Configuring iSeries monitor type

Using Central Monitoring Administration, you can define and manage policies to configure the BMC PATROL monitoring solutions.

To define general policy details

1. In the navigation pane of the Central Monitoring Administration console, click the Policies drawer.
2. Expand one of the following policy types:
   • Monitoring—Allows you to create or edit monitoring policies
   • Blackout—Allows you to create or edit blackout policies
   • Staging—Allows you to create or edit staging policies
3. Select one of the following policy views:
   • All
   • Global
   • Tenant
4. Click Add , or select an existing policy and click Edit .

5. Select the configurations that you want to set for the policy.

   Note

   This page is applicable only for the monitoring policies, not for the blackout policies or staging policies. In this procedure for creating monitoring policies, it is assumed that you have selected all the configuration options.

6. Provide the following information:

   Field	Instructions
   Name	Name for the policy. The policy names must be unique. In an environment with tenants, the policy names must be unique for a single tenant. It is a mandatory field.
   Description	(Optional) A brief description about the policy
   Enable policy	Indicates whether the policy is enabled or disabled. By default, the policy is enabled. If you disable a policy when you create it, the policy configurations are not applied to the BMC PATROL Agents and the Infrastructure Management Servers. If you disable any existing policy, the policy configurations are removed from the BMC PATROL Agents and the Infrastructure Management Servers, where the policy was applied.
   Associated User Group	Name of the user group that is associated with the BMC PATROL Agents as defined in the Authorization Profile or in the PATROL Agent ACLs. The policy is applicable to these PATROL Agents.
   Share Policy	Specify whether this policy is to be shared with the users across the associated user group or not. The shared policy can be viewed in READ-ONLY mode by other users of the associated user group.
   Precedence	Priority of the policy. Based on the precedence number you configure, the configuration is applied on the BMC PATROL Agents and Infrastructure Management Servers. The precedence number ranges from 0 to 999. The configuration from a policy with a higher precedence overrides the configuration from a policy with a lower precedence. The default value is 999. A lower number indicates a higher precedence. It is a mandatory field.

7. Click Next.
   
   

When Central Monitoring Administration receives a configuration request from a BMC PATROL Agent, the policies are applied in the following way: 

• If only a global policy match the agent conditions, then configuration from the global policy applies to all the BMC PATROL Agent.
• If a global policy and a tenant policy or a no-associated-tenant policy match the agent conditions, then configuration from both the policies apply to the BMC PATROL Agent. If a conflict arises (that is, two policies configure the same attributes), then configuration from the tenant policy applies.

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The Agent Selection page allows you to configure conditions to select BMC PATROL Agents based on the following properties, and the policy is applied on the selected agents.

You can set multiple conditions and also group the conditions to identify the agents.

To select an agent or multiple agents

1. On the Agent Selection page, select a property.
2. Select an operator to create the condition. The available operators depend on the property that you select.
3. Type a search entry to select the BMC PATROL Agents.
4. (Optional) To add more than one condition, click the  button, and perform step 1 and step 3.
   A new condition is added to the page. 
5. (Optional) To group the conditions, use the following parentheses and Boolean operators from their corresponding lists:
   • (
   • ((
   • (((
   • )
   • ))
   • )))
   • AND
   • OR
6. (Optional) To remove any existing condition, click the  button.
7. Click Next to add configurations to the policy.

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After you configure the monitor types in the BMC PATROL Agents, the agents send the collected data and the generated events to the Infrastructure Management Server. You can configure filters to stop sending specific data and events to the Infrastructure Management Server. 

You can filter the data either from a specific agent or from a specific monitor type. The supported filtering options are as follows:

• No Filtering (send all data and events)
• Filter out data (send no data, send all events)
• Filter out events (send no events, send all data)
• Filter out data and events (send no data, send no events)

Before you begin

If you have not done so already, define a policy (Step 1) and select a PATROL Agent (Step 2) before you define filtering options.

To define filtering options

1. In the Filtering Configuration page, select one of the following options:
   • Agent Level—Filters data and events from the BMC PATROL Agent. Select an appropriate filtering option from the list. The default option is No Filtering (send all data and events).
   • Monitor Type Level—Filters information from a specific monitor type. Perform the following tasks:
     1. Click Add .
     2. In the Add Monitor Type and Information dialog box, select a solution and its version.
     3. Select a related monitor type from the list.
     4. If you want to specifically filter data and events from an attribute, select an attribute from the list. The default value is All.
     5. Select the filter option from the list. The default option is Filter out data (send no data, send all events).
     6. Click Add.
     7. (Optional) To add multiple monitor types for filtering data and events, repeat step b through step f.
     8. Click Close.
2. Click Next or Finish.

To update any monitor type-level filter

1. In the Filtering Configuration page, select Monitoring Type Level.
2. In the Information to Send column of the Specified filters for selected monitor types table, select the value that you want to update.

3. Click Edit.

   Note

   The Edit button is dimmed if you select any other value on the table.

4. Update the filtering option.
5. Click Update.
6. Click Close.

To delete monitor type-level filtering configuration

You can delete the filters based on the monitoring solutions, versions, monitor types, or attributes.

• 
  
  1. In the Filtering Configuration page, select Monitoring Type Level.
  2. In the Specified filters for selected monitor types table, perform one of the following tasks.
     • To delete all the filters based on a solution name and all its version, in the Solution column, select a value. 
     • To delete all the filters based on a version of a monitoring solution and its monitor types, in the Version column, select a value.
     • To delete all the filters based on a monitor type and its attributes, in the Monitor Type column, select a value.
     • To delete a filter based on an attribute, in the Attribute column, select a value.
  3. Click Delete.
  4. In the Delete Confirmation dialog box, click Yes.

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You can define range-based thresholds for the attributes of a monitor type or an instance on the BMC PATROL Agents. You can identify a specific monitor instance by using the instance SID. You can also use regular expressions to search for multiple matching instances. The supported characters for regular expressions are as follows: 

If you want to identify the SID of a specific monitor instance, perform the following tasks:

1. Log on to operator console.
2. In the navigation pane, select Devices > Grid View.
3. Click any device.
   The Show Monitors page is displayed. 
4. Hover the mouse over the specific monitor instance, and the tool tip displays the SID for the instance.
5. Note down the SID. You can use the SID value when you configure the agent threshold.

Before you begin

If you have not done so already, define a policy (Step 1) and select a PATROL Agent (Step 2) before you define agent threshold configurations.

To define an agent threshold configuration

1. On the Agent Threshold Configuration page, click Add. 

2. In the Add Agent Threshold Configuration dialog box, select a solution, its version, and a monitor type.

   Note

   For some KMs, only the internal name is displayed in the Monitor Type list and for other KMs, both the external and internal names are displayed. For example, for Citrix Xen Host, both the internal (VSM_XEN_HOST) and external (Citrix Xen Host) names are displayed.

3. In the Scope list, select one of the following options:
   • Type—Indicates that the threshold applies to the monitor type
   • Instance—Indicates that the threshold applies to the specific instances of the monitor type
4. If you have selected Type as the scope, go to step 6.

5. If you have selected Instance as the scope, in the Instance SID box, type the instance SID of the monitor type.

   Note

   You can also use regular expressions to search for multiple matching instance SIDs. If you use regular expressions to search for the matching instance SIDs, ensure that you have selected Is a Regular Expression.

6. In the Attribute list, select a monitor attribute.

   Note

   In the Attribute list, some attributes are designated as key performance indicators (KPIs). Depending on the monitored environment and version, the list of KPIs might appear differently in the operator console.

7. Under Alarm Ranges, perform the following tasks to configure border and alarm ranges for the selected attribute:
   
   

   • If you want to configure border range, under Border, select Enable, and perform the following tasks:

     1. In the Min and Max lists, set the minimum and maximum values for the range.

        Note

        If you plan to configure alarm 1 range, the minimum value of the border range must be less than or equal to the minimum value of the alarm 1 range. If you plan to configure alarm 2 range, the maximum value of the border range must be greater than or equal to the maximum value of the alarm 2 range.

     2. In the Issue Alert list, select the type of alert. The supported types are as follows:
        • OK
        • Warn
        • Alarm
     3. In the When to trigger alarm list, select an appropriate condition to trigger the alarm. The supported values are as follows:

     • 
       
       • Immediately on alarm—Triggers the event immediately after an alarm
       • After alarm occurs N times—Triggers the event after the specified number of alarms. Ensure that you specify a value greater than 0 in the N times box.
       • After all recovery actions fail—Triggers the event after all the recovery actions fail

   • If you want to configure alarm 1 range, under Alarm 1, select Enable, and perform step i through step iii.

     Note

     If you have configured border range, the minimum value of the alarm 1 range must be greater than or equal to the minimum value of the border range. If you plan to configure alarm 2 range, the maximum value of the alarm 1 range must be less than or equal to the minimum value of the alarm 2 range.

   • If you want to configure alarm 2 range, under Alarm 2, select Enable, and perform step i through step iii.

     Note

     If you have configured alarm 1 range, the minimum value of the alarm 2 range must be greater than or equal to the maximum value of the alarm 1 range. If you plan to configure border range, the maximum value of the alarm 2 range must be less than or equal to the maximum value of the border range.

8. Click Add.
9. The agent threshold is added.
10. To define additional agent thresholds, repeat step 2 through step 8.
11. (Optional) To return the settings in the current page to default values, click Reset.
12. When you finish configuration, click Close.
13. Click Next or Finish.

After you save or update a policy, the new threshold configurations are pushed to the selected BMC PATROL Agents.

To edit an agent threshold configuration

1. On the Agent Threshold Configuration page, select the attribute for which you want to update the threshold definition, and click Edit .
2. Edit the configuration values, and click Update.
   The changes are saved.

After you update a policy, the updated threshold configurations are pushed to the selected BMC PATROL Agents.

To delete an agent threshold configuration 

You can delete the threshold configuration based on the monitoring solutions, versions, monitor types, or attributes. 

1. On the Agent Threshold Configuration page, in the Defined agent thresholds table, perform one of the following tasks.
   • To delete all the threshold configuration based on a solution name and all its version, in the Solution column, select a value. 
   • To delete all the threshold configuration based on a version of the monitoring solution and its monitor types, in the Version column, select a value.
   • To delete all the threshold configuration based on a monitor type and its attributes, in the Monitor Type column, select a value.
   • To delete the threshold configuration based on an attribute, in the Attribute column, select a value.
2. Click Delete .
3. In the Delete Confirmation dialog box, click Yes.

After you delete an agent threshold configuration and save the policy, the deleted threshold configurations are removed from the selected BMC PATROL Agents.

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When you are creating or editing a monitoring policy, you can create thresholds for the monitor instances on the Infrastructure Management Server. For information about the types of thresholds, see How baselines, thresholds and Key Performance Indicators work together to generate events in the operator console.

Before you begin

Ensure that monitor configuration is complete before the thresholds are applied. Thresholds cannot be applied to monitors that are not configured through Central Monitoring Administration.

If you have not done so already, define a policy (Step 1) and select a PATROL Agent (Step 2) before you define agent threshold configurations.

To add and configure monitor thresholds on the server

1. On the Server Threshold Configuration page, click Add. 
2. In the Add Instance Thresholds dialog box, select a solution, its version, and a monitor type.

3. In the Instance Name box, type the name of the instance or a regular expression that can match multiple instances.

   You can also specify an instance specific to a device. To specify an instance specific to a device, select Match Device Name, and in the Instance Name box,  type the name of the instance with the associated device in the following format:

   deviceName/instanceName

4. In the Attribute list, select a monitor attribute.

   Note

   In the Attribute list, some attributes are designated as key performance indicators (KPIs). Depending on the monitored environment and version, the list of KPIs might appear differently in the operator console.

5. In the Type of Threshold list, select the threshold type that you want to configure for the selected attribute. The supported types are as follows:
   • Absolute
   • Signature
   • Abnormality
6. Configure the threshold parameters. The parameters vary based on the threshold type that you have selected.
7. Click Add to add the configuration details for the threshold.
8. (Optional) To configure more thresholds, repeat step 2 through step 7.
9. (Optional) To reset the settings to the default values, click Reset.
10. When you finish configuration, click Close.
11. Click Next or Finish.

After you save or update a policy, the new threshold configurations are pushed to the selected BMC PATROL Agents.

To edit a threshold configuration

1. On the Server Threshold Configuration page, select a threshold definition, and click Edit .
2. Update the configuration values, and click Update.
3. After updating the threshold configuration, click Close.

After you update a policy, the updated threshold configurations are pushed to the selected BMC PATROL Agents.

To delete a threshold configuration

1. On the Server Threshold Configuration page, in the Defined attribute thresholds table, perform one of the following tasks.
   • To delete all the threshold configuration based on a solution name and all its version, in the Solution column, select a value. 
   • To delete all the threshold configuration based on a version of the monitoring solution and its monitor types, in the Version column, select a value.
   • To delete all the threshold configuration based on a monitor type and its attributes, in the Monitor Type column, select a value.
   • To delete all the threshold configuration based on the scope, in the Scope column, select a value.
2. Click Delete .
3. In the Delete Confirmation dialog box, click Yes.

After you delete a threshold configuration and save the policy, the deleted threshold configurations are removed from the selected BMC PATROL Agents.

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You can configure the properties of the BMC PATROL Agent and specify the action that the BMC PATROL Agent must perform when the policy is applied.

Before you begin

If you have not done so already, define a policy (Step 1) and select a PATROL Agent (Step 2) before you define agent threshold configurations.

What you view on the Agent Configuration page depends on the monitoring policy configuration type allowed for the authorization profile. See the following table for more information:

To define an agent configuration

1. On the Agent Configuration page, under Agent Properties, provide the following details:

   Field	Description
   User Name	User name that you want to use to run the BMC PATROL Agent. The user name must have access permissions to the BMC PATROL Agent directory. You need to provide an Agent user name and password only if they are different from what was previously configured.
   Password	Password for the specified user name
   Confirm Password	Password for the specified user name
   Restart Agent	Selecting Restart Agent restarts the BMC PATROL Agent after the policy is applied. Note: Ensure that you select Restart Agent if you want the user name change to take effect. Note: While editing a policy, if you select Restart Agent and provide the same default account information as what was provided while creating the policy, the PATROL Agent is not restarted. To restart the PATROL Agent, use the Query Agent screen in Central Monitoring Administration. For more information, see Executing tasks on BMC PATROL Agents.
   Tag	Tags that you want to assign to the BMC PATROL Agent. The format of each tag is tagName:tagDescription. If the tag description contains spaces, enclose the description within double quotes. You can also provide multiple tags, separated by commas. For example, tag1:"Brief Description",tag2:"Description"
   Integration Service	An Integration Service or an Integration Service Cluster that you want to set as BMC PATROL Agent phone home. The supported values are as follows: Single Integration Service Integration Service Cluster If you have selected Integration Service Cluster, you have the option to create a new cluster. Click New to create a new cluster. For more information about creating a cluster, see Managing-an-Integration-Service-cluster-through-Central-Monitoring-Administration.

2. Under Event Configuration Properties, provide the following details:

   Field	Description
   Events forwarding destination	Specifies where the events generated by the BMC PATROL Agents must be sent. The supported destinations are as follows: Integration Service Settings—Allows to use the settings on the Integration Service to which the BMC PATROL Agent is connected Cell(s)—Allows to send the events to one or more cells. In the Events Cells List box, specify the cells to which you want to send the events, separated by commas. The format of each cell is cellName/cellPort, where cellName is the name of the cell and the cellPort is the port number through which the agent communicates with the cell. For example, cell1/1111,cell2/1203 Also, in the Event Cell Shared Key box, specify the shared key which is used for encryption. The default shared key is mc.  Do not send events—Stops sending the events
   Events Format Container	String to append to the name of the events generated by the agents. The default string is BPPM.

3. If you want to configure time intervals for data collection, under Poll Interval Settings, click Add , and perform the following tasks:
   1. In the Add Poll Interval dialog box, select a solution, its version, and a monitor type.
   2. In the Parameter list, specify the parameter for which you want to create the poll interval.
   3. In the Parameter Poll Interval list, update the poll interval value.
   4. Click Add.
   5. To add more poll intervals, repeat step a through step d.
4. Click Close or Finish.

To edit a poll interval

1. On the Agent Configuration page, under Poll Interval, in the Parameter column, select a parameter for which you want to edit the poll interval.
2. Click Edit .
3. In the Edit Poll Interval dialog box, update the poll interval, and click Update.
4. Click Close.

To delete a poll interval

1. On the Agent Configuration page, under Poll Interval, in the Configured Poll Interval table, perform one of the following tasks.
   • To delete all the poll intervals based on a solution name and all its version, in the Solution column, select a value. 
   • To delete all the poll intervals based on a version of the monitoring solution and its monitor types, in the Version column, select a value.
   • To delete all the poll intervals based on a monitor type and its attributes, in the Monitor Type column, select a value.
   • To delete the poll intervals based on a parameter, in the Parameter column, select a value.
2. Click Delete.
3. In the Delete Confirmation dialog box, click Yes.

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You can specify the action that the Infrastructure Management Servers must perform when the policy is applied. The actions apply to all the devices associated with the BMC PATROL Agent and all the monitor instances that the agent monitors.

Before you begin

Ensure that monitor configuration is complete before the server configuration is applied. Server configuration cannot be applied to the monitors that are not configured through Central Monitoring Administration. If you have not done so already, define a policy (Step 1) and select a PATROL Agent (Step 2) before you define agent threshold configurations.

To add server configuration

1. On the Server Configuration page, provide the following details:

   Option	Instructions
   Add monitors to group	Name of a group on the Infrastructure Management Server under which you want to add the monitors that are created as a result of this policy You can provide multiple group names, separated by commas. If a group does not exist, a new group is created. Use a forward slash (/) to specify a group in a hierarchy. For example, server/device1/myGroup. If more than one group exists with the same name and a distinct hierarchy is not specified, monitor instances are not added to the group. The group names are case sensitive.
   Copy baseline from device	Display name of the device from which you want to copy the baseline Baseline for the monitor instances that are created on the child servers as a result of the policy are copied from the baseline of the corresponding monitor instances on the specified device. Baseline can be copied from the specified device only if the device is available on the child server. The device names are case sensitive.
   Associate user groups with Computer System CI (Devices) for access control	Name of the user group on the child servers to associate with the devices that are created as a result of the policy The devices are associated with the specified user group only if the user groups are available on the child server. The user groups are given both read and write permissions to the Authorization Profile. You can provide multiple group names, separated by commas. The user group names are case sensitive.

2. After you complete the server configuration, click Next or Finish.

To edit a server configuration

1. On the Server Configuration page, update the values.
2. Click Update.

After you save or update a policy, the server configuration details are pushed to the selected BMC PATROL Agents.

Managing groups in Central Monitoring Administration

The following table lists various use cases on adding and updating groups while creating a policy in Central Monitoring Administration and how these groups are displayed in the operator console.

Groups are dynamically updated as and when a policy is updated.

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The BMC PATROL Agent configuration is saved in a set of configuration variables that are stored in the agent's configuration database. You can control the BMC PATROL Agent configuration by changing the values of these configuration variables. You can use the Configuration Variable option on the Add Policy window to configure the Knowledge Modules (KMs) that are not supported by Central Monitoring Administration or update the existing configuration variables.

Also, you can define a configuration variable, and the definitions are set on BMC PATROL Agent when the policy is applied.

Before you begin

If you have not done so already, define a policy (Step 1) and select a PATROL Agent (Step 2) before you define agent threshold configurations.

To create a configuration variable

Perform the following procedure to create or edit a configuration variable.

1. On the Configuration Variables page, click Add.
2. In the Add Configuration Variable dialog box, perform the following tasks:

   1. In the Variable box, specify a name for the configuration variable.

      Note

      The variable names are case sensitive and must start with slash (/). You must enter the complete path for the variable, not just the name. If the intermediate variables do not exist, the variables are created.

   2. In the Operation list, select the operation that you want to perform on the configuration variable. The supported operations are as follows:
      • REPLACE—Replaces the current value of the variable on the BMC PATROL Agent if the variable already exists. If the variable does not exist, a new variable is created with the specified value.
      • DELVAR—Deletes the variable from the BMC PATROL Agent
      • DELETE—Deletes the value of the variable, and the variable remains empty.
   3. In the Value box, specify the value that you want to configure for the variable.
      • For the defaultAccount configuration variable, specify the value in the userName/password format. Note that the password can be a plain text or a BMC PATROL Agent-encrypted string.
        
        Examples:
        patrol/patAdm1n
        patrol/FA4E70ECEAE09E75A744B52D2593C19F
      • For the SecureStore configuration variable, specify the value in the context/data format. Note that the context and data can be a plain text or a BMC PATROL Agent-encrypted string.
        
        Examples:
        MY_KM1;MY_KM2;MY_KM3/mysecretdata
        “EDC10278901F8CB04CF927C82828595B62D25EC355D0AF38589CE4235A246F8C63F24575073E4ECD”
        
        where “EDC10278901F8CB04CF927C82828595B62D25EC355D0AF38589CE4235A246F8C63F24575073E4ECD” is the encrypted form of "MY_KM1;MY_KM2;MY_KM3/mysecretdata"
3. Click Add.
4. To add more configuration variables, repeat step 2 through step 3.
5. After you complete adding configuration variables, click Close.
6. Click Finish.

To edit a configuration variable

1. On the Configuration Variables page, in the Defined Configuration Variables table, select a configuration variable that you want to edit.
2. Click Edit.
3. In the Edit Configuration Variable dialog box, edit the values.
4. Click Update.

To delete a configuration variable

1. On the Configuration Variables page, in the Defined Configuration Variables table, select a configuration variable that you want to delete.
2. Click Delete.
3. In the Confirm Delete dialog box, click Yes.

To import a ruleset file

You can import a configuration variable from a ruleset file (.cfg). The import operation supports only REPLACE, DELETE, and DELVAR operators. If the .cfg file contains the MERGE or APPEND operators, the file cannot be imported, and you must delete the operators before importing the file.

Perform the following steps to import the configuration variable:

• 
  
  1. On the Configuration Variables page, click Import.
  2. Navigate to the location of the .cfg file, select the file, and click Open.

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