Getting started with the BladeLogic Dashboard

The BladeLogic Dashboard provides a view into your environment and offers tips for optimizing BladeLogic installations.

To configure and access the BladeLogic Dashboard, you must first run an NSH script that performs the following actions:

Sets up a Tomcat server, if you do not have one running already.
Creates an NSH script called BSA Dashboard Script and stores it in the following location in BMC Server Automation: Depot/BMC Maintenance/BSA Dashboard Script.
Creates an NSH Script Job called BSA Dashboard Job and stores it in the following location: Jobs/BMC Maintenance/BSA Dashboard Job. A default schedule is created for the job, but you can customize that schedule. Running the job refreshes the information displayed in the dashboard.

One component of the BladeLogic Dashboard is the Value Dashboard. Installing the BladeLogic Dashboard automatically sets up the Value Dashboard using default parameters. If you want to modify those default values or you have other issues using the Value Dashboard, see Configuring the Value Dashboard.

Before you begin

The BladeLogic Dashboard is compatible with:

BMC Server Automation version 8.2 and later. If you are running versions 8.2.x, 8.3.0, or 8.3.1, some additional steps are required to enable the BladeLogic Dashboard. The following procedure includes those steps.
BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation version 8.2 and later.
Java Development Kit (JDK) version 1.6 or later. The JAVA_HOME environment variable must specify a valid directory.
If the database server is running on SQL Server, the BMC Server Automation user must be granted the following permission:

GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE TO <BMCServerAutomationUser>

To configure and access the BladeLogic Dashboard

Download the installation file, BSA_Dashboard-<version>.zip, from BMC Communities.
Copy the BSA_Dashboard-<version>.zip file to a BMC Server Automation Application Server defined to run as a configuration server or any Application Server which has all the authentication profiles.
Unzip and extract the files into a folder.
For example, you could create /opt/bmc/BMC_Dashboard (for Linux) or Program Files\BMC Software\BMC_Dashboard (for Windows). The extracted files include an NSH script called configure_dashboard.nsh. This script requires a minimum number of parameters and can be run on any platform.
Open a command line shell and cd to the folder into which you extracted the BSA_Dashboard files.

Perform one of the following steps:

To use an existing tomcat server, run the following command:
nsh configure_dashboard.nsh -no_tomcat <Username> <Role> <AuthProfile> <Hostname/IP address>
For example:
nsh configure_dashboard.nsh -no_tomcat joe BLAdmin bsaQA server1.abc.com

To set up up a new tomcat server, run the following command:
nsh configure_dashboard.nsh <Username> <Role> <AuthProfile> <Hostname/IP address>

For example:
nsh configure_dashboard.nsh betty BLAdmins DevTeam 192.168.0.1

The following table describes the parameters that you can use in the command.

Parameter	Description
`-no_tomcat`	Use this option if you already have a web server running and do not want to start a tomcat service and a new tomcat server.
`<Username>`	Username to log on to the BMC Server Automation.
`<Role>`	The role to which the user is assigned.
`<AuthProfile>`	The authentication profile which you chose to access the BMC Server Automation Console.
`<Hostname/IP address>`	(Optional) The hostname or IP address of the BMC Decision Support for Server Automation server. This option is only necessary if you want to use the Value Dashboard.

The system requests a password for the user identified by the <Username> parameter.

Enter the password.
The system asks if you want to send email notifications when it detects an error. Notifications can be sent when the dashboard detects an error in its Application Server, database, ping test, or repository sections.
If you want to send notifications, perform the following steps. If you do not want to send notifications, press n and proceed to step 8.
The script runs in the command line shell and generates a URL.
Note

By default, the Tomcat server for the BladeLogic Dashboard runs on port 8080. If that port is already occupied, the installation script prompts you to provide another port before the script completes and generates a URL.
1. To send notifications, press y.
  The system asks for the email address from which notifications are sent.
2. Enter an email address for the sender.
  The system asks for an email address to which notifications are sent.
3. Enter an email address for the recipient.
If you used the -no_tomcat option, perform the following sub-steps to enable the existing Tomcat server. If you installed Tomcat as part of this installation, skip the following sub-steps.
1. Copy the webapp/dashboard folder (generated when you ran the configure_dashboard.nsh script) to the webapp directory in the installation directory for your existing Tomcat server.
2. Restart the Tomcat server.
If you are running BMC Server Automation versions 8.2.x, 8.3.0, or 8.3.1, perform the following sub-steps to enable the BladeLogic Dashboard. If you are running BMC Server Automation 8.3.2 or later, skip the following sub-steps.
1. In BMC Server Automation, in the Depot folder, open the BSA Dashboard Script. Select Allow run with no targets and click Finish.
2. In BMC Server Automation, in the Jobs folder, navigate to the BSA Dashboard Job. Right-click the job and select Execute.
  You must manually run the BSA Dashboard Job once before users can access the reports generated by the job.
Copy the URL generated by the configure_dashboard.nsh script, and open it in a browser to display the BladeLogic Dashboard.
Source information for the report is stored on the file server.
Note

Opening the dashboard the first time may take a few minutes while information is copied to the Tomcat server.

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Getting started with the BladeLogic Dashboard

Before you begin

To configure and access the BladeLogic Dashboard