A Taxonomy of Visualization Techniques

Not necessarily related to Tivoli, but this is a very thorough article on visualization techniques:

http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2146416

GBSCMD Performance Improvement Tip

GBSCMD is a Gulf Breeze developed utility for performing ITM operations from command line using SOAP.  If you are running GBSCMD, you will probably notice performance degrade when the amount of SOAP response is huge.   For example, if you are fetching list of all managed systems or all situations in an environment with thousands of systems/situations, gbscmd might take quite sometime to get this information.  

 

This performance degrade is due to the built-in XML parser used by XML::Simple module. To overcome this issue, you can simply set an environment variable to use a different/more-efficient parser and that will do the trick.

 

For example, run  "export XML_SIMPLE_PREFERRED_PARSER=XML::Parser" in your environment before running gbscmd and you will notice much better response times even for large datasets. 

 

Hope this helps.

Working with the Deployment Engine

So the IBM Deployment Engine (aka ACSI, or Autonomic Computing Solution Installer is what I believe the acronym stands for) is a really nice product and works very well if you read the documentation and warnings. As luck would have it, I forgot to read some of the documentation and warnings, so I was able to learn some things.

The OMNIbus documentation states that if you use the DE as a regular user, then as root, that all installs from that point forward will only use the DE instance that was installed by root (the global instance). It also states that if you uninstall the global/common instance, then the DE is uninstalled everywhere.

The situation that brought me to this point is that I installed TBSM 6.1 on Linux as the user 'netcool' (so it uses a user-specific DE). I then tried to install CCMDB 7.2.1 on the same machine as the user 'root'. This failed early in the process, but not before a new global/common DE was installed. I gave up my CCMDB install dreams and proceeded to install an OMNIbus probe as the user 'netcool'. This gave me an error that I was currently using the global DE on an installation that had been performed using my user-specific DE and I should abort the installation. After reading the above OMNIbus documentation, I didn't want to uninstall the global DE (for fear that it would wipe out everything and I wouldn't be able to upgrade any products). However, since I had a copy of my VM, I gave it a shot. What I did was:

as root:

cd /usr/ibm/common/acsi/bin
export SI_JAVA_HOME=/usr/ibm/common/acsi/jre
./si_inst -r -f

This scared me a bit because it did COMPLETELY remove the /usr/ibm/common/acsi directory and killed all of the acsi processes ('ps -ef | grep acsi' showed nothing at this point). But my ~netcool/.acsi_* directories were still there (I don't know why, but I have two of these directories - ~/.acsi_netcool and ~/.acsi_myserverhostname). At this point, I re-ran the probe installation as user netcool (nco_install_integration), and I got no error messages, and the install information was added correctly to my local DE instance.

And the lesson I learned is that once you install any DE-based product on a machine as a non-root user, all of your subsequent DE-based installs need to be done as non-root users (it doesn't need to be the same user for different products, but you don't want to install anything DE-based as root).

Tips on the ITM Agent for Maximo (product code MI )

I recently found the Tivoli Monitoring Agent for Maximo 7.1.1 Feature Pack and wanted to share some tips on using it. You can find the Feature Pack (with downloads) here:

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?q1=itm&rs=3214&uid=swg24025477&context=SSLKT6&cs=utf-8&lang=en&loc=en_US

The instructions for installing the agent assume that you have Maximo, your ITM TEMS and ITM TEPS all on the same Windows machine, which I imagine would not be the case for most customers. You *can* install the TEMS and TEPS support on a non-windows machine using the following commands:

installIraAgentTEMS.sh /opt/IBM/ITM


installIraAgentTEPS.sh /opt/IBM/ITM

Where the first parameter is your ITM install directory. You can then install just the agent on a Windows machine with:

installIraAgent.bat C:\IBM\ITM

The agent itself is ONLY installable on Windows. However, this can be ANY Windows machine you want - it only needs to be able to access your Maximo server via URL. NOTE: The agent does get some information from the Log file dir that you specify; if you install the agent on a machine that is not your Maximo server, this data will not be available. (I'm not certain exactly what information it gets from the logs.)

A BIG caveat of the agent is that you CAN NOT use it if you have configured Application Server Security for authentication and authorization with Maximo. (I didn't test out the scenario of configuring Application Server Security only for authentication due to time constraints). So you can only use the agent to monitor a Maximo installation that is configured to use Maximo security.

The next tip has to do with configuration. When you configure the agent, you're required to provide a few pieces of information:

Instance Name: Do NOT use "maximo" as the value! I found this out the hard way - it simply doesn't work if you do this. I used "MXServer", but it looks like you can use anything OTHER than "maximo".

Log file dir: This is the location of your application server log files. For example:

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ctgAppSrv01/logs/MXServer

Port: This is the port you use to access Maximo. The default is 7001, which is the default http port for WebLogic. If you're using WebSphere, you should change this to 9080 for http access (or 9443 for https).

Java Home Directory: This can be set to any Java 1.5 (or above) install location on the system. I set mine to:

E:\IBM\SMP\sdk

Another tip is that you do NOT need to configure Maximo Performance Monitor for the agent to work.

The last tip is on usage, once you get the agent up and running. Let it run for a several minutes before assuming it's not working correctly. It just takes a few minutes to capture some of its data. Once it up and running correctly, the table in the Performance Object Status workspace should look similar to this:



SysInfo SysInfo ACTIVE NO ERROR
DataBaseInfo DataBaseInfo ACTIVE NO ERROR
InstalledApps InstalledApps ACTIVE NO ERROR
License License ACTIVE NO ERROR
InstalledProducts InstalledProducts ACTIVE NO ERROR
DBConnections DBConnections ACTIVE NO ERROR
MemGaugeForAllSrvrs MemGaugeForAllSrvrs ACTIVE NO ERROR
RuntimeMXBean RuntimeMXBean ACTIVE NO ERROR
Memory Memory ACTIVE NO ERROR
MemoryGauge MemoryGauge ACTIVE NO ERROR
MBOCountGauge MBOCountGauge ACTIVE NO ERROR
UPSGauge UPSGauge ACTIVE NO ERROR
CronTasks CronTasks ACTIVE NO ERROR
EscalationErrorLog EscalationErrorLog ACTIVE NO INSTANCES RETURNED

PLAYterm: a New Way To Improve Command Line Skills

PLAYterm: a New Way To Improve Command Line Skills: chrb writes "Linux Journal points out PLAYterm, an interesting project that offers up recordings of Linux command line sessions, with the aim of helping viewers to improve their skills by watching gurus at work." And there's no bad excuse to link to Neal Stephenson's excellent (and free-to-download in delicious zipped-text form) In the Beginning was the Command Line.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I think this is a great resource for Windows people learning UNIX/Linux, and also for Linux people who just want to learn about some new commands.

How to create a lock on a DB2 table

I spent a while figuring this out (to set up a problem/resolution scenario for ITCAM) and figured I would share.

By default, DB2 has auto-commit turned ON. So any time you run a SQL statement, it's automatically followed by a COMMIT. To change this, the easy way is:

db2 +c "delete from your_table_name where your_where_clause"

Then any other application or process trying to read or write this table will have to wait until the lock is cleared before returning. So if you open another window and run 'db2 select * from your_table_name', it will just sit there.

To clear the lock, run:

db2 commit

More info is here:

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21297813

Tivoli Common Reporting Security - Removing users from administrator roles

In Tivoli Common Reporting, by default, all users will have administrative privileges.  So, every user you create in TCR will have access to the Launch->Administration option and he/she can edit data sources, cancel scheduled jobs and perform various administrative tasks.   While this is great for test environments, it is absolutely not desirable for production implementations.   So, how do we turn off this major security hole?   Fortunately, there is an easy but not well-documented way.

 

1. Logon as tipadmin/tcradmin in Tivoli Common Reporting portal and select Reporting->Common Reporting

2. Click Launch->Administration

3. Goto Security Tab.

4. Select Cognos.

5. Make sure you selected, Users, Groups and Roles option in the left pane.

6. The list of roles will be listed. Go to the next page on the list. 

7. Select "System Administrators" role that is listed at the very bottom.

8. Click on the "Properties" option to edit the role settings.

9. Click on the "members" tab.

10. Click on the "Add" link to add specific users to TCR administration role.  Typically, the TCR users you created will be under VMMProvider.

11. Next select the "Everyone" group by selecting the checkbox next to it and click "Remove" link.

12. Click OK to save the changes.

13. Log out and log back in as an ordinary user. Now the "Launch->Administration" option will not appear anymore.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Fixing perl's CPAN on CentOS

If you are using CentOS 5.5 and trying to download perl modules with CPAN, you may come across this error:

Undefined subroutine &Compress::Zlib::gzopen called at /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8/CPAN.pm line 5721

When working with Tivoli software, it is helpful to use virtual machines. You can save images for different app/version combinations and retrieve them when you need to develop or test something. CentOS is the open source brand for Red Hat, so it works really well when you have to install multiple VMs but don't want the hassle of tracking RHEL licenses. Sometimes you may have to modify various file contents to look more like RHEL itself, but in general CentOS does the trick.

Recently, I was attempting to write a perl script to parse XML files.  I chose to download the XML::LibXML module because it is very flexible and pretty fast. I started CPAN with:

user@system> cpan

Then I attempted the install:

user@system> install XML::LibXML

but then I got the 'Undefined subroutine...' error above. I tried running CPAN with the alternate command:

user@system> perl -MCPAN -e shell

I also tried to install other packages (such as DBD::DB2), but they generated the same error. I have been using the same CentOS 5.5 image for a couple of years, so it made sense to update the perl packages. Same error.

After some Google research, it appears that another error may have a similar cause.
(note the different package and line #):

Undefined subroutine &Compress::Zlib::gzopen called at /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8/CPAN/Tarzip.pm line 122

It took a while to piece together this solution in steps, so hopefully this can save someone else a little time.

1. Install the yum utilities:

user@system> yum install yum-utils
(This contains the yum-complete-transaction executable, which does what its name says.  Description here.)

2. Get libxml2:

user@system> yum install libxml2-devel

user@system> yum-complete-transaction
(notice it's yum-, NOT the normal yum with a space)


3. Update software packages:

But use yum from the command line to do it instead of the built-in CentOS  'Software Updater'.  Run this:

user@system> yum check-update

It will outline all the available updates and ask if you want to execute them. Go ahead and say yes. There may be libraries in some of those packages that will be required to build perl modules. (In a single run, I had 242 installs and 242 removes, and it completed all of them. In my previous attempts to do the same thing from the Software Updater, the Package Manager would hang every time.)

user@system> yum-complete-transaction
(this will just make sure they're all done)


4. Run CPAN:

user@system> perl -MCPAN -e shell

Within CPAN, run these commands in this order:

cpan> force install Scalar::Util

cpan> force install IO::Compress::Base

cpan> force install Compress::Raw::Zlib

cpan> force install IO::Compress::Gzip

cpan> force install Compress::Zlib

after running all of these, CPAN should run just fine. Go ahead and download any perl packages you want.

Verify the CloudBurst 2.1 Tivoli software stack

Verify the CloudBurst 2.1 Tivoli software stack:

The advantages an appliance brings with it are often achieved by complex
tasks; many times this complexity is hidden by the interface to the appliance, giving the user a limited view of the entire configuration and integration points. But a user may need to verify or re-verify the software stack when the environment changes (restoring backup images in a disaster recovery scenario), making modifications to hardware configurations (like when you add new blades) or software configurations (like when you add new networks with VLAN tagging). In this article, the author provides a quick guide to verifying the IBM CloudBurst 2.1 Tivoli software stack.

Emailing Reports in TCR

The latest version of TCR supports Report Emailing and scheduling feature. However this feature is hidden deep in the menu options and this article shows how to email your report.

1. First make sure that you configured TCR for emailing using the tcr_cogconfig.sh or by using "Cognos Configuration" application in Windows.


2. Now to email a report, click on "Run with Options" icon against the report. It is a green arrow icon appearing on the same row as the report name.


3. Now click on "To specify a time to run the report, or additional formats, languages or delivery options, use advanced options" link that appears to the right.


4. In the advanced options page, click on "Run in the background" and "Now" under Time and Mode.


5. Choose the appropriate format such as PDF.


6. Under Delivery, uncheck save report.


7. Under Delivery:, check send the report by email and click on "Edit options" right next to it.


8. In the "Set Email Options" page, set the email receipients, (separated by commas). Edit the subject and body if necessary.


9. Ensure the "Attach the report" is clicked. Alternatively, you can send a TCR link to the receipients. Click OK.


10. Ensure that "Prompt for values" is checked. Now click Run.


11. Now any report parameter values will be prompted and once you entered them and click finish,


12. Finally, click OK to confirm and now the report will be generated and emailed to the receipients.

Hope this helps.

Importing Custom Images in TCR Cognos Reports

If you are developing custom Cognos reports in Tivoli Common Reporting, one of the basic needs in custom reporting is to include your company logo or custom images in your reports.  This article describes steps necessary to include custom logos in your Cognos reports.

 

1. First assemble the custom images that you need to include.  These images must be in JPG or GIF format.
2. Copy these images to the following directory location in TCR.  Or, you can create a subdirectory under the directory below and put your images under the subdirectory.
   <installdir>/../tipv2/profiles/TIPProfile/installedApps/TIPCell/IBM Cognos 8.ear/p2pd.war/tivoli
3. Important: Also copy the images to <installdir>/../tipv2Components/TCRComponent/cognos/webcontent/tivoli directory or any of its subdirectory.
4. Now you can drag and drop image objects in Report Studio in your report designs.  After dropping a image object, right click on it and select "Edit Image URL". 
5. Specify the image url as "../tivoli/mylogo.jpg" if your images are located in tivoli folder in the above example. Modify the URL to include subdirectory names in case your images are located in the subdirectory of tivoli folder in steps 2 & 3.

That's it, Happy Reporting! 

ITCAM for Transactions 7.3 is available, and IBM has some videos of the new features

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/tivolimediagallery/Tivoli%20Composite%20Application%20Manager%20for%20Transactions

Quick check for ITM Situations triggering

Here's a great developerworks article on checking situations in ITM.

http://ow.ly/5m55U

ITM Dynamic Thresholds - NYTUG presentation 5/24/2011

This is a link to the NYTUG presentation that I'm giving on May 24. It deals with Dynamic (Adaptive) Thresholds in ITM and the recent addition of Centralized Configuration.

The 10 commandments of good source control management

In IT, we all have to write some amount of code for something (OMNIbus rules, custom scripts, custom web pages, etc.), and that code should almost always go into a revision control system. I say almost always because sometimes you just have to write a quick awk one-liner that you'll never use again. But for anything that's in production, you should have it versioned. This link describes the 10 necessary rules for using source control management:

http://www.troyhunt.com/2011/05/10-commandments-of-good-source-control.html

(There are just a few R-rated words, but nothing egregious.)

Maximo 7.5 documentation is available today

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v49r1/index.jsp

A Tool to Generate Silent Configuration Response Files for ITCAM for WAS

https://www-304.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/ismlibrary/details?catalog.label=1TW10CD02

Interesting information on Tivoli's Cloud initiatives

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/9e696bfa-94af-4f5a-ab50-c955cca76fd0/entry/csp_technical_integration_note_managing_the_core_system9?lang=en

If you're new to Tivoli's Cloud movement, I think the best way to get use out of this paper is to just read about the products that are involved in the total solution. If your company is moving toward the cloud, knowledge of those components will definitely help you.

Passing TCR UserID in BIRT Reports

Many times, you might want to display/determine the TCR user name that is invoking the reports. While there is no GUI way of doing this within BIRT, a simple Javascript is all you need. Here is how to do it in BIRT

1. Select a blank area in the report. This should display report properties in the Property Editior.


2. Now click on the "Script" tab for the report displayed at the bottom of the main work area. (where Preview/Layout tabs are).


3. In the script drop down, select "Before Factory" and paste the javascript code below.
   
   
   TCR_IUSER = "com.ibm.tivoli.reporting.api.reportEngine.IUserInfo";
   
   userInfo = reportContext.getAppContext().get(TCR_IUSER);
   
   userName = "unknown";
   
   if (userInfo != null) {
   
   userName = userInfo.getUserPrincipal();
   
   }
   
   
   


4. Now you can use the userName javascript variable in your reports to identify/display the TCR User.


5. For example, to display the UserName, insert a "Dynamic Text" item anywhere in your report and enter the following value. "User name = " + userName

Hope this helps.

IBM Service Management YouTube channel

This is great - a channel containing lots of fairly technical videos of Tivoli products and integrations:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ismconnect?feature=mhum#p/c/5C4BC71AD2C77801

A great tutorial on ITCAMfT integration with TBSM

TBSM is able to read Discovery Library Adapter (DLA) books from a number of products, including ITM, TADDM, and ITCAM for Transactions (there are others, but I don't know of a comprehensive list). Sometimes the specifics about the integration are dependent upon what other products you have installed, but that is a larger discussion also. This piece from IBM contains extremely useful information on how you can filter the data in the ITCAM for Transactions DLA so that it can be processed more quickly by TBSM and increase the quality of the data in TBSM (by eliminating services that are not important):

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/tivolimonitoring/Improving+ITCAM+Performance+by+Using+DLA+Filtering

The information is great, but you definitely have to do some work before you can just follow along. In the example, they exclude all of the .gif, .css and .jpg components. In many shops, this would work great. However, I've been in some companies that have had problems specifically with .css files being moved/renamed/locked/etc., and those companies would definitely not want to exclude those entities. So before you can just dive in, you need to analyze your business needs and the current state of your components. This could be done in a DEV/QA environment, or possibly in a temporary portion of your TBSM implementation.