Infrastructure Management multiple-server deployment architecture

Consult the following topics for guidance on when to deploy multiple TrueSight Infrastructure Management Servers and best practices for deployment:

Multiple Infrastructure Management server use cases
Multiple Infrastructure Management server deployment options
Exceptions requiring a Central Server deployment
Best practices for deploying Infrastructure Management

Multiple Infrastructure Management server use cases

Multiple server use case	Scenario
Capacity and scalability	When a single TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server cannot scale to the requirements for data collection and event management, deploy additional Infrastructure Management servers to manage a portion of the environment for data collection and event management. For information about how to size the environment, see Sizing-and-scalability-considerations-for-Infrastructure-Management.
Physical deployment	When you have geographically dispersed data centers, secure zones, or environments with separate access controls.
Development, test, and production environments for agent deployment	When you want to establish separate development, test, and production environments for deploying PATROL Agents and managing your monitoring policies. For information about how to set a single point in the environment where all newly deployed PATROL Agents can register into the solution stack, see Staging-Integration-Service-host-deployment-and-policy-management-for-development-test-and-production-best-practices. Multitenancy alternative You can also implement this scenario by using multitenancy. You define tenants for test, development, and production in the Presentation Server and manage the policies on a single Infrastructure Management Server. For information about multitenant deployments, see Service-provider-and-tenant-deployment-for-TrueSight-Operations-Management and Adding realms to Remedy Single Sign-On.
Multitenancy	When you have multiple tenants requiring physical segregation of the data. Each Infrastructure Management server is associated with a single tenant only. A specific tenant is associated with the Infrastructure Management server when the server is registered as a component with the Presentation Server. In a multiple Infrastructure Management server deployment, service providers can designate to which environments the tenants will have access by registering a tenant for the Presentation Server supporting that environment. Integrations to the Infrastructure Management server should be dedicated to the environment of the tenant associated with that server. For information about setting up a multitenant environment, see Service-provider-and-tenant-deployment-for-TrueSight-Operations-Management.

Multiple Infrastructure Management server deployment options

Use the TrueSight console to manage BMC PATROL configuration across one or more Infrastructure Management servers. BMC recommends implementing one of the following architectural deployments for multiple Infrastructure Management servers:

Multiple Infrastructure Management Servers connected to a single Presentation Server

Multiple Infrastructure Management Servers connected to multiple Presentation Servers
Updates to and deletion of existing policies that are already in production must use the policy export/import capability for creation, testing, and deployment to production. For more information, see Staging-Integration-Service-host-deployment-and-policy-management-for-development-test-and-production-best-practices.These implementation architecture options are not installation options; they are choices for where you install the servers and how you connect them.

Note

All TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server versions must be the same in a single environment. The Infrastructure Management solution cannot support mixed versions of Infrastructure Management servers and requires the same version of the Presentation Server. For more information, see Presentation-Server-Infrastructure-Management-and-PATROL-Agent-compatibility-matrices.

Multiple Infrastructure Management Servers connected to a single Presentation Server

The first option is to implement a single Presentation Server for scenarios that require multiple Infrastructure Management Servers, such as multiple tenants or separate environments for development, test, and production.

Pros

Creating, testing, and deploying monitoring policies from test into production are very easy because you do not have to copy, export, or import any data. The application of policies to the development, test, and production environments is simply managed in the policy’s agent selection criteria.
This option requires fewer infrastructure nodes and components. Only a single staging Integration Service host and a single instance of Presentation Server are needed.

Cons

This option might not be supported in some sites where all the necessary connections in the development, test, and production or separate tenant environments are not available or allowed to be connected over the network.
Due to the powerful ease of use, it is easier for administrators to unintentionally apply policies to production. However, this possibility can be managed.

The following figure illustrates a typical high-level logical architecture for an Infrastructure Management deployment using multiple BMC TrueSight Infrastructure Management Servers connected to a single BMC TrueSight Presentation Server.

High-level architecture for multiple-server deployment with a single Presentation Server

In the single Presentation Server architecture, a single staging Integration Service node is used in the agent deployment process for all agents. All Infrastructure Management Servers leverage the single Presentation Server instance for managing the entire policy.

For the list of ports required in a multiple-server deployment, see Network-port-schematics-for-Infrastructure-Management.

Multiple Infrastructure Management Servers connected to multiple Presentation Servers

The second option is to implement a separate Presentation Server instance in each of the development, test, and production or tenant environments.

Pros

This option is supported in sites where all necessary connections in the development, test, and production or tenant environments are not available or allowed to be connected over the network.
The option supports policy management methods that help prevent administrators from making mistakes when applying policies to production.

Cons

Creating, testing, and deploying monitoring policies into production or across multiple tenant environments requires additional effort because you have to export and import policy data from development to the test environment and from test to the production environments.
Policies can get out of sync across development, test, and production environments if not managed properly. Keeping them updated is more of a manual process supported by the export/import utility.
This deployment requires additional infrastructure nodes and components. Development, test, and production environments must each have a dedicated staging Integration Service host and a dedicated instance of Presentation Server.

The following diagram illustrates the high-level architecture for multiple Presentation Servers in the development, test, and production environments.

High-level architecture for multiple-server deployment with multiple Presentation Servers

In this architecture, each environment has its own dedicated Presentation Server instance and a staging Integration Service . All policy application between environments is supported by the policy export/import utility.

Exceptions requiring a Central Server deployment

In previous releases, the parent Infrastructure Management Server in a multiple-server deployment was known as the Central Server. In this release, the Central Server has been replaced by the Presentation Server for most deployments. However, a Central Server is still required for the following deployment use cases:

Distributed service models—When the number of CIs in a service model exceeds the maximum limit of CIs allowed in a single server, it is possible to distribute the model across multiple Infrastructure Management Servers. This is optional. Distributed service models are enabled by the web services installed with the Infrastructure Management Servers. The Central Server acts as a single point of entry for users and provides a common point to access to service models. For the deployment architecture, see Infrastructure-Management-deployment-with-BMC-Atrium-CMDB. For information on sizing the deployment, see Sizing-charts-and-guidelines-for-event-and-impact-management.
BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management Integration—The integration allows IT Operations to monitor cloud constructs provisioned by BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management. This integration requires a Central Server to fetch cloud topology from BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management and push cloud constructs to the appropriate Infrastructure Management child servers. For the deployment architecture, see Infrastructure-Management-deployment-integrated-with-Cloud-Lifecyle-Management.

For information on how to configure a Central Server, see Configuring a BMC TrueSight Infrastructure Management multiple-server deployment.

Best practices for deploying Infrastructure Management

Component	Deployment best practice
Administration console	Install and use the administration console on a host separate from the Infrastructure Management Server. Use the instance of the administration console that is installed with the Infrastructure Management Server for emergency use only.
Database	Review the Considerations-for-selecting-the-database-for-the-Infrastructure-Management-Server. If using an Oracle database, follow the Considerations-and-best-practices-for-deploying-the-Oracle-database.
Infrastructure Management Server	Install a BMC PATROL Agent and the BMC PATROL for TrueSight Self-Monitoring knowledge module on the Infrastructure Management Server to monitor the Infrastructure Management Server externally. The Infrastructure Management Server includes in-built self monitoring; however, the PATROL for TrueSight Self-Monitoring KM provides a way to monitor the Infrastructure Management Server externally. During installation of the Infrastructure Management Server, install the Infrastructure Management Self-Monitoring Service to monitor the health of all the components of Infrastructure Management. For more information, see Viewing the health of the Infrastructure Management components from the operator console. For a description of this feature using a use case, see Detect problems using the automated self health monitoring capability. Set up a separate event/notification path for external monitoring of the Infrastructure Management infrastructure so that you are not dependent on the infrastructure to generate and process alarms related to it being down or running in a degraded state.
Integrations and Impact Integration Web Services	Install BMC Impact Integration Web Services and all other integrations on servers separate from the TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server (for example on an Integration Service host) unless specifically stated otherwise in the BMC documentation. Review Considerations-and-best-practices-for-interoperability-with-PATROL-components.
Integration Service	Follow the Integration-Service-host-deployment-and-best-practices-for-event-processing-and-propagation. Determine the location of all PATROL Agents and the respective Integration Services. At least one Integration Service must exist for each network, and generally the Integration Service must be close to the PATROL Agents connecting to it. This requirement minimizes the number of connections to the Infrastructure Management Server and makes firewall management easier because there is one connection per Integration Service. Tip Develop a clear strategy for assigning the PATROL Agents to each Integration Service. The Infrastructure Management Server does not auto-balance the load between PATROL Agents and Integration Services, so the initial assignment is important. Although at least one Integration Service must exist per network, a convention based on name or function (or simple round-robin assignment) within the network is acceptable as long as you are consistent and avoid overloading any one Integration Service.
Staging Integration Service	Follow the Staging-Integration-Service-host-deployment-and-policy-management-for-development-test-and-production-best-practices. Note: The Integration Service running on an Infrastructure Management Server cannot be configured as a staging Integration Service.
All	If you are deploying on virtual machines, follow the Considerations-for-deploying-Infrastructure-Management-on-a-VM. To ensure high availability of the Infrastructure Management system, follow the High-availability-deployment-and-best-practices-for-Infrastructure-Management.

Infrastructure Management multiple-server deployment architecture

Multiple Infrastructure Management server use cases

Multiple Infrastructure Management server deployment options

Multiple Infrastructure Management Servers connected to a single Presentation Server

Pros

Cons

Multiple Infrastructure Management Servers connected to multiple Presentation Servers

Pros

Cons

Exceptions requiring a Central Server deployment

Best practices for deploying Infrastructure Management

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