IBM Performance Management

Configuring the DataPower agent

The DataPower® agent provides a central point of monitoring for the DataPower Appliances in your enterprise environment. You can identify and receive notifications about common problems with the appliances. The agent also provides information about performance, resource, and workload for the appliances.

Before you begin

Before you use the Monitoring Agent for DataPower to monitor your DataPower appliances, you must complete some configuration steps.

If the XML Management Interface of the DataPower Appliance has the SSL Proxy Profile enabled, before you configure the DataPower agent, you must export the public certificate that is used by the XML Management Interface of the DataPower Appliance. You must export the certificate to the temporary directory on the appliance, and then download it to the machine that runs the DataPower agent.

To export the public certificate from the DataPower appliances, complete the following steps:
  1. To download the crypto certificate that is used by the XML Management Interface of the DataPower Appliance, for example, pubcert:///mycert.pem, click Administration > Main > File Management and save the certificate to the machine that runs the DataPower agent.
  2. When you configure the DataPower agent, there is an option to specify the SSL Proxy Profile field. Enter the absolute path of the public certificate.

About this task

The DataPower agent is a multiple instance agent; you must create the first instance and start the agent manually. The Managed System Name includes the instance name that you specify, for example, instance_name:host_name:pc, where pc is your two character product code. The Managed System Name is limited to 32 characters.
The instance name that you specify is limited to 28 characters, minus the length of your host name. For example, if you specify DataPower as your instance name, your managed system name is DataPower:hostname:BN.
Important: If you specify a long instance name, the Managed System name is truncated and the agent code does not display correctly.

You can configure one instance to monitor all DataPower appliances in your system. You can run the configuration script to create an instance and change any configuration settings. You can edit the agent silent response file before you run the script to bypass the prompts and responses that are required.

Procedure

To configure the DataPower agent, complete one of the following procedures:
  • Linux or AIXTo configure the agent by responding to prompts, complete the following steps:
    1. Open the install_dir directory, where install_dir is the installation directory for the DataPower agent.
    2. To check the names and settings of the configured agent instances, run the ./cinfo -s bn command.
    3. To configure the DataPower monitoring agent, run the ./datapower-agent.sh config instance_name command.

      Choose an instance_name that is unique on the server.

    4. To edit the Monitoring Agent for DataPower settings, select one of the following options:
      • 1=Yes
      • 2=No
    5. Enter the properties for the DataPower Appliance:
      Managed System Details
      To edit Managed System Details, enter one of the following options:
      • 1=Add
      • 2=Edit
      • 3=Del
      • 4=Next
      • 5=Exit
      Note: The default is option 5=Exit.
      Managed System Name
      For Managed System Name, enter the managed system name of the agent.

      Choose a Managed System Name that is unique among all instances of the agent and that can be used to easily identify an appliance. The name should contain only alphanumeric characters.

      Device Host
      For Device Host, enter the IP address of the monitored DataPower Appliance. The default IP address is 9.123.109.139.
      XML Management Interface Port
      For XML Management Interface Port, enter the port number for the XML Management Interface. The default number is 5550. For example, DP_PORT.ManageSystemName= 5550.
      User ID
      For User ID, enter the User ID to log in to the monitored DataPower Appliance. The default value is admin. For example, DP_UID.ManageSystemName= admin.
      Password
      For Password, enter the password to log in to the monitored DataPower Appliance and then confirm the password. For example, DP_PASSWORD.ManageSystemName= password.
      SSL Proxy Profile
      For SSL Proxy Profile, enter the absolute path of the public certificate for your SSL proxy profile, if the XML management interface of the device is configured to use the profile. For example, DP_SSL_PROFILE.ManageSystemName= the location of the .pem file exported from datapower appliances >/mycert.pem.
      SSL Proxy Option
      For SSL Proxy Option, set to Yes if the XML management interface of the monitored device is configured to use a custom SSL proxy profile. Otherwise, set it to No. For example, DP_SSL_OPTION.ManageSystemName1= Yes.
    6. To add the multiple DataPower appliances that you want to monitor, repeat step 6. Otherwise, type 5 and press Enter to complete the configuration.
  • Silent configuration
    1. To configure the agent by editing the silent response file and running the script with no interaction, complete the following steps:
      • Linux or AIXOpen install_dir/samples/datapower_silent_config.txt in a text editor.
      • WindowsOpen install_dir/samples/datapower_silent_config.txt in a text editor.
    2. To configure the DataPower agent to monitor an appliance, enter the following properties:
      Device Host
      Enter the host name or IP address of the device. For example, SOAP_HOST.ManageSystemName= datapower01.
      XML Management Interface Port
      Enter the port number for the XML Management Interface. The default value is 5550. For example, DP_PORT.ManageSystemName= 5550.
      User ID
      Enter the User ID that is used to connect to the device. The default value is admin. For example, DP_UID.ManageSystemName= admin.
      Password
      Enter the password of the User ID. For example, DP_PASSWORD.ManageSystemName= password.
      System Log
      Enter the system log file name. For example, KBN_LOG_FILE.ManageSystemName= logtemp:/test_la/default-log. The file name must be fully qualified. You can also use a dynamic file name. For more information about dynamic file names, see Dynamic file name support.
      Note: The monitored syslog needs to be enabled on your DataPower appliances. For more information, see Enabling syslog.
      SSL Proxy Profile
      Enter the absolute path of the public certificate for your SSL proxy profile, if the XML management interface of the device is configured to use the profile. For example, DP_SSL_PROFILE.ManageSystemName= install_dir/config/mycert.pub.
      SSL Proxy Option
      For SSL Proxy Option, set to Yes if the XML management interface of the monitored device is configured to use a custom SSL proxy profile. Otherwise, set it to No. For example, DP_SSL_OPTION.ManageSystemName1= Yes.
      Important: ManageSystemName is unique. You must replace it with your own system name in all entries. If you want to monitor multiple appliances, copy and repeat the steps that are shown to monitor an appliance. Remember to set the appropriate ManageSystemName and DataPower Appliance parameters.

What to do next

To collect transaction-related data from the DataPower appliance, enable transaction statistics for the DataPower appliance. If you don't enable transaction statistics, the HTTP transaction and throughput widgets will show a data provider error. To enable transaction statistics:
  1. Log onto the monitored DataPower appliance administrative console.
  2. Select Status > Connection > Transaction Rate.
  3. Click Show all domains and ensure all domains show tables and data.
  4. If any domains display Statistics is currently disabled, click disabled, set the Administrative state to enabled and click Apply.

To complete the configuration steps on the DataPower appliances, see Configuring DataPower Appliances.