IBM Tivoli Monitoring version
6.2.3 or higher monitoring agents that are enabled for self-description
have all the required application support files to update the Tivoli Management Services servers. You do not have to
perform manual support installation steps and recycle each individual
server component that will support the agent.
Self-describing
monitoring agents apply version updates to other components automatically
as the agent connects, without the need to recycle the Tivoli Management Services servers: hub monitoring server, remote monitoring server, and portal server. This automatic product support
installation feature helps to eliminate errors that might occur from
the inconsistent installation of application data on the IBM Tivoli Monitoring server.
If a monitoring agent supports the self-describing capability,
application support is installed on the agent system. If the monitoring
agent includes the IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.2.3
agent framework or is installed on a system where the V6.2.3 agent
framework is already installed, the V6.2.3 monitoring servers and portal servers retrieve the application support
files from the agent after agent startup and automatically apply the
support. The infrastructure servers only retrieve the application
support from a self-describing agent if they have not already applied
the application support or if they have an earlier version of the
application support.
The self-describing update occurs only once for each specific agent
version. The update files are stored at the agent so that when the
agent connects to a monitoring server,
the monitoring server is automatically
informed of the available application support update. If the self-describing
function is enabled, the application support is retrieved from the
agent, and the monitoring server support
is updated.
If you installed your monitoring
server on Linux or UNIX, the application support files for all base
monitoring agents and other supported agents were automatically installed
on the monitoring server. This is different to installing the monitoring
server on Windows, in that the Linux or UNIX installation always automatically
installs the application support files for monitoring agents. This
might affect self-describing agents and you should always check the
monitoring server and portal server to ensure that self-describing
agent products are installed as expected.
Requirements
In order to use self-describing agents your monitoring environment
must meet the following requirements:
- Tivoli Management Services must be at Version 6.2.3
or higher.
- Enable self-describing by setting the hub monitoring server environment variable KMS_SDA=Y.
By default, self-describing is disabled at the hub monitoring server. Self-describing is enabled,
by default, for all remote monitoring servers,
the portal server, and agents enabled
for self description.
You must set the KMS_SDA=Y environment
variable on each hub monitoring server in your
environment.
- The agent must also be enabled for self-description by packaging
application support as part of the agent installation. The agent must
use the IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.2.3 or
higher monitoring agent framework
or be installed on a system where the version 6.2.3 or higher agent
framework is already installed. You can tell if an agent is enabled
for self-description prior to installation or after installation.
See Determining if agents are enabled for self-description.
The Tivoli Performance Analyzer and Universal Agent
are not enabled for self-description. For a complete list of agents
enabled for self-description, see the IBM Tivoli Monitoring
agents enabled for self-description (SDA) topic
in the IBM developerWorks Tivoli Monitoring
Wiki.
Road map
Use the following road map to help you configure, enable, and use
the self-describing feature:
Step |
Description and information provided |
1 |
See "Configure self-describing agent seeding"
in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and
Setup Guide. - Additional information:
- For information about the editSdaOptions command,
see the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Command Reference.
- Seeding information is also provided in Self-describing auto refresh and seeding.
|
2 |
See "Enabling self-describing agent capability
at the hub monitoring server" in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and
Setup Guide.Enabling the self-describing
agent capability at the hub monitoring server controls
the capability for all components. The best practice is to
control the self-describing agent capability from the hub monitoring server. See the following default
settings: - Hub monitoring server: Disabled (KMS_SDA=N)
- Remote monitoring server: Enabled (KMS_SDA=Y)
- Portal server: Enabled (TEPS_SDA=Y)
- Agent: Enabled (TEMA_SDA=Y)
|
3 |
Use the tacmd listappinstallrecs command
to monitor the application support installation records and current
installation status for all monitoring servers in your environment.
See Self-describing agent installation.- Additional information:
- For information on retryable and terminal installation records
see Self-describing agent install errors.
|
4 |
After a self-describing application update has
been completed, you can see the following new agent data in the portal client:- Historical Configuration is updated with any new attributes
- Workspaces are updated
- New or updated situations, policies and take actions (new situations
are distributed and auto-started by using user-configurable seeding
options)
- Queries are updated
- Help server files are updated
Application support is not automatically applied to the Tivoli Enterprise Portal clients. An indicator is displayed on these clients to tell
the user that they need to recycle their client to apply new or modified
application support. - If you are using the Tivoli Enterprise Portal desktop
client, you must use the monitoring agent's installation images to
install the Tivoli Enterprise Portal application
support on each of the desktop clients.
- If you are using the Tivoli Enterprise Portal browser
client or Java WebStart client and you have the required user permissions
to view the updated application, after the indicator is displayed,
you can choose to close and restart these clients to see the new updates.
- Additional information:
- For more information on support indicators, see Responding to an application support event in
the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Tivoli Enterprise
Portal User's Guide.
|
5 |
To begin troubleshooting any problems, see Troubleshooting for self-describing agents for preliminary diagnostic steps.- Additional information:
- If you cannot resolve your issue, see the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Troubleshooting Guide for a possible solution
to a more specific problem.
- For detailed message information see the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Messages Guide.
|