Terminal and Modem Management

The Administration Tool's Serial Port Manager is a tool that readily enables you to set up and modify serial port software for terminals and modems. It provides templates for common terminal and modem configurations and multiple port setup, modification, or deletion. To learn more about using the Serial Port Manager, see Peripherals Administration and Administration Application Reference Manual.

The Serial Port Manager features:

• Templates for common terminal and modem configurations
• Multiple port setup, modification, or deletion
• Quick visual status of each port

This tool provides the capabilities of the Service Access Facility's pmadm command.

Service Access Facility (SAF)

Using SAF, you can manage access to all services in a similar way, whether they are on the network or attached only to local systems. SAF uses Service Access Control (SAC) commands to set up and manage services. It provides uniform access to system services, such as:

• Adding, removing, and modifying terminal line settings
• Adding, enabling, disabling, or removing a port monitor
• Printing information from administrative database files
• Using and administering port monitors
• Adding, enabling, disabling, and removing listen(1M) port monitors

In previous versions of SunOS operating systems, the method for controlling devices depended both on the device providing the access, and on the location of that device. Managing user access involved editing many device files.

SAF helps isolate the system administrator from these device dependencies, and provides a common interface for managing a range of services, including the ability to:

• Log in (either locally or remotely)
• Access printers across the network
• Access files across the network

SAF's common interface consists primarily of two commands: sacadm and pmadm. The sacadm command controls daemons called port monitors. The pmadm command controls the services associated with the port monitors.

What's a Port Monitor?

A port monitor is a program that continuously monitors for requests to log in or requests to access printers or files.

Once a port monitor detects a request, it sets whatever parameters are required to establish communication between the operating system and the device requesting service. Then the port monitor transfers control to other processes (for example, the login program) that provide the services needed.

There are two types of port monitors included in the Solaris 2.4 operating environment: ttymon and listen. The listen port monitor controls access to network services and handles remote print and file system requests. The ttymon port monitor provides access to the login services needed by modems and alphanumeric terminals.

sacadm Command

The sacadm command lets you add and remove port monitors. You can also use the sacadm command to list the status of a port monitor, and to administer configuration scripts that customize port monitors.

pmadm Command

Using the pmadm command, you can add or remove a service, and enable or disable a service. You can, for example, disable all remote logins with one pmadm command. You can also install or replace per-service configuration scripts, or display information about a service.

SAF Functions and Related Programs

Using only the sacadm and pmadm commands, a system administrator has complete control over access to resources. However, these two commands are only the interface to the SAF suite of programs and processes that make the integrated management environment possible. Table 12-1 shows the functions and associated programs.

Table 12-1

Function	Program	Description
Overall Administration	sacadm	Command for adding and removing port monitors
Port Monitor Service Administrator	pmadm	Command for controlling port monitors' services
Service Access Control	sac	The SAF master program
Port Monitors	ttymon listen	Monitors serial port login requests Monitors requests for network services
Services	logins; remote procedures	Services to which the SAF provides access

The service access control, sac, is the most important program in the SAF suite. It is launched by the init program when a machine is first started. In turn, sac starts all the port monitors listed in its administrative file.

The other processes that make up the SAF include the ttymon and listen port monitors, as well as the programs, such as login, that provide the various services mediated by the SAF.

For more information on the SAF in general, or on the different ways to use the sacadm and pmadm commands, see Peripherals Administration.