Installing and configuring the monitoring agent manually

You can install the Microsoft SQL Server agent on each node of a cluster where it is possible for the Microsoft Virtual Servers to run.

1. Setting CTIRA_HOSTNAME
   • Because there can be multiple instances of the Microsoft SQL Server agent, each instance must be configured with a CTIRA_HOSTNAME . Set the CTIRA_HOSTNAME environment variable to the name of the Microsoft Cluster Server cluster for all monitoring agents running in that cluster. By setting the CTIRA_HOSTNAME variable for all agents in the cluster to the same name, you can navigate to all of the monitoring agents for that cluster in the Tivoli® Enterprise Portal.
   • When deciding on the value for the CTIRA_HOSTNAME variable, consider that the managed system name is comprised of three parts: the CTIRA_SUBSYSTEM_ID variable, the CTIRA_HOSTNAME variable, and the CTIRA_NODETYPE variable. Also, the name is limited to 31 characters. By default for the Microsoft SQL Server Agent, the CTIRA_NODETYPE variable is set to MSS, and CTIRA_SUBSYSTEM_ID is set to the Microsoft SQL Virtual Server name. The CTIRA_SUBSYSTEM_ID variable is used to distinguish the multiple instances of the Microsoft SQL Server agent.
2. Setting the CTIRA_HIST_DIR variable
   • If history for the Microsoft SQL Server agent is configured to be stored at the monitoring agent, each instance of the monitoring agent must be configured with a common CTIRA_HIST_DIR variable that points to a shared disk directory.
   • If history is stored at the Tivoli Enterprise Management Server, setting the CTIRA_HIST_DIR variable is not required. Storing history at the Tivoli Enterprise Management Server puts a higher burden on that server.
3. Setting the COLL_HOME variable

   If you want to collect data for attribute groups that use configuration files at a shared location, and these files are used by multiple cluster nodes, set the COLL_HOME variable to X:\shared-location, where X is a shared drive that is accessible to the cluster nodes. For example, you can set the value for the COLL_HOME variable when you are defining the configuration settings for the MS SQL Table Detail attribute group or MS SQL Error Event Details attribute group.

4. Creating a monitoring agent cluster resource
   • Set each Microsoft SQL Server agent startup parameter to manual so the cluster resource can control the starting and stopping of the monitoring agent.
   • After these parameters are set for each Microsoft SQL Server agent instance, you must create the cluster resources to control the monitoring agents. Each Microsoft SQL Server agent is comprised of two Windows Services: KOQAGENTx and KOQCOLLx, where x is the agent instance number.