Writer instructions

Page title

For most spaces, this page must be titled Space announcements.

For spaces with localized content, this page must be titled Space announcements l10n.

Purpose

Provide an announcement banner on every page of your space.

Location

Move this page outside of your home branch.

Guidelines

Limited supportBMC provides limited support for this version of the product. As a result, BMC no longer accepts comments in this space. If you encounter problems with the product version or the space, contact BMC Support.BMC recommends upgrading to the latest version of the product. To see documentation for that version, see MainView Middleware Monitor 9.2.

Running the IBM DataPower monitoring extension

DataPower is an appliance designed to act as an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) that takes in messages from various sources (HTTP, MQ, TIBCO EMS, WAS SIB). You can configure Policies to handle each message type. Each Policy has a Request Rule and can have a Response Rule. The Request Rule can Accept or Reject Messages, apply transformations (XSL stylesheets) to the data, and route them to one or more targets (HTTP, MQ, EMS, SIB, File, IMSConnect, Database). Each such Policy is deployed to a given DataPower Domain.

For information on installing this extension on the various supported platforms, see Installing-the-DataPower-monitoring-extension.

Note

DataPower is a group of appliances with different functions. Consult the supported platform tables for a list of the supported DataPower appliances.

This section includes:

Related topics

Running-performance-and-availability-monitoring-extensions

DataPower monitoring in MVMM

The MainView Middleware Monitor DataPower extension uses the IBM XML Management Interface to gather monitoring information from XI50/52 DataPower devices. The extension periodically (customizable interval) sends SOAP formatted XML messages over HTTP to the XML Management Interface port of each configured DataPower device. This requires sending one query to gather the device properties and then an additional query for each domain. The response from DataPower is delivered in a similar SOAP formatted XML structure. This interface and the structure of the requests and responses are documented in the IBM DataPower InfoCenter.

As this information is gathered on a regular sample interval similar to every other MainView Middleware Monitor extension, all the power of the MainView Middleware Monitor product is immediately available to DataPower MainView Middleware Monitor extension users.

Key capabilities for IBM DataPower include:

  • Web-accessible performance reports
  • Real-time dashboards displaying the state of DataPower hardware and performance
  • Integrated alerting and notification for DataPower properties and performance
  • Auto-discovery across domains, which eases the user implementation significantly

Viewing DataPower information

Once the agent is connected to the DataPower device any information from the DataPower device appears under the DataPower device node in the Monitor Console physical tree. 

Configuring the DataPower appliance for monitoring by the DataPower extension

The MainView Middleware Monitor DataPower extension uses the IBM XML Management Interface to gather monitoring information from DataPower devices.

In order to monitor DataPower using MainView Middleware Monitor with a non-administrative user, the user ID used to access the DataPower Appliance with the MainView Middleware Monitor DataPower monitoring extension must be a member of a DataPower group with the following permissions:

  • Login to the XML Management Interface for the default domain with read authority:

    deviceIP/default/login/xml-mgmt?Access=r
  • Read authority on all objects in the default domain:

    deviceIP/default/*?Access=r
  • Read authority to all objects on each domain that is to be monitored:

    deviceIP/DomainName/*?Access=r

To enable the DataPower XML Management Interface

  1. Log in to the DataPower WebGUI and go to: Network > Management > XML Management.
  2. Ensure that "Administrative State" is set to "enabled".
  3. Note the address and port that has been configured.
  4. Ensure that SOAP Management URI is selected.
  5. Turn on statistics collection (go to: Control Panel > View Status > Statistics collection).
  6. Click enabled.

Set Extension Preferences to monitor the DataPower devices

Extension preferences are used to control which DataPower devices are available for monitoring.   The agentpref utility is used to set or remove preference values.

Note

Passwords will be encoded in an encoding supported by the extension. However you may provide the value encoded and the value will be re-encoded to the supported encoding. Supported encodings are: OBF, Base64, Cryptor and Cloaker.

The supported extension preferences are:

Preference Name

Value

Example

SampleInterval

Sample interval. Default is 60 seconds. Optional.

The DataPower device updates data internally every 60 seconds so this value should also be 60 seconds to avoid incorrect statistics.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

60

deviceVersion

DataPower firmware version. Only required for firmware 6.x.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

6.0.2.0

hostNameVerifier

Method used to verify connection to the DataPower device, Choices are 'strict', 'all', or 'browser'. Default is 'strict'. Optional.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

all

hostname

Hostname or IP address of the DataPower device. Must match hostname in device URL. Required.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

myhostname

httpClientConnectionTimeout

Time to wait for connection response from the DataPower device in seconds. Default is 30 seconds. Optional.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

30

httpClientResponseTimeout

Time to wait for non-connection responses from the DataPower device in seconds. Default is 60 seconds. Optional.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

60

httpSoTimeout

Time to wait for socket activity form the DataPower device in seconds. Default is 30 seconds. Optional.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

30

keyStore

File path of key store used to connect to the DataPower device. Optional.

May be a relative path. Relative paths are relative to the extensions installation directory (ie. the directory above the bin subdirectory).

Use a forward slash for the directory separator even on windows. If you prefer use a backslash on windows, you must escape it with another backslash, example d:\\dir1\\dir2\\keystore.jks.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

keystore.jks

keyStorePassword

Password to use to access key store used to connect to the DataPower device.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above


password

Password to use to connect to the DataPower device. Required.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above


port

Port number of which the DataPower device accepts connections (the XML Management port). Must match port in device URL.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

5550

sslProtocol

SSL protocol used when communicating with the DataPower device. Default is TLS. Optional.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

TLSv1.2

trustStore

File path of trust store used to connect to the DataPower device. Optional.

May be a relative path. Relative paths are relative to the extensions installation directory (ie. the directory above the bin subdirectory).

Use a forward slash for the directory separator even on windows. If you prefer use a backslash on windows, you must escape it with another backslash, example d:\\dir1\\dir2\\truststore.jks.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

truststore.jks

trustStorePassword

Password to use to access trust store used to connect to the DataPower device. Optional.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above


username

User name to use to connect to the DataPower device. Required

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above

monitor_user

ignoreCertificates

Ignore certificate checks if SSL is not configured. If any other SSL preference is set, this must be false.

Default is false.

Supported at agent version 9.0.0.0 and above.


Upgrading the DataPower monitoring extension from an earlier release

During installation and you were upgrading from a previous release it was recommended you renamed your existing installation.  You may copy the configuration/services/com.bmc.mmpa.ext.datapower.extension.properties file from a extension version earlier than 9.0.00.   The first time the DataPower extension starts it will configure the preferences for you.   Afterwards, if additional changes are required you should alter the preferences using the agentpref utility as the file is no longer used.   Note, if a truststore and keystore were previously used, you should also copy those to the new extension if the files were located within the extension installation.  Refer to the truststore and keystore settings of the file to verify the file paths.

Configuring the DataPower monitoring extension on Windows and UNIX

This section describes how to configure the MainView Middleware Monitor DataPower monitoring extension to connect to the DataPower Appliance.

To configure the DataPower monitoring extension

The agentpref utility is used to set preferences.   These examples assume you are using the agentpref utility on the machine where the agent and extension is located.

The DataPower extension expects that each DataPower device being monitored is located under the "Default" preference level and identified by a URL consisting of https://hostname:port.  For example, https::/myhostname:5550.  If the hostname or port contained in the URL do not match the hostname and port preference values, the extension will not monitor the device.

Example

This example configures the extension specifying only the defaults and no SSL configuration.

agentpref --set DataPowerMonitoringExtension --pref_path "Default!ComBmcDataPowerDevice" "Default!https://myhostname:5550" username monitor_user password pwd1 hostname myhostname

To configure the DataPower monitoring extension to use SSL/TLS client authentication

The configuration of DataPower differs depending on the firmware version.  Refer to the DataPower documentation for how to secure your XML Management Interface.  Generally you need to create a Crypto Configuration, select it in a SSL Proxy Profile and then update the XML Management Interface configuration to use that profile.   The keystore and truststore files should contain the same certificates used in the DataPower device configuration.

Example

This example adds the SSL configuration. In this example the truststore and keystore files are relative and in a sub-directory of the extensions installation directory. The security sub-directory, truststore.jks file and keystore.jks file would have been created by you using the certificates from the DataPower configuration.

agentpref --set DataPowerMonitoringExtension --pref_path "Default!ComBmcDataPowerDevice" "Default!https://myhostname:5550" trustStore security/truststore.jks trustStorePassword pwd2 keyStore security/keystore.jks pwd3 sslProtocol TLS hostNameVerifier all

Controlling the DataPower monitoring extension on Windows and UNIX

This section describes how to start, stop, and otherwise run the MainView Middleware Monitor DataPower monitoring extension.

For each of the following procedures, first open a command prompt and change directories to the 'datapower' directory created when installing the monitoring extension. Then enter the monitoring extension command followed by the required parameter.

To get usage information from the monitoring extension

  • In Windows, enter: bin\datapower --help
  • In UNIX, enter: ./bin/datapower -–help

To check if the monitoring extension is running

  • In Windows, enter: bin\datapower --status
  • In UNIX, enter: ./bin/datapower –-status

To start the monitoring extension

  • In Windows, enter: bin\datapower --start
  • In UNIX, enter: ./bin/datapower –-start

To stop the monitoring extension

  • In Windows, enter: bin\datapower --stop
  • In UNIX, enter: ./bin/datapower –-stop

To install the monitoring extension as a Windows service

  • In Windows, enter: bin\datapower --install

To remove the monitoring extension as a Windows service

  • In Windows, enter: bin\datapower --remove

To run the monitoring extension in console mode

  • In Windows, enter: bin\datapower --console
  • In UNIX, enter: bin/datapower --console

Note

When the extension is started in console mode, you are in the console of the Equinox OSGi runtime the extension is running in. This is indicated by the prompt osgi>. If you are familiar with OSGi you can use the OSGi command shell to determine whether all components of the extension have been started properly. To leave the OSGi runtime and to stop the extension enter close.

Troubleshooting the DataPower monitoring extension

This section details the steps necessary to switch on monitoring extension tracing for BMC Support.

To switch on tracing for the DataPower monitoring extension

  1. Edit the org.ops4j.pax.logging file, found in the following locations:
    • Windows: <AGENT INSTALL>\datapower\configuration\services
    • UNIX: <AGENT INSTALL>/datapower/configuration/services
  2. Change these lines:

    log4j.logger.com.bmc.mmpa.ext.framework.treedump.sample.send=debug
    log4j.logger.com.bmc.mmpa.ext.datapower.extension.internal.DataPowerExtension=info
    log4j.appender.R.MaxFileSize=5MB
    To

     log4j.logger.com.bmc.mmpa.ext.framework.treedump.sample.send=debug
     log4j.logger.com.bmc.mmpa.ext.datapower.extension.internal.DataPowerExtension=debug

           log4j.appender.R.MaxFileSize=50MB

  1. Restart the DataPower monitoring extension.
  2. Send in the log, which is found in the locations listed below, to BMC Customer Support:
    • Windows: <AGENT_INSTALL>\datapower\logs
    • UNIX: <AGENT_INSTALL/datapower/logs

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*