Managing collection profiles

The Collection Profiles tab allows you to configure data collector templates that can simplify the process of data collection. A collection profile allows administrators to capture the input parameters necessary for creating a data collector and then reuse it for future configurations.

You can create a collection profile by adding data collector templates by manually providing all the inputs or by using an existing data collector inputs. Once you have created the collection profile, you can associate it with the appropriate host. As soon as you associate the collection profile with the host, in a short period of time, data collectors are automatically added under the Data Collectors tab.

Collection profiles can also be associated with Collection Agents by using BMC PATROL for IT Data Analytics in one of the following ways:

• By using PATROL Configuration Manager (PCM)
• By using BMC ProactiveNet Central Monitoring Administration Console

At the time of configuring collection Agents, you can specify a collection profile name that already exists under the Collection Profiles tab. It is important that the collection profile you want to associate already has groups access permissions defined. Without this, all the users will be able to see the data collectors created through such a collection profile irrespective of their role.

You can also override existing macro values while associating a collection profile.

Advantages of using a collection profile

A collection profile has the following advantages:

• Reduces the amount of manual work and time for configuring data collectors.
• Reduces errors introduced during manual configuration.
• Ensures consistent collection configuration across respective environments.
• Helps automate the collection configuration of hosts and allow it to be driven from BMC ProactiveNet (or BMC PATROL for IT Data Analytics) configuration.

Use case for using a collection profile

Collection profiles can be useful in a scenario where you have multitier applications existing on multiple hosts. The following use case describes such a scenario:

Using macros while adding data collector templates

Macros can be defined as objects that store values that can be referred by the data collector templates at the time of creating data collectors. At the time of adding data collector templates, you can specify macro names instead of manually providing input parameters. When the data collectors are created on the basis of the data collector templates, the macro values are substituted for the fields in which you specified macro names. To be able to specify macros while adding data collector templates, you need to first add them under the Macros section by providing a macro name and a corresponding macro value.

Using macros helps you define common input parameters (such as directory path, file name, tag values, and so on) at one time and then reuse that information each time you want to create a data collector template. It is also useful if you want to modify the values of common input parameters together without having to edit each data collector template and manually modify values.

Additionally, you can override macro values in the following ways:

• At the time of configuring Collection Agents by using BMC PATROL for IT Data Analytics.
• At the time of adding hosts.
  While adding hosts, the macro value changes are not applied to the original collection profile instances. The new values are only used for creating data collectors at run time.

Macros are supported only for the following fields:

While adding macros, the following conditions apply:

• Macro name or value length cannot be more than 255 characters.
• Macro name cannot contain the closing curly bracket (}).
• Macro name or value cannot be empty.

Viewing and searching configured collection profiles

The Collection Profiles tab allows you to manage collection profiles. To access this tab, navigate to Administration > Collection Profiles. From here, you can perform the following actions:

The Collection Profiles tab provides the following information:

Creating a collection profile

1. Navigate to Administration > Collection Profiles.
2. Click Add Collection Profile
3. In the Name field, provide an appropriate name to identify the collection profile.
4. (Optional) In the Description field, provide additional information about the collection profile.
5. (Optional)Create macros by performing the following steps:
   1. Click the Macros section to expand it.
   2. Provide the macro name and corresponding value for the supported fields in the data collector templates.
      For more information about adding macros, see Using macros while adding data collector templates.
   3. Click Add Macro to save the changes and display it in a list of added macros.
      You can optionally delete the macros added, by clicking Remove Macro next to the macros that you want to delete.

6. Click Create Data Collector Template to add data collector templates in one of the following ways:

   Recommendation

   BMC recommends you to use option 1 for creating the data collector templates if you do not know the specific data pattern necessary for the data that you want to collect. If you create a data collector first, then you can easily find the relevant data pattern by using the filter and preview options available. You can then use the inputs of this data collector for creating the data collector templates.
7. Click Create.

Where to go from here

Associate the collection profile with the appropriate hosts. For more information, see Managing hosts.