Getting started for system administrators

Planning

Perform the following tasks to plan how your users are going to use MVMM :

1. If you plan a new deployment of MVMM , you must determine the sizing requirements with help from BMC Support. Determine the technologies that need to be monitored, the number of objects that need to be monitored, the number of agents, the service platform required (such as Windows or Linux), and so on. Based on these factors a server is recommended to you. The capacity and size of that server depend on CPU and memory, database required in terms of CPU and memory, and how long you wish to retain historical data. For more information, see History-data.

   We do not recommend installing service components on different machines. If you require this setup, contact BMC Support.

   Warning

   Important

   During the installation of the MVMM product, you must choose the method to integrate the product with MainView Middleware Administrator (MVMA). The integration of the two products enables you to administer the same queue managers shown in the MVMM  object repository from the MVMA console. When planning your deployment, you must determine the security and queue manager integration options for your environment. For more information, see MainView-Middleware-Administrator-integration-options.

   Consider the following factors that might have an impact on your planning and sizing environment:

   • Determining whether to use agent-based or agentless monitoring
   • Defining the Agent installation layout

2. While planning your deployment, ensure your environment is fully supported and meets our system requirements. For more information, see System requirements and product compatibility.

   Warning

   Important

   These requirements may vary depending on the type of extensions you deploy. For more information, see Supported-middleware-monitoring-technologies-for-performance-and-availability.

   If you or your database administrator (DBA) is responsible for database configuration, see the following topics for more information:

   • Database performance recommendations
   • Database server requirements
3. To ensure you have the correct installation credentials when installing MVMM , download and fill out the worksheets in the provided Microsoft Excel workbook. For example, you must use the correct database connection information and the MVMA hostname and port, when integrating with MVMA.
   For more information, refer to the following topics in the Planning section: 

1. 
   
   • MainView Middleware Administrator integration options
   • Security planning
   • Network ports
2. After you complete the installation worksheet, you must prepare for the installation. For more information, see Preparing for installation.

Installing

After your planning is complete, perform the following installation tasks:

1. Download the product installation files from the BMC Electronic Product Distribution (EPD) website using the direct download links available in Downloading the installation files.

   Your ability to access product pages on the EPD website is determined by the license entitlements purchased by your company. To understand which files you are entitled to download, access the license entitlements for your product. For more information, see License-entitlements. 

   Make sure your environment is ready for installation by performing these additional pre-installation tasks:

   • Make sure you have the required roles and permissions for installation. For more information, see Required roles and permissions for installation.
   • Follow the UAC guidelines for Windows environments. For more information, see UAC considerations for Windows environments.
   • Create and initiate the database and scripts. For more information, see Creating and initializing the database and scripts.

2. The following topics provide the relevant instructions for installing each of the MVMM  and MVMA components:

   • Installing the core components on a Windows system (which also includes selecting the relevant MVMA integration mode)
   • Installing the core components on a Linux system (which also includes selecting the relevant MVMA integration mode)
   • Installing the Agent and monitoring extensions

   After installing the components, perform the tasks in Post-core component installation tasks before you start the relevant services. For more information on services, see Starting and stopping services.

3. Once you have installed the main MVMM  components, you must distribute the agent and extensions packages for your system. For more information, see Using Deployments to distribute the agent and extensions packages. After deploying the Agents and extensions, see Running performance and availability monitoring extensions for information on how to install, configure, and run each extension.
   You can also manually deploy the MVMM extensions and agents to computers on which the MVMM  Agent and MVMM  Configuration Service have been installed (the MVMM  Agent must be installed and running so that package distribution works correctly). For more information, see: Distributing the MVMM Extensible Agent and extensions manually.

Configuration

Perform the following tasks to configure the product as per user requirements:

1. Once the main components are in place, you can use a number of methods to manage the objects that MVMM  monitors. These methods include:

   •  (Recommended) Monitoring policies. For more information, see Overview of policies.
   • Managing objects via the Object Repository tab in the Monitor Console. For more information, see Working with the Object Repository.
   • Configuring your extensions to monitor objects. For more information, see Running performance and availability monitoring extensions.
   • Using the repomgr command line tool or the qpreg utility program. For more information, see Managing the product from a Command Line Interface and Registering objects for monitoring using qpreg.

   All of these methods work when the objects have been discovered or previously registered for monitoring. Once registered for monitoring, object attribute values (such as statistics, state, etc.) are published by the relevant MVMM  extensions. These published values can be viewed and presented in a variety of views and dashboards. For more information, see Views and dashboards.

2. The Agent maintains a set of configuration preferences for itself and extensions running on the agent server. The agentpref command-line tool is included in the agent distribution for each platform and provides a means to display and modify these preferences. Common uses include viewing current preferences and setting the deployment interval for the MVMM  Configuration Agent. For more information, see Managing the Agent and Extension preferences using agentpref.
3. You need to create the IBM MQ Connection to ensure that the queue managers and objects registered for monitoring in MVMM  can be managed and administered in MVMA. For more information, see Creating the IBM MQ Connection server connection channel.

4. Create user accounts and security groups that manage user access to MVMM functionality. For more information, see Defining user access and security settings.

   User and security settings are configured via the options on the Security tab in the Monitor Console.

   Warning

   Important

   In MVMM , access permission is granted at a group level, with all members of the group inheriting all permissions granted to the group.

5. MVMM provides a set of out-of-the-box policies that contain general monitoring recommendations and can be easily applied by users (as long as they are assigned the Access Policies Tab and Edit Policies permissions). For more information, see Policies supplied with MainView Middleware Monitor.

   As each environment is unique, you might want to copy and tweak the supplied policies. In that case, see Policy architecture, which describes how policies are designed.
   You can also create your own policies For more information, see Creating a policy. All policies are defined in the Policies tab of the Monitor Console.

6. You can navigate the user interface to perform most administrative tasks, you can also perform a number of tasks to manage and maintain the MVMM environment from the Command Line Interface (CLI). These CLI tools include options to export and import Monitor Console environmental components, manage integration with MVMA, and manage MVMM security information. For more information, see Managing the product from a Command Line Interface.