panel [-n dbnode] [-d dbname] [-u user,passwd] [-U xuserKey]
When starting up the application, the user have to give the connect data by filling in the form entries of the connect window or using the command line options. If every thing is ok, a window called Panel is displayed. It consists of three parts, a menu at the top, a navigation tree to the left and an information window to the right. The information displayed here depends on the position of the cursor in the tree to the left.
In the initial state the cursor of the navigator tree is positioned on the name of the database and the right window is showing a picture of a traffic light, each of its bulbs corresponding to a state of the database server.
The current state of the Adabas Server is tested and the traffic light will show the corresponding color.
On the left side of the window is the navigator tree, where the user can navigate through the serverdbs of both the local computer and all remote hosts, which are configured to allow remote database administration.
The navigator tree consists of nodes representing a hierarchy of servernodes, serverdbs, backup media or save operations, to name just a few. If a node has subitems, there is a litte square to the left of the node displaying a minus or plus sign. A minus sign signals an open node, i.e., the children of this node are visible, a plus sign signals a close node, i.e., the children of the node are invisible.
The navigator tree
The user can modify the navigator tree by means of the cursor and/or the mouse pointer. A double click with the left mouse button over a closed node will open it (makes the children of this node visible), a double click over an already opened node will close it.
One node will always have the cursor, i.e., the name of the node is highlighted. You can use the up and down keys to move the cursor to the node above or below. The left or right keys move the cursor one node up or down the hierarchy or open or close a node with children. If you click on a node, the cursor will jump to this node.
By clicking on a leafs of the navigator tree you can switch the contents of the right window. E.g. if you click on a medium name, the medium manager will show on the right side the attributes of the selected medium. If you move onto a leaf with the cursor keys, the right side will show auomatically the corresponding information after half a second.
The following subsections will describe all the different node kinds of the navigator tree.
The top most node of the navigator tree represents the servernode of the serverdb, you are connected to.
You can add other servernodes with the menu function File/Add servernode. A small window will pop up and ask you about the name of the servernode. If you press Add, the given servernode will be added to the navigator tree.
You can delete servernodes from the navigator tree by means of the menu function File/Forget servernode. A small window will pop up, where you can select a servernode with an option menu. If you press Forget, the selected servernode will be removed from the navigator tree.
Which servernodes are displayed at the start of Panel, will be remembered by the Remote Panel Server (see below chapter Remote Panel Server), if it is running. So you will see the same list of servernodes, when you start the program the next time.
Below a servernode all exported serverdbs of this host are displayed. To the left of the name of the serverdb will be a tiny picture of a database device near a traffic light. One bulb of the light will shine corresponding to the state of the serverdb (see chapter Introduction).
If the cursor rests on a node representing a serverdb, the right window will display a picture with a full size traffic light.
To interact with the panel, the user can click on any of the bulbs or on the area (in the bottom right corner), where the words Help or Quit are displayed.
When clicking on a light, the database server will change its current state into the state, which corresponds to the clicked light. When clicking on Help, a window pops up, in which you can read this manual. This function is also available by pressing F1. When clicking on Quit, the panel terminates after asking the user, if the database server should be stopped, too.
If the database server reports an error, while changing its state from offline into cold, the error messages are displayed in the top left corner of the panel. If there is additional information in the kernel diagnose file, a blinking word Diag will appear above the Help word. A mouse click on the word will bring up a window containing the kernel diagnose file. You can read this file at any time (even if no error occured) by means of the navigator tree (see section Kernel diagnose).
As you can see in picture The navigator tree, all opened serverdb nodes have the same list of nodes below: InfoSheet, KernelDiagnose, MediaManager and SaveOperations. This nodes are discribed in the following subsections.
A click on the InfoSheet node creates a window on the right side displaying statistics about the serverdb in a control like manner. There are three ,,thermometers'' for data pages, log pages and user sessions and below some numbers like Logical Reads. The displayed values will get updated every once in a while (10 or 30 seconds, 2 or 10 minutes). The user can adjust the time span by means of the cascade menu Refresh Info Sheet of the Options" menu.
A click on the KernelDiagnose node creates a window on the right side displaying the operator messages of the serverdb. You can browse through the text with the attached scrollbars or by means of the cursor keys.
A click on the MediaManager node creates a window on the right side displaying an empty form, where media for backup and restore can be defined.
A double click on the MediaManager (or a click on the plus sign at the left) will open the media node, i.e. all defined media at the connected serverdb will be listed as new nodes below the MediaManager. Clicking on any media will display its attributes in the form on the right side. If there is a group of parallel media defined, it is displayed as first media, and you can open it to see all media belonging to this group.
In the form you can change the attributes of a media:
Note, that you have to press the Save button (or press the Return key) to store your changes permanently. The Clear button will wipe out all the data in the media form, and the Delete button will delete the current medium.
If the current medium already contains a database save, you can look at the label of this medium by pressing the Read Label button. A small window will pop up displaying information such as the creation date of the save and its label name.
You start a backup at the current serverdb by clicking on one of the save operations. A window will pop up, where you have to specify a medium. You can also drag the wanted save operations onto a medium.
The progress of the save process can be watched in the window at the right side. If an error occurs, the error message will be displayed in red. If everything works okay, the progress bar should display 100%.
To enable remote administration of a serverdb, there must run a server, who serves requests from panel clients on remote hosts to do some administartion tasks of a serverdb on this host. You can start or stop the Remote Panel Server on the local host by means of the menu entry Remote Panel Server in the File menu.
Which serverdbs are exported (i.e. administration from remote hosts is enabled, as long as the remote client gives the correct control user name and password), can be determined by means of the function Export ... in the File menu.
You can configure the Remote Panel Server manually by editing its configuration. On Unix Systems the configuration file is located at /usr/spool/sql/adabasd.conf. On Windows the configuration is entered into the registry below the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Software AG\ADABAS D\Remote Panel.
While starting, the X resource database is read, so that the text of the subtitle of Adabas D can be custumized by the user.
The resources can be set via the xrdb command (highest priority) or mentioned in the file $HOME/.Xdefaults. The default values, if no resource assignment can be found, can bee seen in the following excerpt from a resource file.
*panel.edition: Database Server *panel.netscapeHelp: False