How to remove a bridged network interface in Red Hat Linux

So ICO 2.4 requires the Deployment Server machine to have interface br0 defined as a bridge connected to eth0. However, ICO 2.4.0.1 does NOT want br0, but wants eth0. I had already created br0 using the virsh command, so I had to look up how to remove it, and it's very simple once you find it:

virsh iface-unbridge br0

and that's it. It puts all of the configuration back on eth0 and you're in business.

I'm giving up on ICO 24 on RHEL 6.6

After installing the Deployment Service (which gives you the ds command), I tried to deploy an all-in-one ICO environment, and it failed very badly. So badly that multiple components stopped running and there was no recovering from it. So I'm now starting over with RHEL 6.5.

Getting IBM Cloud Orchestrator to install on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6

This is probably fixed in ICO 2.4.1, but in 2.4, you need to modify a file to get the installation to work on RHEL 6.6 because it believes that only RHEL 6.4 and 6.5 are supported. You'll encounter an error when you run through the ds wizard command.

The file you need to update (after installing the Deployment Service) is:

/opt/ibm/cloud-deployer/precheck.json

In that file, you'll see multiple stanzas similar to this:

             "os": {
                        "release": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release",
                        "arch": "64",
                        "version": ["6.5","6.4"]

               },

You need to update the line that contains "version" to be:

                        "version": ["6.6","6.5","6.4"]

And then the wizard can complete.

Some background:

I found this because I saw the error: 

"DeployTaskFailed: Failed to execute deployment task: deploy-precheck, error message: precheck failed on ico24demo.mynet.foo: ico24demo.mynet.fooincorrect os version,expected:['6.5', '6.4']actually:6.6\n\n"

And I ran the following command in multiple directories:

grep -r "6\.5" *

until I found the file I needed to change.

Configuring RHEL prerequisites for IBM Cloud Orchestrator 2.4

Introduction

The first basic requirement for your systems when deploying ICO 2.4 is to have DNS name resolution working correctly. For some reason or another, this is the area that has the largest number and most frequent problems in every single enterprise. So this short post is meant to help you get something going quickly, normally in a test environment, until you can communicate with your networking team to get the problems solved permanently.

My Simple Environment

My test environment is the demo configuration with one RHEL 6.6 server with 8 cores and 32GB of RAM, with KVM for virtualization.

Setting Your Hostname

You need to set your hostname to a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), and in a test environment, the format just needs to be correct - the actual name doesn't have to be registered anywhere. For example, I named my host ico24demo.mynet.foo. I don't care if .foo is a valid root or not because I get to make the rules in my own environment.

To permanently set your hostname to an FQDN if you didn't do it at install time, you need to edit the file:

/etc/sysconfig/network

and set:

HOSTNAME=your.full.fqdn

If you don't want to reboot to have it set, also run the following as root:

hostname your.full.fqdn

Update Your Hosts File

You also need to update your /etc/hosts file with your hostname and IP. So edit /etc/hosts and add that information for your host. In my environment, my hostname is ico24demo.mynet.foo and my static IP address is 192.168.1.250. So here's my /etc/hosts entry:

192.168.1.250     ico24demo.mynet.foo   ico24demo

Start dnsmasq

dnsmasq is a simple DNS server (and DHCP and some other things) that we'll configure locally for name resolution.

I picked a pretty standard installation for my Red Hat server (software development system with all of the Virtualization options selected), and it automatically installed the dnsmasq-2.48.14.el6.x86_64 package. You can check to see if you have this package installed with:

rpm -q -a | grep dnsmasq

If it's not installed, install it.

Assuming it is installed, make sure it's not already running with:

ps -ef | grep dnsmasq

If it is, kill it with:

service stop dnsmasq

The above may or may not work. If the process is still running kill it with the kill command.

And now that your /etc/hosts file has your host information, start dnsmasq with:

service start dnsmasq

Test Your New DNS Server

Probably the easiest way to test your server is to first edit your /etc/resolv.conf file to set your nameserver to your local machine. So my local IP is 192.168.1.250, and the IP address of my subnet's nameserver is 192.168.1.1. So in my /etc/resolv.conf file, I have the following:

# Generated by NetworkManager
nameserver 192.168.1.250
nameserver 192.168.1.1

Now run the command:

host 192.168.1.250

The correct output for me is:

250.1.168.192.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer ico24demo.mynet.foo.

If you get something different, go back over the steps above. But if it's correct, keep going.

Make the Nameserver Change Permanent

Go to System->Preferences->Network Connections to set your nameserver to be your local IP address.

A non-GUI way to do this is to update your /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file to set the DNS server.

Good luck!

APM UI 7.7 - Creating Windows Services

If you've installed APM UI v7.7 on a Windows server, you probably have noticed that IBM doesn't create Windows services.  As a result, none of the services start after a reboot, etc.

Below are the steps necessary to create Windows services for APM UI and SCR (Service Component Repository).  In this scenario, we have the SCR database using DB2 vs. Derby.

We've also included the commands necessary to create the service for SCR on Derby (however, this hasn't been tested).

Assumptions
Our base install directory for the APM UI is C:\IBM\APMUI - your path may differ, adjust the commands below as appropriate.

Procedure

• Download the Apache Commons Daemon (link).
• Extract commons-daemon-1.0.15-bin-windows.zip and copy prunsrv.exe to C:\IBM\APMUI\bin\
• Open a Command Prompt and change into your C:\IBM\APMUI\bin directory 

• Create the Windows service for SCR and have it depend on Tcpip and DB2 being up first.

prunsrv //IS//SCR --Startup=auto --DisplayName="IBM APMUI - SCR" --Description="IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile SCR" ++DependsOn=Tcpip ++DependsOn=DB2-0 --LogPath=C:\IBM\APMUI\usr\servers\apmui\logs --StdOutput=auto --StdError=auto --StartMode=exe --StartPath=C:\IBM\APMUI --StartImage=C:\IBM\APMUI\bin\server.bat --StartParams=start#scr --StopMode=exe --StopPath=C:\IBM\APMUI --StopImage=C:\IBM\APMUI\bin\server.bat --StopParams=stop#scr

• Create the Windows service for APMUI and have it depend on SCR being up first.

prunsrv //IS//APMUI --Startup=auto --DisplayName="IBM APMUI - APMUI" --Description="IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile APMUI" ++DependsOn=SCR --LogPath=C:\IBM\APMUI\usr\servers\apmui\logs --StdOutput=auto --StdError=auto --StartMode=exe --StartPath=C:\IBM\APMUI --StartImage=C:\IBM\APMUI\bin\server.bat --StartParams=start#apmui --StopMode=exe --StopPath=C:\IBM\APMUI --StopImage=C:\IBM\APMUI\bin\server.bat --StopParams=stop#apmui

Derby vs. DB2

If you have SCR running under Derby vs. DB2, you can create a third service for SCRDERBY.  The start-up of SCR would then depend on SCRDERBY instead of DB2-0.

• Create the Windows service for SCRDERBY and have it depend on TCPIP being up first

prunsrv //IS//SCRDERBY --Startup=auto --DisplayName="IBM APMUI - SCRDERBY" --Description="IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile SCRDERBY" ++DependsOn=Tcpip --LogPath=C:\IBM\APMUI\usr\servers\apmui\logs --StdOutput=auto --StdError=auto --StartMode=exe --StartPath=C:\IBM\APMUI --StartImage=C:\IBM\APMUI\bin\server.bat --StartParams=start#scrderby --StopMode=exe --StopPath=C:\IBM\APMUI --StopImage=C:\IBM\APMUI\bin\server.bat --StopParams=stop#scrderby

• In this case, have the SCR service depend on SCRDERBY instead of DB2.

prunsrv //IS//SCR --Startup=auto --DisplayName="IBM APMUI - SCR" --Description="IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile SCR" ++DependsOn=Tcpip ++DependsOn=SCRDERBY --LogPath=C:\IBM\APMUI\usr\servers\apmui\logs --StdOutput=auto --StdError=auto --StartMode=exe --StartPath=C:\IBM\APMUI --StartImage=C:\IBM\APMUI\bin\server.bat --StartParams=start#scr --StopMode=exe --StopPath=C:\IBM\APMUI --StopImage=C:\IBM\APMUI\bin\server.bat --StopParams=stop#scr


The name specified after //IS// is effectively the "short name" for the service.  So, you can issue commands such as "net start apmui", "net stop scrderby", etc. based on those names.  As with all services, you can use the full Display Name  if you enjoy typing (net start "IBM APMUI - APMUI", etc.)

The typical startup sequence would be:

• net start scrderby (if running Derby vs. DB2)
• net start scr
• net start apmui

The typical shutdown sequence would be:

• net stop apmui
• net stop scr
• net stop scrderby (if running Derby vs. DB2)

prunsrv Documentation/Usage:

Here's a link to the prunsrv documentation/usage.


Sample - APMUI Service

Sample - APMUI Service Dependencies

MongoDB Setup and Monitoring with Application Insight

Introduction

MongoDB might be new to you.  It certainly was new to us, so when we took some time to experiment with IBM SmartCloud Monitoring - Application Insight of a MongoDB, our first hurdle was setting up MongoDB!  It should be noted that stand-alone DB instances are not currently supported by the monitoring agent, so we needed to build up a clustered/replicated MongoDB configuration.  This is common in a production environment, but a bit more than we expected to need in the lab.

MongoDB Setup Overview

Our MongoDB setup was accomplished using a single virtual machine.  While this isn't a recommended setup for a production environment, it is perfectly fine for this testing.  Our setup included the following overall steps:

1. Create 3 databases, each configured to use unique paths and ports (ports: 37017, 37018, 37019)
2. Connect to the "soon-to-be" primary database (port 37017) and configure the replica set.
3. Add second (port 37018) and third (port 37019) databases to the replica set.
4. Installed a demo database using JSON import
5. Started a Configuration Server (port 37020)
6. Started mongos, pointing at Configuration Server and listening on port 37021
7. Connected to mongos (port 37021)
8. Added replica set to Shard
9. Enabled Sharding on our demodb
10. Enabled Sharding on the collection (aka table)

A special thanks to the following website for providing some demo database data and a nice presentation on MongoDB and Ruby apps.  Also thanks to the MongoDB docs for creating a cluster.

You may ask, why 3 databases, aren't 2 enough?  This is because the recommended MINIMUM number of databases for a Replica Set is 3.  If your setup only has 2 databases, Application Insight will flag the Global MongoDB Status as a Warning.

MongoDB Setup

VM hostname is "openpulse".
Replica Set is named "rs1".

Download MongoDB (we used 64-bit Linux) from here.
Untar file.  Location of files will be referred to as $MEDIA
The remaining commands assume the $MEDIA/bin directory are in your path.

mkdir -p /srv/mongodb/rs1-0 /srv/mongodb/rs1-1 /srv/mongodb/rs1-2
# Start up 3 databases

mongod --port 37017 --dbpath /srv/mongodb/rs1-0 --replSet rs1 --smallfiles --oplogSize 128

mongod --port 37018 --dbpath /srv/mongodb/rs1-1 --replSet rs1 --smallfiles --oplogSize 128

mongod --port 37019 --dbpath /srv/mongodb/rs1-2 --replSet rs1 --smallfiles --oplogSize 128

# Connect to to-be-primary

mongo --port 37017

#Give Primary a configuration for a replication set

rsconf = {

           _id: "rs1",

           members: [

                      {

                       _id: 0,

                       host: "openpulse:37017"

                      }

                    ]

         }

#Initiates the replica set

rs.initiate( rsconf )

#Displays Replication set

rs.conf()

#Add 2nd db - NOTE: you might need to wait for prompt to change to PRIMARY before continuing.

rs.add("openpulse:37018")

#Add 3rd db

rs.add("openpulse:37019")

#Display Replication set, confirm three are listed

rs.conf()

#Install DemoDB

curl -L http://c.spf13.com/OSCON/venuesImport.json | mongoimport --port 37017 -d demodb -c venues

#Start a config server

mkdir /data/configdb2

mongod --configsvr --dbpath /data/configdb2 --port 37020

#Start mongos pointing at config server

mongos --port 37021 --configdb openpulse:37020

#Connect to mongos

mongo --host openpulse --port 37021

#Add replica set to shard

sh.addShard( "rs1/openpulse:37017" )

#Shows replica set and other stats

db._adminCommand("connPoolStats");

#Connect to mongos

mongo --host openpulse --port 37021

#Enable sharding for the DB

sh.enableSharding("demodb")

#switch DB

use demodb

#Set index for sharding

db.venues.ensureIndex( { _id : "hashed" } )

db.venues.getIndexes()

#Setup sharding of the collection (table)

sh.shardCollection("demodb.venues", { "_id": "hashed" })

MongoDB Agent Setup

Reference IBM documentation here.

Our monitoring instance is named "Pulse21"

mongodb-agent.sh install

mongodb-agent.sh config pulse21

Agent configuration started...

Edit "Monitoring Agent for MongoDB" settings? [ 1=Yes, 2=No ] (default is: 1):

Agent Configuration :

Configuration variables for agent start up

The directory where the Java runtime is located. This value is optional. The agent will use the built in Java by default. Use this to over ride the Java to be used.

Java (default is: ):

Allows the user to say whether these system is a cluster or single replication set. This value is optional. By default the agent will monitor a cluster.

Type [ 1=Cluster, 2=Single Set ] (default is: 1):

Port Number for the router of a MongoDB cluster or a mongod instance of a MongoDB replication set being monitored. This value is optional. The agent will automatically discover the cluster location if only one is present on the system. This is used to over ride discovery of a cluster or explicitly monitor a replication set.

Port (default is: ): 37021  (Note: this is the port of the mongos process, not the individual databases)

The ip address for the host system of the router or the mongod instance. This value is optional. The agent will automatically discover the default ip address. This is used to select a particular interface on a system where MongoDB is bound to only one of several addresses.

Host (default is: ):

Agent configuration completed...

As a reminder, you should restart appropriate instance(s) for new configuration settings to take effect.

./mongodb-agent.sh start pulse21

Processing. Please wait...

Starting Monitoring Agent for MongoDB ...

Monitoring Agent for MongoDB started

Application Insight Screenshots

Thanks,
Anthony Segelhorst and Jamie Carl

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

Use the BFArchive tool (https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/Tivoli%20Endpoint%20Manager/page/BFArchive%20Tool) to compress the bundle directory to a single 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.

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

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

User's Guide --> http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v63r1/topic/com.ibm.apm.doc_7.7/apm_ui_docs/apmui_77/fac_landing_user.html

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:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v63r1/topic/com.ibm.apm.doc_7.7/apm_ui_docs/apmui_77/overview.html

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

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

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.

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

Gulf Breeze Software Partners is the first IBM Jaguar Hotspot in the US

Mark Poulson gave a great presentation on our company and what this achievement means. Click here to view the PDF of that presentation.

Exporting and Importing TEPS WorkSpaces

Exporting and Importing TEPS WorkSpaces

I have never had great success with exporting and importing workspaces that I have custom built.  I spent some time last night to work through a process that appears to work well.

The key item I have found it is to import the workspace without the queries in place.  This requires you to import any custom queries in advance though.  This allows the IBM provided queries you used to not be touched.

#Admin and Author mode setup for my user on both TEPS servers

#Export WorkSpace with the queries

tacmd exportWorkspaces -x GBS_LZ_HealthCheck_RealTime.queries -w GBS_LZ_HealthCheck_RealTime -t lz -q

#Export WorkSpace with NO queries

tacmd exportWorkspaces -x GBS_LZ_HealthCheck_RealTime -w GBS_LZ_HealthCheck_RealTime -t lz

#Determine Custom Queries

cat GBS_LZ_HealthCheck_RealTime.queries |grep "query name"

    <query name="G_LZ_DiskUsedPercent" type="candle.fw.model.PBasedModel">

    <query name="System Statistics" name_key="Klz:KLZ6828" type="candle.fw.model.PBasedModel">

    <query name="CPU" name_key="Klz:KLZ6802" type="candle.fw.model.PBasedModel">

    <query name="VM Statistics (623)" name_key="Klz:KLZ6844" type="candle.fw.model.PBasedModel">

    <query name="G_LZ_ProcessTop10" type="candle.fw.model.PBasedModel">

#NOTE:  All of the queries I built start with G_ (so they are easy to find)

#Export the Cusom Queries:

tacmd exportqueries -x G_LZ_DiskUsedPercent -q G_LZ_DiskUsedPercent -t lz

tacmd exportqueries -x G_LZ_ProcessTop10 -q G_LZ_ProcessTop10 -t lz

#Transfer Files to the other TEPS

scp * <user>@<host>:/tmp/workspace

#Import the Queries

tacmd importQueries -x ./G_LZ_DiskUsedPercent

tacmd importQueries -x ./G_LZ_ProcessTop10

#Import the WorkSpace without the Queries

tacmd importWorkspaces -x ./GBS_LZ_HealthCheck_RealTime

IBM SmartCloud Application Performance Monitoring 7.7 highlights

This is a short summary of the key new features and capabilities available in SCAPM 7.7.

These are are a view of the highlights we have found so far.

SCAPM 7.7 Overview:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v63r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.apm.doc_7.7%2Fic-homepage.html

What I know so far:

1.  NO APM UI 7.7 yet that I can find.  

2.  ITCAM for Transactions 7.4

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v24r1/topic/com.ibm.itcamt.doc_7.4.0.0/common/introduction/whatsnew.html

Keys: 

1.  RPT 8.3  support.  

2.  Client Response Time is out.

3.  Rational Robot is out, RPT is the future.

4.  New WRT functions 

5.  ITM 6.3 is officially supported.

          6.  The agents have been updated to support SDA.

3.  Updated ITCAM for Applications 7.2.1

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v24r1/topic/com.ibm.itcama.doc_7.2.1/offeringguide/newinthisrelease.html

Keys: 

1.  ITCAM for SOA Message Broker and ITCAM for Transactions are sharing the same data collector.

2.  The J2EE Agents have not been updated yet.  They are still sitting at the 7.1 version.

          3.  Numerous FixPacks are now eGA which makes for the faster deployments. 

IBM Information:

 Capability Updates for this new Release: 

• SOA Infrastructure : Enabling Line of Business Service Reporting in a Multi-tenant Datapower Infrastructure.           
• End-user experience management  : Visibility to end user experience with proprietary applications, featuring custom decoder plugin capability for Transaction Tracking.
• Extended Transaction Tracking capability to CICS TX.
• Enhanced Transaction Tracking support for Websphere MQ to Message Broker.
• Improved Diagnostics platform currency (JBoss 5, & 6, Tomcat 7, WebLogic 12, NetWeaver 7.1, WAS 8.5.5, WXS 7 & 8, WSRR 8.0.2)

               
- Currency Updates :

• Rational Functional Tester 8.3, Rational Performance Tester 8.3, Message Broker 8, ASP.NET 4, SAP NetWeaver 7.31 and 7.4 & Siebel 8.1.x and 8.2.x. SAP NetWeaver 7.3.1/7.4, SAP NetWeaver PI 7.3.1/7.4, SAP  Solution Manager 7.1
• Support for the new architecture (MAI) of SAP Solution Manager 7.1.

Future :  Shortly we will be announcing our new open beta program which will cover the following capabilities:  

• Reduces application downtime by putting lightweight deep-dive diagnostic capabilities into the hands of application developers, making it practical for them to perform production-like monitoring in test and development environments, as well as obtaining that same deep level of visibility in production.
• Expands Application Performance Management platform coverage to include new cloud technology capabilities for application resources.
• Extends traditional application performance capabilities beyond the data center into self-service public and private clouds.
• Dynamically recognizes new instances of rapidly provisioned applications, and automatically expands and contracts the Application Performance Management infrastructure to respond to fluctuations in demand.
• Accelerates problem resolution through rapid analysis of structured and unstructured application data.