IBM Performance Management

Preparing the agent for IBM Performance Management

If you want to use your agent with IBM® Performance Management, you need to prepare it using the Dashboard Setup wizard. This wizard configures the information that you can see in the summary and detail dashboards in Performance Management. It also sets the resource information that Performance Management requires for the agent.

Before you begin

In order to prepare the agent for Performance Management successfully, you need to ensure that the agent provides the following data:
  • One or more data sets (attribute groups) that produce one row of data. You can use the attributes from these data sets to populate the summary dashboard.
    Important: To include any information in the summary dashboard, you need to provide it in a data set that produces a single row of data. Some data sources create data sets that produce multiple rows of data; for example, the process, Windows service, and command return code data sources place data into the single Availability data set, which produces multiple rows. In such cases, you need to create a filtered data set producing one row in order to include the data in a summary dashboard. For instructions, see Creating a filtered attribute group.
  • A numeric attribute within one of these data sets that indicates the status of the monitored service (normal, warning, critical, or other similar status values). You must define status severity values for this attribute. For instructions about defining status severity values, see Specifying severity for an attribute used as a status indicator.
  • If the port number on which the monitored application provides service is fixed, you must know the port. If the port might change between different deployments, one of the data sets that produce one row of data must contain a numeric field that indicates the port.
  • If the agent can be installed on a host to monitor a server that is running on a different host, a string attribute within one of these data sets that indicates the server IP address. If the agent always monitors the host where it is running, such an attribute is not required.
    Tip: If an attribute that provides the host name is available, you can create a derived attribute for the IP address by using the nameToIpAddress function. For information about creating a derived attribute, see Creating derived attributes. For information about the function, see ipAddressToName.

If the agent has subnodes, these requirements apply to each subnode for which you want to create a dashboard.

About this task

Performance Management monitors resources. A resource corresponds to instance of the agent, or sometimes a subnode. To define a resource, you need to supply a resource type name, server name, IP address, and port number that apply to the monitored service.

Performance Management displays a summary dashboard for every monitored resource. The summary dashboard includes a status indicator; with this indicator (usually green, yellow, or red for normal, warning, or critical status) the user can see the status of the resource at a glance. The same dashboard can contain a few other high-level health metrics.

On the summary dashboard, data is displayed as single items. Therefore, the data set with this data must produce only one row.

Optionally, a detail dashboard can be available for the agent. The user can click the summary dashboard to view the detail dashboard. The detail dashboard can display tables, so data from any data set can be used on this dashboard.

You must select the attributes that are displayed on the summary dashboard (including the status indicator) and on the detail dashboard.
Important: The data in the attributes that you select is automatically passed from the agent to the Performance Management server every minute. Specifying too much data can lead to overloading of the network, the server, or the monitored host. Select the required attributes only. For example, if a joined data set or a derived attribute must be displayed, do not specify the source attributes as well.
Important: No data other than these attributes is passed to Performance Management. You cannot view or use other data in Performance Management, except for thresholds, which are monitored at the agent level. If you use other data in thresholds, you might not be able to view the threshold status in the Performance Management console.

Procedure

  1. From the Agent Information view, click the Dashboards link.
  2. Under Dashboard Components, select Show agent components in the dashboard.
    Tip: Alternatively, if you are creating an agent for use exclusively with IBM Tivoli® Monitoring, you can select No dashboard presence for this agent. In this case, do not complete the subsequent steps of this procedure. You can not install such an agent in a Performance Management environment.
  3. click the Dashboard Setup Wizard link.
  4. If the agent has subnodes, define the arrangements of agent and subnode resources in Performance Management:
    • Select Base agent instances to display the base agent (data outside of subnodes) as a resource.
    • For every subnode, select Subnode "name" instances to display this subnode as a resource.
    • Optionally, for any of the selected subnodes, select Show as child of agent. In this case, the subnode resource is displayed as a child under the agent resource in lists in the Performance Management console.
    Performance Management displays a summary and detail dashboard for each of the components you selected.
    Important: If you run the wizard again and unselect an agent or subnode, the resources for the agent or subnode are not removed automatically. To remove the resources, expand Resources in the Outline view, select the resources to be deleted, and press the Delete key on the keyboard.
  5. In the Attribute Selection - Status page, select the attribute that indicates the status of the monitored service. Numeric attributes from groups that return a single data row are available.
    Tip: Alternatively, if you do not want to display status in the dashboard, unselect Provide status for this agent.
  6. In the same page, you can select whether you want to display additional data in the summary and detail dashboards:
    • To display additional high-level health metrics in the summary dashboard, ensure the Select additional attributes to display in this agent's summary information box is selected. Otherwise, clear the box.
    • To display additional data in the detail dashboard, ensure the Select additional attributes to display in this agent's detail information box is selected. Otherwise, clear the box. (Typically, select this box, as a detail dashboard is required to display enough data to make a monitoring agent meaningful).
    Click Next.
  7. If you selected Select additional attributes to display in this agent's summary information, in the Attribute Selection - Summary page, select up to four additional attributes to include in the summary dashboard. Attributes from groups that return a single data row are available. Click Next.
  8. If you selected Select additional attributes to display in this agent's detail information, in the Attribute Selection - Details page, select the attributes to include in the detail dashboard. All attributes in the agent are available; to avoid performance issues, include as few attributes as possible. Click Next.
  9. In the Resource Type page, enter the server type that you are monitoring, for example, Email server or SampleCo Database Server. Click Next.
  10. In the Attribute Selection - Software Server Name page, enter a fixed software server name in the Fixed Name field or select an attribute from your agent that gives the software server name. This name is displayed to the user for this particular monitored instance, for example, the name of the JBoss application server instance. Click Next.
    Important: Do not run two or more monitoring agents, agent instances, or subnodes with the same software server name on the same monitored host. If your agent has instances or subnodes, ensure that a unique software server name is generated for every instance or subnode. If two different agents produce the same software server name, do not install them on the same monitored host.
  11. In the Attribute Selection - IP address page, select an attribute from your agent that specifies the IP address (not host name) of the primary interface connection that the monitored server or application uses. For example, the HTTP connection for an HTTP server or the database client connection for a database server. Alternatively, select Use the agent's IP address to use the address of the host where the agent runs. Click Next.
  12. In the Attribute Selection - Port page, enter the port on which the monitored application provides service or select a numeric attribute from your agent that specifies this port. Click Finish.
  13. If you selected both an agent and a subnode or more than one subnode as resources, click Next to enter dashboard and resource information for the next component (agent or subnode). If the Next button is disabled, you entered the information for all necessary components; click Finish to complete the wizard.

Results

When you install the agent on a monitored host, you can view the summary and detail dashboards in the Status Overview tab.
Important: There can be a delay of up to 30 minutes between installation of the agent and availability of the dashboards, especially if this is the first time that this agent type and version is installed in your environment.

Click the summary dashboard for the agent to view the detail dashboard. By default, all information in the detail dashboard is displayed as tables.

You can use the Attribute Details tab to configure custom display of this information as tables and charts.