Getting Started

Requirements:

This application requires that Java version 1.4 (or a more recent version) already be installed. The environment variable JAVA_HOME should be set to point to the directory where the Java runtime is installed. For example, on a Windows machine, one might add the following line to the environment settings JAVA_HOME=c:\j2sdk1.4.0.
Alternatively, the startup scripts can be edited to point JAVA_HOME to an installed JRE.

Assumptions:

It is assumed that the user is familiar with such Java concepts as installing JVMs and setting classpaths. It is also assumed that the user understands CIM/WBEM concepts. They are not explained in any CimNavigator documentation. If you are comfortable using Java GUI applications and are familiar with CIM/WBEM concepts, you should be comfortable using CimNavigator.
This is an advanced (early availability) release.

Installation:

After downloading the distribution, extract the .ZIP file using your favorite extraction tool. The following directory structure will be created: 

cimnavigator
	readme.txt			Important notes regarding the current release.
        + bin                           Contains OS-specific startup files
        |       cimnav.bat              Windows startup batch file
        |       cimnav.sh               Solaris/Linux startup shell file
        |
        + config                        Contains configuration files
        |       Aliases.txt             Class display definitions
        |       BranchAssocClasses.txt  Root association class names
        |       BranchObjectClasses.txt Root object class names
        |
        + docs
        |       + downloads             Contains user's guide html files
        |            + images           Contains various images for user's guide
        |
        + images                        Contains user-supplied images
        |       CNLogo.ico              Can be used as a 'shortcut' icon for Windows
        |       16x16xxx.gif            Various icons for use in tree nodes
        |       32x32xxx.gif            Various icons for use in graph nodes
        |
        + legalstuff
        |       license-cimnav          License file for CimNavigator code
        |       LICENSE-APACHE          License file for Apache-sourced library (log4j)
        |       license-openslp         License file for openslp library
        |       ssl_1-2.html            License file for WBEMServices library
        + lib
                cimnav.jar              CimNavigator Java executable
                jgraph.jar              Java graphing component library
                log4j.jar               Logging library used by OpenSLP routines
                slp.jar                 OpenSLP java library
                wbem.jar                WbemServices library
                mofcomp.jar             Java library used by 'save' routines

To complete installation the user may need to have root/administrator access privileges the first time that CimNavigator is run. Once installed, other users may perform additional installations on the same machine (or use a common installation) without root/administrator privileges.

When installing CimNavigator over an existing version, any config files from the existing version will be overwritten. If existing configurations are to be preserved, the contents of the config directory must be backed up before a new installation is performed, and then restored afterwards.
The contents of user preferences files are not overwritten.

Starting CimNavigator

CimNavigator may be started by running the appropriate script file in the CimNavigator/bin directory. This may require that the permissions for the script file be changed on Unix/Linux machines (for example 'chmod +x cimnav.sh'). The first time that CimNavigator is run, it will attempt to connect to the root/cimv2 namespace on a CIMOM running on the localhost using the XML/HTTP protocol. This may be changed by selecting Edit|Server Configuration... from the main menu menu. The values entered in this dialog are persisted in the CimNavigator.properties file in the user's 'home" directory. On a Windows 2000 machine, this would be c:\Documents and Settings\user name\CimNavigator.properties. The password is stored in this file in clear text!.

If the initial settings are not correct, you may need to kill the process and restart it.

The easiest configuration to get up and running quickly is to connect to a WBEMServices CIMOM running on the localhost.

Note that if an exception is thrown by a provider, the connection state machine may reset, causing the client to try to reconnect and refresh the display.

Library Files

The jar library files included with this distribution are from the following versions:
WBEMServices/mofcomp - 1.0.2 distribution
JGraph - version 3.0-java1.4
OpenSLP - version 1.0/Log4J

Testing

Once you have CimNavigator installed and running, edit the root branch classes (select Edit|Branch object classes... from the main menu) to include classes that have instances defined in the CIMOM. Try viewing instance properties by right-clicking on an instance node and selecting Properties... from the context menu. The properties panel should display, allowing you to review all of the properties of the selected instance.

If an instance is known to have other objects associated with it, try dragging it into the right-side panel. You should see the other instances drawn on the panel, connected to the initial instance by straight lines representing associations. Note that if the user doesn't have sufficient privileges, or if an association provider throws exceptions, CimNavigator may not be able to retrieve the associated instances.

WBEMServices Compatibility Notes

The following operations have all been tested against the WBEMServices (1.0.2) CIMOM and found to work as expected:

I have had problems with the following operations: There is a bug in the WBEMServices CIMOM that causes problems when updating instances in the CIMOM. The setProperty method has been deprecated, leaving the setInstance method as the mechanism by which instances can be modified. The problem manifests itself as follows:
If Update Properties is set to setInstance in the Preferences dialog, each time an instance is updated in the CIMOM, the specified property will be set, but other non-key properties will be cleared. A bug describing this problem has been logged on the WBEMServices page at SourceForge.

OpenWBEM Compatibility Notes

The following operations have all been tested against the OpenWBEM (3.1.0) CIMOM and found to work as expected:

OpenPegasus Compatibility Notes

The following operations have all been tested against the OpenPegasus (2.4.0) CIMOM and found to work as expected:

Problems?, Comments?

Please let me know.

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