BMC Patrol Alert Monitor

The SiteScope BMC PATROL Alert Monitor allows you to integrate existing BMC Patrol installations and transfer Open Alerts from your BMC PATROL Agents to your Topaz installation. The SiteScope BMC PATROL Alert Monitor requires a custom PATROL knowledge module (PTI.KM) to be installed on all PATROL Agents alerts you want to integrate with Topaz.

Once the SiteScope BMC PATROL Alert Monitor/PTI.KM combination is installed and configured, every new BMC PATROL alert is transferred to the Topaz installation.

In addition to transferring the BMC PATROL Alerts to Topaz, the SiteScope BMC PATROL Alert Monitor is capable of discovering the configuration of BMC PATROL Agents on a subnet. The configuration is then available to Topaz applications such as Topaz Business Availablity Center.

Usage Guidelines

Operating environments

This monitor must be used in conjunction with a PTI application installed on BMC PATROL Agents. The PTI application is responsible for delivering Open alerts to the BMC Patrol Alert Monitor. The BMC Patrol Alert Monitor collates alerts as reported from BMC PATROL Agents into unified samples and delivers these samples to the Topaz server.

About scheduling this monitor

Since the reading and a status collected by the BMC PATROL Alert Monitor include only statistical information, the monitor does not have to be scheduled very often. Scheduling the BMC PATROL Alert Monitor to run every 10 minutes should be sufficient.

PTI Installation and Configuration

The PTI must be installed and configured on the BMC agent machines in order to have the alerts forwarded to SiteScope and Topaz. The following are the steps you use to install and configure the PTI package.

Install the PTI Package on Agents.
- Refer to the section Installing the PTI Package on PATROL Agents below for detailed instructions
Install the PTI Package on Console.
- Refer to the section Installing the PTI Package on PATROL Agents below for detailed instructions
Load the PTI KM on the Developer Console.
- Open the PATROL Developer Console
- Use File->Load KM menu to load PTI.km file (change the Files of Type combo box to KM files to see the PTI.km file).
Configure the PTI KM:
- Open the PATROL Developer Console
- Select the KM tree, and expand the Knowledge Module->Application Classes->PTI->Global Parameters folder.
- Double click the EventQuery parameter
- select Environment tab. Set the ProbeIpAddress environment variable to the IP address of the SiteScope. Use Set and Apply buttons to apply the configuration changes
Reactivate the PTI KM.
- Open the PATROL Developer Console
- Select the KM tree, and expand the Knowledge Module->Application Classes->PTI->Global Parameters folder.
- Double click the EventQuery parameter
- Select the General tab
- Unset the Active check box, click Apply, set the Active check box, click OK
Commit the PTI KM to Patrol Agents.
- Select File ->Commit KM ->To All Connected Hosts to update all PATROL agents with the changes.
Validate the PTI installation:
- Choose one Patrol Agent.
- Verify that the TopazCli.exe (TopazCli on Solaris) is running.

Completing the BMC Patrol Alert Monitor Form

To display the BMC Patrol Alert Monitor Form, either click the name of an existing Network Monitor in a monitor table, or click the Add a new Monitor to this Group link on a group's detail page and click the Add BMC Patrol Alert Monitor link.

Complete the items on the BMC Patrol Alert Monitor Form as follows. When the required items are complete, click the Update Monitor button.

Update every: Select how often the monitor should check CPU utilization. The default interval is to run or update the monitor once every 10 minutes. Use the drop-down list to the right of the text box to specify another update interval in increments of seconds, minutes, hours, or days. The update interval must be 15 seconds or longer.
Title: Enter a title text for this monitor. This text is displayed in the group detail page, in report titles, and other places in the SiteScope interface. If you do not enter a title text, SiteScope will create a title based on the host, server, or URL being monitored.

Advanced Options

The Advanced Options section presents a number of ways to customize monitor behavior and display. Use this section to customize error and warning thresholds, disable the monitor, set monitor-to-monitor dependencies, customize display options, and enter other monitor specific settings required for special infrastructure environments. The options for this monitor type are described below. Complete the entries as needed and click the Add or Update button to save the settings.

Disable

Check this box to temporarily disable this monitor and any associated alerts. To enable the monitor again, clear the box.

Enable EMS Integration

Check this option to have all detected Avalon Alert events forwarded to Topaz.

EMS configuration file path

Enter the path to the EMS integration configuration file. The default location is: SiteScope\ems\Patrol\patrol.config. For more information about format of the file see EMS Generic Alert Probe Configuration.

PTI TCP Port

Enter the TCP port number as configured in the PTI Application. By default, default TCP port number (1789) is used.

PATROL User Name

Enter valid BMC PATROL User Name. The User Name must be same on every BMC PATROL Agent within the BMC PATROL Domain to enable BMC PATROL configuration retrieval. Limitation: all BMC PATROL Agents within the subnet must use same username in order to enable the configuration retrieval.

PATROL User Password

Enter password for the user name above. The password must be same on every BMC PATROL Agent within the BMC PATROL Domain to enable BMC PATROL configuration retrieval. Limitation: all BMC PATROL Agents within the subnet must use same password in order to enable the configuration retrieval.

PATROL Domain Subnet

Enter subnet address of the BMC PATROL Domain. The subnet address will be used to discover active BMC PATROL Agents to retrieve the configuration from. Limitation: currently only single IP subnet per SiteScope installation is supported.

PATROL Domain Subnet Mask

Enter subnet mask of the BMC PATROL Domain. The subnet mask will be used to discover active BMC PATROL Agents to retrieve the configuration from. Limitation: currently only single IP subnet per SiteScope installation is supported.

PATROL Agent Configuration Port

Enter UDP Configuration port used by the BMC PATROL Agents for the communication. This UDP port will be used to retrieve configuration from the BMC PATROL Agents. Limitation: currently only UDP protocol is supported. Limitation: currently all BMC PATROL Agents within single domain must use same UDP port number for communications.

Verify Error

Check this box if you want SiteScope to automatically run this monitor again when it detects an error.

Update Every (on error)

You use this option to set a new monitoring interval for monitors that have registered an error condition. For example, you may want SiteScope to monitor this item every 10 minutes normally, but as often as every 2 minutes if an error has been detected. Note that this increased scheduling will also affect the number of alerts generated by this monitor.

Schedule (Optional)

By default, SiteScope monitors are enabled every day of the week. You may, however, schedule your monitors to run only on certain days or on a fixed schedule. Click the Edit schedule link to create or edit a monitor schedule. For more information about working with monitor schedules, see the section on Schedule Preferences for Monitoring.

Monitor Description (Optional)

Enter additional information about this monitor. The Monitor Description can include HTML tags such as the <BR> <HR>, and <B> tags to control display format and style. The description will appear on the Monitor Detail page.

Report Description (Optional)

Enter an optional description for this monitor that will make it easier to understand what the monitor does. For example, network traffic or main server response time. This description will be displayed on with each bar chart and graph in Management Reports and appended to the tool-tip displayed when you pass the mouse cursor over the status icon for this monitor on the monitor detail page.

Depends On (Optional)

To make the running of this monitor dependent on the status of another monitor or monitor group, use the drop-down list to select the monitor on which this monitor is dependent. Select None to remove any dependency.

Depends Condition (Optional)

If you choose to make the running of this monitor dependent on the status of another monitor, select the status condition that the other monitor or monitor group should have in order for the current monitor to run normally. The current monitor will be run normally as long as the monitor on which it depends reports the condition selected in this option.

List Order (Optional)

By default, new monitors are listed last on the Monitor Detail page. You may use this drop-down list to choose a different placement for this monitor.

Error if

Set the Error threshold for this monitor. By default SiteScope reports an error condition if any packet errors occur. You can change this to be dependent upon packet errors per second, the number of active connections, bytes per second received, or bytes per second sent. Choose the option you want from the drop-down list, select a comparison value symbol, and enter the threshold number in the text entry box. You must enter a whole number.

For example, if you want SiteScope to report an error condition if your packed error count exceeds 5 errors per second, you need to choose errorsPerSecond >= from the pull-down menus and then enter 5 in the text entry box.

Warning if

Set the warning threshold for this monitor. By default SiteScope reports a warning condition if your bytes out per second is more than 50000. You can change this to be dependent upon packet errors per second, the number of active connections, bytes per second received, or bytes per second sent.

For example, if you want to change the warning threshold to 10000, choose outBytesPerSecond > from the drop-down lists and then enter 10000 in the text entry box.

Good if

By default SiteScope assumes a good status. You can change this to be dependent upon packet errors per second, the number of active connections, bytes per second received, or bytes per second sent.

Installing the PTI KM Package on PATROL Agent

You can install the PTI KM package on a machine running Windows, or on a SPARC machine running Sun Solaris 5.6 or later. The PTI KM Setup file is located on the Topaz Components CD-ROM in folder tools_and_utilities\EMS\TopazEmsProbe\add_ons\PTI_Install.

To install the PTI KM package on BMC PATROL Agent 3.4 or 3.5 on Windows:

Before running the setup program, log in to the machine using the account that was used to install BMC PATROL. This account should have administrator privileges.
Navigate to the tools_and_utilities\EMS\TopazEmsProbe\add_ons\PTI_Install folder, and run RunPTIKMSetup.bat to begin the installation.
Choose to install PATROL, and click Accept in the PATROL License Agreement dialog box.
Note: For detailed help with BMC PATROL, click the Help button in any dialog box.
Click the Install PATROL with the Custom Settings button in the PATROL Installation Options dialog box.
Select Install PATROL Agent(s)/Collectors and Knowledge Modules in the PATROL Installation Instructions dialog box.
Click Next.
Select PATROL Topaz Integration in the PATROL Products dialog box.
Click Next.
You can install the PTI KM package on all machines at once (“central installation”). Select the BMC PATROL agent machines on which you want to install the PTI KM package, in the PATROL Computers dialog box.
Note: For the installation procedure to conclude successfully, you must be logged in with the account that was used to install PATROL.
Click Next.
Specify the location in which PATROL is installed (the PATROL root folder) in the Destination Location dialog box.
Click Next.
Specify account information for the BMC PATROL agent in the PATROL Default Account Information dialog box.
Click Next.
Specify the file names and locations of the setup information files, or accept the default values, in the Save Setup Files dialog box.
Click Next.
Review the installation information in the PATROL Installation Summary dialog box.
Click Install to begin installation or Back to modify settings.
When installation is complete, click Continue in the Operation Status dialog box.
Note: This stage may take several seconds as the PATROL agent service is stopped and restarted.
Select Install PATROL Console(s) and necessary Knowledge Modules in the PATROL Installation Instructions dialog box.
Click Next.

Ensure that PATROL Topaz Integration is selected in the PATROL Products dialog box.
Click Next.

The PATROL installation enables you to install the PTI KM on several machines at once. Select the BMC PATROL console machines on which you would like to install the PTI KM, in the PATROL Computers dialog box.
Click Next.

Specify the location in which PATROL is installed (the PATROL root folder) in the Destination Location dialog box.
Click Next.

Specify account information for the BMC PATROL console in the PATROL Default Account Information dialog box.
Click Next.

Specify the file names and locations of the setup information files,or accept the default values, in the Save Setup Files dialog box.
Click Next.

Review the installation information in the PATROL Installation Summary
Click Install to begin installation or Back to modify settings.

When installation is complete, click Exit in the Operation Status dialog box.

Confirm that the PTI KM was successfully installed on the Console machine, by checking that a new folder, PTI ,has been created under the PATROL root folder.