HP SUM leverages the IPv6 capabilities of Linux as provided by the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server products. Using HP SUM in this environment enables you to use all the capabilities of IPv6 including link-local, site-local, and global IP addresses for both local and remote target servers. Remote target servers must have the iptables-ipv6 RPM installed before targeting them from HP SUM. Failure to install the iptables-ipv6 RPM prevents HP SUM from opening the communications port needed to send data to the initiating Linux workstation. You can disable the Linux firewall to allow HP SUM to work, but the Linux server becomes vulnerable to attack.
For information on how to setup IPv6 in a Linux environment, please see the Linux IPv6 How To website at http://www.linux.com/learn/docs/ldp/592-linuxipv6-howto.
IPv6 addresses can be passed to HP SUM in command line arguments or using the HP SUM user interface. In the HP SUM user interface, HP SUM automatically detects whether to use IPv4 or IPv6 on the Add Target screen. On the Find Targets screen if you choose to select to IP address range, select IPv4 or IPv6. HP SUM supports both the short-name and full IPv6 notation. You do not need to add the optional interface number when you enter the address.
If you cannot connect to the target server or receive a Discovery failed message when executing HP SUM in an IPv6 environment, see Troubleshooting.
After you connect to the target server, all other
HP SUM functions work identically. Log files for IPv6 hosts are stored
with all other HP SUM files in the /var/hp/log/<ip_address> directories.
The only current limitation of HP SUM in a Linux IPv6 environment is that all remote target Linux-based servers must have the iptables-ipv6 RPM file installed. You can find the file on the distribution media for both Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating systems. HP SUM uses this file to open a port in the IPv6 firewall to communicate with the Linux system that runs HP SUM. Failure to install iptables-ipv6 results in HP SUM reporting a discovery failure unless you disable the firewall.