Knowledge module

In BMC Performance Manager, a set of files, knowledge modules (KM) from which a PATROL Agent receives information about resources running on a monitored computer. A KM file can contain the actual instructions for monitoring objects or simply a list of KMs to load. KMs are loaded by a PATROL Agent and a PATROL Console. KMs provide information for the way monitored computers are represented in the BMC PATROL interface, for the discovery of application instances and the way they are represented, for parameters that are run under those applications, and for the options available on object pop-up menus. A PATROL Console in developer mode can change KM knowledge for its current session, save knowledge for all of its future sessions, and commit KM changes to specified PATROL Agent computers. A KM file contains the source code for a BMC PATROL application. 

This knowledge module can be loaded or imported in the following consoles:

• BMC PATROL Consoles
• BMC ProactiveNet Central Monitoring Administration Console
• BMC TrueSight Central Monitoring Administration Console

The following sections describe the components of a knowledge module:

Applications

An application in PATROL is any resource used or running on a computer. The Knowledge Module for  Linux and Linux has a basic set of applications that monitor events such as monitoring log files. Each running copy of an application discovered by PATROL is called an instance of the particular application class.

Application discovery

PATROL discovers applications using instructions provided by the Knowledge Module for Linux and Linux (KM). The instructions provided by the KM include application discovery rules that you have defined. When PATROL discovers an application, it represents the application with an icon either in the icon window for the monitored computer on which it runs or in an application window specified for all application instances of that class. You can add a new application class to PATROL so that it will find all future instances of that application running on monitored computers. PATROL periodically runs application discovery to discover new applications and to verify that previously discovered applications and files are still there. If an application or file previously discovered is not found, PATROL triggers an alert, either audible or visual, for the missing resource. Application discovery rules are defined using either

• Simple discovery: uses simple pattern-matching to find instances of the application running on the monitored computer
• PSL discovery: uses scripts written in PATROL Script Language to find the application instances

Infoboxes

In BMC PATROL, a dialog box that contains a static list of fields and displays current information about an object. This information could include the version number of a relational database management system (RDBMS) and whether the object is online or offline. Commands are run when the InfoBox is opened. Information can be manually updated if the InfoBox remains open for a period of time. BMC PATROL provides a number of commands for obtaining and displaying object information in an InfoBox. Only a PATROL Console in the developer mode can be used to add or change commands.

Application classes or Monitor types

Application classes are the object classes to which an application instances belong; also, the representation of the class as a container in Linux or folder in Windows on the PATROL Console. It is a logical grouping of individual applications, while an application group is a logical grouping of application instances. You can use the developer functionality of a PATROL Console to add or change application classes. Within PATROL, you use application classes to define the attributes of all instances within an application class (global settings), or the attributes of a single application instance that has been customized (local settings). In BMC ProactiveNet, monitor types are similar to application classes. Monitor types are a way of classifying the data that is to be collected. 

Parameters or attributes

Parameters are the monitoring elements of a PATROL knowledge module. Parameters are run by the PATROL Agent, they periodically use data collection commands to obtain data on a system resource and then parse, process, and store the data on the computer that is running the PATROL Agent.  Parameters can display data in various formats, such as numeric, text, stoplight, and Boolean. Parameters have thresholds and can trigger warnings and alarms. In BMC ProactiveNet, attributes are similar to parameters. Attributes classify monitor types into types of data. 

The BMC PATROL for UNix and Linux and Linux KM product has the following types of parameters:

• Collector parameters - A PATROL collector parameter executes commands and gathers data for a consumer parameter to display, often collecting many values. It does not display any values itself. As such, it does not have alarms or run any recovery actions. Collector parameters are defined in the collector's application class rather than in the applications for which they collect data. This avoids the situation in which a separate collector would execute for each application instance and negate the efficiency of the collector or consumer parameter.
  The following is a list of all collector parameters included in the KM:

  CPARMCollector

  DCMColl-Collector

  DCMMonitor

  DFColl

  HAAGColl

  NETColl

  NFSColl

  PRINTERColl

  PROCColl

  PSColl-Collector

  SARColl

  SMPColl

  UPTColl

  USRPROCColl

  VMColl

  REMDfColl

  REMDskColl

• Consumer parameters - A consumer parameter only displays a value that is collected by a collector parameter. A consumer parameter never issues commands; it is not scheduled for execution, but it has alarms and can run recovery actions. A consumer parameter cannot be updated directly by selecting an option on its display. To update a consumer parameter, you must execute the collector that gathers its data.
• Standard parameters - Standard parameters issue commands to collect data and display the data collected. They contain alarm definitions and can run alarm and warning actions.

Menu commands

In PATROL console, menu commands, also known as KM commands are a menu of commands for a monitored object. You can configure the knowledge module, discover hosts, add objects, and set thresholds of parameters using menu commands. Right-click an object to access its menu commands.

Agent configuration variables

The means by which the characteristics of a PATROL Agent are defined. PATROL provides default variable values that can be customized. Configuration variables determine such characteristics as how errors are handled, which KMs are loaded and how, how SNMP support is configured, and how events trigger SNMP traps.

Monitoring solutions

A monitoring solution is a pre-defined set of metrics that monitor the health and performance of a specific device or service. BMC monitoring solutions are composed of monitor types and attributes.

Monitoring profiles

In BMC ProactiveNet, monitoring profiles are profiles to which the monitor types you want to enable are associated. Each solution contains multiple monitoring profiles and help to reduce unnecessary monitoring. Each monitoring profile is associated with a group of monitor types. The monitor types that belong to a profile are pre-determined. You cannot add or remove monitor types from a profile.

PATROL Native Recovery Actions

When you define PATROL native recovery actions in the PATROL console, you associate the recovery actions with alarm and border ranges. These recovery actions run when the PATROL parameter value enters the specified range. The parameter might be in an OK, WARN, or ALARM state when the recovery action runs, depending on how you configure the parameter.

PATROL KM for Linux Recovery Actions

Unlike PATROL native recovery actions, the PATROL for UNix and Linux recovery actions run only when a parameter changes status. For example, when a parameter goes from an OK state to a WARN or ALARM state, or even when a parameter goes from an ALARM to an OK state. 

If you don't want the parameter to alarm until the recovery actions have been attempted, you must use PATROL native recovery actions, rather than PATROL for UNix and Linux recovery actions. However, you can use both types. For example, you could define PATROL native recovery actions and specify that the parameter enters a WARN or ALARM state only after all recovery actions fail. Then you could create a  PATROL for UNix and Linux recovery action that runs only if the PATROL native recovery actions fail. 

Discovery Tools

A discovery tool is a program that finds and registers a particular class of system resource, such as finding all the file systems mounted on a specific machine.

Like collectors, some discovery tools are automatically scheduled to execute at regular polling intervals. However, if the events that a discovery tool monitors occur less frequently than the default polling interval, a discovery tool may have its own scheduling mechanism to enable it to monitor these events.

For more information about scheduling discovery and collector execution, see the PATROL Console Help or the PATROL User Guide at Related-products-and-documentation.

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