4.4 Working with Data Providers

The following topics provide information and instructions for data provider tasks.

4.4.1 Creating a Data Provider

If Agent Manager does not provide a data provider you need, you can create one. After you create the data provider, you can specify the new data provider in data collection rules to collect information.

To create a data provider:

  1. Log on to the Agent Manager Console computer using an account that is a member of the OnePointOp ConfgAdms group. For more information about groups and permissions, see Understanding Sentinel Agent Manager Requirements and Permissions in the NetIQ Agent Manager Installation Guide.

  2. Start the Agent Manager Console in the NetIQ Sentinel Agent Manager program group.

  3. In the left pane, click Providers.

  4. On the Action menu, click New > Provider.

  5. Select the type of provider you want to create and click Next.

  6. Follow the instructions until you have finished creating a new data provider. For more information about the fields on a window, see the Help.

4.4.2 Creating a Data Provider for a Generic Single‑line Text Log

You can create a data provider for a generic single‑line text log based on the application log data provider. The application log data provider can collect data from only text logs encoded using the ASCII character encoding standard. The application log data provider cannot collect data encoded using the Unicode character-encoding standard.

To create a data provider for a generic single‑line log file:

  1. Log on to the Agent Manager Console computer using an account that is a member of the OnePointOp ConfgAdms group.

  2. Start the Agent Manager Console in the NetIQ Sentinel Agent Manager program group.

  3. In the left pane, click Providers.

  4. On the Action menu, click New > Provider.

  5. On the Select Data Provider Type window, click Application Log and then click Next.

  6. On the Log Type window, select Generic single‑line log file, and then click Next.

  7. On the Directories window, click Add.

  8. On the Directory Edit window, specify the command location, format, and file name, and then click Next. The file name provides Agent Manager with the file name convention for each generated log file. For example, an application may include a sequential number in its log file names, such as error*.log. For more information about window options, see the Help.

  9. Click Next.

  10. On the Name window, specify a provider name and then click Finish.