OVNM 5.3 - Operations Agent for NonStop Event Management Guide for Windows

HP NonStop Event Management System 16
• Versatility
You can use EMS for many types of applications because of the variety of options it provides:
• EMS supports applications that monitor events as they occur, as well as applications that analyze logs
of event messages reported in the past.
• Distributor processes are provided for communicating event messages to management applications,
forwarding event messages from one node to another, and displaying event-message text on printers
and other display devices.
• Filtering lets you select event messages of interest to each application, based on whatever event-
message tokens and values you choose.
• EMS provides event information in token form for programmatic use or in text form for operator display.
Event information in token form is also known as tokenized event information. Tokenized event
information consists of machine-readable tokens that are generated by the primary collector ($0).
Untokenized messages are used to provide compatibility with pre-EMS systems.
• EMS supports both HP NonStop and user-written subsystems. If the user-written subsystems running on
your system or network follow the same conventions as HP NonStop subsystems, EMS can provide you
with an integrated picture of the subsystem environment.
• Configuration flexibility
EMS supports a wide variety of configurations, so you can select the configuration that best meets the
requirements of your data processing environment:
• EMS lets you distribute event-message processing among network nodes and among processors on a
single node. Event messages can be distributed from one node to another. SPI interfaces, such as those
used to control EMS processes and those used to retrieve event messages, can cross node boundaries.
• You can have any convenient number of distributors on a system.
• Collector processes support many configuration options to let you tailor the logging strategy according
to your requirements for performance, reliability, and use of resources.
• In general, both interactive and programmatic methods are provided for configuring and controlling
collector and distributor processes.
• Reliability
Both collector and distributor processes can run as process pairs, enabling them to run continuously through
any single-component failure. Collector processes are designed to log more than 50 event messages per
second without overloading. (Collector performance highly depends on the type of system on which the
collector is running and on the settings of various configuration options.
• Extensibility
The token-based message format lets subsystems add information to existing event messages without
requiring that applications accessing those messages be reprogrammed.
2-1-4 Applications of EMS
EMS is a set of tools that you can apply to any of several system or network management tasks, including these
application areas:
• Monitoring a running network or system
You can use the ViewPoint application or your own management application to recognize situations
needing attention as they arise. Depending on the problem and the sophistication of the application, the
operator or application can resolve the problem through the appropriate command response interface.
• Managing operator tasks
You can use a management application, or a distributor that routes messages to a display device, to select
and display action event messages—those requesting operator attention. If operators see an integrated
picture of the required tasks, they can focus on accomplishing the tasks, not on finding out what they are.
• Analyzing problems
To determine what went wrong and why, you must often retrace a series of events leading up to the
problem condition. Log files, filters, and other EMS components can help you or your service provider by
providing the historical record and the tools needed to sift through it.
• Detecting potential problems in advance
You can write a management application to analyze collector log files. Have it look for repeated warnings
or persistent minor problems that singly would not require a recovery action but might disclose a
correctable condition when taken together.