Installing IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor in a high availability environment

You can install IBM® Sterling Control Center Monitor in a high availability environment by using either the GUI installer or command line installer. Based on your operating system, you can select one of these options to install and configure multiple event processors (EPs) for a highly available implementation of IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor.

Starting in IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor V6.1, you can choose to deploy IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor in a high availability environment. IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor has the two major components of an EP and web application server. The EP, formerly known as the engine, monitors servers and processes events that occurred on monitored servers. Deploying IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor in a high availability environment means that you can install and configure multiple EPs to monitor events from monitored servers. When one EP fails, one or more EPs can temporarily monitor the servers that are assigned to the failed EP until it becomes available again. The temporary monitoring depends on the EP failover policy and whether servers are pinned to an EP.

The web application server enables access to the IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor web console, event repository, and the console launch page. The server is always installed with each installation of an event processor. By installing one or more EPs, high availability for the web application server is automatically achieved.

You can install IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor in a high availability environment with the following methods:
  • GUI installer
  • Command line installer
You can install IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor in a high availability environment on a Microsoft Windows, Linux, AIX, or UNIX platform.
Important: If you do not enable the globalization parameter for the Microsoft SQL server during an IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor installation, then you cannot use multi-byte characters. When you use a multi-byte character without enabling this parameter, then IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor cannot run and you must manually remove the character from your database. If you choose to enable the globalization parameter later, you must reinstall IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor.
A high availability installation differs from a non-high availability installation in the following ways:
  • Ensure in a high availability environment that you complete the same secure or non-secure configuration across all of your components.
  • The Jetty Web Application Server can be configured during installation to not automatically shut down when an EP is stopped.
  • You can run an EP for event processing purposes without running the Jetty Web Application Server.
  • The Jetty Web Application Server can start alone after the EP is installed and configured.
  • You can install two EPs on the same server for load balancing purposes. However, if you want improved performance and availability, install EPs on different servers.
  • Each EP must have a unique name.
  • Every EP in a high availability environment must have the same database connection details.
  • The same encryption key is used for all EPs in a high availability environment.
  • Whenever you install multiple EPs on the same server, make sure to install each EP in a separate installation directory.
  • When two EPs are installed on the same server but installation is completed from two different locations, duplicate port listening validation is done. You must choose two different ports.
  • You cannot install EPs on different operating systems.
Important: When you configure your EPs, ensure that all EPs have the same configuration for enabling events to the JMS queue.
After you complete installing and configuring IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor in a high availability environment, you can begin monitoring events.
The following steps give high-level guidance for installing IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor in a high availability environment:
  1. Install your first IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor EP or upgrade your existing IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor instance to V6.2.
  2. Configure and start your first EP.
  3. Ensure that your first EP starts, and that you can launch the IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor console and web console successfully.
  4. Install and configure your second IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor EP. For your second EP, the database connection details must be the same details as the first EP, but EP name must be unique. You cannot use the same EP name more than once in the same high availability environment.
  5. Start your second EP, and launch the IBM Sterling Control Center Monitor console and web console.
  6. Continue to install and configure as many EPs with the same database connection details that you need in your high availability environment.