Joining two attribute groups

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Create an attribute group from two other attribute groups.

About this task

Joining attribute groups is most useful when the agent collects data from two different types of data sources. For example, the agent might collect data WMI and PerfMon, or SNMP and script data sources. Each set of attributes might be more useful when used together in one Tivoli® Enterprise Portal view.

For example, assume that your attribute groups are defined as follows: 
First_Attribute_Group
	index integer
	trafficRate	integer
	errorCount	integer
Second_Attribute_Group
	index2	integer
	name string
	traffic string

One definition provides you with counters (like Perfmon) and the other provides you with identification information. Neither attribute group is useful to you by itself. However, if you can combine both attribute groups by using the index to match the appropriate rows from each, you have a more useful attribute group. You can use the combined attribute group to display the name, type, and metrics together.

This same mechanism can be used to add tags to information collected through normal attribute groups. The information can then be more easily correlated in an event system when a problem is detected. For example, a company wants to manage all its servers by collecting common data and by using common situations to monitor the health of the servers. It also wants to be able to identify the servers with more information that tells it what application is running on a particular server. It wants to have control of the values that are used on each server, but it does not want to create different agents for each application. It can accomplish this control by creating an additional attribute group in its single agent as follows: 
Application_Information
	application_type 	integer
	application_name	string
	application_group	string

This attribute group would be defined as a script attribute group that gathers its values from agent configuration. You can specify different values for each agent instance and use one agent to manage all of their systems. This attribute group would then be joined to all the source attribute groups where this application information might be needed. The information is then available in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal, situations, events, and warehoused data.

When you join two attribute groups, a third attribute group is created. This attribute group contains all the attributes that are contained within the source attribute groups.

The results of a join operation vary depending on the number of rows that each source attribute group supports. If both attribute groups are defined to return only a single row of data, then the resulting joined attribute group has one row of data. The single row contains all attributes from both source attribute groups.
Table 1. source attribute group one (single row)
Attribute1 Attribute2 Attribute3
16 some text 35
Table 2. source attribute group 2 (single row)
Attribute4 Attribute5 Attribute6 Attribute7
5001 more data 56 35
Table 3. Resulting join
Attribute1 Attribute2 Attribute3 Attribute4 Attribute5 Attribute6 Attribute7
16 some text 35 5001 more data 56 35

Suppose that one source attribute group is defined to return only one row (single-row) while the other can return more than one row (multi-row). The resulting joined attribute group contains the same number of rows as the multi-row source attribute group. The data from the single-row attribute group is added to each row of the multi-row attribute group.

Table 4. source attribute group one (single row)
Attribute1 Attribute2 Attribute3
16 some text 35
Table 5. source attribute group two (more than one row)
Attribute4 Attribute5 Attribute6 Attribute7
user1 path1 56 35
user2 path2 27 54
user3 path3 44 32
Table 6. Resulting join
Attribute1 Attribute2 Attribute3 Attribute4 Attribute5 Attribute6 Attribute7
16 some text 35 user1 path1 56 35
16 some text 35 user2 path2 27 54
16 some text 35 user3 path3 44 32
Finally, assume that both source attribute groups are defined to return more than one row. You must identify an attribute from each of the source attribute groups on which to join. The resulting attribute group contains data rows where the attribute value in the first attribute group matches the attribute value from the second attribute group.
Table 7. source attribute group one (more than 1 row)
Attribute1 Attribute2 Attribute3
16 some text 35
27 more text 54
39 another string 66
Table 8. source attribute group 2 (more than 1 row)
Attribute4 Attribute5 Attribute6 Attribute7
user1 path1 56 35
user2 path2 27 54
user3 path3 44 32
Table 9. Resulting join (joining on Attribute3 and Attribute7)
Attribute1 Attribute2 Attribute3 Attribute4 Attribute5 Attribute6 Attribute7
16 some text 35 user1 path1 56 35
27 more text 54 user2 path2 27 54

With Agent Builder, you can also join user-defined attribute groups to the Availability attribute group if there are any availability filters defined in your agent. For more information about the data that is contained in the Availability attribute group, see (Availability node).

You can create this type of attribute group by accessing the menu on the data sources tree by right-clicking and then selecting Join Attribute Groups.

Procedure

  1. On the Data Source Definition page, right-click one of the attribute groups you would like to join and select Join Attribute Groups.
    This option is only visible if there are at least two attribute groups defined. Having an availability filter defined counts as having an attribute group defined.
    The Attribute Group Information page is displayed.
    Figure 1. Attribute Group Information pageAttribute Group Information window
    Join Information window that shows Attribute group name and join Information
  2. In the Join Information area, select the two attribute groups you would like to join. Select the attribute groups by choosing from the groups available in the Attribute Group One and Attribute Group Two lists.
    For each attribute group, either Produces a single data row or Can produce more than one data row is selected for you. This selection is locked and depends on how the source attribute groups were originally defined.
    Note: There are restrictions on which attribute groups can be joined:
    • You cannot join an attribute group in one subnode type to an attribute group in another subnode type.
    • You can join only an event attribute group to a single row non-event attribute group.
    1. Select the attribute that you want to join on for each attribute group when both attribute groups show Can produce more than one data row, under Attribute to join on.
    The Attribute group name and Help fields are filled for you using information from the chosen attribute groups. If you want to, you can change these entries.
  3. Click OK.

Results

The joined attribute group that you created is added to the Attribute Group Information area of the Data Source Definition page