3.4 BMC Software PATROL

PATROL manages data regarding hosts, all applications discovered on these hosts, and parameters that are discovered for hosts and applications. The PATROL adapter integrates to PATROL to manage and display this data in Operations Center.

Figure 3-1 PATROL hosts, applications, instances and parameters display under the PATROL adapter in the Explorer pane

Operations Center displays all hosts and other objects defined in PATROL. The element hierarchy, as illustrated in Figure 3-1, displays as follows:

  • The top-level element displays directly beneath Elements.

  • Hosts display beneath the top-level element.

  • Elements that represent the applications defined for a host display beneath each host.

  • Each application has a container object (instance element) and contains parameters defined for the application.

You can recognize the type of object by looking at the element icon or class, as described in Table 3-1:

Table 3-1 Reference showing how PATROL objects map to

PATROL Object Type

Element Class

Element Icon Examples

Host

patrol_AgentType

For example, patrolNT or patrolLinux

Application

patrolAppl

Instance

patrolInst

Parameter

patrolParm

The following sections provide instructions for integrating to PATROL:

3.4.1 Integrating to PATROL

To integrate to PATROL:

  1. If running on Solaris, enable Daemon Shell Access for shell access in the Operations Center Configuration Manager.

    For details, see Daemon Pane in the Operations Center 5.5 Server Configuration Guide.

  2. Create a BMC Software PATROL adapter for each instance on the network.

    For instructions, see Section 2.1, Creating an Adapter.

  3. Configure adapter properties.

    Configure the Property Page Permissions property to set the access rights for Hosts, Libraries, Communication Settings, and Host property pages. This controls a user’s ability to view and edit the property pages of PATROL elements that display in the Operations Center console.

    For for a detailed list of properties, including the Property Page Permissions property, see Section A.5, BMC Software PATROL.

  4. Add a library, one ore more hosts, and configure communication settings.

    For instructions, continue to Configuring the PATROL Integration.

3.4.2 Configuring the PATROL Integration

The following sections describe how to configure the PATROL integration:

Adding and Managing Libraries

The first step in PATROL adapter configuration is adding a library used by PATROL hosts. This is the same library specified in the PATROL_HOME environment variable in your existing PATROL implementation.

Operations Center supports multiple libraries to enable managing multiple agent versions. Using multiple library installations enables an administrator to manage a set of PATROL agents using multiple versions of PATROL from one Operations Center installation.

For example, if an infrastructure is migrating from PATROL version 7.0 to PATROL version 7.5, the administrator can create two library definitions, one for each version. Later, when creating the host/agent definitions for the adapter, select one of these library definitions, depending on which version of PATROL is running on the target agent. After upgrading an agent, the administrator simply changes the library used for the agent, then restarts the connection in Operations Center for that agent.

If upgrading from a previous version, for instructions on copying PATROL libraries to the Operations Center server, see the Operations Center 5.5 Server Installation Guide.

Adding a Library

To add a PATROL library:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements.

  2. Right-click the top-level BMC Software PATROL element, then click Properties.

  3. In the left pane, click Libraries.

  4. Click New Library.

  5. In the New Library dialog box, specify the directory location of PATROL_HOME relative to the Operations Center server,

    or

    click the button and locate the directory, then specify a library name. The browse button is only available if you are running the Operations Center console local to the Operations Center server.

  6. Specify a descriptive name for the library in the Enter Library Name field.

Changing a Library Location or Name

Change a library’s location or name through the top-level PATROL element property pages.

To update a library location or name:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements.

  2. Right-click the top-level BMC Software PATROL element, then click Properties.

  3. In the left pane, click Libraries.

  4. Select the library name and then click Change Library.

    Change Library dialog box

  5. Specify the new name and/or path for the library.

Changing a Library Assigned to a Host

To change a library assigned to a host:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements > the top-level BMC Software PATROL element.

  2. Right-click a host element, then click Properties.

  3. In the left pane, click Host.

  4. Select a new library from the Knowledge Module Library drop-down list.

Removing a Library

To remove a library:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements.

  2. Right-click the top-level BMC Software PATROL element, then click Properties.

  3. In the left pane, click Libraries.

  4. Select a library name and then click Remove Library.

Resolving Not Found Libraries

Removing a library that is assigned to one or more hosts has no visible effect during the current session. However, after stopping and restarting the adapter, sometimes a message states that Operations Center cannot find a library.

To resolve Libraries Not Found messages:

  1. Check the libraries assigned to each host and find the hosts to which the deleted library is assigned.

  2. Assign a different library to these hosts. For instructions, see Changing a Library Assigned to a Host.

Adding and Managing Hosts

In Operations Center, it is necessary to configure the hosts monitored by the PATROL integration. Configuring the PATROL adapter requires that you add one or more hosts to the PATROL adapter.

Hosts display beneath the top-level BMC Software PATROL element in the Explorer pane. On initial adapter startup, only the connected hosts display in the Hosts property page for the top-level BMC Software PATROL element.

Operations Center displays both monitored and unmonitored elements. However, Operations Center tracks and regularly updates conditions for monitored (or managed) hosts only. Unmonitored (or unmanaged) elements are displayed, but their condition is always UNMANAGED. This saves bandwidth and processor time, especially if a large section of network is designated as unmonitored /unmanaged.

The following topics explains how to add, monitor, and locate hosts; import configuration files, change host passwords; and remove hosts:

Adding Hosts

To add a host:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements.

  2. Right-click the top-level BMC Software PATROL element, do one of the following:

    • Select Add Host.

    • Select Properties. In the left pane, click Hosts, and then click New Host

    The Add Host dialog box opens:

  3. Fill in the host setting fields:

    Host Name: The host name of the machine where the PATROL agent is running.

    Element Name: The host definition of an element. If blank, the target host is used.

    Agent Account, Password, Port, Type, Connection Type: For definitions of agent settings and the connection type, see your PATROL documentation.

    Knowledge Module Library: Required. PATROL monitors and manages resources on hosts using information from files called Knowledge Modules (KMs). If multiple libraries exist, click the drop-down arrow to select a different library, then click New to define a new library.

    For more information, see Adding and Managing Libraries.

  4. To override the global settings and establish custom settings for an individual host, click Communication Settings on the Add Host dialog box and see Establishing Communication Settings for additional information.

    Normally, the top-level BMC Software PATROL element sets communication settings globally for all hosts.

Monitoring Hosts

To monitor a host:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements > the top-level BMC Software PATROL element.

  2. To monitor a host, right-click a host element, then click Manage > Start Monitoring.

    The values in the View pane’s Condition column change from UNMANAGED to a different value such as CRITICAL or MAJOR.

  3. To stop monitoring a host, right-click a host element, then click Manage > Stop Monitoring.

    The unmanaged element and its subcomponents display in the Explorer and View panes, but Operations Center does not load their conditions. The values in the Condition column change to UNMANAGED.

Finding Hosts

To locate a host in a long list on the Hosts property page:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements.

  2. Right-click the top-level BMC Software PATROL element, then click Properties.

  3. In the left pane, click Hosts to open the Hosts property page.

  4. Click Find to open the following dialog box:

    Dialog Box to find hosts

  5. Do one of the following:

    • Specify a keyword that matches the host name.

    • Use Perl 5 regular expressions to search for hosts. For example, .*Acme.com matches all host names containing Acme.com:

Importing Host Configuration Files

You can import PATROL host configuration files, config.pet files, and the PATROL Console desktop.dt file.

Because host passwords are imported, you can change them using the Change Password feature. For instructions see Changing Host Passwords.

To import a host configuration file:

  1. To create the PATROL desktop.dt file from your PATROL console, click File> Desktop > Save.

  2. To import the configuration files, do the following from the Operations Center console:

    1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements.

    2. Right-click the top-level BMC Software PATROL element, then click Import Configuration File.

    3. Enter the path to the configuration file and select the Knowledge Module Library to use for imported hosts.

Changing Host Passwords

Entering an invalid password results in a normal connection, but the element is in the UNMANAGED state. A message states that an invalid password was used.

To change the password for an individual host:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements > the top-level BMC Software PATROL element.

  2. To change the password for an individual host:

    1. Right-click a host element, then click Properties.

    2. In the left pane, click Host.

    3. Enter the new password in the Agent Password and Agent Password (Again) fields.

  3. To change the password for one or more hosts through the top-level element:

    1. Right-click the top-level BMC Software PATROL element, then click Properties.

    2. In the left pane, click Hosts.

    3. Select one or more hosts, then click Change Password.

      Use Ctrl or Shift to select multiple host names.

    4. Enter the new password, then click Change.

Removing Hosts

To remove a host using the element menu:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements > the top-level BMC Software PATROL element.

  2. Right-click a host, then click Remove Host.

Establishing Communication Settings

Communication settings establish basic connection properties between Operations Center and the PATROL agents, and enable the dynamic loading of applications that are not static.

Adding a new application through the PATROL Console results in displaying the new application in Operations Center, if the application loading interval is greater than zero. New applications do not display in Operations Center if the time out is less than zero.

Set communication settings at the global level for all hosts using the top-level PATROL element in the Operations Center Explorer pane, then override settings for a specific host.

The following topics describe configuring communication settings:

Identifying Static Applications in PATROL

To identify static applications in PATROL:

  1. Run the PSL %DUMP KM_LIST command, which lists Yes or No in the fourth column.

Configuring Global Communication Settings

To configure global communication settings:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements.

  2. Right-click the top-level BMC Software PATROL element, then click Properties.

  3. In the left pane, click Communication Settings.

  4. Specify Agent Settings to monitor the downstream connection between the agent and the client, which is the integration between PATROL and Operations Center:

    Heartbeat: The amount of time between heartbeat packets that indicate the client is still communicating with the agent.

    Retries: The maximum number of retry attempts.

    Timeout: The maximum number of seconds to wait to establish a connection to the agent.

    Character Set: A language standard for the encoding of characters from bytes. For example, BG18030 is the Chinese encoding standard.

  5. Specify Event Interest settings by selecting the event types to monitor.

    By default, all are enabled. Deselect event types that are not monitored.

  6. Specify Integration Settings:

    Reconnect Interval: The number of seconds between attempts to reconnect.

    Operation Timeout: The number of seconds to wait before ceasing to send operation requests.

    Show Only Static Applications for this Agent: Select to display current applications only and do not check for new applications.

    Monitor Agent for New Applications: Select and specify the interval in seconds to check for new applications.

    If new Knowledge Modules (KM) are loaded in the PATROL console, the new KMs appear in the agent tree and in Operations Center. Conversely, removing a KM causes an application to unload and Operations Center removes the object also.

    Include Instance Parameters During Discovery: Leave unselected to discover PATROL parameter elements only as needed and save memory resources in Operations Center.

    Because parameter elements contribute to the state of instances in Operations Center, they may have an impact your service views. When this is the case, or when parameters are included in the service views using dynamic matching, selecting this option allows those views to be correctly populated and updated on adapter start up.

    WARNING:Selecting this option means a parameter discovery is performed during the initial connection to the agent, with the potential additional cost of time and memory.

  7. Select Enable Debug Tracing only when instructed by Support for troubleshooting. When selected, a large amount of data is logged in the formula.trc file.

Saving Memory Resources on the Operations Center server

When considering the Include Instance Parameters During Discovery check box, note that leaving the option deselected can save memory resources in Operations Center. Instance parameter objects might not be important to provide value to a business view within Operations Center. However, instance parameters do help determine the state of instances. Many uses of the PATROL adapter include the presence of a particular instance in a business view, instead of a single parameter or parameters within a business view.

Furthermore, if using dynamic matching criteria in creating business views, deselecting the Include Instance Parameters During Discovery check box enables the Operations Center server to save memory while providing parameters to the business views.

To save memory resources on the Operations Center server:

  1. Leave the Include Instance Parameters During Discovery option deselected in the Communication Settings property page.

    Parameter data is not discovered until it is needed. Selecting this option means discovering the parameters during the initial connection to the agent, with the potential additional cost of time and memory.

Overriding Global Communication Settings

To override the global communication settings for a particular host and establish custom settings:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements > the top-level BMC Software PATROL element.

  2. Right-click a host element, then click Properties.

  3. In the left pane, click Host.

  4. Click Communication Settings.

  5. Select Use Custom Settings for this Agent.

  6. Specify the agent, event and integration settings for the host.

    See Step 4 in Configuring Global Communication Settings for setting definitions.

3.4.3 Issuing Commands to Agents Using a System Output Window

Operations Center provides a terminal window console to issue Windows or UNIX commands, such as such as %PSLPS, to PATROL agents and get output.

To interactively issue commands to agents:

  1. To configure the System Output Window to show time stamps, set the Show Timestamp in Agent System Output Window to true in the adapter properties.

    For information on PATROL adapter properties, see Section A.5, BMC Software PATROL.

  2. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements > the top-level BMC Software PATROL element.

  3. Right-click a host element, then click Show Output Window to open the System Output window:

  4. In the System Output window, enter Windows or UNIX commands.

3.4.4 Performing Knowledge Module (KM) Commands

The KM commands that are available in the PATROL system surface in Operations Center through the KM Operations command.

To access KM commands:

  1. In the Explorer pane, expand Elements > the top-level BMC Software PATROL element.

  2. Right-click a host element, click KM Operations and select a command.

Because the set of commands varies among customers, and users can create custom commands, Figure 3-2 shows only a sample of the available commands:

Figure 3-2 PATROL Element Menu: This menu surfaces KM operations.

3.4.5 Understanding PATROL Element Condition in Operations Center

As in PATROL, events (or alarms) do not affect the element conditions in Operations Center. The Operations Center adapter performs a status query to the PATROL application to retrieve the element’s connection state.

IMPORTANT:Alarm severities have no influence on the state of PATROL adapter elements. For this reason, conditions may be counterintuitive as an element might be OK when it has many CRITICAL alarms.

An element condition change is any change that takes place on a resource that the PATROL application is monitoring. For example:

  • A parameter goes above or below its normal range

  • The connection state of a computer changes

  • A parameter description changes for a class of objects

Table 3-2 lists the PATROL states and their corresponding element conditions.

Table 3-2 Mapping PATROL Connection States to Element Conditions

PATROL State

Operations Center Element Condition

VOID, UNKNOWN, INVALID

UNKNOWN

OFFLINE

INITIAL

OK

OK

WARN

MINOR

ALARM

CRITICAL

In order to register an instance condition change, Operations Center requeries all parameter element children for their updated status, since an UpdParamState event might not occur because of event filtering. Properties for a parameter element identify the attribute to monitor and the frequency to check it. These properties can include:

  • A description of the monitored attribute

  • The frequency for checking the attribute

  • The instructions for measuring and monitoring the attribute

  • Detection thresholds for abnormal attribute values

The condition of an instance element is then determined using a roll‑up condition from parameter element children. For example, if the parameter element Test > SWAP > Summary > SWAP > SwapTotSwapUsedPercent changes to an ALARM state in PATROL, Operations Center sets its parent elements’ conditions as follows:

  1. SwapTotSwapUsedPercent changes to CRITICAL

  2. Summary changes to CRITICAL

  3. SWAP changes to CRITICAL

  4. Test changes to CRITICAL

When the SwapTotSwapUsedPercent state changes to OK, all of its parent elements’ conditions also change to OK.

A PATROL agent stores parameter commands and periodically executes them to retrieve data about the managed computer or application. Parameters add information to the built‑in rules about computers and applications. Parameters also contain recovery actions that result from the parameter detecting an unhealthy state; for example, when a returned value falls outside specified alarm ranges.

3.4.6 Understanding PATROL Events in Operations Center

In the Operations Center Alarms view, new alarms display with parity to the PATROL event console. Standard alarm filtering occurs through the MODL (Managed Objects Definition Language™).

A PATROL event signifies the occurrence of a state change in a PATROL element. Examples of events include:

  • Elevation of a parameter to an Alarm level

  • Modification of a global parameter description

  • Activation or deactivation of parameters

  • Suspension or resumption of parameters

  • Discovery of new applications

Table 3-3 lists PATROL event types and their corresponding Operations Center alarm severities.

Table 3-3 PATROL Event Types and Corresponding Severity in Operations Center

PATROL Event Type

Operations Center Alarm Severity

Filtered Out in Operations Center

ZERO, UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

No

INFORMATION, RESPONSE

INFO

Yes

CHANGE_STATUS

OK

Yes

WARNING

MINOR

No

ERROR

MAJOR

No

ALARM

CRITICAL

No

Each PATROL event also has a corresponding status: OPEN, ACKNOWLEDGED, CLOSED, ESCALATED, DELETED. By default, queries run only for OPEN, ACKNOWLEDGED and CLOSED events. State change events are disregarded as the latest state originates from the metadata discovery. You can filter events according to their status in the XML hierarchy file.

3.4.7 PATROL Element Conditions and Algorithms

To implement a persisted state, use the algorithm engine available via the Hierarchy file. For example, the following XML tag in the adapter hierarchy file causes elements to supply algorithms to control conditions:

<param name="usesAlgorithms" value="true" />

The algorithm engine must have available the following inputs:

  • Current internal condition of the element in Operations Center

  • Desired (or True) condition of the element in PATROL

Given these two items of information, it is possible to keep the condition at CRITICAL until it is explicitly set to OK. If the desired condition is not available, modify the PATROL adapter to provide the True condition of the remote object as input to the algorithm engine.

The algorithm can be a script. The previously documented state is now called conditionState, since state already has a meaning in all other NOC Script contexts. Also, a script can appear in the body of the <exec command="script"> tag.

For more information, see Section 9.0, Using the HierarchyFile.