Configuring connections between the administrator console and the cells

Before you begin

The first cell that you install is connected automatically to the BMC TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server. If you create additional cells, you must first register the cell with Infrastructure Management and configure the connection between TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server and each additional cell.

To register remote cells with the TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server

1. On the computer where the BMC TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server is installed, access the installationDirectory\pw\server\bin directory.

2. For each remote cell that you want to register, enter the following command:

   iadmin -ac name=<cellName>:key=mc:primaryHost=<primaryCellHostName>
   :primaryPort=<portNumber>:failoverHost=<secondaryCellHostName>:
   failoverPort=<portNumber>:environment=Production:usergroups=*

   
   
   
   The cell is added automatically to the cell_info.list of the BMC TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server located in the installationDirectory/pronto/conf directory. It is also automatically added to the admin.dir file in the installationDirectory/pronto/data/admin directory.

3. Add the cell entry to the mcell.dir file.
   By default, the mcell.dir file is located in the installationDirectory/server/etc directory.
4. Restart the cell that you are registering.
5. Restart the administrator console.

To configure the connection between the administrator console and cell

1. From the menu bar, select Edit > Configure > Administration Settings.
2. In the Configure Administration Settings dialog box, click the Impact Managers tab.
3. Select a cell or cell group.

4. If necessary, click Advanced to display the Cell Properties section of the dialog box.

   Note

   If you select a cell group, changes are applied to all the cells contained in the cell group. If you select a single cell, changes are applied only to the individual cell.

5. Set the following cell connection properties, as required:
   
   Cell connection properties

   Property	Description
   Name	Name of the cell
   Host	Name of the host computer where the cell is installed
   Port	Port number the cell uses to connect to the host computer. For more information, see Port range.
   Timeout	Length of time the console waits to receive data from the cell; default is 30 seconds. Infrastructure Management saves any negative Timeout values that you type as positive values.
   Refresh Freq	Time interval between polls of the cell; default is 60 seconds. Infrastructure Management saves any negative Refresh Freq values that you type as positive values.
   Attempts	Number of times the console attempts to connect to a cell; default is 10. Infrastructure Management saves any negative Attempts values that you type as positive values.
   Connect Freq	Time interval between connection attempts; default is 5 seconds. Infrastructure Management saves any negative Connect Freq values that you type as positive values.
   Encrypted Mode	Enables and disables encryption of data between the console and the cell; default is enabled (selected).
   Auto Connect	Enables and disables automatic connection to the cell at logon; default is disabled (cleared).
   Auto Switch	Enables and disables automatic and continuous switching of the connection from the backup cell to the primary cell after failover, using the value set in Connect Freq as the interval; default is disabled (cleared).
   Use Port Range	Enables and disables a specified range of local ports (on the administrator console) for establishing a connection between the console and a cell. Designating a port range is useful if the console must communicate to a cell through a firewall with only specific ports available for communication. The console scans through the specified port range until a port is connected to the cell or the connection fails because the port range is exhausted.  To use a port range, after you select Use Port Range, Infrastructure Management automatically changes the Min Port No. and Max Port No. values to 1. You must have at least four open ports within the port range, including the Min Port No. and the Max Port No. values. or more details, see Specifying ports in cell connection properties.
   Min Port No.	Lower limit of the port range.
   Max Port No.	Upper limit of the port range.
   Auto Bind	Enables and disables the automatic connection attempt of the console to the first network card it encounters. Clear this option to bind to a specific IP address. If only one network card exists, ensure that Auto Bind is selected. See Specifying ports in cell connection properties for additional information.
   IP Address	IP address assigned to the local network card to which the console connects; available only if Auto Bind is cleared.

To configure the cell connection between the administrator console and the cell - alternate method using the JServer

This feature enables you to configure the cell connection properties directly in the JServer. You need to log on as an admin user to perform this operation. To configure the server cell settings, follow these steps:

1. From the menu bar, select Edit > Configure > Server Impact Manager Properties.
   
   1. • Or, from the Event Management Policies tab, right-click the cell and select Edit > Server Impact Manager Properties.
      • Or, from the Dynamic Data Editor tab, right-click the cell and select Edit > Server Impact Manager Properties.

2. In the Edit Server Cell Settings dialog box, select a cell to edit.

   Note

   You can configure cell connection properties only on individual cells, and not on cell groups.

3. Click OK to save changes and close the dialog box.

To configure the connection between the TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server and cells

By default, when you use the administrator console to configure connections to a remote cell, those changes are not applied to connections opened by the JServer to the remote cell. To extend the connection properties to the connections opened by the JServer, follow these steps:

1. In a text editor, open the pw/admin/etc/ix.properties file.
2. Set pronet.admin.applyCellConnectionPropertiesInJServer=true.
3. Save and close the file.
4. Restart the administrator console.

Specifying local ports in cell connection properties

 The following circumstances require that you provide more specific information about communications between the console and the cell:

• The presence of a network interface card (NIC) between the console and the cell 
• The presence of a firewall between the console and the cell 
• Using a multi-homed computer for the console

In these circumstances, you must select Use Port Range and specify the limits of the port range and then select either Auto Bind or a particular IP address.

The Auto Bind option configures the console to connect to an NIC before it can connect to a cell. If you do not specify a particular NIC, the console automatically attempts to connect to the first NIC it encounters.

On a multi-homed computer, you can specify the NIC by selecting the IP address that the card is using from the IP Address list box. If Auto Bind is not enabled, you must specify a port range for the network card to which the console binds.