Creating custom tool definition files for HP Systems Insight Manager 5.1 or greater (481365-002, January 2009)

4
Tool types
HP SIM defines six types of tools described in the following table.
Table
1
.
Tool types
Name
Description
Single
-
system
-
aware command
tool OR Remote Tool in the GUI
A single
-
system
-
aware (SSA) tool executes on a selected target and is only aware of
the target system environment. In executing an SSA tool, the H
P SIM distributed task
facility (DTF) of the central management server (CMS) uses secure shell (SSH) to send
one or more files to the target system, which then executes the tool. An example of an
SSA tool would be a tool that wraps a common Unix command su
ch as ls, cat, or cp.
Multiple
-
system
-
aware command
tool
A multiple
-
system
-
aware (MSA) tool executes typically on the CMS and can work with
multiple target systems. When launched, the MSA process is created once and then
passed to all targets on the list.
Subscribe to WBEM events
is an example of a SSA
tool.
An XWindows tool is an example of an
S
SA tool.
Web
-
launch tool or Web page
tool in the GUI
A Web launch tool typically launches in a separate browser (by default) or in the
same frame as HP SIM and i
s specified by a universal resource locator (URL). Web
-
launch applications that do not share HP SIM certificates should be executed in a
separate frame.
Application launch tool OR CMS
Tool in the GUI
An application launch tool is a batch file, script, or
executable that runs on the CMS
and can reference environment variables specified by the tool to access device or
event information. An example of an application launch tool would be one that
performs a task that is tied to the contents of an “Exchange Ser
vers” list which returns
three devices (A, B, and C). The tool will run three times (in the context of A, B, and
C).
Automation tools
Executed on the CMS and perform some action, such as discovery on the target
systems.
Message driven tools
Executed on
the CMS and perform some action, such as discovery on the target
systems.
HP SIM allows you to easily create custom SSA, MSA, and Web launchTDEFs. You can manually
create SSA, Web launch, and Application Launch in HP SIM using
graphic user interface (GUI)
menus
or using the command line interface (CLI) as described in the following section.
Creating custom tools manually with the HP SIM CLI
HP SIM includes a CLI that allows manual control of HP SIM
functions. This manual control allows you
to create your own customized tools. The CLI is accessible directly on the CMS or from any network
client using SSH client software. Creating custom tools manually offers a better understanding of the
XML file for
mat and allows greater flexibility in exercising the options available when creating TDEFs.
Tool elements and structure
0.
The elements that comprise a tool are placed between the <tool
-
list> and </tool
-
list> XML tags,
which mark the beginning and the end of
a TDEF respectively.
Table 2 provides descriptions of the basic elements of a TDEF in the proper order.
NOTE:
Italicized text should be repla
ced by actual value or data.