Application Discovery 6.
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Table of Contents 1 Introduction......................................................................................................................7 Features of Application Discovery.........................................................................................................7 2 Components and concepts............................................................................................9 Application Discovery components....................................................................
Setting data polling interval............................................................................................................22 Setting event attributes.........................................................................................................................22 Introduction to event settings in Application Discovery................................................................22 Setting event severity................................................................................
B Key to event attributes..................................................................................................59 Event types............................................................................................................................................59 Event severity types..............................................................................................................................60 Additional event types specific to Application Discovery...........................
1 Introduction This document describes how to use Application Discovery to monitor applications in a virtual server environment. This document is for administrators and operators who are responsible for configuring and/or monitoring application health and availability. Some understanding of system administration is assumed.
2 Components and concepts Application Discovery components Application Discovery contains these components: • The Application Discovery agent, which discovers the presence of applications and processes on a managed system, collects information about the managed system and its applications, and communicates that information to the Application Discovery server on the central management server. — An agent is fully autonomous.
NOTE: An application inventory in a data center or enterprise setting is sensitive material. Therefore, all communication paths in Application Discovery are encrypted and authenticated to check for proper user authorization. See HP Insight Dynamics - VSE 6.0: Integrity CMS Installation and Configuration Guide for information about steps that must be taken to ensure that Application Discovery's security measures are in place and functioning correctly.
Figure 2-1 Segment of process inventory data For example, if the discovery ratio is low, the number of processes that Application Discovery is matching to templates is low. Because more data can be gathered from known relationships, a low ratio indicates that much less can be known and displayed for the processes that are using resources on that host. Conversely, if the discovery ratio is high, Application Discovery can provide extensive amounts of data on system behavior.
Refine discovery by creating application templates Application Discovery is shipped with a set of default templates that it uses to discover applications that are likely to be present within an extensive network or data center. These templates can be copied and edited to quickly create new, similar templates, or you can create a completely new template that contains no predetermined settings. To see your current list of templates, click the Admin/Config tab, then the AD Templates tab.
• • The degree of sharing among processes is unknown. For a given process, the shared memory can be shared with every process on the system, only some processes on the system, only some processes within the application, or with all of the processes within the application. The 'right' answer for how to sum shared memory for processes depends in part on how the individual administrator uses the information for planning.
3 Procedures and examples With Application Discovery, you can perform the following tasks: • Check the progress of discovery. • Define an application for discovery. • Modify the behavior of agents running on managed systems. • Set attributes that determine what events to display, where to display them, and the priority they should have. Starting Application Discovery 1. 2. 3. Enter your user name and ID into the HP Systems Insight Manager software (HP SIM) interface.
Stop a running agent You can stop the agent from the top menu bar or from the command line. Using HP SIM to stop the AD agent 1. 2. 3. 4. Initiate this task by selecting Configure →Insight Dynamics Agents→Stop AD Agents from the top menu bar. Using the system list, select the HP-UX systems where you want to stop an agent. Click Apply. Verify the system selection and click Next. A description of the action about to take place is displayed.
Explanation of agent states Table 3-1 Possible values for agent state Value Meaning Connected Installed, daemon running, connected; able to transfer data Disconnected Installed, daemon running, disconnected; unable to transfer data Agent not running Installed, daemon not running; unable to collect data No CMS Cert No certificates exchanged between Application Discovery server and agent; unable to complete data transfer. (Applicable to version 4.0 agents only.
Screen refresh when clicking tabs or links: Screens with long lists of systems, applications, or packages take more time to refresh. If a screen appears to be empty when you first click to it, please wait a few seconds for the refresh to complete. See also: • “Other controls available from right-clicking on a view table” (page 20) Set general visibility First and foremost, visibility of systems and applications depends on the permissions a user has for each managed system and application.
Change the data view Various ways exist to help you sort and filter the data displays so that you can see across application and server activity and drill down to the specifics a particular application or server. Visibility of systems and applications depends on the permissions you have for each managed system and application. You can see only those systems and applications in Application Discovery tables that you already have permission to access or view. Sort data in view tables The default sort order.
NOTE: Hidden applications. Note that the filtering discussed in this section concerns manipulating data that is currently displayed in the tables. Some applications are not shown in the table. They might be common, low-level processes that are hidden by default, or they might have been hidden by a user. To quickly see how many applications might be hidden from view, look at the upper right hand corner of the application table, as shown in the following figure.
Set visibility for hosts on Application Discovery screens To help you control the amount of data presented to you, Application Discovery provides several ways to modify the visibility of objects in Application Discovery screens. In addition to modifying host visibility (discussed here) you can also change the visibility of packages and applications. To change visibility of a host: 1. 2. 3. Click the following tabs in Application Discovery: Admin/Config, then Discovery.
The graphic immediately repaints when you change the time span. The impact of discovery on Application Discovery server memory usage Memory use might be higher during the initial warmup period when application discovery is at its height, and lessening over time as the majority of discovery is completed. Modifying the maximum size of an event list Prerequisite: You must have “VSE All Tools” authorization to set visibility attributes.
agents, and templates. You can set the desired severity for an event type and the location at which the event alert can be seen. Prerequisite: You must have “VSE All Tools” authorization to set visibility attributes. (See “User authorizations” in Insight Dynamics help for a discussion of tool box permissions.) To access and modify the attribute fields for events, click the Admin/Config tab, then the Events tab. The next figure shows part of the event configuration fields.
3. Click Submit to save the change. The new settings are applied immediately to the data displays. If needed, you can Cancel the changes that you have made. This action returns any changed settings shown in the drop-down to their previous saved state. See “Key to event attributes” (page 59) for the explanation of event types and alert locations. Managing application templates Prerequisite: You must have “VSE All Tools” authorization to set visibility attributes.
NOTE: My application does not appear in the “Applications effected...” table. Why? possible explanations for this to occur: • There are several It takes some time for template matching to complete. Action: Wait a couple of minutes to see whether or not matching occurs.
network. As matching completes, applications matching this template description appear in the table called “Applications effected by this template” (below the template summary boxes). See related note. Key to application template values The tables on this page provide the definitions for the editable fields in Application Discovery (AD) templates. Application identity and system scope fields These fields let you provide unique identifiers for the template itself.
Constructing regular expressions: Application Discovery recognizes regular expressions constructed using Perl 5 or POSIX syntax and semantics. To learn more, consult PCRE - Perl Compatible Regular Expressions at http:// www.pcre.org/. NOTE: Application Discovery (AD) interprets executable path strings differently than HP Insight Global Workload Manager software for Integrity (gWLM). Application Discovery looks at a process from the perspective of how it is named when it is running.
Application identity and system scope fields and their descriptions Field Description Application identity Name Required. Unique name given to the template to represent the application. Version Required. Version number of the application this template matches. Title User-defined name for the template. Description User-defined summary describing the template. System scope OS Operating system to which the template applies.
Separation rule fields and their descriptions Field Description Is visible? By default during initial discovery, Application Discovery sets objects recognized as packages to 'no' and objects recognized as templates to 'yes'. This field designates whether or not the application shall be visible to users of the Application Discovery user interface: • yes – show the application data associated with this object. • no – hide the application data associated with this object.
Aggregation rule fields and their descriptions Field Description Rule Rules can be simple or complex, and are based on types that can be added to or deleted from the rule. Possible type values used to construct a rule include: • Or Can contain a list of one or more And, Or, User, Group, Path or Cmdline values. Effect: Any one of the rules within this statement can be true to match a process to the application. • And Can contain a list of one or more And, Or, User, Group, Path or Cmdline values.
1. To start, select a radio button for the first type field that you want to add and click the Add Rule button. In the example below, the first type added is an And operator. 2. To add a type within the And statement braces, select a type, and click the Add Rule button aligned with the dot (.) within the And statement. In the example below, a User type is added when the button is clicked. The result when the Add Rule button is clicked is as follows: 3.
4. Continue in this way until you have added all the types that you want in the rule. 5. Fill in the empty values to complete the rule description for this template, and click Submit. (You might need to scroll to the right to see the Submit and Cancel buttons.) For guidance on the values that work in each field, see Key to Application Template Values and Check unmatched processes to find application candidates.
The following figure shows an aggregation of multiple processes by specified executable path into one application. Figure 3-8 Example of a template aggregation rule that collects multiple processes The following figure shows an aggregation of multiple processes specified using regular expressions.
IMPORTANT: When one template overlaps another, the template that captures the most processes has precedence over competing templates. For this reason, a template containing empty And or Or rules will match all processes and will take precedence over all other templates. Figure 3-10 Example of an empty, nested template How to remove types from the aggregation rule You might want to remove types from a rule to correct it or refine it.
types are also displayed for a particular host on each individual host page in a table called “Unmatched Processes”. Figure 3-12 Example “unmatched processes” table You can sort or filter this table to find processes with which you want to define an application. TIP: One way to reduce the amount of “noise” cluttering your tables is to create a template that collects “uninteresting” processes into an application that can be hidden.
Figure 3-15 Finding data to enter into Aggregation Rule fields For more details about this part of an application template, see “Aggregation rule fields and their descriptions” (page 30) and “Create a process aggregation rule” (page 30).
12. Click the link “Go back to Create Monitored Workload Definition” that appears under Application Discovery at the top of whatever screen you are on. The Create Monitored Workload Definition screen reopens. 13. 14. 15. 16. Check the table labeled Application Name and Version for your new application. Click the radio button to the left of your new application's name. Click Add to Definition. Optional: Select the check box to include all versions of the selected applications in this workload. 17. Click OK.
4 Troubleshooting This section is organized by symptom, each of which is followed by possible indicators or causes to investigate. To check logs containing Application Discovery messages, see the following locations: On HP-UX CMS • • • • /var/opt/vse/logs/vseinitconfig.log (configuration log file of HP Insight Dynamics suite) /var/opt/vse/logs/appdiscovery_initconfig.log /var/opt/vse/logs/appdiscovery_server.log.0 /var/opt/vse/logs/appdiscovery_ui.log.* On Microsoft Windows CMS • • • • ...
Services for HP-UX”. For details on which is the appropriate version to download by operating system version, please consult the Insight Dynamics installation and configuration guide. AppDiscAgent runs with any 2.x version of HP WBEM Services for HP-UX. To obtain a new version of HP WBEM Services for Linux, go to the Internet ready and networking page on HP Software Depot web site (http://software.hp.com/). Find HP WBEM Services for Linux, and click the download link. 3.
3. Check that Application Discovery is showing that the discovery ratio is 100%. a. b. Click the following tabs in Application Discovery: Admin/Config, then Discovery. Find the following column headings in the data table on this screen. Check that the value for Discovery ratio is 100%. When the discovery ratio is less than 100%, this may indicate that an inventory is still being taken for that host. Expect the warm-up period for completing the process inventory to take about 20 minutes. 4. 5.
NOTE: Where large amounts of data are present in tables, it can be useful to sort or filter the data to find the exact process and associated attributes for which you are searching. NOTE: If none of these measures are sufficient, other underlying problems may be the cause. See also the suggestions in “Host not visible in Application Discovery screens” (page 42) and “Errors due to incompatibilities between different versions of Application Discovery agents and servers” (page 48).
If the configuration is still not working, you may see an error message: Ssh Operation failed for node:managed_node. The connection could not be established. Reason:Failed to read remote identification In conjunction with this, you may also notice that running mxagentconfig and selecting Configure→Configure or Repair Agents fail on the target managed node. To reconfigure SSH on the managed node, do the following steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Log on the managed node as user root. # cd /.
Packages not visible in Application Discovery screens 1. Check that the package is marked as 'visible' in Application Discovery. a. Click the following tabs in Application Discovery: Admin/Config , then Packages. b. Find the column heading “Visible”. Packages marked with 'Y' are currently visible in Application Discovery screens. Packages marked with 'N' are hidden. 2. Check that Application Discovery is showing that total packages and completed packages have the same value. a. b.
TIP: Alternatively, you can run I300appdisc.pl --a on the command line to limit the configuration change to Application Discovery. To identify other configuration problems that may be affecting Application Discovery server, check the “Troubleshooting” notes in the Insight Dynamics help instructions, or use vseassist(1M). 2. Check that Application Discovery server is running on the CMS. On HP-UX, type ps -elf | grep amgrserver.jar on the command line of the CMS.
If you do not see this service, type cms_start from any directory in the Insight Dynamics installed drive. You must be logged in as Administrator on the CMS to initiate this command. 2. Check that the host is known to Application Discovery. a. b. Click the following tabs in Application Discovery: Admin/Config, then Discovery. Find the column heading "Host". Hosts recognized by Application Discovery are listed here.
application that you are looking for is not in this list, you must run the application so that it can be discovered. 6. Check that Application Discovery server is running on the CMS. On HP-UX, type ps -elf | grep amgrserver.jar on the command line of the CMS. You should see a Java process running the Application Discovery server. If you do not see this Java process, type /opt/amgr/bin/cms_start . You must be logged in as user 'root' on the CMS to initiate this command.
On Microsoft Windows, type C:>net start on the command line of the CMS. You should see a service called Application Discovery in the list of running services. If you do not see this service, type cms_start from any directory in the Insight Dynamics installed drive. You must be logged in as Administrator on the CMS to initiate this command. Java “UI exception” message displays “UI exception” errors indicate that a problem internal to the Application Discovery user interface exists.
Have you recently restored or removed and reinstalled the CMS? : A restore or removal of the central management server also removes the certificate recognition previously established between Application Discovery server on the CMS and older Application Discovery agents on managed nodes. This relationship must be re-established when the CMS is reinstalled or restored by completing the Application Discovery certificate exchange. • If you are running a version 4.
5 Support and other resources The following resources are available to help you learn how to best use Application Discovery or to help you if you encounter difficulties. Contacting HP Your comments and suggestions regarding product features will help us develop future versions of Application Discovery and Insight Dynamics. Use the following e-mail address to send feedback directly to the Insight Dynamics development team: vse@hpuxweb.fc.hp.
A Commands for controlling Application Discovery agent and certificates amgrd and agent_config can be run on HP-UX and Linux managed systems where the Application Discovery agent is deployed.
amgrd NAME amgrd -- Change Behavior of Application Discovery Agent on Managed System SYNOPSIS Path: /opt/amgr/bin/amgrd [options] amgrd [-start] [-noreload ] amgrd [-connectionstatus] amgrd [-enableRestart] amgrd [-enableRestart] [-start ] amgrd [-enableRestart] [-stop ] amgrd [-disableRestart] amgrd [-disableRestart] [-start ] amgrd [-disableRestart] [-stop ] amgrd [-procfreq interval{s|m|h}] amgrd [-packfreq interval{s|m|h}] amgrd [-ping] DESCRIPTION The amgrd command allows you to interact with an Appl
-[no]daemon -[no]debug -noreload -packfreq interval{s|m|h} -procfreq interval{s|m|h} -server s -start -stop -u -v -verbose v [Do not] run the agent as a daemon. -daemon is the default setting for amgrd. Use -nodaemon only for triage as the agent will die if the terminal session ends or the terminal is disconnected. [Do not] run the agent in debug mode. Do not read in persisted data (used when agent is started or restarted).
FILES /var/opt/amgr/logs/ amgrd.log* /var/opt/amgr/logs/ amgrd.log.1 /var/opt/amgr/logs/ amgrd.log.2 Has 2 MB limit; then rolls over to alternating backup logs First alternate backup log Second alternate backup log AUTHORS amgrd was developed by Hewlett-Packard Company. SEE ALSO Application Discovery help reference Application Discovery 6.0 Software: User Guide HP Insight Dynamics 6.0 Getting Started Guide HP Insight Dynamics - VSE 6.0: Integrity CMS Installation and Configuration Guide http://www.hp.
agent_config NAME agent_config -- Access Application Discovery Certificate on Managed System SYNOPSIS Path: /opt/amgr/bin/agent_config agent_config -a [-dir config_directory] agent_config -amx agent_config -c agent_config -printAgentTrust agent_config -r agent_config -start agent_config -stop DESCRIPTION The agent_config command allows you to interact with an Application Discovery agent to exchange or print its SSL certificate or to remove a counterpart CMS certificate, to check the status of the agent, a
EXAMPLES Check agent state. # /opt/amgr/bin/agent_config -c Agent not running Run the agent using amgrd. # /opt/amgr/bin/amgrd -start Check agent state again. # /opt/amgr/bin/agent_config -c Connected FILES /opt/amgr/bin/agent_config /opt/amgr/bin/amgrd /var/opt/amgr/ssl/ agent_cert.pem /var/opt/amgr/ssl/ agenttrust.pem /var/opt/amgr/ agent.
B Key to event attributes Event types Table B-1 Description of event types used in Application Discovery Event type name Description Data center events Application installed An application has been installed on a host. Application started An application has been started on a host. Application stopped An application has been stopped on a host. Application template created A new template has been found on the CMS.
Event severity types Table B-2 Event severity types used in Application Discovery Icon Meaning Critical Indicates a failure and signals the need for immediate attention. Warning In a state that might become a problem. Major Indicates an impending failure. Minor Indicates a condition that can escalate into a more serious problem. Normal Indicates that this object is behaving as expected. Info Requires no attention; provides useful information.
C Error messages Table C-1 Error messages seen when trying to log in Message Remedy Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITY/ANONYMOUS LOGON' For CMS on Microsoft Windows only. 1. Confirm that the Application Discovery service is running with 'Administrator' as owner. 2. If it is not, the service will need to be stopped and restarted by someone with Administrator privilege.
D Completing certificate exchange Introduction NOTE: The information in this section applies only in the situation where Application Discovery Version 4.0 agents are running on managed nodes in the monitored network. Application Discovery 4.1 and 6.0 agents and servers do not require SSL certificate exchange for secure data transmission.
Have you recently restored or removed and reinstalled the CMS? : A restore or removal of the central management server also removes the certificate recognition previously established between Application Discovery server on the CMS and Application Discovery agents on managed nodes. This relationship must be re-established when the CMS is reinstalled or restored by completing the Application Discovery certificate exchange.
E Configuring the WBEM provider password WBEM is a management information retrieval and command protocol. Application Discovery uses a WBEM provider to allow the central management server (CMS) to send commands to agents running on managed nodes. Sending a WBEM command to a managed node requires remote login from the CMS to a managed node. An authorized user name and matching password are used to log in.
Glossary agent A program with a well-defined task that runs in the background and that is used to capture information or do processing tasks. aggregate data views Screens in Application Discovery that display a collection of data about various objects, often including system, application, and event data for all known instances of each in one table, but with emphasis on one aspect of the data.
Integrity VM HP Integrity Virtual Machines. A soft partitioning virtualization product that allows you to install and run multiple systems (virtual machines) on the same physical host system (Integrity server or nPartition). The Integrity server or nPartition acts as a VM Host for the virtual machines (also referred to as guests).
regular expressions Application Discovery recognizes regular expressions constructed using Perl 5 or POSIX syntax and semantics. running application An application that is continually or intermittently active and able to consume resources. server 1. Physical server: Hardware that can run one or more operating systems, including a partitionable complex. Also, hardware that can run an instance of the vPars monitor.
VM Host A server running software such as HP Integrity Virtual Machines, VMware ESX, or Microsoft Virtual Server, that provides multiple virtual machines, each running its own instance of an operating system. warmup The period of time during which Application Discovery is comparing discovered processes to the known installations of software and to template definitions of applications. WBEM Web-Based Enterprise Management.
Index A AD agent checking state, 46 failure on installation, 39 AD Agents tab, 11, 20 AD server checking for running server process, 45, 47 not available, 44 starting, 45, 47 unable to connect to Application Discovery user interface, 47 AD Templates tab, 20, 21, 24, 25 Admin/Config tab, 20 agent about, 9 event types, 59 finding current state, 11, 16 modifying behavior, 15 reconfiguring while running, 16 setting polling intervals, 22 starting, 15 starting from within HP Systems Insight Manager software, 15 s
create for Application Discovery agent, 48 exchanging from the command line, 63 exchanging from within HP Systems Insight Manager software, 63 troubleshooting exchange, 63 cimprovider command, 40 Clear filter menu pick, 19 Cmdline defining an application template rule, 30 CMS, 9 Collapse table menu pick, 20 color set theme for user interface, 18 components agent, 9 server, 9 SSL certificates, 9 templates, 9 user interface, 9 WBEM provider, 9 controls right-click on view screens, 20 D daemon agent status, 1
building aggregation rules for application templates, 32 executable defining within an application template rule, 30 Expand table menu pick, 20 F features, 7 file back up Application Discovery, 37 filter clear all, 40 data in view tables, 19 in or out, 19 Filter in menu pick, 19 Filter out menu pick, 19 firewall blocking port 22, 42 blocking port 5989, 42 frequency setting for package data collection, 16 setting for process data collection, 16 G graphic display modify , 21 Group option defining an applica
P R package hidden, 21 inventory, 11 not visible in Application Discovery, 44 set agent polling interval for, 22 setting data collection frequency, 16 setting visibility for, 18 setting visibility for Application Discovery screens, 21 package inventory completion checking, 44 Packages tab, 20, 21 Path defining an application template rule, 30 Pid scope application template attribute, 29 polling interval setting for data refresh, 22 port error when blocked by firewall, 42 procedure changing application tem
WBEM connection, 43 string matching Application Discovery, 41 gWLM as compared to Application Discovery, 41 support, 51 support information, 51 System Scope data for in unmatched process table, 35 when defining an application template, 28 T tab AD Agents, 11, 20 AD Templates, 20, 24, 25, 30 Admin Event, 59 Admin/Config, 20 Admin/Config Event View, 22, 23 Applications, 20 Discovery, 10 Events, 20 Hosts, 20 navigation, 19, 20 Packages, 20 UI, 17 table collapse, 20 collapse icon, 20 expand, 20 expand icon, 20
