20.6 Downloading the Advisor Feed

To access the updated Advisor feed, you must download the feed and process it to into the Sentinel database. You can download the Advisor feed manually or you can configure the Sentinel server for automated downloads at fixed intervals.

NOTE:To download Advisor updates, you must purchase the Advisor Data Subscription and obtain the credentials.

20.6.1 Configuring the Sentinel Server for Automated Downloads

You can use the Download Manager to configure the Sentinel server for automated Advisor feed downloads. The Download Manager enables you to configure the Sentinel server for automated downloading and processing of the Advisor feed files at fixed intervals. The Download Manager notifies the Sentinel processes to process the downloaded feed whenever a feed is downloaded.

For example, you can configure the Sentinel server to download the Advisor feed at fixed intervals. After the feed is downloaded, the Download Manager notifies the Advisor processes to process the downloaded feed and load it into the Sentinel database.

The Download Manager window lists the download configurations and displays the status of the previous download for each download configuration. By default, a download configuration is available that is partially configured for Advisor. You can use the same configuration to download an Advisor feed, by specifying the login credentials and other details, and activating the download configuration.

20.6.2 Creating a Download Configuration

  1. Launch the Sentinel Control Center.

  2. Launch the Download Manager:

    • If the Configuration menu is not enabled, click the Configuration tab, then click the Configuration menu > Download Manager or click the icon on the toolbar.

    • If the Configuration menu is enabled, click the Configuration menu > Download Manager or click the icon on the toolbar.

  3. Click Add to configure the download feed.

  4. Specify the following information:

    • Repository Name: Name of the repository from which you are downloading the data. The repository name must be unique and meaningful to the feed that you are downloading.

      For example, to download Advisor data, specify the repository name as Sentinel Advisor.

    • URL: URL where the download feed is located.

      For example, to download Advisor data, specify the Advisor URL (https://secure-www.novell.com/sentinel/download/advisor/feed/).

      NOTE:The Advisor feed can also be manually downloaded from the Novell Download Web site (https://secure-www.novell.com/sentinel/download/advisor/). However, the manual download URL does not work in Download Manager.

    • Authentication: Specify the authentication details.

      • Anonymous: Select the check box to download the information as an anonymous user.

        If Anonymous is selected, the Username and Password fields are disabled. You can only access the URLs that do not require authentication.

      • Username and Password: Specify valid credentials to log in to the URL of the repository.

    • Network: If you do not have direct access to the server where the download feed is located, you can download the advisor feed through a proxy server.

      • Use a proxy server: Select the check box if you are using a proxy server to download the feed.

        The proxy server through which you are connecting should have access to the server where the download feed is located.

      • Address: Specify the proxy server name or server IP address.

      • Port: Specify the port number through which you connect to the proxy server.

      • Username and Password: Specify valid credentials to log in to the proxy server.

    • Download Directory: Specify the location and name of the directory where you want to save the feed. Ensure that you specify the absolute path.

      The directory is created on the Sentinel server at the specified path while downloading the feed.

      If the specified directory already has existing files that are not in sync with the Sentinel server files, these files are deleted when the new download starts.

    • Enable: Select this check box to activate the configuration to download the feed.

    • Schedule Interval: Specify the time interval for the download by selecting one of the following options from the drop-down list:

      • 6 Hours: Schedules the download for every six hours.

      • 12 Hours: Schedules the download for every 12 hours.

      • Daily: Schedules the download every day.

      • Weekly: Schedules the download once a week.

      • Monthly: Schedules the download once a month.

    • Feed Type: Select Advisor from the drop-down list to notify the Advisor processes on the Sentinel server that the Advisor feed is downloaded.

  5. (Optional) Click Validate to validate the URL and the login credentials.

    The URL and its credentials are validated and a confirmation message is displayed. If the validation fails, you must provide a valid URL and login credentials.

  6. Click Save to save the configuration settings.

    The specified directory path is validated and the download configuration that you created is displayed in the Download Manager window. If the directory path is invalid, you are prompted to specify a valid directory path.

20.6.3 Downloading the Feed Instantly

You can immediately download the feed for a selected download configuration, regardless of the time interval scheduled for the selected download configuration.

  1. Launch the Sentinel Control Center.

  2. Launch the Download Manager:

    • If the Configuration menu is not enabled, click the Configuration tab, then click the Configuration menu > Download Manager or click the icon on the toolbar.

    • If the Configuration menu is enabled, click the Configuration menu > Download Manager or click the icon on the toolbar.

  3. Click Download Now.

    The Advisor data feed is downloaded if you have specified the appropriate URL.

    The Download Now button is disabled when the download is in progress for the selected configuration.

20.6.4 Audit Events for the Download Manager

The Download Manager generates an audit event whenever you perform any of the following actions:

  • Create a download configuration

  • Edit a download configuration

  • Delete a download configuration

  • Download the feed

    NOTE:An audit event is generated regardless of whether the download status indicates success or failure.

You can create appropriate correlation rules to receive notifications of these audit events through email. For more information on creating correlation rules, see Correlating Event Data in the Sentinel User Guide.

20.6.5 Downloading the Advisor Feed Manually

  1. Log in to the Novell download Web site (https://secure-www.novell.com/sentinel/download/advisor/) by using your Novell eLogin user name and password.

    The Novell eLogin username and password must be associated with the Advisor license.

  2. Download all the .zip and .md5 files.

  3. Copy the downloaded feed files to the Sentinel server.

    To process the downloaded feed, you must provide the location where you have saved the feed in the Advisor window. The default location is /var/opt/novell/sentinel/data/updates/advisor.