This section details information about requirements that must be in place before beginning the installation, preinstallation tasks that you must perform, and other considerations.
Read the planning items and fill in the values according to the notes in the following sections:
The following table provides information about high-level planning tasks:
Planning item | Value | Notes |
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Plan your deployment | Identify the primary use cases that you are trying to solve with this product. These use cases must determine the type of data you need to collect and the users that will interact with the system. High-level deployment planning must help you answer the following questions:
The answers to the preceding questions can help you get an idea about the architecture and the number of hosts required to support it. | |
Prepare hosts for installation | Review system requirements for:
Consider your sizing and scaling needs for the next 6 to 12 months before finalizing specific hosts or virtual machines (VMs). | |
Identify external dependencies | Identify the external dependencies for using the product. For example, answer the following questions:
These scenarios must be identified and factored in to the deployment-plan timeline. |
The following table provides information about planning users:
Planning item | Value | Notes |
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Concurrent users and sizing |
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User roles | Determine if all users must be given the the same privileges and access to the same data:
For more information, see User roles and permissions. | |
User authorization | User group information and user credentials are stored in the Configuration Database. You can authenticate into the product by using the IT Data Analytics mechanism or by using Atrium Single Sign-On. For more information, see User authentication options. |
The following table provides information about planning your sizing and scalability needs:
Planning item | Value | Notes |
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Type of data collected | Identify the different types of data that you want to collect and index into the product. This step is important, because all other steps in the planning process are dependent on it. This step might also help you decide if you want to use the PATROL for IT Data Analytics or a remote collection mechanism; for example, Windows Share or Secure Shell (SSH). Perform the following steps:
For more information, see Setting up data collection. | |
Amount of data collected | After identifying the types of data to be collected, you can identify the expected volume of data that is expected to be collected per day. This step is critical for proper sizing of the product components. Consider how your data needs might change in the next 6-12 months and factor that into your deployment plans. For more information, see Sizing drivers and their impact. | |
Number of concurrent users | Determining the number of concurrent users and types of searches or notifications that can be run on an hourly or daily basis is important for proper sizing. Likewise, understanding the types of users that might operate in the near future (6 to 12 months) is also important for proper deployment planning. For more information, see Planning for users. | |
Retention of data | If you plan to change the default data retention period under Administration > System Settings, then you need to factor this into your sizing and scalability plans. For more information, see the following links: | |
Data fields | Although it can be difficult to get a detailed understanding of what you want do with the data during the planning phase, you must consider the number of fields that will be extracted from the various types of data collected. Fields provide a layer of structure on the top of the semistructured data that you collect and can be an important part of search or correlation use cases. At this stage, be aware of this point and try to estimate the number of fields based on your expected use cases. For more information about accounting for fields, see Variables that impact product performance. | |
Notifications | Notifications are critical if you are integrating with other BMC products (for example, ProactiveNet or TrueSight Presentation Server). You can use these notifications to send alerts to the integrated products. You must understand the notification requirements as early as possible to be able to consider them for your sizing and scalability planning. Similarly, you must determine the impact of the number of concurrent users. For more information, see Variables that impact product performance. |
For more information, see Sizing and scalability considerations.
The following table provides information about planning tasks related to efficiently administering the product:
Planning item | Value | Notes |
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User management |
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Data collection management (with or without using PATROL for IT Data Analytics) | If you want to use PATROL for IT Data Analytics for data collection, your planning process must incorporate configuration needs related to the following systems:
You must understand the interaction between this product and the preceding systems before deciding on your deployment architecture. For more information, see Agent types. For more information about effectively managing your data collection, see Setting up data collection. | |
Data Collection Management (remote) | You can use various data collectors for remote collection of data, such as:
For more information, see Collecting data into the system. If you want to use any of these data collectors, you must understand the implications on your deployment architecture. Also, in some cases, you might want to consider your department or company policies to determine your data-collection management. For example, if your company has strict firewall policies whereby the managed nodes cannot connect with the server, you might want to use one of the remote data collectors listed previously. Accounting for such factors at the beginning of the planning process can help smooth your actual deployment later. For more information about effectively managing your data collection, see Setting up data collection. | |
Product administration | The product might require periodic maintenance or administrative attention. The following duties and tasks are applicable for an administrator:
For more information, see Planning. |
The following table provides information about planning your security needs:
Planning item | Value | Notes |
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Enabling SSL | All external connections to and from the IT Data Analytics Server can be enabled via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). During deployment planning, you must decide if you want to use a secured connection to enable you to assess configurations and performance impact. For more information, see Configuring a secured connection. |