IJ16462: LARGE NUMBERS OF SUBNODES CAN CAUSE AN AGENT TO CRASH

IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.3.0 Fix Pack 7 Service Pack 2 (6.3.0.7-TIV-ITM-SP0002)

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• Environment:
  ITM TEMS 630 FP7
  VMWare Agent  07.20.04.01
  
  
  Problem Description:
  If the number of subnodes that are defined for an agent's
  instance exceeds 80, or the total length of the subnode names
  exceeds 2390 characters, the framework will overwrite memory
  resulting in the agent abnormally terminating.
  
  
  Detailed Recreation Procedure:
  Install ITM 630 FP7 TEMS
  Install ITM 630 FP7 TEPS
  Install Monitoring Agent for VMware VI 07.20.04.01
  Create 150 Subnodes for one VMWare Agent instance, having a
  total name character size of greater than 2390 characters.
  
  Allow the agent to start and populate the TEMS' tables with the
  subnode names.
  
  Stop the agent, then restart the agent.
  
  Observe that the when the agent receives the list of subnodes
  from the TEMS process the agent abnormally terminates.
  
  
  Related Files and Output:
  /ecurep/sf/TS001/426/TS001426355/2019-05-17/20190517.zip_unpack/
  pdcollect-vvm2466.tar.Z_unpack/pdcollect-vvm2466.tar.Z_unpack/au
  topdzip/autopd/IBM/ITM/logs
  

Local fix

• N/A
  

Problem summary

• Adding or removing Subnodes from Multi-Instance Agents may
  result in the Agent abnormally terminating.  If the Agent's
  tracing is set to
  
  KBB_RAS1=ERROR(UNIT:kraafmgr ALL)
  
  one will see the Situation activation Instruction received from
  the Monitoring Agent.  The trace log file will contain messages
  such as the following which shows a corrupted Subnode name.  The
  instruction will contain one or more Subnode names.  If a
  corrupted name appear in the received instruction, then it is a
  symptom of this problem.
  
  "Value of instruction
  <LSTDATE(1190521180711000)IM_COMPATIBILITY(YES)PREFILT(),SUBNODE
  S(VM:PROD_DC-esxp8138.vh:ESXVM:PROD_DC--esxp820..vh:ESX,)SNLUPD(
  1559910919)>"
  
  where "VM:PROD_DC-esxp8138.vh:ESXVM:PROD_DC--esxp820..vh:ESX"
  represents invalid syntax for a Subnode name.  Valid Subnode
  name syntax is <Product
  Code>:<InstanceName-Subnodename>:<Product Specified Extension>.
  

Problem conclusion

• The Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agent (TEMA) Framework has been
   changed to reject Subnode names which have invalid syntax
  within an Instruction received from the Monitoring Server.  The
  Monitoring Server has been changed to retain the list of
  Subnodes that are associated with an Agent's Instance in a
  linked-list rather than a text string.  Additionally, the
  Monitoring Server now validates the Subnode names prior to its
  addition of the name to the linked-list.
  
  
  The fix for this APAR is contained in the following maintenance
  packages:
  
     | service pack | 6.3.0.7-TIV-ITM-SP0002
  

Temporary fix

• If possible, reduce the number of Subnode names that are
  associated with an Agent's instance to no more than ten (10).
  

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  TEMA

• Fixed component ID

  5724C04TE

Applicable component levels