It's available here:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/spaces/tcr
It's got lots of good information and links on TCR. Also, you probably want to poke around a little to see if there's anything else on devworks that might interest you.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
You can configure a laptop with 8GB of RAM
I recently got an 8GB kit for my laptop from:
http://www.compsource.com/ttechnote.asp?part_no=KVR667D2S5K28G&vid=229&src=F
and it works GREAT. I've got a Thinkpad t61p (Santa Rosa) running Vista Ultimate x64, and it sees all 8GB. Additionally (and most importantly), VMWare Workstation also sees all of the memory and allows me to allocate it to a virtual machine.
http://www.compsource.com/ttechnote.asp?part_no=KVR667D2S5K28G&vid=229&src=F
and it works GREAT. I've got a Thinkpad t61p (Santa Rosa) running Vista Ultimate x64, and it sees all 8GB. Additionally (and most importantly), VMWare Workstation also sees all of the memory and allows me to allocate it to a virtual machine.
Friday, June 27, 2008
JDBC configuration in TCR v1.1.1
One of the important thing in configuring Tivoli Common Reporting server is the JDBC configuration. This step doesn't seem to be documented in the installation guide properly. The installation guide talks about modifying a python script but it is not needed and there is a simple way to get configure the JDBC driver.
The simplest way to get it working is to copy the JDBC drivers to a particular directory deep down in the TCR installation tree. The location is %TCR_HOME%\lib\birt-runtime-2_2_1\ReportEngine\plugins\org.eclipse.birt.report.data.oda.jdbc_2.2.1.r22x_v20070919\drivers
Once you copied the JDBC drivers to that location and recycled TCR, the driver classes will be available to TCR and you should be able to configure JDBC connections using TCR web interface (Right click on a report -> Edit Data Sources).
Hope this helps.
The simplest way to get it working is to copy the JDBC drivers to a particular directory deep down in the TCR installation tree. The location is %TCR_HOME%\lib\birt-runtime-2_2_1\ReportEngine\plugins\org.eclipse.birt.report.data.oda.jdbc_2.2.1.r22x_v20070919\drivers
Once you copied the JDBC drivers to that location and recycled TCR, the driver classes will be available to TCR and you should be able to configure JDBC connections using TCR web interface (Right click on a report -> Edit Data Sources).
Hope this helps.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
How to get GBSCMD?
Of late, there has been some confusion about how to get a copy of GBSCMD. GBSCMD is free and getting it is very easy. Just write an email from your company email address to Tony (Tony dot Delgross at gulfsoft.com) and ask for a copy. He will send a copy it to you. That's it. If you want some additional features to be included in it, please feel free to write to me. (venkat at gulfsoft.com).
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Tivoli Common Reporting Info
DeveloperWorks has a great site devoted to Tivoli Common Reporting as part of their Spaces initiative. Check it out here.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Parsing the Download Manager file
When using the Download Director from IBM, a file is created called dlmgr.pro. This file is created in the directory that you download your files to. I have often found it annoying with the naming convention of files that I download to determine what a file is after I have downloaded it and left it for a while. I found that the dlmgr.pro file does contain pretty much all the info needed to identify the file information. So I thought I would create a quick perl script to parse the file. It is not the prettiest script, but it does what I need.
The script requires the path and file name to the dlmgr.pro file as an argument, and then creates a file called dlmgr.csv in the current directory.
Click here to download
The script requires the path and file name to the dlmgr.pro file as an argument, and then creates a file called dlmgr.csv in the current directory.
Click here to download
Thursday, May 29, 2008
TPAP/ISMP/CCMDB/Maximo/TAMIT/etc. info
Tivoli is now starting to roll out solutions based on Maximo, so I figured an overview, explanation of the names of things and list of resources would be helpful.
Overview
IBM Tivoli CCMDB 7.1 was the first product introduced by Tivoli based on the newly-revised Maximo platform. is now up to version 7.1.1, and there are now additional Maximo 7.1-based applications available, such as IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT 7.1, IBM Maximo Asset Management 7.1, Tivoli Business Continuity Process Manager 7.1.0, IBM Tivoli Release Process Manager 7.1.1 and Tivoli Service Request Manager 7.1. (Notice how the naming isn't quite standardized; I imagine they will correct this in the future). All of these products are fundamentally based on the same core software and database, which was previously known as the "Maximo base software". This base software is now known by a couple of names, depending on which documentation you're viewing: Tivoli Process Automation Platform (TPAP) or IBM Service Management Platform (ISMP or SMP)
(I'll use TPAP as my acronym of choice from here on, because it seems to be used in the latest redbooks). TPAP generally consists of the supporting middleware (WAS 6.2, Tivoli Directory Server 6.1, ITUP Composer, DB2 9.2, Rational Agent Controller 7.0, IBM HTTP Server and others), the database schema, and some WebSphere-based applications. I say generally because you do have options to use non-IBM middleware, and other software may end up being used in your implementation.
TPAP is NOT available as a standalone product, similar to the way that Tivoli Framework was/is not available as a standalone product. By itself, TPAP does "provide you with the capability" to do several things, but its usefulness really comes through when there are additional components bundled with it. This is the case with all of the products listed above - they are shipped as TPAP plus something. Exactly what that "something" is depends on the product. If you purchase more than one of the above products, then you will only install TPAP once, then you will use product installer to add additional components on top of what you already have installed.
Example: CCMDB
As one example, when you install CCMDB, you get TPAP plus:
Change Process Manager - This consists of additional applications, roles, workflows, job plans, tools, reports and management controls to support the ITIL-defined Change process.
Configuration Process Manager - This consists of additional applications, roles, workflows, job plans, tools, reports and management controls to support the ITIL-defined Configuration Management process.
TADDM - A standalone application that is used to discover configuration items and their relationships, and this data is uploaded to the TPAP database through the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer.
Example: TAMIT
As another, slightly different example, when you install Tivoli Asset Manager for IT, you get TPAP plus:
customized TPAP-based applications, roles, workflows, job plans, tools, reports and management controls to support all of the functions surrounding the management of IT Assets (such as Contract Management, Procurement and Financial Management).
Tivoli License Compliance Manager - A standalone application that is used to gather inventory/asset information, which is then fed into the TPAP database using the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer.
Tivoli License Compliance Manager for z/OS - similar to above, for z/OS.
Installing Multiple Products
As you install additional products, you will see additional options in the Go To menu of the TPAP interface. This interface is accessible by pointing your browser to http://your_server/maximo. A large issue currently is finding documentation on the integration of the functions provided when you have multiple products installed. I imagine IBM will publish some documentation on this as the product suite matures, and I plan to add blog entries as I develop more generic solutions/opinions for the integration issues from the implementations we're currently performing. A good place to check for information from IBM is at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/cgi-bin/searchsite.cgi?query=maximo.
Etc.
There are some other process managers listed in Tivoli's documentation, but note that ONLY those process managers at version 7.1 or above are actually part of the current TPAP. The others are generally version 1.1, which are note completely outdated.
You will see the ISMP Toolbox referenced in several places, and that can be found on OPAL here. It's really a great collection of documentation related to IBM's service management strategy.
Overview
IBM Tivoli CCMDB 7.1 was the first product introduced by Tivoli based on the newly-revised Maximo platform. is now up to version 7.1.1, and there are now additional Maximo 7.1-based applications available, such as IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT 7.1, IBM Maximo Asset Management 7.1, Tivoli Business Continuity Process Manager 7.1.0, IBM Tivoli Release Process Manager 7.1.1 and Tivoli Service Request Manager 7.1. (Notice how the naming isn't quite standardized; I imagine they will correct this in the future). All of these products are fundamentally based on the same core software and database, which was previously known as the "Maximo base software". This base software is now known by a couple of names, depending on which documentation you're viewing: Tivoli Process Automation Platform (TPAP) or IBM Service Management Platform (ISMP or SMP)
(I'll use TPAP as my acronym of choice from here on, because it seems to be used in the latest redbooks). TPAP generally consists of the supporting middleware (WAS 6.2, Tivoli Directory Server 6.1, ITUP Composer, DB2 9.2, Rational Agent Controller 7.0, IBM HTTP Server and others), the database schema, and some WebSphere-based applications. I say generally because you do have options to use non-IBM middleware, and other software may end up being used in your implementation.
TPAP is NOT available as a standalone product, similar to the way that Tivoli Framework was/is not available as a standalone product. By itself, TPAP does "provide you with the capability" to do several things, but its usefulness really comes through when there are additional components bundled with it. This is the case with all of the products listed above - they are shipped as TPAP plus something. Exactly what that "something" is depends on the product. If you purchase more than one of the above products, then you will only install TPAP once, then you will use product installer to add additional components on top of what you already have installed.
Example: CCMDB
As one example, when you install CCMDB, you get TPAP plus:
Change Process Manager - This consists of additional applications, roles, workflows, job plans, tools, reports and management controls to support the ITIL-defined Change process.
Configuration Process Manager - This consists of additional applications, roles, workflows, job plans, tools, reports and management controls to support the ITIL-defined Configuration Management process.
TADDM - A standalone application that is used to discover configuration items and their relationships, and this data is uploaded to the TPAP database through the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer.
Example: TAMIT
As another, slightly different example, when you install Tivoli Asset Manager for IT, you get TPAP plus:
customized TPAP-based applications, roles, workflows, job plans, tools, reports and management controls to support all of the functions surrounding the management of IT Assets (such as Contract Management, Procurement and Financial Management).
Tivoli License Compliance Manager - A standalone application that is used to gather inventory/asset information, which is then fed into the TPAP database using the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer.
Tivoli License Compliance Manager for z/OS - similar to above, for z/OS.
Installing Multiple Products
As you install additional products, you will see additional options in the Go To menu of the TPAP interface. This interface is accessible by pointing your browser to http://your_server/maximo. A large issue currently is finding documentation on the integration of the functions provided when you have multiple products installed. I imagine IBM will publish some documentation on this as the product suite matures, and I plan to add blog entries as I develop more generic solutions/opinions for the integration issues from the implementations we're currently performing. A good place to check for information from IBM is at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/cgi-bin/searchsite.cgi?query=maximo.
Etc.
There are some other process managers listed in Tivoli's documentation, but note that ONLY those process managers at version 7.1 or above are actually part of the current TPAP. The others are generally version 1.1, which are note completely outdated.
You will see the ISMP Toolbox referenced in several places, and that can be found on OPAL here. It's really a great collection of documentation related to IBM's service management strategy.
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