Robotic Response Time deployment and administration
The following diagram illustrates a typical Robotic Response Time deployment:
When using Robotic Response Time:
- Install the agent in several strategic remote locations or branch offices to ensure 24x7 availability.
- Install the agent both inside and outside the enterprise, to help identify which client location are having problems before the customer becomes aware of the problem.
- If Rational Functional Tester, or Mercury LoadRunner is used as a recorder, the recorder must also be installed on the same system with the Robotic Response Time agent.
- Install the recorder on 1 or 2 intranet systems with dedicated script developers.
- A typical deployment is 10 to 20 robotic agents running 10 to 100 robotic scripts every 10 to 15 minutes. The volume of data generated by the scripts depends on various factors such as the complexity of the scripts, the number of elements in the scripts, and the time the script is run.
The following test scripts are supported by Robotic Response Time:
- Rational Performance Tester
- BSD Oracle ERP scripts. See the Software Prerequisites
in the Information Center for information about versions of the BSD
Oracle plugin that are supported for supported versions of Rational
Performance Tester.Note: Older versions of the plugin are supported, but the breakdown availability of the response time data is available only for the Client portion.
- Citrix scripts
- HTTP/HTTPS scripts
- SAP GUI scripts
- SAP Web Interface scripts
- Siebel scripts
- Socket extensions, including TN3270 connections
- Web Services/SOA scripts
- BSD Oracle ERP scripts. See the Software Prerequisites
in the Information Center for information about versions of the BSD
Oracle plugin that are supported for supported versions of Rational
Performance Tester.
- Rational Functional Tester
- GUI scripts
- Mercury LoadRunner
- HTTP/HTTPS scripts
- CLI Command
- Shell scripts
- Scripts that are developed using a scripting language
Keep in mind the following deployment considerations:
- Install the agent on a dedicated system.
- Rational Functional Tester, Citrix, SAP, and Siebel playback run only on Windows systems.
- Rational® Performance Tester HTTP/HTTPS scripts run on Windows and xLinux (RHEL, SUSE) systems.
- Rational Functional Tester requires the screen to be unlocked, so the system must be in a secure location or running in a VM instance with a locked host.
- Security considerations
- Scalability information:
- RPT running Citrix scripts: 10 scripts per agent every 10 minutes
- CLI, LoadRunner: 50 scripts per agent every 10 minutes
- Both secure and non-secure web services are supported.
For secure web services, only the following protocol specifications
are supported:
- HTTPS based SOAP
- WS-Security
- WS-Addressing
- WS-ReliableMessaging
After you set up robotic playbacks, Robotic Response Time can identify bottlenecks in the Client, Network or Server by breaking down response time data into segments, so that you can understand trends and system loads. The breakdown availability of the response time data is determined by the type of robotic scripts and the availability of metric definitions. The breakdown availability of different robotic scripts is explained in the following table.
| Robotic script type | Client time | Network time | Server time |
|---|---|---|---|
| BSD Oracle ERP scripts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rational Performance Tester Citrix | Yes | No | No |
| Rational Performance Tester HTTP/HTTPS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rational Performance Tester SAP GUI | Yes | No | No |
| Rational Performance Tester SAP Web Interface | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rational Performance Tester Siebel | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rational Performance Tester Socket Extensions | Yes | No | No |
| Rational Performance Tester Web Services/SOA | Yes | No | No |
| Rational Functional Tester | Yes | No | No |
| Mercury LoadRunner HTTP/HTTPS | Yes | No | No |
| Command Line scripts | Yes | No | No |
Robotic Response Time administration
The
following table lists the configuration files for Robotic Response Time:
Restriction: Do not modify configuration files without explicit
instructions from IBM® Support.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Windows environment | |
| CANDLE_HOME\tmaitm6\kt6env | Environment variables for the Tivoli Enterprise Management Agent |
| CANDLE_HOME\tmaitm6\${HOSTNAME}_t6.cfg | Saved Tivoli Enterprise Management Agent configuration settings |
| CANDLE_HOME\tmaitm6\t6-logging.properties | Robotic Response Time JLOG configuration |
| CANDLE_HOME\tmaitm6\app\RPT\config\itcam-rpt.properties | Rational Performance Tester Configuration parameters |
| CANDLE_HOME\tmaitm6\app\RPT\config\itcamrt-logging.properties | Rational Performance Tester JLOG configuration |
| CANDLE_HOME\tmaitm6\app\RPT\config\managed_jvm.xml | Rational Performance Tester Managed JVM Java™ parameters |
| UNIX environment | |
| CANDLE_HOME/config/t6.ini | Environment variables for the Tivoli® Enterprise Monitoring Agent |
| CANDLE_HOME/config/${HOSTNAME}_t6.cfg | Saved Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agent configuration settings |
| CANDLE_HOME/config/t6-logging.properties | Robotic Response Time JLOG configuration |
| CANDLE_HOME/tmaitm6/app/RPT/config/itcam-rpt.properties | Rational Performance Tester Configuration parameters (xLinux only) |
| CANDLE_HOME/tmaitm6/app/RPT/config/itcamrt-logging.properties | Rational Performance Tester JLOG configuration (xLinux only) |
| CANDLE_HOME/tmaitm6/app/RPT/config/managed_jvm.xml | Rational Performance Tester Managed JVM Java parameters (xLinux only) |
There are additional Robotic Response Time parameters
that you do not need to configure, but which are however configurable.
These parameters are not displayed in the Robotic Response Time Agent
Configuration window. However, you can customize the parameters directly
in the kt6env file.
Note: Modifying parameters
in the kt6env file can have unintended consequences.
In kt6env:- SNAP_PLAYBACK_INTERVAL forces playback to occur at intervals from the top of the hour, instead of at the specified intervals from when the agent starts. Set SNAP_PLAYBACK_INTERVAL=Y to have the agent play back at intervals from the top of the hour.
The following table lists the trace and log files for Robotic Response Time:
Note: For
more information about trace and log files, see the Troubleshooting Guide.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Windows environment | |
| CANDLE_HOME\tmaitm6\logs\${HOSTNAME}_t6_*.log | Tivoli Enterprise Management Agent RAS1 logs. RAS1 is the name of the IBM Tivoli Monitoring logging facility. |
| %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\ibm\tivoli\common\BWM\logs\trace-robotic.log | Tivoli Enterprise Management Agent JLOG trace statements |
| %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\ibm\tivoli\common\BWM\logs\msg-robotic.log | Tivoli Enterprise Management Agent JLOG message statements |
| %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\ibm\tivoli\common\BWM\logs\RPT\ {runtime version}\trace-rpt.log | Rational Performance Tester JLOG trace statements |
| %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\ibm\tivoli\common\BWM\logs\{applicationname}\{scriptname}\msg-rptHistory.log | Rational Performance Tester execution history |
| %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\IBM\tivoli\common\BWM\logs\RFT\{scriptname}\* | Rational Functional Tester |
| UNIX environment | |
| CANDLE_HOME\logs\${HOSTNAME}_t6_*.log | Tivoli Enterprise Management Agent RAS1 logs. RAS1 is the name of the IBM Tivoli Monitoring I logging facility. |
| /var/ibm/tivoli/common/BWM/logs/trace-robotic.log | Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agent JLOG trace statements |
| /var/ibm/tivoli/common/BWM/logs/msg-robotic.log | Tivoli Enterprise Management Agent JLOG message statements |
| /var/ibm/tivoli/common/BWM/logs/RPT/ {runtime version}/trace-rpt.log | Rational Performance Tester JLOG trace statements |
| /var/ibm/tivoli/common/BWM/logs/{applicationname}/{scriptname}/msg-rptHistory.log | Rational Performance Tester execution history |