Tideway Knowledge Update 2009-Feb-1


The Tideway Knowledge Update 2009-Feb-1 (TKU 2009 Feb) is a deliverable for Tideway Foundation platform version 7.2 and later.

Release Compatibility

TKU 2009-Feb-1 has been tested and verified against Tideway Foundation version 7.2.

Note

TKU February 2009 (TKU 2009-Feb-1) is not compatible with or supported on versions of Tideway Foundation before v7.2

Download

Customers can access this TKU release from the Tideway Downloads site and then clicking Download Area->latesttku. If you're a customer or partner and don't already have a login to this site or have forgotten yours please contact support@tideway.com.

Contents of the Knowledge Update

Starting with this TKU, the Knowledge Update comprises four main components:

  • Core - Patterns that model various software products
  • Database detail - Patterns that extend some of the core database patterns to obtain additional detailed information about certain databases
  • Product Lifecycle - Patterns that populate Foundation with information about End-of-Life, End-of-Support, and End-of-Extended-Support for versions of certain host Operating Systems as well as versions of certain software products
  • Hardware Reference Data - Patterns and data import CSV file that populate Foundation with power and heat consumption figures for various hosts.

To see some of the highlights of this release visit the February In The Spotlight Page

Installation and Upgrade

Installation and upgrade instructions are provided here.

TKU Core

New Software Instance Patterns

Vendor

Product

Category

Platforms

Instances

Versioning

Module

BEA

AquaLogic User Interaction

Enterprise Portals

UNIX, Windows

Y

Y

BEA

WebLogic Enterprise

Application Server Software Platforms

UNIX, Windows

Y

Y

Ingres

Database

Relational Database Management Systems

UNIX, Windows

Y

Y

Oracle

Connection Manager

Data Integration and Access Software

UNIX, Windows

N

Y

Oracle

Database Server Express Edition

Relational Database Management Systems

UNIX

Y

Y

Oracle

Universal Content Management Content Server

Content Management

UNIX, Windows

Y

Y

Enhanced Software Instance Patterns

Vendor

Product

Enhancement

SI Key Change

Pattern Module

BEA

MessageQ

MessageQ pattern can in cases where the path to the binary isn't available on Linux platform execute 'readlink' command to obtain the path. This command requires elevated privileges and this could be enabled in the pattern by editing 'sudo_enabled' constant within the pattern and setting the path to the 'sudo' command. From TKU Feb 2009, the pattern no longer has to be edited directly as this option has been moved to the configuration section of the pattern which is accessible directly from the UI and does not edit the pattern directly nor is it affected by minor pattern upgrades. The path to the 'sudo' (or equivalent) is now set within the Discovery options for a particular platform and the Discovery function used is now configurable (by default set to 'PRIV_RUNCMD')

N

BEA

Tuxedo

Tuxedo Listener pattern enhanced to enable versioning of v5.x. of the product. An additional Regular expression used to parse output of active command.

N

BEA

WebLogic Application Server

WebLogic Application Server patterns now attempt to obtain port information the server is listening on by parsing information in config.xml file located within the 'config' directory of the installation root of the product. In addition to this, the list of possbile BEA_HOME location can be changed via the configuration section of the pattern (within the Foundation UI), as well as setting of default listening ports (those are set if the port cannot be obtained)

N

CA

AutoSys Workload Automation

The metadata for the patterns was updated to reflect the name change of the product. In addition to this, the type attribute in both AutoSysServer and AutoSysRemoteAgent was changed from CA Unicenter AutoSys Server and CA Unicenter AutoSys Remote Agent respectively to 'CA AutoSys Workload Automation Server' and 'CA AutoSys Workload Automation Remote Agent' The key for the patterns has therefore changed

Y

Citrix

XenServer

The patterns for both Citrix XenServer and Citrix XenCenter were updated with changes to the 'type' attribute for the XenServer and XenCenter.
 The 'type' attribute have changed as follows:
 Citrix XenServer pattern:

  • 'Citrix Xen Enterprise Server' to 'Citrix XenServer Server'
  • 'Xen Enterprise Server' to 'XenSource XenServer Server'
  • 'Xen Enterprise Domain' to 'Citrix XenServer Domain'

Citrix XenCenter pattern:

  • 'Citrix Xen Center' to 'Citrix XenCenter'

In addition to this, the vm_type attribute (created when SI for XenServer domain is created) was changed in Citrix XenServer pattern from: 'Xen Domain' to 'XenServer Domain'

Finally, the Consolidation method was modified. A new approach is used, which rectifies a bug in the former Unix trigger, and adds support for consolidating Windows guest hosts. For more details, please refer to the relevant page.

Y

Fox Technologies

BoKS (Keon)

BoS Keon pattern - default list of locations of ENV files (which are parsed to extract version information) has been moved to the pattern configuration section to allow easier modification via the Foundation UI if required

N

HP

OpenView ServiceCenter

Server, EvenetQueue and Automation patterns in this module can rn an active command to obtain product version. On UNIX platforms this command requires elevated privileges and this could be enabled in the pattern by editing 'sudo_enabled' constant within the pattern and setting the path to the 'sudo' command. From TKU Feb 2009, the pattern no longer has to be edited directly as this option has been moved to the configuration section of the pattern which is accessible directly from the UI and does not edit the pattern directly nor is it affected by minor pattern upgrades. The path to the 'sudo' (or equivalent) is now set within the Discovery options for a particular platform and the Discovery function used is now configurable (by default set to 'PRIV_RUNCMD')

N

IBM

DB2 RDBMS

Pattern now attempts to gather listening port information for the database server as well as a list of databases each instance of the server is running

N

IBM

Tivoli Netcool/Impact

Flag that indicates whether active command execution for versioning purposes is enabled or not has been moved to the configuration section allowing for configuration via the Foundation UI.

N

IBM

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus

Flag that indicates whether active command execution for versioning purposes is enabled or not has been moved to the configuration section allowing for configuration via the Foundation UI.

N

Sun, IBM, Oracle, BEA

Java VM

JavaVM pattern can in cases where the path to the binary isn't available on Linux or Solaris platforms execute 'pmap' command to obtain the path. This command requires elevated privileges and this could be enabled in the pattern by editing 'sudo_enabled' constant within the pattern and setting the path to the 'sudo' command. From TKU Feb 2009, the pattern no longer has to be edited directly as this option has been moved to the configuration section of the pattern which is accessible directly from the UI and does not edit the pattern directly nor is it affected by minor pattern upgrades. The path to the 'sudo' (or equivalent) is now set within the Discovery options for a particular platform and the Discovery function used is now configurable (by default set to 'PRIV_RUNCMD') The flag to indicate whether use of 'pmap' should be enabled as well as a variable holding its path are also now in the configuration section of the pattern

N

Oracle

Application Server

Pattern now retrieves the OC4J instances and stores them in an attribute on the SI

N

Oracle

Oracle RDBMS

Database pattern code that executes when a Windows host is scanned now also attempts to determine (via registry query) the edition installed (including Express edition). This information is stored in the 'edition' attribute on the host. The 'name' attribute also has edition included (if obtained)

N

TIBCO

Rendezous

TIBCO Rendezvous pattern can in cases where the path to the binary isn't available on Linux or Solaris platforms execute 'pmap' command to obtain the path. This command requires elevated privileges and this could be enabled in the pattern by editing 'sudo_enabled' constant within the pattern and setting the path to the 'sudo' command. From TKU Feb 2009, the pattern no longer has to be edited directly as this option has been moved to the configuration section of the pattern which is accessible directly from the UI and does not edit the pattern directly nor is it affected by minor pattern upgrades. The path to the 'sudo' (or equivalent) is now set within the Discovery options for a particular platform and the Discovery function used is now configurable (by default set to 'PRIV_RUNCMD') The flag to indicate whether use of 'pmap' should be enabled as well as a variable holding its path are also now in the configuration section of the pattern

N

VMware

ESX Server

Pattern extended to obtain product_version to 3 digits if possible. This pattern may require elevated privileges to obtain certain information if this information cannot be obtained using the primary (non-privileged) method, and this could be enabled in the pattern by editing 'sudo_enabled' constant within the pattern and setting the path to the 'sudo' command. From TKU Feb 2009, the pattern no longer has to be edited directly as this option has been moved to the configuration section of the pattern which is accessible directly from the UI and does not edit the pattern directly nor is it affected by minor pattern upgrades. The path to the 'sudo' (or equivalent) is now set within the Discovery options for a particular platform and the Discovery function used is now configurable (by default set to 'PRIV_RUNCMD')

N

XenSource

XenServer

The patterns for XenSource XenSever was updated with changes to the 'type' attribute for the XenServer. The 'type' attributes have changed as follows:

  • 'XenSource Server' to 'XenSource XenServer Server'
  • 'XenSource Domain' to 'XenSource XenServer Domain'

In addition to this, the vm_type attribute (created when SI for XenServer domain is created) was changed in from: 'Xen Domain' to 'XenServer Domain'

As of TKU Feb 2009, the pattern also utilizes new features available in Foundation 7.2 and the flag that indicates whether credential elevation is used ('sudo_enabled') has now been moved to the configuration section of the pattern and named: 'priv_execution'.
 In addition to this, the Discovery function that runs the code that achieves escalation of privileges is also specified in the configuration block of the pattern.

Finally, the Consolidation method was modified. A new approach is used, which rectifies a bug in the former Unix trigger, and adds support for consolidating Windows guest hosts. For more details, please refer to the relevant page.

Y

Bugs Fixed

The following bugs have been fixed in Tideway Knowledge Update 2009-Feb-1

Case No

Defect No

Details

Pattern Module

N/A

11297

GemStone Object Server pattern was setting incorrectly 'keygroup' attribute instead of 'key_group' attribute on the SI created. Fixed - this affects the pattern key.

N/A

11304

The Backup Media Agent initially triggered on bma and rma processes, but should also trigger on mma and uma processes. This has now been added to the pattern.

N/A

11322

HP Data Protector package versioning was inconsistent and missing some package names. More package names added, and versioning now made more consitent (copig with leading zeros in the version)

N/A

11324

CA Directory pattern may attempt to execute the Directory Server binary with '-version' argument to obtain the version of the product. The original pattern did not take into account scenarios where the path to the binary contains spaces. This has now been fixed.

Database Detail Patterns

TKU 2009-Feb-1 introduces patterns which utilize SQL Discovery functionality of Foundation 7.2 to query the databases and obtain information about these databases. These patterns can also be used as a starting point for site-specific database queries.
 More information on SQL Discovery functionality can be obtained from Foundation 7.2 documentation.

Patterns included in TKU 2009-Feb-1 are for the following Databases:

Product Lifecycle Patterns

Operating System Product Lifecycle Patterns

TKU 2009-Feb-1 introduces product life cycle patterns providing End Of Life, End Of Support and End Of Extended Support dates for:

  • 11 publishers
  • 17 operating systems
  • 177 operating system versions

You can use Tideway Foundation and OS Support Date data to:

  • Identify operating systems that are exposed to security / stability risks as they are no longer supported by patch updates
  • Identify operating systems that you may may be paying a premium maintenance subscription for
  • Identify operating systems that are no longer shipping so may increase costs and risks associated with variance

Go to the OS-Product-Life-Cycle-Patterns-TKU-2009-Feb-1 page for a full list of products included in this release.

Software Product Lifecycle Patterns

TKU 2009-Feb-1 introduces product life cycle patterns providing End Of Life, End Of Support and End Of Extended Support dates for:

  • 25 publishers
  • 121 software products
  • 759 software product versions

You can use software product lifecycle patterns to:

  • Identify software products that are exposed to security / stability risks as they are no longer supported by patch updates
  • Identify software products that you may may be paying a premium maintenance subscription for
  • Identify software products that are no longer shipping so may increase costs and risks associated with variance

Go to the Software-Product-Life-Cycle-Patterns-TKU-2009-Feb-1 page for a full list of products included in this release.

Hardware Reference Data

TKU 2009-Feb-1 introduces hardware reference data providing Rack Size, Power Consumption, Heat Output and Maximum Memory capacity for:

  • 6 manufacturers
  • 322 server models
  • 897 server model configurations

You can use Tideway Foundation hardware reference data to:

  • Identify servers that can be expanded in situations where space is a constraining factor in the data center
  • Identify server refresh / rationalization candidates in situations where cooling is a constraining factor in the data center
  • Identify server refresh / rationalization candidates in situations where power is a constraining factor in the data center

Go to the Hardware-Reference-Data-TKU-2009-Feb-1 page for a full list of products included in this release.

 

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