Getting started with devices

The following sections give an overview of available devices and provide instructions for properly creating devices.

Summary of devices

You can manually add devices to BMC ProactiveNet through the Device folder on the Administration Console. When you manually add a device for BMC ProactiveNet to monitor, you are initially presented with the Add Device window in which you identify the device by type.

BMC ProactiveNet offers the following device type categories:

  • AppServer
  • DBServer
  • Firewall
  • MailServer
  • Other
  • RemoteAgent
  • Router
  • Server
  • Switch
  • WebServer

BMC ProactiveNet automatically creates a set of default monitors for each device type. After you add a device to BMC ProactiveNet, you can select to monitor applications residing on the device or collect statistics from its Management Information Base (MIB).

Using device aliases

BMC ProactiveNet uses aliases to associate internal and external events to devices. Device alias are generated when a device is created. They can be generated automatically by BMC ProactiveNet or you can define them.

BMC ProactiveNet compares the device aliases from events with the alias defined for each device, and when a match is found, the event is associated with the device that matches the alias.

Aliases generated automatically are prefixed with BMC_ComputerSystem and use the following naming conventions, depending on how the device is generated:

  • BMC_ComputerSystem:Host Name:Domain For example: BMC_ComputerSystem:test.bmc.com
  • BMC_ComputerSystem:IP For example: BMC_ComputerSystem:10.134.12.10
  • BMC_ComputerSystem:TokenID

When the BMC ProactiveNet cell receives an event, the event is processed as follows, depending on whether the event is internal or external:

  • For internal events, the BMC ProactiveNet cell compares the device ID from the device alias with the device ID from the event and if a match is found, then the event is associated with the device.
  • For external events, the BMC ProactiveNet cell compares other alias values, such as BMC_ComputerSystem:Host Name:Domain or BMC_ComputerSystem:IP, with the event mc_smc_alias slot value, which contains device information. If a match is found, then the event is associated with the device.
  • If no matches are found, then the event is not associated with any device.
  • When a device is created, updated, or deleted in the Administration Console, the device is also created, updated, or deleted in the BMC ProactiveNet cell.

For more information, see Associating-events-to-devices.

Avoiding duplicate devices

In BMC ProactiveNet, a device can be created in the following ways:

  • Through one of the following adapters:
    • BMC PATROL Adapter
    • BMC Portal Adapter
    • Native VMware Adapter
    • System Center Operation Manager (SCOM) Adapter
    • BMC Transaction Management Application Response Time (BMC TM ART) Adapter
  • manually by using the Administration Console or a Command Line Interface
  • integrating with the BMC Atrium CMDB

When duplicate devices are created

Duplicate devices could result if multiple different sources that use different naming conventions are used to create the devices. For example, if the PATROL adapter uses the host name of the computer where the device is located to name the device, and the BMC Atrium CMDB uses the IP address of the computer where the device is located to name the device, then duplicate device instances will be created in BMC ProactiveNet.

Avoiding creating duplicate devices

Duplicate devices are not created in the following situations:

  • if devices are created by only one source
  • if devices are created from different sources independently
  • if different sources use the same naming convention when creating the devices; for example, IP address, host name, or fully qualified domain name

Best practices for device creation

To avoid creating duplicate devices, ensure that

  • the device is created using the fully qualified domain name of the host computer where the device is located
  • each adapter must use the fully qualified domain name of the device if the device is referenced from multiple adapters.

Creating a device

Before adding devices, have the following information available:

  • A list of devices (by type) to add
  • DNS names, if you want to add devices by name
  • IP addresses, if you want to add devices by their IP address
  • For servers, a list of applications running on each server and a checklist of applications that you want to monitor

  • For adding SNMP devices, a list of MIBs and community strings for each device
    BMC ProactiveNet Server uses the community string as a password for MIB access. If you do not enter a community string, the default community string, public, is used.

    Note

    If you are not using the DNS, ensure that the BMC ProactiveNet Server IP address exists on the DNS server, mail server, or C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc. This must have been completed during BMC ProactiveNet Server installation. If the IP address is not included, BMC ProactiveNet cannot poll the device and issues an error message. To verify the BMC ProactiveNet Server environment settings, see Installation requirements.

To create a device

  1. In the BMC ProactiveNet Administration Console, select the Devices folder, right-click, and select Add > Device.
  2. In the Add Device window, select the Configuration tab.

  3. From the Device Typelist, select a device type.

    Note

    Ensure that you select the correct device type. The device type is used by the Probable Cause Analysis algorithm to determine correlations between events and abnormalities within the system. If the device type is not accurate, the Probable Cause Analysis may not be accurate. For example, if a computer is a Web Server, set the device type as WebServer (not just Server ).

  4. In the Device Name field, specify the name of the device.
    If the device name is a DNS name, then the device name will be filled in automatically if it has not already been set. This may take a few moments.

    Note

    Ensure that you do not use any special characters, such as /, in the device name. If the device name includes special characters, then you cannot see the monitors for the device when you click on the device name in the Grid view of the BMC ProactiveNet Operations Console.

  5. In the DNS Name/IP Address field, specify the IP address of the device.
     The 127.0.0.1 IP address is the loop back address for any computer and must not be added to the Device List. If the device IP address has a DNS name, then the device name will be filled in automatically if it has not already been set.
  6. In the Tagfield, select a descriptive tag about the device that you are creating by following these steps:
    1. Click the plus icon to display the Enter Tag Details dialog box.
    2. Select a Tag Class and enter a Tag Value.

      For example, if the device that you are creating is located in a particular city, you would select Location as the Tag Class and then specify the city where the device is located (such as Auckland ) as the Tag Value. Tag Class is not mandatory. The Tag Value used as a keyword is currently useful in the Rule base groups functionality.
    3. Click Add to enter the values that you specify, and then click Finish to return to the Add Device dialog box.
  7. In the Aliases field, add one or more aliases to the device that you are creating. Use device aliases to associate events to the device, so that remote actions can be performed on those associated events. For details about remote actions, see What-are-remote-actions.
  8. In the Secondary IPs area, view any secondary IP addresses that may be associated with the device that you are creating.
     The first IP address that is associated with the Device Name that you specify is used as the primary IP address. Any additional IP addresses are used as secondary IP addresses. If no secondary IP addresses exist, then N.A is displayed in this field. To view all secondary IP addresses, click on the ellipses button.
  9. In the Device Description field, enter a description for the device that you are creating.
  10. If you have installed a BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service on this device, select the Agent Installed on Device option.
  11. Click the Control tab to edit the control attributes.
     Information in the Control tab tells the BMC ProactiveNet Server about the desired data collection and polling frequencies for the device. You can accept the defaults or change them as required.
  12. Select the SNMP Data Collection option to enable BMC ProactiveNet Server to collect data for the entire device. If this option is not selected, data collection for the device stops (or for new devices, never starts).
     This flag lets you conduct maintenance on existing devices without generating events.
  13. In the SNMP Read Community String you can change the password for BMC ProactiveNet Server access to the device MIB.
     To change this entry, you must have prior knowledge of how this device is set up. For example, if this device is set up for the Community String snmpget, then enter snmpget.
  14. In the SNMPRetries field, specify how many times (count) BMC ProactiveNet Server must request data from the device before reporting an event. Default is 2 retries.
  15. In the SNMPTimeout field, specify the duration (in seconds) BMC ProactiveNet Server must wait for data from the device before reporting an event. Default is 2 seconds.
  16. Select the SNMPUseV2 option if the device is using version 2 of the protocol.
  17. Click the Group tab and enter the required information.
     This tab enables you to add a device and its monitors to one or more groups. Optionally, you may associate the device with a group. A group is used to logically organize devices and monitors by department, geographic area, or service. Assigning a device to a group also enables the system administrator to restrict or allow access to certain devices by group. If you want the device to be associated with a group, select the group name here.
  18. Click the Remote Actions tab, and enter the required information:
    • ProtocolTypes—Protocol type from the list. The supported protocols are psExec, ssh (Secure Shell), and Telnet.
    • PortNo—Default port number of the selected Protocol Type is displayed.
    • RemoteUserName—Remote user name. This is mandatory for all protocol types.

    • RemoteUserPassword—Remote user password. This is mandatory for psExec, ssh, and Telnet protocol types. Confirm the remote user password.

      Note

      If you select the Telnet option from the protocol type list, you will have to fill in the information for the remote system prompt as described in the example. For example, if the remote system prompt is [root@kadamba root]#, then you must enter correctly in the remote system prompt field. You must not use a partial system prompt, for example, # for [root@kadamba root]#, which might prevent the system from logging into the remote device. The maximum number of characters supported for remote system prompt is 512 characters. For detailed information about remote actions, see What are remote actions.

  19. Open the Baseline tab.
     By default, no device is selected when you access the Baseline tab. When you select a device to copy baseline values from, then for all monitors being added to the new device, a corresponding monitor is searched on the selected device. If matching monitors are present, then all baseline values (hourly and weekly) are copied from the existing monitor to the new monitor instances being created.
  20. Click Finish to save your actions and perform all the remaining actions (using defaults).
  21. After reviewing the summary panel, click Finish.

 

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