Configuring a Process to Alarm When the Number of Running Instances Exceeds a Set Limit

This task describes how to configure BMC PATROL to alarm when the number of running instances for a process exceeds a set limit.

1. Double-click the PROCESS application container.
2. Access the PROCESS_PRESENCE application menu as described in Accessing KM Commands and InfoBoxes.
3. Select Manage List of Monitored Processes from the pop-up menu.
4. On the Manage List of Monitored Processes dialog box, in the Actions group box, select Add New Process, and click OK.
5. On the Add New Process dialog box, in the Blackout field, enter a blackout beginning and ending time (use 24-hour time).
6. In the Process Instance Label field, type a name for the monitored process icon (maximum 100 characters).

7. In the Monitored Process Stringfield, type the command or a unique command string for the process that is being monitored.

   Note

   BMC PATROL monitors all processes that match the string you type in this field. When you enter text in this field, you might end up monitoring multiple processes. For example, if you type vi in this field, BMC PATROL will monitor processes named vi, view, and previous.

8. In the Minimum Count field, type a value to set the minimum number of process instances that must be running on the local computer or in the host group. This field is optional.
9. In the Maximum Count field, type a value to set the maximum number of process instances that might be running on the local computer or in the host group. You must type a value of 1 or greater in this field in order for BMC PATROL to alarm when the process instance count is exceeded. When the number of running process instances exceeds the value you type in this field, BMC PATROL will issue an alert. The value of the Maximum Count field must be greater than the value of the Minimum Count field.
   Step 10 through step 21 are optional when you are configuring a process to alarm if the number of running instances exceeds a set limit. If you do not want to set values for the fields as indicated in these steps, you do not have to.
10. In the Acceptable Process Owners field, type the user IDs for the accounts that can own the process. Separate multiple user IDs with spaces.

11. Select the Use Process Owners for Filteringcheck box.

    Note

    Because the process filtering for the processes is based on owners, the owner of the processes is always a subset of the provided owner set. Therefore, the PROCPPOwnerCheck parameter is deactivated when the Use Process Owners for Filtering check box is selected.

12. Select the Parent Process ID Must Be 1 option if the parent process ID (PPID) is 1. A process with a PPID of 1 is owned by init, or the UNIX scheduler.

13. Select the Filter Processes with Parent Process ID 1check box if you want to filter the processes by Parent Process ID 1.

    Note

    • If you select the Filter Processes with Parent Process ID 1 check box, only the processes having parent process ID 1 are filtered.
    • If you do not select the Filter Processes with Parent Process ID 1 check box, the processes are filtered irrespective of their parent process ID.
    • If you select Yes for the Parent Process ID Must Be 1 field, and if you filter processes with parent process ID 1, the PROCPPParentPID1 parameter will be deactivated.
    • If you select No for the Parent Process ID Must Be 1 field, the processes are not filtered by parent process ID 1.

14. Select the Restart Automatically option if you want the KM to automatically restart a process when it detects that the process count is less than the set minimum threshold. The KM uses the value in the Command Execution Attemptsfield to determine how many times it will try to restart a process.

    Note

    You must specify a start command and a command execution user name in this dialog box for PATROL to automatically restart a process.

15. In the Command Execution Attempts field, type a value to set the number of times the host will attempt to run a Start Process or Stop Process command before it stops trying to run the command.

16. In the Start Commandfield, type the command string that will start the process instance.

    Note

    You must specify a command execution user account and password if you want to use the Start command.

17. In the Stop Commandfield, type the command string that will stop the process instance.

    Note

    You must specify a command execution user account and password if you want to use the Stop command.

18. In the Command Execution User Namefield, type the user ID under which the command will be executed.

    Note

    You must specify a command execution user account and password if you want to use the Start and Stop commands.

19. In the Command Execution Passwordfield, type the password for the user ID under which the command will be executed. You can leave this field blank. The KM will accept a NULL value.

    Note

    You must specify a command execution user account and password if you want to use the Start and Stop commands.

20. In the Alert Delay Count field, type a value to set the number of collection intervals that this host will defer an alert while it waits for the process count to be reestablished on a host or across a group of hosts.
    If you delay the alert, the system has time to detect that a process has died and restart it automatically before PATROL issues an alarm.
21. Click the drop-down list button in the Alert Statefield and select the state change that will occur when the process count either falls below the minimum threshold or exceeds the maximum threshold and the alert delay count reaches 0. The state change will apply to the following parameters:
    • • Process Count Check (PROCPPCountCheck)
      • Process Ownership Check (PROCPPOwnerCheck)
      • Parent PID is 1 (PROCPPParentPID1)

      Note

      The alert thresholds for PROCPPCountCheck must not be modified in order for the product to work as designed. Alerts for process presence monitoring are generated based on the PROCPPCountCheck parameter, which has the following thresholds defined:

      • 0 for OK
      • 1 for WARNING
      • 2 for ALARM

22. Select one of the following options to indicate whether PATROL should monitor the process on one host computer or across a group of hosts:

    Option	Description
    Monitor Only On This Host	BMC PATROL will only monitor the process on the selected local host computer.
    Monitor Across Host Group	BMC PATROL will monitor the process across a group of host computers. Select this option if you want to monitor a process in a clustered environment.

23. Click OK.
    The dialog box closes, and the Manage List of Monitored Processes dialog box is displayed. The process that you just added to the monitored queue is listed in the Process List group box.