| | This entry covers these topics as they apply to each other: *Autonomic computing* > *Common Base Event, Common Event Infrastructure* > *Best Practices* |
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| | So what are [best practices|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_practices]? The term best practice "generally refers to the best possible way of doing something; it is commonly used in the fields of business management, software engineering, and medicine, and increasingly in government." In the case of Autonomic computing in general and the Common Base Event and Common Event Infrastructure in specific, I'll be applying the phrase to software engineering. |
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| | The technology used for business applications continues to become more complex as businesses continue to rely more heavily on their information technology infrastructure. [Autonomic computing |http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomic_Computing]is intended to reduce the impact of this added complexity by enabling these systems to manage themselves. |
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| | One of the critical first principles required for this common management is that each component and subsystem must represent itself in a common way. Specifically, information that describes situations that arise, as well as the state of the components at any time, must be accessible in a common language, a _[_lingua franca_|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca]_. The use of this common event format extends beyond management of the IT infrastructure to occurrences that are used to manage business processes. |
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| | The idea in this wiki entry is to define, and therefore share, best practices for this important, fundamental standard for systems management so that these best practices can be refined and promoted within the industry. |
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| | Oh yes. The standard I'm talking about is the Common Base Event and the Common Event Infrastructure. |
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| | h4. The WSDM behind Common Base Events |
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| | The [Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM|http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=wsdm], pronounced "wisdom") standard resulted from a collaborative industry effort. (See how IBM [integrates WSDM |http://www-03.ibm.com/autonomic/wsdm/]into its technologies.) WSDM was approved by the [Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS|http://www.oasis-open.org/home/index.php]). |
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| | The standard provides the foundation for enabling the use of Web services to build management applications, offering one set of instrumentation to manage resources. WSDM is an important milestone in the evolution of systems management. Coupled with [virtualization|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualization] technology, the WSDM standard enables [self-managing autonomic systems |http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/]and [service-oriented architecture (SOA|http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices])-based management. |
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| | As part of the WSDM standard, OASIS ratified the [WSDM Event Format (WEF), |http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/library/ac-architect/]which defines a common format for events that contains extension points that allow additional semantic information to be included. |
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| | h4. The uncommonly good Common Base Event |
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| | The [Common Base Event |ftp://www6.software.ibm.com/software/developer/library/autonomic/books/cbepractice/index.htm#_Toc130892522] is IBM®'s initial implementation of WEF. Because Common Base Events utilize many of the same concepts as WEF, many of the best practices (outlined in the best practices document) will facilitate migration to WEF. |
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| | The goal of the Common Base Event is to provide such a standard event format; the purpose of the document I've been alluding to |
| |  | bq. |
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| | "[Best Practices for the Common Base Event and Common Event Infrastructure: Guidelines for Using IBM's Initial Implementation of the WSDM Event Format|ftp://www6.software.ibm.com/software/developer/library/autonomic/books/cbepractice/index.htm]" |
| | is to supplement the Common Base Event specification (CBE101) by providing additional information about the usage of the Common Base Event. |
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| | The Common Base Event addresses two issues of notification diversity: the format and the content used to represent situations. Best practices offer practical how-to information for Common Base Events and provide guidance about the generation and consumption of Common Base Events, including how to populate and interpret certain key elements of those events in a consistent and meaningful manner. |
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| | h4. The packaging: The Common Event Infrastructure |
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| | The [Common Event Infrastructure |ftp://www6.software.ibm.com/software/developer/library/autonomic/books/cbepractice/index.htm#_Toc130892528] (CEI) is an embeddable component, incorporated in several IBM products, that supports reporting, persistence, distribution, and interpretation of event data based on the Common Base Event format. |
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| | CEI is not a product, but rather an IBM component used in several IBM products that provides a programming model to report, persist, and consume Common Base Events, and facilitates the sharing of event information. |
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| | An application that uses CEI must install the CEI event server runtime components and configure the event repository as part of its installation process. CEI includes silent installation utilities and scripts that can be invoked by a product installation process. CEI is composed of a set of modular components that operate with IBM's messaging (enterprise service bus) and application integration middleware (including IBM WebSphere Application Server). |
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| | h4. At the core: What's an event? |
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| | I would like to start with the real basics \-\- the core of this topic. I'm talking about the concept of an event. What is an event? According to the Best Practices document: |
 | | bq. |
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| | _Fundamentally, an event is an indication of an occurrence -\- an indication that something of potential interest has happened. According to the_ _[_Common Base Event specification (CBE101),_|http://www.eclipse.org/tptp/platform/documents/resources/cbe101spec/CommonBaseEvent_SituationData_V1.0.1.pdf]__"Events are external, visible manifestations of all systems operations \-\- they represent the onset, evolution, and conclusion of processes both large and small"._ |
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| | These systems and processes are broad in scope, including everything from hardware and software in the IT infrastructure to business processes and application orchestration. In the IT infrastructure, events typically represent state changes in a [resource|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_%28computer_science%29], an [autonomic manager|http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/library/ac-amconcept/], or another component involved in the management system. In a [business process|ftp://www6.software.ibm.com/software/developer/library/autonomic/books/cbepractice/index.htm#_Toc130892521], an event can represent a business milestone or an anomalous business situation. Events can communicate situations such as: |
| | * A component has stopped or started. |
| | * A connection has been established or broken. |
| | * A failure has occurred. |
| | * A state transition for a task or activity in a business process has occurred. |
| | * An amount for a transaction has exceeded an automatic approval threshold. |
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| | The Common Base Event enables information about situations to be captured and represented in a consistent format. The Common Base Event format facilitates effective intercommunication among disparate components for events that express information about logging, management, problem determination, business processes, and other happenings in an IT system. |
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| | For the purposes of this wiki, the following definitions apply: |
| | * *Occurrence:* a happening or phenomenon. |
| | * *Situation:* a classification of an occurrence that specifies what type of an occurrence has happened. |
| | * *Event:* an indication of the situation that provides information about the situation. |
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| | Although the Common Base Event is generally applicable to many types of situations, it is useful to discuss certain categories of events commonly encountered in IT systems. The following sections detail two such categories: [problem determination events |ftp://www6.software.ibm.com/software/developer/library/autonomic/books/cbepractice/index.htm#_Toc130892520] and [business events|ftp://www6.software.ibm.com/software/developer/library/autonomic/books/cbepractice/index.htm#_Toc130892521]. |
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| | Let's all agree on what an event is in this context. |
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| | h4. Products bearing the fruit of WSDM |
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| | In addition to providing software for developers to take advantage of the standard, IBM has [Tivoli|http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/tivoli/]® products, [WebSphere|http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/]® software, [DB2|http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2]® software, and systems virtualization products available today that include implementations of WSDM, with more planned in the future. Find out more information about IBM's [activities with the WSDM standard|http://www.ibm.com/autonomic/wsdm]. |
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| | h4. External links |
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| | [Best Practices Guide for Common Base Events |ftp://www6.software.ibm.com/software/developer/library/autonomic/books/cbepractice/index.htm](yes, there is a full-fledged guide) |
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| | [What is WSDM and would I be wise to use it|http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/dw_thread.jsp?forum=497&thread=102767&cat=22]? forum |
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| | [Autonomic computing: The Illustrated Primer|http://w3.ibm.com/news/w3news/top_stories/2005/06/swg_hiw_autonomic.html] |
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| | The [Autonomic Computing Toolkit|http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/overview.html]: The ultimate autonomic technology tool |
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| | Products that can [consume Common Base Event logfiles|http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/ac-cbeconsume.html] |
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| | Products that can [produce Common Base Event logfiles|http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/ac-cbeproduce.html] |
| | | * [Best Practices Guide for Common Base Events |ftp://www6.software.ibm.com/software/developer/library/autonomic/books/cbepractice/index.htm](yes, there is a full-fledged guide) |
| | * [What is WSDM and would I be wise to use it|http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/dw_thread.jsp?forum=497&thread=102767&cat=22]? forum |
| | * [Autonomic computing: The Illustrated Primer|http://w3.ibm.com/news/w3news/top_stories/2005/06/swg_hiw_autonomic.html] |
| | * The [Autonomic Computing Toolkit|http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/overview.html]: The ultimate autonomic technology tool |
| | * Products that can [consume Common Base Event logfiles|http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/ac-cbeconsume.html] |
| | * Products that can [produce Common Base Event logfiles|http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/autonomic/ac-cbeproduce.html] |
