AppManager for Self Monitoring (AM Health) 8.2.50.0 Release Notes

Date Published: March 2015

The AppManager for Self Monitoring module, also known as AM Health, provides Knowledge Scripts for monitoring the health and availability of AppManager components.

This release improves usability and resolves previous issues. Many of these improvements were made in direct response to suggestions from our customers. We thank you for your time and valuable input. We hope you continue to help us ensure that our products meet all your needs. You can post feedback in the AppManager forum on NetIQ Communities, our online community that also includes product information, blogs, and links to helpful resources.

The documentation for this product is available on the NetIQ Web site in HTML and PDF formats on a page that does not require you to log in. If you have suggestions for documentation improvements, click comment on this topic at the bottom of any page in the HTML version of the documentation posted at the AppManager Modules page. To download this product, see the AppManager Module Upgrades & Trials Web site.

1.0 What’s New?

This release of AppManager Health introduces the following new Knowledge Script:

  • AMHealth_TaskSchedulerHealth: Monitors the health status of the Task Scheduler that schedules SQL jobs for the QDB and NQCCDB. This script also monitors the connectivity between the Task Scheduler and the QDB and NQCCDB.

    NOTE:Task Scheduler is available only on AppManager 9.1 and later.

This release of AM Health provides the following enhancements:

  • AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth: Includes a parameter to monitor the SQL Server Express Edition to check if the database size exceeds the threshold you set. This parameter is applicable only on AppManger 9.1 or later. This release also includes parameters to check if current data rate or event rate exceeds the threshold you set.

  • AMHealth_CCComponenetsHealth: Includes a parameter to monitor the SQL Server Express Edition to check if the database size exceeds the threshold you set. This parameter is applicable only on AppManger 9.1 or later.

  • Support for SQL cluster on Windows 2012 and later. This release supports discovery and monitoring of the QDB and the CCDB roles on SQL cluster running on Windows 2012 and later.

NOTE:The standalone AppManager for Self Monitoring UNIX-Linux Servers is no more available as a separate installer and it is a part of this module. The Discovery_AMHealthUNIX and AMHealth_HeartBeatUNIX Knowledge Scripts are available in this release.

This release of AM Health also resolves the following issues:

  • Discovery_AMHealth does not discover QDB and CCDB server roles. This release resolves an issue where the Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script did not discover the QDB and CCDB server roles if you installed a 32-bit SQL database on a 64-bit operating system. With this release, the QDB and CCDB server roles are properly discovered even if you install a 32-bit SQL instance on a 64-bit operating system. (ENG327152)

  • AMHealth_QDBComponentHealth does not run SQL jobs if the NetIQ Agent service runs as local system user. This release resolves an issue where the AMHealth_QDBComponentHealth Knowledge Script did not run SQL jobs if they were configured to run with SQL authentication and the NetIQ Agent service was configured to run as local user. With this release, the SQL jobs run properly even if you configure SQL jobs to run with SQL authentication and the NetIQ Agent service runs as local system user. (ENG330314)

  • AMHealth_AgentDown Knowledge Script raises an exception if a query run by the job returns NULL value. This release resolves an issue in which the AMHealth_AgentDown Knowledge Script raised an exception if a query returned NULL values in any of the fields when you ran the job. With this release, the Knowledge Script was modified to replace NULL values with zero in the result, preventing the exception. (ENG330803, ENG331260)

  • AMHealth_QDBComponentHealth event message does not convert to text format when the event message is passed to Action_SMTPMail. This release resolves an issue where the event generated by the Raise an event if a QDB SQL job fails parameter in the AMHealth_QDBComponentHealth Knowledge Script did not convert to text format when the event was passed to Action_SMTPMail and therefore was sending an inappropriate message. With this release, the event message passed to Action_SMTPMail is properly converted to text format. (ENG331713)

  • Running the AMHealth_CCComponentsHealth Knowledge Script raises an Control Center Monitoring has been suspended error. This release resolves an issue in which the AMHealth_CCComponentsHealth Knowledge Script raised the following error, “Control Center Monitoring has been suspended”. With this release, the AMHealth_CCComponentsHealth Knowledge Script does not display this error. (ENG334105)

  • Discovery_AMHealth does not discover repository server if you use SQL authentication. This release resolves an issue where if you ran the Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge script as a monitoring policy, the job did not discover the QDB repository server if you used SQL authentication. With this release, the Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script discovers the QDB repository server even if you use SQL authentication. (ENG334698)

  • Discovery_AMHealth displays the related registered QDB of management servers if the QDB Server name is different from how it is registered on management server. This release resolves an issue where the Discovery_AMHealth discovered and displayed the QDB and also the QDBs registered with the primary and secondary Management Servers, though the QDBs related to the Management Servers should not be displayed. This issue arises only if you register Management Servers with a name (Host, FQDN, or IP) other than how the discovery script discovers the QDB.

    For example, if the discovery script discovers the QDB with Host name and if you have registered QDB on Management Servers with IP address, the Discovery_AMHealth script discovers the QDB registered on Management Servers too. (ENG335971)

  • Discovery_AMHealth displays an incorrect diagnostic message if it is run as monitoring policy and set to do delta discovery. This release resolves an issue where the Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script displayed an incorrect diagnostic message that agent services were deleted if you ran the discovery script as a monitoring policy and set it to perform delta discovery. With this release, the Discovery_AMHealth generates proper messages if you run it as a monitoring policy and set it to perform delta discovery. (ENG337079)

  • Discovery_AMHealth does not discover management server AppManager roles. This release resolves an issue where the Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script did not discover all the AppManager roles under the management server components. With this release, all the AppManager roles are properly discovered under the management server components. (ENG337615)

  • AMHealth_AgentDown script disappears in the jobs view if you run Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script as monitoring policy and set to do delta discovery. This release resolves an issue where the AMHealth_AgentDown Knowledge Script disappeared from the jobs view if you ran the discovery script as monitoring policy and set it to perform delta discovery. With this release, the AMHealth_AgentDown script does not disappear even if you run Discovery_AMHealth script as monitoring policy and set it to perform delta discovery. (ENG337742)

To get the updates provided in this release, you must install the module to the AppManager repository (QDB) and on the agent computer, and then propagate changes to any running jobs for the Knowledge Scripts that were updated in this release. AppManager 7.x does not automatically update renamed or copied Knowledge Scripts. For more information, see the "Upgrading Knowledge Script Jobs" section in the management guide.

This release of AppManager for Self Monitoring replaces all Previous Releases.

2.0 System Requirements

For the most recently updated list of supported application versions, see the AppManager Supported Products page. Unless noted otherwise, this module supports all updates, hotfixes, and service packs for the releases listed below.

AM Health requires AppManager version 8.0.2 or later installed on the AppManager repository (QDB) computer and on all console computers.

For more information, see the new AppManager for Self Monitoring Management Guide, included in the download package.

3.0 Contents of the Download Package

AM Health includes Knowledge Scripts to discover and monitor your AMHealth resources. The download package includes this release notes, a management guide, Help for Knowledge Scripts, and several files that are used during installation:

  • AM70-AMHealth-8.2.50.0.msi, the module installer.

  • AM70-AMHealth-8.2.50.0.ini, a configuration file used with the AppManager setup program.

  • AM70-AMHealth-8.2.50.0.xml, a configuration file used for deploying the module with Control Center. This is the file you check into the Control Center Web Depot.

  • AM70-AMHealth-8.2.50.0-RepositoryFiles.exe, a compressed file that contains the QDB and console files. You do not need to run this file during installation.

When you download the module, these files are copied by default to the local folder on the download computer. Consider copying these files to the \windows_installation\setup\Setup Files folder on the same distribution computer on which you saved your main AppManager software and documentation. By doing so, you maintain all AppManager software in one location that is easily accessible when you want to add more repositories, management servers, or agents.

4.0 Installing This Module

Run the module installer on all console computers to install the Help and console extensions. Run the module installer only once on each of these computers.

You must also install the Knowledge Scripts. You can install these components into local or remote QDBs. When installing to the primary QDB, select the option to install Knowledge Scripts, and then specify the SQL Server name of the server hosting the QDB, as well as the case-sensitive QDB name.

IMPORTANT:Run the module installer only for the primary QDB, and Control Center will automatically replicate this module to secondary QDBs.

Install Knowledge Scripts only once per QDB. The module installer now installs Knowledge Scripts for each module directly into the QDB instead of to the \AppManager\qdb\kp folder as in previous releases.

For more information about installing this module, see the AppManager for Self Monitoring Management Guide, included in the download package.

5.0 Known Issues

NetIQ Corporation strives to ensure our products provide quality solutions for your enterprise software needs. The following issues are currently being researched. If you need further assistance with any issue, please contact Technical Support.

  • On AppManager 8.0.x, remote deployment of AMHealth fails on Windows 2012 agents. AppManager 8.0.x does not support remote deployment on agents running Microsoft Windows 2012 and displays an error “Unknown Operating System detected”. As a workaround, install AppManager 8.2, which supports remote deployment on Windows 2012 agents. (ENG327244, ENG319069)

  • Command Queue Service (CQS) does not connect to remote CCDB if you use SQL Server alias name. While configuring CQS, if you use a SQL Server alias name to connect to the CCDB, CQS does not connect to the remote CCDB. (ENG337633)

    To workaround this issue, modify the following parameter in the NQCQS.exe configuration file:

    <add key="ServerName" value="SqlServerAliasName" />
    

    to

    <add key="ServerName" value="SqlServerName" />
    
  • Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script might not discover roles. You must upgrade the local agent component on QDB and CCDB computers to successfully run jobs from the new AppManager Health module. Otherwise, the Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script might not discover and display the repository roles in the Control Center and Operator Consoles. The installation process does not remind you to upgrade the repository agents. (ENG300814)

  • AMHealth_HeartBeatWin Knowledge Script generates an Unable to process jobs list error message for XP computers. The AMHealth_HeartBeatWin Knowledge Script running on a Windows XP computer might fail to communicate with the agent and return the following message: AppManager V3.1: Unable to process job list - failed to retrieve joblist information. This failure occurs because Remote Procedure Call (RPC) on Windows XP requires that all RPC callers must be able to authenticate using NT LAN Manager (NTLM). The AMHealth_HeartBeatWin Knowledge Script uses RPC calls but does not authenticate using NTLM.

    To work around this issue, set the following registry entries to zero and reboot the Windows XP computer:

    • HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\RPC\EnableAuthEpResolution

    • HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\RPC\RestrictRemoteClients

    This issue does not affect communication between the management server and the agent because the management server does not make RPC calls to the agent computer. (ENG287443)

6.0 Previous Releases

This release of AM Health includes enhancements added in previous releases.

6.1 AppManager for Self Monitoring (AM Health) 8.1.35.0, January 2015

This release of AM Health UNIX included the following enhancement:

  • AMHealth_HeartbeatUNIX includes new parameters for job monitoring. This release includes new parameters for monitoring jobs. Job monitoring is only available for UNIX agent 8.0 and above. This script raises an event if a job takes longer than its schedule to execute or if the job exceeds the user-specified maximum job run.

6.2 AppManager for Self Monitoring (AM Health) 8.0.131.0, October 2013

This release of AM Health included the following new Knowledge Script:

  • AMHealth_AgentDown. Use this Knowledge Script to monitor the health of AppManager agents, raise events when agents are down or unavailable, and generate actions as appropriate. (ENG325729)

This release also resolved the following issues:

  • AMHealth_HeartbeatWin and AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth Knowledge Scripts fail with an event message stating the jobs failed to execute the NetIQCtrl command. This release resolves an issue in which the AMHealth_HeartbeatWin and the AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth scripts generated an event message stating that the NetIQCtrl utility command returned an error. With this release, the error with the NetIQCtrl utility command no longer occurs. (ENG326726, ENG328755, ENG330512, ENG328802, ENG330225)

  • AMHealth_HeartbeatWin Knowledge Script generates a Microsoft VBScript type mismatch event message in locales other than the United States. This release resoves an issue in which running the AMHealth_HeartbeatWin script in locales other than English (United States) resulted in the following error: Microsoft VBScript runtime error [Line: 1089] Type mismatch: 'strCorrectDate'. In this situation, the script incorrectly calculated the date in the non-American locale. With this release, an update to the script ensures that the date is properly calculated for all locales. (ENG330598, ENG327144)

  • AMHealth_HeartbeatWin Knowledge Script incorrectly generates an event stating that there are no jobs for QDB sites. This release resolves an issue in which the script generated a number of incorrect event messages for different QDBs that stated No jobs for QDB site [QDBName]. With this release, the script no longer generates the incorrect events. (ENG326330)

  • AMHealth_HeartbeatWin incorrectly reports that jobs are exceeding the maximum run time in some locales. With this release, an update to the script ensures that the run times are properly calculated in all locales, preventing the maximum run time events. (ENG330160)

  • AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth Knowledge Script causes an Unexpected end of file event message. This release resolves an issue in which running the AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth script raised the following event message: Utilized Log space for the tempdb database is high. With this release, an update to the AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth script prevents this event message from occurring. (ENG329647)

  • AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth Knowledge Script cannot connect to the SQL Server. This release resolves an issue that occurred when the QDB and management server components were installed on a SQL Server that was configured with the server and port number, the Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script failed to discover the QDB and management server components, and the AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth Knowledge Script failed to monitor the QDB and management server components. With this release, these two scripts work as expected in this situation. (ENG325720)

  • AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth Knowledge Script generates an inaccurate event time. This release resolves an issue in which the AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth script generated an event time that does not match the event time in the management server and the QDB. With this release, the event time is consistent in Control Center, the management server, and the QDB. (ENG329241, ENG329758)

6.3 AppManager for Self Monitoring (AM Health) 8.0.113.0, October 2012

This release of AM Health resolved the following issues.

  • Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script fails if Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 is not installed on agents. This release resolves an issue in which the Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script failed with the following message: AppManager discovery failed (roles). The discovery did not fail on management servers, but only on agents that did not have .NET 2.0 installed. With this release, the discovery process succeeds even on agent computers that do not have .NET 2.0 installed. (ENG311953)

  • Discovery_AMHealth Knowledge Script fails with an invalid procedure call or argument error message. This release resolves an issue in which the Discovery_AMHealth script failed to discover a management server when the number of characters in the AllowMS registry key on the management server was greater than 256. With this release, the Discovery_AMHealth script can discover a management server with an AllowMS key that has more than 256 characters. (ENG320039, ENG316028)

  • AMHealth_CCComponentsHealth Knowledge Script does not retreive a SQL user. This release resolves an issue in which AMHealth_CCComponentsHealth Knowledge Script was unable to retrieve a SQL user set up with SQL authentication. With this release, this script works with both Windows and SQL authentication, provided that you set up the user credentials with AppManager Security Manager. (ENG314194)

  • AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth and AMHealth_CCComponentsHealth Knowledge Scripts incorrectly calculate file growth. This release resolves an issue in which these scripts generated incorrect events about insufficient disk space when sufficient space existed. With this release, the AMHealth_QDBComponentsHealth and AMHealth_CCComponentsHealth scripts correctly calculate disk space and file growth. (ENG310646, ENG323257)

6.4 AppManager 8.0.1.0, January 2012

The AM Health module was previously included as part of the AppManager release, and not as a standalone module.

This initial release of the AM Health module provides Knowledge Scripts for monitoring the health and availability of AppManager components, including QDBs, the CCDB, management servers, agent computers, the command queue service, the Deployment Service, and the Deployment Web Service. The setup program installs this module during QDB installation. The module includes two new Discovery Knowledge Scripts, four Knowledge Scripts, and two Knowledge Script Groups (KSGs).

The following AM Health Knowledge Scripts are available in this release:

  • Discovery_AMHealth: Discovers AppManager server resources (QDB, management server, and agent) and Control Center server resources (CCDB, command queue service, and Deployment Service) installed on Microsoft Windows servers.

  • Discovery_AMHealthUNIX: Discovers AppManager agent resources installed on UNIX or Linux servers.

  • CCComponentsHealth: Monitors the health and availability of SQL Server resources associated with Control Center components.

  • HeartbeatWin: Monitors the AppManager agent heartbeat signal and job execution in a Microsoft Windows environment.

  • HeartbeatUNIX: Monitors the AppManager agent heartbeat signal in a UNIX or Linux environment.

  • QDBComponentsHealth Monitors the health and availability of SQL Server resources associated with the QDB and the management server.

  • HealthCheckAMAgentComponents Recommended Knowledge Script Group: Includes the HeartbeatWin and HeartbeatUNIX Knowledge Scripts.

  • HealthCheckAMCoreComponents Recommended Knowledge Script Group Includes the CCComponentsHealth and QDBComponentsHealth Knowledge Scripts

7.0 Contact Information

Our goal is to provide documentation that meets your needs. If you have suggestions for improvements, please email Documentation-Feedback@netiq.com. We value your input and look forward to hearing from you.

For detailed contact information, see the Support Contact Information Web site.

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