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Sun Explorer

What

Sun Explorer is a data collection tool. It runs on Solaris SPARC and Solaris x86 architectures.

Why I need it

Sun Explorer gathers information and creates a detailed snapshot of a system's configuration. It's output is designed to enable Sun support engineers to perform efective assessments of a system. And yes, you need to have Sun Support contract number, I think starts with NK..... (at least in my case)

How To Install

You need packages SUNWexplo and SUNWexplu

Tip:

Use jumpstart installation - add below lines to 'profile' file (just example)

# -- Explorer
package SUNWexplo add nfs IP_address:/export/freeware/STB # Sun(TM) Explorer Data Collector
package SUNWexplu add nfs IP_address:/export/freeware/STB # Sun(TM) Explorer Data Collector Config Files

Before start using Sun Explorer

First you need Explorer defaults file. Create it with command:

/opt/SUNWexplo/bin/explorer -g

Example

Creating Explorer default file

As I mentioned, run: explorer -g and for the rest please see below ...

Absolute path name for Explorer defaults file?
[/etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default/explorer]:

Company name []: My Company
Contract ID []: NK000000
System (unixlab-1, 83a251b5) serial number []:
Contact name []: My Name
Contact email address [My email]: myemail@mycompany.com
Phone number []:
Address (line 1) []:
Address (line 2) []:
City []:
State []:
Zip []:

Please select your geo from this list -
1) AMERICAS
2) EMEA
3) APAC

[AMERICAS]
1
AMERICAS

Please enter the two character Country code or enter ? for a list of countries.
[]:us
US United States

Automatic Submission
At the completion of explorer, all output may be sent to Sun or alternate destinations.

Target: https://supportfiles.sun.com/curl
Send explorer output via HTTPS if -P is specified?
[y,n] n

When -P is specified, would you like Explorer output to be sent to an alternate target destination, such as your SFT (Sun Secure File Transport) listener?
If yes, enter the http[s]://server:port
If not, enter only a single "-" for your reply.
[]: -

Target: explorer-database-americas@sun.com
Send explorer output via Email if -e is specified?
[y,n] y

If -e is specified, would you like all explorer output to be sent to alternate email addresses? If yes, enter the email addresses here (separate multiple entries with a comma ',').
If not, enter only a single "-" for your reply.
[]: -

Return address for explorer email output [myemail@mycompany.com]:

Email notification when explorer data is uploaded.
If you would like to be notified by email when your explorer output is uploaded into the repository, enter the email address here.
If notification is not needed, enter a single "-".
[]: -

You have answered:
Company name: My Company
Contract ID: NK000000

System serial number:

Contact name: My Name
Contact email address: myemail@mycompany.com
Phone number:
Address (line 1):
Address (line 2):
City:
State:
Zip:
Country: United States
Country Code: US

Geography: AMERICAS
Post output to:
HTTPS proxy server:
Mail output to: explorer-database-americas@sun.com
Mail output from: myemail@mycompany.com
Mail on data load:
Are these values okay?
[y,n] y

Do you wish to schedule explorer in cron? [y,n] n
cron may not be running - call your system administrator

unixlab-1[3307] explorer: Explorer defaults file updated.
unixlab-1[3307] explorer: Please run <explorer_install_directory>/bin/explorer with options to collect data.

Collecting data

Run the command: /opt/SUNWexplo/bin/explorer and then go to the directory /opt/SUNWexplo/output

You'll see a directory, something like explorer.83a251b5.unixlab-1-2009.07.01.17.37 and file explorer.83a251b5.unixlab-1-2009.07.01.17.37.tar.gz .
I usually email .tar.gz file to Sun Support.
The directory explorer.83a251b5.unixlab-1-2009.07.01.17.37 contains detailed snapshot of your system's configuration. Enjoy exploring it.

Where to get it

Download it from Sun Download page

Oh yes, Sun Explorer is part of the Sun Services Tools Bundle (STB) (version v3.2 when I wrote this) that also contains other tools like Lightweight Availability Collection Tool, etc (haven't used them much).

So, just download the install_stb.zip file and unzip to get install_stb.sh script.
Then extract all STB components running command install_stb.sh -runmode auto -ext
I believe packages will be extracted to /var/tmp/stb/extract and you'll get next directories:
Explorer
Lwact
Sneep
ST

Actually some of directories contain installation package, like SUNWlwact_sol_sparc_3.0.pkg
This has to be translated like this
pkgtrans SUNWlwact_sol_sparc_3.0.pkg . (note: you need to type "pkgtrans source_file destination_directory" )
and this will create directory SUNWlwact so package can be installed with pkgadd command.

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