Decision 3: Where to install your monitoring servers

The Tivoli® Enterprise Monitoring Server (also called the monitoring server) is the central component of the commonly-shared Tivoli Management Services infrastructure. The monitoring server consolidates and distributes data; receives and distributes commands; and sends alerts when specified availability and performance problems are detected in the monitored applications, systems, or networks. You must install and configure at least one monitoring server, called the hub, to support the monitoring products. You may install one or more additional remote monitoring servers.

The hub monitoring server is the central monitoring server, acting as the focal point for data collection and distribution. It communicates with monitoring agents, with remote monitoring servers, with the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server, and with the Warehouse Proxy and Summarization and Pruning agents. The load on the hub is typically high.

Remote monitoring servers communicate only with the monitoring agents that report to them and with the hub monitoring servers to which they report. Note that a remote monitoring servers is remote with respect to the hub monitoring servers, not necessarily with respect to the monitoring agents. If monitoring agents are installed on the same system as a remote monitoring servers, that monitoring server is local to the monitoring agents but remote to the hub.

The load on remote monitoring servers is typically low. Load is driven higher if historical data collection is performed on the monitoring servers instead of on the monitoring agents.

You can install monitoring servers on z/OS®, Windows, and some UNIX and Linux® systems. See IBM Tivoli Monitoring: Installation and Setup Guide for a complete list of supported platforms.