Running the SPA Multiple Times a Day - cool

Several people have requested information on how to run the Summarization and Pruning agent multiple times per day.

I have figured it out on Windows based SPA's. in the KSYENV file there is a section called schedule. This section has several lines including these:

KSY_HOUR_TO_RUN=
KSY_HOUR_AM_PM=

You can manipulate these times and then recycle the SPA to pick up the changes. Maybe you create some AT jobs or something like to copy different KSYENV files in place then recycle the agent.

I believe it is the same on Unix/Linux - but I have not looked or tested.

Don't try to install IBM Java 1.4.2 and 1.5 on the same Windows box

The ITM TEP Browser client requires IBM Java 1.4.2; the TADDM console (aka CCMDB CDT console) requires IBM Java 1.5. However, I've found that something in the IBM Java 1.5 install completely inserts itself as THE plugin for Internet Explorer 7 (I haven't tested on 6.x), no matter what you do.

The effect this has is that the TEP Browser Client appears to work (you get a login dialog), but then you get a "Cannot connect to TEP server" error. I tried using the IBM Java Plugin control panel, the Java Web Start application, all Internet settings, and directly editing the registry in several ways, and cannot get IE to use the 1.4.2 version of the plugin after installing IBM Java 1.5 (Sun Java 1.5.0_10 installs just fine and doesn't cause any problems). So if you need to access both interfaces, the only way I've found is basically to create a VMWare image with the other IBM Java installed.

Getting cool with IBM Tivoli/Netcool

As you may well know, Netcool like Tivoli is a very long listed suite of products. This doc provides a few links to resources you may find helpful in getting up to speed with some of the products included in the Netcool suite.

1. For Netcool Documentation click HERE

The above link also contains PDF formats of the documentation. The documentation includes amongst other things administration guides and user guides for products like Netcool/Omnibus, Netcool/Webtop, Flex License Manager, Netcool/Security Manager, Netcool GUI Foundation, Netcool/Precision IP, most is not all the probes, etc.

2. For Netcool User Group HERE

You'll find the folks here very helpful. And of course Gulf Breeze is always ready to help when the going gets rough.

3. For Netcool Certification HERE

The Tivoli Netcool Core V1.0 certification consists of three exams as shown on the page referenced by the above link. Though the certification lists Webtop V1.3.1, please note that the latest version is Webtop V2.0

4. From the Gulf Breeze Software Team

a. Netcool Overview for newbies

b. What's a Netcool Probe?

c. Netcool Precision and Omnibus Screenshots

d. Extracting Omnibus Events

e. NetCool License Server Installation Problems

f. UPDATED - Netview 7.1.5 vs PrecisionIP v3.6

g. January News Letter

h. Since so much of the above involves Java :- Facts about Java

...and much more to come. Watch this space...

Hope the above provides some direction on delving into Tivoli Netcool and getting some hands-on experience ;-).

SSL Encryption in ITM 6.1

Many people are under the impression that since during ITM 6.1 installs you are asked for an encryption key that encryption is turned on. Nothing is further from the truth.

The only time encryption is turned on is when the IP.SPIPE protocol is enabled between two components. So if I use IP.SPIPE between my HUB and Remote TEMS, that communications is encrypted. However, if I use IP.PIPE between my agents the Remote TEMS - that data is not encrypted - begging the question: What's the point of using encryption is one place but not another.

Does that mean that the encryption key is never used, nope. Apparently the keys do get exchanged internally, but no one can tell me exactly how, when or why.

If you are going to use encryption, IP.SPIPE, use it on everything (TEPS, HUB, Remote, Agents) otherwise there is a gaping hole in your security.

Also, beware that we have seen 20 - 25% performance hits when enabling IP.SPIPE because of the extra encryption overhead.

More Year 2007 DST Information

Here are some more links on the Year 2007 Daylight Savings Time information. What a SNAFU...

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/timezone/dst2007.mspx

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=56&context=SSEPDU&q1=daylight+saving+time&uid=swg21248542

Netcool/Precision and Omnibus Screenshots

Since many of you have never seen Netcool/Omnibus or Netcool/Precision. I have put some screen shots into a PDF for you to take a look at.

Download Here

ITM 6.1 Fixpack 4 conundrum

Just observed this small weird behavior after upgrading to ITM fixpack 4. As you know, the SOAP Server is disabled on RTEMS for Unix/Linux platforms to improve the stability from fixpack 3 onwards. However, this has an interesting side effect. Read on.

Viewing depot contents

When SOAP was enabled on RTEMS, you could directly logon to the RTEMS using tacmd login and view the contents of depot using "tacmd viewdepot" command. I remember back in Fixpack 1 level, you don't even have to authenticate to view the depot contents. However, now you need to authenticate before you can view the depot contents. After Fixpack 3, you can't logon to the RTEMS using "tacmd login". So, how do you view the depot contents?

The answer is logon to the HUB TEMS and use the "-j" switch to the tacmd viewdepot command along with the name of the RTEMS. For example, if you have a HTEMS named tivoli1_HUB and a RTEMS named tivoli2_REMOTE, to view the depot contents, issue the following command.

$ tacmd login -s tivoli1 -u sysadmin -p 'blah'
$ tacmd viewdepot -j tivoli2_REMOTE

Hope you find it useful.