Creating remote actions

You can create remote actions to run commands on remote devices. This topic explains how to create remote actions using the BMC ProactiveNet Administration Console. You can also create remote actions that run on a cell. For more information, see Remote actions that run on the cell.

Before you begin

To create a remote action for a remote BMC ProactiveNet Cell, do the following:

1. Add the following line to the mcell.dir file for that cell:
   admin ias_Admin <userName>/<passWord> <ProactiveNet_Server_hostName>:3084
2. Restart the cell.

To create remote actions

1. Log on to the BMC ProactiveNet Administration Console.

2. From the Tools menu, select Remote Actions > Remote Actions .
   The Create Remote Actions dialog box is displayed:
   
   In the Create Remote Actions dialog box, fill in the following fields: 

    

   Field	Description
   Action Name	Name that describes the action to be performed. This is the label that appears on the Tools > Remote Actions > Remote Actions menu.  Each action name must be unique. Warning Duplicate action names result in BMC ProactiveNet Cell Knowledge Base compilation errors.
   Action Group	Optional. Name of the group to which the customized action belongs. You can group similar actions under the same group name. However, you cannot nest groups.
   Command	String that contains the command to be run on the JServer or remote system.  If the command string includes double quotation marks, as in the ping command, ping "{$mc_host}", a forward slash is added to the command in the action_name.xml file in the installationDirectory\pw\admin\etc\samples directory: ping \"{$mc_host}\". You must manually edit the action_name.xml file to remove the slash characters from the command string. Save the action_name.xml file to return to the Infrastructure Management tab. Right-click JServer instance object and select Action Reload.  If the command string includes a hard-coded path, then always specify the path name using the UNIX style forward slash /, as in C:/Program Files/BMC Software/Test1.exe, even if the target systems is Windows.  For more information about remote action command parameters, see Remote action command parameters.
   User Groups	Groups include BPPM Administrators, BPPM Operators, and so on that have permission to run this action. You can select one or more groups.  The available groups are listed in the Impact Administration Server to which your BMC ProactiveNet Administration Console currently is connected. Note The remote actions that are listed on the Remote Actions menu in the BMC ProactiveNet Operations Console are defined in both the cell and the BMC ProactiveNet Database server. When you create a remote action from the BMC ProactiveNet Administration Console and restrict access to a particular user group, you restrict the remote actions from the ProactiveNet Database server only, and not from cell. Users will still see the remote actions defined in the cell even though they might be restricted from seeing and running remote actions defined in the database server.  You can add or remove user groups for remote actions by modifying the action definition files (mc_actions.mrl or ao_actions.mrl depending on the type of action) found at installationDirectory\server\etc\cellName\kb\bin.
   Run Location	The Remote option is selected automatically.
   Operating System on Run Machine	Specifies the operating system on which the remote action is to be run. This can be the operating system of the remote computer or the operating system of the computer where the JServer resides.
   Impact Manager(cell)	Name of the cell that receives the event associated with the action. The action rule is defined in this cell.
   Impact Administration Cell	The default Impact Administration Cell is selected automatically.
   Event Criteria Formula	Specifies the selection criteria for the action event. For details about specifying the event criteria, see Adding event criteria to a remote action.
   Time Out (Milliseconds)	Interval in milliseconds before the action is canceled. The action can be canceled if the Impact Administration Server does not receive a response before the customized or default timeout interval.
   Use Stored Login Credentials	Boolean value (True or False) that indicates whether or not you can run the action using either of the following: the user credentials of the remote host system = True public key authentication = False (default) Only Event Management remote actions use the credential_repository.xml file for credentials. Because BMC ProactiveNet remote actions can only be triggered on a device-associated event, BMC ProactiveNet remote actions use credentials provided in the device data. If you select False (default), then your public key account on the system is sufficient to launch the action. The procedure does not search the credential_repository.xml file for login credentials.  If you select True, then the routine uses the remote system's account information as defined in the credential_repository.xml file (login_user and login_password).  Reminder: For automatic remote execution, you must specify an JServer user name and password in the Admin record. By default, admin/admin12345. If you want to modify the user name and password, restart the cell.
   Deploy (Use with Remote Run Location Only)	Boolean value (True or False) that indicates whether or not you can deploy a script from the JServer system to the remote system and then run the script through a RunRemoteTask command.  The default is False, indicating that no script is deployed.  You can only deploy a script when the selected Run Location option is Remote.
   Script To Deploy (optional)	Name of the script or .bat file. If the boolean value is set to True, the script or .bat file is displayed.
   Script Path on Destination Machine	Path to the script on the system name on which is run.

3. Click Add Action.
   Repeat the procedure to add additional remote actions. When you are finished creating remote actions, click Close. Reload the JServer by running the iadmin -reinit actions command.

Adding event criteria to a remote action

When you define event criteria, you build a selector that acts as a filter for the incoming event that is associated with the action rule and action task. You can define the selector and the resulting event both broadly or narrowly. If the event does not satisfy the criteria, then the action rule and action task for that event are not available.

You should be familiar with Master Rule Language and Baroc class definitions before developing complex event selectors. For more information about developing complex event selectors, see Event selectors.

Event criteria are essentially Master Rule Language (MRL) event definitions. You can specify the event class, slot values, and operators of the event definition. For interactive remote execution, this is the definition that the incoming event must satisfy before the action rule invokes the remote action.

To add event criteria to a remote action rule:

1. In the Create Remote Actions dialog box, click the ellipses button to the right of the Event Criteria Formula field.
   
   The Add Criteria dialog box is displayed.
   
   Fill in the following fields:

   Field or control button	Description
   Description	Optional. Description of the event. This field can be used to classify the selectors.
   Event Class	List of event classes and subclasses in the Class Chooser dialog box.
   Slot	Available slot from the selected event class.
   Operator	Boolean operator that links the slots to the value strings.
   Value	Specified value for the slot.
   Insert	Inserts the slot-operator-value string in the display area, where you can review and edit. When placing multiple slot-value combinations, the default connector is AND. You can specify other connectors from the list.
   Edit	Displays the selected slot-value combination in the editable fields above the display area.
   Delete	Removes the selected object from the display area.
   Group	Adds parentheses around the selected object to indicate the order and the logic of the operation. You can create nested objects by clicking Group.
   Move	Moves the placement of the selected object to the left or right.

2. Click OK.
   
   The Add Event Criteria dialog box closes and you are returned to the Create Remote Actions dialog box to continue creating your remote action.

See also Remote action command parameters.