Problem Description
Can't log in to ALOM

Perform the following actions to troubleshoot ALOM login problems:

  • Check the ALOM device name you are connecting to (for example, bert-sc). Make sure that you have the correct ALOM name for the corresponding host server.
  • Check that you are using your correct ALOM user name. It might not be the same as your system user name.
  • Check that you are using your correct ALOM password.
Can't connect to ALOM using the telnet command  ALOM supports a total of four concurrent Telnet sessions per server. When the maximum number of Telnet sessions are active, further attempts to connect using the telnet command will receive a connection closed error. The following example shows system messages for the UNIX operating environment: 

% telnet bert-sc
Trying 129.148.49.120... 
Connected to bert-sc.
Escape character is '^]'. 
Connection closed by foreign host.
Can't connect to ALOM through the Ethernet connection First, log in to the server as root and check whether the scadm version command succeeds. If it does, ALOM is working and there is an Ethernet configuration problem. Use the scadm show command to check whether Ethernet configuration variables are set correctly. 

You can also perform the following actions to troubleshoot Ethernet problems: 

  • Log in to ALOM through the serial management port (SERIAL MGT) and use the shownetwork command to see the current settings.
  • Log in to another machine on the network and use the ping command to see whether ALOM is operating. Be sure to use the ALOM device's name (for instance, servername-sc), not the host server's name, as the argument to the ping command.
  • Run SunVTS diagnostics to check the Ethernet connection. The external Ethernet test requires that the device be connected to a functional 10-Mbit hub.
  • Run SunVTS diagnostics to check the ALOM card.
  • Use the command scadm version to check ALOM status.
No alerts received from ALOM Check the setting of the sys_eventlevel variable for syslog, the sc_clieventlevel variable for the ALOM command shell, and the mgt_mailalert variable for email alerts to make sure that you are receiving the proper levels of events in the specified places. Make sure that if_emailalerts is set to true, and that mgt_mailhost is set correctly for email alerts.
ALOM passwords are unknown  If users have forgotten ALOM passwords or passwords are not working, log in to the server as root and use the scadm userpassword command to assign new passwords. Inform ALOM users of the new passwords.
You can perform some ALOM functions, but not others Specific user permissions are required to perform certain functions. Check your permission level. In addition, the following problems might exist: 
  • Cannot see system console logs or access the system console using ALOM.
  • Cannot put the server in to debug mode or use the ALOM break command.
    The server keyswitch is in the Locked position.
  • The poweroff command has no effect.
    The server is already powered off.
  • The poweron command has no effect.
    The server is already powered on, or the keyswitch is in the Standby position.