HP Systems Insight Manager 5.2 Update 2 Technical Reference Guide

Single-system aware (SSA), muliple-system aware (MSA), and Web-launch aware (WLA) tools can be created
and launched. You can create the following types of custom tools:
• Remote tool A tool that runs on selected target systems. It might copy files to the target systems or run
specific X-Window applications on the target systems. This tool can be scheduled.
• CMS tool A tool that runs on the CMS. It is usually a script or batch file and can pass in environment
variables. Using Automatic Event Handling, this tool can optionally be configured to run when events
are received. This tool can be scheduled.
• Web page tool A tool that launches a web URL. The URL is launched in a separate browser window
on the Central Management Server. This tool cannot be scheduled.
Remote tools require the use of environment variables which are parameters passed to the launched application
to make it perform as expected. See “Environment variables for custom tools” for more information. The
launch command string includes system variables and user-defined variables for your application. For
example, you could pass an environment variable that runs a script to check on the status of your mail server.
DOS environment variables are supported in the custom tool parameters and work as parameters on the
New Custom Tool page or the Manage Custom Tools page. However, they must be surrounded by
double percent (%) signs. For example, to pass in the NOTICELABEL environment variable as a parameter,
it should be entered as %%NOTICELABEL%% on the parameter line. The environment variables can also be
accessed from a batch file or script file. To use them in a batch file or a script file, only a single percent (%)
sign should precede and succeed the environment variable name. See “Custom tools reference” for a list of
other substitutable variables.
Custom tools that you create are displayed under the Tools→Custom Tools menu option.
You have multiple scheduling options. See “Scheduling a task” for more information about scheduling options.
IMPORTANT: The application must be able to execute in the security context provided to HP Systems Insight
Manager (HP SIM) (the default is LocalSystem).
• New Custom Tools Select Tools→Custom Tools→New Custom Tool. The New Custom Tool
page appears.
• Manage Custom Tools Select Tools→Custom Tools→Manage Custom Tools. The Manage
Custom Tools page appears.
Use custom tools that run on target SSA systems create a temporary .XML tool definition file under /var/tmp,
the loads the tool with the mxtool -af filename . You only enter data in required fields.
WARNING! If you define a custom tool to run as root, any user authorized to run the tool might gain full
access to the managed system, depending on how you define the command, and what its capabilities are.
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