Creating and editing component installation packages

With Central Monitoring Administration, administrators select monitor installation components, such as the BMC PATROL Agent and monitoring solutions, from the Central Monitoring Repository to create an installation package. The components can then be installed together using the installation package. You can reuse the installation packages, or deploy the packages to multiple computers.

After creating a component installation package, administrators can save the package to the Monitoring Installation Packages list for future use, or download the package on the current host without saving the package. For saved packages, administrators can download and install the package on any host, or edit a package.

Consult the following topics for information on creating installation packages for Infrastructure Management monitoring components.

Before you begin

Import the Central Monitoring Repository for Infrastructure Management. The Central Monitoring Repository is required on the Presentation Server where Central Monitoring Administration is enabled. The Central Monitoring Repository includes the current versions of BMC components that you can use with Infrastructure Management.

Review the Central Monitoring Administration repository best practices.

Consider the following options:

• A package can contain an integration tag value. This tag can then be used as part of the selection criteria in a staging policy to help determine the proper data collection Integration Service to assign the agent to. You must also leverage criteria such as the BMC TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server that the agents are to report into for staging policies.

• Settings in a package can allow or deny the use of policies. If you choose to deny policy usage, the PATROL Agent does not leverage policies unless the PATROL agent configuration is set to allow policies. You can manage this from the Central Monitoring Administration UI.  Note the following points:

  • If you allow policy management, the installation package must include configuring the PATROL Agent to connect to the staging Integration Service. Using the allow setting causes the agent to leverage the new policy configuration format rules, and the old configuration rules that conflict with the new rules format are ignored by the agent.

  • If you deny policy management, the package must include configuring the PATROL Agent to connect to a data collection Integration Service. The deny setting is useful during upgrades and migrations. It ensures that the current Agent configuration is maintained but used in the newly updated PATROL Agent and Infrastructure Management infrastructure. 

To use a migrated component installation package

If you migrated a previous version of a component installation package, perform the following steps for it to work with version 10.0 of Central Monitoring Administration:

1. Log on to TrueSight console. In the navigation pane, expand Administration and click Central Monitoring Administration. The Central Monitoring Administration opens in a new tab. In the navigation pane of Central Monitoring Administration, click the Repository drawer and select Deployable Package Repository.
2. Select the row for the package and click Edit .
3. In the Specify Installation Directory screen, click Finish Update.
4. In the Edit Component Installation Package screen, click Save Installation Package.
5. Click Close.

To create a component installation package

1. Log on to TrueSight console. In the navigation pane, expand Administration and click Central Monitoring Administration. The Central Monitoring Administration opens in a new tab. In the navigation pane of Central Monitoring Administration, click the Repository drawer and select Deployable Package Repository.
2. Click Add.
3. Select the operating system for which you want to create a package, and then select a platform on which you want to install the package. The list of components in the repository that are supported on the specified operating system and platform is displayed.
4. From the Available components list, select components that you want to include in the package.
5. From the Version list, select the version of the component that you want to include in the package.
   You can select a specific version or you can select latest, which automatically updates the package with the latest versions of the components when new versions of those components are added to the Central Monitoring Repository.
   By default, the appropriate BMC PATROL Agent for the operating system and platform that you choose are included in the Selected components list.
6. Click the right arrow button to move the selected components into the Selected components list, and then click Next.
7. For BMC PATROL Agent package creation, follow the instructions in Provide details for a BMC PATROL Agent installation package.

The installation wizards for the products that you selected are displayed, and they vary depending on the products or components that you selected to include in the package. To complete the installation wizards, follow the instructions for creating a component installation package in the installation documentation for the selected products.

To provide details for a BMC PATROL Agent installation package

1. Specify the installation directory.
   Note that the BMC PATROL products are installed one level below the BMC products installation directory.
2. Specify the PATROL 3.x product directory.
   Follow the instructions in the Important Information section.
3. For UNIX operating system, provide the System Root account details.
   Note: You can continue the package process without the Root details but you will need to complete the root configuration at a later time for the selected component to run correctly.
4. Provide the PATROL default account credentials.
   You must create this account manually before continuing with the installation. If you plan to use a domain account, enter DOMAIN_NAME\account name; otherwise, enter the local account. To allow the PATROL Agent to use the Local System account as the default account, leave the username and password fields blank.
5. Select the security level.
   The default security level is appropriate for most environments. For more information, see The BMC PATROL Security User Guide.
6. Specify the PATROL Agent port number.
   The port number is used by the PATROL Agent to communicate with the console. If you are installing a new version of the PATROL Agent over an existing one, ensure that you specify the same port number used by the earlier Agent.
7. Provide the Infrastructure Management integration configuration:
   1. INTEGRATIONSERVICES variable: this variable is used for automatic registration of the PATROL Agent with Infrastructure Management.

      Enter one or more existing Integration Service(s) to connect to. Separate each entry by a comma and use the format Protocol:IntegrationServiceHostname:PortNumber. For example tcp:Integration Service Hostname:3183, where 3183 is the port on which the Integration Service host listens for an incoming PATROL Agent auto-registration connection.

   2. Central Monitoring Administration Tag(s):

      Provide comma separated tags that the PATROL Agent will use to get configuration from Central Monitoring Administration. Each tag follows the format TagName:Description. If there is a space in the description, enclose it with quotes. For example, WinOS:"Windows OS Monitoring".

   3. By default, Central Monitoring Administration manages the PATROL Agent(s) configuration. If you select No, you can enable policy management from Central Monitoring Administration later. For more information, see Managing PATROL agents from Central Monitoring Administration.

8. (Optional) Provide the cell configuration details.
   Enter the Infrastructure Management encryption key and the cell details in the format Host/Port.

   You can choose to route events via an Integration Service.

   To route events via an Integration Service, the /EventSetup/Configuration/ForwardEventsToIS PATROL Agent pconfig variable must be set to Yes. 

   During the upgrade of earlier versions of the BMC PATROL Agent to version 9.5, ensure to provide the correct Cell name in the Infrastructure Management - Primary Cell and Infrastructure Management - Secondary Cell fields in the Infrastructure Management Performance Management Cell Configurations installation screen.

   Proceeding with the default value resets the Event Destination of the BMC PATROL Agent to localhost/1828.

   If /EventSetup/Configuration/ForwardEventsToIS is set to Yes and Infrastructure Management - Primary Cell is set to localhost/1828, then the PATROL Agent sends events to the local Cell of the Integration Service.

9. Provide the RTSERVERS variable details. (optional)
   BMC PATROL 7 products communicate with each other through one or more RTservers. For previously installed PATROL Agents (version 3.5 or later), you must set the RTSERVERS variable and restart the PATROL Agent. Provide comma separated RTSERVERS variables in the format protocol:hostname:port. For example, tcp:localhost:2059.
10. Configure the firewall.
    You can choose to automatically add the components to the firewall exception list.
11. Provide the installation package details including name and file format.

To edit a component installation package

You can edit any part of an existing component installation package except the operating system and platform.

1. Log on to TrueSight console. In the navigation pane, expand Administration and click Central Monitoring Administration. The Central Monitoring Administration opens in a new tab.
2. In the navigation pane of Central Monitoring Administration, click the Repository drawer and select Deployable Package Repository.
3. (Optional) To filter the list of packages, select an operating system from the Filter by Operating System list.
4. Select the row for a package and click Edit .
5. From the Available components list, add or remove components, and click Next.
6. Perform one or more of the following actions, depending on your requirements:
   • Edit the installation details of existing components.
   • Add installation details for new components.

   • Click Finish Update to skip to the Installation Package Details window.

     Note

     If you add a component to the package, you must complete the configuration process. The Finish Update button shows an explanatory tooltip and does not skip to the Installation Package Details window.

7. In the Installation Package Details window, modify the following information as needed:
   • Name: To save your changes to the same package, do not change the name. To save the package under a unique name, change the name.
   • (Optional) Description: Enter a description of the package.
     The description is displayed in the Monitoring Installation Packages list on the Deployable Package window.
   • Format: Select a file compression format for the installation package.
8. Perform one or both of the following actions:
   • To save the package for future installation on the current host or other hosts, click Save Installation Package.
     The package is available through the Monitoring Installation Packages list.

   • To download the installation package immediately, click Download.

     Note

     If you click Download and do not click Save Installation Package, the changes are not saved in the Monitoring Installation Packages list for later use or editing.

9. When you are finished, click Close.

PATROL Agent tagging methods

Most managed environments need or require a way to apply policy-related tags to PATROL Agents at the time of installation. This might include the PATROL Agent and Knowledge Module (KM) installs separately or together. 

The following methods support these requirements.

Custom tag installable packages

With this method, you include the tags in separate install packages in the Central Monitoring Administration Deployable Package Repository.  Below is a summary of the process:

• Create a custom package that contains only tag settings. Create a separate package for each tag value. 
• Import the custom packages into the Manage Repository in Central Monitoring Administration. 
• After the custom packages are imported into the Manage Repository, add the custom package to any deployable package in the Deployable Package Repository.

This method allows you to create and maintain a minimum number of deployable packages. The deployable package contains only the necessary agent or KM installation bundles with their associated tags.  Follow the steps below to create the package.

1. Create a .current configuration file for the tag data, such as BasicOraDB.current.  This file is constructed like any other file that can be read and applied by the pconfig command line utility and must contain the PATROL configuration criteria for the tag values.  Each tag value should have a unique .current file name so that you can apply them independently. Below is an example of the file content for a tag used for Basic Oracle Monitoring with the file name BasicOraDB.current.

   PATROL_CONFIG
"/AgentSetup/Identification/Tags/tag/BasicOraDB" = { REPLACE = "Basic Oracle Database Monitoring" }

2. Use the PCIG utility to create importable packages for each .current file. Each package you create should have a unique name, product name, and file name. The .current files must be in the lib directory of the source data that is read by the PCIG utility. Below is an example PCIG command with arguments.  (This example was run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The same format applies to Microsoft Windows.)

    ./pcig -p tagBasicOraDB -r 1.0.00 -s BasicOraDB/ -l ALL -t TAGBasicOraDB

   The following table lists the command line arguments with the example values from the command above. 

   Argument	Purpose	Example	Comments
   -p	product	BasicOraDB	Enter a value that does not match or conflict with any other products.
   -r	release number	1.0.00	Enter a three-segment value separated by periods. All three segments are required (for example, 1 and 1.0 will not work).
   -s	location of all source files and their respective sub directories	BasicOraDB/	This is the top-level directory under which custom files are stored. The subdirectories must follow the same structure as a normal PATROL Agent or KM installation. This directory should be a subdirectory in the directory where you are running PCIG. Use this syntax exactly as shown with the proper subdirectory name followed by a forward slash at the end. Example Suppose you are running the PCIG utility in the /home/patrol directory to create a package for the Basic Oracle DB custom files. The directory structure for the tag for which you are creating a package would look like the following with the BasicOraDB.current file in the lib directory: /home/patrol/BasicOraDB /home/patrol/BasicOraDB/lib /home/patrol/BasicOraDB/lib/psl /home/patrol/BasicOraDB/lib/knowledge
   -l	comma separated list of supported OS types	ALL	Make sure this value matches the Knowledge Module design.
   -t	product title name	BasicOraDB	This is the name of the compressed .zip file that is generated for import.

   The PCIG utility will create a bmc_products directory and a .zip file for the solution.

3. Import each tag package as a custom solution into the Central Monitoring Administration Manage Repository.

4. Include the custom tag packages from the Manage Repository in the packages you create in the Deployable Package Repository as necessary.

BMC Server Automation

Apply the tags as part of a BMC Server Automation deployment package.

Custom scripts

Create and run custom scripts using the pconfig PATROL Agent command line utility to update the agent tags immediately after the agent install. 

Where to go from here

Downloading and installing an installation package