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    BMC TrueSight IT Data Analytics 1.1

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    This section contains information about enhancements in version 1.1.00 of the BMC TrueSight IT Data Analytics product.

    Related topics

    Support for new operating systems

    The following operating systems are supported:

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 x86-64 
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 x86-64

    For more information, see System requirements.

    Support for IPv6

    Version 1.1.00 onwards, the BMC TrueSight IT Data Analytics product supports Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

    Note

    You cannot use the following data collectors to collect data from IPv6 hosts:

    Installation enhancements

    The following enhancements are available for installing and upgrading the product:

    AreaEnhancement
    Validations before installing

    The installer includes validations that check for the following prerequisites:

    • If there is enough disk space available on the computer where you want to install the product?
    • If the ports used for installation are available?
    • If you are trying to install the product on an unsupported operating system?

    You can skip validations for port availability while performing a silent installation. For more information, see Silent installation properties.

    Installing in a multiple-server environment

    You can install the product components in a multiple-server environment by performing a custom installation.

    For more information, see Installing in a multiple-server environment.

    Installing without Administrator privileges

    You can install the product without Administrator privileges on Windows or Superuser privileges on Linux.

    Before you begin installation, ensure that you prepare your environment to meet all the requirements for installing the product.

    For more information, see Preparing for installation.

    For more information about upgrading the product, see Upgrading.

    Support for multiple-server deployment

    Version 1.1.00 onwards, you can deploy the product in a multiple-server environment. You can deploy the following product components on multiple servers and horizontally scale them to handle the need for managing large volumes of data.

    • Collection Station
    • Indexer
    • Search

    For more information, see Multiple-server deployment.

    Support for standalone Collection Agent

    Version 1.1.00 onwards, a new Agent type (standalone Collection Agent) is supported for collecting data. The standalone Collection Agent is the same as the Collection Agent available for the BMC PATROL infrastructure. However, this Agent type can be run without the the BMC PATROL infrastructure.

    The standalone Collection Agent is a light-weight mechanism that is bundled with the product and can be installed on the target hosts (where data resides) for collecting data locally.

    For more information, see the following links:

    Data collection

    The following updates are made to data collectors:

    AreaEnhancement
    Data collector modificationYou can modify a data collector even if the data collection is running.
    Advanced options while creating a data collector

    You can specify the following advanced options while creating a data collector:

    • File encoding: Collect and index files with various kinds of character-set encoding.
    • Ignore data matching input: Ignore particular data while indexing a file by providing one of the following inputs used as the criterion for ignoring data:
      • Simple line from the file
      • Java regular expression
    • Best effort collection: Attempt to collect all data in the file even if only the timestamp matches from the data pattern specified.
    • New date format: You can now specify a date format for indexing the timestamp in your data. While creating a data collector, you can apply a filter that provides matching data patterns as well as date formats. You can select either the data pattern or the date format and preview parsed results. If you select both – a data pattern and a date format, then the date format specified takes precedence over the date format from the pattern that you selected. You can also create a new date format and use that for indexing the timestamp.

    For more information, see the instructions about creating a data collector, under the Viewing and searching configured data collectors section.

    Data collection by using an SSH connection

    While creating the following data collectors, providing the host key fingerprint is not mandatory.

    Collection Agent details while adding a host

    You can enable or disable Collection Agents by using the Enable Agent check box while creating a host.

    If the Collection Agent selected on the Collection Host (Agent) list of a data collector is disabled, data collection does not happen.

    For more information, see Adding hosts.

    One-time data collection

    While performing a one-time data collection, you can collect data higher than the default limit by using the Upload file data collector.

    This can be done by making some configuration changes.

    For more information, see Upload file.

    UI enhancements

    The following changes apply to the order of the fields available for the various data collectors:

    • The section on Advanced Options is newly added.
    • The section on Data Pattern is newly added. This section contains fields related to specifying the data pattern, date format, poll interval, and so on.
    • The Host Key Fingerprint field is moved from the Collector Inputs section to the Advanced Options section.

    For more information, see the instructions about creating a data collector, under the Viewing and searching configured data collectors section.

    Default data collection for the Collection Station logs

    The Data Collectors tab provides a default data collector for collecting the data in the Collection_metrics.log file. The Search tab displays a graph summarizing the data collected by this data collector. This can help you collect and analyze metrics (logs) generated by the Collection Station.

    For more information, see Monitoring the product metric files.

    Performance improvements

    The following enhancements in BMC TrueSight IT Data Analytics 1.1 improve performance:

    AreaEnhancement
    Data collection

    The product has been tested to index 500 GB per day with a default retention period of seven days.

    For more information about the hardware configuration used, see Hardware sizing recommendations.

    SearchThe time taken to run search queries is reduced.
    Search commands
    • The time taken to run the filter command with the regex function is reduced.
    • The time taken and the memory used for running the group command is reduced.

    CLI commands

    The following new CLI commands are supported:

    CommandDescription
    deletecollectorDelete data collectors based on the criterion specified.
    movecollectorsMove data collectors based on the criterion specified.
    deletecomponentsDelete components based on the criterion specified.
    activatenotificationActivate notifications based on the notification name specified.
    inactivatenotificationInactivate notifications based on the notification name specified.

    The following changes are made to the existing commands:

    CommandChanges
    startcollection
    • The -n parameter is now changed to -c (criterion).
    • Start (or stop) collection of data collectors by host name.
    • Preview status of the data collectors that will be affected by using the command.
    stopcollection

    Executable for starting or stopping all components on Windows

    You can use a Windows batch file to start or stop all the product components together. For more information, see Starting or stopping services on Windows.

    Data visualization

    The following new charts are supported for viewing summarization charts and adding views:

    • Column
    • Doughnut
    • Line

    Note

    With this version, the bar chart shows horizontal lines while the column chart shows vertical lines.

    The following charts are added on the Chart View for tabular commands:

    • Line
    • Column

    For more information, see Tabular commands.

    Enhancements for searching data with a time context

    The following enhancements are added to search data with a time context:

    UI elementDescription
    Time range list next to the search bar

    The following time new ranges are added:

    • Last 5 mins
    • Last 6 hours
    • Last 2 days

    For more information, see Searching with a time context.

    Slider under the Timeline Chart

    Use the slider under the Timeline Chart and adjust its handles on the left and right to select a custom time range and see the corresponding search results.

    This helps you avoid the number of clicks to specify a custom time on the time range list.

    For more information, see Using the Timeline and Summarization charts.

    Search commands

    The following enhancements are added for search commands:

    • A new command dedup is added. You can use this command to remove data records that contain fields with duplicate values.
    • The stats and timechart commands support two new functions, min and max. These functions help you obtain the smallest and the highest value of a field.
    • The filter command supports the lessthan function. By using this function in the command syntax, you can see search results that contain field values less than the value specified.

    Enhancements for tabular commands

    The following enhancements are added for search commands that provide tabular outputs:

    • You can view column and line charts in the Chart View.
    • You can see a comparison of charts to see how your search results for the original time range differ, as compared to the following options:
      • Previous: Before the original time range
      • Next: After the original time range
      • Custom: Custom time range where you can modify the start time only

    For more information, see Tabular commands.

    Simplified scheduling for notifications

    The Scheduling option for adding notifications is now simplified. You can select various options to specify the frequency for sending notifications. For more information, see Managing notifications.

    Simplified sorting for search queries on the Workspaces panel

    The options for sorting search queries on the Workspaces panel is now simplified, as follows.

    • You can specify whether the search queries must be displayed in an ascending order (newest on top) or descending order (oldest on top) for the following sort options:
      • Date Created
      • Date Modified
    • The sort option for Most Accessed is now renamed to Access Count. Also, you can use this sort option to display search queries with the most accessed count on top or least accessed count on top of the Workspaces panel.

    For more information, see Sorting and filtering search queries.

    Monitoring the product metrics

    When you install the product, by default the data collector for collecting the Collection Station logs is created and the line chart showing the data indexed over the last week is displayed on the Search tab. Also, the line chart is now modified to include a Y axis on the left as well as the right. This helps you view the sum of all the records indexed along with the total volume of data indexed (sum of bytes) in the last week.

    For more information, see Search tab.

    Macros supported while adding collection profiles

    At the time of adding data collector templates as a part of the collection profile, you can specify macro names instead of manually providing input parameters. Macros can be defined as objects that store values that can be referred by the data collector templates at the time of creating data collectors.

    For more information, see Using macros while adding data collector templates.

    Enhancements for content packs

    The following enhancements are added:

    • The content packs support importing and exporting views.
    • The product automatically extracts name=value pairs existing in the saved search queries as a list of macros. At the time of exporting the content pack, you can browse through the list of saved searches to see the macros available. You can select such macros and change the existing values before exporting the content pack.

    For more information, see Managing content packs.

    UI enhancements

    The following enhancements are made to the UI:

    • The look and feel of the product user interface has changed.

    • You can type or select the collection host name while adding data collectors or the saved search name while adding views.

    • The following enhancements apply to the Search tab:

      AreaDescription
      Timeline ChartA slider for selecting a custom time range is available under the Timeline Chart.
      Search resultsThe view list for displaying the search results (for example, Optimized View, Minimal View) is moved to the top-left of the search results area.

      The Text View and Chart View icons next to the view list are moved to the top-left of the search results area.

      The icons for shifting the time context (to move back and forward) are moved from the top of the search results area to the top of the Timeline Chart.

      Filter PaneYou can resize the Filter Pane on the Search Tab by dragging it on the right.
      Workspaces panelWhen you perform a search, the Workspaces panel gets collapsed.

    Scripts for backing up and restoring data

    Ready-made scripts are available for backing up and restoring the Configuration Database and configuration files. These scripts can be useful to perform your regular backup and restore activities. For more information, see Backing up and restoring data.

    Other enhancements

    You can set the landing page to the default view. By doing this, the default view will be available when you log on to the product. For more information, see Managing user settings.

    A new column displaying the product component version is available on the Administration > Components page. For more information, see Managing components.

    After performing a search, you can export the search results in a CSV format or raw format. For more information, see Other actions available after performing a search.

    For a list of issues corrected in this release, see Known and corrected issues.

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