Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus configuration resources for predictive events

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus provides a number of resources to enable predictive events. These resources are available as sample files that are located in the $NCHOME/omnibus/extensions/itmpredictive directory.

ObjectServer resources

The following Objectserver resources support predictive events:
  • A class ID of 89300 is reserved for predictive events.
  • In the alerts.status table, the following columns are added to store data that is specific to predictive events:
    Column name Data type Mandatory Description
    TrendDirection integer No Applicable to predictive events that are received from IBM Tivoli Monitoring. Indicates the trend for the prediction. The values are:

    -1: Falling

    0: Constant

    1: Rising
    PredictionTime type Yes Applicable to predictive events that are received from IBM Tivoli Monitoring. Specifies the time, in days, in which Tivoli Performance Analyzer predicts that the defined thresholds will be violated.

    You should apply a margin of approximately plus or minus 12 hours to the predictive events that are generated.
  • The following conversions map integer values to string values:
    • Conversion for class ID 89300: Predictive Events
    • Conversions for the TrendDirection column: 1 = Rising, 0 = Constant, and -1 = Falling
    • Conversion for the DaysToCriticalThreshold and DaysToWarningThreshold columns: 9999 is converted to an empty string because 9999 represents the absence of a DaysToCriticalThreshold or DaysToWarningThreshold value.
  • The triggers new_row_predictive and deduplicate_predictive are supplied. These triggers are assigned to the default_triggers trigger group. The new_row_predictive trigger ensures that when a new predictive event is inserted into the ObjectServer, the correct fields are set and the expiry time for the event is set. The deduplicate_predictive trigger ensures that the correct fields are copied on deduplication and that the expiry time for the event is set.

These resources are added to the ObjectServer when you import the predictive_events_menutools_native_gui.jar package file, which is one of the sample files in the $NCHOME/omnibus/extensions/itmpredictive directory.

Event visualization resources

The following resources support the display of predictive events in the event list and Active Event List:
  • A filter file predictive_event.elf, view file predictive_event.elv, and event list configuration file predictive_event.elc, are provided for filtering and sorting predictive events in the event list. The filter and view are defined as follows:
    • The Predictions filter is defined with the following WHERE clause:
      where Class = 89300
    • The Predictions view contains the following default columns, which are displayed as follows, from left to right: Node, TrendDirection, Summary, FirstOccurrence, LastOccurrence, Count, PredictionTime.
      The sort priority and sort order of the columns is as follows:
      1. Severity in descending order
      2. LastOccurrence in ascending order
      3. PredictionTime in ascending order
  • Configuration resources for the Active Event List are in the form of a WAAPI command file called predictive_events_web_gui.xml, which creates a filter, view, tools, prompts, and menu options for predictive events, and adds web resources (a .jsp file, images, and a stylesheet) in the Web GUI server.

Rules file resources

A customized rules file, which can process predictive events, is provided for the Probe for Tivoli EIF. This rules file is called predictive_event.rules.

The predictive_event.rules file specifically maps predictive event attributes (from Tivoli® Performance Analyzer) to ObjectServer fields. The attribute-to-column mappings between the Tivoli Performance Analyzer attributes that are calculated from the trending analysis, and the alerts.status columns are as follows:

Table 1. Rules file mappings for predictive events
Tivoli Performance Analyzer attribute alerts.status column Notes on mapping
Direction TrendDirection Indicates an upward or a downward prediction trend, or a flat line. New column in alerts.status.
Confidence ExtendedAttr A percentage value between 0 and 100 that denotes the level of confidence in the predictive trend. In this range, 0 depicts no confidence and 100 depicts a perfectly-approximated function. Not promoted to column.
Strength ExtendedAttr The strength of the trend, based on a correlation between the confidence and the number of samples analyzed. Not promoted to column.
TimeStamp LastOccurrence The timestamp indicating when the prediction was calculated.
Num_Of_Samples ExtendedAttr The number of samples (or data points) used for establishing the trend. The higher the number of samples, the more accurate the estimated prediction. Not promoted to column.
Node Agent The host name of the device which Tivoli Performance Analyzer is running. This is the device that is producing the fault events on which the trend is based.
system_name Node The host name on which the predictive metrics originated.
89300 Class The reserved class ID of 89300, which is allocated to predictive events.
Literal string values Summary Tivoli Performance Analyzer provides a set of literal string values that are inserted into the Summary column of the alerts.status table.
All other attributes ExtendedAttr Additional extended attributes.
3 (WARNING) Severity The severity level, as specified in IBM Tivoli Monitoring. The value can be either 3 or 5.
5 (CRITICAL) Severity The severity level, as specified in IBM Tivoli Monitoring. The value can be either 3 or 5.