Monday, January 6, 2014

Creating ITM deployment packages for IBM Endpoint Manager



A question came up on the IBM Endpoint Manager forum on how to deploy ITM agents using IEM. This is not something that I have done in IEM, but have done with TCM (Configuration Manager) and TPM (Provisioning Manager). I did recall that ITM had a switch that allowed for the creation of SPD (Software Package Definitions) or SPB (Software Package Blocks), so thought I would look at this for IEM.
Now there are a few ways of using the SPB/SPD or even just create the bundle with no export format. If you use the SPD format, you will get the command line that would need to be used in the IEM action script. So for this example. I am going to use the SPD export. Just to note though, IEM also supports the import of SPB files, so this could be another option.

Assumption: The particular bundle that you desire is already in the ITM depot.

The high level steps would be as follows:
    - Create the bundle
    - Create IEM Download File
    - Determine the sha1 information.
    - Review the SPD file and determine install command and options for the NT_Silent_Install.txt
    - Use the BFArchive tool to ZIP the bundle directory and upload to the IEM server.
    - Determine relevance method
    - Create the fixlet

Create the Bundle

ITM uses the “tacmd” command with the “exportBundles” switch to create a silent installation folder. For this example, I am using the “-o SPD” switch to define that I want the export to also create the SPD file to determine the command line an contents of the NT_Silent_Install.txt file.
tacmd exportBundles -o SPD -t nt -e e:\data\bundle
KUICEB023I: Are you sure you want to export the following bundles to the e:\data\bundle directory?
Product Code : NT
Deployable   : True
Version      : 063000000
Description  : Monitoring Agent for Windows OS
Host Type    : WINNT
Host Version : WINNT
Prerequisites:

Product Code : NT
Deployable   : True
Version      : 063000000
Description  : Monitoring Agent for Windows OS
Host Type    : WIX64
Host Version : WIX64
Prerequisites:
 KUICEB024I: Enter Y for yes or N for no: y

 KUICEB020I: Exporting bundles to the e:\data\bundle directory. The time required to complete this operation depends on the number and size of the exported bundles.

 KUICEB022I: The following bundles were successfully exported to the e:\data\bundle directory:

Product Code : NT
Deployable   : True
Version      : 063000000
Description  : Monitoring Agent for Windows OS
Host Type    : WINNT
Host Version : WINNT
Prerequisites:

Product Code : NT
Deployable   : True
Version      : 063000000
Description  : Monitoring Agent for Windows OS
Host Type    : WIX64
Host Version : WIX64
Prerequisites:

Create IEM Download File

BFArchive-8.0.0.0.exe -a e:\data\bundle\NT_063000000_WINNT e:\data\NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp

Determine sha1 information

The SHA1 tool (https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/Tivoli%20Endpoint%20Manager/page/SHA1%20Tool) can be used to determine the SHA1 value and also will provide a template for the “prefetch” command.

Sha1.exe -r e:\data\NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp
prefetch NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp sha1:32685b95f970e8f61e187d8433360072f213dba8 size:85360201 http://EXAMPLEURL/REPLACEME.exe

Use the sha1 value as the folder name and create a folder under “E:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Server\wwwrootbes\Uploads\” (this is the directory on my TEM server), then  copy the TMP file to the new folder. For this example the folder would be “E:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Server\wwwrootbes\Uploads\32685b95f970e8f61e187d8433360072f213dba8”

Review the SPD file and determine install command and options for the NT_Silent_Install.txt


If you do not already have a silent install response file, this can be created by reviewing the information in the SPD file. This is no different than the response file used for non-IEM deployments. This also goes for the command line.
The SPD file does contain quite a bit of information in it and if you are not familiar with them, you might be better off reading the ITM install guides on how to create the response file.
Most of what is needed is either in the “default_variables” or in the “add_text_file_objects”. These sections will show the variables that are used and the command line required to execute the install.

default_variables
     LOG_MODE = "LOGMODE"
     SOURCE_DIR = "e:\data\bundle\NT_063000000_WINNT"
     TEMS_HOSTNAME = "localhost"
     CANDLEHOME = "C:\IBM\ITM"
     FIREWALL = "NO"
     NETWORK_PROTOCOL = "IP.PIPE"
     IP_PIPE_PORT_NUMBER = "1918"
     CANDLE_ENCRIPTION_KEY = "IBMTivoliMonitoringEncryptionKey"
     ARGS_INSTALL_CMD = '/c start /wait $(CANDLEHOME)\spbInstall\setup.exe /w /z"/sf$(CANDLEHOME)\spbInstall\NT_Silent_Install.txt" /s  /f2"$(DEST_SILENT_INSTALL_LOG)"'
     DEST_SILENT_INSTALL_LOG = "$(temp_dir)\Silent_NT.log"
     DEST_SILENT_UNINSTALL_LOG = "$(temp_dir)\Silent_NT.log"
     ARGS_UNINSTALL_CMD = '/c start /wait $(CANDLEHOME)\spbInstall\setup.exe /w /z"/sf$(CANDLEHOME)\spbInstall\NT_Silent_Uninstall.txt" /s  /f2"$(DEST_SILENT_UNINSTALL_LOG)"'
end

add_text_file_objects
     replace_if_existing = y
     file = $(CANDLEHOME)\spbInstall\NT_Silent_Install.txt
     stop_on_failure = n

     add_command_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = ";Install Directory=C:\IBM\ITM"
        command = "Install Directory"
        key = "C:\IBM\ITM"
        position = begin
        pattern = "Install Directory=C:\IBM\ITM"
     end

     add_command_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = ";EncryptionKey=IBMTivoliMonitoringEncryptionKey"
        command = "EncryptionKey"
        key = "IBMTivoliMonitoringEncryptionKey"
        position = begin
        pattern = "EncryptionKey=IBMTivoliMonitoringEncryptionKey"
     end

     add_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = "Install Directory=$(CANDLEHOME)"
        position = before_first
        pattern = ";Install Directory=C:\IBM\ITM"
     end
     add_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = "EncryptionKey=$(CANDLE_ENCRIPTION_KEY)"
        position = before_first
        pattern = ";EncryptionKey=IBMTivoliMonitoringEncryptionKey"
     end
     add_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = "[CMA_CONFIG]"
        position = end
     end
     add_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = "FTO Flag=N"
        position = end
     end
     add_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = "AUDIT=Y"
        position = end
     end
     add_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = "Protocol1=$(NETWORK_PROTOCOL)"
        position = end
     end
     add_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = "IPPIPE_Port=$(IP_PIPE_PORT_NUMBER)"
        position = end
     end
     add_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = "IPPIPE_Host=$(TEMS_HOSTNAME)"
        position = end
     end
     add_line
        replace_if_existing = y
        text = "CONNECT=Y"
        position = end
     end
   end

With this information, I am able to build the action script. Of course there will be different paths for some items, but that goes with knowing the IEM environment.

My command line will look something like this:
waithidden "C:\IBM\Install\setup.exe" /w /z"sfc:\IBM\install\IEM_NT_Silent_Install.txt" /s /f2"c:\IBM\Install\Silent_NT.log"

During my download, I will extract the .TMP file and then copy the files to “C:\IBM\Install”. This is not required as they can be executed from the “__Download” folder, but I just wanted the code to be kept local. I am also going to create the response file called “IEM_NT_Silent_Install.txt” using the appendfile command.

Here is what my action script looks like
=======================================================================
prefetch NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp sha1:32685b95f970e8f61e187d8433360072f213dba8 size:85360201 http://winbfsrv:52311/Uploads/32685b95f970e8f61e187d8433360072f213dba8/NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp

extract NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp

dos mkdir "c:\IBM\install"
delete "__Download\NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp"

dos xcopy /s/e/v/q/y "__Download\*.*" "C:\IBM\Install"

parameter "TEMS_HOSTNAME"="temhub"
parameter "Install Directory"="C:\IBM\ITM"
parameter "FIREWALL"="NO"
parameter "NETWORK_PROTOCOL"="IP.PIPE"
parameter "IP_PIPE_PORT_NUMBER"="1918"

delete __appendfile
appendfile [INSTALLATION SECTION]
appendfile ;---------------------------------------------------------------------
appendfile AgentDeploy=yes
appendfile License Agreement=I agree to use the software only in accordance with the installed license.
appendfile Install Directory={parameter "Install Directory"}
appendfile Install Folder=IBM Tivoli Monitoring
appendfile EncryptionKey=IBMTivoliMonitoringEncryptionKey
appendfile [FEATURES]
appendfile KNTWICMA=Monitoring Agent for Windows OS

appendfile [CMA_CONFIG]
appendfile FTO Flag=N
appendfile AUDIT=Y
appendfile Protocol1={parameter "NETWORK_PROTOCOL"}
appendfile IPPIPE_Port={parameter "IP_PIPE_PORT_NUMBER"}
appendfile IPPIPE_Host={parameter "TEMS_HOSTNAME"}
appendfile CONNECT=Y
appendfile FIREWALL={parameter "FIREWALL"}

delete "c:\IBM\Install\IEM_NT_Silent_Install.txt"

copy __appendfile "c:\IBM\Install\IEM_NT_Silent_Install.txt"

waithidden "C:\IBM\Install\setup.exe" /w /z"sfc:\IBM\install\IEM_NT_Silent_Install.txt" /s /f2"c:\IBM\Install\Silent_NT.log"
=======================================================================

Now this action script does work and would be ok if you always had the same TEMS/RTEMS, but I am sure that is not realistic. If you want to add to it, I would look at possibly prompting for the TEMS/RTEMS host name with the “action parameter query”.

For example, you would replace the:
parameter "TEMS_HOSTNAME"="temhub"

with:
action parameter query "Primary RTEMS Hostname" with description "Please enter the Primary RTEMS Hostname:" with default value "ITMHUB"

Determine relevance method

There are many ways to check the relevance, this really comes down to your preferred method. Here are a couple options:
Files:
C:\IBM\ITM\INSTALL\ver\ KINWIINSMSTR.VER
C:\IBM\ITM\properties\version\knt.IBM_Tivoli_Monitoring_-_Windows_OS_Agent-6.3.0.swtag

Services:
KNTCMA_Primary
KNTCMA_Watchdog

For simplicity, I will just use the service “KNTCMA_Primary”. The relevance will look like:
not exists service “KNTCMA_Primary”

Create the fixlet

With all the information gathered and the TMP file copied to the Uploads folder, the fixlet can be created and used to deploy ITM agents. The fixlet can be created by putting the following into a text file with the BES extension and then use the Import function from the IEM Console to import the file to the desired site.

=================================================================
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<BES xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="BES.xsd">
        <Fixlet>
                <Title>Deploy: IBM Tivoli Monitoring Agent for Winnt</Title>
                <Description><![CDATA[Created: Jan 5, 2014<BR>Created By: Martin Carnegie, Gulf Breeze Software Partners<BR>Comment: Sample Fixlet for deploying ITM agent.]]></Description>
                <Relevance>(name of it contains "Win") of operating system </Relevance>
                <Relevance>not exists service "KNTCMA_Primary"</Relevance>
                <Category></Category>
                <Source>Internal</Source>
                <SourceID></SourceID>
                <SourceReleaseDate>2014-01-05</SourceReleaseDate>
                <SourceSeverity></SourceSeverity>
                <CVENames></CVENames>
                <SANSID></SANSID>
                <MIMEField>
                        <Name>x-fixlet-modification-time</Name>
                        <Value>Mon, 06 Jan 2014 04:57:48 +0000</Value>
                </MIMEField>
                <Domain>BESC</Domain>
                <DefaultAction ID="Action1">
                        <Description>
                                <PreLink>Click </PreLink>
                                <Link>here</Link>
                                <PostLink> to deploy this action.</PostLink>
                        </Description>
                        <ActionScript MIMEType="application/x-Fixlet-Windows-Shell">prefetch NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp sha1:32685b95f970e8f61e187d8433360072f213dba8 size:85360201 http://winbfsrv:52311/Uploads/32685b95f970e8f61e187d8433360072f213dba8/NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp

extract NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp

dos mkdir "c:\IBM\install"
delete "__Download\NT_063000000_WINNT.tmp"

dos xcopy /s/e/v/q/y "__Download\*.*" "C:\IBM\Install"
action parameter query "Primary RTEMS Hostname" with description "Please enter the Primary RTEMS Hostname:" with default value "ITMHUB"

parameter "TEMS_HOSTNAME"="temhub"
parameter "Install Directory"="C:\IBM\ITM"
parameter "FIREWALL"="NO"
parameter "NETWORK_PROTOCOL"="IP.PIPE"
parameter "IP_PIPE_PORT_NUMBER"="1918"

delete __appendfile
appendfile [INSTALLATION SECTION]
appendfile ;---------------------------------------------------------------------
appendfile AgentDeploy=yes
appendfile License Agreement=I agree to use the software only in accordance with the installed license.
appendfile Install Directory={parameter "Install Directory"}
appendfile Install Folder=IBM Tivoli Monitoring
appendfile EncryptionKey=IBMTivoliMonitoringEncryptionKey
appendfile [FEATURES]
appendfile KNTWICMA=Monitoring Agent for Windows OS

appendfile [CMA_CONFIG]
appendfile FTO Flag=N
appendfile AUDIT=Y
appendfile Protocol1={parameter "NETWORK_PROTOCOL"}
appendfile IPPIPE_Port={parameter "IP_PIPE_PORT_NUMBER"}
appendfile IPPIPE_Host={parameter "TEMS_HOSTNAME"}
appendfile CONNECT=Y
appendfile FIREWALL={parameter "FIREWALL"}

delete "c:\IBM\Install\IEM_NT_Silent_Install.txt"

copy __appendfile "c:\IBM\Install\IEM_NT_Silent_Install.txt"

waithidden "C:\IBM\Install\setup.exe" /w /z"sfc:\IBM\install\IEM_NT_Silent_Install.txt" /s /f2"c:\IBM\Install\Silent_NT.log"


</ActionScript>
                </DefaultAction>
        </Fixlet>
</BES>
=================================================================

After Thoughts

There are many ways that this could be done and some people may prefer to use the SPD/SPB file or even the IEM Software Distribution Wizards rather than this sort of manual method that I have here. Once you have the response files created and the command lines to use, the SPD file section will not be required.

I think it would also be interesting to use the “SWTAG” files “C:\IBM\ITM\properties\version” on Windows or the “VER” files in “C:\IBM\ITM\INSTALL\ver” as part of an analysis as there is some useful information in there to query the ITM environment. This would have to be explored more on the various agents to see where these files are and if they are there for all agents.

Hope you were able to get some useful information out of this. Please let me know if you come across an issue or a possible enhancement to this process.

Thanks


Martin Carnegie.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

APM UI 7.7 and Mobile Support

APM UI 7.7 and Mobile Support

If you currently using APM UI 7.6.x on mobile devices, I would currently recommend keeping the APM UI 7.6.x around and running.  Keeping both running should not be an issue, since APM UI 7.6 uses TIP and APM UI 7.7 uses Liberty.

When testing APM UI 7.7 on an IPAD running IOS 7.0.4 the user interface was not usable.  I saw the following issues:

1.  Everything was not visible on the screen right to left on IBM provided widgets.  This was even after collapsing the left pane.
2.  I could not scroll down to see the data on all widgets.

Based on the following Dev Works post from IBM, I believe true mobile support is not expected till March.
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/forums/html/topic?id=4f6fef3a-b945-4d1b-9bf1-09fb70942e87#2cad1b7a-e075-47c8-b74e-4f7dfbf5634f

NOTE:  We also found the following in the manuals:
To avoid conflicts with the SCR of Tivoli Business Service Manager, do not install SmartCloud Application Performance Management UI and Tivoli Business Service Manager on the same computer. 

This is probably due to the fact the TBSM schema and APM UI are very similar.

Source --> http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v63r1/topic/com.ibm.apm.doc_7.7/apm_ui_docs/apmui_77/install_using_im.html


Sunday, December 15, 2013

APM UI 7.7 is GA

APMUI 7.7 is GA


APMUI 7.7 is GA as of 12/13/13.

Part Numbers for download:
  • Windows - CIR57ML
  • AIX - CIR58ML
  • Linux X - CIR59ML
  • Linux Z - CIR5AML

Quick Highlights:
1.  Requires use of derby or DB2 database
2.  Uses Tivoli Blaze
3.  WebSphere Liberty Core
4.  Does NOT use TIP 2.x as the Application Server anymore.

New Widgets:
1.  DataPower
2.  Exchange 2013 Server
3.  .NET Framework
4.  Plus more ....

New Features Overview:

I will update the GBS blog over the next few days once we get this up and running in the lab.







Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Repairing WMI Errors on Windows systems with IBM Endpoint Manager

One of the issues that I have seen on customer sites are problems with WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation). One of the (many) good things about IEM is that it really does not need WMI to function as IBM uses custom built inspectors to do almost everything. The only issues are mainly around some data collection points (some hardware information for example), but this does not cause the agent to fail and still allows for actions to be taken on the targets. This is a huge advantage for IEM, as other vendor products will not even function if WMI is broken.

To identify systems with WMI issues is pretty simple with a Web Report:
1. In Web Reports go to Explore Data
2. Click the Edit Columns and add the column "Computer Model - Windows" (part of the hardware analysis)
3. Add the filter "Computer" "Computer - Model - Windows (Hardware Information (Windows))" "contains" "Windows Error"

This will show all systems with errors which should be ones with WMI issues. The thing to note is that there are different error codes and some are easier to fix than others.


Now to repair the WMI issues, I created a fixlet that can be used. This seems to address some of the errors that I have seen, but not all. Some systems are so far gone, that it will require manual intervention or even a rebuild of the OS.

I have made this available on the BigFix.me site for downloading and comments:
http://bigfix.me/fixlet/details/3652?force=true

Please note that this has been tested but only in a limited amount as I do not have many systems available to me and I could not simulate all the possible WMI errors.

Let me know how this works for you and we will see if we can get this to fix all errors.

Martin

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Using JScrollPane in Java and getting the contents to actually scroll

This has almost nothing to do with Tivoli, but I hit this stupid problem every few years, and it takes me 30 minutes to figure out the solution each time. So I thought I would post it here:

When creating a fat GUI in Java, you may have a portion of your window that is a JScrollPane, which has a ViewPort and a ViewPortView (often a JPanel) . A common need is to add components to your JPanel (the ViewPortView). However, when you do this, you'll notice that whatever you do with the JScrollPane's scrollbars, it won't scroll in one or both directions. Well, the problem is that the addition of new components does NOT increase the value of the ViewPortView's PreferredSize attribute. So as you add more components, you need to manually update this attribute with code similar to:

myJScrollPane.getViewPort().getView().setPreferredSize(myNewDimension);

I've tried setViewSize(), and that doesn't seem to do anything - setPreferredSize is what you've got to do.


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

TCR 3.1.x and Launch --> Administration and Browser Fun

After installing JazzSM 1.1.0.1, I learned AGAIN all browsers are not created equal.

The browser, version, and java version are becoming more and more important today within the IBM product set and here is another example.

So after having a completed JazzSM/TCR install I went to configure the DB connection for TDW via Launch > Administration and found the following screen appears.  Where is the rest of it?


The troubleshooting starts:
1.  Maybe the installer said the install was SUCCESS, but it really failed.  Better check the logs.
2.  Maybe I need to cycled the application.
3.  Let me check the user permissions.
4.  Lets create another user.
5.  Did the Cognos content store DB get created.

After talking to Venkat Saranathan (the GBS resident TCR expert), he suggests trying I.E (his favorite browser) instead of Chrome.

If you use Firefox or I.E the gui draws correctly or at least the buttons are now there.  I.E. had other issues since I was using version 10 and version 10 is not supported for TCR. So after trying Firefox I was able to complete the configuration.



If you want to see what browsers and version are supported for JazzSM 1.10.1 check out the following link:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/prodguid/v1r0/clarity-reports/report/html/softwareReqsForProduct?deliverableId=1315519207893&osPlatform=Windows#
--> Then Select prerequisites