Monitoring, Version 6.2
The Tivoli Universal Agent obtains its data from interfaces called data providers. Although data providers run as threads inside the Tivoli Universal Agent process, it is still useful to view them as autonomous entities. Data providers enable you to supply data to the Tivoli Universal Agent in whatever way is most convenient or practical for a particular monitoring scenario. For example, you can supply data through a sequential file, TCP/IP socket program, API calls, shell script, SNMP traps, or console commands.
You create data definitions that describe the source and structure of the data supplied by the data providers. You store the data definitions in metafiles. The data providers relay the monitoring data and the metafile statements to the Tivoli Universal Agent, which then sends the monitoring data to the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server (monitoring server). The Tivoli Universal Agent uses the metafile statements to dynamically generate and upload application definition files, that represent the definitions you supplied in the metafile, to the monitoring server and the Tivoli Enterprise Portal. By dynamically generating application definition files, the Tivoli Universal Agent allows you to create your own monitoring solutions that function just like regular IBM Tivoli Monitoring agents.
The Tivoli Universal Agent provides the following additional capabilities:
Table 1 lists the data providers that are currently available with the Tivoli Universal Agent. Figure 1 illustrates the relationship between data providers, Tivoli Universal Agents, the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server, and the Tivoli Enterprise Portal.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| API Server | Enables you to collect data from resources on remote computers where the Tivoli Universal Agent API client software is supported. See API Server Data Provider for additional information. |
| API, Socket, File, Script (ASFS) | Consolidates four types of data providers into one package, which is started as a single thread to save resource usage. This is the default data provider when you install the Tivoli Universal Agent. |
| File | Monitors sequential files, such as system or message logs. Provides the most direct, simplest method of collecting data. See File Data Provider for additional information. |
| HTTP | Allows monitoring of Internet URLs for availability and response time. You can specify URLs to monitor in a startup configuration file or within Tivoli Enterprise Portal situations. See HTTP Data Provider for additional information. |
| ODBC | Allows data collection from ODBC-compliant databases using SQL Select statements and stored procedures. See ODBC Data Provider for additional information. |
| Post | TCP/IP socket application with predefined data. Enables you to send ad hoc notifications such as messages, alerts, and status. See Post Data Provider for additional information. |
| Script | Allows data collection from any script or program that sends results to standard output. See Script Data Provider for additional information. |
| SNMP | Provides the functionality of an SNMP manager, including network discovery, trap monitoring, and MIB data collection. See SNMP Data Provider for additional information. |
| Socket | Listens on a TCP/IP socket for data sent using program-to-program communication. Enables you to collect data from remote devices or computers for which no Tivoli Universal Agent API support is available. See Socket Data Provider for additional information. |
In Figure 1, Data Source A is a log file, monitored by a File Data Provider. Data Source B is a program on a remote host that supplies data through a TCP/IP socket to the Socket Data Provider. Data Source C uses the Tivoli Universal Agent APIs to send data to the API Server Data Provider, as does Data Source D on a remote host.
In Figure 2, a pictorial view is shown of the Tivoli Universal Agent data flow and how it interrelates with the other key IBM Tivoli Monitoring platform components.
To build a Tivoli Universal Agent application, you create a data definition metafile, which describes the application data you want to collect. You start the Tivoli Universal Agent and activate one or more of the Data Providers, which monitor and collect data from the data source defined in the metafile. The metafile also includes table and attribute definition statements. The Tivoli Universal Agent takes these statements and generates the CAT, ATR, and ODI files, which describe the application to the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server and the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server (portal server). In this way, through the use of metafiles, you can create your own IBM Tivoli Monitoring monitoring solutions. The Tivoli Universal Agent also includes a policy-driven SNMP trap emitter feature (see Introduction to the SNMP emitter).
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