Release notes - IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Version 7.4

Description

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus is a service level management (SLM) system that delivers real-time, centralized monitoring of complex networks and IT domains.

IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus version 7.4 brings enhanced functionality to both users and administrators, helping deliver significant benefits in the following areas:

Mobility

Mobile and remote operations staff gain enhanced event management content on mobile devices.

Cloud

Improves service assurance across the virtual and cloud environment with extended VMWare hypervisor and server event correlation.

Integration

Coverage of standards is expanded. Adoption of the W3C Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) initiative enables smoother and powerful operational support systems integration. This open integration capability can be used by IBM, partners, customers, and third-party operational support systems providers.

Bidirectional integration from ObjectServers to probes is provided. This integration means that probe actions can be dynamically driven from ObjectServers. Greater flexibility for automations is provided. Through the updated SNMP Probe, SNMP GET, and SET actions can be driven to managed devices, to assist with problem resolution and help reduce mean time to resolution.

Consumability

Provides rapid integration of event data into business and service views in self-service dashboards that are tailored to operations and management needs.

Lowers cost of ownership through centralized configuration of IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus environments. Configurations can be deployed to multiple targets. The MIB-Manager component is added to the product to support the generation of SNMP rules.

Provides easier maintenance with index management supported in the administration client, which includes advice on the selectivity of a column.

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4 offers the following new features.

Tip: When you click any of the More information links for the new features, you can use the Show in Table of Contents button to locate the topic within the navigation tree, and to access nested topics (if available).

Server components

Items that are preceded by a fix pack graphical cue (for example, ) indicate a function or feature that is only available in the specified fix pack. The function or feature is not present in the base version of the product.

Enhanced registertarget() function for probe rules files

The registertarget() function in probes rules files now reads the %Server and %ServerBackup properties, which are defined in the properties file for a probe. Previously, the names of a primary ObjectServer and backup ObjectServer had to be literal strings between double quotation marks. This restriction made the rules file specific to the registered ObjectServers. Now, a probe rules file that declares the %Server and %ServerBackup can be used generically, for any instance of a probe.

More information: Registering target ObjectServers and setting targets for alerts.

Enhanced support for indexes

In Netcool/OMNIbus Administrator, the functionality to create indexes on ObjectServer tables is extended. Indexes reduce the need for full table scans and to aid in faster retrieval of data when SQL queries are run. You can now use the Netcool/OMNIbus Administrator to create indexes and delete indexes. Before you create indexes, make sure that you are familiar with the indexing guidelines. Additionally, you can now decide whether a table column makes a good candidate for indexing: index selectivity. The index selectivity is a rating that determines the effectiveness of an index. The selectivity rating of an index is determined by the ratio of the number of distinct values in the table to the number of rows in the table. The selectivity rating of an index is high if few rows contain the same value, and low if multiple rows contain the same value. When deciding which table columns to index, also consider the type of SQL queries that are being run on the table.

Netcool/OMNIbus now also supports the use of indexes by subselect clauses in SQL queries.

More information: Indexing guidelines, Indexing table columns, How to use selectivity as a guideline for indexing table columns.

ObjectServer flood control

Flood control enables the ObjectServer to calculate the total load it is receiving from connected clients. When a defined threshold load is exceeded, the clients are instructed to take remedial action. Two metrics are used to calculate the load on the ObjectServer from connected clients. An average is calculated over a specified time period and thresholds are applied to determine whether the ObjectServer should activate flood control. By default, for each metric, the average is calculated every 60 seconds, over a 300 second period. If the average load is in excess of either threshold, then flood control is invoked and an event is raised.By default, flood control mode is deactivated again at the point when processing time falls below both defined thresholds, and flood control has been activated for 300 seconds. A resolution event is raised when flood control is deactivated.

More information: Protecting the ObjectServer against event floods.

Probe registration

A new virtual ObjectServer table now tracks dynamic runtime information about probes. When a probe connects to the ObjectServer, it registers information about itself in the registry.probes table. The probe controls what data is entered into the table.

Simnet Probe

The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Simnet Probe (nco_p_simnet) is now an installable feature. It runs in 64-bit mode on supported 64-bit operating systems. You can use this probe to automatically generate incidents and simulate network events. This probe is useful for testing your Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus installation.

Note: From Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4 onwards, always use the version of the probe that is bundled with Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus. The stand-alone version available from IBM® Passport Advantage® does not work.

For more information about the probe, see the Network Availability Management information center. Navigate to the Netcool/OMNIbus top-level node, expand the Netcool/OMNIbus probes and TSMs subnode, and then expand the Universal subnode.

Netcool MIB Manager

Netcool MIB Manager (nco_mibmanager) is a new installable feature. You can use MIB Manager to parse Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) management information base (MIB) files, from which you can generate Netcool® rules files. MIB Manager can be used as an enhanced replacement for the mib2rules utility. Common base SNMP MIB files and RFC SNMP MIB files are provided with MIB Manager. MIB Manager offers the following functions:

• Automatic resolution of MIB dependencies
• Grouping of MIB files into devices
• Configuration of traps with predefined values for certain ObjectServer fields
• Generation of test traps to send to the Probe for SNMP
• Selection MIBs and MIB objects for exporting to rules files in different formats.

More information: Netcool MIB Manager.

Netcool MIB Manager command-line utility

A command-line utility for Netcool MIB Manager is provided for importing MIB data and exporting rules files. You can use the command-line utility to issue commands manually or to call them programmatically.

Important: If you ran the MIB Manager graphical utility before you installed Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4 fix pack 1, use the -clean argument when you run the command-line utility for the first time.

More information: MIB Manager command-line options

Support for the Linux V3.x kernel

V7.4 of Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus is supported on Linux V3.x kernels.

Support on 64-bit operating systems

The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus server components are now shipped on 64-bit operating systems for Linux and Solaris. Every native application that is shipped with the server components is now a 64-bit application. Compatibility with previous, 32-bit applications is provided. All clients from previous versions can connect to a 64-bit ObjectServer. A 32-bit event list can display events that are in a 64-bit V7.4 ObjectServer. A 64-bit JRE is shipped. New directories are provided for binary files, libraries, and modules. These directories are listed in the following table, with the equivalent directories for a 32-bit Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus system.

Table 1. 64-bit directories and 32-bit directories for Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus binary files, libraries, and modules

64-bit directory	32-bit directory
$NCHOME/platform/arch/bin64	$NCHOME/platform/arch/bin
$NCHOME/platform/arch/lib64	$NCHOME/platform/arch/lib
$NCHOME/platform/arch/module64	$NCHOME/platform/arch/module
$NCHOME/omnibus/platform/arch/bin64	$NCHOME/omnibus/platform/arch/bin
$NCHOME/omnibus/platform/arch/lib64	$NCHOME/omnibus/platform/arch/lib
$NCHOME/omnibus/platform/arch/module64	$NCHOME/omnibus/platform/arch/module
$NCHOME/omnibus/platform/arch/probes64	$NCHOME/omnibus/platform/arch/probes

64-bit probe binary files are installed into $NCHOME/omnibus/platform/arch/probes64. A 64-bit JRE is installed into $NCHOME/platform/arch/jre_1.6.7.

Note: Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus does not provide 32-bit operating system libraries for Linux x86_64 operating systems. Probes and gateways, and other products such as IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition, might need 32-bit libraries. Before you install such components or products, ensure that the required 32-bit libraries are on the operating system.

On 64-bit operating systems, the ObjectServer can become greater in size than the process limit for 32-bit applications. Database sizes are the same for 64-bit as 32-bit. The performance of Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4 on 64-bit operating systems is comparable to the performance of the product in V7.3.1, on 32-bit operating systems.

HTTP interface for probes

You can use the HTTP interface to send commands to a probe from a remote system. A common set of remote monitoring and management functions is provided. These functions can, for example, obtain and set probe properties and request the probe to reload the rules file. The HTTP interface is implemented in the probe C library, libOpl and so it is compatible with all V7.4 probes. A single, common URI is provided. Individual probes can add specific functions to this URI. The URI supports GET, POST, and PATCH HTTP requests. The HTTP interface is disabled in the shipped product. It can be enabled by setting the associated probe properties. Additional properties control the operation of the HTTP interface. Authentication is supported but must be enabled. Security is provided through SSL authentication, which requires more configuration. The SSL authentication uses the existing Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus certificate repository.

More information: Remotely administering probes.

Rules file caching

Probes can cache the last working rules file from which the rules were read. The cache file provides a backup file for instances when probes restart and cannot read the current rules file. For example, if the file contains syntax errors. The cache file is also useful if rules files are obtained through HTTP. The cache file is stored in a persistent file. By default, this file is in $OMNIHOME/var. By default, rules file caching is disabled. The function can be enabled by setting properties in the probe. The location of the cache file can also be changed. After you enable this function, the cache file is written each time that a new, valid rules file is read. For example, when the probe is started, when the probe is forced to reread the rules file by a SIGHUP command, or through the HTTP interface. When probes are started, they attempt to read the rules file. If the rules file cannot be read, the probes can fall back to the cache file. If the cache file cannot be read, the probe exits. If you issue a SIGHUP command to a probe, the probe does not fall back to the cache file if the new rules file is invalid.

More information: Enabling caching of probe rules files.

New tool to display version information of Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus installations

A new command-line utility that is called nco_id is provided. You can use this utility to display version information about your Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus installation. The nco_id utility is useful for verifying the success of an installation or upgrade, and for gathering information about your environment for sending to IBM Software Support, if a problem occurs. The utility can output a basic or detailed set of information about your installation on the command-line interface, or to an .html or .txt file.

More information: Verifying the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus installation (UNIX and Linux), Verifying the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus installation (Windows), and Obtaining version and fix pack information.

New tool for packaging installation log files

A new command-line utility that is called nc_install_logs is provided. You can use this utility to package the log files that are created during the installation of Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus. The nc_install_logs utility is a simple way of bundling all the installation log files (and, if applicable the migration log file) if the installation or upgrade of the product fails.

More information: Viewing and packaging the installation log files (UNIX and Linux) and Viewing and packaging the installation log files (Windows).

Reports for Tivoli® Common Reporting

A set of event reports that can be viewed in IBM Tivoli Common Reporting is provided. These reports are based on the reports that were released previously on the IBM Integrated Service Management Library website. The reports display information about the events in the ObjectServer in various graphical formats. Examples of the information you can display include the number of events by severity and day, over a date range, for particular criteria. You can also display the entities, probes, locations, and so on, that generated the most events over a defined period. Use the reports to identify which parts of your network require attention or remedial action, or to monitor the response times of network operators to events. The reports are supported by the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Gateway Configuration Scripts (Reporter Mode), Tivoli Common Reporting V2.1 or later, a relational database, and the Gateway for JDBC.

More information: Importing event summary reports into Tivoli Common Reporting and Tivoli Common Reporting reports for Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus.

Monitoring of virtualized environments

Configuration is provided for setting up Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus to monitor and manage a VMware vSphere virtual environment that uses ESXi hypervisors. If you deploy this configuration, you can separate the important root-cause faults on your network from the symptom events. In addition to a correctly configured ObjectServer, Netcool/OMNIbus Knowledge Library V3.7 and a customized Probe for SNMP are required. The VMware vSphere virtual environment must be V5.0 or later. After the configuration is applied, events from virtual machines (VMs) and physical host computers are correlated. Fault events from the VMs are matched with the faults from the hypervisor and the hypervisor events are marked as root causes. The severity of the root cause events is raised to 5. The matching VM events are marked as symptoms and the severity of these events is reduced to 2. This reduction in severity is made because the symptom events are resolved after the resolution of the root-cause events. Event list tools are provided to visualize the relationship between the symptom and root-cause events. These tools can be used on the desktop event list and in the new Event Viewer in the Web GUI. The Event Viewer uses the event relationship function to display root-cause and symptom events in a tree structure.

The SNMP configuration (to be used in combination with Netcool/OMNIbus Knowledge Library) is in $NCHOME/omnibus/extensions/virtualization/snmp.

The IBM Tivoli Monitoring configuration is in $NCHOME/omnibus/extensions/virtualization/itm.

The GUI and ObjectServer configuration common to both extensions is in $NCHOME/omnibus/extensions/virtualization/common.

More information: Configuring event management in a virtual environment using the Probe for SNMP and IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Knowledge Library and Enabling correlation of virtual management events in the Web GUI.

HTTP interface and OSLC interface to the ObjectServer

As a language-independent means of accessing ObjectServer data, two HTTP-based application programming interfaces (APIs) are provided: A lightweight API that is called the HTTP interface and a resource-based interface that is called the OSLC interface. Both APIs are hosted in the ObjectServer and use the same technology as the HTTP interface for probes. Both interfaces can be enabled and configured by setting properties in the ObjectServer. Both interfaces can be secured by an HTTPS connection. Access to the URI is authenticated by a known ObjectServer user through basic HTTP authentication. The HTTP interface provides access to table data in the ObjectServer through a structured URI format that uses HTTP. POST, PATCH, GET, and DELETE requests are supported against table URIs or row URIs. For content, application/json messages are supported. Table row data is returned and accepted through a single common JSON message format that is called a row set. A URI that represents an SQL command factory can be used to execute arbitrary SQL commands. The OSLC interface is an event server provider that presents a resource-linked data view of events and also the associated journal and detail resources. Messages are exchanged in RDF and XML syntax. Through the OSLC interface, ObjectServers can be registered in the Jazz™ for Service Management service provider registry.

Restriction: Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4 does not include Jazz for Service Management. Obtain and install Jazz for Service Management separately.

More information: Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus ObjectServer HTTP interface and Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus ObjectServer OSLC interface. This documentation is also available in PDF format. To obtain the IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus ObjectServer HTTP Interface Reference Guide and the IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus ObjectServer OSLC Interface Reference Guide, see PDF documentation set.

IBM Prerequisite Scanner

The IBM Prerequisite Scanner is supported for use against the server components. Use the Prerequisite Scanner to verify that your operating system is supported, that the required third-party packages are installed, and that the host computer has sufficient disk space, CPU and memory to install Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus. The Prerequisite Scanner is not supported for use against the Web GUI. For more information about the prerequisites for installing the Web GUI, see the planning section in this information center.

More information: IBM Prerequisite Scanner and Planning for installation or upgrade.

discarded condition in probe rules file

A new condition is added to probe rules files that you can use to test whether the alert that the rules file is processing is flagged for discarding. If the alert is flagged for discarding, the condition returns a TRUE value. If the alert is not flagged for discarding, a FALSE value is returned.

More information: Elements and event functions.

New BufferFlushInterval common probe property

A new common property, BufferFlushInterval, is provided that enables you to specify an interval (in seconds) that a probe waits before flushing alerts to the ObjectServer. This property limits the time that alerts wait in the buffer while the buffer is still within the maximum size specified by the BufferSize property.

More information: Common probe properties and command-line options.

ALTER FILE command added to action list for triggers and procedures

The ALTER FILE SQL command has been added to the list of available action items for triggers and procedures. This enables you to use triggers and procedures to dynamically manage files.

More information: Example: Trigger to truncate a file.

SKIP clause added to SELECT statement

A SKIP clause has been added to the SQL SELECT statement. This enables you to specify that the first n rows are excluded from a result set.

More information: Basic (scalar) SELECT

Enforce TLS 1.2 encryption in FIPS 140-2 mode

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus allows you to enforce Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 encryption in FIPS 140-2 mode, as recommended by NIST SP800-131.

More information: Configuring the server components for SP800-131 enhanced encryption

Support for LDAP queries across multiple organizational units

New functionality enables LDAP queries that allow the ObjectServer to authenticate users in multiple organizational units (OU). Query searches on Microsoft Active Directory SAM account names (sAMAccountName) are also supported.

More information:

• Configuring Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus to use LDAP for external authentication
• LDAP properties

Updates to the HTTP interface and OSLC interface

The ObjectServer HTTP and OSLC interfaces are updated as follows:

• Support for the Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) standard.
• Support for MIME type settings and HTTP headers: A new JSON configuration file is added to the library. The file is $NCHOME/omnibus/etc/libnhttpd.json. Use this file to control the response settings of the HTTP interface as follows:
  • Assign MIME types to file extensions. If a file served from the HTTP interface when file serving is enabled, the HTTP Content-Type header is assigned the MIME type that is specified for files of that extension.
  • Set user-defined HTTP headers to be always returned in all HTTP responses from the HTTP interface.
  • Override standard CORS HTTP headers, for example Access-Control-Allow-Headers and Acccess-Control-Expose-Headers, to allow extra HTTP headers in the response.
  To enable use of the file, a new property that is called NHttpd.ConfigFile is added to the ObjectServer and to any V7.4 probe that supports bidirectional communication with the ObjectServer. Ensure that the value of this property is set to the location of the libnhttpd.json file.

Additionally, the ObjectServer OSLC interface is updated as follows:

• The RDF/XML payload for the Event, Journal, and Detail query capability is changed to provide the members resource reference list in a Collection resource instance, instead of a ResponseInfo resource instance. This change is made to ensure compliance with version 2 of the OLSC core specification. This change is the default response format. The previous format was incorrect. If you need to retain the previous format for compatibility with an earlier version, or to migrate to the new, correct format, set the NRestOS.OSLCRDFMsgFormat property in the ObjectServer to MIGRATION. This setting ensures that both formats are supported. The OSLC interface generates the members resource reference list in the ResponseInfo resource instance and in a Collection resource instance. The MIGRATION setting can impair performance, so migrate to the new format as soon as possible.
• Resource and query URIs now support the oslc.properties URI parameter.

More information: More information: Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus ObjectServer HTTP interface and Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus ObjectServer OSLC interface.

X-in-Y event correlation

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus environments often have devices on their networks that produce many alerts. A lot of these alerts represent problems where performance thresholds have been breached, for example, a switch hitting its maximum bandwidth capacity during a peak period. These temporary threshold breaches are often expected and the business policy is to ignore them unless the breach is sustained for a prolonged but specific period of time. If such alerts are sustained beyond these specified time periods however, operators must take action. This is a classic 'X' in 'Y' event rate scenario where the operator is only interested in alerts that occur more than X times in Y seconds. When the event rate breaches the threshold, the event should be escalated. Until the threshold is breached however, the events do not need to be acted upon.

More information: Enabling X in Y event rate metrics

Updates to the OSLC interface

Event Collection Identifier Pattern (ECIP) capabilities are included in the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus OSLC Provider. These capabilities enable an administrator to assign a query pattern to various resource types that are known in the Jazz for Service Management resource registry. The resource types can be registered for the provision of an events URI in reconciled resource records. To upgrade an ObjectServer that is running the OSLC interface with the components that are required for ECIP support, apply the following SQL file to the ObjectServer: $OMNIHOME/etc/update74to74fp3.sql.

More information: Upgrading ObjectServer schemas to V7.4 schemas (UNIX and Linux), Upgrading ObjectServer schemas to V7.4 schemas (Windows), and Adding event collection identifier patterns.

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus self-monitoring

Self-monitoring enables you to monitor a range of the key performance indicators (KPI) within the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus and Web GUI infrastructure. The performance data is reported as synthetic events and can be viewed in the Event List or in a Web GUI dashboard. The event data is also written to a self-monitoring log file.

More information: Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus self-monitoring.

Updates to the OSLC interface and HTTP interfaces

Chunked transfer encoding is implemented to stream JSON and RDF/XML response payloads to clients as chunks. This enables you to better control large result sets.

More information: Chunked transfer encoding.

If IBM Jazz for Service Management is deployed in the environment, you can configure the ObjectServer to participate in the OSLC Single Sign-On (SSO) environment via the Jazz for Service Management authentication services and LTPA tokens via its security services component.

More information: Configuring single sign-on with Jazz SM.

Web GUI component

Items that are preceded by a fix pack graphical cue (for example, ) indicate a function or feature that is only available in the specified fix pack. The function or feature is not present in the base version of the product.

Event Viewer

The Event Viewer is a new means of viewing events in the Web GUI. It is implemented by JavaScript, so client systems do not need the Java™ Runtime Environment to be installed to use this event list. In addition to displaying events in linear list, the Event Viewer can display the details of any event. It can also group events by attributes such as location, and to show the relationships between events. The Event Viewer can also be started from Tivoli Integrated Portal events and wires.

More information: Customizing Event Viewers and Managing events in the Event Viewer.

View Builder tabbed interface

The View Builder now has a tabbed user interface for creating and editing views. Replacing the previous user interface is now a dialog that contains the following tabs:

• Display columns. On this tab, you can define the columns to include in a view, whether a column is locked. You can also define the order that the columns appear in an event list.
• Sort columns. On this tab, you can define how entries in an event list are sorted. For example, by their severity.
• Group columns. On this tab, you can define groupings to organize entries in an Event Viewer.
• Relationships. On this tab, you can choose a previously defined relationship in order to show how events relate to each other in an Event Viewer.

More information: Setting up views for event lists.

Event grouping

Event grouping is a way of organizing the display of events in the Event Viewer by the values in their fields. For example, events can be grouped by the location of their occurrence. Event grouping makes the event list easier to manage and use. The administrator can define multiple levels of grouping. For example, events could be grouped by their location and then by their severity. The administrator can set the maximum number of levels for grouping, and the default value is three.

When grouping is in use, the Event Viewer includes an additional grouping panel next to the events area. This panel shows the top-level grouping criteria (for example, location), the number of events in that group and the highest severity. When only one level of grouping is in use, and the group is selected, the events in that group appear in the events area. For multiple levels of grouping, a plus sign appears next to each top-level group. Click this icon to display the second level of grouping. If there is a further level, this level also has a plus sign next to it. Clicking any of the grouping levels displays the events in that group in the events area of the Event Viewer.

Defining event groupings is done through the View Builder. The administrator uses the Group Columns tab to define the number of levels of grouping and the column to use for each level. This additional facility is for the Event Viewer only and does not affect other event lists such as the Active Event List (AEL). The user applies event grouping to an Event Viewer by selecting a view that has grouping defined.

More information: Event groupings.

Event relationships

Event relationships enable the Event Viewer to organize events on the list by the relationship between them. For example, the relationship might be root cause and symptom. When a relationship is applied to an Event Viewer, the appearance of the events area changes to a tree-like appearance. At the top level are the main events that determine the relationship, for example root cause events. Events beneath those top-level events are the subsidiary ones, for example, symptoms.

The Web GUI contains facilities for creating and managing event relationships. The administrator can define as many relationships as a site requires. The organization of an event list by relationships is done through the View Builder. The administrator uses the Relationships tab to select a relationship to apply to this view. When the viewer selects such a view, the display of events changes to reflect the selected relationship. This facility is for the Event Viewer only and does not affect other event lists.

More information: Defining event relationships, Organizing an event list by relationships, and Using a list organized by relationships.

Group filters

This release introduces a new feature of group filters. In previous releases, event filters could be shared by all users or specific users only. Now, event filters can be associated with one or more user groups. As a result, only single copy of the filter is needed, simplifying filter management. In addition, a group filter becomes available to a user when they are joined to a group. Similarly, a group filter becomes unavailable when users are no longer a member of the groups to which the filter is assigned.

More information: Setting up views for event lists.

Mobile Event Dashboard

The mobile Event Dashboard includes a version of the Event Dashboard that can be displayed on mobile devices. You can make the summary event data that is displayed on the Event Dashboard available to Web GUI users on mobile devices, or in a browser. A URL is copied and sent to users of mobile devices in an email or SMS message. You can also send the URL to any other user of a browser who needs access to the Event Dashboard page. When the user accesses this URL the mobile version of the Event Dashboard displays. Alternatively, you can scan a QR Code by using the camera and QR Code reader on your mobile device. Once the QR Code is recognized, your browser launches automatically to display the associated URL. You can tap on a row in the event list that is displayed in the Event Dashboard to display information that relates to that event. To display full information for an event, tap the event, and then tap the Fields, Details, or Journal tabs. A maximum of 100 events are displayed at any one time. To display any additional events, scroll down to the bottom of the event list, and tap Show more events. Each time that you tap Show more events an additional 100 events are displayed.

More information: Displaying summary event data on mobile devices.

Additional features of the Web GUI Administration API (WAAPI)

This release adds the following features to WAAPI:

• Event grouping: The administrator can add and modify event groupings to any view.
• Event relationships: The administrator can create, edit, remove, and list event relationships and can apply a relationship to any view.
• Group filters: The administrator can create, edit, remove, and list group filters.

More information: View requests, Filter requests, and Relationship requests.

Installation, uninstallation, and upgrade

The following features are new:

• An instance of the Web GUI version 7.3.1 running on the Tivoli Integrated Portal V2.2 can be upgraded in place to Web GUI V7.4. In addition, the upgrade can be fully rolled back to the original version.
• There are now 64-bit versions of the Web GUI for all operating systems.
• When you specify the context root of the Web GUI during installation, the installer can specify a value of /.
• The names of the installation and uninstallation log files have new, shorter names:
  • OMNIbusWebGUI_Install-00.log
  • OMNIbusWebGUI_Uninstall-00.log

More information: Installing, upgrading, and uninstalling the Web GUI component.

Length of a data source name

The name that is applied to a data source can now contain up to 29 characters.

New features in the Tivoli Integrated Portal

This version of the Web GUI runs in Tivoli Integrated Portal version 2.2. This version of the Tivoli Integrated Portal introduces the following features:

Freeform page creation

Users with appropriate permissions can now create pages in the portal by using a self-service dashboard. On a self-service dashboard, you can select available portlets from a portlet palette and drag them to the page content area. Multiple portlets can be arranged on a page in a flexible and freeform manner. Such users can still create pages by using the classic grid-based method of creating pages.

Restriction: If you overlay portlets on top of another, so that one portlet is only partially visible beneath another portlet, limitations apply. If the portlet underneath is applet-based and the portlet on top is HTML-based, the applet-based portlet is visible through the HTML portlet. This limitation shows when you arrange the portlets on the page. The following Web GUI portlets are applet-based: Active Event List (AEL), Maps, and Event Dashboard. For example, if you arrange an Event Viewer over an AEL, the AEL is visible through the Event Viewer. To avoid this problem, arrange applet-based portlets and HTML-based portlets alongside each other, not over each other.

Customize portlet wizard

Tivoli Integrated Portal includes a customize portlet wizard that allows a portal administrator to select an existing base portlet and configure custom settings for a copy of the base portlet. Once configured, the newly customized portlet is made available in the portlet palette and can be added to freeform pages or classic pages.

Log out active users

Administrators can now search for and log out active users.

Access support information for pages and portlets

Administrators can access support information for pages and their portlets, for an individual portlet on a particular page.

Custom wires can be applied to different portlets

Custom wires can be created with the “NodeClickedOn” event for Maps, Event Dashboards, AEL, Event Viewer, and Gauges portlets. For example, when an Event Viewer and an AEL are on the same page, the AEL is updated to show the event in the Event Viewer. Transformations can also be applied to the custom wires.

NIST SP800-131 support

You can configure the Web GUI to support the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) SP800-131a security standard. SP800-131a requires longer key lengths and stronger cryptography than other standards such as FIPS 140-2. SP800-131a requires Transport Layer Security (TLS) V1.2. You can run SP800-131a in two modes: transition and strict. Use the transition mode to move gradually towards a strict enforcement of SP800-131a. The transition mode allows the use of weaker keys and algorithms than strict enforcement. The transition mode also allows the use of TLS v1.0 and v1.1. Use strict mode for a new configuration to enforce TLS 1.2 immediately.

Before you configure the Web GUI for NIST SP800-131a, apply fix pack 2 of the server components, configure the server components to enforce TLS 1.2 (see the section Enforce TLS 1.2 encryption in FIPS 140-2 mode in these release notes), and use an ObjectServer for user authentication.

More information:Enabling NIST SP800-131a encyrption

Integration with Dashboard Application Services Hub

You can visualize event data from the Web GUI in the Dashboard Application Services Hub console that is included in Jazz for Service Management. The Web GUI includes a data provider that supplies Dashboard Application Services Hub with event data. The data provider exposes event data in several datasources, which are groups of data sets. Data sets have parameters that controls which event data is exposed, and the view of the event data. To configure Dashboard Application Services Hub, create a remote connection to the Web GUI host. It is important to consider the user access policy to event data in Dashboard Application Services Hub. Finally, create dashboards in Dashboard Application Services Hub. The remote connection exposes the datasources that are provided through theWeb GUI data provider. Web GUI event data is fully supported in table widgets. The data is read-only.

More information: Integrating the Web GUI with Dashboard Application Services Hub and Jazz for Service Management information center

Data source self-monitoring

You can configure the Web GUI to record statistics about the responsiveness of the data source, the effectiveness of the cache that stores event data, and the utilization of the Java Virtual Memory (JVM). To enable this self-monitoring functionality, make changes to the data source definitions in the ncwDataSourceDefinitions.xml file. When self-monitoring is enabled, system statistics are periodically checked. If a threshold breach is detected, an event is sent to the current primary ObjectServer that is defined in the data source. If information events are configured, an event is raised in the data source for each granularity period. The event contains the statistics that were gathered for the monitored system service.

More information: Enabling self-monitoring

Defining prompts and metrics

You can use new pages to configure metrics and tool prompts. Metrics are the measurements used to determine a quantifiable value from tables or properties in the ObjectServer. Metrics determine the data that is displayed on gauges. Prompts are included in tools and are displayed as dialog boxes that require input from operators after tools are executed.

More information: Defining prompts and Defining metrics

Visibility of system filters in event lists

The setting that controls whether system filters are available in the Filters lists of the AEL and Event Viewer toolbars is moved from the portlet preferences to the user preferences. As an administrator, you can now control whether system filters are available across all users by selecting the Show system filters in event lists check box. By default, it is cleared, which means the system filters are not available to users. The check boxes that were previously in the portlet preferences are removed. Also, the showsystemfilters parameter that controls the availability of system filters in AELs that are created from SmartPages is disabled and replaced by the setting in the user preferences.

More information: Changing user preferences and insert:AEL command.

Announcement

Compatibility issues with earlier versions

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4 components are compatible with the components of Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus versions 7.2, 7.2.1, 7.3, and 7.3.1. Any exceptions and workarounds (where applicable), are documented here.

Deprecated or dropped functionality

The LEL and Table View event lists are deprecated although, they remain available as portlets which can be selected when you create new pages. They are replaced by the new Event Viewer.

On UNIX and Linux, if you need to install the process agent startup scripts that cause process agents to automatically start on reboot, you are prompted to set the NETCOOL_LICENSE_FILE environment variable because some older probes still require this setting. You can either press Enter to accept the default value of 27000@localhost, or specify another value that reflects the settings for your configured license server.

In the Event Integration Facility (EIF) toolkit, the state correlation functionality is deprecated.

Probe and gateway dependencies

Ensure that you download the latest version of probe and gateway components for use with V7.4. Do not use the V7 probe bundle PINSTALL function.

Any dependency patches that are required for probes and gateways are documented in the README.txt and description.txt files that are available with the download packages. This information is also available in the individual probe and gateway publications in the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Knowledge Center at: http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSSHTQ/welcome.

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus still provides 32-bit libraries so that 32-bit probes and gateways can be installed into a 64-bit Linux or Solaris installation. 32-bit probes from previous versions can send events to a 64-bit V7.4 ObjectServer.

Compatibility of ObjectServer Gateways

The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4 ObjectServer Gateways contain additional gateway mappings, which are not available in Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.2.1, or earlier, and therefore cannot be replicated. To use a Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4 ObjectServer Gateway with an earlier version of the ObjectServer, you must comment out some of the entries in the table replication definition file and map definition file.

Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus still provides 32-bit libraries so that 32-bit ObjectServer Gateways can be installed into a 64-bit Linux or Solaris installation.

Process control compatibility

The V7.4 Windows process agent cannot communicate with a V7.2, or earlier, Windows process agent. The V7.4 Windows process agent also cannot communicate with V7.2, or earlier ObjectServers.

nco_postmsg

The nco_postmsg utility is compatible with ObjectServer V7.1, or later. You can install this utility and then use it to connect to, and send events to, ObjectServer V7.1, or later.

Tivoli Event Integration Facility toolkit compatibility

Timestamp formats in log files

Time stamps are shown in the ISO 8601 format in log files for the ObjectServer, proxy server, nco_dbinit utility, probe, ObjectServer Gateway, and other gateways. For compatibility with earlier versions, you can use the OldTimeStamp property to switch to the old time stamp format used in V7.2.1, or earlier. You might find this property useful if you already have tools in place for parsing log files. Note that the nco_dbinit log file time stamps cannot be switched to the old format because this utility does not have an OldTimeStamp property.

Date and time formatting and parsing

In Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.2.1, or earlier, the POSIX strftime() function is used in date and time conversions. For the ObjectServer SQL functions (to_char, to_date, and to_time), and the probe rules file functions (datetotime and timetodate), you can define an output format by specifying a format string that consists of zero or more conversion specifiers. For example, the POSIX format for output can be defined in the ObjectServer to_time function as follows:

to_time('Thu Dec 11 2003', '%a %b %d %Y')

In Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.3, and later, the International Components for Unicode (ICU) libraries use the Locale Data Markup Language (LDML) for date and time patterns. The characters used in these patterns are defined at http://userguide.icu-project.org/formatparse/datetime. Use these date and time patterns wherever possible in your ObjectServer SQL functions and probe rules file functions to obtain your required results.

To maintain compatibility with earlier versions, there is continued support for the POSIX format in the date and time functions for the ObjectServer and probe rules files. Note, however, that the POSIX format is not fully compatible with the parsing technology used for LDML date and time patterns. Some POSIX formats are also not supported. When fully compatible with the parsing technology, identical output is obtained for the POSIX format in V7.3.1 (and later) as in earlier versions. When partially compatible, variations can occur in the output obtained for the POSIX format across product versions. For example, the following variations can be obtained for the same date and time:

Result for POSIX %c format in V7.3.1 (and later): Monday, July 20, 2009 10:18:43 AM United Kingdom Time
Result for POSIX %c format in earlier versions: Mon Jul 20 10:18:43 2009

Result for POSIX %x format in V7.3.1 (and later): Monday, July 20, 2009
Result for POSIX %x format in earlier versions: 07/20/09

Multi-byte character string processing

Support is provided to handle invalid characters during multi-byte character string processing. If an invalid character is encountered, the invalid character is substituted with a question mark (?), and processing continues. A warning message is also recorded in the log file about the invalid character.

Accelerated event notification and the Web GUI

The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Accelerated Event Notification (AEN) facility can display events in an Active Event List of the Web GUI. Versions of Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus earlier than V7.4 can display events in Web GUI V7.4 only if the Web GUI was installed with the default context root.

Tivoli Integrated Portal versions

System requirements

For information about hardware and software compatibility, see the detailed system requirements document at:

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=203&uid=swg21067036

Additional considerations for Windows

Microsoft Windows Installer 3.0, 3.1, or later versions are required on your system before you can install Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus.

Additional considerations for Linux

For information about the packages that are required for Linux operating systems, see Supported operating systems.

The desktop event list is not supported on Linux on System z.

Additional considerations for Linux on System z

Additional considerations for HP-UX Itanium

The desktop event list is not supported on HP-UX Itanium.

Installing Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4

For step-by-step installation instructions, see the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Information Center at http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSSHTQ/welcome.

Known problems at eGA

• Problems in the server-side components
• Problems with the Web GUI component
• Globalization problems

Problems in the server-side components

Problems in the server-side components that were known at the time of eGA

Problems that are preceded with are resolved in fix pack 1 of the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.4 server-side components. If you apply fix pack 1, you can ignore these problems. If you did not apply fix pack 1, these problems are present on your system.

Installation failure on HP-UX

When you run the installer on HP-UX operating systems, the installer fails with an error message that states that the gzip command could not be located. To resolve this problem, add the location of gzip on your system to the $PATH environment variable.

Xlib error message after silent installation on Solaris 10 and 11

On the Solaris 10 and 11 operating systems, Xlib error messages are displayed after a silent installation of Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus when the following conditions are true:

• The $DISPLAY environment variable is set.
• $DISPLAY points to a non-functioning X-server.

One of the following error messages is displayed:

Xlib: connection to "example_host" refused by server
Xlib: No protocol specified

No protocol specified

The conditions that cause these messages to be displayed do not affect the success of the silent installation. The messages can be safely ignored. To perform a silent installation without receiving these messages, unset the $DISPLAY environment variable before you start the silent installation.

Problems with the installer help

The following problems with the installer help were known at the time of eGA:

• When you run the installer on UNIX and Linux operating systems, a temporary directory is created in /tmp with an approximate size of 230 MB. This directory is deleted after a successful installation. However, the directory is not deleted when the installer is run to view the install.bin help text only. The /tmp directory might eventually exceed the available free space and cause future installation attempts to fail.
• On the Windows 7 operating system, online help information is not displayed when the install.exe -h command is run.

Process agent daemon (nco_pad) fails to start on SUSE Linux 11

On SUSE Linux 11, nco_pad fails to start when the following conditions are true:

• SUSE Linux 11 is set up to authenticate users from /etc/shadow and, if the user is not found in /etc/shadow, to authenticate the user by using LDAP.
• nco_pad is configured to use SSL.
• The nco_pad -authenticate option is set to UNIX.

Clients fail to connect to nco_pad and the following message is written to the log:

Error: Unable to access user 'example_user' in the /etc/shadow password file. Login Rejected.

This problem is caused by an error in GSKIT.

A workaround for this problem is to set the LD_PRELOAD environment variable to /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.0.9.8 immediately before you start nco_pad and then unset the value immediately after nco_pad starts.

Missing icons on Windows Server 2008 R2

When you run the installer wizard, if you click Browse to change the default Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus installation directory, the standard Windows icons at the top of the file browser dialog box are not displayed.

Problems with the MIB Manager

The following problems with the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus MIB Manager were known at the time of eGA:

• MIB Manager fails to start on some HP-UX Itanium systems. To fix this problem, add the following directory to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable: /opt/hp-gcc/lib.
• On Solaris operating systems before you access the online help by clicking Help, a web browser must be running. Otherwise, the online help does not open. This behavior is caused by an open defect (376208) in the Eclipse platform.

Problems with probe registration through proxy servers

The following problems with probe registration through proxy servers were known at the time of eGA:

• When a probe is connected to the ObjectServer through a proxy server, the connection ID of the probe can change over time. The connection ID might therefore be registered incorrectly. This problem can occur because the proxy server optimizes its ObjectServer connections and dynamically shuffles probe connections around. However, the connection ID stored in the registry.probes table remains the same. It is not updated when a probe is moved to another connection on the same proxy server.

  A workaround for this problem is to not use a proxy server in multitiered deployments.

• If you run the kill -9 command to stop a probe process, and the probe is connected through a proxy server, the existing probe data in the registry.probes table is retained, and is not refreshed when the probe is restarted. This problem does not occur when a probe process is stopped by the kill command without the -9 option.

External procedure set_probe_prop_http fails with 'localhost' setting on Windows

On Windows operating systems, the set_probe_prop_http (or set_probe_prop_https) external procedure fails to invoke the nco_setprobeprop utility. nco_pad writes the following message to its error log:

'Oct 25 11:35:21 2012: Error: Request to start process set_probe_prop_http on unknown host localhost.'

If you encounter this problem, use the following workaround:

1. In Netcool/OMNIbus Administrator (nco_config), select the Automation menu button.
2. Choose Procedures to open the Procedures pane.
3. Select the set_probe_prop_http procedure.
4. Right-click the procedure and choose Edit procedure.
5. In the External Procedure Details dialog box, change the value of the Host field to the host name of the machine where the procedure is run.

The agent name is not captured for VMWare image restart and reboot events

When you restart or reboot a VMWare virtual environment, the agent name for the event, as returned by the SNMP Probe (nco_mttrapd), is displayed as Generic-Unknown in the event list.

SSL authentication fails when curl is used to request data from a bidirectional probe

SSL authentication fails when you use curl to request data from a probe HTTPS interface. The following error message is written to the probe log file:

[NCRYPT]: Function 'NCOSSLSocWrite()' failed. (rc=4)

A workaround for this problem is to use the nco_http utility included with Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus to make the request over an HTTPS connection.

Probe raw capture file increases in size regardless of MaxRawFileSize setting

Probes that use the 64-bit version of the libOpl library fail to roll over to a new raw capture file when the maximum file size specified by the MaxRawFileSize property is reached. Only a single raw capture file is created, which continues to increase in size as raw data is captured.

nco_probeeventfactory fails to process empty name-value pairs on Windows

On Windows operating systems, the nco_probeeventfactory utility fails to process empty name-value pairs that are enclosed within double quotation marks. For example, the following entry causes an error: hostname="".

A workaround for this problem is to enclose empty name-value pairs within single quotation marks, for example: hostname=''.

Probes fail to start when the rules cache file exceeds 1 GB

When you enable rules file caching, probe rules files are cached when they exceed 1 GB. When the original rules file is removed, the probe fails to restart when the cached rules file is very large or when its lookup table has a large number of rows.

Errors similar to the following are logged in the probe log file:

Error: E-UNK-000-000: Failed to allocate memory. (Requested size was 18 bytes)

Problems with the Web GUI component

Problems in the Web GUI component that were known at the time of eGA:

Installation fails with an exception

If the installation of the Web GUI fails, check the de_trace.log file for the following entries:

Caused by: java.util.zip.ZipException: invalid entry compressed size
(expected 1332 but got 1306 bytes)

If you find this entry, apply the fix that is described at http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21615916.

An incorrect Tivoli Integrated Portal URL is returned by the GUI installer on Windows

When you specify a forward slash (/) as the context root, the GUI installer returns an incorrect Tivoli Integrated Portal URL after an installation. The installer appends the string ${RootContext} to the URL, for example: http://sqavm122:16310${RootContext}. The correct URL in this example is http://sqavm122:16310.

Problems with the Event Viewer

The following problems with the Event Viewer were known at the time of eGA. These problems occur on all supported browsers:

• This problem occurs when you use one or more severity filters to restrict events by severity. An error message is displayed if the severity filter or filters retrieve more than 10,000 events. The severity filters are the color-coded icons on the summary toolbar. To avoid this error, do not click a severity filter or a combination of severity filters that retrieves more than 10,000 events. The number of events that have each severity is displayed next to each severity icon.
• If you right-click a row of the Event Viewer and click Copy, the severity of the event is omitted when you paste the data into another application, for example a text file. The following example shows a sample of the event data that is pasted:

  Severity:	
  Acknowledged:	No
  Node:	172.20.245.4	
  AlertGroup:	ITNM Monitor	
  Summary:	Default Chassis Ping/Default Chassis Ping fail for 172.20.245.4: ICMP timeout
  LastOccurrence:	27/11/2012 12:19:52
  Count:	4	
  Type:	Problem	ExpireTime:Not Set	
  Agent:	ncp_poller	
  Manager:	ITNM

• This problem occurs when a filter is applied to the Event Viewer and you switch to a different filter. The summary toolbar does not update to show the new number of events. If an event grouping is applied, the grouping also does not update. For more information about this problem and how to resolve it, see http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21618630.
• When you apply a filter, or switch to a different filter, an error message might be displayed. The error message is harmless. For more information about this problem and how to fix it, see http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21618620.

Problems with Microsoft Internet Explorer

The following problems with the Web GUI on Internet Explorer were known at the time of eGA:

Problems with Internet Explorer 8

The following problems with the Web GUI on Internet Explorer 8 were known at the time of eGA:

• This problem affects the Event Viewer, Active Event List (AEL), and the Lightweight Event List (LEL). If you resize your browser window vertically and afterward restore the browser window, the size of the event list is not restored. For example, if you reduce the size of the browser window so that the AEL list shows only a single event (if you wanted to show another user that event, for example), and then restore the browser window, the AEL remains at the reduced size and continues to show one event. To resolve this problem, refresh the browser or change the size of the portlet on the page by editing the portlet.
• The Event Viewer scroll bars do not respond to mouse clicks in the track areas. Use the scroll bar thumb or the arrows to scroll the page.
• When you resize the browser window, the horizontal scroll bar in the left pane does not appear. Also, the vertical scroll bar does not resize in proportion to the new pane size. This problem is caused by an error in Tivoli Integrated Portal.
• A warning is displayed about an unresponsive script when you scroll many events in the Event Viewer. This warning can be ignored.
• On the Portlets page, under Settings > Portlets, the Catalog column is truncated. This problem is caused by an error in Tivoli Integrated Portal.

Problems with Internet Explorer 8 and 9

The following problems with the Web GUI on Internet Explorer 8 and 9 were known at the time of eGA:

• This error occurs only on Windows operating systems. When the Event Viewer is refreshed, the color of each row, which represents the severity of the associated event, might disappear temporarily. After the refresh is completed, the row colors are restored. For more information about this problem and how to resolve it, see http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21618602.
• When you set the Event Viewer to launch as a startup page, it is displayed at a small size in the portlet at login. In addition, when the maximum number of displayable rows is exceeded, the warning message is not displayed correctly. Click the OK button to dismiss the message. This button is visible and clickable. To correct these problems, resize the browser window to reestablish the correct display size.
• When you change the Event Viewer text direction and component direction bidirectional settings to right-to-left orientation, column display can be affected. Column headers might not be displayed or columns might be misaligned in relation to the column headings.

Map page fails to load as a startup page if the context root is changed from the default

Map pages might not load if you set a map to be the startup page. The startup page is the page that is loaded when you log in to the Web GUI. This problem occurs only if you change the context root from the default of /ibm/console during installation of the Web GUI. When a user logs in, the map page does not load. You can force the map page to load by refreshing your browser.

Screen orientation affects filtering of the Event Dashboard on mobile devices

On the mobile Event Dashboard, the number of available filters that are displayed on the user interface depends on the screen orientation of the device. When you rotate the device from portrait to landscape orientation, then back to portrait, the filter tabs might not realign correctly on the screen. As a result, access to some of the filters is removed.

AEL, Event Dashboard, example maps, and Java views are inaccessible when client authentication is enabled

The problem occurs on an SSL connection between the Web GUI application programming interface (WAAPI) client and a Web GUI installation in FIPS 140–2 mode. The Active Event List (AEL), the Event Dashboard, example maps, and all views that are based on Java views are inaccessible. This problem is caused by an error in the IBM client-side JRE. The problem is being addressed by field APAR IV30725.

The Active Event List becomes unresponsive while WAAPI scripts are running

The Active Event List (AEL) can become unresponsive when a WAAPI script is running in the background. When the script finishes running, the AEL becomes responsive again.

Pressing F5 affects the display of Event Dashboard portlets

This problem occurs on pages to which an Event Dashboard portlet is added in addition to other portlets. The display of the Event Dashboard is affected when you press F5. An extra scroll bar appears and content scrolls off the screen. A workaround for this problem is to close the portlet and restart it.

Right-to-left text direction does not work on freeform LEL pages

This problem occurs when you added a Lightweight Event List (LEL) to a page that is created in freeform mode. When you choose right-to-left text direction and component direction in the bidirectional settings, the text direction setting is not applied to the activated LEL. In addition, the data columns are misaligned in relation to the column headings. The right-to-left component direction is successfully applied.

Tooltips missing from new FreeForm and Portlet elements

tooltips, icons, and images are not displayed for new instances of the following FreeForm and Portlet UI elements: Message, Manage Groups, and Manage Users. This problem is caused by an error in Tivoli Integrated Portal.

Information missing from the online help

The online help for the Tool Creation page omits some important information. This information is about the use of the Class field in tools when several ObjectServers ares defined as data sources. In a tool, when you select a different data source against which to run the tool, the list of available classes is updated. Any previously selected classes are cleared to allow new classes to be selected. For the most up-to-date information, see Creating event management tools.

Globalization problems

Problems with the server-side and Web GUI components in locales other than English that were known at the time of eGA:

Hungarian: Untranslated tooltip in MIB Manager

In the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus MIB Manager Console view, the tooltip for the Scroll lock icon is not translated. This problem is caused by an error in the Eclipse framework.

Arabic and Hebrew: Cannot save portlet preferences after locale set on browser

If you change the locale of your browser to a right-to-left language before you enable the bidirectional settings of the product, you are prevented from saving changes to the portlet preferences. Instead, an error message is displayed. Ensure that the directional settings of the product are configured before you change the browser locale.

Traditional Chinese: Untranslated strings in Tivoli Common Reporting

Some strings in the Parameter Selection panel of the optional Tivoli Common Reporting component are not translated. This problem is caused by an error in Tivoli Common Reporting.

Turkish: The Web GUI installation fails

Installing the Web GUI to a directory where the directory name contains an uppercase letter I fails. The problem is caused because the uppercase letter I is not valid in the Turkish locale.

Hebrew: Drop-down lists are truncated in Microsoft Internet Explorer 8

When you use the Create New Relationship panel in Internet Explorer 8, in the Hebrew locale, the entries in the Column and Key Column drop-down lists are truncated when the mouse hovers over the list.

All locales: Untranslated strings in Web GUI uninstaller

The GUI uninstaller for Web GUI contains text strings that are not translated. This problem is caused by a known issue in the InstallAnywhere component.

Changes to Deployment Engine permissions fail during installation on SBCS locales

This problem occurs on Windows operating systems Single Byte Character Set (SBCS) language settings. When you install Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus with the installation wizard, changes to existing Deployment Engine permissions fail. This problem occurs on computers with the following SBCS language settings: Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish.

A workaround for this problem is to use the de_security utility to change the Deployment Engine permissions after installation.

Web GUI date and time values do not display correctly for unsupported browser language settings

This problem occurs when you set your browser language settings to a language that the Web GUI does not support. Date and time values do not display correctly in the Active Event List. In addition, date and time values might display correctly in the Event Viewer but the corresponding numerical values in the Count column do not display correctly.

Problems identified after eGA

Problems that are identified after eGA are documented in the form of individual technotes in the Support knowledge base at:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/sysmgmt/products/support/IBMTivoliNetcoolOMNIbus.html

As problems are discovered and resolved, the IBM Support team updates the knowledge base. By searching the knowledge base, you can quickly find workarounds or solutions to problems.

The following link launches a customized query of the live Support knowledge base:

http://www.ibm.com/support/search.wss?tc=SSSHTQ&rs=3120&rank=8&dc=DB520+D800+D900+DA900+DA800+DB560&dtm

Use the following link to perform an advanced search of the knowledge base:

http://www.ibm.com/support/advsrch.wss?rs=3120&loc=en_US

Support

IBM Electronic Support offers a portfolio of online support tools and resources that provides comprehensive technical information to diagnose and resolve problems and maintain your IBM products. IBM has many smart online tools and proactive features that can help you prevent problems from occurring in the first place, or quickly and easily troubleshoot problems when they occur. For more information, see:

http://www.ibm.com/support/electronicsupport/about.html