Unicenter NSM Tips

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Unicenter NSM Tips TricksRelease r11.x

• Revised September 26, 2006

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Abstract

• The presentation provides Tips and Tricks that
  may help you overcome a few of the day-to-day r11
  challenges.
• It is not intended to be a replacement for
  Support or Documentation

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What is the Best Practices Page?

• The r11 Implementation Best Practices page
  (formerly the Implementation CD) is a
  collection of best practices and customization
  tips (i.e., "cookbooks") developed both in-house
  and in the field.
• Its purpose is to provide a set of additional
  guidelines for planning for, installing and
  deploying CA software solutions - notably
  Unicenter NSM and its associated options.
• It is available to clients on SupportConnect and,
  due to frequent (often weekly) updates, is not
  currently available as a CD

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How can I access r11 Best Practices ?

• Available through CA Technical Support website
  (http//supportconnect.ca.com). Direct link is
• http//supportconnectw.ca.com/premium/impcd/r11/st
  arthere.htm
• Free to all Unicenter Users though login to
  SupportConnect is required

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DIA Tips
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DIA Cgene
I have configured Agent technology to use DIA
protocol. How can I verify the communication?
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Agent Communication Configuration

• Configuration file
• AGENTWORKS_DIR\SERVICES\CONFIG\
• atservices.ini
• Section -gt SNMP
• Parameter -gt UseSnmp
• 0 DIA only
• 1 SNMP only
• 2 DIA to CA-Agents (Enterprise OID 791), SNMP
  otherwise
• 3 either DIA or SNMP depending on target
  machine
• Defaults to 3

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aws_orb DIA communication

• On Agent Technology Node1
• Execute cgrecv
• On Agent Technology Node2
• Execute cgsend ltnode1gt ltmessage textgt ltcountgt
• This is to similar to cci send and receive tests

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cgsend cgRecv
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Cginqy Inquiry
This shows AT DIA protocol is active
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DIA Debug
How do I turn on debugging for DIA?
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DIA Debugging

• Update ukb.cfg and change Log_Level option
• Update dna.cfg and change Log_Level option

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Update ukb.cfg
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Update dna.cfg
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Ukb.cfg
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dna.cfg
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UKB log file
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dna log file
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DIA UKB
How do I display the UKB list?
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What is UKB?

• Unicenter Knowledge Base (UKB) is a component of
  DIA and is installed when a NSM manager component
  is installed.
• If NSM manager component is NOT installed, it may
  just install DNA
• Acts as a broker between data consumers (e.g.,
  UMP, MCC, etc.) and data providers (e.g.,
  MDBcells, wvcell, EventCell , etc.)
• Master Knowledge Base (MKB) contains the list of
  all UKB and is responsible for zone management as
  defined in ukrule.xms

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diaTool

• diaTool is a utility for administering DIA and
  DNA cells on all servers
• To launch diatool
• cd C\Program Files\CA\SharedComponents\CCS\DIA\d
  ia\ukb\bin
• Execute diatool computername

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UKB List
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DIA UKB
How do I ascertain the master UKB?
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Master UKB

• Launch diatool
• Click on Grid Table

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UKB Master
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Review of Debug LogFile
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DIA UKB
What is the selection process for the Master UKB?
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Master UKB Selection Process

• Checks dna.cfg to see if OverrideSRV option is
  specified. If so, that will take the precedence
• If dna.cfg is not updated, it will then check for
  SRV record for Master UKB.

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OverrideSRV
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SRV
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SRV Lookup
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SRV Lookup
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DIA
How do I check the state of DNA
cells? Furthermore, if I have problems with DIA,
how can I clean up my DIA Setup?
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DIA Setup Cleanup

• Review NSM r11.0 DIA Tips and Troubleshooting
  document (available from SupportConnect) for
  description of cleanup procedures
• DNA config directory include some key files. If
  any of these files are deleted, it will prevent
  the DNA cells from functioning correctly. For
  example if skf12aes.dia file is deleted, it will
  require DNA cells to be re-registered. So, only
  delete files listed in the above document

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DNA Cells States

• To check the status of DNA cells, launch diatool
  and select the machine in question
• DNA Running status is listed in right hand pane

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DNA Cells States

• An exclamation point icon next to the state
  indicates a problem. Review NSM r11.0 DIA Tips
  and Troubleshooting document for tips on
  resolving these errors

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Ingres SQL MDB Tips
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Ingres User ID creation
I want to create another Ingres Database user ID
to administer Ingres MDB maintenance. What
Ingres commands are required to do this?
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Ingres user ID creation
In this example the ateam user ID was created
with full privileges. Command must be executed
with Ingres install user ID. In this case, NSM
r11 was installed from administrator user ID and
the current login ID is administrator as well
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ckpdb using new admin userid
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Ingres MDB
How do I determine the number of active
connections? This is to ensure that it does not
exceed the maximum allowed, which can then kill
Netserver process
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Ingres Server
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Ingres Client
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Ingres Startup
I manually started Ingres using ingstart
command. Now Agent Technology is unable to update
MDB. Why?
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WorldView Severity Propagation Service

• Severity Propagation is dependent on Ingres
  service for Ingres MDB
• Agent Technology is dependent on Severity
  propagation registration
• If Ingres was started by ingstart command without
  using service option, Ingres service will not
  start and this will prevent Severity Propagation
  from starting
• Agent Technology will continue to wait for
  Severity propagation registration

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Resolution

• Use ingstart service option to start the Ingres
  service as well
• If the Severity Propagation service is not
  started, then start the service after starting
  Ingres Service

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MDB
What housekeeping maintenance should be
performed on MDB?
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MDB Housekeeping

• MDB section on Implementation Best Practices Page
  includes several presentations on MDB care and
  feeding day to day maintenance.
• Ingres MDB
• MDB Care and Feeding of SQL MDB
• R11 Ingress MDB Backup and Recovery
• SQL MDB
• MDB Care and Feeding of SQL MDB
• Oracle MDB
• MDB Care and Feeding of Oracle MDB

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Migration
I am migrating from NSM 3.x to r11. Even though
the install does not allow me to select Ingres
Server or Ingres client, it then complains that I
am missing the Ingres client. Why?
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Ingres not selectable?
Does not allow any of the Ingres options to be
selected despite Managers selected.
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Ingres not selectable?

• This results in following message

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Non-standard Host Name

• If NSM 3.x server has a non- standard computer
  name (USCC06T2_NSM31 in this case), then Ingres
  will not be a selectable option during migration

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NSM Hostname Check
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Install Tips
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MDB
I want to install WV Manager on a remote MDB but
the install process does not permit me to select
it. Why not?
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Local MDB

• WV Manager must be installed on the local MDB
  only
• The WorldView Severity Propagation service can
  only run on the local MDB

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Installing from a Remote Session
If I want to install Unicenter NSM from a Remote
session what considerations do I have to keep in
mind?
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Installing from a Unicenter Remote Control Session

• You can not install Unicenter NSM from a
  Unicenter Remote Control session if the host on
  which you are installing is a Unicenter Remote
  Control "managed host
• This is because Unicenter Remote Control "managed
  hosts use the CA Message Queuing Service (CAM)
  and the install process shuts this down during
  NSM install

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Installing from Terminal Services Session

• Installing from a mapped drive while in a
  Terminal Services session on Windows 2000 is not
  supported
• If installing on Windows 2000, install from a
  local logon session or use the full universal
  naming convention (UNC) path instead of a mapped
  drive
• This is due to a Microsoft bug. Review Microsoft
  MSDN Knowledge Base article Q255582 for more
  information.

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Application Services Catalog
The AIS local catalog is corrupted. How can I
recreate it?
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Recreate AIS local catalog

• Createcat Y
• Tndaddnsp
• Tndmastercat ltmastercat servergt ltlogfile namegt
• tndpublish

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Create AIS Catalog
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Missing AIS Catalog
I have installed MDB on a dedicated server with
just WorldView Manager but the AIS local catalog
is missing. Why?
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Missing AIS Catalog

• You must select at least one provider for the
  local catalog to be created.
• If no providers are selected, the install process
  determines that there is no requirement for a
  local catalog.

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MCC Considerations

• If you install MCC without any providers, it will
  create an AIS catalog but there will be no DNA
  cells available
• As a result, MCC will not launch correctly.

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MCC without Providers
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PathSize
NSM install process will compute the estimated
size of the System Path Entry based on the
components selected. If this exceeds the maximum
size, the install process will not continue. What
options are available when multiple products are
installed?
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System Path Length

• Install process verifies the system path length
  will not exceed 1024 bytes once the path is
  updated to include the selected NSM r11
  components
• If the length is likely to exceed the maximum
  allowed, the install process will insist on
  shortening the length or revising list of
  selected components.

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System Path Length
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Multiple Products Install

• If Multiple Products are installed on the same
  server, path length is likely to exceed 1024
  bytes.
• If USD, DSM and NSM components are installed on
  the same server, it will exceed the path length
• Options include
• Shortening directory path name. Default NSM
  location is
• \Program Files\CA\Shared Components\CCS\WVEM
• Reduce number of components selected
• See Path Length Considerations for Unicenter NSM
  r11.x document on Implementation Best Practices
  page for more details and a tool for estimating
  path length

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System Path Entry

• If you are uninstalling NSM, it is important to
  take a backup of Path entry.
• path gtmypath_backup.txt
• Unicenter NSM includes the CA Dylan Socket
  Adapter, which adds a directory to the system
  PATH similar to "C\PROGRA1\CA\SHARED1\Dylan\bin
  ."
• If any PATH entries are appended after this
  entry, when the Dylan uninstall runs it will be
  unable to remove its PATH entry. Intermittently,
  it may drop non-NSM entries, which may result in
  some Windows Path entries being dropped as well.
• This is an InstallShield issue

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Continuous Discovery
How can I change the continuous discovery polling
cycle?.
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Continuous Discovery Polling Cycle

• By default, the Continuous Discovery agent has a
  one hour polling cycle (i.e., agent status is
  updated once per hour). If you need to change
  this polling interval, edit the following
  registry key and restart the Continuous Discovery
  services
• Hkey_local_machine\software\computerassociates\di
  scovery\SharedComponents\AgentService\AgentHandler
  \poll_interval

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Continuous Discovery Registry
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Component Dependency List
How can I identify what dependent components will
be selected when I install a specific NSM r11
component?
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Component Dependency List
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Default Common Components

• Java RunTime Environment
• C\Program Files\CA\SharedComponents\JRE.ccs
  size 50246
• License
• C\Program Files\CA\SharedComponents\CA_LIC
  size 4510
• Common Application Services
• C\Program Files\CA\CA_APPSW
  size 48188
• Dylan Socket Adapter
• C\Program Files\CA\SharedComponents\Dylan
  size 26420
• Distributed Intelligence Architecture
• C\Program Files\CA\SharedComponents\CCS\DIA
  size 16163
• High Availability Service
• C\Program Files\CA\SharedComponents\CCS\HAS
  size 519

These common components will be installed when
any NSM component is selected
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Field Developed Utilities(FDUs)
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Perl Extension Library
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Perl WV library
We would like to integrate one of our
applications with Unicenter World View. We are
familiar with ActiveState Perl programming. Where
can we get a copy of the WV Perl extension ?
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Perl Interface

• Provides Perl WV library to execute WorldView
  commands from Perl
• Simplifies WV integration
• Next slide shows how to create WV objects and
  inclusions from an ASCII file and demonstrates
  simple WV integration for voice over IP (VOIP)

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emPerl Interface

• Provides WorldView, Event and Event External Perl
  extensions. It supports the current Perl Active
  State release

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Perl Interface
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Where can I get this?

• Available from Field Developed Utilities section
  of the Implementation Best Practices page
  (formerly the Implementation CD) on
  SupportConnect
• http//supportconnectw.ca.com/premium/impcd/r11/Fi
  eldDevUtilities/FieldDev_Frame.htm

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WorldView Debug
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WorldView Problem
Im having a problem with WorldView where it
recreates an object as soon as I delete it. Where
can I get timestamp information and other stats
to help me diagnose the problem?
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wvsCheck

• Run wvsCheck FDU to generate a log of all
  WorldView adds, updates and deletes. This utility
  also writes stats at the specified interval to
  Event Management console

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wvsCheck
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wvsCheck LogFile
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Event Interface
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Extended cawtologforward
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Challenge 1
We want to integrate one of our applications with
Unicenter. As part of this integration, we want
to generate event messages on the Unicenter
Console pertinent to our application. This
requires us to set node name, station name, user
name and few other fields. Can you help?
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Challenge 2
As part of our lab testing, we want to simulate
several events. CAWTO sets the user ID value
to the user who executed the command and the node
name to the server from which it was
executed How can we override these and other
fields for true simulation?
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What is LogForward?

• A Windows field developed utility, similar to
  cawto, that is used to generate Event Messages.
• LogForward includes options to override most of
  the message fields with the exception of
  Workload BinData and Process Information

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cawto
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logforward
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Event Management Scalability
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Event Scalability
How scalable is the r11.x Event Management
Component?
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Event Management Scalability

• Many tests were conducted in the CA Stress Lab to
  determine the scalability of various components
• Following slides summarize the results of these
  tests for Event Management

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EM Setup
Event Agent
Event Agent
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Scalability Tests

• Generate a message storm of half million events
  and analyze the impact on SendOper MRA
• Determine the number of events that can be
  forwarded to a central console from each server

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Message Storm SendOper MRA
250,000 Events Latency 74 seconds
50,000 Events Latency 21 seconds
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Conclusion

• 2495 events per second for local node MRA
  processing with exception of Forward, Alert or
  command
• On average, 220 events per second can be
  forwarded from each node without any significant
  delay
• Message storm of 50,000 events caused no
  significant delay
• 250,000 events storm is handled with latency of
  approx 74 seconds.
• 500,000 message storm is handled with latency of
  approx 2 mins on the last event

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MDB Performance Considerations
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Performance Considerations

• Given adequate CPUs, memory, and disks, a
  dedicated server is not required for installing
  Microsoft SQL Server
• Network latency between the application and a
  separate SQL server may, in fact, degrade
  application performance
• It is best practice to always run SQL Server on
  the same box as a mid-tier manager (e.g., Desktop
  Management Domain manager should run on the same
  box as its MDB, and a mid-tier NSM local Core/MDB
  will often be faster)
• For the enterprise tier you may wish to run the
  MDB on a dedicated SQL Server box depending on
  the number of enterprise components and the peak
  load

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Manage Memory see Notes

• Set Reserve Physical Memory for SQL server and
  specify an amount. For a 4GB box we suggest
  reserving at least 2GB (monitor memory usage to
  determine if more memory can be reserved for SQL)

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Manage Memory see Notes

• Set minimum memory for SQL 2005 on a 4GB box we
  suggest reserving at least 2GB (monitor memory
  usage to determine if more memory can be reserved
  for SQL)

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Performance Considerations

• Store MDB data and log directories on separate
  disk drives for improved performance (keeping
  logs on a separate disk can be a significant
  tuning benefit)
• The same applies to TEMPDB (TEMPDB on a separate
  disk can be a significant tuning benefit)
• SQL data on striped disks is a major tuning
  benefit if you have limited drives available
  and must chose between separate log/data disks or
  one striped drive, the striped drive is usually
  best option the more drives in a stripe set the
  better (see notes)
• RAID 0 or RAID 10 offer the best performance
  RAID 5 is not generally the best performance
  option

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TEMPDB
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TEMPDB

• SQL Server uses the tempdb database as a scratch
  area for MDB temporary tables, sorting,
  subqueries, ...
• TEMPDB should be on its own drive away from other
  DBs whenever possible (default is SQL install
  disk)
• Increase the size of the TEMPDB database based on
  available disk space and expected usage
• SQL Server adjusts the size incrementally over
  time, but each adjustment causes a performance
  hit
• You may need to set the original size of the
  TEMPDB database files to a reasonable size to
  avoid constant growth

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Logging Considerations
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Logging Considerations

• Install SQL Server on a disk with sufficient
  available space this is the default log
  location
• SQL Server allows transaction log files to exist
  on multiple devices - this improves logging
  system performance by allowing it to write to
  multiple disks
• MDB Transaction Log automatically grows by 10
  and its growth is unrestricted
• Monitor log space growth can occur even with
  auto shrink

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Logging Considerations

• In some situations the Transaction Log may become
  very large, leading to the following situations
• Run out of space
• Transactions may fail and may start to roll back
• Transactions may take a long time to complete
• When that happens, shrink it with DBCC
  SHRINKFILE DBCC SHRINKFILE(mdb_log,
  TRUNCATEONLY)
• For recovery purposes, immediately execute BACKUP
  DATABASE
• IMPORTANT shrinking the transaction log every
  day may impact the performance of your database!

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Questions and Answers
Any questions?